I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#513+514: Completely Seen Through by Master, Kisaki Kiriha's Goal—Getting Pregnant

Although Yukina wasn't entirely sure why Master had only instructed her and Sayaka to watch out for the Bureau of Astrology personnel, she agreed immediately nonetheless.

After all, these were words coming directly from Master's mouth. Master would never do anything to harm her.

The scene shifted. After chatting for a bit longer, Bokue and the two girls left the Lion King Organization's Itogami Island office.

"Well... I guess we got through that meeting with Master, right?"

Now outside on the street, Sayaka tilted her face upward at a forty-five-degree angle toward the sunlight streaming down from the eastern sky, patting her still-flushed cheeks as she breathed in the fresh morning air with a long sigh of relief.

"Yeah, probably..."

Yukina still seemed somewhat dazed.

After all, this morning at home they'd agreed they absolutely couldn't let Master discover they'd been doing that with Bokue-senpai every single day. But the moment they arrived, before they'd even said anything, Master had caught them completely off-guard with "Will I be holding grandchildren next year?"

Fortunately, Master didn't seem to care much about it and hadn't scolded them for it—just teased them a bit before moving on.

This left Yukina, who'd been mentally preparing to earnestly plead for forgiveness, somewhat caught off-guard.

Master had always been incredibly strict with their training since childhood. Yet she hadn't said a word about them being so "negligent in their duties."

Could it be that Master really did consider this their private life and chose not to interfere?

Just as the sword shaman was thinking along these lines, her friend's voice suddenly interrupted.

"By the way, we left home in such a rush earlier that we haven't even had breakfast yet. Since we're already here, why don't we grab something to eat before heading back?"

"Huh? Oh... sure, that works."

Yukina blinked and snapped back to reality.

Only then did she realize they were actually on a commercial street. While it wasn't as bustling as the area around the Keystone Gate due to being farther from the city center, it still had a decent amount of foot traffic.

Looking around, the entire street had everything from restaurants to snack shops to ramen stands. It reminded her a bit of Kyoto's quieter traditional streets in residential areas away from the major tourist spots.

There was even a missing persons office.

"What do you think, senpai? Anything you're craving?"

The sword shaman girl turned and tugged on the sleeve of the young man beside her.

Bokue didn't particularly care either way.

"I'm fine with anything. Order whatever you want—I'll just grab something quick."

"In that case, Sayaka, what do you—"

"Eh? You're asking me? Then how about..."

The two girls quickly reached a decision.

The scene shifted. Just a few minutes after leaving the office, the trio had already seated themselves at a nearby ramen shop.

Yukina and Sayaka—one a sword shaman, the other a War Dancer—weren't exactly birds who ate like sparrows. Plus, they had no reason to put on airs in front of Bokue, so they each ordered a bowl of ramen without hesitation.

Bokue also ordered ramen, along with a side of oden.

The three sat down at a table by the window. Soon enough, steam rose from their dishes, filling the air with savory aromas.

"Phew~ Slurp... gulp."

Sayaka immediately dove in with a huge mouthful of noodles. Feeling her stomach—empty since last night—finally getting some sustenance, she could finally settle down a bit.

At the same time, she recalled what Master had said earlier at the office.

'How far have things progressed between you?'

The familiar words echoed in her mind. The War Dancer girl poked at the remaining noodles in her bowl thoughtfully.

"Hey, Yukina—do you remember when Master asked about our relationship with Bokue back at the office? How did she even know about it?"

"Well..."

Yukina hesitated, unable to say for certain.

After all, she knew full well that their master was incredibly busy, rarely able to spare time for anything. Otherwise, she wouldn't have set up possession-type shikigami at offices all across Japan, including here on Itogami Island.

Logically speaking, there was no way Master could have secretly visited Itogami Island to check on them.

Setting aside the fact that doing something so roundabout would be completely out of character for Master, she simply wouldn't have had the time.

But as the saying went: once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains—however improbable—must be the truth.

After thinking for a moment, the sword shaman girl's face suddenly flushed as she stammered out in a small voice:

"Maybe... Master could tell from our physical condition?"

"Physical condition? But both of us are perfectly health—uh..."

Sayaka's words cut off halfway.

She suddenly realized she'd misunderstood Yukina's meaning. It wasn't that they'd become unhealthy from doing that too much with Bokue.

Rather... they'd both lost something specific.

"E-e-eh?? She could actually tell that?? If that's the case, then... hmm, I guess that actually makes sense..."

The War Dancer's cheeks instantly turned scarlet, and her voice grew softer and softer as she continued.

"A-anyway, let's not worry about it too much!"

Yukina quickly coughed to dispel the awkwardness.

"Since Master didn't criticize us, that means she probably thinks it's fine. In that case, we should just keep doing what we've been doing."

"Mmm... yeah..."

Sayaka had completely lost the ability to speak coherently, and could only lower her head to slurp her noodles vigorously.

Keep doing what we've been doing... somehow that phrasing sounds a bit weird.

❁❁❁❁

Twenty minutes later, as the three emerged from the restaurant, the sunlight outside had grown increasingly harsh.

Although autumn had arrived, it was still only early autumn. The lingering heat of Indian summer was no joke—the days remained quite hot.

"Ugh, the sun's so bright..."

The moment Sayaka stepped out of the shop, she couldn't help but raise her hand to shade her eyes.

"Well, now that we've had breakfast, we should head back early—huh?"

Before she could finish, the War Dancer let out a soft sound of surprise, her gaze drifting toward the opposite side of the street as though she'd spotted something unexpected.

?

Seeing her reaction, both Bokue and Yukina followed her line of sight.

In the direction Sayaka was looking stood a missing persons office—the same one they'd passed on their way from the agency office to this restaurant. It was typically where lost children were registered, with staff helping to contact their parents.

However, standing at the entrance of the registration office was a young girl with short wine-red hair who appeared to be elementary school age. She seemed to be talking to the staff member inside.

"That girl... I think she's..."

"What's wrong, Sayaka?"

Yukina hadn't caught on yet.

The next second, Sayaka walked directly across the street toward the missing persons office, approaching the wine-red-haired girl.

"Excuse me—are you by any chance the girl from the news these past few days... Eguchi Yume-chan?"

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Across the street from the restaurant—

"Eguchi Yume? Sayaka, do you... know this girl?"

Taking shelter under the awnings extending from the storefronts lining both sides of the street, Yukina examined the wine-red-haired little girl before her carefully.

She really was just a little girl. Though her hair showed signs of having been dyed and permed, and she'd applied some makeup and lip gloss in imitation of adults, judging from her height and youthful features, she was undoubtedly still in elementary school—nowhere near old enough for middle school.

Which was precisely why Yukina found it so surprising that Sayaka could identify her by name on sight.

Wait... why would Sayaka know such a young girl?

No, hold on—didn't Sayaka mention something about seeing her on TV news earlier...?

"Well... since you've been at school during the day these past few days, Yukina, you wouldn't really know. I only caught it myself because I've been bored watching the news during the daytime at Lady La Folia's place."

Sayaka scratched her cheek.

"It's about the hospital cases from this past week—over a dozen patients who've fallen into mysterious comas due to some unknown nightmare-inducing power..."

"Wait, didn't you mention that news to Master earlier, Sayaka?"

Yukina suddenly made the connection.

No wonder it had sounded familiar. They'd brought it up when discussing recent news at Master's office.

"Yeah."

Sayaka nodded lightly.

"Since I had nothing better to do during the day at the hotel and was getting bored, I paid a bit more attention to it. The news report mentioned that the coma victims included Eguchi Yume's classmates, Eguchi Yume's teacher, and even Eguchi Yume's parents..."

Huh?

Yukina froze.

At first, she'd assumed Sayaka had merely noticed the girl from a passing mention in the news. But now, looking at the identities of everyone on that coma list... they all had extremely close relationships with this little girl standing before them?

And judging by how the news framed it, the mysterious nightmare power that had put these people to sleep seemed to be—

Yukina pressed her lips together. She was beginning to understand why Sayaka had reacted this way.

"Um..."

Just as the War Dancer finished speaking, the wine-red-haired girl—who'd remained silent until now—suddenly took a delicate half-step backward, her expression showing a hint of fear as she lowered her head slightly.

"Big brother, big sister... you've got the wrong person. I don't know anything about this 'Eguchi Yume' you're talking about..."

"Huh? Really? But you look exactly like the girl from the news."

Hearing the girl deny it herself, Sayaka couldn't help but tilt her head, seeming to lose some confidence.

"Wait a sec, let me check. I'm pretty sure I had it right..."

She pulled out her phone, ready to look up the news right in front of the little girl.

Seeing that they didn't believe her, the wine-red-haired girl hastily added with renewed urgency:

"Please believe me, I'm really not this Eguchi whoever you're—"

Bzzzz—

Before she could finish, a light purple nightmare-inducing magical energy suddenly rippled outward through the air with the girl's body as its epicenter, completely without warning.

Oh no...

Eguchi Yume's mouth opened as she reached out, seemingly trying to stop it, but it was already too late. The nightmare energy expanded like an out-of-control barrier, enveloping all three of them in the blink of an eye.

The entire process—from start to finish—took less than half a second.

When the nightmare energy dissipated, Sayaka remained frozen in her original position, still holding the phone she'd pulled out to verify the news.

She stood there vacantly, her emerald eyes now tinted with faint traces of purple, as though shrouded in a hazy mist.

After about two seconds, Sayaka put away her phone, as if suddenly changing her mind, and turned around.

"Mmm... maybe I really did get it wrong. We should probably just head back..."

Yukina beside her cooperatively nodded.

"Yeah... you're right..."

The two girls turned to leave like mind-controlled NPCs.

Well—everyone except Bokue Keikain, that is.

"Seriously? Mental manipulation..."

The young man shook his head slightly in exasperation, then—under the nightmare girl's gradually shifting expression from disbelief to shock—raised his arms and gave both Yukina and Sayaka a light tap on their shoulders.

"All right, wake up."

"Mmm..."

"Eh...?"

Like having all abnormal status effects suddenly cleansed by Mikaela's Crucible, both girls trembled slightly where they'd been tapped. The purple mist rapidly cleared from their eyes, replaced by the rational clarity of their normal state.

"Wait, what just happened to us—"

"Were we hypnotized?"

"Pretty much."

Bokue moved his hands from their shoulders to their cheeks, giving each a gentle pinch.

"That's why you shouldn't go sticking your noses into random situations. Though the nightmare girl didn't mean you any harm, if I hadn't been here, you'd probably have needed to sleep for two or three days after getting back."

"N-nightmare girl?"

Sayaka blinked in confusion at first, then—as though suddenly connecting the dots—whipped her head around to stare at the nightmare girl still standing in place, now looking far more uncertain than before.

"Wait, so you really are—"

"Enough. This isn't our problem."

Before the War Dancer could finish, Bokue sighed helplessly and pulled her back.

"You just got hypnotized and you've already forgotten the lesson? Besides, Itogami Island is a demon sanctuary—things like this happen practically every day. If you tried to handle every case yourself, you'd never keep up. Remember: mind your own business. Let the hospitals and the island's Management Corporation deal with it. Plus, we should be heading back anyway. Weren't you just complaining about how hot it is today? Let's go back, take a bath, turn on the AC..."

"Taking a b-b-bath in broad daylight?!"

As if imagining something provocative, Sayaka's cheeks instantly flushed crimson.

By this point, Bokue had already started leading her and Yukina away in the opposite direction from Eguchi Yume, though his voice still drifted back clearly:

"Exactly. So save your energy."

"Mmm..."

The wine-red-haired girl remained standing in place, watching the three of them gradually disappear into the distance. Her slightly relieved expression couldn't quite hide a flash of curiosity and confusion.

That older brother just now—he seemed completely immune to her nightmare powers.

❁❁❁❁

At the same time, inside the newly constructed customs hall connecting Itogami Island to Kyoto following the island's relocation—

A long, straight-haired girl emerged from the security checkpoint dragging her luggage through the dense crowd, phone pressed to her ear mid-conversation.

"Kisaki, remember that your trip to Itogami Island has two objectives. The secondary objective—or rather, the official one—is investigating the giant dragon that appeared above the island two days ago. Your primary objective is recovering Eguchi Yume. She's a valuable asset of our Kusuki Happiness Enterprises and the key to activating Leviathan."

"Understood."

Ending the call with those two brief words, Kisaki Kiriha put away her phone and let out a soft breath.

"Kusuki Happiness Enterprises, huh? Sure, they're our Bureau of Astrology partners. But this trip to Itogami Island... I've got a far more challenging mission."

After all, based on intelligence reports, it seemed quite likely that those little sluts from the Lion King Organization had already gotten here first.