I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#467+468: Go Ahead and Get Settled, Next Door's Battle Rages

"La Folia, what are you..." Bokue's mouth twitched as he instinctively spoke up.

"Ah, Bokue-kun, you're here!"

Before the young man finished speaking, La Folia—who hadn't turned around once—dropped what she was doing the moment she heard his voice, as if by conditioned reflex. She turned around excitedly.

"See? I'm making rock sugar pear~"

"I... see that."

Bokue couldn't exactly say to her face that the process was wrong, just asking in confusion.

"So why are you making this, La Folia? Plus, if you wanted rock sugar pear, aren't there ready-made drinks at the supermarket?"

"Eh, those all have additives. Besides, the nutrition definitely isn't as good as making it yourself."

The silver-haired princess wagged her finger with a knowing expression.

"Though mainly it's because the supermarket ones don't work well enough. They don't soothe the throat at all."

"Soothe the throat?"

A large question mark appeared above Bokue's head.

What was this—autumn approaching so drinking rock sugar pear to prevent sore throats from dry weather? Being proactive?

La Folia raised an eyebrow: "Yeah, has Bokue-kun already forgotten? Last night you kept pouring into mine and Sayaka's throats... hmm? Right? Made both of us wake up this morning with our throat passages feeling somewhat sore..."

"??"

The question mark above Bokue's head became two.

Meaning he'd gone too hard and made them swell? Well... that wasn't impossible. After all, most people who'd drunk his milk so far weren't ordinary humans—weren't even human.

Like Nagisa, though he often went straight to her stomach, she was still a Primogenitor vampire. She didn't care about muscle strain—probably healed automatically before even feeling discomfort.

As for Yukina, since she didn't like that method, she'd never let him try from the start.

But La Folia and Sayaka were different. They were just ordinary mortals yet endured such intensity last night—having some discomfort was reasonable.

Just as Bokue was about to fall into thought, the silver-haired princess's laughter suddenly recalled his attention.

Following the sound, he saw La Folia covering her mouth with a somewhat amused expression.

"Alright, alright, I'm joking~ We don't have swollen throats. I just wanted to make it myself, so I bought ingredients to try... oh right, rather than this, you'd better go check on Sayaka first. She woke up this morning to find you gone and got pretty sad."

"Sad?"

Bokue was caught somewhat off-guard by this sudden shift. He was about to ask for details, but before speaking, sounds of a door opening came from the bedroom direction.

The next second, a certain Sword Shaman girl still wearing pajamas walked out from the room into the living room.

She seemed about to say something to La Folia but inadvertently glimpsed Bokue appearing in the living room. She froze in place, looking somewhat incredulous.

"Eh? Bokue, you... you came back?"

"Yeah."

Though feeling like that "you came back" somehow carried inexplicable resentment, Bokue still nodded.

The next second, Sayaka rushed before the young man with lightning speed, suddenly embracing him tightly. She buried her head forcefully into his chest, making muffled sounds.

"Why did you suddenly disappear this morning? Where... where did you even go? When I woke up I couldn't find you anywhere. I thought..."

"Huh? Didn't I say I had other business this morning?"

Ignoring the playful look the certain silver-haired princess messing with rock sugar pear was casting over, Bokue somewhat helplessly raised his hand to rub the Sword Shaman girl's chestnut hair.

"We were sitting on the living room sofa here. I told you I'd probably be back in the afternoon, then we'd go to Yukina's place together. Didn't I explain it clearly?"

"Uh..."

Hearing this, Sayaka immediately stopped.

She fell silent for five or six seconds, then cautiously lifted her head from Bokue's embrace like some small animal, revealing just her eyes.

"Was... was that a thing?"

"Yes, yes it was."

Bokue emphasized repeatedly.

"Otherwise what did you think happened, Sayaka? That I'd do it and not take responsibility, just run? Where would I even run to? Plus, would I need to run?"

"Ngh..."

The barrage of questions completely froze the Sword Shaman girl whose brain was already somewhat overloaded.

This time she took a full thirty seconds to sort through her thoughts and realize she'd misunderstood something. Her cheeks rapidly flushed.

But Sayaka didn't tsundere-ishly make excuses to hide her embarrassment. Ultimately, she just pursed her lips with a flushed face, muttering quietly.

"Could've at least woken us up to say something before leaving. We wouldn't have blamed you..."

"Got it. Will do next time."

Bokue cleared his throat lightly.

"Rather than this, since you remember now that we're supposed to see Yukina today, Sayaka, shouldn't we leave now?"

"Eh? Leave right now..."

Sayaka first froze, then showed some thoughtful expression.

"Well, I guess that's right. The timing works out. Before visiting, we should buy some gifts first. So for gifts, we'll buy..."

What, even gifts now? It's just meeting a friend—being so formal made it seem like meeting parents... Bokue thought while mentally facepalming.

Looked like this Sword Shaman girl still hadn't recovered from her overloaded brain state.

Thinking this, Bokue ignored her protests and wordlessly lifted Sayaka in his arms right there. He made a "be right back" gesture to La Folia, then vanished with the Sword Shaman girl from the suite's living room in a flash.

❁❁❁❁

The next second, when Bokue and Sayaka reappeared, they were already inside the familiar apartment building.

Because of the two-units-per-floor design, only Nagisa and Yukina lived on the entire floor, so the corridor was completely quiet with apartment doors tightly closed.

But the next second, this silence was broken.

The apartment door next door at Nagisa's place suddenly opened. The Primogenitor girl carrying a trash bag emerged, apparently about to go downstairs to throw out garbage.

Seeing Bokue and Sayaka who'd just appeared in the corridor outside, she seemed slightly surprised.

"Oniisan and Sayaka-san, you're here! Oh right, right—Yukina-chan told me you were coming today. She just went out to buy groceries and gave me her house key. Told me if I saw you arrive to let you in first. You two can go inside first to do... sit for a bit."

Bokue: "..."

Nagisa, did you just almost say "do it for a bit"?

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Bokue and Sayaka entered the house and sat down first.

Sayaka still hadn't recovered from her earlier brain overload state. After Nagisa helped open the door, she was pulled inside by Bokue in a daze. Not until the soft sensation of the sofa transmitted from beneath her did she finally somewhat regain awareness.

She sat on the living room sofa, turning her head right to look. The gradually reddening sunlight from the south-facing balcony shone through the window, falling on the living room floor and reflecting scorching heat waves.

Fortunately, the AC was running inside. Apparently, before leaving, Yukina had anticipated they'd arrive early and deliberately left the living room AC on.

"Yukina... went out to buy groceries."

The brief buffer time allowed the Sword Shaman girl's previously full-capacity brain to finally catch a moment's respite. After scanning around once, she muttered to herself quietly.

Wait... hold on...

Less than two seconds after speaking, Sayaka seemed to finally catch on. She turned toward the young man beside her, blinking rapidly.

"Wait, why would Yukina go out to buy groceries at this time?"

"Probably wants to keep us for dinner."

Bokue answered offhandedly.

While speaking, he also observed this apartment.

Just like Yasaka's shrine, Nagisa and Yukina's apartment had also had its original location spatially connected to the top of the Keystone Gate by him.

The advantage of doing this was being able to spatially transfer designated parts of buildings without changing the overall structure. Though the main body was no longer in its original place, at least it still looked right—avoiding making developers screech.

The disadvantage was the operational difficulty. Currently, aside from Bokue himself, probably only Natsuki Minamiya after fully recovering her power could manage this.

After all, Natsuki was the originator of this method. The prison barrier where she'd once lived was constructed on similar principles.

Now, to avoid shocking Sayaka too much at once, Bokue had temporarily returned the apartment to its original position.

"That's not what I mean!"

Sayaka pursed her lips.

"I mean, why would Yukina go buy groceries just because we're coming?"

"Is... there a problem with that?"

Bokue raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Of course you buy more groceries when people are coming for dinner. Besides, it's already past three in the afternoon. Dinner's at six. Can't exactly go shopping at five, right?"

"But treating us so much like guests..."

Sayaka felt somewhat embarrassed.

Bokue glanced at her sideways: "If I remember correctly, about five minutes ago you were thinking about buying gifts."

"G-gifts, that was...!"

The Sword Shaman girl's cheeks flushed instantly. She wanted to defend herself but couldn't think how to phrase it, only stammering there.

But Bokue had already risen from the sofa, walking toward the TV positioned against the wall facing the couch.

"Anyway, Yukina probably won't be back for a bit. Let's watch some TV."

"Don't! N-no need...!"

Sayaka instinctively leaned forward, raising her hand to grab Bokue, pinching his sleeve to pull the young man back.

"Alright, alright, just sit still. Yukina's not back yet, so don't touch this and that. Be more restrained at someone else's place. This isn't your own home."

"?"

Having just sat back down on the sofa, Bokue raised a question mark at these words.

He turned his head to stare seriously at the Sword Shaman girl for a moment.

"Aren't you being a bit too nervous, Sayaka?"

"N-nervous? I'm not."

Sayaka stubbornly refused to admit it with a flushed face.

"Besides, it's just coming to Yukina's place. Why would I be nervous? Yukina and I used to live in the same dorm..."

Bokue: "..."

Though her words sounded logical, any observant person could tell—this Sword Shaman girl was definitely nervous.

Actually, even Sayaka herself knew that saying she wasn't nervous would be a lie.

After all, she'd always been the one warning Yukina to watch out for bad men. Including when first meeting Bokue, she'd shown clear hostility toward him right in front of Yukina. Yet now she'd gone and done it herself first.

Made her look inconsistent.

Precisely because of this, since entering and sitting down, Sayaka had already mentally rehearsed countless times how she'd confess to Yukina when she returned.

The entire spiel had been simulated in her head countless times, countless small details revised. But she was still nervous.

"Forget it. Looks like I need to help you decompress first."

Seeing the Sword Shaman girl beside him looking completely unable to relax, Bokue shook his head, then turned sideways to reach over and wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her over in one motion.

"Eep!?"

The sudden shift startled Sayaka. By the time she recovered, she found herself already straddling the young man's lap.

The two faced each other like this—a familiar angle and position.

"W-w-wait... wait! What are you doing, Bokue?!"

Sayaka's face instantly flushed red.

She clearly knew what would happen next once they got into this position. But right now they were at Yukina's place! Though Yukina had gone out shopping and wasn't home, still couldn't...

"I said I'm helping you relax. What else would it be?"

Bokue's hands didn't stop while speaking.

"That's not how you relax!"

Sayaka pressed down hard on her skirt hem with a flushed face.

"What if Yukina comes back and sees?!"

"She won't. Not that fast."

Bokue shrugged.

"Nagisa just told us Yukina just left to buy groceries. At minimum she'll take an hour and a half to return. Meaning we have at least a full hour."

"Plus, even if she does see, wouldn't that be perfect?"

The young man coaxed persuasively.

"We came here today specifically to tell Yukina about this anyway. If she sees directly, wouldn't that save us from explaining?"

"How is that perfect?!"

Sayaka was about to explode, but with her strength she couldn't hold Bokue back at all.

Soon, as the small piece of fabric was pushed aside, the completely flushed Sword Shaman girl suddenly sat up straight. Her form atop the sofa seemed to lift higher in thin air.

At the same time, in the apartment next door—

Having already gone downstairs to throw out trash and returned, Nagisa pressed both knees on the sofa, leaning against the wall-side backrest with her ear pressed to the wall, straining to listen.

Beside her was the Sword Shaman girl whose face was still flushed from being "psychologically counseled" an hour ago, still feeling the aftereffects.

Nagisa had been listening like this for nearly five minutes.

According to their plan, they'd pretend Yukina had gone out shopping. After Bokue and Sayaka arrived, they'd let them enter first. Then, at the right moment, they'd join the battle together.

But five minutes had already passed—why hadn't it started yet...

Just as Nagisa thought this, sounds from the apartment next door finally transmitted through the wall.

'Wait, this really won't work. What if Yukina comes back and sees... You—at least listen when people talk... ngh! Please, at least wait until we get back... After we're back, I'll agree to whatever you want, so at least here... kyaa!!!'