Sunlight filtered through my eyelids, still groggy, I thought, Morning already?, and buried my face deeper into the soft pillow that smelled so wonderfully nice. I wanted to sleep just a little longer...
"Nya... nya~."
Then, right next to my ear, came a sweet voice that practically seared my brain.
"...Wha!?"
I let out a dumbfounded noise as I pulled my face away and opened my eyes. There was Kuroka, dressed in a white robe so thin that her pale skin showed through. And from the way I was positioned, it seemed my face had been completely buried in her cleavage.
The moment I realized this, my brain short-circuited with embarrassment, I went bright red and froze. This wasn't the same kind of blood rush I'd felt when Kuroka had been punched during the battle with the earth spider… What the heck was I supposed to do!?
Oh right! I didn't have a girlfriend in my previous life either! I thought desperately. I have no idea how to handle this! Not that I've never been confessed to before, so it's not like I'm completely hopeless with girls! But why am I even trying to convince myself!?
My thoughts spiraled off in some completely unrelated direction, but my body was frozen as if in paralysis.
Eyes wide open, my gaze bounced awkwardly between Kuroka's face and chest, unsure of what to do, when suddenly the door opened and Magari-sama stepped in.
Seeing the two of us, he let out a sigh, clearly exasperated.
"What's this? I thought something serious was going on when your mind suddenly seemed clouded, but you're just... horny, huh? Still, I have business to discuss. I'll come back in an hour, finish up by then."
With that, Magari-sama started to leave the room.
"Wait! Wait a minute, Magari-sama! Please, can you explain everything now? The whole situation, including why this is happening!"
"Ugh, noisy nya!"
My loud shout apparently woke Kuroka as well. I took another look at her.
Her hair was down, different from usual, her kimono was loose and slipping off her shoulders, and she was rubbing her sleepy eyes with a paw-like gesture. Damn, what was this, a secret weapon!?
"Kuroka-san? Why on earth were you sleeping in the same futon as me?"
I blurted out politely without meaning to, guess I was still too confused.
"Nya~? Why are you turning red and looking away like that, Ikki? Didn't anyone teach you to look at people when you talk to them?"
She leaned closer with a mischievous grin, damn it, she never forgets her pranks, even at times like this!
"Kuroka, teasing can wait. Since you're up, I'll have breakfast prepared. Also, the Yasaka princess wants to speak with you both about involving you in this mess, so be ready."
With those words, Magari-sama left the room.
"Hmph... that kind of killed the mood," Kuroka muttered.
"Yeah, whatever. But could you at least put on some proper clothes?"
Well, even her usual outfit couldn't exactly be called "proper," but I was used to it by now.
After Kuroka changed (and I hurriedly evacuated the room), I asked why she had slept together with me in the first place. She responded cheerfully:
"It was for Ikki's treatment, nya"
She explained, "I woke up right after the barrier broke, but Ikki was covered in blood with broken bones in both arms and legs, plus torn muscles. Mikeneko-baasan was there, so we brought him here quickly and had him drink the medicinal bath."
Ah, medicinal baths. In this world, those must be pretty amazing...
"But the bath alone wouldn't have healed him completely for two days, so I decided to add my immortal healing arts too"
That explained the thin white robe, like the time in the anime when Koneko Toujou was healing Issei with her mystical arts, she had a similar outfit.
"But I want to ask you something too. Why were you in such bad shape? It didn't look like an ordinary injury."
Right, my body felt like it was about to explode from the inside out. It was hard to believe the earth spider did that…
"That was the backlash from using an advanced technique of the Ittou Shura. I told you about it before, right?"
"Yeah, I heard it lets you unleash your full power for one minute."
"Exactly. When Kuroka got knocked away, I started using Ittou Shura, but it barely damaged the earth spider. I couldn't just abandon Kuroka, so I risked everything and put all the remaining time's power into one strike."
"So that's why you ended up like that?"
"Ittou Rasetsu. If you could strengthen your body and muscles perfectly, you might avoid that damage, but after trying it out, I realized 'it' can't be controlled that precisely."
Maybe with enough training I could get there, but it would require activating it hundreds of times, meaning I'd need a thousand Phoenix Tears to heal all the injuries and exhaustion. Impossible.
"Well... anyway, thank you so much, nya If it were only me, I definitely would have died."
"No, thank you. Since you stayed with me all night treating me, right?"
Just then, a fox-eared maid came in to announce that breakfast was ready, so we paused and ate. Afterwards, we were led to the room where the Yasaka princess was waiting.
Though it was morning, the room was dark, sealed off deep within the mansion. A mysterious blue lantern lit the room eerily... was that a fox fire?
At the back of the room stood a beautiful fox-eared woman with nine tails. I'd seen her in the anime, the Yasaka princess. But was it normal for Youkai women to wear such revealing clothes like Kuroka, bare shoulders and chest? Was that the latest fashion among youkai? Her outfit looked like an oiran style.
Also present were Magari-sama and a tengu attendant.
But the most surprising thing was the child beside the Yasaka princess, a blonde fox-eared girl with six tails. It was unmistakably Kunou. Thank you very much!
She looked like a lower elementary school student and seemed very curious about us. As I was thinking that, the Yasaka princess began to speak.
"Thank you for coming. I am Yasaka, who oversees the hidden Kyoto. This is my daughter, Kunou. Please remember us."
"Ni... nice to meet you! I am Kunou," said the girl shyly.
Since this was three years before the original story, Kunou was still a bit inexperienced. Watching her was heartwarming.
"I'm Arima Ikki. Thank you for treating my injuries."
"Kuroka-nya, well... it was actually you who got us caught up in this, though," she said.
Damn, Kuroka! Was that really necessary? I can't picture her ever lowering her head humbly to anyone, but come on, at least try to behave decently! The tengu attendant was glaring at her hard!
"Kuroka, if you keep being rude, should I call you 'Nurarihyon'?"
When Magari-sama said that, Kuroka made a disgusted face.
"Ugh! Please don't call the Kanto boss over something like that, nya! Okay, okay, I get it."
Kuroka actually understood! Amazing. So she actually knows Nurarihyon!?
"That's alright. This time, we are the ones who owe you both thanks and apologies. We don't expect any special manners from you."
When the Yasaka princess said that, the tengu stopped glaring, though he still looked sharp.
"Sigh. Don't spoil this black cat too much," Magari-sama sighed, but since the princess gave permission, he seemed to give up.
"Well then, once again, Arima Ikki and Kuroka, we apologize for involving you in Youkai affairs and putting you in danger. And thank you for defeating the earth spider."
With that, both the princess and Kunou bowed deeply.
"No, it was an accident that we got caught up in this. We also share the blame for ignoring Magari-sama's warnings, but your words are much appreciated."
Honestly, as a regular person, being bowed to by such dignified beauties and a cute girl was a bit overwhelming.
After raising their heads, they said, "Thank you."
"But the thanks don't end there. Your serious injuries aside, if the earth spider had kept rampaging, we can't imagine the damage it would have caused. We were planning to send our elite troops, but it's not an opponent you can easily beat."
"That's right. For Kanto, too, this is a case of having humans settle our mistakes. Besides the Yasaka princess, we'll be sending a reward too, got to save face somehow."
So that meant we'd get a reward from both the Kanto and Youkai organizations for defeating the earth spider? Whoa, this is huge!
"Just checking, do you have anything you want as a reward? If not, we'll decide for you."
A reward... I wasn't expecting that.
"I don't have any special requests. How about you, Kuroka?"
"Nothing in particular, nya~."
When we answered that, Magari-sama dropped a shocking proposal:
"Well then, from Kanto's side, how about training under me?"
"W-what are you saying, nya!?"
Kuroka was stunned, but Magari-sama continued.
"I've heard from that black cat there that you're just an ordinary person. We'll have you come over via a transfer technique when the time is right... And of course, that black cat will train with you."
This… isn't this an opportunity I couldn't have wished for? I can't possibly measure the true strength of Magari-sama with my current abilities, but it's probably close to the original Son Goku, the very first and strongest master of the sage arts, if that's the case, there's no reason to hesitate.
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