Beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep…
As the obnoxious alarm echoed through the bedroom, the time had already slipped into the next morning.
Bright sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, casting rays on the wooden floor. The room was littered with remnants of the previous night's activities.
A pair of black cat ears perked up from the bed, near the headboard. The blankets shifted slightly, and a lazy, groggy voice emerged from beneath them.
"So noisy~ What's that sound?"
"Your alarm clock."
The blankets were pulled aside, and Keikain Fukuki sat up, stifling a yawn with his hand.
Ignoring Kuroka beside him, who was still squinting and mewling, trying to pull him back with her body, he got out of bed and walked to the desk facing the window. There, he silenced the alarm clock that had been incessantly buzzing on the desk's inner corner.
Only when the noise stopped did Kuroka, still curled up in bed, groggily open her half-asleep eyes and lift her head. One cat ear twitched up, the other drooped.
"You're going to that school again, huh? I have to say, the alarm clock is hands down the worst invention humans have ever made. Ugh… Wait, didn't your alarm sound different before, Keikei?"
"Couldn't be helped. I got a new one."
Keikain Fukuki released the alarm clock and turned to look at the cat-eared girl on the bed, her body half-propped up, like a mountain peak inverted.
"The last one was on the bedside table, but Kuroka punched it to pieces."
"W-Well, who told it to make such a loud noise? I was half-asleep, and it suddenly blared, nearly scaring the life out of me…"
Kuroka's eyes darted around, clearly lacking confidence.
The boy shrugged slightly: "So this time, I put the alarm clock on the desk. That way, you can't reach it from the bed."
"Mm…"
Kuroka puffed out her cheeks, ready to continue complaining about how alarms were the bane of civilization. But as her gaze fell back on him, the words caught in her throat.
The sunlight that had been streaming through the curtains now slanted across the boy's body, sharply outlining his lean yet powerful muscles.
"…What's wrong?"
Seeing the girl on the bed muttering incoherently, a question mark slowly formed above Keikain Fukuki's head.
Kuroka remained transfixed, her alluring red lips slightly parted.
"You're… so credible…"
"Credibility won't help. There's no time for that in the morning. We'll handle it when I get back tonight."
Keikain Fukuki shook his head, bent down to pick up the clothes scattered on the floor from last night, and added after a moment's thought:
"Besides, last night we didn't stop until we passed out. Even a yokai's body can't handle this kind of indulgence every morning."
"Every time you, a human, say something like that to a yokai, it gives me this weird sense of dissonance…"
Watching the boy gather the scattered clothes, Kuroka, now sitting up in bed, pouted slightly.
Then, she flung aside the other half of the blanket covering her, completely disregarding her lack of clothing. With a swift leap, she jumped off the bed and pounced on the boy heading toward the door, clinging to his back like an octopus.
Throughout this, the boy's figure didn't waver in the slightest, as if he'd anticipated her move all along.
Their skin pressed together, and the warmth and touch of each other were palpable. Keikain Fukuki turned his head and nuzzled the girl's cheek with his nose.
"At least put on some clothes first…"
"I don't want to~ We're at home, and no one will see us. What's the problem~"
Kuroka shook her head, humming playfully.
Her plan was simple: she'd already built up "credibility," and while she could always use magic to "clear negative status," a better solution was to get Keikain Fukuki's credibility up too.
That way, he wouldn't have to go to that school, and they could stay home all day, indulging in each other.
A win-win situation, truly something to celebrate.
Unfortunately… it didn't work.
Twenty minutes later, Keikain Fukuki, freshly washed and dressed, sat at the dining table in the living room. Beside him sat Kuroka, looking glum after being forced into a kimono.
Breakfast was sandwiches and milk. Keikain Fukuki had an egg and bacon sandwich, while Kuroka, being a Bakeneko, had hers filled with sardines and bacon, since cats love fish.
"Oh, did anyone reply to the post you made last night, Keikei?"
Kuroka took a bite of her sandwich. Despite being forced into clothes to avoid impropriety, she still acted up, swinging her legs under the table and using her exposed toes to scrape against the boy's calves.
"Let me check…"
Keikain Fukuki set down his glass of hot milk, freeing a hand to slap the hem of Kuroka's kimono, forcing her to straighten her back. Only then did he pull out his phone and log into the forum.
Returning to the post he'd made last night, there were, unsurprisingly, quite a few replies.
Some replied with "-6," others with "Who asked?" The rest mostly asked if it was real or just a prank prop.
"This is weird…"
Keikain Fukuki stared at the scrolling screen, slowly taking a bite of his sandwich.
Beside him, Kuroka finally recovered from her shock, her face slightly flushed as she leaned in.
"…What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Well, not exactly a problem."
Keikain Fukuki hesitated, shaking his head.
The forum, though run by Tokyo Jujutsu High, was accessible to ordinary civilians, especially paranormal enthusiasts, making it a gathering place for like-minded individuals.
But the High's purpose in creating the site was to leverage the internet's convenience to monitor paranormal incidents across Japan.
Put simply—early detection, early treatment.
Even the Keikain clan, Onmyoji with a thousand years of heritage, could only act "after receiving a commission." Let alone the Jujutsu Sorcerers, who were newcomers.
Expecting them to conduct 24/7 intensive carpet searches for paranormal phenomena across Japan was impossible, no matter how many hands they had.
Instead, they coaxed paranormal enthusiasts into posting on the forum, increasing efficiency.
But that didn't mean the Sorcerers just browsed passively. Sometimes, they replied to help requests or posts with genuine doubts.
The talismans on the finger he'd found last night were clearly the work of a Sorcerer. Yet, no "professional" had contacted him.
This wasn't typical Sorcerer behavior.
Unless—
Like lightning, a lightbulb flashed above the boy's head.
Keikain Fukuki closed his post and returned to the forum's main page, then opened his inbox.
Sure enough, there was an unread message, received last night, about two minutes after he'd posted. But by then, he and Kuroka were already… well, busy.
The message was from an account named Clear and Still Mind. Judging by the username, it wasn't their real name, but the sender's identity was stated upfront:
"Hello, I'm Tokishima Saeko, a third-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High. The item in your post is a Special-Grade Sealed Object belonging to Tokyo Jujutsu High, extremely dangerous. Please move away from it immediately and contact me at this number!"
The tone was polite, the urgency clear, followed by a string of digits.
Logically, there was nothing wrong with this. But Keikain Fukuki felt inexplicably annoyed.
What did they mean, "belonging to Jujutsu High"? He'd retrieved it, so how did it become their property?
And dangerous?
The boy glanced at the suitcase from last night, still on the table. The temporary sealing talismans he'd added were functioning perfectly.
Opening the case, the finger lay quietly in its slot, unchanged in position or direction, utterly docile.
Of course, if it so much as twitched, he'd blast it with a Great Heavenly Dragon Strike
Flexing to make you
After a moment's thought, Keikain Fukuki typed a reply:
"Hello, I'm Qin Shi Huang."