I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#531+532: Sitting Down with Ririu, Then I'll Have to Thoroughly Fill You Up

In any case, Serafall's move into Keystone Gate had become fait accompli, and the farce brought about by the now-physically-removed-from-Itogami-Island Kusuki Happiness Enterprises had completely concluded.

Time flew by to the next day. When Bokue woke, the second period at Saikai Academy had just finished.

According to yesterday's discussion, today's task involved adjusting the villa's teleportation array so tomorrow he could bring all the girls to the resort island for vacation (partying).

Today remained beautiful and sunny. However, since autumn's arrival had progressed some time now, temperatures no longer blazed hot like midsummer. Instead, several hints of crisp autumn freshness pervaded the air—perfect weather for travel and vacations.

And barring any surprises, this weekend's Saturday and Sunday would feature similar conditions.

Well, surprises wouldn't matter anyway.

After all, bad weather's fundamental cause was cloud clusters gathering to block sunlight, creating overcast skies or even rain.

But as long as you directly blasted away the cloud cover, sunny weather remained perfectly intact.

With this mindset, after Bokue shared a wave-tossed breakfast with Kuroka at the apartment, he set out for the seaside villa.

Well, it was literally just a few steps away.

In any case, when Bokue arrived at the villa entrance and pushed open the door to enter, the interior proved—as expected—completely quiet without a single person present.

Though this was perfectly normal.

Currently residing in this villa were only Serafall, Sona, and Yume. The latter was likewise a Saikai Academy student, just in the elementary division. So at this hour, she should theoretically have already departed for school alongside Rias and the others.

As for a certain Satan girl—even less worth mentioning. These past days, Serafall basically spent her days at Saikai Academy clinging to her little sister Sona.

In summary, the seaside villa should currently be empty.

Just like subway maintenance typically occurred after service hours, testing and adjusting the villa's teleportation array—with no one present—represented the optimal timing.

So then... begin.

Identically to the teleportation switch's location at Yasaka Shrine, the villa's teleportation array toggle had likewise been positioned by Bokue beside the entrance door.

No hesitation needed—after closing the main door, the young man directly pressed the switch.

Thud!

Like the Going Merry dropping from the sky and hitting a reef, as the teleportation array activated, the entire villa emitted a dull thud. Even the floor tilted at roughly fifteen degrees.

This... barring surprises, probably meant the teleportation coordinates weren't precise enough. During transfer, one corner of the villa's foundation accidentally ran aground on some beach rock.

Though mentally understanding what happened, Bokue still pushed open the entrance first.

Whoosh~

The moment the main door opened, cool ocean breeze blew inward from outside, accompanied by natural tidal sounds. Yesterday's newly created resort island presented itself before his eyes.

Looking outward from the entrance, the first thing entering view was the beach being continuously washed by waves, plus...

Thud!

Just then, a dull thud from upstairs interrupted the young man's thoughts.

Hm?

Bokue glanced upward questioningly.

The thud from upstairs clearly came from something toppling over. But considering this villa had only been whipped up for one emergency night initially, plus yesterday's expansion had just finished, basically nothing was inside.

Like how the second floor's bedrooms each contained only simple beds and air conditioning, with everything else built into the structure itself—shower heads, toilets, and so on in the bathrooms.

Logically, nothing should be capable of toppling over, right?

Out of curiosity, Bokue climbed the stairs to the second floor, arriving before the room that had produced the sound.

It was one of two rooms at the hallway's end.

Originally, when staying on that deserted island with Sayaka and La Folia, Bokue had preserved all the rooms they'd used, still leaving them for their original occupants.

And these rooms at the hallway's end were two master bedrooms.

One belonged to Serafall. The other belonged to Yume.

As for which room just made that sound—if he'd heard correctly, it should be...

After briefly recalling, Bokue gently pressed down on Yume's doorknob.

Creeeak—

As the door shaft rotated, the door slowly pushed open.

Inside, a certain nightmare girl still wearing only a thin nightgown stood beside the bed, small hands covering her forehead that had just gotten bumped.

"Ow... that hurt."

"Yume?"

Standing in the doorway, Bokue couldn't help raising an eyebrow.

"So you were home. I thought you'd already left for school with Rias and the others."

"..."

His words fell, yet no response came.

The nightmare girl standing beside the bed seemed to freeze upon hearing the young man's voice—like someone had cast a petrification spell, instantly halting in place.

"Yume?"

Bokue asked again.

This time, the nightmare girl finally reacted.

She slowly lowered both hands from her forehead, revealing the slightly reddened area where she'd just bumped herself. Behind her, bat-shaped demonic wings characteristic of nightmares spread open. From beneath her skirt, a heart-tipped tail emerged.

She looked up toward the young man in the doorway, pursing her lips while folding slender, pale arms across her chest.

"It's not Yume—right now it's Ririu!"

"...Personality switched again?"

Bokue's expression grew more subtle.

Indeed, when they'd met that second time the afternoon before yesterday, she'd apparently switched personalities. Completely different from the somewhat timid, weak-willed nightmare girl encountered that morning at the office—she'd become far more articulate and confident when facing others, more aggressive too.

Though describing it like that might be vague. More specifically—she'd transformed from a cute, timid girl into a bratty little gremlin you wanted to pin down and thoroughly discipline.

"Personality switch? Mm... you could say that~"

Ririu brushed back her light brown short hair, somewhat disheveled from just getting out of bed, proudly puffing out her small chest.

"After all, that dummy Yume usually calls me big sister. And Ririu's not playing hooky—I just don't want to see those boring kids at school, so I chose to stay home instead."

"Plus, didn't big brother say so yesterday? You said you'd come over this morning. Ririu was specially waiting in her room for you~"

Reaching this point, the nightmare girl padded barefoot across the wooden floor toward the young man at her doorway. She raised her defensively-folded arms into a "pick me up" gesture, unreservedly displaying the still-budding, tender lines beneath her thin silk nightgown. Smiling, she tilted her head.

"So, since you've discovered Ririu's home... won't you come sit for a bit?"

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Time was still early, and with nothing else pressing during the day, chatting with Ririu wasn't a bad option.

But Bokue hadn't forgotten he'd come here for actual business.

Today he needed to adjust the villa's teleportation array properly.

Get it working today, and they could use it tomorrow for the weekend.

In short—business first.

Scene transition to the downstairs parlor.

Two minutes ago, Ririu had been transforming into a little succubus, suggesting she and big brother "sit down together." Now Bokue had lifted her like a kitten and deposited her in a chair at the dining table, placing a plate of freshly prepared bacon and egg pasta before her.

"Eat breakfast first. After you're done, we'll handle the actual work."

"Hm? Actual work?"

Having just freshened up in the upstairs bedroom, Ririu still had traces of water at the corners of her mouth. She'd just picked up her fork when the young man's words made her look up curiously, blinking.

"What kind of work requires eating breakfast first? Could it be something very physically demanding... Ah, could it be big brother actually wants to do something fun with Ririu..."

"I need to calibrate this villa's teleportation coordinates."

Bokue's words were concise and to the point, giving the nightmare girl no room to run wild.

"We agreed yesterday that we'd bring everyone to this resort island for the weekend. Today I need to get all the preparations done... I mean legitimate preparations, at least not what you're thinking."

The young man corrected her while mentally complaining to himself.

Seriously, is telling dirty jokes and making raunchy comments some kind of racial trait for nightmares? When she's in the Yume personality, she's such a cute, innocent girl. But the moment she switches to Ririu, she transforms into a total bratty gremlin on the spot.

At this rate, she's practically catching up to Maria.

Mm, thinking back to yesterday, didn't Serafall mention something about nightmare talents naturally including abilities to stir up people's desires? Could it really be that emmm...

"Oh my~ so it's not about doing fun things? What a shame~"

Ririu lightly stroked her own cheek. That tender young face—which should have radiated pure innocence—displayed hints of mature seductiveness completely mismatched with her actual age.

"I thought Yume was finally going to achieve her dream. You know, Yume desperately wants to stay by big brother's side forever. She's probably already planning how to confess and marry big brother directly."

"...Is it really okay for you to wildly speculate about your other personality like that?"

A buffering icon practically appeared above Bokue's head.

"Ririu's not wildly speculating~"

The nightmare girl spoke while lowering her head to slurp some pasta, deliberately leaving some white creamy mushroom sauce at the corner of her mouth. She lifted her face with a slightly smug smile.

"Setting Ririu aside, for Yume, big brother's existence is like the only light—her salvation."

"That sounds a bit dramatic."

"Not at all—it's not dramatic in the slightest."

Ririu continued eating while speaking clearly. Under the table, her small bare feet—still unchanged since getting out of bed—dangled in the air, swinging back and forth continuously.

"Actually, what big brother said at the café yesterday morning was absolutely right. At that point, Yui... Yume's mental state really had reached the edge of attacking concrete. If not for big brother's words, both Yume and Ririu probably wouldn't exist anymore."

"Though this might seem unbelievable to big brother who 'has many friends,' unfortunately that's the reality."

"After all, because of her nightmare powers, Yume has always been despised by mom and dad. Her classmates kept their distance too, including the teachers at school. So throughout her entire life, not a single person has truly been kind to Yume."

"To Yume, big brother is the only person in this world who's ever cared about her... Oh, maybe that Serafall-neesan counts too?"

Reaching this point, Ririu suddenly paused her meal, tilting her head curiously to glance across the table at the empty surface before the young man.

Then she raised her slender, pale leg from beneath the table, pointing her soft toes to gently poke his knee.

"Hey, speaking of which, isn't big brother eating breakfast?"

"I already ate."

Bokue opened his eyes from his chin-propped, resting state to explain.

"Before coming here, I ate at home."

"With which big sister?"

"You don't know her."

"Mm-hmm, Ririu obviously knows that."

The nightmare girl smiled quite happily.

"After all, big brother has so many big sisters around him. So far, Ririu hasn't managed to recognize them all yet."

"You'll know everyone given time."

Bokue shook his head while reaching under the table to grab the nightmare girl's restless little foot.

"Also, if you're eating pasta, can you put your foot down? Aren't you tired sitting like that?"

Their dining table remained the original family-style model—designed for household use with horizontal dimensions of roughly eighty centimeters.

So at this close distance, even with Ririu's small frame, she could easily rest her foot on his leg.

If she'd simply propped her foot up, that would be one thing.

But the problem was Ririu's movements were extremely restless. Her round, delicate toes kept hooking and rubbing against his pant leg.

As time passed, Bokue could clearly feel his opponent Ririu's battle line had advanced significantly forward...

Honestly speaking, if Maria or Lady Sheila were sitting across from him right now, Bokue would've already turned them into little fountains.

"Mm~ Ririu thinks it's fine though."

The nightmare girl didn't retreat but advanced instead. Not only did she completely ignore the young man's advice, she even increased the intensity of her provocation.

"Oh? Or could it be big brother can't handle even this much? You can't resist wanting to do this-and-that with Ririu?"

"Big brother really is weak then, hehe. Earlier at the café, you were saying you liked big sisters, but after Ririu teases you just a little, you can't hold on anymore."

"Hehehe~ just admit it honestly—big brother actually likes girls like Ririu, right?"

Bokue: "..."

Honestly speaking, if he could endure this, would he still be Bokue Keikain?

"Sigh, forget it..."

Eh?

As if suddenly deciding something, under the half-surprised, half-confused gaze of the girl across from him, Bokue abruptly rose from the table.

He circled around the dining table to Ririu's side, scooping the small nightmare girl up from her chair in one motion.

"Then you can finish breakfast later. Otherwise... we might not have enough capacity allocation soon."