I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#525+526: Young Wife Acquired √—Just How Many Girlfriends Does Big Brother Have Anyway?

Two minutes later, inside the familiar café, the three sat at a window booth.

"Oh~ so she's a little nightmare sister?"

Sitting beside Bokue, Serafall stirred the coffee on the table before her while staring wide-eyed with curiosity at the nightmare girl across from them.

"You know Bokue-kun, right? So what's wrong—are you in some kind of trouble? Speak up boldly—this big sister will help you solve it!"

Whether she hadn't quite snapped out of her earlier Levi-tan world tour state or was still invested in her magical girl role, Serafall's face radiated enthusiasm and concern.

Though anyone could see that the nightmare girl named Eguchi Yume currently wasn't in great shape.

Not only did her small face look somewhat pale, but the area around her eyes had darkened noticeably. She looked exactly like someone who'd been up all night.

A child still in elementary school shouldn't have any reason to stay up all night.

If there was a reason, it could only be because she'd encountered something terrible...

"I... I..."

Yume tried to speak, but each time, her voice broke before the words came out.

Drip...

A tear the size of a bean slid down the girl's cheek, falling into the cup of hot cocoa before her.

Yume's tears fell one after another, her voice becoming choppy and broken from crying.

"Last night... I went to the hospital to visit... Mom and Dad, and my teacher and classmates, but... they still haven't woken up..."

"Haven't woken up?"

Serafall exchanged a puzzled glance with the young man beside her.

Though she'd been on Itogami Island these past few days, she hadn't paid much attention to local news. Plus, only Bokue, Sayaka, and Yukina had gone to the office yesterday, so she had no idea about Yume's situation.

"Simply put, the nightmare power inside Yume affected her parents, teacher, and classmates, putting them all into a deep sleep."

Bokue provided a concise recap.

Serafall immediately understood.

"Oh~ so it's a case of losing control of her powers?"

"Not exactly."

Bokue shook his head.

He didn't think Yume's power could really be called "out of control." Though yesterday on that street near the Lion King Organization office, Yukina and Sayaka had nearly fallen victim... no, actually they had fallen victim.

Fortunately, Bokue had been present and directly helped dispel it instantly with a metaphorical Crucible cleanse.

But that had only happened because Sayaka ignored Yume's protests and forcibly tried to verify her suspicions.

So from a rigorous standpoint, Yume's power wasn't out of control.

Rather, it was "passively triggered by external stimuli."

"At least yesterday when she had drinks with me here and afterward when we shopped at the mall, everything was fine."

Bokue said.

"Oh~"

Serafall drew out the syllable, though her expression grew increasingly strange.

"Having drinks, then shopping—could it be that yesterday, Bokue-kun, you were on a date with little Yume here?"

"Of course not..."

Bokue's face filled with exasperation.

Yesterday Yume herself had said the same thing. Now today, Serafall was at it again.

Why did everyone insist on interpreting things as a date? Besides, why would he need to date an elementary school girl?

"But Bokue-kun, what you just described—those are exactly the kinds of things boys and girls do on dates, you know?"

Serafall tilted her head.

"..."

After a brief silence, Bokue shook his head and decided to ignore this silly magical girl for now.

He turned his gaze directly to Yume, still crying across the table.

"There's something I need to clarify first. From what I know, Yume, your nightmare powers don't just lose control randomly. So I want to know—what exactly caused your nightmare powers to affect your parents, classmates, and teacher?"

"It's... because..."

The nightmare girl's tears continued falling one after another, her normally cute voice trembling with sobs.

"They found out I'm a nightmare, so... everyone bullied me. Even Mom and Dad... hate me..."

I see.

"Ah..."

Feeling like he'd grasped the full picture, Bokue leaned back slightly against the booth's backrest, lifting his hot cocoa for a sip.

Clearly this was a tragedy caused by bullying at both school and home.

"If that's the case, then I think what you did was completely right, Yume."

"...Eh?"

The nightmare girl wiping her tears froze, looking up at the young man across from her with disbelief.

"B-but Ririu is a bad child... Ririu did bad things. Ririu... shouldn't exist in this world..."

"So what? Feeling like you want to die?"

Bokue said through his straw with a sidelong glance.

"Here's a suggestion: whenever you feel like dying, first consider whether someone else deserves to die instead. Like, for instance, how I literally flattened Kusuki Happiness Enterprises' entire headquarters last night."

"You can't just focus on my act of destroying their headquarters without considering why I destroyed it. Seriously, if that Kusuki Kazuomi hadn't inexplicably tried to steal my Itogami Island, would I have needed to take him out?"

"By that same logic, Yume—if your classmates and teacher hadn't bullied you, and if your parents hadn't neglected you, would you have needed to passively trigger your nightmare powers for self-protection?"

"But..."

"What's there to 'but' about? What else could you have done?"

Bokue shrugged.

"Were you planning to challenge concrete by yourself?"

"I..."

Having heard this much, Yume seemed to have an epiphany. She froze completely, even her tears stopping.

Serafall beside them looked utterly astonished.

"Th-that's all it took to console her? Miraculous healing, doctor..."

"You're too kind."

Bokue removed his straw and tilted his head back to drain the cocoa in one go.

"Though more accurately, it's from long experience with illness."

❁❁❁❁

Meanwhile, at the penthouse apartment suite atop the Keystone Gate, the blonde girl deep in sleep was jolted awake by a sudden phone call.

Having fully switched into vacation mode, Asagi didn't even open her eyes before grabbing her phone and bringing it to her ear.

"Hello? Who is it?"

"It's me."

A steady middle-aged male voice mixed with faint wind sounds came through the line.

"Your teacher called me earlier. Said you didn't come to class today, Asagi."

"Huh? Oh, it's Dad!"

Suddenly recognizing the voice on the other end as her father, Asagi's drowsiness vanished instantly as she shot upright from the blankets.

"Ah... how should I put this? Um, right... I accidentally overslept today, so then I just... ahaha..."

"Never mind, I already requested time off for you. I was just worried you might be feeling unwell, so I called to check. After all, you haven't been living at home recently, so I can't ask your mother about your specific situation."

Aiba Sensai said flatly over the phone.

"Ahaha, thanks for your concern, Dad. I'm fine—just pulled an all-nighter last night..."

Asagi laughed it off, changing the subject.

"By the way, why's there so much wind noise on your end? Did you buy into American stocks or something?"

"...Something came up. This morning I received notice that Kusuki Happiness Enterprises' headquarters was attacked and completely destroyed last night. I'm at the site now, discussing how to handle things moving forward."

Aiba Sensai's voice paused, his tone rising slightly with a light hum, then suddenly becoming serious.

"Wait! What's that on the ocean surface... an island?!"

"An island? Where would there be islands around Itogami Island?"

Asagi didn't understand.

Just then, her computer—which she'd turned off last night—suddenly lit up with all screens blazing. An alarm sounded accompanied by Mogwai's voice.

"Young Miss! We've got a huge problem! Something over four thousand meters long is rapidly approaching Itogami Island!"

"Huh?!"

<><><><><><><><>

Rewinding two minutes, at Itogami Island's industrial district on the outer edge—several middle-aged men in business suits stood atop the completely leveled ruins of Kusuki Happiness Enterprises, fierce sea winds whipping at their ties.

Itogami Island's area was considerable, which meant even the industrial zones were divided into multiple sections.

Unlike other factories, major enterprises like Kusuki Happiness Enterprises that had made a name for themselves on Itogami Island had contracted an entire industrial zone—or rather, an entire small artificial island—as their corporate office territory.

But now it had vanished, as though it had never existed. Like the entire artificial island had been restored to factory settings.

The original skyscrapers were gone, vegetation and roads had all turned to nothing. Only the artificial island's most basic foundation remained, bare and exposed. Looking across it resembled a vast, endless metal plain.

This was the scene that had greeted them when they'd first arrived this morning.

Aiba Sensai—as a city councilor of Itogami Island, he'd only received the news this morning.

As a middle-aged corporate slave who'd adapted through years of political career to sleeping at midnight and waking at six AM, when he'd received the phone call upon waking this morning, he'd actually thought his subordinate was talking nonsense from lack of sleep. He'd even chewed them out in the car.

But when he'd been dragged to the Kusuki Happiness Enterprises site, he'd discovered the news was actually true.

A massive enterprise occupying an entire small artificial island had genuinely evaporated overnight—and in the literal, physical sense.

Though Itogami Island was a demon sanctuary where most citizens were either demons themselves or at least carried some demon bloodline, meaning various magic flying around the streets daily was fairly common—as long as things didn't get too extreme, at most the island's Special Ward Security Team would impose some minor restrictions.

But directly wiping clean an entire artificial island overnight? How was he supposed to explain that to the citizens?

This wasn't just about losing his position anymore—it was... there was literally no way to explain this!

Sea winds ruffled ties, waves crashed against the artificial island's embankment.

Just as Aiba Sensai's thoughts wandered between contemplation and stupor, a subordinate's voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Councilor Aiba."

"What is it?"

"Have you noticed... the fog seems to be getting thicker?"

"Fog?"

Aiba Sensai snapped back to awareness and raised his head to survey their surroundings.

Because all the buildings on the artificial island had completely vanished, nothing remained to obstruct vision across the entire island.

Which was precisely why visibility became increasingly affected by air quality.

Aiba Sensai clearly remembered that when he'd arrived earlier, though some thin mist had lingered on the island, that was normal weather for coastal areas—it would typically dissipate gradually once the sun rose.

But now the fog had obviously thickened considerably, reaching levels where drivers would need hazard lights.

What was going on?

Just as Aiba Sensai wondered about this, an inadvertent glance made his hair stand on end.

Beyond the artificial island, within the vast sea fog, a mountain-sized silhouette vaguely emerged. It resembled an island—shaped like a whale's head viewed from the front. Just the portion above sea level rose hundreds of meters high.

In comparison, the artificial island they stood upon seemed as small as a dinner plate before that silhouette.

Then, across that enormous whale-head-like shadow, countless crimson eyes slowly opened.

!!!

Aiba Sensai's back instantly soaked through with sweat.

Simultaneously, the waves crashing against the artificial island's embankment grew larger.

❁❁❁❁

Meanwhile, inside the café beside the Keystone Gate's shopping center—

Having just drained his drink, Bokue hadn't even had time to set down the cup before his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Hmm? Who'd be calling at this hour?

Bokue pulled out his phone for a glance. It was actually Asagi Aiba calling.

"Asa~gi? Asagi? That's a girl's name, and it's saved by first name too. Girlfriend?"

Serafall leaned over curiously from beside him.

Bokue hummed in affirmation.

Across the table, Yume—who'd been spacing out—suddenly furrowed her small brows upon hearing that hum.

If she remembered correctly, yesterday big brother had said both Yukina-nee and Sayaka-nee were his girlfriends. Today another Asagi-nee had appeared.

'Mm~ just how many girlfriends does big brother have anyway?'

However, the little nightmare girl clearly wouldn't get a chance to voice that question. The young man clicked answer and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hey, what's up? Are you awake? I'm right by the shopping center now. What do you want to eat? I'll bring it up later..."

"Stop, stop! Don't talk about food right now!"

Asagi's urgent voice cut him off from the other end.

"We've got a huge problem! Bokue, remember those coordinates I sent you yesterday for Kusuki Happiness Enterprises?"

"Yeah, though there shouldn't be anything left there now..."

Bokue sounded puzzled.

Had he not cleaned up thoroughly enough when he'd rushed back last night?

That was impossible. He clearly remembered initializing the entire artificial island. What else could still be there?

"There is now."

Asagi's speech accelerated.

"Listen—something over four thousand meters long is approaching that location at extreme speed. It'll impact within ten minutes. If you don't want the entire Itogami Island flipped over, you'd better get over there and check it out."

"Oh, and my dad's there too!"

Four kilometers long...

Hearing that figure, Bokue couldn't help mentally visualizing it.

Four kilometers—what did that even mean? Currently, aircraft carriers worldwide averaged around three hundred meters or so. Four thousand meters would require lining up fifteen carriers end-to-end to match that length.

"What the hell could possibly be that long?"

Bokue's mood turned slightly complicated.

He wasn't particularly worried about this four-kilometer behemoth actually hitting Itogami Island.

After all, with magnetic field reinforcement, he could literally swing Itogami Island around to slice the sun in half. If they actually collided, who'd go flying was anyone's guess.

He was just curious what could possibly reach four kilometers in length.

Had it grown up eating miracle fertilizer? Or was miracle fertilizer its power source?

"Probably... the god-slaying weapon Kiriha Kisaki-san mentioned yesterday—Leviathan."

Through the phone, keyboard clicks sounded as Asagi's fingers flew.

"That Kusuki Happiness Enterprises apparently deployed some kind of bait in the waters near Itogami Island to attract Leviathan. Their original plan was to draw Leviathan over, then use all of Itogami Island's inhabitants as hostages to force Yume into entering Leviathan and controlling it with nightmare powers. But now Leviathan's arrived while Yume hasn't, and realizing the bait tricked it, Leviathan entered an enraged state. Then... you get the picture."