— — — — — —
Even though Yukari kept calling Suika Ibuki an "uninvited guest," you couldn't deny it—she really was a perfect fit for parties.
At first, the courtyard gathering had felt more like a formal dinner than a proper celebration, mostly because of everyone's different personalities.
But once Suika had made a few rounds with her legendary persuasion (and her even more legendary drink), the mood lightened up fast. Well, except for Saigyou Ayakashi, who only had eyes for Veyron.
But overall? The party ended on a high note, everyone enjoying themselves to the fullest.
Once the festivities wrapped up, Yuuka Kazami didn't hang around in the Netherworld. She had Veyron open a space door to her sunflower field and left almost immediately.
Suika asked Yukari to open a gap straight to Mt. Ooe, and just like that, she was gone too.
After sending off those two, only Yukari and Veyron were still awake in the courtyard.
Saigyou Ayakashi had been knocked out cold the moment Veyron had handed her a cup of sakura wine infused with a heavy dose of Destined Death.
And as for Yuyuko Saigyouji? Suika had gotten her drunk enough that she was now dozing away on Yukari's lap, mumbling nonsense in her sleep.
And if you're wondering how a ghost like Yuyuko even can get drunk—don't. Somehow, she's drunk. That's all that matters.
. . .
"Mind giving me a hand getting them back to their rooms?"
Yukari was already half-lifting Yuyuko off her lap as she turned to ask Veyron.
"No problem."
Veyron stood up, and the half-conscious Ayakashi hanging off of him got dragged up with him.
Once inside the main building, Yukari gently laid Yuyuko down in the inner bedroom and gestured for Veyron to do the same with Ayakashi. He blinked, a little curious.
"They sleep in the same room?"
"They are technically the same person. Wouldn't it be weirder if they didn't?"
"Fair point."
He peeled Ayakashi off of him and placed her on the futon next to Yuyuko. The two pink-haired girls now lay side by side, peaceful in sleep. With a flick of his finger, the blanket rose and settled over them, guided by telekinesis.
. . .
Back outside, Yukari pointed at the east and west wings of the house.
"The layout we agreed on back then had one room for each of us. Since we couldn't find you at the time, I took the west room and left the east one for you... Wanna switch?"
"I get a room here too?"
"Of course. I'm an 'outsider' here too, just like you. I get one room, you get the other."
"Well, I won't say no."
No reason to turn it down, really. So, he technically had a room in the Netherworld now, still his main base was Eientei.
Aside from the first few nights when he'd slept in the east room just for the novelty, he barely ever stayed there.
Part of it was just habit—he was used to Eientei, after all. And the other part... well.
"Mhm~"
He was just pulling his arm free from Ayakashi when she gave a little sleepy whimper, still clinging onto him.
Every time he stayed the night here, Ayakashi's nature as the embodiment of "death" drew her to him like a magnet—always ending up in his bed by morning, like some kind of sleepwalking homing missile.
But now that she'd been separated from him, she stirred. Sleep wasn't exactly necessary for someone like her, so she woke almost immediately.
Her eyes misty and half-lidded as they landed on him.
Then her face lit up with sleepy joy, and she opened her mouth—
Veyron: "...…"
The flame of destined death formed at his fingertip. And in the very next second, Ayakashi had popped his finger in her mouth and started sucking on it.
That warm, wet sensation wrapped around him, and he reflexively teased her tongue just a little with his fingertip.
---
Back in the courtyard—
Yuyuko sat sipping tea, watching the sunrise in the human world through one of Yukari's gaps. Her face flushed slightly as she felt something strange on her tongue.
Looks like Mr. Veyron and little Ayakashi are awake now.
Honestly… that little rascal. Why does she have to be so greedy every morning?
Eh?!!
Wait. Wait. Wait
Something's different today.
"…Yuyuko?"
Yukari, who was lounging nearby, noticed something was off and called out.
"Huh? Oh—I'm fine," Yuyuko replied with a small wave.
Yukari: "..."
Did I even ask if you're okay?
Frowning a little, Yukari couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously off about Yuyuko this morning. But with too little to go on, she kept her suspicions to herself… for now.
---
A short while later—
After enjoying the sunrise, Veyron and Ayakashi wrapped up their slightly intimate morning routine in the east wing.
And so, one man, two yokai, and one ghostly lady sat together beneath the fully bloomed sakura tree and shared a calm, pleasant breakfast.
. . .
After the meal—
Yuyuko dragged Ayakashi back inside with her, planning to interrogate her other half about what exactly happened this morning.
. . .
Meanwhile, back in the courtyard, Yukari casually sliced open a gap with a flick of her finger.
On the other side of the gap—
A massive serpent, hundreds of meters long and covered in ash-gray scales, slithered fiercely through the mountain valleys.
A shrine maiden—dressed in a red-and-white outfit with armored plates over her shoulders—chased it down. Sword in hand, she bounded from treetop to treetop before launching herself into the air. With a shout, she brought down a powerful slash right at the serpent's head.
The wounded serpent, enraged and desperate, whipped around to bite her, falling straight into her trap.
Within ten seconds, the beast that once devoured entire villages was decapitated—its corrupted soul extracted and purified before it could fuel other monsters.
As her senses returned and the haze lifted from her eyes, the shrine maiden looked toward Yukari's gap in the sky and nodded.
"That thing was easily top-tier under the great yokai level," Yukari murmured as she closed the gap.
Veyron nodded. "At this rate, she'll reach the same level as you guys soon enough. Once she hits stage four, she'll truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of you."
"…Are you seriously telling me you still don't know why I showed you that?" Yukari gave him a long, meaningful stare. Her left eye practically said "Want it", while her right clearly read "Now."
Veyron sighed. "Hey, it's not like I want to. But that Gene Lock is something only humans are supposed to be able to activate."
He shrugged. "Yuyuko pulled it off because, even though she's been split into three parts, the 'human half' is still pure enough to qualify."
Yukari narrowed her eyes, pensive. "…Who would've thought? I raised Yuuka from a tiny little yokai into a full-blown monster… and turns out, she was human all along? Tsk, tsk."
She clicked her tongue, half amused, half annoyed. "The Flower Master of the Four Seasons—human for hundreds of years, and nobody had a clue. Not even her, right?"
She recalled the night of the banquet: the moment she saw Yuuka overpower Suika with nothing but brute force, it all clicked. If Yuyuko could unlock the Gene Lock, then surely Yuuka must've done it too.
"…And if, just maybe, there are others…"
Veyron smirked, propping his chin up with one hand. "Well, since you've already figured it out, no point in hiding it anymore."
"Yeah, you're right—it is a human-only ability. But I've figured out a loophole. I can bypass the rules that restrict it… and make it possible for non-humans to unlock their Gene Lock too."
.
.
.