Beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep...
As the annoying alarm echoed through the bedroom, time had flown by, and morning had arrived.
Bright sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, landing on the wooden floor. Traces of the previous night were visible throughout the room.
A black cat ear pricked up from the bedding near the head of the bed. Accompanied by a slight stirring of the covers, a girl's lazy and somewhat groggy voice sounded out.
"So noisy~ What's that sound?"
"It's the alarm."
A corner of the quilt was lifted, and Hanakain Fubuki, covering his mouth as he yawned, sat up steadily.
Ignoring Kuroka beside him, who was still squinting, murmuring kittenish noises, and trying to keep him there with her body, he slid straight out of bed. He walked over to the desk facing the window and silenced the incessantly ringing alarm clock tucked away at the corner.
Only when the noise stopped did Kuroka, still curled up on the bed, groggily open her sleepy eyes and lift her head. One cat ear atop her head stood up straight, while the other drooped.
"Are you going out to that school thing again? Seriously, alarm clocks are the worst invention you humans ever came up with, bar none. Haaah (yawn)... Oh right, I remember your alarm didn't sound like this before, Fubuki?"
"Couldn't be helped. I got a new one."
Hanakain Fubuki took his hand off the alarm clock and turned back to look at the cat-eared girl on the bed, who was now propped up on her hands, leaning forward in a pose that made her impressive curves hang like inverted mountains, their peaks pointing down.
"The last one was on the bedside table, and you smashed it with one punch, Kuroka."
"W-Well, who told it to suddenly make such a loud noise! I was half-asleep, and it just went off! Scared me half to death..."
Kuroka's gaze drifted, her confidence clearly wavering.
The young man shrugged slightly. "That's why I put the alarm on the desk this time. You can't reach it while lying in bed."
"Hmph..."
Kuroka puffed out her cheeks, about to continue ranting about how alarms were a terrible invention, but as her gaze fell back onto him, the words caught in her throat.
The sunlight that had previously streamed through the curtain gaps onto the floor now slanted across the young man's body, clearly outlining the lean yet powerful lines of his muscles.
"...What's wrong?"
Seeing the person on the bed suddenly go quiet after mumbling, a question mark slowly formed above Hanakain Fubuki's head.
Kuroka continued to stare blankly, her alluring red lips slightly parted.
"I'm feeling it..."
"Feeling it won't do any good. There isn't much time in the morning. Wait until I get back tonight, and I'll take care of you then."
Hanakain Fubuki shook his head, bending down to pick up the clothes scattered on the floor from last night. After a thought, he added.
"Besides, last night we went at it until you passed out before stopping. Now you want to start again this morning? Even if yokai bodies are sturdy, you can't just indulge like this, can you?"
"Every time I hear you, a human, say things like that to a yokai, big sister gets this strange sense of displacement..."
Watching the young man pick up the scattered clothes piece by piece, Kuroka, now sitting up in bed, pouted slightly.
Then, she threw off the other half of the blanket covering her. Completely ignoring the fact she wasn't wearing anything, she leaped nimbly off the bed and pounced onto the young man who was about to walk out the door, latching onto Hanakain Fubuki's back like an octopus.
Throughout this, the young man's figure didn't waver in the slightest, as if he had anticipated she would do exactly this.
Their skin touched, clearly conveying each other's body heat and texture. Hanakain Fubuki turned his head and rubbed his nose against the girl's cheek.
"Shouldn't you put some clothes on first..."
"This kitty won't~ We're at home anyway, nobody else will see, so what does it matter~"
Kuroka hummed, shaking her head back and forth.
Her idea was simple: she was already worked up. Although she could use magic to "clear negative status effects" anytime, a better solution was to get Fubuki worked up too.
That way, Fubuki wouldn't have to go to that school thing, and the two of them could spend the whole day fooling around at home.
Everyone wins, happily ever after.
Unfortunately... she didn't succeed.
Twenty minutes later, Hanakain Fubuki, having washed up, sat down at the dining table in the living room. Beside him sat Kuroka, looking disgruntled after being forcibly dressed in a kimono.
Breakfast was sandwiches and milk. Hanakain Fubuki had a fried egg and bacon sandwich. Since Kuroka was a Nekomata, and cats like fish, her filling was sardines and bacon.
"Oh yeah, did anyone reply to that post you made last night, Fubuki?"
Kuroka took a bite of her sandwich. Despite being forced into clothes to avoid indecency, she was still restless, swinging her legs under the chair, constantly using her bare toes to brush against the young man's calf.
"Let me see..."
Hanakain Fubuki put down his glass of warm milk. He freed a hand, first slapping the hem of her kimono, making her instantly straighten her back and freeze momentarily, before taking his phone out of his clothes and logging into the forum.
Returning to the post he made last night, as expected, there were already quite a few replies.
Some replied simply with "6" (internet slang for 'awesome' or 'smooth'), others replied with "Who asked you?", and the rest basically asked if it was real or fake, or if it was some kind of prank item.
"This is really strange..."
Hanakain Fubuki stared at the scrolling screen, slowly taking a bite of his sandwich.
Just then, Kuroka beside him finally recovered slightly from the jolt, blushing faintly as she leaned closer.
"...What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Hmm, can't really say it's a problem."
Hanakain Fubuki shook his head hesitantly.
Although this forum was run by Tokyo Jujutsu High, ordinary civilians could also access it freely. Especially for paranormal enthusiasts, it was basically a gathering place for like-minded people.
But Jujutsu High's purpose in creating such a website was ultimately to leverage the convenience of the internet to monitor the occurrence of supernatural phenomena across Japan.
Simply put—early detection, early treatment.
After all, even the Hanakain family, with its thousand-year Onmyoji heritage, could only operate on a "dispatch after receiving a request" basis, let alone the relatively new methods of the Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Expecting them to conduct a 24/7 high-intensity, carpet-search for supernatural phenomena throughout Japan was simply impossible; they wouldn't have enough manpower no matter how many people they had.
Compared to that, it was better to just encourage paranormal enthusiasts to share information by posting on the forum, thereby increasing work efficiency.
But this didn't mean those Jujutsu Sorcerers just browsed the forum after setting it up. Sometimes, they would also reply to help requests or posts that genuinely raised suspicion.
The sealing talisman on the finger he picked up yesterday was clearly made by a Jujutsu Sorcerer, yet so far, not a single "professional" had contacted him.
Isn't this Jujutsu? This isn't very Jujutsu-like, is it?
Unless—
Like lightning flashing through his mind, the question mark above the young man's head instantly turned into a bright little light bulb.
Then, Hanakain Fubuki closed his own post, returned to the forum's main page, and then opened his private messages.
Just as he expected, a single unread message lay quietly inside. It had been received last night, probably just a couple of minutes after he posted, but by that time, he was already busy with Kuroka, so he hadn't seen it at all.
The private message was from an account with the ID [Meikyo Shisui]. Judging by the nickname, it probably wasn't their real name, but the sender immediately stated their identity at the beginning of the message.
[Hello, I am Saeko Busujima, a third-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High. According to our assessment, the item in your post is a Special Grade Sealed Object belonging to Tokyo Jujutsu High. It is extremely dangerous. Please distance yourself from the sealed object immediately upon seeing this message and contact me!]
The wording was polite, the tone urgent, followed by a string of phone numbers.
Normally, there wouldn't be anything wrong with this, but Hanakain Fubuki just felt inexplicably annoyed reading it.
What do you mean, belonging to Jujutsu High? He had clearly confiscated it, so how did it just become Jujutsu High's property?
And as for dangerous?
The young man glanced sideways at the briefcase by the table from last night. The sealing talismans he had temporarily added were still functioning stably.
Opening the case to look, the finger inside still lay quietly in its groove, without even changing direction or position, practically screaming 'I'll behave, please let me go.'
Well, yeah. If this thing had dared to even twitch, he would have directly slapped a Da Wei Tian Long technique on it.
Thinking for a moment, Hanakain Fubuki typed out a reply.
[Hello, I am Qin Shi Huang.]
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