I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#399+400: Convenient Arrangements, Feeling Down? A Good Session Will Fix That

Scene shift—the familiar bedroom.

Bokue lay on his apartment bedroom's large bed, gazing up at the ceiling he hadn't seen in ages as he breathed a gentle sigh.

"Feels like it's been forever since I last lay in my own bed."

"Of course it has,"

The moment he finished speaking, a pair of black cat ears perked up on his chest, followed by a shapely girl in a black kimono rising slightly with a hum.

"After all, for over a month now you've basically been on Itogami Island, Bokue. You haven't even spent a few days total in the Underworld. Am I wrong, nya?"

"True, but..."

The one complaining was naturally Kuroka.

She was sprawled seductively on top of the youth as usual, her kimono's neckline loose from rolling around on the bed, hanging open with gravity to reveal the snowy valley beneath. Like inverted mountains, the peaks pressed lightly against the youth's chest through the kimono's thin fabric.

Bokue wrapped his arms around the cat-eared girl's soft waist, giving the fullness that stretched the black kimono below a light pat.

"But now we've moved to Itogami Island too. Things will be much more convenient from now on."

"Convenient? Convenient for what?"

Kuroka deliberately lowered her voice, crawling up on all fours and narrowing her eyes.

"This convenience you're talking about wouldn't happen to mean it's more convenient to see your childhood friend, would it, nya?"

"Of course not for me..."

Bokue rolled his eyes slightly and gave Kuroka's bottom another pat.

"For me, it doesn't matter much where you all are. The convenience I mean is for you, Kuroka. Like how you always used to complain I stayed at school too long and didn't come home early enough. Now that won't be such a hassle."

"Well, that's true, nya..."

Kuroka pouted and unusually climbed off the youth, rolling out of bed to the bedroom window and grabbing the curtains.

She expertly pulled them aside.

Swoosh—

With the sound of curtains being drawn, noon's brilliant sunlight streamed in from outside, cool sea breeze lifting the fabric.

Looking against the wind toward the distance, numerous cargo-laden tankers could be seen moving orderly in and out of the artificial island's port.

And directly below the apartment stood Itogami Island's largest and tallest building—Keystone Gate.

That's right, they'd successfully moved to Itogami Island, including the apartment, old school building, and numerous other structures, forming a new complex atop Keystone Gate.

It was somewhat like building houses in The Legend of Zelda, though not simply stacking layer upon layer. Instead, all buildings were arranged according to their original style and characteristics at various positions on Keystone Gate's top floor.

Gathered yet not cramped, maintaining closeness while preserving a degree of private space.

In Rias's words, this was to maintain their previous living environments as much as possible, minimizing any discomfort from relocation.

Of course, Rias was just relaying the message—it was actually Venelana's idea.

Worth mentioning was that since Bokue's apartment, like Nagisa's home, had a two-unit-per-floor design, to avoid the awkwardness of stepping out to find the opposite door opening onto nothing, they'd moved the apartment across the hall as well.

Normally this wouldn't be possible—it was someone else's home after all.

But after investigating through the real estate office, they found the apartment across from Bokue's seemed unoccupied, so they simply moved it too.

The outdoor elevator originally connecting lower floors to the rooftop helipad was preserved, still providing direct access to Keystone Gate's interior below.

In other words, if Bokue wanted, he only needed to leave home, enter the elevator, and go down one floor to directly reach Itogami Island's largest commercial plaza.

Below was a bustling commercial center, above was a private residence with open views and excellent lighting.

How to put it—it was like building a miniature Marina Bay Sands on Itogami Island, complete with a private sky garden on top.

But since only Bokue's apartment, Rias's old school building, and the hotel suite where Mio and Maria had stayed were currently moved, most of Keystone Gate's rooftop remained empty, presumably able to accommodate more residents later.

But that was a matter for the future.

"At least I won't have to wait at home for you anymore, Bokue,"

Kuroka glanced through the window at the old school building also located on Keystone Gate's rooftop, then as if quickly losing interest, she yawned lightly behind her hand. Leaving the window open, she returned to the bed and climbed back on, straddling the youth and lying down with a muffled complaint:

"Didn't Rias say she'd connect the space in the old school building upstairs with Saikai Academy? So in the future, Big Sister only needs to take the elevator up, then can go directly to your school, nya?"

"...What would you go to school for?"

Bokue couldn't quite understand her cat logic.

"Obviously to find you when I'm bored and have some intense fun, nya!"

As if thinking of something wonderful, excitement flashed through Kuroka's golden vertical pupils, her kimono-clad twin tails swishing in the air behind her.

"After all, our Bokue is such a good student, still attending school every day with perfect attendance. So I'll be the bad big sister who corrupts you thoroughly, skipping class on the astronomy building rooftop for intense sessions every day!"

Was "intense" becoming some kind of designated adjective now...

Bokue couldn't help complaining internally.

"I'm not going to school just for the sake of it. Kuroka, did you forget why I went to school in the first place?"

"To pick up pretty female classmates?"

The black-haired cat-eared girl tilted her head.

Bokue nearly coughed up blood at her response.

"Wake up—it was to earn money to support you!"

"Eh? Was it?"

Kuroka tilted her head another five degrees.

Hmm, thinking about it carefully, that really was the case. After all, their only income source back then came from commission fees from Rias, and all of Rias's activities were in the old school building, which forced Bokue to attend school daily.

But now he didn't need to bother with that anymore.

If calculated that way...

"So you can stay home with Big Sister every day from now on, nya?!"

"Mm."

Bokue thought for a moment and added:

"Provided you can handle it."

"Don't worry! The power of desire is invincible, nya!"

The cat-eared girl was full of confidence.

"Oh right, perfect timing since there's still time before lunch. Come on, Bokue, let's have an intense session first—"

Before she could finish, spatial magic fluctuations rippled through the air beside the bed. Two girls emerged, accompanied by Nagisa's cheerful voice:

"Big Brother! Yukina-chan and I have finished tidying our rooms and can move to Keystone Gate anytime... Eh, why is Kuroka-neesan pressing down on Big Brother?"

"..."

Silently looking at the suddenly-appeared curious Nagisa and the bright red Yukina Himeragi beside her, Kuroka's mouth twitched, thinking—did you really have to appear right now?

And why were these two little girls moving to Keystone Gate too?!

But before she could say anything, Rias's slightly teasing voice came through the window from outside:

"Miss Kuroka, please refrain from doing anything too extreme in front of children. Also, you forgot to close the window you opened earlier. Though this is the highest point on Itogami Island, please remember to close the windows and draw the curtains before doing such things next time."

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Meanwhile, in a high-end apartment on the west side of Itogami Island's city center, Asagi Aiba also lay on her back in her bedroom, staring blankly at the ceiling she'd known since childhood, so familiar she could trace every detail with her eyes closed.

"Really... what am I even doing?"

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, Asagi raised her hand to rest against her forehead, blocking the light from above.

Recalling how she'd watched Bokue and those girls decide their respective tasks with just a few words at "customs," the blonde girl couldn't help wanting to bury her head under the covers and hide.

After all, she'd stood there like an NPC in a game, stupidly on the sidelines unable to insert a single word, only able to wait until everyone else had arranged what needed doing before Bokue sent her home with a simple "You don't need to run around with us, Asagi."

To put it bluntly in couple of words—she'd stood there like a lackey.

It was the same when Bokue mentioned making Itogami Island private territory. Her first reaction wasn't "how to do it" but "how is that even possible?"

Asagi had never realized she'd fallen so far behind Bokue without noticing. It seemed her understanding of him was still stuck in their childhood summers playing games and watching anime together. The ten years of separation had just been growing from seven to seventeen for her.

So even after reuniting, Asagi still interacted with Bokue the same way as in childhood, naturally returning to his side using their childhood friend connection, then naturally becoming intimate using that same connection, upgrading to girlfriend status.

Afterward, she'd continued the same pattern—demanding his companionship as his girlfriend, getting jealous when she saw Bokue getting close to other girls...

But thinking carefully, she had no right to any of it.

From their reunion until now, they'd only spent one month together.

In that month, Itogami Island had experienced incident after incident.

From Lotharingia's Apostle, to the Black Death Emperor faction remnants, to the masked angels afterward... Bokue had handled almost everything single-handedly.

And she'd been no help at all—several times even needing Bokue to rescue her.

Asagi hated this feeling of being unable to do anything. It reminded her of when her mother was seriously ill in childhood.

It was the same then—she couldn't do anything, could only wait for a miracle.

But now she was the renowned "Cyber Empress," with unmatched hacking skills worldwide.

Because of this, Asagi had thought she'd caught up—at least gotten a bit closer to Bokue's pace.

But now it seemed she was still far behind, perhaps even further than in childhood.

She was starting to hate herself more and more...

"Haah—"

Asagi took a deep breath, exhaling slowly and heavily, then rolled over on the bed, burying her face in the pillow as if trying to hide.

But just then, a golden light flashed in the air beside the bed.

Someone sat down beside her without ceremony, lightly patting the blonde girl's bottom as she lay face-down under the covers.

"What are you doing? Lying in bed before lunch—skipping lunch for an afternoon nap? That's not how you diet."

"..."

The familiar presence invaded her senses. Even without hearing his voice, Asagi knew Bokue was sitting beside her.

But she didn't even want to roll over, choosing to keep her face hidden. After a long while, she managed:

"So what if I'm dieting? None of your business..."

Hmm?

Something was off here.

As childhood friends who'd known each other since young, Bokue understood Asagi quite well.

Generally, when the blonde girl entered this state, she was either angry or emo. As kids, if Bokue beat her 22-0 in PvP games like King of Fighters or Street Fighter, Asagi would look exactly like this. Ask if she was angry and she'd definitely say no, but ask what was wrong and she'd go silent.

So the question was—they hadn't played King of Fighters today, hadn't even had any arguments. What was with Asagi's attitude?

Unable to figure it out and knowing asking wouldn't help, Bokue got straight to the point.

"By the way, Asagi, I wanted to ask—now that I've moved to the top of Keystone Gate, would you like to move there too?"

"...Move?"

Asagi still didn't lift her head, speaking in a muffled voice face-down:

"Be specific—is it just you, Bokue, or are the 'others' there too?"

She emphasized "others," clearly meaning Rias and company.

"Well... of course they're all there."

Bokue answered honestly.

"But it's not like we're all living in one big communal space. Everyone has their own place. Like me—I brought my entire Tokyo apartment over. If you're willing, I could move your house there right now, either as upper and lower floors or placed separately..."

"...No."

Before he could finish, Asagi refused again.

But not in the cold tone of deliberate stubbornness—rather, it was filled with inexplicable disappointment, a sense of giving up.

Unless...

Vaguely guessing at a possibility, Bokue raised one eyebrow subtly.

He'd seen this before. As kids, if Asagi was a step slow on weekends and Yuuma and Irina invited him hiking first, the blonde girl would use this same tone. Though she'd say "It's fine, go ahead," she'd go home and cry secretly under her covers.

Like an abandoned little animal.

Of course, this situation wasn't hard to resolve. It only took one thing.

"Well, there's no rush anyway. If you change your mind, just let me know. But before that—"

Bokue didn't continue speaking. He directly grabbed the blonde girl hiding face-down under the covers and lifted her up.

Before Asagi could process what was happening, her legs were spread as she landed securely in the youth's embrace.

"Wait... Bokue, what are you—!"

Asagi was startled by his sudden rough handling. Though she was still fully clothed, preventing any immediate penetration, what would happen next following this trajectory needed no explanation.

"Nothing much, just want to stop you from overthinking."

"Huh? Overthinking? I'm not... and I don't want to right now..."

Asagi squirmed, making minimal resistance.

"No, you do."

Without further discussion, Bokue stood from the bed carrying the blonde girl, pushed open the door, and headed straight for the bathroom downstairs.

Soon, the sound of running water mixed with the girl's intense voice echoed from behind the closed bathroom door through the empty living room.