Chapter 33: A Summer Night

After settling the matter of Kayako's employment, it was time to face Miss Fujie.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Udo Kaya entered the room, he saw Fujie waiting for him. She looked cold and regal, sitting with her legs crossed and her arms resting at her sides like a queen.

"You today..."

"I need to use the bathroom first!"

Before Fujie could finish her sentence, Udo Kaya used a bathroom break as an excuse to find a moment to tuck little Fujie inside the wardrobe. Otherwise, if Fujie took her anger out on him later and accidentally flattened little Fujie into a pancake, that would be a major problem.

After ensuring little Fujie was safe, Udo Kaya went back downstairs, where Fujie was still in the same posture, watching him coldly. Although she knew where Udo Kaya had been today, she still had to pretend she knew nothing.

"Where did you go today?"

He blinked. Was Fujie keeping tabs on him?

"I went out to take care of some business."

"Business?"

"Yes."

After a moment's thought, Udo Kaya decided to be honest and told Fujie about finding a job for Kayako.

Sure enough, the moment Fujie heard that Udo Kaya had gone to help Kayako find a part-time job, she transformed into a furious ragdoll cat, cursing as she lunged at him. Udo Kaya knew he was in the wrong, so he simply shielded his head and let Fujie kick his backside and hit him with a pillow.

Watching Udo Kaya on the sofa as he let her vent her frustration, Fujie felt a sense of relief amidst her anger. At the very least, this idiot hadn't lied to her; he still understood who was more important to him.

But it was so infuriating!

Her quasi-boyfriend had gone to run errands for another woman—even if she had accepted that woman as a mere baby-making machine, it was still so irritating!

The more she thought about it, the more frantic she became. She gave Udo Kaya a good thrashing, kicking him more times than she could count. After a few minutes, she finally grew tired and sat down with a thud.

"I'm thirsty."

Udo Kaya hopped up from the sofa and quickly went to the fridge to pour her a glass of ice water and a glass of orange juice. The juice was for the sweetness, and the ice water was to quench her thirst.

"Hmph. Did you find it?"

Udo Kaya nodded and told Fujie the details of the part-time job he had found for Kayako.

Noticing that Udo Kaya had considered many issues on Kayako's behalf, Fujie pouted unhappily, but then sighed. This idiot might have a bad temper at times, but he was always quite thoughtful. Take the American-style grill in the yard that served as an incinerator, for instance; who else would think to use that to burn trash?

"I'm tired. Give me a massage."

Setting down her juice, Fujie lay face down on the sofa with her back to Udo Kaya. It had to be said that while Fujie’s front was relatively modest, the lines of her back were exceptionally beautiful. Her straight, rounded curves were perfectly proportioned, radiating temptation and aesthetic appeal. Furthermore, enhanced by Fujie’s eerie vitality, her skin was as white and smooth as porcelain, making a physically demanding massage feel like a pleasure.

Nearly half an hour later, seeing Fujie fast asleep with a charming, moving expression on her face, Udo Kaya went to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

A simple dinner, a tranquil summer night. The chirping of cicadas in the night air sounded somewhat piercing, and rustling noises drifted in quietly under the dim lights.

"Finally finished~"

In Kayako's joyful voice, a bracelet made mostly of black thread, interspersed with a few colorful strands, was held up in her hands. It was already two in the morning. She glanced at her alarm clock—a piece of junk she’d scavenged from the trash that had since gone silent. Kayako quickly tidied up the long strands of hair discarded from weaving the bracelet, then, filled with a mix of anticipation and trepidation, she hugged the bracelet and lay down on the bed.

A breeze swept across the night sky. The chirping of insects outside the window suddenly ceased, and a bat soaring through the darkness above the streetlamp plummeted to the ground.

A silent darkness began to spread from the notebook under the cupboard, creeping along the floorboards, passing by the drunken man on the first floor, and swallowing the entire room into shadow.

In a bar called Mori-Hino, the deafening DJ music no longer felt jarring under the influence of alcohol.

"Hey, beautiful, are you alone? Do you want to..."

*Slap!*

Before the man, emboldened by alcohol, could finish his attempt at picking her up, Bikou Haruko, dressed in a black business suit, shot him a cold look and slapped him to the floor.

"Damn it, you..."

The retort never left his lips; as Bikou Haruko’s cold, oppressive gaze swept over them, the few men who had intended to stand up for their friend all sat back down obediently.

Walking past the crowd toward the front, Bikou Haruko soon arrived at a corner table.

"You lost, drink up! And you, are you nursing that drink? Drink!"

Amidst the alcohol-fueled noise, Biga Makoto, with her gold-to-red gradient hair, was clapping drunkenly, urging her friends to drink.

"Drink, drink, drink!"

Watching her friends finish their drinks, Biga Makoto leaned back against the sofa, satisfied. But just as she was basking in the pleasure, her friends gradually stopped their rowdiness. Biga Makoto blinked in confusion, looking at the group as their expressions turned serious.

"What? What’s with those looks?"

Her friends didn't dare to speak; they simply nodded respectfully and gave a fawning smile toward someone behind Biga Makoto.

"Although the family does not interfere much with your private life, you have become increasingly dissolute in recent years."

As Bikou Haruko spoke coldly, the drunkenness in Biga Makoto’s eyes cleared by half. She looked at her older sister with a hint of fear.

"Sister..."

Bikou Haruko nodded, gesturing for a young man across from her to get up and give up his seat. Her powerful aura made everyone else too afraid to make a sound.

"Sister, didn't you just leave the Kinki region for abroad a few days ago? Did you finish your business?"

Bikou Haruko glanced around and pulled a glass toward her. The others who recognized her hurriedly scrambled to pour her a drink.

"More or less. I returned this time because I received another commission."

As she spoke, Bikou Haruko took out a box and pushed it toward Biga Makoto.

"This is..."

"A gift for you."

Biga Makoto was stunned at first, then opened it with delight. Seeing the black ring inside, she picked it up happily. However, the moment she touched it, she sensed the spiritual energy contained within the ring.

"This is..."

Bikou Haruko nodded, confirming it was a magical artifact she had specifically infused with spiritual energy. Biga Makoto knew this was because she had mentioned in their last phone call that her spiritual energy had been unstable lately, she had been having constant physical issues, and she often felt a piercing pain where her womb had been sacrificed. Her sister, Bikou Haruko, had prepared it specifically to help her feel more comfortable under the influence of her spiritual energy.

"Thank you..."

Looking at her younger sister, who had always tried to catch up to her but never quite succeeded—and had suffered great physical damage in the process—a flicker of softness crossed Bikou Haruko’s cold face.

"Makoto, when you have time... hmm?"

Before she could finish, Bikou Haruko looked toward the northeast in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

Facing her sister's inquiry, Bikou Haruko frowned deeply.

Was that just an illusion?