Watching Yume "sleeping soundly" on the bed, Bokue helped tidy her up briefly before pulling the covers over her. Only after completing all this did he leave the room.
Like he'd said—he came here today to calibrate the teleportation array. Yet after arriving, he'd spent half the day messing around while the actual work hadn't even started, and it was already noon.
Better hurry up.
❁❁❁❁
Calibrating teleportation coordinates was naturally child's play for Bokue—an hour would be more than enough.
No wait, that was even excessive. Accurately speaking, the time he spent actually calibrating the teleportation array didn't even reach twenty minutes.
The remaining time—aside from repeatedly testing transfers to ensure no accidents would occur—he also added some spectacular natural scenery to this small resort island that had originally been leased by Kusuki Happiness Enterprises but was now repurposed for their use.
One sentence summary: addicted to building wonders, unable to extricate himself.
Thus, one hour later, when Bokue returned to the villa and went back upstairs to the bedroom, Yume had just barely awakened inside.
Bokue honestly hadn't expected her to wake so quickly. He'd simply come up to check on her, but surprisingly she really had recovered this fast.
Well... he certainly couldn't press her back under the covers now.
"Awake already?"
Looking at the nightmare girl sitting in bed with her small face still flushed, Bokue walked into the bedroom and sat down beside the headboard.
Yet the moment he sat, Yume—who'd been sitting in the bed's center—consciously shifted toward the young man, resting her small head against his shoulder.
Just like a newlywed little wife.
Except judging from the facial temperature transmitting through thin autumn clothing to his shoulder, Yume clearly remained in an extremely embarrassed state. Her little demon wings weren't spread carelessly like usual but modestly folded back.
Even the little tail that normally swayed before her was now hidden behind her, tied in a knot forming a round heart shape.
"W-well, Yume is a nightmare after all!"
After taking a deep breath to barely suppress the temperature still rising in her cheeks, Yume pouted while speaking softly, her gaze evasive.
"That Serafall-neesan said so yesterday too, right? Nightmares are demons who feed on others' desires. Big brother's possessiveness just now was so intense... Yume received it completely."
"B-but big brother really was too much, treating Yume like that..."
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
Bokue raised an eyebrow.
Starting to say he was too much now? Then who was the one with restless feet under the table during breakfast downstairs?
"Well, that's true but..."
The nightmare girl's cheek temperature—which she'd barely managed to suppress—showed signs of rising again at these words.
"But what if after big brother did that, Yume ends up...?"
She made a cradling gesture with both hands before her.
Bokue looked at the girl's demonstration and thought briefly.
"You can't do that yet, right?"
"Mm..."
A direct hit—making the nightmare girl's barely mustered courage deflate instantly.
Indeed, currently she still remained at the level where turning off the lights made front and back indistinguishable.
"S-so I said 'what if'!" Yume emphasized repeatedly.
"What if?"
Bokue thought again.
"That would be fine too. I can afford to raise them anyway."
"Eh?"
As if caught off guard by the young man's response, Yume froze slightly.
"So that means big brother is willing to... take responsibility for Yume?"
"...What, should I just throw you out instead?"
Bokue asked rhetorically.
If he had to say, from the moment he'd agreed yesterday to let Serafall and Eguchi Yume move into the villa, he'd already prepared for them to keep living at Keystone Gate indefinitely.
A few more people didn't matter to him—it might even liven things up a bit.
Which was also good.
"Nnh..."
Hearing the young man's answer, the nightmare girl seemed to finally settle down. Crystalline tears even welled up at the corners of her eyes.
"Then... big brother, you have to remember what you said. Otherwise... Yume really will have no choice but to attack concrete!"
"I know."
Bokue raised his hand to stroke her chestnut-brown short hair.
"Also, this dual personality thing of yours is fake, isn't it? Actually, Yume is Yume and Yume is Yume, right?"
"...Mm♡."
❁❁❁❁
Just like that, Bokue spent the entire afternoon at the villa accompanying Yume. During that time, they went two more rounds.
Once during their post-heart-to-heart bath, when a certain nightmare girl's small hands got restless—earning her a thorough disciplining.
Then again after leaving the bathroom. They'd agreed on an afternoon nap, but while sleeping, a certain pair of small feet started wandering—resulting in her being pinned against the balcony railing, singing to the ocean for two solid hours.
One could only say nightmares were naturally built durable for good reason. Otherwise... well.
In any case, by the time they finished, evening had arrived.
Under the sunset's glow, when Bokue finally released Yume—who'd thoroughly completed her "beginner's tutorial"—and arrived at the old schoolhouse, the many girls who'd just returned from school remained gathered in the first-floor parlor.
Because Keystone Gate's resident count had increased last night with Serafall and Sona's arrival, the old schoolhouse's space—which should have been more than adequate after expansion—suddenly felt cramped again.
"Yahoo!"
Noticing Bokue's appearance, Serafall—who'd been standing beside her little sister on the sofa just a second ago—cheerfully waved while bouncing over, immediately wrapping him in a solid embrace.
"Bokue-kun, we're back~"
Though of course, she hugged his arm.
Even so, the red-haired girl standing behind the desk at the parlor's far end couldn't help coughing heavily.
"Ah, sorry sorry! Big sister got a bit too excited."
While apologizing verbally, Serafall quickly released the young man's arm, smiling brightly as she retreated two steps.
"After all, our Rias-chan does get jealous~"
"Th-this isn't about being jealous or not..."
Having her private thoughts exposed so directly, Rias's cheeks instantly flushed with light pink.
"Welcome back."
Bokue said.
"Actually, I came to ask—since we're going to the beach tomorrow, is there any prep work we need to do tonight?"
He meant things like buying swimsuits, floaties, surfboards, and so on.
After all, though he'd mentioned the weekend beach vacation yesterday evening, today's classes meant they hadn't had time for proper preparations.
Plus they'd never done a beach vacation before, so whether Rias and the others had swimsuits in their wardrobes... hard to say.
"We already discussed that this afternoon."
From behind the desk at the parlor's far end, Rias tapped the surface with her index finger.
"We decided that after dinner tonight, we'll head to the shopping center downstairs to pick out swimsuits. Bokue, you'll come along too."
"That's right—you absolutely must come!"
The Satan girl beside him nodded vigorously, playing the straight man.
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