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I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#533+534: Renovating Yume's Layout! Gasper Has "Grown Up"
🕑 Added 2025-12-01 12:21:15 +0000 UTCWatching 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.
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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♡."
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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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"After all, women dress for those who appreciate them. Our Rias-chan has long been prepared to wear the sexiest swimsuit for Bokue-kun."
"W-well, 'sexiest' might be overstating it..."
Once again thoroughly teased, Rias blushed again, her previously fluent speech becoming stumbling.
Having scored consecutive openings, Serafall turned aside, covering her mouth with a meaningful chuckle.
"Oh? Is that so? So Rias-chan is saying she's unwilling to wear the sexiest swimsuit for our Bokue-kun?"
"I-I didn't mean that either..."
One trap after another—caught in verbal loops of her own making, Rias had completely lost the ability to fight back.
At the end of the day, what "sexiest or not" remained between her and Bokue anyway? The latter had probably already counted every mole on her body. What did it matter what she wore?
"Hehehe, isn't this nice though?"
Meanwhile, Himejima Akeno—seated in the first position on the right-side sofa—smiled while gently stroking her cheek.
"A little competition now and then isn't bad. Everyone can wear their most confident swimsuit for a showdown. At least I, Akeno, absolutely have no intention of conceding defeat."
'Mm...'
Rias's mouth twitched slightly.
'What is this—a challenge declaration? Challenging me, the club president?'
'Shouldn't we be on the same team as close friends??'
"Alright, then that settles it."
Bokue clapped his hands.
"I'll go tell Kuroka and the others too. Then after dinner, we'll all head out together to buy swimsuits... hm?"
His words barely finished when Bokue suddenly felt his hem being gently tugged.
Looking down, he saw a certain white-haired cat-eared girl had somehow appeared before him. She held a half-eaten pudding cup in her mouth, white pudding liquid coating the corners of her lips. She looked up at him with blinking golden eyes.
"Don't forget Gasper."
"Gasper?"
Bokue didn't immediately catch on.
"Doesn't Gasper live with you all? You haven't told her yet?"
"Gasper, she..." (Read below)
Koneko hesitated, as if recalling something. Even her cat ears drooped slightly, seeming a bit downcast.
"Actually, we did tell her."
Rias pressed her palm to her forehead, taking over with a soft sigh.
"Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into Gasper lately. She feels kind of... should I say she's been avoiding us...?"
Huh?
A question mark appeared above Bokue's head.
He knew Gasper's personality was extremely shy, plus a bit socially anxious—the type who'd get nervous when strangers approached, then activate her time-stop ability when nervous.
But logically, Rias, Koneko, and the others were all longtime household members. No reason she'd still be shy or nervous enough to avoid them, right?
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what's happening. Most of the time she stays alone in the storage room and won't come out."
Rias looked quite helpless.
"And if we go in directly, she activates time-stop and runs away. In short, we can't have any conversation at all."
"I see. Then I'll go check on her now."
Bokue spoke while turning to leave the parlor.
The timing worked out perfectly anyway—especially since vampires were nocturnal creatures. Evening was precisely when she'd be waking up.
Going now should be just right to—
Creeeak~
Scene transition. As the storage room's wooden door was slowly pushed open from outside, Bokue leaned in sideways.
"Gasper, are you... uh?"
The instant he looked inside, he saw a blonde-haired vampire girl who seemed to have just woken up. She sat topless in the cardboard box serving as her coffin substitute, hands covering her slightly swelling small chest. Her clothes-to-wear lay beside her. She stared blankly at him.
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Rewinding time two minutes earlier, inside the old schoolhouse's first-floor storage room.
"Mm..."
Inside the large cardboard box serving as her coffin substitute, the vampire girl who'd just awakened stripped off her sleeping clothes. In the hazy sunset light streaming through the window into the storage room, she cupped her small chest, examining it carefully while looking down.
It feels... like it got slightly bigger again.
Though not very obvious, it had definitely grown.
If previously there'd been absolutely nothing—to where you couldn't distinguish front from back by touch alone—now she could feel a tiny bit of softness.
At least it completely filled the hollow of her palm.
But why is this happening...
The vampire girl felt deeply troubled.
This situation had started after they'd moved the old schoolhouse from Kuoh Academy to Itogami Island.
More precisely, it began from that time she'd been playing Metal Gear Solid stealth-style with a cardboard box outside the bathroom door, only to be discovered by Nagisa.
Unlike Nagisa who'd become a vampire later, Gasper was born a vampire.
And vampires all shared one trait—before adulthood, they were genderless. Though possessing female bodies, they lacked reproductive capability. Only after reaching adulthood would their psychological state determine whether they'd become male or female.
Of course, this process wasn't instantaneous. It might involve years of gradual change, with starting times varying early or late.
But usually everything stabilized in the few years before adulthood, so when the actual day arrived, it would be natural.
Which was precisely why Gasper felt so troubled.
She only had two years left until gender determination. Normally, vampires at this age should already be showing changes.
Of course, she was indeed changing.
Just not the changes she wanted.
'She was supposed to be a total bro! So why—with only two years until adulthood remaining—was her chest starting to grow??'
Not only that. These past days, Gasper could clearly feel other parts of her body changing bit by bit too.
Her waist grew slimmer, her hip circumference widened, and even her leg lines became more graceful.
Beyond that, originally she could spin nonstop in the gaming world for twenty-four hours straight as long as she had her console in hand.
But now, though she still maintained tremendous interest in games, whenever sounds of Rias and the others "bathing" with Bokue came from the first-floor bathroom at night, she couldn't suppress her inner impulses. She'd slip into her cardboard box and stealthily creep out, hiding in the hallway corner outside the bathroom to "get a piece of the action."
Obviously, if this continued, she'd definitely end up becoming a delicate, fragile girl.
'Why is this happening??'
Just as the vampire girl's mental state exploded, she suddenly heard the sound of door hinges rotating from the entrance.
