Time to "Eat" Big Sister

It's safe to say that the label "shameless cat" was never undeserved.

Ten minutes later, when Keikain Fukuki emerged from the bathroom with a towel draped around his neck, he turned to see the cat-eared girl already sitting by the dining table. She had opened the box containing the sealed artifact and was studying the purple-black finger, wrapped in talismans, under the light.

"Hey, hey, Keikai, come look at this! Is this one of your Onmyoji things?"

"…Let me see."

Despite having told her not to open the box before he left for the bathroom, the boy knew his words wouldn't stop Kuroka's curiosity. So, he wasn't particularly surprised by the scene before him.

Keikain Fukuki sat down beside her at the table.

However, instead of handing over the artifact, Kuroka scooted closer to him.

Through the thin fabric of his kimono, she could clearly feel the warmth of his body. A faint mist of water vapor and the scent of shower gel lingered around his nose.

As if she'd found her favorite spot, Kuroka curled up contentedly, resting her cheek against his chest before finally offering the artifact.

"Here."

"Mm…"

Keikain Fukuki took the talisman-wrapped finger from the cat-eared girl. After glancing at it briefly, he shook his head.

"It's not related to Onmyoji. This is likely the work of a Jujutsu Sorcerer."

"Is there a difference? They all look like scribbles to me."

Kuroka gestured at the densely wrapped talismans on the finger.

"…Precisely because they're scribbles, it's a Sorcerer's work."

Keikain Fukuki used his thumb to gently lift one end of the talisman at the fingertip. With a light tug, he unraveled the entire strip of talismans coiled around the finger.

Loop after loop—no one expected the talismans, which seemed to cover the entire finger, to be a single… well, "strip" was the better word.

It was like a plastic pipe wrapped in duct tape due to years of neglect, with the tape running from start to finish.

Keikain Fukuki placed the finger back on the table and stretched the talisman strip from end to end, presenting it to Kuroka.

"Now you see the difference, right?"

"Honestly, I don't."

"How could you not…? Didn't you notice how much repetition there is in the Sorcerer's talismans? In contrast, our Onmyoji talismans are concise—only as long as needed to achieve the desired effect."

"I feel like you get aggressive whenever Sorcerers come up, Keikei."

Kuroka poked the boy's cheek with her fingertip and blew a playful puff of air.

Keikain Fukuki shrugged: "Not aggressive, just stating facts. After all, most Sorcerers today are ordinary people who awakened their powers later in life. Leaving aside the lack of inheritance, when an ordinary person suddenly gains superhuman abilities… it inevitably affects their personality. To put it bluntly, they're nouveau riche. Plus, Sorcerers mostly grow wild—almost no one helps them refine or improve their techniques. Whatever their powers were like when they awakened, that's how they stay for life. One word: crude."

"Even the so-called 'Big Three' of the Jujutsu world aren't much better."

"Take the Zen'in clan, for example. Their signature is the Ten Shadows Technique. They claim anyone who masters it can unconditionally become the clan head. Yet the current Zen'in head doesn't even possess the Ten Shadows Technique."

"Then there's the Gojo clan. Their signature is the Unlimited Technique, but to use it, you need the Gojo clan's hereditary Six Eyes trait. Otherwise, it's useless. Thirty years ago, the Gojo clan produced a 'strongest' member born with both the Six Eyes and Unlimited Technique. But such exceptions appear once every few centuries. The Gojo clan survived the last century by luck, but whether they'll last another after that 'strongest' dies is anyone's guess."

"Finally, the Kamo clan. Their signature is the Red Blood Manipulation Technique. The talent threshold isn't high, and it's not hard to learn. But… it can only use the practitioner's own blood as a medium. So they're chronically anemic. Even if they win a fight, it's a Pyrrhic victory."

"Now, compare that to our Keikain clan—"

Having said all that, Keikain Fukuki suddenly shifted tone, raising a fist and pointing his thumb at himself, his voice growing passionate.

"Our Keikain clan's hereditary technique, Haki, is essentially a portable ancestral shrine! The more generations pass, the more past clan heads we can summon, making it stronger. That's true inheritance, not the mutated nouveau riche claiming to be the Big Three."

Oh…

After listening to this long explanation, Kuroka suddenly piped up.

"So, can Keikei use Haki?"

Keikain Fukuki paused for a moment, then nodded firmly, though somewhat vaguely.

"It's okay, I guess. It's not that hard to learn. Even my little sister, Yuzura, who's still in middle school, can use it."

"I see."

If Keikei's sister can use it, then surely Keikei can too… Kuroka thought.

She then turned her attention back to the talisman-stripped purple-black finger on the table.

"So, what do we do with this? The seal's been broken. If we just leave it, won't something weird crawl out?"

"Theoretically, rewrapping the talismans should work. But these seem close to expiring anyway. Might as well make new ones…"

Keikain Fukuki ignited his spiritual pressure at his fingertips, lightly touching the suitcase he'd retrieved earlier.

In an instant, the spiritual pressure transformed into intricate characters, etching themselves onto the suitcase's surface. They flowed like living things, quickly forming a crisscrossing seal array on the case.

"That should do it. Just toss it in and close the lid later."

"Still, what is this thing?"

He hissed softly, tilting his head to examine the artifact again. After a moment of fruitless thought, he picked up his phone, snapped a picture, and opened a forum app.

Kuroka leaned in curiously: "What forum is that?"

"A paranormal forum run by people from the Tokyo Jujutsu High."

Keikain Fukuki explained.

"Most users are Sorcerers, with some paranormal enthusiasts. I've taken a few jobs from there before."

"Jobs?" Kuroka blinked. "But I thought you looked down on Sorcerers, calling them nouveau riche…"

"Earning money isn't shameful."

The boy, mid-post, flexibly adjusted his standards, tapping the screen with his fingertips.

[How'd you guys know I caught this while night fishing?]

He attached the photo of the finger and clicked post.

"…Is that it?"

As the screen displayed "Post successful, experience +3," the cat-eared girl tilted her head.

By then, Keikain Fukuki had turned off his phone, placed the finger back in the box, and closed the lid, setting it aside. He freed a hand to pat the girl's rear through his kimono.

"Of course. I'm not staying up for replies. I'll check tomorrow morning."

"Mm…"

Kuroka acknowledged but didn't move as Keikain Fukuki expected.

Instead, she nimbly shifted in his lap, turning from sideways to face him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs sliding to either side beneath her kimono. Leaning closer, she whispered:

"Since we've eaten and bathed, isn't it time to… 'eat' big sister?"