Shin Inukkami! ~Master of the Highest Edition~ Ch.1: "The Two of Them Lately"

Keita Kawahira sat hunched over the dining table—the one with a tsukumogami attached to it, courtesy of a hand-me-down, which would rattle and move on its own at night—poring over a textbook titled "Small Animal Bone and Joint Diseases," scribbling notes furiously into his notebook. "Phew." He stretched deeply. In that very moment, a pale hand extended smoothly from beside him, placing a tea cup in front of him with perfect timing. A delicate, pleasant aroma tickled his nose. Warm roasted barley tea mingled with the subtle sweetness of an attractive woman's fragrance. "Keita, you're working so hard." The source of that scent, Youko, planted a quick kiss on Keita's cheek. He made a slightly ticklish face before responding. "Well, midterms are coming up soon." He cradled her head and ruffled her hair. Youko, looking pleased, rubbed her forehead against his shoulder and nestled against him, clinging close. She was being clingy. Deftly juggling his tea with one hand, Keita continued his studies while flipping through the textbook with the other. Keita Kawahira was currently attending a specialized university to become a veterinarian—a long-held dream finally realized. Not being particularly slow-witted, he'd managed to pass the entrance exams fairly smoothly through focused studying. His muscular, rugged limbs jutted from his tank top, and his hair was tousled and coarse-looking. With his wild facial features, he'd lost much of his boyish appearance past twenty, yet his eyes retained that same sharp glint, brimming with vitality and radiance. The large dog collar he wore as a symbol of his contract with Youko remained unchanged. As for Youko. She possessed a lithe, well-proportioned figure, bewitching beauty, and lustrous black hair. While traces of her former girlish innocence lingered faintly, her entire being had transformed into that of a mature woman draped in an unmistakable sensuality. The way she was wrapped—her firm breasts and rounded hips—in an oversized, baggy T-shirt (borrowed from Keita's own wardrobe) and a vintage-designed miniskirt created an incongruous, precarious eroticism that contradicted her mature appearance. Yet those knowing, cold eyes—which simultaneously held both kindness and cruelty—had remained utterly unchanged. She too wore a frog-shaped chain around her neck, the symbol of their contract, just like Keita. Though years had passed, the fundamental nature of both their spirits remained constant, and their trust and bond had only deepened in its purity. The two currently lived in a penthouse on top of a certain building. Originally, it had been a cursed haunted property from which nearly all residents had fled. When Keita and Youko took on the job to exorcise it completely, it took three days of work. Impressed by their efforts, the owner had agreed to let them rent the rooftop space for a ridiculously cheap price. Furniture was kept to a bare minimum. Given their nature and abilities, minor hauntings were hardly a concern, so besides the mysteriously wobbling desk, they'd collected various items from around the neighborhood—a dresser whose drawers opened at midnight with white hands beckoning enticingly, a television where unknown old men would occasionally appear grumbling complaints (a firm smack would turn it off)—and used them without excess or shortage. The building itself was prefabricated, managing to fit barely two rooms, a kitchen, and a living area, but the rooftop could be used as a garden. Youko hung laundry there, and Keita grew vegetables. The days of the two of them proceeded steadily and contentedly. After indulging in clinging to Keita for a while, Youko suddenly pulled away. "Alright, I should get ready soon. It's been a while since I've seen Nadeshiko, so I'd better dress up nice." She kissed his cheek once more, waved goodbye, and headed into the adjacent room. Keita responded with a casual "Sure," took another sip of tea, then— "..." —suddenly turned around with all the wariness of a gazelle fearing the approach of a carnivore. There was no sign of Youko emerging from the room. Keita swiftly pulled out his cell phone and checked SNS. (Let's go.) He scrolled. (A Rosy Campus Life) Of course, studying alone wasn't his purpose. He'd been making various romantic advances at university as well, and among those prospects, he'd actually managed to secure a date promise with one girl. Youko drew clear boundaries and didn't follow him to campus. So he had considerable freedom in that regard. The next few hours while Youko was chatting with Nadeshiko would be his chance. He checked, and the message read: 'Tea sounds good to me today too ☆' "Uhehe." Keita quickly covered his mouth with his hand, stifling the sound threatening to escape. He was about to hurry and send a reply when— "Keita, hey, hey, which one's cuter?" Youko bounded out from the adjacent room with a beaming smile, did a twirl on her tiptoes, and stood there in nothing but pink panties and a bra, holding two different styles of dresses in each hand. Apparently, she wanted to get Keita's opinion on what to wear today—a cute intention indeed. But Keita— "Hiii!" —reacted with obvious panic and flung his phone away. It skidded across the floor toward the midpoint between him and Youko. "..." "..." Keita forced a nervous, awkward smile at Youko, while Youko fixed him with a cold, half-lidded stare at the phone. Then, without a word, she walked over, crouched down, picked up the phone, and checked the screen. Soon enough, she'd grasped everything. "Huh." Youko laughed, brushing back her hair. Then she slowly turned to face Keita and spoke in a gentle voice. "Hey, Keita?" "Y-Yes?" Even while sitting, Keita straightened his spine rigidly. Youko approached slowly in her underwear, crawling forward in a predatory manner. "You know, I've been researching with all sorts of techniques, and I've been able to improve my 'Shukuchi' even more." "W-What?" Keita made a strange noise, paralyzed with fear. A woman of stunning beauty with an impossibly perfect figure approaching on all fours with a dry smile was quite an impactful image. Youko continued with an amused laugh. "It's limited by conditions, but now I can throw things incredibly far—like ships sent to Antarctica, caves at the very bottom of the earth, or even inside artificial satellites." Youko drew close and embraced him from the front, wrapping her white arms sensually around his neck. "If Keita misbehaves, I might have to lock you away somewhere really, really far away, hmm?" Then she opened her mouth wide—as if about to kiss him. White teeth. Canines. Her red throat fully exposed before his eyes as she made her declaration. "Hey, Keita." If you cheat on me. I'll eat you. She clicked her teeth together and closed her mouth. It was demonstration enough. Keita's spine became even more rigid as he trembled violently. He was completely caught. As the lifetime partner of the fox spirit Youko, he had no escape. In other words, his future was forcibly constrained by an inescapable love. Keita continued trembling. But a single thought rose in his mind. (That's my girl, all right!) There was admiration amid the fear, praise for his partner. Youko really wasn't ordinary. If he just kept his eyes on her alone as she intended, he'd surely be happy. She had a somewhat short temper at times, but Youko was nearly perfect as a woman. She was fundamentally kind, exceptionally beautiful, and her domestic abilities now far surpassed his own. He should just spend all his time with Youko alone... "Heh." Keita laughed. "Hehehehe." He laughed back. But he couldn't be that way. That wasn't who Kawahira Keita was. He had a rebellious nature. "Youko?" Keita declared. "Your techniques aren't the only ones that leveled up." With a seemingly casual motion, he opened the desk drawer and pulled out several frog erasers. He held them between his fingers and fanned them out. "Frogs." The motion was so smooth that Youko's reaction was delayed. "Become smoke!" There was a soft sound, and in the next instant, the entire room was dyed pink in the blink of an eye. She couldn't comprehend what happened, but she definitely felt Keita's body slip away from her like something slimy. Panicking, she looked left and right, and finally understood. The entire room was filled with pink smoke. In less than a second, Keita had transformed the frogs that served as his tools into a thick pink smoke screen. It was likely a technique specialized for obscuring his opponent's vision and making an escape. Youko was astonished. "This... this is..." He'd been holding back? Just to go on a date with another girl? After a moment of being taken aback, Youko suddenly burst out laughing. (That's my man!) She laughed with genuine delight. This was fun. Keita really was fun! (But...) Youko's eyes gleamed in the pink smoke. "You're still not ready! I won't let you escape!" She raised a single finger. "Shukuchi!" With a sound like a powerful exhaust system activating, the smoke was sucked into a single point in the ceiling and vanished. The thick smoke screen that had filled the prefabricated interior was expelled outside entirely, without leaving a single particle. Her technique's precision had become even sharper than before. Then she swung her raised finger downward. "Shukuchi!" This time, she activated another technique to bring back the escaped Keita. What Youko was doing was quite advanced. First, she located Keita's presence. Remarkably, in that instant, he'd already dashed down the building, burst onto the public road, and was heading at full speed toward the entertainment district. His movement speed and agility were decidedly inhuman. Plus, with infuriating cleverness worthy of a spirit medium, he'd masked his presence. But Youko was far superior. She easily trapped him with her technique, and Keita's actual body was transferred back to the room. However, since he'd been running at maximum speed, he couldn't stop suddenly. At full velocity, he crashed straight into a pillar— "Gaaaah!" —taking a devastating blow to his face and stomach. The impact was so great that the house shook noticeably. Keita rolled around in pain. Since it was his own fault and Keita was durable, Youko wasn't particularly worried. If anything, she was slightly exasperated. Somehow, Keita had managed a quick change from his sloppy loungewear into a sharp jacket and fashionable pants. Moreover, he was clutching a bouquet of roses—from who knows where. It was verging on illusion or sorcery. "Keita?" Since Keita was still in pain, Youko crouched beside him. "Poor thing." She smiled sweetly. "How about you rest at home today, okay? Okay?" Keita, when he turned to look at her, let out a silent scream. Ten minutes later, freshly dressed, Youko stepped out of the room and glanced back inside. "Alright, Keita, I'm heading out~" She held the bouquet of roses she'd confiscated from Keita—planning to give them to Nadeshiko. She'd also made sure to send a polite cancellation message to today's prospect from Keita's phone. That was part of her duties as his partner too. "Bye-bye," she said, waving from a half-crouch. Then, turning forward, she closed the door behind her with a hum, in good spirits. She could hear Keita's desperate cries from behind, but she paid them no mind, descending the stairs with a light step. Keita's wails, almost like lamentation. "Dammit! At least undo this! I can't even use the bathroom!" In the brief glimpse visible through the closing door, Kawahira Keita was bound with impossibly thick chains and restrained to the bed.

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Shin Inukkami! ~Master of the Highest Edition~ Episode 1: "The Two of Them Lately"