Chapter 140: The Yukionna
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 140: The Yukionna
"If you keep pretending to be asleep, I'll pounce on you right here."
After that threat, I could no longer feign sleep and slowly sat up.
"What brings you here so late at night, senpai?"
At my question, Fuma-senpai gave me a sensual smile and ran a hand down her body.
"As you can see, I've come to sleep with you."
"Didn't we already settle this last time? I told you I'd find my own way, that you didn't need to sacrifice your virginity."
"We did. That's certainly what we discussed. But hasn't the situation changed now?"
Fuma-senpai took another step closer as she spoke.
The movement caused her robes to shift, revealing tantalizing parts of her body.
"If you take me, you won't have to walk into the lion's den. Kim Yoo-Sung. So stop being stubborn and just hold me. I don't want to see a junior I'm close to die."
With those words, Fuma-senpai knelt and pressed her body against mine.
She must have figured that a hot-blooded high school boy like me would cave if she made a physical advance.
And she was mostly right.
My body, overflowing with yang energy, was already at attention just from the sight of her skin.
But I couldn't accept us being together like this.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pushed Fuma-senpai back by her shoulders.
"Fuma-senpai."
"Ngh."
I tried to say something, but my mind went momentarily blank.
It was because Fuma-senpai's shoulders were trembling.
She was acting composed on the outside, but she was actually terrified.
After a moment of deliberation, I spoke.
"I'm not the kind of person who can take responsibility for someone. I'm truly sorry to say this, but I can't be with you, Fuma-senpai. You're not a tool."
Fuma-senpai then asked in a dejected tone.
"Kim Yoo-Sung, am I that unattractive to you as a woman?"
"What? No, um... Fuma-senpai, you're more beautiful and lovely than I deserve."
"Then why won't you hold me? Unlike the other female ninja, I was raised from the start to be the clan head, so I never learned how to seduce a man. But I know my body is the type that men like."
Fuma-senpai's hands roamed her own body as she spoke.
Her voluptuous figure, which seemed mature for her age, was molded and kneaded by her small hands.
It was a truly poisonous sight for any man.
As I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from her body, Fuma-senpai's mood seemed to lift, and she let out a faint smile.
"Indeed. Your mouth says no, but your body is honest."
I realized her gaze had drifted to my lower half and hastily covered myself with the blanket.
"That's sexual harassment."
"A little late for that, don't you think?"
Fuma-senpai said it like a joke, then slowly rose to her feet.
"In any case, I have no intention of forcing myself on you if you're so against it. So I'll be going now."
She bent over to pick up the sash that had fallen to the floor.
The movement caused her ample chest to spill forward, unable to defy gravity, creating a perilous scene.
If I were the protagonist of a rom-com, I probably would have gotten a nosebleed right then.
After tidying her yukata, she slid open the door. Before leaving, she glanced back and asked.
"Kim Yoo-Sung, if I had offered myself to you with no strings attached, would you have taken me?"
"That's..."
I couldn't answer her question right away.
But for Fuma-senpai, my hesitation was answer enough.
"You don't have to say any more. Sleep well."
She gave me a bright smile, then quietly closed the door and left.
*
The next morning.
After breakfast, I was summoned to the same room as yesterday.
Fuma-senpai and her grandfather were already there waiting for me.
I gave a slight bow before kneeling and sitting down as I had the day before.
Fuma-senpai's grandfather spoke.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
The moment he said that, an image of Fuma-senpai's naked body flashed through my mind, but I tried my best not to let it show as I answered.
"Yes. Thanks to you, I slept comfortably."
"That's a relief. It was worth taking special care of our guest from Tokyo."
Fuma-senpai's grandfather put an unlit pipe to his lips and continued.
"You said you would capture the Yukionna yesterday. Have you by any chance had a change of heart? It's alright to go back on your word once. I have no desire to send a young man to his death."
Hearing his offer, I shook my head.
"I have no intention of changing my mind. If I fail, I will leave the village without any regrets."
At that, Fuma-senpai's grandfather let out a hearty laugh.
"Good. Very good. A man ought to have that much courage. I'll have my granddaughter show you the way to the western-style house where the Yukionna lives. I shall await good news."
He glanced at Fuma-senpai, who was sitting beside him.
She picked up the wakizashi, Raikimaru, that lay before her knees and replied.
"Fuma Yukika, Acting Head of the Fuma-shu, accepts your command."
*
Fuma-senpai and I left the village on foot.
She said it was her first time going to the Yukionna's house, so when I asked how she could guide me, she replied that this whole area was her playground, and she could find any place as long as she knew its general location.
In any case, just like yesterday, I found myself endlessly climbing the mountain, following Fuma-senpai's back.
Up and down we went. Seeing Fuma-senpai walk along the rugged, untouched mountain path as if it were flat ground gave off a completely different impression from when I saw her at school.
Moreover, this was the first time I'd seen her ninja attire in broad daylight. Parts of it were made of mesh stockings, making it quite provocative.
Seriously, why does that part have to expose her thighs?
As I silently followed her back with that question in my mind...
Crunch!
Startled by the sound at my feet, I looked down.
"This is..."
Even though it was the middle of summer, the grass on the ground was white with frost.
Fuma-senpai must have sensed something was off too, because she drew Raikimaru from her back and said.
"Kim Yoo-Sung, look around."
Following her words, I lifted my gaze.
"What the..."
The season was definitely midsummer, yet beyond a certain line, everything was frozen solid.
I was only wearing a light short-sleeved t-shirt, and I could feel a creeping chill seeping into my skin.
"This must be a sign that we're in the Yukionna's territory. I expected as much, but this is truly immense spiritual power."
Fuma-senpai clicked her tongue, then moved her hands quickly, performing some strange spell.
"What did you just do?"
"A purification spell. It prevents external spiritual energy from penetrating the body."
I looked at her with envy for a moment before remembering the yang energy within my own body.
"......"
I clenched my jaw and focused my mind, awakening the dormant yang energy.
A warmth, as if I were holding a ball of fire inside me, spread throughout my body, and I felt the chill begin to recede.
"Whew, that's much better."
Fuma-senpai, who had been watching me, spoke.
"Then let's get moving again."
I nodded and followed her small back.
*
The deeper we went into the mountains, the more the surrounding scenery transformed into winter.
When Fuma-senpai was explaining about the great demon yesterday, it didn't really sink in, but seeing it with my own eyes made me realize what a tremendous monster we were dealing with.
She was changing the seasons with her power alone.
Even if I was ignorant of the power balance in the underworld, my experience reading Jump was enough to know that this type of enemy was incredibly strong.
Crunch! Crunch!
We were no longer stepping on just frozen grass, but on plants that were practically freeze-dried. As we pushed forward, we finally discovered a two-story, western-style house deep in the mountains.
"Is this it?"
"Most likely. I can feel a massive presence from inside the house."
After Fuma-senpai's confirmation, we slowly began to approach the house where the Yukionna supposedly lived.
The scenery around us now looked like a scene from a movie.
Trees covered in frost and icicles, and a waterfall frozen in place, jutting upwards.
The words that naturally came to mind were, Let it go, let it go.
Surely the Yukionna doesn't look like her, right?
Despite Fuma-senpai's grandfather's worries, the approach to the house was anticlimactically easy.
I didn't know if she wasn't on guard at all or if she was just that confident, but at least there didn't seem to be any mid-boss-level gatekeepers.
"...It's completely frozen solid."
"...So it is."
We stood before the iron gate, which wouldn't open, and exchanged words.
Do we have to climb the wall like thieves? As I was pondering this, Fuma-senpai offered a solution.
"How about you try melting it with your power?"
"Huh? With my power?"
"I think your yang energy should be more than enough to melt it."
Half-doubting her words, I placed my hands on the frozen front gate.
Then, I focused the yang energy circulating in my body into my palms.
Sssssizzle!
With a sound like a boiling kettle, the ice on the frozen gate melted away.
Clank!
It was rusty, but it still worked properly.
We carefully opened the gate and stepped into the yard, looking up at the western-style house that stood proudly before us.
It looked just like a witch's house from a fairy tale.