Minami Kyouko shook her head vigorously.
Trying to fling that man's face out of her mind.
Unbelievable that she could climax just by recalling his face...
What on earth was wrong with her?
Why did she think of him so intensely?
As soon as the thought arose, that vivid face smiled at her again within her mind's eye.
Instantly, Minami Kyouko felt the restless heat flare anew.
I won't lose!
I just won't believe it!
Can your face appear all night?!
Just wait!
Come on!
...
"Why are you here?"
Sakura Momo's first question upon seeing Fang Zuo wasn't about the case at all.
Astonishingly, she asked about Fang Zuo's whereabouts.
"Your protective detail for Councilwoman Shiraishi was canceled yesterday. Why are you still here today?"
Fang Zuo paused, about to answer.
But Sakura Momo surged forward, pressing him against the wall.
Her arms hooked tightly around his neck.
Lifting her sharp, beautiful face towards his.
Her crimson lips hovered near his chin, her breath warm and fragrant.
"Don't tell me you spent the night here?"
Fang Zuo caught the distinct scent of Shandong vinegar, sharp and cutting.
If he answered straight now, he'd lose.
What was the most crucial element in a duel of wills?
Disrupting the opponent's rhythm.
That was the lesson learned from countless contests of spirit with the immortals in the mountains.
SMACK!
Fang Zuo delivered a sharp swat to the leather-clad curve of her backside, stretched taut by the pants.
Sakura Momo gasped, "Ah!"
Seizing the moment, he captured those red lips with his own.
Sakura Momo responded fiercely.
Her arms tightened around his neck.
Seeming intent on dragging his tongue right out.
It felt like a full day...
No.
Like an entire month had passed without seeing this man.
Their lips finally parted slowly.
"What did you say?" Fang Zuo asked casually, wiping a trace of saliva from the corner of Sakura Momo's mouth with his thumb.
"I said... were you staying here tonight?" Sakura Momo repeated softly, her tone a gentle whisper.
"Definitely not!" Fang Zuo answered with righteous certainty.
"Sou ka!" Hearing this, the tension evaporated from Sakura Momo's face, replaced by a radiant smile.
"I've been living here continuously since a few days ago."
"Nani?! I... I'm going to bite you to death!"
...
After instructing the officers Sakura Momo had called, Fang Zuo glanced down at his shoulder.
Covered in bite marks.
After his last pronouncement,
Sakura Momo transformed into a wildcat.
She clung to him fiercely,
biting, nipping,
kissing his face indiscriminately,
and thoroughly gnawing on his shoulder anew.
"Baka! Let's see how disgusting that woman finds my territorial marking!" Sakura Momo flung the threat over her shoulder, swinging her stiletto-clad foot to kick down the bike's stand.
She vaulted onto the Kawasaki Ninja with fluid agility, leaning low over its frame.
VRRROOM! VRRROOM! VRRROOM!
She revved the engine furiously,
seeming ready to wrench the throttle grip clean off.
With a deafening WHOOM,
she rocketed away into the night.
Shortly after, officers arrived and removed the unconscious chauffeur and the boy from the living room. The subsequent clean-up was Sakura Momo's problem; the Tokyo Exorcism Defense Team was intimately familiar with mopping up these supernatural spills.
...
With everything settled,
Fang Zuo sat cross-legged on the sofa, breathing in the meager spiritual energy, drawing upon the moon's essence.
It was a rare full moon.
Since the spiritual energy had dwindled, the sun and moon themselves seemed to have ceased nurturing spiritual radiance. Only during the full moon could one faintly recapture the feeling ancient cultivators experienced gathering spiritual light.
After days of cultivation and dual cultivation, his Nascent Soul had regained a tiny sliver of its former strength.
Perhaps he should release the captured Evil God spirits? Let them gather more followers?
Stronger, purer yin spirits could be summoned that way.
Consuming them might speed his recovery significantly.
As this thought surfaced, Fang Zuo instantly recoiled internally.
He forcefully suppressed the surging chaotic energy.
Close call.
Almost touched by a demonic whisper.
Clearing his mind, Fang Zuo turned his focus inward once more.
"Master."
A soft call came from upstairs.
Fang Zuo withdrew from his internal state.
Looking at the clock in the living room – 11 AM already.
Shiraishi Nagiso had awoken upstairs.
Finding only her daughter beside her, she jolted in sudden panic.
Tap tap tap.
Barefoot, she rushed frantically down the stairs.
Only seeing Fang Zuo sitting cross-legged on the sofa did she exhale in relief.
She scurried over, wrapping her arms around his arm, burying her head against his chest.
"Where are they?"
"Taken away by the Exorcism Defense Team."
"Who would've thought... Taira-san, my driver for over ten years, was actually from the Takeda family." Shiraishi Nagiso's expression darkened. The driver had always been excellent; she'd treated him well. Yet, upon returning to the villa, he was the first to point a knife at her.
"Were you afraid yesterday?"
Fang Zuo stroked her long hair, not explaining the driver and boy's condition. With the Elder's level of cultivation, those two must have harbored significant darkness within their hearts to be controlled so utterly.
"Yes," Nagiso nodded, a lingering fear showing as she lifted her head to offer a deep, wet kiss. She settled back against his chest. Only the scent of this man provided true security.
"But then I thought of you, Master, and I wasn't afraid anymore," Shiraishi Nagiso murmured softly.
"Thought of me how?" Fang Zuo asked.
Nagiso recalled that moment of despair, a blush flooding her cheeks. Her hand slipped lower. "Dudu wants breakfast."
Fang Zuo pinched her chin lightly. "Where I come from, servants calling their master should refer to themselves as 'dudu'."
Nagiso's fingers tightened where they rested, her eyes smoldering. "Dudu wants breakfast."
Suddenly, she frowned. "Master has a strange scent?"
"Not your scent... not Dudu's scent either..."
She leaned closer, sniffing Fang Zuo intently.
Fang Zuo was surprised.
He'd cast a cleansing spell on himself after Sakura Momo left.
Yet Nagiso could still detect something. Was it smell? Or a woman's instinct?
"Oka-san!" "Onii-chan!"
Sawada Yui's voice called from upstairs too.
Thump thump thump! Footsteps followed.
Yui ran down, her face pale.
Seeing Fang Zuo and her mother together on the sofa, her nose twitched.
Waaah!
She burst into fresh tears.
Flinging herself at Fang Zuo, she grabbed his other arm.
"It was so scary!"
"Onii-chan! Yui and Oka-san almost died yesterday!"
She hugged Fang Zuo, rubbing her tears frantically into his clothes, weeping pitifully.
"It's okay now," Fang Zuo reassured her, patting her head.
"But I knew we'd be okay! I knew Onii-chan would find us!"
Yui lifted her head, waving the red cord on her wrist.
"This thing got really warm! I knew it meant you'd find us!"
Shiraishi Nagiso asked curiously, "What is that?"
Yui wiped her tears, proudly declaring, "It's a gift from Onii-chan! He said it protects me."
Nagiso's face instantly drained of color. White as bone.
Utterly, devastatingly white. Heartbreak etched on every feature.
Yui remained oblivious to her mother's abrupt change.
She sniffed her own clothes. "Ew, stinky! Oka-san, we both fell asleep so suddenly after we got back, we didn't even change! I'm going to shower!" With that, she scampered off.
Shiraishi Nagiso sat rigidly, sightless eyes staring into space, unresponsive to her daughter's words.
Her body felt chilled to the marrow.
All vitality seemed to leach out of her in an instant.
Rigid as wood.
Nothing was left but cold emptiness.
Nothing was left but the intent to die.