Chapter 874

In the early morning, light seeped into the room through the gaps in the hot spring's paper door.

The slender winter morning light fell perfectly on the torn white silk stockings lying on the tatami mat. The velvet texture still retained last night's softness, but the inner thigh to the crotch area had been torn open in two irregular rips, as if ripped apart by some brutal force from the middle. Another pair of silk stockings was thrown farther away, near the door, black with a one-one eclipse floral pattern—the style Mai Xuejie wore yesterday on the Shinkansen, somehow ending up on this room's floor, also torn to shreds.

Uesugi Muneyuki leaned against the headboard, his yukata open, revealing his lean chest.

Miyawaki Sakura curled in his arms, her breathing still unsteady, her eyelashes fluttering, as if she had woken but did not want to open her eyes.

Her performance outfit, neatly folded yesterday in the wardrobe, was now utterly unwearable.

Fragments of velvet polka-dot white silk scattered outside the blanket, revealing a smooth section of calf, with faint marks on the ankle where the stockings had dug in. Uesugi Muneyuki's fingers were drawing something on Sakura's lower abdomen—a pattern embedded between skin and body, existing both in flesh and in spirit power layer, a gray-silver tracery.

The main motif of the pattern was a curled vine, extending downward from the sea of qi to the gate of origin, then winding outward into two side branches, the tip swelling into a flower bud the size of a pinhead. That bud remained closed, its color an extremely pale gray-white, like an eye yet to open.

This strange floral pattern appeared on only five women: Uesugi Mai, Uesugi Minami, Uesugi Erina, Uesugi Asuka, and Uesugi Mikoto; Sakura was the sixth, and likely the last.

There was no way around it—the quota for reaching the other shore was limited, first come first served, and there are only seven chakras.

"Mm, mmm mmm..." The drawing of the gray-silver pattern was clearly not insensate; Sakura's tiny nose let out a weak hum. "Awake?" Uesugi Muneyuki's voice was somewhat hoarse.

Miyawaki Sakura's eyelashes fluttered again, slowly opening her eyes. Those eyes held the haze of just waking, the softness of being sated, and a hint of something indescribable, a shyness she could not hide. Last night her courage had been far greater than now—she had been proactive, passionate, even a bit recklessly provocative toward Uesugi Muneyuki, asking him "Just this?"

"Is that all the Sakurada Gate Lewd Devil is?"

Later she stopped asking.

She could not speak.

That night she gave herself completely, holding nothing back, with no regrets.

Fearless of hardship, fight until no regrets!

Having come this far, there was no retreat left; Sakura knew her actual greatest value was herself, and for Uesugi Muneyuki, this kind of traditional upbringing, half-modern half-pre-modern man, only this could truly move him. I've gritted my teeth and gone for it!

And with each cultural wave mountain-moving thrust, Uesugi Muneyuki carried an undeniable aggressiveness; Sakura's fingertips clung death-tight to the bedsheet, her whole body as if nailed to the tatami.

She had thought it would be terrifying, but without that feeling of being completely filled, she did not feel finally whole.

All waiting is no longer waiting~My life, I have chosen you!

From Miyawaki Sakura to Uesugi Ehliang!

"Uesugi Muneyuki, Muneyuki-san..." She buried her face in his chest, her voice muffled, nasal: "So comfortable~From now on, you must dote on Sakura every day!"

Her tone was innocent, as if stating something utterly ordinary, yet the content made a certain nerve in Uesugi Muneyuki twitch again.

Everyday?

This this cannot be!

You're trying to turn my beard white, aren't you!

Just then, a knocking sound came—three times, neither light nor heavy.

"Sakura, time to get up." It was Mai Xuejie's voice, carrying a kind of "I know what happened in there but I won't spill it" cheerfulness: "I've brought you breakfast~Teeth white one get dead pinch~"

Sakura shot up from the futon as if electrocuted, then let out an "ah" and collapsed back—legs weak, waist weak, her whole body as if its bones had been pulled out, unable to support herself any way.

She lowered her gaze to look at herself under the blanket—completely naked, the performance outfit unusable, the silk stockings torn, not even knowing where her underwear had been flung, front aching, back also aching, after all she had given herself entirely, unreservedly.

"Done done done one" she muttered, fumbling with hands and feet to grab the blanket and wrap herself up.

Uesugi Muneyuki chuckled, threw on his yukata, and went to open the door.

Mai Xuejie stood at the door holding a lacquer tray, Asuka following behind, holding a food box.

Both were already fully dressed and made up with light makeup, clearly having risen long ago.

Mai Xuejie's gaze swept over Uesugi Muneyuki's shoulder, glancing at the two torn silk stockings on the floor, her mouth corner twitching slightly upward. Asuka also saw it, her face faintly reddening, she turned away, pretending to look at the hallway decorations.

After all, last night it was the two of them who helped Sakura clean every place spotless, and the person responsible for washing the inside with glycerin balls was still her, bought under Mikoto's professional medical guidance!

Shameful! Truly utterly shameless!

Asuka turned into an angry little bird, thinking how I never thought of this?

I want it too!

"Come in." Uesugi Muneyuki stepped aside.

Mai Xuejie placed the lacquer tray on the table, her movements unhurried, as natural as if in her own home.

Asuka set down the food box, glanced at Sakura wrapped in the blanket with only her face exposed—Sakura's face red as boiled shrimp, eyes darting everywhere but daring not to look at them.

Asuka couldn't help but let out a "pfft" laugh, then quickly covered her mouth; Mai Xuejie was quite composed, she knelt by the table, began setting out bowls and chopsticks, head not lifting as she said: "Congratulations, Sakura."

Miyawaki Sakura froze for a moment, then her eye sockets reddened.

Those two words "Congratulations" from Mai Xuejie's mouth meant she had been accepted.

Not "permitted," but "accepted"—in this complex, unwritten, unregulated system, it meant she was no longer an outsider.

I've always been Mai-sama's person!

"Thank you, Mai-sister..." Her voice was soft, but sincere.

Asuka pouted beside her, clutching a cushion, looking rather displeased.

She wasn't unhappy because Sakura had relations with Uesugi Muneyuki, but because in this system she had originally been the smallest, the last to join, and now another had come—though not the smallest, but newer than her, that "newcomer" feeling made her feel a bit sour. "Sakura-chan, you can't monopolize it all by yourself." She couldn't help but say, her tone carrying tsundere sourness and also half-joking seriousness: "Don't forget, who really is the boss of Hankyō Bridge?"

"Of course it's me and Minami!" Mai Xuejie snorted, slipping a piece of tamagoyaki into Asuka's bowl, softly saying: "Eat your own." Mmm! Mai-sama bullying people! Asuka pouted, thinking clearly I'm the big sister of the JK Exorcism Club!

Sakura tried to get up to wash, just lifting a corner of the blanket, her leg gave way and she almost knelt straight to the floor.

Uesugi Muneyuki reacted swiftly, catching her; she hung entirely on his arm, her legs limp as overcooked noodles.

She both ashamed and annoyed hammered him once, her voice soft and sticky: "It's all your fault, you lecher!"

Uesugi Muneyuki laughed, lifted her horizontally, carried her into the bathroom; Mai Xuejie and Asuka watched from outside, one laughing and shaking her head, the other pouting with her lips pushed out even further.

Before the bathroom door closed, Sakura's face buried in the white mist of hot steam, she thought inside, so this is what it feels like to be this comfortable. She had once heard seniors in the 48 say it would hurt, that many would cry, that some couldn't walk for days afterward. The seniors might well have not lied to her—it really did hurt, and she really couldn't walk.

But that feeling of being completely possessed, utterly filled, surging up from the deepest part of the body, making even fingertips Stopped, was what Sakura experienced; she looked at her face in the mirror, flushed, between her brows and eyes there was something she had never felt before—a soft, languid, springlike languor.

She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, thinking, Sakura, you've succeeded.

Uesugi Estate Ooku Side Chamber Kagoshima Institution Lady Sakura, enter the battlefield!

At nine o'clock sharp, Uesugi Muneyuki and his party checked out of the hot spring inn, drove to the lodging of the Divine Hand Film Crew at the Livestock Hotel.

When Miyawaki Sakura got out of the car, her stride was noticeably much slower than usual.

She was wearing thick black opaque velvet tights and thigh-high velvet high-heeled boots, with a long down jacket on top, bundled up tightly, but her walking posture was still unnatural, her legs trembling slightly, needing to lean on the car door for support to stand steady.

The flush on Xiao Ying's face had not completely faded, a thin, moist sheen like just being rained on clung to her brow and eye corners, that kind of sheen not something makeup could produce, but the spring vitality from last night seeping out from her bones, impossible to conceal. She herself had noticed it, but did not deliberately cover up. On the contrary, when walking into the hotel lobby, she slightly lifted her chin, her pace slow but her waist and back held straight.

That posture seemed to say yes, something happened last night, I'm fine, you don't need to worry.

Mai Xuejie walked beside her, taking in all this, the corner of her mouth hinting at a faint smile, without comment.

Meanwhile, Fuji's beautiful anchor Tei Reiji furrowed her brows, she was disappointed about last night, she originally dared not contend with Bai Ma, but now it seems last night was actually Xiao Ying?

Hey, you little idol, what gives you the right to strut your stuff here?

Back when I was auditioning in Fuji saying aiueo, you didn't even know where to sing those nursery rhyme songs!

But at this moment, the atmosphere in the lobby was off.

Normally, the Divine Hand Film Crew's outdoor shoot should have already started, but now it's past nine, and there's neither the bustle of lighting setup nor the director shouting "Start".

Crew members gathered in small groups, whispering, their faces showing an indescribable tension.

Aragaki Yui stood to the front side, talking to the film crew's producer, her complexion poor, obvious dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept all night.

Seeing Uesugi Muneyuki and them enter, she ended her conversation and walked over, her voice pressed low but her speech rapid, carrying an anxiety and unease suppressed all night.

Then Hoshino Gen immediately followed, he gazed warily at Uesugi Muneyuki, as someone in his thirties who's been around, he could tell at a glance. This Xiao Ying and Bai Ma definitely did it with Uesugi.

Stay away from GAKKI! You pervert! Go harm others!

"Did you hear about what happened last night?" Aragaki Yui asked Shirakawa Mai.

Mai Xuejie shook her head.

Xiao Ying also shook her head, she wasn't fully clear on the situation, but seeing Aragaki Yui's expression, her heart tightened as well.

Aragaki Yui recounted last night's events in detail: footsteps, the door handle being repeatedly pressed down and springing back, wet breathing sounds, Hoshino Gen guarding the door all night, and repeatedly checking the monitors but seeing nothing.

As she spoke, her voice was steady, but her fingers unconsciously gripped the tassels of her scarf, squeezing tight, knuckles whitening.

After Uesugi Muneyuki finished listening, he did not immediately state his position. He glanced at Mai Xuejie, who was also looking at him. Their gazes briefly met in the air, then separated.

Could it be?

Did GAKKISMILE attract unclean things?

Also, the Inner World's existence causes mutual attraction, but Uesugi and Bai Ma have lethal martial power, while GAKKI does not.

Thinking this, Uesugi Muneyuki's face twitched a few times.

No, dude.

How come even filming a TV drama can encounter paranormal events?