"Aren't you a Gap Youkai?" Sū ěr exchanged a glance with Think before asking curiously, "Can those rifts of yours actually be used to repair objects?"
"Well, it's simply a matter of adjusting the flow of power slightly—"
"Don't let yourself be fooled by Yukari Yakumo. Even if she constantly prattles on about being a mere 'Gap Youkai,' according to the boasts of her loud-mouthed subordinates, her true ability is the manipulation of boundaries."
Before Yukari could finish her smiling explanation, Yuuka Kazami cut her off ruthlessly, spilling every scrap of intelligence she possessed.
"...Can even tea this exquisite not keep your mouth shut?" Perhaps not expecting Yuuka to undermine her so blatantly at this moment, the smile on Yukari face began to strain.
"If you have a grievance, you're welcome to settle it with me directly," Yuuka countered, tilting her head with a mocking sneer. "Before they died, those worthless underlings of yours were screaming that the invincible Lady Yukari Yakumo would avenge them... yet I've been waiting a long time for you to show up, and I've yet to see where this 'invincibility' is hiding."
The relationship between these two youkai had never been friendly. To be more precise, Yuuka was constantly looking for an opportunity to beat or even kill Yukari, and Yukari feelings on the matter required no elaboration.
While seeking out powerful enemies to battle was Yuuka greatest joy, she was well aware that her months spent buried underground were effectively spent acting as a lightning rod for a calamity meant for Yukari. Thus, while she would still choose to come to this cottage even if given a second chance, she wasn't about to let Yukari off the hook without making things difficult for her.
Yuuka simply enjoyed challenging the strong to grow stronger; she was by no means a foolish youkai. On the contrary, she was exceptionally sharp. Even if what happened had been her own choice, being manipulated still left a foul taste in her mouth. And when she felt sour, she vented—logic had nothing to do with it. As for why... well, she was a youkai, after all.
At that thought, Yuuka flashed an even more radiant smile at the glaring Yukari.
"Boundaries?" Sensing the friction between the two youkai, Sū ěr feigned ignorance and inquired about the newly introduced keyword.
"Ah, it's just a very ordinary ability," Yukari conceded. Once Yuuka had exposed her, she saw no point in further obfuscation; continuing to hide her cards after being found out would only cause the already fragile dialogue to collapse. "Simply put, it is the power to create and destroy logic."
"?" Sū ěr looked puzzled. Why did that sound so incredibly overpowered?
"Don't let her intimidate you. Theoretically, her power has a staggering ceiling, but if she could actually reach it, do you think she'd still be sitting here with us?" Yuuka smile grew even wider. "She'd likely have already seized a seat in Takamagahara [the High Celestial Plain] as a youkai."
True enough. Discussing potential without considering actual output was nothing but a bluff. Sū ěr nodded; he understood perfectly.
"Precisely. So-called boundary manipulation is, at its core, the creation of new existences and the negation of existing ones." Now that her secret was out, Yukari stopped acting. She drained the last drop of tea from her cup and, under the gaze of three pairs of eyes, crushed the wooden vessel into splinters.
"Like this... the boundary between 'broken' and 'whole'."
As the words left her lips, the shattered wooden cup seemed to undergo a reversal of time, returning to the pristine state it had occupied seconds before.
"Just like the world we see, the existence of all objects is predicated upon the existence of boundaries. If you cannot perceive the surface of the lake, then the lake does not exist. Without a ridgeline, the mountains and the sky would be indistinguishable," Yukari noted the look of wonder on the male youkai and his spirit companion. She had to admit to a flicker of smug satisfaction, though her outward demeanor remained as calm and ethereal as ever.
"Boundaries are the benchmarks that balance all things in creation. If the boundaries of all objects ceased to exist, the world would dissolve into a singular, massive whole, incapable of being differentiated... in other words, Chaos." Having finished the brief description of her power, Yukari added with a smile, "Of course, such a feat is far beyond me. I am, after all, merely a youkai. If I ever reached that stage, I would likely have lost my sense of self and become a conceptual entity."
"...What a terrifying power," Sū ěr remarked meaningfully, picking up the restored cup. Even he could find no flaw or trace of its prior destruction.
It was, without question, an ability that could upend everything from the very root of existence. Sū ěr reaffirmed that Yukari self-proclaimed title of "minor youkai" was pure modesty. In truth, with this ability alone, she could rival the power of a god... given a few hundred, thousand, or tens of thousands of years.
At least for the current Yukari, that was still a height she had yet to reach.
"It is indeed troublesome. No matter how you ambush her, she slips away with ease. Repairing a painting or moving through spatial rifts is just the most superficial application," Yuuka remarked, clearly annoyed by Yukari slipperiness. The green-haired youkai added with boredom, "If you still want to see that painting in its original state, you might as well let her try."
"The painting... the photograph?" Lost in thought over the implications of Yukari power, Sū ěr hesitated for a moment before remembering the original topic of conversation.
He raised a hand, summoning the photo from the cabinet across the room into his palm. His thumb brushed over the partially visible wing in the image, and he suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
This was the photograph Jibril had tossed back at his chest as she walked away at the edge of the Sea of Spirits. It should have been decomposed into pure elementals when he and Think fell into that sea, but after becoming the One True God, he had used his divine power to retrieve it directly from the past. Yet, he hadn't returned it to Jibril even by the time he left... they hadn't even met face-to-face.
The image was more than half-consumed by fire, but it didn't need to be whole or undamaged.
"No need," Sū ěr said, looking up. "Let it stay as it is."
"When the day comes to return it to her hand... I suspect she, too, will want to see this mark of change."