After reining in his aura, Takumi set Kotoko down.
Kotoko immediately scolded the tanuki yokai, her tone crisp and serious.
"Don't call him that. By my standards, he's a very handsome man—and he's my boyfriend now. From now on, you'll address him with the same respect you use for me."
"Ah? O-okay… um… Prince Consort…" The tanuki yokai drooped its ears and hurriedly corrected itself.
Hearing it toss around "princess" and "prince consort" like it was the most natural thing in the world put Kotoko in a great mood.
Meanwhile, Takumi had already spread out his senses and locked onto the yokai power surging from the library.
"The aura's messy… but there's a hint of upper-tier strength in it."
He sounded genuinely surprised. In modern times, something like that wasn't easy to come across.
Kotoko tilted her head at him, then hooked her little finger around his like she was making him sign a contract on the spot.
"My boyfriend wouldn't refuse his girlfriend's request… right~?"
"Of course."
Takumi smiled, took her hand, pulled her back into his arms, and—like it was the most casual thing in the world—slid one palm under her butt to hoist her securely. Then he shot off toward the library.
"Eh—!!" Kotoko's eyes widened.
Behind them, the tanuki yokai stared blankly as the two of them vanished.
"I-I haven't even gotten on the ride yet! Princess—Prince Consort—wait for me…!!"
It panicked, then waddled after them on its tiny legs, chasing at full speed.
…
By the time they arrived, Kotoko still hadn't fully processed how fast it was.
BOOOOM—!!
A thunderous crash snapped her back to reality.
"Whoa! That was insanely fast—did we just teleport?!"
"Pretty much," Takumi said, gaze sharpening. "But the situation's a mess."
Kotoko followed his line of sight.
The library was already reduced to rubble—completely collapsed.
And in the middle of the wreckage stood a massive yokai: its entire body was blood-red, two horns protruded from its head, and its silhouette looked like some kind of dragon-lizard monster. It stomped and roared, drowning the area in chaotic, violent yokai power.
"ROOOAARR!!"
The roar shook the surrounding buildings, and a chain of shattered windows popped like firecrackers.
Its crimson eyes—like two red lanterns—locked onto any living presence.
Takumi's emerald gaze flickered as he scanned it.
[Dragon-Lizard Yokai]
[Rank: Upper-Tier Yokai]
[Traits: Shikon Jewel Shard (Blue), Dragon-Lizard Bloodline (Green), …]
[Shikon Jewel Shard (Blue): A Shikon Jewel shard is embedded inside its body. It grants berserk yokai power while also corroding the mind.]
[Dragon-Lizard Bloodline (Green): Contains a trace of fire-dragon blood. Enormous body. Can breathe flames.]
"Shikon Jewel… shard?" Takumi raised an eyebrow, his expression turning sharper. "So it's not just a random yokai incident."
Before he could think further, Kotoko had already hopped down from his arms and strode forward like she was about to read the monster its rights.
"That's enough. Whether it's the human world or the other side, order must be maintained. Anything that refuses to follow reason, I will not allow—"
She didn't even finish.
The dragon-lizard yokai opened its jaws and spewed a tidal wave of fire.
FWOOOOSH—!!
A wall of flames surged forward like a raging sea, about to swallow Kotoko whole—and then stopped dead.
The inferno froze inches from her, blocked by something invisible, unable to advance even a hair. Kotoko couldn't even feel the heat.
She blinked once, completely calm, and studied the fire like it was a fascinating experiment.
"Mhm… so this is your power, Takumi-kun. That's… pretty amazing."
Takumi's face went flat.
"Can you stop admiring the scenery for two seconds? You were about to die. You're not scared at all?"
Kotoko looked up at him, deadly serious.
"I didn't predict that part," she admitted evenly, then added like it was obvious, "because you're here. If you've shown your strength, shouldn't yokai like this be trembling already?"
Takumi paused. …Annoyingly, she had a point.
Kotoko's gaze sharpened, switching instantly into analysis mode.
"It's probably lost its mind. A rabid dog doesn't feel fear—so the only option is to put it down. Takumi-kun, you're up."
Then she took several steps back without hesitation and placed Takumi squarely between herself and the monster, her survival instincts working perfectly.
Takumi sighed and moved.
"[Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void]."
The instant he formed the seal, the domain swallowed the dragon-lizard yokai.
A flood of meaningless information—an endless ocean—crashed into its mind. Forced perception, forced transmission, repeated endlessly…
Its body locked up. Eyes glazed. It froze in place, unable to twitch.
"Gojo's domain really is busted," Takumi muttered, then walked forward unhurriedly.
He raised one hand.
RIP—!
The dragon-lizard yokai split apart as if reality itself had been torn open.
A small shard—glittering with a strange, ominous light—floated free and dropped neatly into Takumi's palm.
He weighed it lightly, feeling the dense spiritual and yokai power packed inside.
"Even just a shard like this… if a normal yokai swallows it, their strength skyrockets," he said, eyes narrowing. "If it were complete, even becoming a great yokai wouldn't be impossible."
A great yokai—roughly equivalent to Demon Lord-class here.
Even if a shard-made great yokai would be the weakest type, it was still enough to make countless creatures drool.
Takumi's thoughts tightened.
"And if the Shikon Jewel is showing up, that means Inuyasha's world is merging in too," he murmured. "Which means the Bone-Eater's Well might exist… and if I can go back to the past…"
He stopped himself mid-thought, the realization flickering through him.
This world was already turning into a chaotic mess—and he couldn't pretend he hadn't contributed to that.
He tossed the shard into his spatial storage.
"I'll have to investigate the Higurashi Shrine."
Then he placed a hand on the dragon-lizard yokai's corpse.
In the next instant, its massive body collapsed inward like it was being dragged into a black hole—flesh and blood funneling into Takumi's palm.
In a single breath, the three-story-tall monster was completely consumed and digested.
[Ding! Random trait obtained: Shikon Jewel Shard (Blue)]
Takumi blinked. "…Huh? So it can do that too?"
He could feel it—inside him, a second shard had formed, as if the first one had been copied.
He reached in with his power, pulled the newly formed shard out of his own body, and held it up.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
Then, as a follow-up, he refined the dragon-lizard's absorbed genetic structure.
[Ding! Trait obtained: Flame Affinity (Blue)]
[Flame Affinity (Blue): You can easily control fire, and low-grade flames cannot harm you.]
Takumi exhaled, satisfied.
Kotoko stared at the ruined library, then looked back at Takumi with bright eyes—half admiration, half a very dangerous kind of curiosity—like she'd already started thinking about what exactly a boyfriend this powerful was capable of.