Based on Bokue's past experience handling emotional crises—including instances with Busujima-senpai and Akeno-senpai falling into depressive spirals—usually nothing couldn't be resolved through thorough physical intimacy.
If one session didn't solve it, that simply meant the intensity wasn't sufficient. More vigor required.
Regardless, that night Bokue didn't stop even after Rias—from excessive repeated connections—completely crashed and couldn't reconnect.
Time progressed to the next day.
Perhaps around dawn, when the demon realm's hazy sunlight filtered through sheer curtains into the bedroom, the red-haired girl buried beneath thin blankets atop the room's central bed finally stirred slightly.
"Mm..."
Accompanied by her first murmur after barely regaining consciousness, Rias's eyelashes trembled lightly as she slowly opened her eyes.
Perhaps because she'd just awakened, her vision remained somewhat blurry. Through hazy sight, the young man's familiar facial contours appeared—his arms extending beneath the covers to hold her tightly in his embrace.
"Bokue..."
Almost like bodily instinct—brain barely booted up, not yet aware of her current situation—Rias involuntarily leaned forward. Eyes closing again, she actively kissed the young man's lips.
Mm...
Carrying the drowsiness of just waking at dawn, this kiss proved rather prolonged.
One second passed.
Two seconds.
Three seconds...
After five seconds elapsed, accompanied by a thread-like electrical sensation coursing through Rias's mind, she suddenly reopened her eyes.
As if dormant memories had suddenly reactivated, Rias reflexively released the kissed lips—withdrawing slightly while blinking.
She recalled everything. Last night after the banquet, she'd gotten stuck in a mental corner feeling terrible. After simply completing personal hygiene, she'd returned directly to her room. Then Bokue found her, they'd chatted briefly, and afterward she'd continuously been... well, like that.
Recalling last night's entire process, Rias couldn't help pressing her lips together. Her cheeks—which had barely cooled to normal temperature after overnight cooling—faintly heated again.
Honestly, Rias couldn't remember when she'd finally fallen asleep last night. Even approximate timing completely escaped her.
She only remembered drinking water many times. Beyond that initial period of relative clarity, throughout the entire subsequent process, her consciousness had remained foggy—feeling simultaneously awake yet dreamlike.
Beyond that, she truly had zero recollection. The next memory fragment appeared only now upon waking.
"Yawn~"
As if connected telepathically, just as Rias awakened, Bokue—who'd been sleeping peacefully seconds earlier—yawned while slowly opening his eyes. Clear amber irises clearly reflected the girl's flushed, slightly dazed expression.
"Awake?"
"Mm... yeah."
Completely unprepared for how to respond, Rias reflexively nodded.
Bokue hummed acknowledgment before tightening the arms that had encircled the girl's waist all night—until beneath the blankets, their lower abdomens pressed together.
"How do you feel? Mood better today?"
Mood... huh?
Having recalled last night's experiences, Rias naturally understood this referred to yesterday's confession about getting mentally stuck.
Though saying so might sound somewhat abstract, after last night's "high-intensity transmission," she genuinely felt considerably improved today.
Like her entire being had been emptied—all accumulated fatigue, especially pressure, instantly swept clean. Her shoulders felt as if three hundred pounds had been lifted.
So Rias, blushing, nodded again.
"Mm..."
"Good. That's what matters."
Perhaps because sleeping so late last night meant waking this early still left him drowsy, after finishing that sentence, Bokue closed his eyes again. He simply lowered his head slightly, pressing his nose into the red-haired girl's hair—inhaling that faint fragrance while continuing.
"Anyway, like I said—you don't need to pressure yourself so much, Rias. Whatever actually happens, I'll help you."
"I know..."
Rias spoke while affectionately nuzzling her cheek against the young man's chest.
"Actually, yesterday probably involved my pride acting up too. Feeling like I'm slightly older than you, Bokue, yet still needing to rely on you for so many things..."
"That's definitely not how it works."
Eyes closed, Bokue spoke flatly.
"If we're really calculating that way, every single old fart in the Keikain family would need to commit seppuku. At seven years old, I could've tied them all together and beaten them single-handed."
"Well, when you put it like that..."
Rias muttered quietly, pursing her lips.
"Hey, more importantly... what time did you sleep last night, Bokue?"
"Not entirely sure—didn't really pay attention."
Though claiming uncertainty, Bokue still opened his eyes to think seriously.
"Though at minimum, past four AM. The last time I checked the clock before finishing, I remember it already being three-fifty-something."
Rias: "..."
They'd gotten home at ten PM yesterday. Even after bathing, that'd be eleven at most.
Meaning afterward, she'd spent five full hours being... and only her alone!
Thinking this, Rias suddenly felt her blackout last night might've been fortunate.
After all, maintaining full consciousness throughout would've resulted not in simple "development progress" but direct "transformation completion."
Reference: a certain Primogenitor girl. Now practically at the level where no matter what she's doing—even something as simple as folding blankets after waking—she'd connect it there.
For instance, fantasizing while folding blankets that oniisan suddenly opens the door, causing her reflexive turn to lose balance and tumble into the blankets rolled into a little spring roll, then being picked up by oniisan to use as a cup or something.
Such fantasies were commonplace for Rias witnessing. How could a girl that age transform like this... huh?!
Just as Rias's thoughts drifted toward mental wandering, she suddenly felt herself lifted upward.
Thin blankets slid from her shoulders. Demon realm morning breeze blowing through window gaps swept across snowy peaks.
Rias reflexively released a soft gasp.
"S-slower? Bokue, why suddenly..."
"Time's still early anyway. Plus, didn't you want to get stronger faster, Rias?"
"But we just finished last night... eh? Wait... no, at least let me use the bathroom first... ah!!!"
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