Chapter 47: The Eight Mind-Calming Fingers

Stepping into the house and taking in the lavish and magnificent interior decoration, Kuroha Yiyu could not help feeling a sense of emotion. Logically speaking, Suzumiya Naoki was the boss of such a large company, yet a car accident had left his wife deceased and his family impoverished.

Looking at the antique vases and various valuable pieces of jewelry scattered around the room, Kuroha Yiyu was somewhat puzzled. Any of these items could easily be sold for a substantial amount of money. Why would Suzumiya Asuka rather endure such grievances than sell them?

When Kuroha Yiyu entered Suzumiya Naoki's bedroom and saw the walls plastered with photographs of their family happily together, he understood. Suzumiya Asuka must have hoped that her father would recover sooner in a familiar environment, and therefore she preferred to risk herself to earn money rather than touch anything belonging to the household.

Suzumiya Naoki lay in bed, and on the bedside table near the window stood a small vase containing a fresh sunflower, facing a warm, brilliant ray of sunlight piercing through the half-drawn curtains.

Kuroha Yiyu walked over to the windowsill and pulled back the curtains, allowing the sunlight to illuminate the entire room.

Approaching the half-dead Suzumiya Naoki lying on the bed, he extended his right hand and placed it over Suzumiya Naoki's closed eyes. Closing his own eyes, he felt the rhythm quietly. After about two minutes, Kuroha Yiyu's hand began to shift, moving from the eyes to the temples, sensing Suzumiya Naoki's life pulse with his acute perception.

"I don't know if it will work, but I have to try."

Ten minutes later, Kuroha Yiyu opened his eyes, withdrew his hand, and frowned as he looked at Suzumiya Naoki lying in bed. In his mind emerged the Iga secret technique capable of reconverging the spiritual energy of a dying person and extending the time for rescue—the Pacifying Eight Fingers. While reaching out with one hand into the air, recalling, gesturing, and muttering to himself, he prepared.

Closing his eyes, Kuroha Yiyu entered his imagined simulation space. Suzumiya Naoki's body appeared within the sea of consciousness in Kuroha Yiyu's mind. Kuroha Yiyu extended his fingers, rapidly tapping back and forth in a specific pattern across eight dangerous acupoints on Suzumiya Naoki's body.

"Puff—"

Suzumiya Naoki suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body stiffened, and he stopped breathing.

"What's going on? Is the frequency wrong?"

Kuroha Yiyu opened his eyes, breaking out of his sea of consciousness, and the imagined scene vanished instantly. Looking at Suzumiya Naoki, who was still lying intact on the bed, Kuroha Yiyu tilted his mouth upward and blew a breath upwards, causing the bangs on his forehead to flutter gently in the breeze.

After all, Kuroha Yiyu did not panic because of this. He walked over to the windowsill, picked up the sunflower from the bedside table, and slowly brought it close to his nose. There was a faint, unique fragrance of plants, along with the scent of sunlight.

He placed the sunflower on the floor by the window, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, rested his head against the wall beneath the windowsill, and once again entered the simulated treatment while basking in the sun.

He had no idea how much time had passed when the sunflower under the window gently turned by a tiny fraction. Kuroha Yiyu opened his eyes, stood up somewhat tiredly, stretched his arms, yawned, and limbered up his joints.

Returning to the window, he pulled back Suzumiya Naoki's blanket in one motion, propped up his body into a sitting position, and released his hands. Just as the body began to slump back toward the bed, Kuroha Yiyu swiftly tapped an acupoint on his body, causing him to miraculously remain rigid and sit upright on the bed.

Quickly and without hesitation, he unbuttoned Suzumiya Naoki's pajamas, exposing his bare upper torso. Being both men, there was neither awkwardness nor delay. Pulling back his hands, he reviewed the successful simulated case in his mind once more and settled his heart...

By the time Kuroha Yiyu restored everything in the bedroom to its original state, walked out, and left the Suzumiya residence, he glanced at the large clock in the living room. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon. Heading back now, school would probably be letting out.

Boarding a taxi, Kuroha Yiyu looked out the window, thinking that Suzumiya Asuka's home was not close to the academy, taking twenty minutes by taxi. How did she usually get to school? Given her current situation, she certainly wouldn't take taxis. Could she be walking?

Kuroha Yiyu never expected that he, who had always been taught to maintain a tranquil state of mind, would begin to worry about a girl's life. Perhaps it was to fill the void of growing up without a family, lacking the warmth of a father's and mother's love; therefore, he did not want Suzumiya Asuka to end up like him.

Instead of taking a taxi directly back to the academy—since even if he returned there was nothing to do, as he already knew most of the knowledge, and returning now would mean arriving just as school let out, which was meaningless, nor did he need to go back to retrieve books or do homework—he got out of the car at the White Tiger Nightclub after paying the fare. Counting the remaining hundred-dollar bills in his hand, Kuroha Yiyu wondered whether he should buy a bouquet of something for Watanabe Reimu when he went to the concert later. He hadn't left all his money at the Suzumiya residence; he had simply tucked two thousand yen into the pocket of Suzumiya Naoki's pajamas, hoping Suzumiya Asuka would discover it the next time she washed her father's clothes, making her think it was money her father had left in his pocket and overlooked.

Stepping into the White Tiger Nightclub, although he had only worked here for a single night, his superior memory and the fact that he had already mastered the layout of the nightclub allowed him to navigate with ease, leading him straight to the bar where Brother Xiao Bai worked.

"Oh, Xiao Yu, coming in so early today? It's not time for your shift yet," Brother Xiao Bai asked curiously, sitting by the bar polishing his nails alongside an alluring woman in the club as he watched Kuroha Yiyu approach.

"Um, well, Brother Xiao Bai, can I take a leave of absence tonight? I have some matters to attend to and might arrive a bit late," Kuroha Yiyu said apologetically, looking at Brother Xiao Bai with a trace of embarrassment. After all, he had just started working yesterday and had even taken an advance on his salary; asking for leave on only his second day of work was clearly a bit unreasonable.

"This..." Sure enough, Brother Xiao Bai frowned upon hearing this.

"Darling, why are you frowning? Frowning makes you age easily," the alluring woman suddenly extended her slender hands, whose nails were embedded with sparkling decorations, and gently tapped Brother Xiao Bai's shoulder.

"Oh, it's all your fault, how annoying, you made me frown," Brother Xiao Bai immediately grabbed a small mirror from the bar, puckered his lips, and inspected himself, terrified that the recent frown would add wrinkles.

"Why are you still standing there? Go on." The alluring woman waved her hand dismissively at Kuroha Yiyu with an expression of utter disdain, signaling him to leave quickly, while secretly using one hand to shield her cheek. Taking advantage of the moment Brother Xiao Bai was occupied with the mirror, she pursed her fiery red lips, batted her purple-shadowed eyes, and cast a charming wink at Kuroha Yiyu.