Dawn…
Wu Yan tidied up his messing clothing and he yawned while exiting his text.
The girls threw an emergency celebration for Yukari. Everybody made merry over Yukari’s return.
Yukari wasn’t a fan of fanfare. She was more curious about what they got up to since she left. As for the celebration, they could do that at any time, what’s the hurry?
The girls rebutted with “Why not?” and that put a sock in Yukari’s mouth. She joined the girls’ arrangement and thoroughly enjoyed herself at the party.
Wu Yan also got picked up when he thought the girls abandoned him.
Well, the girls actually needed a cook and he fit the bill so…
While the girls giggled the night away, Wu Yan was stuck in the kitchen as the on-call cook. The girls surely enjoyed the night, the same cannot be said of a certain cook whose hands got stuck in cooking motion even when he’s sleeping.
Luckily, a vampire is a creature of the night so Wu Yan made it through the night with little to no health repercussions. Otherwise, his hand would be hurting up a storm by now…
It’s early dawn, the sun hadn’t risen yet. Wu Yan busted his back cooking the whole night and now he’s up early, no one can fault him for his tired look.
He slapped his cheeks and he started lifting his heavy legs when he sensed something in front of him. He was puzzled by the person standing there.
The person stood some distance away from Wu Yan’s tent. She had her back turned towards Wu Yan. She gazed into the distance while her golden hair danced in the wind. The ribbons fluttering along with her hair made the scene exceptionally beautiful.
It was Yukari.
“Yukari?!”
Wu Yan is shocked.
If his habit of sleeping in is called lazy then Yukari is in the same class as him.
She might be a demigod with the scary ability of boundary manipulation but she’s still a youkai through and through.
Her active time is between nightfall and midnight. She sleeps during the day and she can sleep up to 12 hours straight. Yukari basically doesn’t move much outside of her active period.
This is normal Youkai behavior.
Yukari is a very orthodox youkai.
Yukari also hibernates during winter, waking up only when spring arrives. Nobody knows where Yukari hibernates so nobody can confirm this. Wu Yan & co chose to believe her because she claimed so.
Yukari also likes delegating her work to other people when she sleeps so Wu Yan & co had trouble keeping up with her the first week they were together with her.
Yukari personally ate Wu Yan’s cooking. She got hooked on it and she came knocking every time she’s hungry. That’s the only time one can catch the Youkai Sage in action. Otherwise, with her opposite timetable, it’s hard to even talk to her.
Yes, it’s hard to serve this Youkai Sage.
The person herself says this is her body’s need but the others took it with a pinch of salt. Nobody can truly believe her words.
With the nigh-almighty power to manipulate boundaries, she can’t fix this habit of hers?
She took over Wu Yan’s title as the undisputed king of sleep.
It’s not time to eat and the sun’s almost up, what is Yukari doing here instead of sleeping in her bed?
Maybe she’s forgoing sleep after a night’s party?
What is she doing there?
Maybe she made a breakthrough in the boundary manipulation of sleeping while standing and sleeping while lying down.
If that’s the case then Wu Yan wants to study under her tutelage.
Wu Yan walked towards Yukari.
“Not asleep yet? Or, did you just wake up?”
“I can ask the same of you…”
She already sensed Wu Yan’s presence, she giggled while still staring in the same direction.
“Well, I woke up because I had things to do…”
Wu Yan’s ambiguous reply got Yukari chuckling.
“Ara, that makes the two of us.”
“I see, you haven’t slept yet?”
Wu Yan pursed his lips. He looked in the same direction as Yukari.
“What’s the matter?”
Yukari’s looking at the Giant Beast Forest, Wu Yan raised an eyebrow.
“What’s wrong with the forest?”
Yukari’s actions are meaningful, she wouldn’t be standing here staring at nothing.
“Problem…”
Yukari narrowed her eyes, she nodded.
“Perhaps calling it a problem is apt…”
“?”
Wu Yan couldn’t follow her.
“Did you discover something?”
“Find something?”
Yukari giggled.
“I guess you could say that…”
“What do you mean?”
Wu Yan scratched his cheek with a bitter smile.
“Don’t play with me, my brain’s not as good as yours.”
“I am not doing this on purpose.”
Yukari stored her smile away.
“I can’t confirm what’s going on over there.”
“You can’t confirm?”
Wu Yan flinched.
“Why don’t you just take a peek with your gap?”
“I would if I could…”
Yukari shook her head. Her glossy hair glistened in the faint light of early dawn.
“I used my Gaps to scan the whole forest three times since last night. The entity can apparently sense my gap powers, I just can’t catch a single glimpse…”
The entity?”
Wu Yan asked her another follow-up question.
“Are you saying there’s an entity in the Giant Beast Forest?”
“I am not sure…”
Wu Yan snorted.
“Why are you so confident there’s something wrong with the forest?”
She laid the parasol against her shoulder and she looked into the distance.
“If I have to say then it’s something that’s giving off a negative vibe, whatever’s over there…”
“Negative… vibe…”
Wu Yan is even more confused by her ambiguous wording.
Wu Yan thought about it and he bounced a question back at her.
“In other words, you sensed something that wasn’t in the forest the last time and now you picked it up so you can’t get it out of your mind?”
“Ara, Yan-kun gets it on the first shot.”
Yukari beamed at him and she nodded.
“Indeed, I am rather curious…”
“I see…”
Wu Yan scratched his cheek. He hesitated.
“Do you want to go check it out?”
“I was just planning to.”
Yukari admitted it. She read Wu Yan’s mind and she knocked his head with her fan.
“No need to go with me. I can handle this on my own!”
She looked into Wu Yan’s deep red eyes while grinning.
“Don’t you have something to do?”
Yukari disappeared into a gap that she opened up beneath her.
Wu Yan watched as the gap closed. He shook his head and he walked away.
Is he worried?
No, with Yukari’s power, there’s nothing to worry about.
