Kami-Jutsu: The Yakuza's Son is Aware-Chapter 24: Is This Bloodlust?

"Najimi, it’s late. There’s school tomorrow," I told her, my voice heavy with exhaustion.

"I refuse, Onii-sama!" she declared. "I... need some explanation..."

"I get it, but we’ll talk tomorrow. I promise."

She went silent for a short while, then finally agreed.

"Fine..." she said quietly and turned to leave.

BANG!

The door suddenly flew open again just as I had walked only a few steps away from it.

"Onii-sama!" Najimi cried, leaping forward and wrapping her arms tightly around me. "Onii-sama thought he could brush me off? Think again."

I’d been had.

Since I was young up until now, I’ve never been the type to keep many secrets, and I’ve never been ashamed of the things I do. Because of that, I’m not in the habit of closing doors. She knew this all too well and took advantage of it.

"Fine," I relented. "But I won’t say everything tonight. We have school tomorrow, and it’s already past midnight. We should be sleeping."

I avoided giving her too many details for most of it, but truthfully... I don’t even know much about Kamijutsu in the first place. Still, I tried my best to keep Ferry’s identity a secret—

"And what about the talking wolf?"

Crap. She knew he could talk?

Ferry kept up his pet-dog act despite hearing her accusation... at least until I stood up from the bed, walked over to the shelf, and examined it carefully.

After a moment, I reached into a small, almost impossible-to-notice compartment and pulled out a tiny camera.

"Oh my God, you watch your brother with a camera?!" Ferry finally broke character.

"Najimi, you can’t do things like that," I scolded firmly. "It’s called invasion of privacy."

She ran over to me again, wrapping her arms around me and—quite deliberately—grinding her crotch against my leg.

"What’s the problem, Onii-sama?" she smirked. "I love Onii-sama, Onii-sama loves me, so why can’t we watch each other in our free time?"

...I’ve been wondering, actually...

Do real siblings act like this? If they did, Mother wouldn’t be so against me and Najimi marrying. Even though I’d prefer to marry someone I’m comfortable with in the future, maybe my own sister is supposed to be off-limits.

If that’s the case, then I’d better set the record straight.

I placed my hands on Najimi’s shoulders and slowly pushed her back.

"Najimi, you know," I began gently, "about what Mother said concerning our closeness—"

"Onii-sama," Najimi interrupted, her voice steady and unyielding. Her eyes, almost lifeless, pierced right through me. "If you’re about to say, ’Siblings shouldn’t be in love, and we shouldn’t trouble the Witch by constantly being together,’ I swear, I will go outside right now and kill somebody."

"Uhm..." I faltered, caught off guard. "I meant that I was really sad when you were hurt."

"Eh?! Really?!" Najimi’s dark demeanor vanished instantly, replaced by sheer excitement as she practically bounced in place.

Ferry, watching from the side, had his hands covering his mouth, concern written across his face.

...Najimi, just a moment ago, felt different. Terrifying, even.

It reminded me of when I fought Yamada and those Onee-sans in the penthouse—something heavy and intimidating radiating from her.

Wait... was that bloodlust?

I looked down to see Najimi now happily cuddling against me, her bright smile almost blinding.

...My sister is so adorable, was the only thought that came to mind.

Everything else... would work itself out in due time.

In exchange for teaching Najimi about Kamijutsu, I had her teach me some of her own martial arts techniques, which she happens to be quite skilled at.

Truth be told, I do not actually know much about Kamijutsu myself, but we can consider this arrangement to be a fairly well-negotiated agreement.

It still puzzles me, however, that she shows no surprise whatsoever at Ferry’s existence.

A talking wolf, of all things...

"Najimi, aren’t you even a little surprised by Ferry?" I asked.

She tilted her head slightly, a faint look of puzzlement on her face. "Why? Every Divine being has Divine servants, right?"

Huh? What kind of reply was that?

Najimi remains as cryptic as ever.

I told her everything I had learned during my two months of being a godman, including the fact that we were now considerably stronger than ordinary people. I warned her to be careful, since our strength could easily crush someone if we were not paying attention.

To my surprise, she simply smiled at that, which only puzzled me more.

I then explained how I had accidentally caused her death. Her response was entirely unexpected:

"It’s fine, Onii-sama. Being dead for a short while only strengthened my desire to be with you... The thought of never seeing Onii-sama again was far scarier than just dying."

As she spoke, I could sense a fleeting moment of sadness in her eyes.

"I’m truly sorry, Najimi. There’s no way dying could have felt good."

"Yes. Actually, it hurt. A lot," she answered flatly.

"But..." Najimi suddenly stepped in very close, her hands gently cupping my face. "All the more reason to make sure Onii-sama never goes through something like that. Onii-sama, let me be your kunai!"

Kunai?

"Wait a second," I squinted at her. "You’re not suggesting that you want to join me on my... Adventures, are you?"

"Is that a no?" She kept glancing at me, only to quickly look away again. "Maybe not right away, but once I can protect myself properly, I would love to assist you!"

I was ready to turn down her offer outright, but I could not help wondering what sort of threat she would make this time. So I chose to use wisdom instead.

"Alright then," I nodded. "But only after you can demonstrate considerable control over Kami particles, understood?"

Her face lit up instantly, and she threw her arms around me again. "Thank you, Onii-sama! I promise you will not regret this decision! I will cleave the heads and torsos of those seductive Mafia women to clear a path for you!"

Hm? Women?

Perhaps this was a bad idea after all.

Najimi had finally left for her room, and for the first time in what felt like hours, I was able to breathe in a bit of peace.

"..."

Today had been exhausting in its own right... though this time, the stress came mainly from family matters rather than anything else.

"Has Najimi always been this... handful?" Ferry muttered, his voice muffled as he snuggled under my sheets.

He had been mostly quiet since Najimi’s arrival, speaking only when necessary.

"Yeah, she’s always been determined and fierce, even when we were little," I replied. "It was never in my intentions, nor in my predictions, that even Najimi would end up becoming a godman. I suppose life rarely unfolds in the way one expects."

"Yeah," Ferry said with a faint, oddly shaped smile. "I never accounted for dying in an alley like a church rat."

I had the impression his death still sat uneasily with him, something far from his liking.

"So?" I turned to face him. "With Sabertooth out of the way, what’s next?"