Curse Reply: After choosing Nawa, the cursed spirit cursed me for being cruel.

"Ouch, you got splashed! Why didn't you dodge?"

"Because I'm thinking about how to retaliate." Duanmu Yan took off his sunglasses, folded them, and put them in his shirt pocket.

He bent down and scooped up a handful of water. Riko screamed and turned to run away, her bare feet splashing in the shallow water, the water droplets shimmering in the sunlight.

Duanmu Yan chased after her, and the two of them tacitly refrained from using their magical powers. They ran in the knee-deep water, and the resistance of the seawater made each step feel like slow motion. He chased her for more than ten steps before finally reaching out and grabbing her wrist.

“Gotcha.” He held her wrist with one hand and held a cup of water above her head with the other.

Riko shrank back, her hands held tightly by the wrists, unable to move them back, so she could only close her eyes tightly: "Wait, wait... I surrender! Please surrender!"

The water was gently poured over her head, trickling down her bangs and across her cheeks.

She opened one eye, with water droplets clinging to her eyelashes.

"You actually watered it?"

"I did not agree to your suggestion of surrender."

"How can you do this..." She laughed and grabbed his arm, burying her face in his soaked sleeve and rubbing it hard twice, making his sleeve wrinkle up.

The seawater, mixed with her body heat, seeped through the fabric of his shirt onto his arm.

She lifted her face, stray hairs clinging to her forehead, and water droplets still clung to the tip of her nose. "Now I'm completely wet too. We're even."

"It's not fair. You only got splashed by me once, but my shirt is already half wet."

"Then let's do it again?" She let go of his arm, jumped back a step, and bent down to scoop up water.

You think you can win?

"You'll only know once you've splashed it!" She splashed the water, and Duanmu Yan dodged it most of the way, then scooped up a handful of water and landed precisely on her shoulder.

Not to be outdone, she splashed it back, this time hitting him squarely in the chest.

The two splashed each other countless times in the knee-deep water until his shirt was completely soaked, clinging to his body and revealing the outline of his shoulders and back.

"Stop, stop—I can't out-splash you!" Riko raised her hands, knowing that her small hands were no match for Duanmu Yan's large hands.

They were also set up by a big shot.

"You still can't beat me even if I try ten more times." Duanmu Yan proudly puffed out his chest, looking like a victorious rooster, head held high.

"That's because you have long legs and can run fast." She took off the hair tie, put it on her wrist, and let her wet, long hair fall over her shoulders.

Riko looked at his proud and upright posture and pouted, "Next time I'll bring a water gun, let's see how you splash water with your hands then."

"If I have to carry a water gun, I'll have to control the wind."

"You're cheating! You're not allowed to use your magic!"

"It's not written in the rules."

"Write now! No spells allowed, no cheating... Duanmu Yan, you're laughing! You're secretly laughing! I can see it clearly!"

She pointed to the corners of his mouth that were turned up, but Duanmu Yan turned his gaze to the sea.

"However... since it was your request, I'll agree."

Riko: "That's more like it."

Duanmu Yan laughed: "After all, you can't beat me with a water gun."

"Duanmu Yan!!!"

The two then engaged in a chase in the sea.

Not far from the beach, there was a shaved ice stall. The stall owner was an old man wearing a straw hat. The wrinkles on his face, etched by the sea breeze, looked as deep as if they had been carved by a knife. He was wiping the water droplets off the shaved ice machine with a towel when he saw two young people walking over in the distance.

Riko sat down on the plastic stool, the legs of which sank into the sand, and the stool wobbled before becoming stable. Duanmu Yan couldn't help but laugh.

She shoved the stool into the sand and sat down angrily.

Clearly, it's not just boys who are afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of girls they like; girls feel the same way.

Duanmu Yan smiled and waved to the old man: "Grandpa, two strawberry flavors, please!"

"Alright. Just a moment." The old man turned to get the ice, his movements so nimble for his age that they seemed almost unbecoming. As he poured the strawberry syrup over the ice, he glanced at the young couple out of the corner of his eye.

The man's shirt was mostly wet, and the woman's long hair was still dripping wet. The two sat side by side on a plastic stool, with less than a fist's distance between them.

He's been in this business for decades; he's seen all kinds of customers.

Newlyweds on their honeymoon might feel embarrassed and reach out to wipe the cream off each other's lips, while couples married for a few years might complain about each other's table manners and, after a quarrel, sit at the same table and order their own food separately.

The two people in front of me... lacked the clinginess of newlyweds, yet were much closer than ordinary friends.

It seems they're suggesting that this Tokyo Bay heartthrob should step in and provide some support!

"Judging from how intimate you two are, you must be a newlywed couple? On your honeymoon?"

Riko had just scooped up a spoonful of shaved ice and put it in her mouth when she heard those words and almost choked.

She coughed twice, covering her mouth, a chill shooting from her throat to her forehead, but she couldn't tell if the heat on her face was from choking or something else.

"No, no...we're not husband and wife!" She put the spoon back in the bowl, waving her hands rapidly in front of her, her toes digging a small hole in the sand next to her sandals.

Duanmu Yan looked away from his bowl of shaved ice and shook his head: "It's not what you think."

At this moment, he began to look at the old man seriously; this man had exceptional eyesight!

The old man raised one eyebrow. If they weren't a couple, then they were on the path to becoming one.

Having sold shaved ice on this beach for so many years, he has a good eye for people. The energy these two young men exuded was clearly something that couldn't be hidden even before it was explicitly stated.

He sat down on the folding chair behind the stall, took his teacup, and slowly sipped it, his tone carrying a hint of seasoned confidence:

"If you're not a married couple... then you must be engaged? Or maybe you're a couple deeply in love. Don't try to hide it. I've served countless guests here, so I have a good eye. If you're not a couple, then what are you?"

Riko's face turned bright red instantly, and the shyness she couldn't hide after someone had touched the softest spot in her heart was incredibly cute.

Because the old man was right, they just haven't confronted you yet.

Duanmu Yan looked at her flushed profile, then at the old man. The old man was holding a teacup, slowly blowing on the steam rising from the rim, but he lifted his eyelids, winked at him, and then gestured towards Riko with his lips.

His eyes clearly said: Young man, I've done my best to help. You're on your own now.

Chapter 167 A Matter Within a Scripture

Duanmu Yan gave the old man a thumbs up in his heart; the old man had given him a powerful assist.

He's practically the best wingman ever!

He had seen the saddlecloth, the scalloped silk, the gleaming jade, the gleaming jewels, the gleaming jasmine, the gleaming jade, the gleaming jewels ...

No barrier technique, no domain expansion, no millennium-long plan—none of them can compare to the precision and ruthlessness of this perfectly timed revelation.

“Grandpa,” he put down his spoon, “I’ll have one of every flavor of shaved ice you have here.”

The old man put down his teacup and grinned.

"Are you crazy? How can you possibly finish all this?" Riko finally looked up, her face still flushed, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up.

"Don't underestimate me. After spending so much time with Wu, I've become quite the connoisseur of sweets." Duanmu Yan put the last spoonful of shaved ice in his bowl into his mouth.

Afterwards, they went to the gift shop and the aquarium, playing until noon, when they decided to have lunch.

The most famous place here is a seafood restaurant, but it's always packed.

So they changed their target and set their sights on a crepe shop on the street corner, where there weren't many people queuing up.

Riko tiptoed to look ahead, then turned around and tugged at Duanmu Yan's sleeve: "I want to eat this! I had it once in Okinawa, but I haven't had a chance to eat it again since. There aren't even convenience stores near Tsukumo-senpai's place, let alone crepes."

Duanmu Yan was pulled to the end of the line by her. In front of them stood a couple and several middle school students. The air was filled with the sweet aroma of baked flatbread and cream.

Riko stood on tiptoe, her chin almost resting on his shoulder, and read the menu aloud to the small blackboard hanging by the window: "Strawberry whipped cream, banana chocolate, matcha red bean... Duanmu, which one would you like to eat?"

"You help me choose."

"Strawberry whipped cream, two servings!" She held up two fingers and called out to the clerk at the window.

After calling Riko, he turned back to look at him and said, "Did you have fun this morning? The whale shark in the aquarium is bigger than the one in Okinawa. When it swam over my head, I almost thought it was going to crash down on me."

"So you hid behind me?" Duanmu Yan said with a smile.

"No way!" She widened her eyes, then burst out laughing. "Okay, I dodged half a step, just half a step, but you can't tell Wu, or he'll say I'm a coward again."

She put her hands behind her back and swayed her body from side to side a couple of times. "But I'm really happy..."

She tilted her head to look at the few people still in the line ahead, her eyes slowly dimming, but she quickly perked up again.

She turned back to Duanmu Yan and asked, "When the Federation isn't so busy, can we come again? Next time, let's go to a beach we haven't been to before. Senior Jiujiu said there's a sea in Hokkaido that freezes over in winter, and you can see the fish swimming below when you stand on it. It's a bit cold, but it's really beautiful."

Duanmu Yan hummed in agreement.

"Two servings of strawberry whipped cream!" The clerk at the window handed out two crepes.

Riko took it with both hands and held one of the portions out to Duanmu Yan.

He lowered his head and took a bite. The cream melted on his tongue, a little too sweet. Wu would probably really like it.

She withdrew her hand, took a bite next to where he had bitten, and got a small dollop of cream on the tip of her nose.

Unaware of her surroundings, she was squinting and chewing on the crust of the pancake, mumbling that it was delicious.

He reached out and gently wiped the cream off the tip of her nose with his thumb. She paused for a moment, then lowered her head and continued eating her crepe.

They were carrying crepes and were about to find an empty table to sit down.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

Duanmu Yan took out his phone, swiped the screen with one hand, and saw a message from Ijichi: a group of curse masters had appeared in Osaka, and two assistant supervisors had lost contact; they needed to be dispatched immediately.

His finger paused on the screen for a moment, and his brows furrowed.

He put his phone back in his pocket, looked up, and saw Riko holding a crepe and looking at him.

"It's Ijichi. There's been a bit of a problem in Osaka." After saying that, he realized he didn't know what to say next.

I promised her I wouldn't discuss work all day, and now it's only noon and I'm going to break my promise?

Riko put the crepe down, then looked up and smiled at him.

That smile was exactly the same as usual, as if she had known this moment would come all along and had been prepared for it.

"Go ahead, I'll wait for you here."