The next day.
A city more than a hundred kilometers away from Tokyo.
A car from Tokyo Jujutsu High stopped in front of a mountain. Beside it stood a warning sign with a large exclamation mark and a line of text:
[Several people have gone missing in this area. Tourists are forbidden to enter!]
"The two of you, this is the destination. About two hundred meters in, there's a shrine. That's where the Shantogami you need to deal with is."
The door opened. A middle-aged man in a suit and two students in uniform stood beside the sign as the former pointed toward the mountain.
"Let's hurry, Nanami. Geto-senpai is waiting for the souvenirs we promised to bring back!"
Haibara was bursting with energy. He could already imagine Suguru's reaction when he received the local souvenir.
"You really do have too much energy…"
Nanami's mouth twitched. The mention of souvenirs made him think of Mukuro, who was probably babysitting in Tokyo right now.
Should he bring something for that guy too?
But after a quick thought, finding something that would satisfy that carnivorous creature seemed very difficult. Better to finish the job quickly and return.
"I'll set up a curtain here. It'll rise on its own when there's no more cursed energy inside. If anything unexpected happens, hit the curtain with your cursed energy and I'll raise it manually. I'll keep watch from outside."
As the boys prepared to enter, the assistant manager gave his reminder, raised two fingers, and began forming the barrier.
"We're counting on you."
The two waved and headed deeper into the mountain.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
The curtain began to drop from the sky. The assistant manager then sat on the car's hood, ready to wait for the boys to finish.
Smack!
A large hand suddenly patted his shoulder from behind.
* * *
Meanwhile, Nanami and Haibara arrived at the shrine.
The building was old, covered in cobwebs, and a rotten stench hung in the air like corpses left to decay. Everything hinted that something was wrong.
"The cursed energy is coming from inside. Let's go, Nanami!"
Haibara didn't think much of it. He just wanted to exorcise the curse as soon as possible. Two grade 2 sorcerers couldn't possibly fail a grade 2 mission, right?
They pushed open the worn doors and stepped in.
Inside, broken remains lay everywhere. Pieces that looked like human bones were scattered across the floor.
At the center stood a half-destroyed statue, barely holding together.
Cold wind blew from nowhere, making the two shiver.
"Hey! Shantogami, are you there? Come out and fight us. We're on a schedule!"
With no cursed spirit in sight, Haibara cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. His voice echoed through the shrine.
CRACK!
The floor split open, and four giant rat-like curses crawled out of the ground.
These were the Shantogam, weak even among grade 2 curses.
"Perfect timing, Nanami. Two each. Let's finish this fast!"
Cursed energy wrapped around Haibara's fists as he sprinted forward.
"Something feels wrong…"
Nanami followed close behind, but his attention stayed sharp.
Because while Shantogami were weak, there hadn't been reports of them appearing in groups.
"You're too slow, Nanami, I already—huh? What's wrong?"
Barely a minute later, all four curses were gone. Haibara turned with pride, only to see Nanami's serious face.
"When did the door close?"
Nanami's voice was low.
The good news: he could still see the curtain outside through the window. That meant they weren't inside a domain.
The bad news: there was another curse here, one they couldn't detect. The shrine itself might be its "binding" ground.
It couldn't leave the shrine… and both of them were already inside its stomach.
"What?!"
Haibara instantly focused his cursed energy again.
"You were looking for me?"
A voice came from above.
Both boys looked up, eyes widening.
A curse with a beard long enough to touch the ground, shaped like a human-sized ginseng root, sat perched on a beam. It grinned, showing a mouth full of large white teeth.
It matched the records of a grade 1 curse: Tochigami.
A cursed spirit bound to its birthplace.
And the difference between grade 1 and everything below was like night and day.
"Run! If we get outside, it can't follow!"
Nanami made the call at once. At their current level, they had no way of beating a curse with home-field advantage.
"Got it!"
Both fled toward the entrance. Yet those few steps felt impossibly far.
"Trying to run after coming all this way?"
Tochigami vanished from the beam and appeared before the entrance. Two sharp sickles were already in its hands.
"Ratio Technique: Collapse!"
Facing such a dangerous enemy, Nanami opened with his full strength.
The confined space of the shrine gave him the advantage of attacking without having to close in.
His punch shattered the air like glass. Cursed energy blasted forward, tearing up the floor and rushing toward Tochigami.
BOOM!
Dust cleared.
A thick stone wall stood in front of it. The Tochigami hid behind it, completely untouched.
"Haibara, watch for the opening."
Nanami's goal was already met.
Half the shrine had collapsed from his strike, widening their escape path by several times.
"Don't even think about escaping!"
Tochigami charged. Its sickles dragged along the ground and lifted the earth like a carpet, trying to bury both boys alive.
"Damn…"
Flying stones and swinging blades forced the two into pure defense. Within seconds, they were wounded all over, while their attacks barely scratched the curse.
"Nanami! Do you know why I've never used my technique before?!"
Haibara called out abruptly when he saw the situation get worse.
"What?"
Nanami had no idea why he was bringing this up now. Maybe he was preparing his ultimate move.
"My technique stops my own movement completely… to restrain the enemy! Sounds lame, right? But… just run!"
Haibara disclosed his technique to close the gap between his cursed energy and the curse, boosting its effect.
"Mirror Binding Technique!"
His fists clashed, cursed energy erupting like a clear mirror forming between them and Tochigami.
The charging curse slowed almost to a crawl.
"Haibara…"
Seeing the desperate look in his friend's eyes, and blood bursting from Haibara's nose, Nanami gritted his teeth, turned, and sprinted to the edge of the broken shrine.
"Haibara! Hurry!"
Nanami reached out, urging him to release the technique and jump.
"Ha!"
The moment Haibara released his technique, the mirror shattered. Tochigami's sickle hit the spot he had been standing a second before.
He actually saved his partner from a grade 1 curse.
His face lit up with nervous excitement.
He wanted to hear Geto-senpai praise him…
Haibara's hand clasped Nanami's.
"Haibara!"
Nanami's eyes turned bloodshot as Tochigami swung its sickle toward the part of Haibara's body that hadn't fully left the shrine.
BOOM!
A deafening crash echoed.
A trident came flying from nowhere, piercing straight through Tochigami's chest and pinning it to the ground, right before it could reach Haibara.
**
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