"Let's try another house."
Nanami wasn't satisfied, so he visited another villager, pressing for details.
Before long, he returned with some information.
"According to the villagers, they believe it might be some kind of wild beast coming down from the mountains at night to hunt. The sounds are hard to identify… but one man swears he saw it with his own eyes. Said it looked like a monster shaped like a human. He's not in the right state of mind anymore. That's all I could get."
"In that case, it really might be a curse. But only coming out at night, and treating villagers like food? Doesn't that sound a bit like…" Riko's expression twisted with unease, as if recalling something terrible.
"Most likely a curse" Nanami affirmed.
"Its level shouldn't be that high… but don't let your guard down. I don't want to lose a partner again because of a misjudgment."
"Hey, old man—don't you have anything to say?" Riko turned to Jinsuke.
"Old man? Call me sensei." Jinsuke shot her a sideways glance before gazing up at the mountain looming over the village. The whole settlement rested in a shallow basin at its foot, shrouded in a shadow that seemed unnatural.
The thing lurking in those woods… didn't feel like some small fry.
"Fine, Sensei Jinsuke! But you're our leader for this mission. Shouldn't you at least give us your thoughts?" Hands on her hips, cheeks puffed, Riko pouted like a sulking child. Their so-called team leader didn't feel reliable at all.
"What opinion could I possibly give? I don't have cursed energy. Even if we meet a powerful curse, I can't help you. Whatever happens, you'll just have to deal with it yourselves."
"No cursed energy? That's impossible!" Riko's eyes widened. No cursed energy, yet he could catch bullets bare-handed? Did he think she was an idiot?
"So… Sensei really doesn't have cursed energy?" Nanami's expression shifted into realization. That explained why he'd felt nothing from Jinsuke at all. He'd assumed the man was simply so strong that his cursed energy was completely hidden. But in truth—he had none.
"Exactly. So, springtime maiden, and you, boy who reeks of overtime shifts — just fend for yourselves. I'll only make a move the moment you're one second away from death."
"Whatever, whatever. If you can guarantee we won't die, that's good enough." Riko waved him off. She didn't really care anymore.
Worst case, she'd just throw herself at the curse. As long as she didn't die, it was fine. Losing an arm or a leg didn't matter — Shoko could heal it anyway.
And so, the three of them waited until nightfall.
The countryside grew eerily quiet. Every house was shuttered tight, lights snuffed out, villagers pretending to sleep.
Moonlight bathed the paths between the houses, bright enough to see clearly. But the mountains behind the village remained pitch black, as though wrapped in something impenetrable. Even moonlight refused to enter.
The three gathered at the edge of the forest.
"It's already past midnight… why's there still no movement?" They had searched the village for hours without finding a single man-eating monster. Riko began to doubt whether Jujutsu High had sent them on a false mission.
Maybe the villagers had just been telling scary bedtime stories to spook children.
"Rustle… crack…"
The silence broke with the sound of something trampling branches in the dark.
Both Riko and Nanami tensed instantly, their bodies slipping into battle readiness.
From the shadows of the mountain trail, a hunched figure appeared—an old man, leaning heavily on a cane, slowly emerging from the darkness.
His face was lined with wrinkles, but his eyes shone with a disturbing light. Far too sharp for an elderly man.
"Grandpa? Why are you out here so late at night?" Riko relaxed. She'd thought it was a curse—turned out to be just an old villager.
But the old man didn't answer. Instead, he smiled.In the pale light, the three caught it instantly — the scraps of flesh wedged between his yellowed teeth.
"Riko! Watch out! He's a curse!" Nanami's warning snapped the moment he sensed cursed energy pulsing within the old man's body. He rushed forward, blade in hand.
"GRRAAAAH—!"
The old man lunged first, tearing his own face wide open as fur sprouted across his skin. His jaw split into an animalistic maw filled with razor-sharp fangs.
He lunged straight for Riko's throat.
Her eyes went wide. Instinctively, she flared her cursed energy to defend herself.
Slash!
Claws ripped across her arm, leaving bloody streaks as she was knocked back.
Before the monster could follow up, Nanami was already at its side, blade wreathed in cursed energy.
"Ratio Technique!" His cut split the creature along its weak point, sending it flying.
"GRAAAGH—!"
It crashed down, chest torn open, blood spraying across the dirt.
Now they could finally see it clearly.
Not an old man. Not even human.
A monkey.
No—more precisely, a mandrill.
Jinsuke blinked in surprise.
"Red nose, white mask-like face… yeah, that's a mandrill, all right. What the hell's one of those doing here?"
"This is the man-eating curse?" Riko ignored the blood dripping from her arm, glaring at the beast.
"It's not even that strong. What, Grade 3 at most?"
If she hadn't let her guard down, she could've taken it out herself.
"GRROOAAAHH—!!"
The dying mandrill let out a piercing roar before its body dissolved into cursed energy.
Moments later, the entire mountain howled back. One cry, then another, echoing in terrifying chorus.
Riko and Nanami both went pale.
They hadn't killed a lone curse.
They'd poked a nest.
"If we let them out of the mountain, the villagers won't stand a chance!" Nanami's grip tightened on his blade. The sheer number of cursed signatures in the woods made his skin crawl. That the villagers had survived this long was nothing short of a miracle.
He didn't realize that the curses had been bred here, fattened generation after generation by the villagers' bedtime horror stories—fear and superstition passed down like an inheritance.
"Damn it… could there really be a Grade 1 in there?" Riko's face hardened as she felt the pressure of the cursed energy within the forest.
"Looks like it's time for this genius sorcerer to show her stuff!" She ignited her cursed energy in a flare and charged straight into the mountain.
If they didn't wipe them all out now, and the swarm reached the outside world, the disaster would be unimaginable.
Nanami had no choice but to follow, steel flashing in his hands.
"Sensei Jinsuke, stay alert!"
Their figures vanished into the treeline.
"…Curses, huh?" Jinsuke muttered, strolling in after them.
"Come to think of it, in all the time I've been in this world, I haven't actually killed one myself."
He chuckled to himself. Not since that man — dead long ago — had tossed him into the Zenin clan's curse chamber as a child…