(Pov Satoshi)
When the three of us entered the hospital, there wasn't much to see. None of the curses had come out of hiding yet, though, given the low Grade that would only be a matter of time. Still, we could never be too careful; if we allowed ourselves to become overconfident, we'd be more likely to make a mistake and pay the price for it swiftly. As such, we began slowly but surely moving down the main hallway despite not having gone on missions before the three of us had trained together frequently enough that we had managed to develop a sense of teamwork, especially regarding our own abilities.
Nanami and his ability Ratio was one I already knew about from the series. It allowed him to divide any area on a surface, be it an enemy or even a structure, into a line with ten points, and by striking this line at the seven-to-three mark, he could increase his damage massively. Haibara, on the other hand, had been an unknown at first in the series. His technique was never shown or explained, and while I couldn't see his Shikigami, I had been informed by others that it was similar to a shark, allowing swift movement, and it had a strong bite and could potentially bite right through even higher-grade cursed spirits.
As a group, we continued until we came to an odd fork in the hall with three openings leading in different directions. A nearby map suggested that these corridors would later meet back up in what seems to be the emergency room waiting area. "Should we split up? We do have limited time after all?" Haibara asked, and though we needed to be careful, he was correct. This hospital was large, and if we all stuck together, we might not make it in time.
I shared a look with Nanami, and we both seemed to have reached the same decision that we would need to split up to complete this mission on time. "Before we split, take these," I said, handing over a whistle; the sound it could emit was higher than usual, something only I could hear with my enhanced hearing. "If you run into any major trouble, blow into these, and I'll get there as fast as I can."
"Thank you, Gojo-San, stay safe yourself as well."
"Yeah, Sato, don't push yourself too much. We're a team, remember?"
It was nice having other people to be around now. For the longest time, it had just been me and Satoru that had been enough for me, but now having actual friends was something I had missed more than I realized. It was good for Satoru as well; he's been happier and more relaxed ever since he began attending and made friends with Suguru and Shoko.
"Alright, I'll be careful. Let's get through these halls and meet in the ER for a final sweep." I said, doing my best to reassure both of them, and with that, we split and began moving down the corridors. I took the central corridor and unsheathed my blade in preparation for what I may face.
Walking down the hall, I finally began to notice the distinct presence of cursed spirits instead of the more general haze of an infested environment. They were small, most likely several fly heads, along with a few others about the size of a common dog. I was able to make quick work of them through the use of my katana, slicing my way through them. Occasionally, I could hear the sounds of Nanami and Haibara fighting, but neither of them had blown their whistle yet, so I wasn't concerned. It wasn't long before I had managed to clear out my corridor and had made it to the ER lobby, and shortly after, I was joined by Nanami and Haibara, who had made it through with zero injuries.
"Good, you guys are ok," I said upon seeing them again. I was relieved, honestly, that they had been able to handle themselves this early into their time as sorcerers.
"There's still one more area we must check. The floor plan earlier showed a path to the basement. There's likely to be a few more curses down there." Nanami reminded us while pointing out the door that would lead us down. I could sense that what was waiting for us would be more powerful than what we had been facing so far.
'Perhaps the rumors of Grade 3 cursed spirits being present were correct.' I thought, though, with my own skill and the backup of Nanami and Haibara, I was confident in our strength. So we entered the final door and made our way into the basement.
The first area was a small hall with two side rooms, but the main feature was a set of double doors that led to what was most likely a storage area. As soon as we opened the doors, I could feel the presence of a powerful, cursed spirit residing inside, and I realized I may have been wrong about the Grade 3. Once we fully entered the room, whatever this thing was finally appeared. It was much larger than any curse I had encountered before, even on the secret missions from the clan, and the pressure it gave off was stronger as well. From my best guess, it would have to be Semi-Grade 2 at least, and if it had been left alone, it could have easily evolved to a fully-fledged Grade 2. Despite this, I felt I could handle this beast alone. The only problem would be that protecting Nanami and Haibara from this curse would be too much.
Once again, I drew my sword and prepared for battle against the curse, and I began to strategize methods to make this easier.
"Nanami, Haibara, I need you two to go on opposite sides of the room and draw this thing's attention, but stay out of its range. I'll take it down," I said, knowing my best bet would be to have the others as far from the actual fight as possible while dividing the curses' attention.
As they began to move, I charged the curse head-on, preparing to end this as quickly as I could. The curse lashed out, swinging what I assume is an arm in my direction, but I was able to dodge by jumping over the limb. The curse attempted to bring the arm back, but then I heard it roar, and much of the limb fell limp. I glanced over and saw Haibara pointing. he had used his Shikigami to disable the arm while it was overextended.
I took the opportunity to slice off what remained, forcing the curse back even further right into Nanami, who had snuck behind it. He struck the curse on the lower part of its torso, managing to strike a Ratio, knocking it forward.
Using the opportunity, I jumped and made a slice, managing to separate the head from the body, causing it to collapse and begin dissolving.
With the defeat of the Semi-Grade 2, the mission had been completed, and so the three of us left basking in the feeling of completing our first mission and the aftereffects of fighting such a curse.