"This system really feels like it was patched together from some old mobile gacha game…"
Leon stared at the small shard in his hand—the tenth Z-Crystal Fragment he had collected—his expression caught somewhere between annoyance and reluctant acceptance. He wanted to throw it away, yet couldn't quite bring himself to do it.
The best description for the situation?
Useful, but frustrating.
"Sha…?" Gardevoir tilted her head, sensing her trainer's irritation.
Leon immediately smiled and patted her shoulder. "It's not your fault. I'm just complaining about the system."
Today marked the tenth day of his curse-clearing patrols across Tokyo. He had been sweeping through one hotspot per day, steadily grinding experience, and the results were… mixed.
There had been gains, certainly—but the drop rate for valuable items was painfully low. On average, it took two or three cleared locations just to obtain a single fragment, and none of the fragments he had found so far matched Gardevoir's typing.
Worse, the system still hadn't provided any method to obtain a second Pokémon.
"Seriously," Leon muttered, "if this thing starts charging microtransactions, I'm uninstalling it."
"Sha~" Gardevoir gently tugged his sleeve and pointed ahead.
"You sense something?" Leon asked.
She nodded—then hesitated and shook her head slightly before nodding again.
"Not just a curse?" he guessed.
Another nod.
"Something good?"
Gardevoir tapped the red crest on her chest—the physical symbol of her emotional core.
Leon grinned. "Got it. Sounds promising."
Even without a formal precognition move, she was already showing signs of strong intuitive sensing. Pulling her as his first partner had truly been an incredible stroke of luck.
"Let's check it out," he said. "I'll text Mom that I'll be back later."
After the first week of patrols, Mayumi had stopped accompanying him regularly. Watching her son and Gardevoir handle nearly everything themselves had been both reassuring and mildly humiliating—especially when her main role had become setting up barriers at the beginning of each operation.
That, and Leon's constant habit of praising, patting, and hugging Gardevoir had turned many outings into what she jokingly called "third-wheeling."
Leon mounted his bicycle and sped off, Gardevoir gliding alongside him with effortless psychic levitation. Until he obtained a proper license, the bike remained his fastest and most convenient means of transportation.
A few minutes later, he slowed.
"…A school?"
Not entirely surprising. Schools were notorious pressure cookers for negative emotions—stress, anxiety, resentment—perfect breeding grounds for curses. After finishing his tour of Tokyo's well-known haunted hotspots, Leon had already planned to begin checking campuses next.
What was unusual, however, was the unmistakable fluctuation of cursed energy—and the faint sounds of combat—coming from inside.
"So I'm not the only one working tonight," Leon murmured. "Or maybe… a rogue sorcerer?"
Most people couldn't see curses at all. Only attacks infused with cursed energy could harm them, and only a tiny fraction of the population—barely more than a few thousand individuals across the country—could wield that power. Among those few, some inevitably chose darker paths, abusing their abilities instead of protecting others.
Rogue sorcerers existed everywhere.
Leon didn't consider himself a hero, but he had one personal rule: strength existed to protect freedom, not crush it.
"If it really is a rogue sorcerer," he muttered, "then I guess tonight counts as pest control."
He parked his bicycle near the outer fence and briefly considered sneaking inside—then decided against it. Instead, he pulled a small prepared talisman from his pocket and pressed it against the metal railing.
"Curtain."
Darkness spread downward from the sky, forming a barrier that sealed the area from ordinary perception. Anyone inside would instantly realize a third party had arrived.
Leon folded his arms. "So… do we wait for them to come out, or just walk in?"
Before he could decide, a sharp voice rang out from within the barrier.
"Don't move!"
A wave of cursed speech struck him instantly.
Leon's muscles locked in place.
He blinked.
"…Well. That answers the question."