—"I just didn't want more people to die. I didn't have any bad intentions."
Hearing Kira Nanami's final words, Aoi Todo finally reached his limit. The exhaustion surging from the depths of his brain swallowed him whole, dragging him into a dark, bottomless sea of unconsciousness.
Thud.
He collapsed unceremoniously onto the ground.
Fainted... good. Saves me the trouble of knocking you out.
Kira Nanami checked his watch. It was exactly 9:00 AM. The sorcerers from outside should be returning soon; they were likely at the foot of the mountain by now. Which meant, for the moment, they weren't here yet.
Kira Nanami was the only person left awake in the entire academy.
The mist continued to rise from the ancient tiled eaves, turning the empty school into a hazy, ethereal world. Kira walked deeper into the fog.
Passing Gakuganji's broken body, Kira looked down. The man was still breathing. Both arms were gone, and his chest was severely caved in, but he was alive. Kira suppressed a sharp impulse to deliver a finishing blow and instead provided basic first aid to the wounds.
This was the "logical" thing to do. This was how he would avoid suspicion.
He noticed an ancient box on Gakuganji's chest, covered in layers of black cursed seals. Beside the body lay a deep purple, shriveled finger—the finger of Sukuna that Kira had just "handed over" to Hasegawa.
Kira leaned down to pick it up, but the moment his fingertips brushed the object, a chill struck his heart.
Something appeared behind him—no, it appeared inside his mind. Four arms. Two faces. A monster radiating an aura of calamity, as if all the world's malice had been distilled into a single form.
Ryomen Sukuna.
"You are interesting. I rarely see someone as entertaining as you," the voice hissed. "Or rather, I shouldn't call you a person. You are a Curse wearing human skin."
"I think I'm beginning to like you."
The cold breath felt physical, a nauseating evil that wrapped around Kira like a shroud. He saw visions of mountains of corpses, the yellow springs of the underworld, and black sulfur flowing between piles of sun-bleached bones. And atop that mountain of death sat a man.
A blonde man in a suit, with a mocking glint in his eyes. Kira Nanami.
"Eat it. Eat it. Suppressing yourself like this is so boring, isn't it?"
"Eat it..."
"Shut up, you idiot."
Kira Nanami dropped the finger into the box and snapped the lock shut with a sharp clack.
Time was running out. He tucked the box into his coat and continued forward.
He crossed the pavilions, the courtyards, and the long corridors woven from mist and rain. Finally, he stood before an ancient temple.
In the rustic bell tower hung a massive, rust-covered bell. This was a temple of immense age, lit by dim, flickering lamps. The faint yellow light carved a small hole into the black storm. Ivy crawled up the walls, and the steps were covered in ginkgo leaves—gold mixed with dust. On one side of the steps, the leaves were scattered in disarray, as if someone had passed through in a great hurry.
That person had been Hasegawa Kaede. And this temple was the Sha-Butsugaku (The Temple Annex).
It was a vault housing countless Cursed Spirits and Cursed Tools, protected by a barrier of a thousand shifting doors—a fortress that only a Special Grade could crack given enough time.
And Hasegawa Kaede was a Special Grade Curse User who had been undercover as the Principal for ten days.
She could undoubtedly break the barrier. The only reason she hadn't done so sooner was to avoid drawing attention. That was why she had manufactured the "Plague"—to lure everyone away.
Kira easily reconstructed the scene in his mind: Hasegawa was nearly finished breaking the seal when her detection sensors triggered—someone had "coincidentally" returned to the school. Unwilling to abandon her progress, she had gone out in Gakuganji's skin to eliminate the intruders.
In reality, that "coincidence" was Kira's calculated design.
Kira could have returned to the school at any time using Todo's technique. But he had waited, carefully calculating the time Hasegawa would need to crack the vault. He had even "slacked off" during the fight with Hanami to ensure she had enough time to finish the heavy lifting for him.
He needed to arrive exactly when the vault was open but before she could take the prize. Sensitivity to time was Kira's greatest strength.
Kira pushed open the dust-laden doors and stepped over the high threshold, leaving the storm behind. He entered the silent, ancient temple as if stepping into another world.
The thousand doors were still shifting, but Kira could see that Hasegawa had already bypassed the vast majority of them.
My timing was perfect... Kira thought.
He didn't need all the doors to open for him. He only needed to enter the one door he was destined to enter. Driven by an impulse from the depths of his soul, Kira stepped through a specific archway.
Something was calling to him. He believed in his own "Great Luck."
He had purposefully left himself very little time. To Todo, Kira's long conversation with Hasegawa looked like a stall for reinforcements. In reality, it was Kira's alibi. No thief would intentionally waste time if they were planning to rob a vault. It was a logical blind spot.
Furthermore, he had let Hasegawa escape. Hasegawa's goal was the vault; even though she failed, Kira would make it look like she succeeded.
No one would know what truly happened inside. If anything went missing, the blame would fall on the escaped Curse User. Todo, who saw her flee, would be the perfect witness.
People are more willing to believe the heroes who saved them than the villains who attacked them. People prefer to trust a Sorcerer over a Curse User. This was one of the reasons Kira bothered to be a Sorcerer in the first place.
Kira walked calmly down the dim corridor. His heart grew steadier the closer he got to his goal. Every step was measured, the distance between them perfectly consistent. He loved this regularity, this sense of following a plan.
Kira Nanami was never a "good man." Just as Hasegawa and Sukuna realized, he was a master of disguise. From the moment he agreed to the Kyoto business trip, his motives were impure. He was playing the role of the hardworking hero, suppressing his nature, just to get close to this place.
In a way, he and Hasegawa were the same—monsters lurking in the academy, actors on a stage.
He had seen through her play because they shared the same target: The Temple Annex.
Kira was simply the better actor.
Finally, he reached it. The object was right in front of him. Kira wore a peaceful smile.
The vault's inner chamber was dark, the light of the candles flickering as if they might die at any moment. In the center of the room sat a black casket, adorned with countless seals. In the corner, a small inscription read:
[Special Grade Cursed Object: Extremely Dangerous]
Closer... closer... the call from his soul grew deafening. He had heard this sound since he was a child. He had felt it the first time he set foot in Kyoto, the first time he looked toward the vault. He knew something here was waiting for him, covered in the dust of ages, waiting for him to brush it clean.
Layer by layer, Kira unraveled the seals. He opened the black casket, revealing the contents hidden within.
A texture of gold. A slender, elegant shaft. Eerie, mysterious patterns. A razor-sharp tip gleaming in the darkness.
It was a dull, golden [Arrow].