‘The Nightmare will end in time, Sakura. So, stay strong. Do not give up.’ Sakura could hear the voice even in sleep. The voice that was once clear, distorted over time, as if telling her to forget who it belonged to.
However, a trigger made that voice clearer. That trigger was her meeting with Grayfia. Each day, the voice became clearer until she heard it for herself. That blurry figure imprinted in her mind finally stood before her.
“Master!” Sakura sprang up on her bed. Beads of sweat ran down her fair neck only to be lost in the ample bosom.
She looked around her room. The once gloomy violet room had shades of pink and plushies, a room no longer dark thanks to the open window and the bright sun.
Bathed in the first rays of sunlight of the day, Sakura drew in the fresh, cool air. She calmed her breath and wiped the sweat away, picking up the letter placed at the bedside table. It had the smell of fresh roses, prickly but breathtaking. Just like her teacher, Grayfia.
Opening the letter, she got the gist of the situation. Adam and Grayfia had to leave because of some urgent work; however, she was left with enough material to train and funds to operate the household in the meantime.
The short, to-the-point letter may seem cold on the surface, but it held great expectations for Sakura’s growth. And on the back of the letter, there were words in a different handwriting.
Good job hanging in there. The nightmare is over now.
Even without the name, she knew who said that by instinct. Sakura held the letter close to her heart, her face turning rosy as calm enveloped her body. The memory that had been sealed deep within her unconscious now resurfaced.
Just like he promised, the nightmare had ended. Nothing happened to her; she remained untainted. She now had people to rely on, people more precious than family. People who looked out for her.
“I’ll be waiting for you, Master… My hero.” She muttered, no longer searching for a reason to live another day. Because she had that reason in her hands.
***
Wish Shop.
Adam returned to the shop with slight confusion. The shop had summoned him because someone had accessed it. A mechanism available to those who have made contracts, used only in dire situations.
However, when he opened the door, he faced a calm Nobara munching on the macarons from the kitchen counter.
“You came back fast; I didn’t even get to eat enough!” She said, taking another bite in frustration.
“Did something happen?” Adam sat down on his comfy sofa after so long.
“Well… I had a question.” Nobara scratched her cheek.
“What is it?” Although a bit over the top to come here for a question, Adam didn’t think much of it. This was Nobara after all.
“You know how you saved me when I was on the verge of death?” She gestured with her hands.
“Yes.”
“So… um, is it possible to revive someone who died, like fully died?” She asked, half in anticipation and half mortified.
“It is.” However, Adam’s expression didn’t change.
“Wait… like for real?!” Nobara sprang to her feet.
“How long has this person been dead?” Adam faced her enthusiasm with a bit of pride.
“3… no, no, 4 days!”
“Is the body still intact?”
“It is!”
“It’s easier than I thought it would be, definitely possible.” Adam expected something along the lines of resurrecting a person who lived a millennium ago without any concrete material. Compared to that, this was nothing.
“You aren’t lying just to look good in front of me, right?” Nobara’s eyes narrowed.
“Why would I do that?” Adam tilted his head.
“…Never mind.” Nobara looked away, almost sulking.
“So… what happened really?” Adam leaned back, not minding the minor details.
“Oh yeah, let’s go.” But Nobara simply jumped over the table and pulled on his arm.
Although confused, Adam followed Nobara’s lead, given her urgency. But before they walked through the door, he decided to leave behind a message for Grayfia, who had to clean up the mess in the kitchen because of a certain someone’s scavenging.
Through the door, they arrived in Nobara’s world in a blink.
Although it had been a while since Adam came back here, only a few days had passed in the world itself. Still, this world held onto that creepy vibe; if anything, it had gotten much worse.
Storms of murky energies were brewing about the place. Some had grown even larger than before, with hundreds of deformed faces and bodies inside them. It was like a blender from hell.
Nobara gave him a short explanation of how more people have come to learn of curses thanks to Geto, and that had only increased the production of cursed energy.
And if that wasn’t enough, there were ancient sorcerers awakening in the modern era, using the bodies of innocent people to slaughter others. On top of all that, the culling games were right on their heads.
All in all, Nobara and all her allies were neck deep in problems. However, she hadn’t brought him along to find a fix for that.
“It’s not something we can’t handle. Yuji is on his way to recruit some former Jujutsu high students.” She said as they walked down an abandoned neighbourhood on the border of Tokyo.
Yuji Itadori, Adam had seen him once only. And, he couldn’t help but notice the similarities the kid had with Geto, or more like the curse thing controlling Geto’s body.
“There are many problems, but we have a clear plan and a solid strategy.” She made quite the statement while peeking in the alleyways around them.
Although Nobara stayed calm most of the time, there was a sense of urgency in her actions at the moment. They had arrived in this neighbourhood for the reason she came to the wish shop.
“You are searching for that senior of yours, Maki, right?” Adam scanned the ads on the closed shutters; there was a nice tonkatsu shop down south that piqued his attention.
“Yes, do you have any clues?”
The expectant gaze left him speechless. Was she really planning to scour all of Tokyo without a single lead?
Luckily for her, Maki wasn’t that far from them.
“Scent, this way.” Adam took a left turn into the alley, walking over wet newspapers and cardboard boxes.
“You remember her scent?” Nobara looked equally disgusted and curious.
“Not hers, the scent of blood.” Adam kicked open the back door of an abandoned mall.
A single flickering light illuminated the cracked tiles and mouldy walls. The grimy smell of animal faeces could barely overshadow the red pool left in the crater at the centre.
The body was of a male in his late thirties; he had the face of a typical thug and wore clothes that matched the style. The guy was sliced diagonally in a single stroke from the right shoulder blade to the abdomen.
The slash was clean. The sword used here should be top-notch by this world’s standards. As for the skills of the one who performed it…
“No cursed energy, huh.” Even as a sword’s tip pressed against his neck, Adam looked to his left without a change of expression. He met the murderous eye of the girl they were searching with languid eyes. “This looks interesting.”
...
A fever took me down on Sunday, so the chapters were dealyed, mb.