Chapter 67: Past vs Present.
—OoOoO—
Yumiko had never felt such fear in her life. She had barely exited the hall when she heard a thump coming from it. Her legs trembled with every step, but it wasn't from the weight of the three big boys, bigger than her, that she was carrying as she moved away from the scene. Her heart was pounding like it was racing.
Yumiko immediately put the boys down as soon as she arrived in the lobby.
'Now that I've brought them, should I just go with them from here?'
The blonde girl then raised her head to stare at the ceiling, hoping her mind could penetrate the concrete to see what was up there.
"No, that's not right. I'm still alive and standing here because of their help. I should at least help with what I can," Yumiko thought as her fists clenched.
Without thinking further, even though fear still enveloped her heart, the girl immediately returned to the stairs, taking the path she had previously taken.
“Yumiko-senpai, are you there?”
She gasped as a voice suddenly rang in her head.
“Irohasu?”
“Listen. Hide somewhere near the hall. I’ll create a chance, and when his attention is completely diverted to me, attack him from behind.”
Yumiko's steps up the stairs slowed slightly upon hearing the instruction. However, before she could ask a question, the voice returned to her mind.
“Don’t worry. I’ll give you the signal, and you just have to follow it.”
The blond girl swallowed hard, unconsciously. Iroha's words seemed to block out all the excuses that were trying to escape her mouth.
"Listen, Yumiko-senpai. I know this isn't easy for a newbie like you. I'm having a hard time here too. But if you hesitate even a little, we'll both die," the voice in her head echoed again.
At which, the blonde girl let out a long sigh, and her steps moved faster again.
“Okay. Please explain your plan.”
—OoOoO—
The man gasped as the machete's tip suddenly pierced his chest from behind. His breath was instantly cut off as blood seeped from the gaping wound before finally flowing from the corner of his lips. With stiff, jerky movements, he turned around. His eyes widened, not from pain, but from pure shock as he saw the perpetrator, a girl with slightly trembling hands.
'How?'
Without further thought, the man immediately thrust forward, forcibly pulling the machete from his back. At the same time, Iroha appeared before him with a katana ready to decapitate him. However, the man managed to dodge and move quite nimbly, despite the blood gushing from his chest.
More than that, what surprised Iroha was the positive energy that seemed to be rapidly flowing to the damaged area to reconstruct his heart.
'It’s now!'
The short-haired girl sped up again, thrusting her sword into her opponent's chest. However, the tip of the katana stopped several inches before hitting the target.
'He stopped the Reverse Curse Technique to reactivate his cursed technique?' Iroha thought to herself as she clenched her jaw, 'No, it's fine. That’ll be fine. As long as we can gradually weaken him, we just need to hold out until reinforcements arrive.'
The short-haired girl glanced at her friend.
“Yumiko-senpai! Now!”
Without going through the telepathic network, she shouted instantly for instant effect. Although it startled Yumiko, the shout immediately erased any hesitation she had. The blonde girl immediately licked the man's blood, which was still dripping from her machete.
“Cursed Technique Release: Siphon of the Three Fates.”
After the spell was cast, Yumiko's bangs parted, revealing a black diamond symbol. Meanwhile, the man's eyes widened as he felt his cursed energy output suddenly drop by 20% of his maximum capacity. However, what shocked him even more was the increase in Iroha's cursed energy output by the same amount.
'That bastard woman.'
He glanced at Yumiko with anger clearly visible in his eyes. However, with the short-haired girl continuing to launch dangerous slashes at him, the man couldn't do much.
“Do you know how my technique works?” the man said, clasping his hands together.
Meanwhile, Iroha didn't reply to the question as she knew what her opponent wanted to do.
The girl instead stabbed with her sword, but the man managed to dodge it by stepping back. His palms remained clasped together, trying to speed up his heart's healing after the amount of cursed energy and his output had been cut.
“I used to think that my ability was as simple as controlling the air and its density.”
The man said calmly, even though a horizontal slash was about to rip his chest apart.
"However, in this second life filled with science, I realised that all along what I was controlling was nitrogen. Pretty simple, right?" he continued with a grin.
The man then released his hand after his heart returned to its original form. However, he had to accept that repairing the organ would require a massive amount of cursed energy. Coupled with the regeneration of his arm moments ago and with Yumiko's curse, he was no longer in a position to play around with them.
Activating the binding vow returned his output to normal, though his cursed energy seemed to remain restrained. However, it was enough to give him a strong propulsion and instantly launch himself at Yumiko, utilising his ability's characteristics.
Having no experience fighting directly against another sorcerer, Yumiko's body froze in place when she realised the figure was only two metres away from her. Luckily, a massive slash of raw energy, capable of ripping through two floors below and the ceiling above, hurtled in front of her, forcing the man to plant his feet on the floor and detonate, forcing him to stop in time.
His gaze then shifted to Iroha. With her right hand outstretched, the girl thought an invisible force would strike her again. However, unlike what she had imagined, her body was instead sucked toward the man.
'You idiot. He clearly said his technique allowed him to manipulate nitrogen. Why did I assume he could only attack me with the pressure of that gas?' Iroha cursed her stupidity.
She threw her katana forward, trying to disrupt the man's rhythm. However, he simply tilted his body and caught the girl right in the face.
Meanwhile, Yumiko frantically tried to attack the man. Unfortunately, with his free left hand, he fired a high-pressure nitrogen blast at the blonde girl, hitting her square in the stomach and sending her crashing through the wall.
“Cough! Cough! Ugh….”
Yumiko curled up on the floor, clutching her stomach. The attack seemed to be tearing her insides apart, inflicting pain she had never imagined before, causing blood to come out every time she coughed. However, more than the pain, it was the fear she felt when she saw the man holding Iroha's face that terrified her even more.
“Iroha… su…,” the blonde girl moaned.
To which she only got a glance from the man.
“For a weakling, you’re quite persistent, huh? But don’t worry, your turn will come soon,” the man turned his attention back to Iroha after those words, “Besides, watching your friend die slowly and in the most painful way possible, isn’t that quite entertaining?”
At the same time, the short-haired girl struggled in her opponent's grip. Her legs kicked the air, trying to send a kick imbued with cursed energy. However, the solidified nitrogen barrier perfectly protected the man.
“Five hundred years ago, I would never have thought of this because the most enjoyable method I could think of was sucking up and suffocating my targets,” the man said in a monologue, “But what if I injected nitrogen into your respiratory system? Don’t they say nitrogen asphyxiation is far more dangerous than simply suffocating?”
Hearing that, Iroha immediately widened her eyes, and she struggled even harder to escape the man's grip.
Nitrogen asphyxia was a phenomenon that occurred in the lungs and referred to a microscopic mechanical displacement process. Forced inflow of concentrated nitrogen gas could rapidly dominate the alveolar space, displacing and expelling all oxygen molecules from the gas exchange site. It forced oxygen in the blood vessels to diffuse outward, instantly depleting the supply of red blood cells.
No matter how strong the biological defence system, that phenomenon could overcome it and trigger a suffocating effect. Most frighteningly, the human body was chemically sensitive only to the accumulation of carbon dioxide. Therefore, when the exhaust gas was still being exhaled, the brain failed to recognise it as a threat and instead sent panic signals, shutting down the body's consciousness or simply asphyxiating to prevent the buildup of more concentrated nitrogen gas.
As a result, acute anoxic hypoxia occurred without any initial symptoms, and blood oxygen saturation plummeted to zero within seconds. It could trigger a shutdown of electrical activity in the cerebral cortex, potentially permanently impairing vital organ function even without visible physical injury.
“Do you have any last words, little girl?” the man asked.
“Mhm! Mhhmm!! Mmhhhmmm!!!” Iroha struggled with emotion and panic.
“Well, I guess not? I can't understand what you're saying, after all.”
The man was about to inject concentrated nitrogen into Iroha's airway. However, before he could do so, an unknown male voice disturbed his eardrums.
“Can you not play such a horrible prank on my disciple?”
The man's eyes widened, completely unaware of the figure standing behind him, as if it had appeared out of nowhere. He turned around and moved away to gain a safe distance. All his techniques were activated to shield his body from the unpredictable threat. However, the nitrogen armour proved helpless against the uninvited guest.
A vortex that distorted space and time hit the arm that was gripping Iroha and let her go from his grasp.
“Ugh!”
The man winced in pain as he felt his arm being crushed and torn apart by a completely invisible force, proving his nitrogen barrier completely useless. The uninvited guest lightly kicked him, but it easily sent him flying back into the hall.
“Cough! Cough!”
With the sound of the cough, the figure then turned his attention to the short-haired girl who was sitting weakly, holding her mouth and nose while breathing heavily.
“Gojo-sensei…,” Iroha muttered weakly.
Meanwhile, seeing his student doing well, Satoru smiled broadly.
“Yo!” the white-haired man replied enthusiastically, “Being able to hold your own pretty well against someone who’s easily at the first-grade level, you’ve grown quite a bit, huh, Iroha-chan?”
Without waiting for a response, Satoru turned his gaze to the blonde-haired girl who was starting to get up from her curled-up position.
“You too, Yumiko-chan. For your first fight against a curse user, and one this powerful on top of that, you were able to pull yourself together and execute your plan quite well.”
Yumiko walked closer, her feet dragging and her right hand hugging her body.
“No, Irohasu was the one who did all the heavy work,” the girl replied, turning her face away, “All I did was stab her in the back, and curse him using my technique. It didn’t have any significant effect on him.”
“No, that’s not true,” Iroha quickly denied, “You could steal 20% of his cursed energy’s capacity and output, then give them to me. With that alone, the healing of his heart slowed down drastically.”
The short-haired girl paused mid-sentence, her hands clenched into fists, gripping her clothes tightly.
“If anything, my incompetence is what kept him going and gave him the space to stop playing around.”
Yumiko's cursed technique, Siphon of the Three Fates, was actually quite simple. It was a technique that involved three sides in a single battle. When she successfully drew her opponent's blood with her own hand and licked it, the technique activated, taking 20% of her opponent’s cursed energy capacity and output. In return, she could allocate it to a target she deemed an ally for a certain duration.
At first glance, it might seem like a typical buff-and-debuff-oriented technique. However, in any given situation, the person who could pull it off has the potential to seize the moment and play a crucial role.
“It’s always a refreshing sight to see kids like you who are dissatisfied with your performance,” Satoru said proudly.
However, Iroha glared sharply at the white-haired man with a black cloth covering his eyes.
"You seem to have a pretty good idea of what's going on, Gojo-sensei? Don't tell me you've been watching the situation from the start and letting that dangerous man beat us up?"
“Well, well. A little extreme field experience is invaluable for your character development, isn’t it?” Satoru replied casually with a shrug.
“You know we could have died, right, if you were even a little bit late?” Iroha snorted in annoyance.
However, little did the short-haired girl know. Satoru hadn't come into the scene and instead observed the situation from afar in the midst of their ongoing battle. In fact, he had been watching them the moment he received news that someone had managed to sneak past Iroha's detection ability. In other words, since the girls had begun their search, he had been instantaneously teleporting from the Hikigaya residence to Inohana Park.
The reason was simple. Satoru repeatedly complimented Iroha’s potential, stating that in terms of sensitivity to cursed energy and tracking abilities, she was even better than Yuta and Hachiman. So, when someone who had earned the direct recognition from the strongest sorcerer could escape her radar, it was clear that this person was no ordinary foe.
"As a congratulatory present, I'll give you some pocket money, and you two are free to use it for whatever you like. But first, I'm going to beat up the bastard who's wasting my precious free time," the white-haired man said, his irritation clearly evident in his voice.
However, above all, the illegal sorcerer’s terrorising actions forced Satoru to sacrifice his precious time with Asuka, the woman he loved so much. Therefore, when the man emerged from the hall with his hand regenerated, albeit incompletely due to Yumiko's curse still in effect, the two young girls knew that a terrible fate awaited him after incurring the wrath of the most powerful magician ever.
—OoOoO—
In the middle of the ocean in Tokyo Bay, two boys suddenly appeared out of thin air. Unlike the older-looking boy, who managed to land and stand perfectly in the water, the much younger figure couldn't do the same and would have fallen into the sea if not for the older boy catching his collar.
“Thank you, Hikigaya-san,” said the younger one.
Meanwhile, the young man, Hikigaya, also known as Hachiman, just stared at the boy with astonishment.
“You can’t stand on water? I thought Meimei-san had taught you basic things like this.”
“Unfortunately, no,” the grey-haired boy replied with a snort, “My dear sister told me to hone my cursed technique first, and I can learn the basics later at Jujutsu High.”
“Oh, is that so?” Hachiman muttered a little indifferently.
The boy stared at the giant LNG tanker two hundred meters in front of him. When he heard that the ship had experienced a mysterious explosion, he imagined an incident that could cause it to sink rapidly. However, from what he witnessed, the explosion wasn't particularly large, and its effects were contained so that it didn't spread further.
However, a subtle yet terrifying cursed energy emanated from the ship.
“This is… a special grade, isn’t it?” the Hikigaya boy muttered.
Meanwhile, the more he felt the cursed energy, the clearer the memories he desperately wanted to forget became.
“The vengeful spirit of Hijikata Toshizo. I'm sure this is his aura.”
Hachiman sighed softly with his eyes closed, but the next moment, his eyelids opened again, his eyes looking completely devoid of any enthusiasm.
“Ui Ui, you go back, and inform this to Hiratsuka-sensei.”
Without waiting for a response, Hahchiman threw the boy into the air. He was a little surprised at first when he got thrown, but he quickly regained his composure.
“I know you’re incredibly strong now!” Ui Ui shouted into the air as gravity began to pull him back to the surface, “But please come back safely. You’re an important potential client of ours in the future, after all.”
With those words, the grey-haired boy wrapped a black cloth around himself. And with a gust of wind, he vanished into thin air.
“Potential client, your ass. You're a money-hungry little bastard,” the guy muttered.
—OoOoO—
The LNG carrier floated serenely in Tokyo Bay, its towering presence resembling a floating city. From a distance, the vessel appeared to stand majestically on the ocean's surface, unconcerned by the waves and sea breezes battering it. Beneath its serene appearance, thousands of sensors, valves, and monitoring systems work tirelessly to keep its cargo stable throughout the voyage. Unlike typical cargo ships stacked with containers, its main deck was dominated by giant, dome-shaped tanks that store liquefied natural gas at cryogenic temperatures, meeting one of the world's most stringent safety standards.
In theory, a system failure on an LNG ship was one of the most avoidable scenarios in the maritime world. A cargo leak followed by a spark could trigger a chain of explosions, a massive fire, and even structural damage that could cripple and even sink the vessel within seconds. As such, the redundancy system was crazy enough that those failures could be avoided.
However, the scene before Hachiman's eyes was anything but. The ship's hull did show some signs of damage, some of the equipment on the deck appeared charred, and metal fragments were scattered everywhere. Yet, compared to the immense energy that would have been released, the extent of the damage seemed far too minor.
“You yourself destroyed it, but you also prevented the damage from spreading everywhere,” Hachiman said casually.
The boy walked over to a figure sitting on the ship's deck, facing the dark, cold night ocean.
"For a cursed spirit, aren't you being too generous, Hijikata Toshizo? But that's precisely what disgusts me," Hachiman continued.
The figure he called Hijikata Toshizo stood up from his seat and stared at the droopy-eyed boy. The mangled face, the single remaining eye, and the empty bridge of his nose brought back painful memories from his past.
“Hikigaya Hachiman. This isn’t the first time we’ve met, and you’ve truly gotten much stronger since our first encounter,” Hijikata said.
“And I assume this isn’t your real body either, right?” Hachiman replied sarcastically.
The memory of his body suddenly disintegrating as Hiratsuka's domain devoured Hijikata's was still fresh in Hachiman's mind. Although the cursed spirit's appearances were minimal afterwards, they still gave a rough idea of his capabilities.
"Who knows?" replied the vengeful spirit casually.
However, not wanting to get involved in further small talk, the boy returned to the topic that was bothering him.
“So, was this controlled accident your generosity, or part of your plan?”
Hijikata seemed uninterested in simply replying. The vengeful spirit walked slowly, his right hand feeling the railing. With his lone remaining eye, he stared out at the horizon shrouded in darkness, while his left hand rested on the hilt of the katana sheathed at his waist.
“Do you know how I was reborn in this world and became a special grade even though I wasn’t and never knew about jujutsu sorcery in my previous life?”
Hachiman furrowed his brows at the question. However, he chose to remain silent and listen to the man's ramblings.
“Part of me is aroused by the resentment of my comrades who died in injustice due to your complicity on the side of the emperor, who demand revenge on the new government and the emperor’s lackeys,” Hijikata continued after a moment of silence, “However, the other part is due to the silent cries of the people of this country, who hope for a symbol to eradicate the injustice that has befallen this land.”
“Injustice?” Hachiman muttered unconsciously.
Hijikata then stopped in his tracks, his gaze returning to the young magician.
"A country that, on paper, appears to be independent and sovereign. However, in reality, this land is tightly controlled by a foreign military, and lacks the courage to determine its own destiny."
'Is he referring to the Anpo Agreement and Article 9, which, although a flexible clause that can be interpreted according to any situation, the government has never used for foreign policy manoeuvres?' the boy thought.
To which Hachiman then sighed in annoyance.
"So, basically, you were just created because of the ambitions of right-wing nationalists, huh? Just so you know, the last time right-wing ultranationalists took over this country, we became enemies of the world."
“Not really,” Hijikata replied with a shrug, “If that were the case, how could I possibly target the heads of the Meiji descendants, the new government, and also the sorcerers who crossed the line and interfered with our war?”
The vengeful spirit slowly approached. Each step seemed to make the air around him grow heavier, suppressing his breath and silencing the sound of the ocean waves. However, Hachiman remained standing where he was. His gaze didn't shift an inch, as if the pressure that could freeze the atmosphere meant nothing to him.
When the distance between them finally disappeared, the stark
height difference became apparent. The boy was forced to tilt his head slightly to meet the ghost's blank stare, while the Shinsengumi vice-captain looked down at him with his only remaining eye.
"The grudge I bear is far more fundamental than just the political ambitions of a group, and the freedom of a nation to determine its own destiny is not limited to military power," Hijikata continued.
His deep voice, laced with a hint of resentment, made Hachiman hold his breath. However, that wasn't the real reason.
'Damn, bastard! His breath stinks! Why did he even come so close? If I avert my gaze or walk away, I'll look like a coward, right? But I really can't stand his bad breath, damn it!'
Without understanding what the boy was thinking, Hijikata continued his words, which only made Hachiman suffer even more.
"In the mid-1980s, this country foolishly followed America's wishes and signed the Plaza Accord for the benefit of a foreign nation. But what was the result? A long recession that lasted almost three decades."
The Plaza Accord, a popular what-if among world economists, imagines what would have happened if Japan had not signed the agreement that would have destroyed it.
"The country's inability to defend itself when its industry is accused of intellectual property theft has ultimately led us to lose one of the world's most strategic industrial sectors," the vengeful spirit continued.
This made Hachiman frown.
"You mean, the agreement between Japan and America regarding the semiconductor issue?"
The Plaza Accord might be a start. However, if the Japanese government had been more proactive, many of its industries would certainly have been saved.
Before the AI era exploded in the early 2010s, Japan was arguably the king of semiconductors. Their innovation in this field was truly phenomenal, even dominating the global market. However, many disliked this, especially the United States, whose crown jewels, such as Intel, IBM, and Texas Instruments, were struggling against companies like Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi in the semiconductor industry, and even Nikon, specifically for lithography machines.Ultimately, due to a lack of state support, these companies were forced to limit exports and disclose their patents to avoid such accusations. This vacuum of dominance was then exploited by Taiwan and South Korea, which ironically compounded Japan's woes during the recession.
"The New Government and the weak oligarchy, which makes the common people even more miserable, and also the Jujutsu Sorcerers who are only busy enriching themselves," Hijikata said as his face got closer.
What made Hachiman even more annoyed was that the creature's foul breath was now much more obvious, stinging his nose mercilessly.
"And in that intersection, there's someone who has strong connections to the new government, is part of the oligarchy, and is also a jujutsu sorcerer. You should know who the ideal target is to begin my revenge, right?" the vengeful spirit continued.
And that successfully ignited Hachiman's anger.
"Cut that shit, or I'll send you to the afterlife for the second time, you bastard."
With that cold declaration, Hachiman immediately pushed the vengeful spirit away and carried him out to sea.
—OoOoO—
Upon receiving news that an LNG carrier, built and operated by a business affiliated with her family, had caught fire near Tokyo Bay, Haruno immediately rushed to the port operator's building. Civilians weren't permitted to enter the area by procedure. However, Haruno hadn't come to the summer festival as a regular civilian. Nor was she taking advantage of her secret profession as a sorcerer. Still dressed in a yellow yukata, she had come as her mother's representative, as the heiress of the Yukinoshita Family.
"Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable, Young Lady," said a man who was her guide.
However, Haruno had no intention of wasting any more time. As soon as she sat down with her back straight, she immediately asked a question.
"So, can you explain the situation?"
The man looked nervous, as if he didn't have an answer to the question.
"In addition to the explosion I reported, we have sent assistance for evacuation and to determine the cause. Fortunately, the explosion was quickly contained before the fire spread to other sectors."
"How is that possible? Didn't you say on the phone that the cargo manifold exploded, causing the ESD system to malfunction?" Haruno asked with a questioning look.
In modern shipping, a tank explosion on an LNG vessel is no longer seen as a disaster but rather as a mitigable risk. Therefore, LNG vessels have independent tanks with multiple airtight compartments separated by steel bulkheads designed to limit the spread of fire and damage. Furthermore, numerous sensors are installed to quickly trigger an emergency shutdown system.
However, the system's redundancy was ineffective if the first explosion directly damaged the cargo manifold, causing the ESD system to fail. However, even then, the probability that the first explosion would damage it was less than 2%. In other words, it was virtually impossible unless the ship was extremely unlucky.
"That…" the man looked hesitant, "… Honestly, we are still not sure and trying to find out the cause."
"Did you notice any unusual signs?" Haruno asked.
"I can say that clearly either," the man replied resignedly, "To be more precise, we are picking up the ship's technician who was on site. So, the more accurate report should arrive as soon as possible."
On paper, such an explosion should be the beginning of a nightmare that would give even the most seasoned businessman a headache.
Even though LNG vessels were built with multi-layered safety systems and stringent redundancies, a failure at that point could still trigger a cascade of subsequent failures. In theory, the fire should have spread quickly, temperatures should have risen dramatically, and sensors and valves should have begun to malfunction. All of these system failures should have occurred rapidly, leaving the entire crew with no choice but to wait for their fate to be decided.
However, none of that happened.
The fires subsided much faster than expected. The damage stopped in areas that were nearly impossible to isolate, as if an invisible force had refused to let the disaster spread further.
"It may be hard to believe, but according to reports, the indicator instruments that had previously recorded an extreme temperature spike immediately showed a rapid drop that was hard to explain," the man added.
Things that should have happened scientifically but didn't, for reasons that couldn't be explained logically. Simply put, such phenomena were easily attributed to the involvement of supernatural forces.
And sure enough, before Haruno could ask another question, she felt an unpleasant feeling.
'My dear other self, these are definitely not cursed spirits,' Alter said through their psychic connection.
'Yeah, even I can tell it.'
At that exact moment, in the night sky over Chiba Port, something like thick black slime appeared to fall from the sky and cover a portion of the port area that was separated from the hustle and bustle of the festival. Or rather, the area around the operator building.
The girl turned to face her conversation partner and found him collapsed on the sofa with his eyes closed. His breathing was slow and steady, indicating no other unusual symptoms other than his sudden collapse. Before she could say anything, her phone suddenly rang. She glanced at the device briefly before answering the call without even checking the name on the screen.
“Yes?”
Haruno then stood up from her seat and walked towards the window of the room.
“Yukinoshita-san, due to the sudden appearance of supernatural activity, we have lowered the Curtain within a hundred-metre radius,” said a man on the phone.
“How could they be in this place without anyone knowing?”
Still with a smartphone attached to her ear, the girl opened the window to look out.
"We weren't sure either. They just suddenly appeared out of nowhere."
Despite her annoyance, Haruno couldn't blame them. Even when she was there, she hadn't noticed any signs. Therefore, her brow furrowed when she saw the swarm of supernatural creatures already swarming the surrounding buildings.
'Yeah, they're definitely not cursed spirits,' Alter added.
However, Haruno didn’t respond, as she was still in the middle of a phone conversation with her interlocutor.
“Then, expedite the procedures for cancelling the festival, and tighten security in the evacuation area,” the girl ordered, “Send three or four people here, and tell someone to report the situation to Hiratsuka-san.”
It was rare to hear Haruno call her former teacher by her given name. However, even for someone like her, she knew when to maintain Hiratsuka’s dignity. In front of the sorcerers
who were her de facto subordinates, she didn't want the aura behind Hiratsuka's name tarnished by addressing her in a familiar tone and on a formal mission.
"Understood."
It was actually quite amusing to see Haruno, a newbie, giving commands to sorcerers more senior than herself. However, her close relationships with Hiratsuka and Hachiman, two of the strongest people in Chiba, have led these sorcerers to place their trust in her.
However, it wasn't just about status or oligarchy. On the contrary, Haruno's presence made them feel much more comfortable. Because of her closeness to Hiratsuka and Hachiman, if the mission failed, it would be easier to point to Haruno as a scapegoat.
Without caring about her image, the girl immediately planted her feet on the window frame. With a powerful push, she leapt out and landed among the crowd of supernatural creatures. Her eyes could clearly see the creatures' faces, even though they were almost completely mangled, making them truly worthy of being called ghosts, just like in horror films.
"You're… Okita Shoji?" Haruno asked in pure shock.
"And you, just like me, are the shikigami on top of that," Alter chimed in, but this time she appeared as a mouth on Haruno's cheek.
A man, a young man, a shikigami, a ghost, or a vengeful spirit? Haruno wasn't sure what to call him and his dozens of fellows. However, the figure she recognised as Okita Shoji slowly approached.
"Should I feel honoured that the people of this era recognise someone who died young hundreds of years ago without achieving any feat in a major battle?" the figure said in the tone of a well-groomed young man.
This is in stark contrast to his tattered appearance.
“Yes, you should. Especially from someone like me,” Haruno replied casually, “Therefore, please return to the afterlife and rest in peace.”
“You’re a very funny person, huh? Unfortunately, even if I wanted to return to my resting place, I couldn’t. You can blame that bastard Hijikata for that.”
Even though his tone sounded calm and there was no hostility whatsoever, just by his mere presence alone, Haruno felt like her neck could be cut at any moment.
“But we can feel it, you know?” Okita continued, “We, the people who came from the countryside and swore to protect the motherland, hear the screams and pain that this country is feeling, wrapped in the splendour of the metropolis.”
“Then, haven’t you ever heard that modern problems require modern people to solve them, not boomers, let alone ghosts from the past?” Haruno threw a little provocation.
"You may be right. However, when people have lost hope, they’ll cling to historical values as symbols, hoping that past glories will be repeated."
Okita's gaze turned so sharp, sharp enough to pierce someone's heart with just his sight alone.
“Forgive me, Young Lady. But your existence would be far better sacrificed, or at least used as a hostage to force some people in the New Government to act properly.”
With those piercing warning words, a breeze blew that gave Haruno chills, as if she had just felt a wind carried from the realm of death. Because of her distraction, she was also late to realise that Okita had already moved at high speed, and her eyes widened when a sharp object pierced right into her heart.
—To Be Continued—
Author Note: Hello, I'm back again. How are you? I hope God always blesses whatever you are doing. And of course, please always stay happy.
This chapter opens with the aftermath of the last fight, where Irohasu is immediately overwhelmed when his opponent takes the fight seriously, showing that there are levels in this game. And yes, the next two fights will focus on Haruno and Hachiman. For Hachiman, this will be his first confrontation after he almost died at the Chiba Museum in some of the early arcs.
Okay, there isn't much I want to say, so I hope you enjoy this chapter. Stay safe and healthy. See you…