Wake Up 03
He found a bench and sat down.
Some children imitated the self-immolating figure's unsteady gait, cheering and making noises, and then pouted in dissatisfaction when their mother scolded them. But they soon forgot about it and went back to playing happily on the slide.
A puppy appeared from nowhere and wagged its tail at him, as if to comfort him. He gently patted the puppy's head and let go: "Go find your owner."
The truth that the world has hidden for a long time was right in front of him, but he missed it.
He was very upset.
The puppy barked. A shadow fell before his eyes.
"Can I sit next to you?"
"Of course!" He heard his own voice rushing, as if he had prepared it before he even spoke.
"Can we talk for a minute?"
"sure!"
Her eyes reminded him of a dark, deep ocean, one that he could easily get lost in. He keenly noticed that her interest in him was not as high as it had been just now.
She is...very sad.
Why should sadness laugh?
what happened?
Why did you come here again?
Is it because he is special enough?
It was rude to stare at a girl. He turned back, clasped his hands together, and stared blankly into the distance.
His long silence seemed to surprise her, and she took the initiative to say, "Is there anything you want to ask me?" The puppy was particularly well-behaved in her arms. It looked like it didn't want to leave at all, with its short tail wagging back and forth.
"I..." He hated himself for being at a loss for words. But how could he use a few short words to summarize a life span of more than ten years?
"I understand you're at a loss for words. Could I lead the conversation?"
"Of course!" She chuckled, as if laughing at the fact that this was the only thing he could say.
He would never say this again next time, absolutely not! He made up his mind.
"That thing just now—we call it a 'Cursed Spirit'. Cursed Spirits are born from human negative emotions. There are many different types of Cursed Spirits, and that one was the first I've seen. After my analysis, it should have been born from human anger and fear towards usury. It's a very typical modern Cursed Spirit..."
"Excuse me, who are 'we'..." he asked eagerly. Cursed spirits and all that didn't matter. It was as easy as crushing a bug. What mattered was that he needed a place where outliers like him could live.
There must be such a place.
"Sorry, I don't seem to be a very good lecturer."
She didn't need to apologize at all, he was a complete idiot about this. Whatever she said.
He was just... just what?
"A person who can see cursed spirits and makes a living by exorcising them, secretly protecting ordinary people, is a 'curse master.'" Her explanation was quite official.
Where did he memorize this from? He muttered to himself.
"Can I become a 'Spellcaster'?" he asked sincerely.
She stared at him intently, looking him up and down.
He became flustered and uneasy.
Is it possible that he is just wishful thinking and the standards in this industry are very high?
Only today did he meet someone who knew the truth, and the face of a new world was slowly unfolding before him.
Never give up.
He wanted to say something else, but he understood the expression in her curved eyebrows.
"By definition, you already are. Haven't you secretly protected many people?"
He felt relieved.
He just needs a firm endorsement.
"But..." Her voice suddenly rose several decibels, and his heart, which had been relieved, began to lift again.
"Do you really want to become a sorcerer?" She looked at him with unusual seriousness. "You have other options. I think you can blend in quite well with ordinary people."
He saw his own reflection in her pupils, and this unique feeling of being watched made him extremely excited.
"I never had any other choice." There's no need to avoid it at this time.
"Why?"
"Because if I don't go looking for the curse spirit, the curse spirit will come looking for me."
"That's right. Seeing it will bring danger. Cursed spirits are such unreasonable creatures." She chuckled, and the puppy stretched out its tongue and licked her hand.
“You’re not from Tokyo.”
"I just moved here recently for school...how did you know?"
"Tokyo has an unusually high number of cursed spirits. You've probably thought about this before, and it's troubled you for a long time. Your family has always disbelieved everything you've said. As you've grown older, you've learned to hide your differences. But in Tokyo, where cursed spirits are everywhere, it's becoming difficult to keep doing so."
He rummaged around in the corner for what little vigilance he had left.
"Your kindness won't allow you to just watch others get into danger."
She patted the puppy's head gently and the puppy stopped licking her.
"The Tokyo metropolitan area is home to many powerful cursed spirits. It's no wonder Tokyo has become the headquarters of cursers. If you had always lived in Tokyo, you would have been discovered by a curser or a window. You wouldn't have met me."
Meeting you is the best arrangement of fate. It is too embarrassing to say this.
"Si Guoyi, I can't sense what you are thinking without activating the technique."
“Really…haha…” Without activating the spell…?
After praising him, she continued calmly, "In order to protect the safety of ordinary people and prevent the creation of more cursed spirits due to their fear of them, the existence of cursed spirits will not be announced to the public except to those who have personally experienced them."
"So there are many sorcerers like you who don't know the inside story in Japan."
As if to dispel his newly-risen wariness, she encouraged him, "It's rare to find a sorcerer who can reach your level of skill. Some people would be quite jealous."
"Thank you." He was praised. As for vigilance... he's super strong.
He knew that the "someone" she was talking about was not herself, and her expression was obviously one of gloating.
Was she happier because of him?
"You were able to learn how to use cursed energy and how to use it to exorcise cursed spirits. This is truly rare."
"What is your technique?"
"The technique?" Finally, they'd mentioned it. He habitually asked, then replied, "'Cursed Spirit Control Technique'? Turn the cursed spirit into a black ball and eat it, and I can control it." The process of discovering the method hadn't been pleasant. Why couldn't such crucial information be simply stored in his mind, along with the technique's name?
Her eyes blinked gently, "That cursed spirit just now..."
She knows the "Spirit Curse Technique".
"It's too weak, there's no need." There's no point collecting cursed spirits that can be exorcised without much effort. That stuff is really disgusting.
"Oh." She held her chin with her hands and turned her back to him. Was she angry? He was confused.
She turned back and said, "What you just did is called 'disclosure of the technique,' and it will enhance the technique's power." She explained it to him dutifully, "But perhaps you are strong enough, so this slight increase is not noticeable to you."
"As for my technique..."
"What is it?" he was curious.
"I'm not the type to be publicly seen. If you become a curse master one day, you might find yourself in an interrogation room. You're so kind... I don't think that's possible."
"Curse Master?"
"It's easy for you to hurt ordinary people, that's it. Great power makes people swell up."
"Is it mind reading?"
She took off her scarf and laughed. Her clear, light laughter made his heart sway.
"What's with that expression on your face? It's not that exaggerated." She was very dissatisfied with her technique being simply understood as "mind reading".
She held up the puppy towards him, and the puppy barked at him in cooperation.
"Isn't it?"
"No, that's not it. I'm just sensing emotions. All kinds of emotions. My technique converts those emotions into 'thoughts'. I don't like using that technique; it's too offensive, isn't it? But there's nothing I can do about overly strong emotions. It's a frustrating passive."
"What about the puppy's mood?" He pointed at the puppy, which was threatening to scare him. He lightly punched it. The puppy had just been wagging its tail at him, but now it turned around and attacked him fiercely.
To be honest, he saw the grievance on a dog's face. The smile would not disappear, it would only shift.
"Ah...it feels like you're bullying it." She scratched the puppy's chin, and the puppy rubbed her arm affectionately.
"Be good, your master is looking for you."
"Why does it listen to you and not me?"
"Because it knows we don't need it anymore."
The puppy looked back every three steps, but finally ran away.
"That girl just now..."
She took a deep breath, put her hands together, smiled and said, "She is the target of my mission."
"Oh, and now you too."
"Me too!?"
"You want to be a sorcerer, but you can't just stay a wild sorcerer, right? How long can you hold on alone?"
“Hmm…”
Wild…? He found the word oddly amusing. But—was she really not a mind reader? Why didn't he believe it!?
"Really? I told you I can't read your mind. You just didn't hide your emotions well enough."
Her cell phone rang.
Is she...not very proficient in using it? Her speech and behavior are too classical. Is she truly modern? Is he really not dreaming or hallucinating?
"Well, thank you for sending someone over."
"Those XXX people who turned themselves in? I did it."
"No, I didn't."
"Got it. I'll go back right away."
She hung up the phone angrily and forced a smile at him: "I don't have much time left for you. Is there anything else you want to ask?"
Her cell phone rang again.
"Ah, you don't need to ask. Someone will contact you later, and it's not too late to make a choice then. Don't regret your choice. Be able to bear the consequences of your choices."
She spoke so fast that he could not hear what she said. He only knew one thing - she was leaving him.
"Wait a minute, you—"
【what your name? 】
"My name is not important, Geto-san. You shouldn't wear a school uniform during holidays. If you were attending Jujutsu High School, the uniform would make you want to vomit."
He became flustered, but she calmed down.
"I don't have time to eat strawberry cake with anyone today. I'll leave this one for you."
He took the beautifully wrapped strawberry cake in a daze. He didn't like sweets, so shouldn't she know this?
Catch up, Geto Suguru.
You can catch up with her, but she can never outrun you.
We will meet again.
He firmly believed this.
Maybe there's no need to rush.
But—he did nothing in the end.
*
"********** (unknown language)"
All curse words were blocked out, leaving you with nowhere to vent your inner rage. You didn't even use any magic; you were simply using ordinary methods. You were simply showcasing your superior marksmanship with a pistol, pointing the way to the right path for the hordes.
They actually accused you of harming ordinary people!? If you really wanted to do that, what could these idiots in the world of curse arts find?!
Huh? Why do I say that?
"Sister~" Is that Nariko calling you? You don't want to turn around and face her, striding forward without paying attention.
No one gets to decide who to sacrifice and who to save. But—but, you must make this decision. Six billion versus one another, when lives become chips on the scales, it's clear which is more important. And what's more, among those six billion are your other family members.
You can't be so willful, but Riko is innocent.
[You just put another lock on her closed heart.]
Always, always, when you were away, Riko was experiencing other things, meeting other people. You saw it all in her memories. In the six months you weren't looking for her, Riko had already been brainwashed.
Children always believe many things and don’t know that a warm home comes at a price.
Riko is just as stupid as you are.
These bastards in the world of spells!
You just sent a few bad guys to the police station, why are you being tried again?
You were only six years old at that time, you had lost your memory, you didn't understand anything, and you kept crying.
Don't cry. Crying won't bring you sympathy, it will only bring you disgust.
"elder sister?"
Don't show weakness outwardly.
"Hatsuchan is my mother's baby. Of course, you can cry in my mother's arms forever."
Mother?
You haven't thought about your parents for many years. The memory of them is so faint that it can't be any more.
"Aren't we a family? Didn't we say we were going to be together forever?"
Such ugly monsters are not parents.
Of course this ugly monster must be eliminated.
You numbly sit on the swing. Extremely bad memories are deliberately forgotten by your brain. The moment you recall them, your mind goes blank.
What did I do?
"elder sister!"
"Proxy command operations are operating normally—"
Within a day, Riko's pupils shrank suddenly.
"Ms. Riko, please come back soon!!!"
Danger, this kind of extremely dangerous aura, Kuroi Misato had only seen in the Zenin clan master, Zenin Naohito. No, the person before her was even more dangerous than the Zenin clan master.
My sister's eyes, which used to be bright, are now empty.
"The judgment is successful and trustworthy."
"Please notify the Zen temple's director." After saying this, Tennariko looked at her sister with a smile on her face, sat back on the swing obediently, closed her eyes and did not move.
"Kuroi—" Tennariko, bewildered, could only pull at the sleeve of someone she trusted. Kuroi Misato struggled to maintain her form, "I'll contact the Zenin family right away."
Miss Zenyuan, you——
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