Outside the quiet community, the Grudge and the sorcerers were in a stalemate.

Al blocked in front of everyone. It was the first time that Kento Nanami saw a cursed spirit that looked like a "human", and his expression was a little ugly.

——The more human-like the appearance is, the stronger the power is.

Gojo Satoru, however, had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Ieiri Naoko was silent for a while, then asked Xia Youjie quietly: "Xia You, can you see it?"

Xia Yujie said with a serious expression: "I can't see it."

Al and Nanami Kento obviously saw the so-called curse, but Kayuki Toshi and Ieiri Naoko only saw a straight road. The road was empty and there was no one in sight.

"Wu, Al, what did you see?"

Gojo Satoru replied in a low voice: "Well... I can only see the shape of the flow of cursed energy."

He raised his hand and gestured at the outline of the Grudge: "It's in the shape of a human."

Al whispered, "It's a woman. She's wearing witch clothes, with long black hair, big eyes, and her hands seem to be strung together by a red rope. It's exactly like the description in the folk tale."

Gojo Satoru turned his wrist.

"The flow of this cursed power and the way this curse spreads are definitely the Grudge. If I'm right, only by knowing its name can you see its true form!"

Ieiri Naoko complained: "The Heroic Spirit can see the Cursed Spirit more clearly than the Curse Master. Is this reasonable?"

Al turned aside and gave her a thumbs up. "Because I am a super hero from the universe."

This sentence is really a universal explanation. Don’t ask, if you ask, it’s just crazy awesome!

Nanami Kento frowned and interrupted their antics: "What should we do now? How are you going to solve it?"

The woman in the distance was motionless, her long black hair covering most of her face, leaving only her deep eye sockets exposed. She seemed to be sizing them up sinisterly, ready to attack them at any moment.

Xia Yujie said, "Nanami-kun, please tell us what this guy's name is first."

"Shirai, its name is Shirai."

The moment they heard their names, a circle of cursed energy appeared around the four high school students, and the figure of the cursed one suddenly became clear.

really!

Only if you know the ghost's name can you see the ghost with your own eyes!

Xia Yujie was stunned for a moment, then said with a look of surprise: "Al, did you see it? It's my third curse!"

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Ieiri Naoko: “…”

You are collecting grudges and you are addicted to them, right?

Al paused for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Then my snack..."

Xia Yujie responded immediately: "Add!"

Facing the looks of his companions who said "this cursed spirit operator has gone crazy", Al happily made an OK gesture, took out his familiar lightsaber, and bent down slightly. The female ghost opposite him seemed to realize that the new prey was unusual, and its body paused visibly.

Al rushed forward.

“Take this!”

In just a moment, Al's figure appeared in front of the female ghost. He cut off the cursed spirit's black coat with a sword. The cursed spirit's already scary big eyes became even bigger. Before it could react, the blond-haired and blue-eyed heroic spirit kicked up, and its body flew backwards uncontrollably, hitting the ground with a bang, and slid for more than ten meters before stopping.

Nanami Kento: “…”

Three high school students: "..."

Wait, that's it?

Al stopped too.

"...Master, it's so weak."

Gojo Satoru and Geto Kagome moved.

They passed Nanami Kento and went straight to Al's side, and found that the Grudge lying on the ground remained motionless, with only its eyeballs following their position.

"Huh?" Gojo Satoru seemed to have realized something, "Is it unable to move?"

The female ghost, who was being stared at by them, opened her dark mouth.

At this moment, Al heard a familiar voice.

——Long time no see, kid, how have you been recently?

The familiar clear voice surprised him, and Al turned his head subconsciously. At this moment, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, and even Ieiri Shoko and Nanami Kento in the distance turned their heads at the same time.

At this moment, the female ghost who had been motionless since her appearance finally moved.

Al realized the danger was approaching, turned around suddenly, and met a pair of eyes that were so deep that it was creepy.

The ghost's face was so close that it was almost touching his nose. He could feel the strong murderous intent coming from the ghost. But the moment Al's eyes fell on the ghost again, the ghost returned to her motionless state.

"...I understand." Al said affirmatively: "Masters, the way to deal with this curse is to keep your eyes on her."

If you look away, the ghost will attack, but as long as you keep staring at it, the ghost won't be able to move at all.

Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru also realized this.

Xia Yujie was surprised and said, "This guy actually used the voice of someone we know to trick us into looking away."

Gojo Satoru said excitedly: "If we don't turn back in time, will my eyeballs explode? This is a six-eye!"

"Don't you have no limits? I don't think so."

"…try it?"

The two high school boys looked at each other and saw full of interest in each other's eyes. They tacitly carried Al, turned around and ran back.

"Nose, Nanami! Let's play one-two-three-stick man! Now we are all 'ghosts'! Quick, turn your heads around!"

Al: “…”

Ieiri Glass & Nanami Kento: "..."

Ieiri Shoko rolled her eyes and turned away unhappily, not looking at the female ghost named Shirai. Nanami Kento turned away speechlessly, also not looking at the female ghost.

Gojo Satoru and Xia Yujie carried Al and ran forward three steps. They turned around suddenly and saw that the female ghost named Shirai had also moved behind them, almost sticking to their backs.

Al: “…”

So exciting!

He knows how to play!

He signaled to Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru to let him go. The three boys stared at the female ghost and retreated step by step until they reached the side of Ieiri Shoko and Nanami Kento. During this time, the female ghost stood still, unable to move.

Ieiri Naoko: “…”

Nanami Kento: “…”

They also know how to play.

The five of them ran forward ten meters at the same time, then turned back suddenly. Sure enough, while they were looking away, Shirai had once again closed the distance between them.

The female ghost who was teased by high school students had a ferocious expression on her face.

Gojo Satoru said happily, "It is so. The only way to survive this curse is to stare at her without moving. If I am right, as long as you stare at her long enough, the curse will disappear on its own."

He poked the ghost's cold forehead with his bony index finger: "So, you deliberately look so scary? Just to make your prey afraid to look directly at you?"

Xia Yujie said seriously: "Satoru, don't judge others' appearance casually."

And if you look closely, Shirai is not ugly at all. Rather, the more you look at her, the more she seems to be born to his aesthetic standards!

It must be fate that they meet here!

A certain insane cursed spirit operator thought so.

"But Master," Al said, "its eyes are really too big, at least twenty times bigger than yours. They are really scary."

Xia Yujie: “…”

Xia Yujie wondered, "I seem to have been offended by someone. Is this my illusion?"

Al said innocently, "Huh? No one offended you. It must be an illusion."

Gojo Satoru grinned and said, "It must be an illusion."

Ieiri Naoko suppressed her laughter and said, "Well, it must be an illusion."

Nanami Kento: “…”

In such a serious occasion, is it really appropriate for you to act like this?

So the five boys and girls started playing the thrilling game of One, Two, Three Wooden Man with the poor Grudge. They almost had their eyeballs pinched out by the Grudge several times. The high school students screamed in excitement and excitement, attracting the glances of countless passers-by. They ran out laughing for a long time, almost running out onto the busy street, before they reluctantly stopped playing.

Xia Yujie coughed lightly, "Al."

Al snapped his fingers knowingly: "The game ends here, "Infinite Black Bean Soup"!"

Being stared at by five pairs of eyes, the cursed spirit, which could hardly move, began to turn into chocolate. It didn't even have a chance to struggle, and just like that, it turned into a beautiful chocolate sculpture under the gaze of everyone.

Infinite black bean paste, done!

Al ran over, kneaded and rubbed the curse, and skillfully rolled it into a chocolate ball.

Gojo Satoru commented: "This curse has good abilities. It has a very targeted curse ability, plus the ability to create auditory and visual hallucinations, which makes it very suitable for assassinating lone guys. However, there is a bug here. The six eyes can actually see the scene behind, but after I turned around, it assumed that I couldn't see it."

Ieiri Naoko complained: "It doesn't know you have six eyes."

Al came back with the chocolate ball and handed the curse ball to Kagome Jie.

"Master, your third Grudge."

Xia Yujie was very pleased and gave Al a big hug.

This one-sided game is finally over.

Nanami Kento raised his eyebrows: "It's over?"

"Ah." Gojo Satoru said, "Congratulations, Nanami, the curse marks on your body have disappeared."

The Shirai incident ended smoothly amid the high school students' laughter and playfulness. A day later, the high school quartet confirmed the safety of Tomita Aiko, and contacted Suzuki Haruo as agreed, telling him the truth of the incident.

Half a month later, with the help of Yega Masamichi, the folk story book recording the story of "Shirai" was sent to Tokyo Jujutsu High School.

It turns out that the first deceased "Watanabe" had read this story when he was very young, but he was young at the time and forgot it soon after reading it. It was not until that day when he ran into the scene of Nanami Kento and others telling ghost stories together that he remembered the story about "Shirai" that he had read when he was a child, and he spread the curse in a daze.

According to the analysis of high school students, "Shirai" is likely to be a mysterious priestess who actually existed in the Blind Village, but was accidentally killed. The murderer who killed her did not dare to look directly at her body, so the curse that Shirai turned into would kill those who knew of her existence but did not dare to look directly at her.

The way to get rid of the curse is to forget her existence like Watanabe did when he was a child. If you can't forget her, then you can only overcome your fear and face the evil spirit in order to have a chance of survival.

Of course, all of this is not a problem in front of the invincible Berserket.

…

The peaceful and silly college life passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye it was officially autumn.

Al was lying alone on the roof, making strange gurgling sounds from his mouth.

“Puff, puff… Huh! Ha! Gugugugugu, puff! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Boom—!!”

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Xia Yujie: “…”

Ieiri Naoko: “…”

Ieiri Naoko silently took out her cell phone and recorded the scene of Al's madness.

"puff."

Gojo Satoru couldn't help but laugh. Al sat up with a straight back. "Ahhhhhh! Did you see that? Did you see my secret imaginary practice?!"

Perhaps because he rarely gets so excited, Gojo Satoru sneered, "What? You learned your swordsmanship by practicing with your imagination? That's lame, Al."

Al raised his eyebrows: "Son? You should praise me for being a genius, right? I can become a member of the Knights of the Dark Round Table just by practicing with my imagination!"

What is this strange setting of the Knights of the Dark Round Table that suddenly appeared?

Ieiri Naoko said, holding a cigarette in his mouth: "Let's go. I have a new mission."

She threw a beige coat to Al and said, "We are visiting an ordinary family, so it's okay for you to speak."

Xia Yujie shrugged helplessly: "Although I'm almost giving up hiding his specialness."

Gojo Satoru grinned and said, "Try harder, Jay, Al. The process of hard work is still very interesting."

"Wow, it's really strange to hear this coming from your mouth."

"Huh? You wanna fight?"

They all looked relaxed, chatting and laughing, and their auras were much calmer than usual before a mission. It didn't seem like they were going to exorcise a cursed spirit. Al couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going?"

Ieiri Shoko replied: "A philanthropist's dinner."

Al was stunned. "Philanthropist?"

Gojo Satoru smiled and said, "You check your phone every day, have you ever heard of...ah...what's her name?"

Xia Yujie continued, "Ms. Sufang Hongzi. Over the years, she has been committed to helping children whose parents died in car accidents. She will hold a large charity dinner next week, and we are the guests who were invited in advance."

“…”

Al's expression froze for a moment, and Xia Youjie walked up to him and hooked his neck. "Anyway, she is a respectable and kind person. She invited us to be the guests of her charity dinner. We will go to her place for dinner today and spend the night in her big villa."

"Guest?"

"Hahahaha, you see, even Al finds this weird."

Gojo Satoru said, "Well, don't ask. You'll know when you get there."

"……All right."

They walked down from the rooftop, through the maple leaves covering the mountains, and saw the assistant supervisor who had been waiting for a long time - a familiar face.

Xia Yujie waved at him, "Mr. Ota!"

Datian Ji Shiyu turned his head and saw four... no, three students and a "cursed spirit" waving at him.

The assistant supervisor said gently, "Let's go. The place is a bit far. If we leave now, we should be able to make it in time for dinner."

Ieiri Naoko sat in the passenger seat, and the three boys squeezed into the back seat. Al couldn't help but say, "Why don't I just turn into a spirit particle... Master, just pretend to take me back."

"Ah... is it crowded?"

"Um."

"Then you should transform into a spirit."

The assistant supervisor noticed Al disappearing in the back seat and asked in confusion, "Huh? Where's the cursed boy?"

Xia Yujie explained: "The car was a bit crowded, so I took him back."

The assistant supervisor suddenly realized, "It's time to change our car. I heard that Kyoto will replace all cars with new ones next year. I don't know what Tokyo is planning... But then again, Takeru seems to like the cursed spirit just now, and always lets him stay outside."

"Well——"

Just as Geto was about to speak, Gojo Satoru and Ieiri Shoko said in unison:

"Pikachu doesn't like staying in the Poké Ball either."

The assistant supervisor was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Even the spirit-transformed Al couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and smile.

He really likes his life like this now.

The car drove smoothly for nearly an hour. When turning a corner, Al suddenly said, "Be careful, there is something blocking the road ahead."

The three high school students quickly shouted to stop, and the assistant supervisor stepped on the brakes. After a sharp brake sound, the car stopped just in front of the obstacle.

The assistant supervisor was surprised: "Tree?!"

How did such a big tree end up in the middle of the road?

Ieiri Naoko held onto the safety handle and said speechlessly, "Kayu, use the cursed spirit to move the tree away. It's too easy for an accident to happen if you keep it here."

"good."

However, before Geto could summon the cursed spirit, a familiar figure appeared in front of Daishu. He was still wearing the beige coat given to him by Ieiri Nozomi. Wasn't that Al who had just transformed into a spirit?

Al squatted down, took a letter off the horizontal tree, and then kicked it aside.

With a crack, the tree was kicked in half.

Al: “…”

He had to control his strength and carefully move the broken tree to the side of the road.

People in the car: “…”

No matter how many times I see it, I can't get used to Al doing such violent things with such a harmless appearance.

Al walked to the outside of the passenger seat and knocked on the window. Jia Ru Nishiko rolled down the window and took the strange letter from Al's hand.

After delivering the letter, Al turned into a spirit on the spot.

"It's a letter attached to a tree."

Ieiri Naoko opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of letter paper from it.

The message on the letter was simple, made up of words cut from newspapers and magazines.

She read aloud: "Please do not support Sufang Hongzi's charity gala. Regards, Cursed Mask."

The assistant supervisor was surprised and asked, "Su Fang Hongzi, isn't she the organizer of this mission... er, this dinner?"

"...Yes." Xia Youjie said, "We are going to her villa now."

The car was silent for a while, and no one spoke. Gojo Satoru waited for a while, then asked curiously, "Why haven't you started yet? Is the car broken down?"

"Ah, no."

The assistant supervisor quickly drove the car and was on the road again.

"I just feel a little uneasy. Someone deliberately wrote such a letter and posted it on the road we must pass. They don't want to reveal their identity, but also want to stop a few people from helping Ms. Su Fang. Is there something fishy at the dinner?"

Xia Yujie also found it strange. "They deliberately set up obstacles on the road we must pass. It should be someone who knows more about today's dinner. Glass, has this Ms. Su Fang done anything bad?"

"no."

The glass shook his head when he entered the house.

"I haven't heard of such rumors. Although some people say that she does charity for fame, overall, she has a good reputation. I remember that when she was young, she was a very popular singer in Japan, nicknamed the Oriental Canary. Now that she is older, she has opened her own company to train some artists. Hmm... maybe she is a rival in the business world?"

Xia Yujie frowned and said, "... maybe."

After driving for another fifteen minutes, their car finally arrived at the target villa.

Sufang Hongzi's villa was built in a remote place far away from the city, and it was a bit eerie. There were many roads leading to the villa, and when their car stopped, there were already several cars parked around.

"More people are coming?" a man asked enthusiastically, "Did Ms. Su Fang invite so many guests?"

Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko got off the car one after another. Al also released his spirit transformation behind Gojo Satoru and followed him out as if nothing had happened.

Ieiri Naoko was stunned. "You are... the home run king, Matsudaira Mori?"

The man scratched his head and said shyly: "It is an honor for me to be recognized by you, little girl!"

"Yeah." Ieiri Naoko nodded, "Because I always see you in magazines."

The assistant supervisor poked his head out and asked hesitantly, "Then, three... no, four, I'll pick you up tomorrow morning?"

Xia Youjie nodded, "Okay."

He quickly glanced at the villa and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, it's just a cursed spirit. It's not a big problem."

The assistant supervisor nodded with relief and drove back the same way.

Matsudaira Mamoru said enthusiastically: "We have just arrived, too. Let me introduce you. That one is photographer Katagiri Maki, this one is detective Mori Kogoro, and the other one is..."

The girl next to Maori Kogoro looked about the same age as Ieiri Naoko. She smiled friendly and said, "I'm Maori Ran, and this is my brother Conan."

Xia Yujie exchanged greetings and said, "My name is Xia Yujie, this is Gojo Satoru, this is Ieiri Nozomi, and..."

He pointed at Al and said gently, "Just call him Al."

The child named Conan blinked and asked Al: "Brother, are you a foreigner?"

Al bent down and said to him, "No, I'm an alien--"

"Ahhh!" Xia Youjie pulled Al back, "Excuse me, this kid is British!"

Gojo Satoru and Ieiri Shoko couldn't help but laugh.

Xia Yujie glared at them and continued to introduce: "We are all students of Tokyo Jujutsu High School."

"Students?" Matsudaira Mamoru asked in confusion, "Is there such a school in Tokyo? The name is a bit strange."

"Tokyo Jujutsu High School."

A cold female voice came from behind them. A dignified and mysterious woman with long black hair walked out slowly and said, "It is said to be a religious school that only recruits two or three students every year. It is one of the most mysterious schools in Japan."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nagara Haruka." She stretched out a hand and whispered, "Spell casters."

He is actually someone who knows the existence of the sorcerer?

The four technical college students turned around, looking surprised.

"... Nagara Haruka?"

It’s actually the living Nagara Haruka!

One of the most famous tarot card fortune tellers in Japan, a celebrity who can often be seen on TV and in magazines. Although most sorcerers look down on so-called fortune tellers, Nagara Haru is different. She has real skills.

Al had bought several issues of long-standing magazines with high school students, so he knew this very well.

"Nagara Haruka?" Matsudaira Mamoru said excitedly, "I often watch your show. Your predictions are so accurate!"

Nagara Haruka shook his head and said modestly: "In front of a real person with special abilities, we are just showing off our skills."

When she said the words "real people with special abilities", she even glanced at the young sorcerers.

Her eyes accidentally caught sight of Al, with a puzzled look on her face, and she lowered her head to flip over a tarot card.

The others didn't see clearly what she took out, they only saw Nagara Haru's face change and he quickly put the tarot cards back into his pocket.

She changed the subject and said, "This villa——"

Everyone followed her gaze and looked towards the luxurious villa in front of them. A few crows flapped their wings and flew up. Their sharp cries added an unknown atmosphere to the villa.

The female fortune teller murmured, "...It's filled with ominous signs."

The high school students exchanged glances.

This Nagarayoshi is really capable.

The ordinary people present could not see it, but Al and his four companions saw it clearly.

This villa was filled with crawling low-level cursed spirits. Sorrow, hatred, pain, fear... the densely packed low-level cursed spirits crawled all over the roof of the villa, creating an extremely bizarre scene.

Creak, creak.

The doors on both sides of the villa opened, and two identical twin maids walked out from each door. They were respectful, smiling mysteriously, and said in unison: "Welcome here."

The two similar sounds overlapping each other seemed more chilling than the cry of crows on the roof.

The maid on the left smiled and said, "Mr. Matsudaira Mamoru, Mr. Katagiri Maki, Mr. Mori Kogoro, Ms. Mori Ran, Mr. Edogawa Conan, please enter the villa from the east door."

The maid on the right smiled and said, "Ms. Nagara Haru, Mr. Al, Mr. Gojo Satoru, Mr. Kagome Kagome, Ms. Ieiri Naoko, please enter the villa from the west door."

"Oh?" Gojo Satoru raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Why?"

The twin maids looked at him at the same time and said in unison: "When you come here, you must follow the rules here, otherwise you will be punished by heaven. Because this is the mansion where the Cursed Mask lives."

“…”

Everyone held their breath involuntarily, not knowing whether they were shocked by the four words "Cursed Mask" or by the terrifying atmosphere created by the twins' singing in unison.

In such a gloomy and tense atmosphere, the four high school students...almost laughed out loud.

The mansion where the Cursed Mask lives?

Really interesting.