Chapter 17 Chapter 17 An unexpected reunion with an old friend
Soon, the first game of the Kanto Tournament arrived.
Hyotei had a bye in the first game, and Saionji Tamon could have had a free day today, but Anzi said that the whole team had to go watch the opponent in the second round. In the end, she was defeated by Genki Girl and had to go with the team to watch the game.
In her eyes, the match was not very exciting. The two teams were of similar level. Yuyin only watched the first round of archery and accurately estimated their level. It was the kind that even if she didn't make a move, Goto Rika and Anzu would be able to win for sure. As for today's match, it was estimated that it would be a stalemate until the end before the winner could be decided.
Yuyin suddenly lost the desire to stay and watch the game, so she made an excuse to slip out of the arena. Then she found a corner with few people around and lay down under the shade of a tree to catch up on her sleep.
Lately, she'd been sneaking out at night to volunteer as a police officer, exterminating cursed spirits and beating up unruly monsters under cover of darkness. This had left her severely sleep-deprived, even yawning during daytime classes, catching the eye of Atobe. So, whenever she had nothing to do at noon, she'd sneak off to the rose greenhouse to catch up on some sleep, practically reversing her day and night routine.
However, today she was in a strange place, so she was destined not to be able to get a good night's sleep.
Yuyin was sleeping soundly when she was suddenly awakened by a powerful curse that suddenly approached.
It was obvious that a powerful cursed spirit was running nearby.
"What? I remember checking before and there were clearly no cursed spirits around here..."
In order to dare to close her eyes and rest at will, Yuyin had naturally done the basic work. Shortly after arriving at the archery competition venue, Yuyin took the time to patrol around and confirmed that there were no monsters and cursed spirits lurking around to cause trouble, and then she rested with peace of mind.
In this situation, there are only two possibilities.
First, this cursed spirit was created not long ago.
Second, this cursed spirit was originally in another place and was lured here by humans.
Of course, no matter what the situation is, Yuyin cannot ignore it. If she has accepted the view that there are good and bad monsters among monsters and they should not be eliminated, then the cursed spirits are creatures that are completely opposed to humans, and the only option is to eliminate all evil.
After complaining casually, Yuyin immediately picked up the bow and arrow bag that she had never left behind recently and ran towards the direction of the curse spirit's aura.
As she approached the scene, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"Teacher, it's now!"
The huge white figure turned around and pounced on the black shadow chasing them, biting the other's neck, but the black shadow's head shrank, and instead several long tentacles grew all over its body, tightly entangled the big monster's limbs.
"Damn it, this guy is different from the bastards we dealt with before!"
The giant monster with the appearance of a fox roared and attacked fiercely with its sharp claws, tearing the opponent's tentacles into several pieces.
However, it was useless. After a while, the cursed spirit's body repaired itself and all the wounds returned to normal.
"Where exactly is its weakness?"
While fighting fiercely, Madara was thinking quickly. Since the appearance of strange creatures like the Curse Spirit, this was the first time he encountered an opponent who could put him in a difficult battle.
He was so focused on the battle that he didn't notice that a part of the cursed spirit quietly separated, bypassed his attention from underground, suddenly drilled out of the ground, and pounced on the young man who didn't stay away because he was worried about him.
Madara suddenly turned around: "Natsume, be careful!"
But it was too late. Just as Natsume Takashi was about to be hurt because of his negligence, suddenly, a huge spiritual power swiftly crossed the sky and nailed the tentacle that was rushing towards Natsume.
The cursed spirit howled miserably, as if it had suffered some serious harm. Under the pure and powerful spiritual power, the tentacle disappeared in an instant.
“Good opportunity!”
Madara wanted to take advantage of the enemy's weakness and was about to turn around to deliver a fatal blow when he felt a pure spiritual power heading straight towards the cursed spirit's body. He hurriedly jumped to avoid it.
Are you kidding? Spiritual power cannot distinguish whether it is demonic power or cursed power. If he is affected, he will not feel good.
But this familiar spiritual power, if he remembered correctly, was from the powerful demon hunter who had died...
Natsume Takashi, who usually had a calm expression, also recognized the spiritual power and showed a look of surprise. He took a step forward and looked in the direction of the arrow. "How could it be...Saionji-san?"
Where the eyes of the man and the monster converged, who else could the person who just put down the bow and arrow be but Saionji Gyoen?
Yuyin sighed silently, picked up her bow and stepped forward, nodding in acknowledgement, "It's me."
Originally, after firing two arrows to relieve Natsume and the others from danger, she could have just left instead of showing up in public. However, the premise was that this ghost thing didn't exist at the scene -
She bent down and picked up a dry finger from the grass where the curse spirit's body was located.
Without a doubt, it was Sukuna's finger.
If she can't recognize this thing, she wouldn't be worthy of being a sorcerer.
No wonder even a powerful demon like Madara couldn't quickly destroy this new cursed spirit, all because the other party had Sukuna's fingers.
"Is it really you, Saionji-san?!"
Natsume Takashi rubbed his eyes and stared at Saionji Tamon carefully for a few seconds. Why did he feel that Saionji-san had become younger?
"Could it be that your soul is unwilling to pass away and continues to eliminate evil monsters in the world, uh, and now this cursed spirit..."
When they first met, Saionji-san was a few years older than him, a middle school student. Although women generally do not look their age, Saionji-san now looks like a middle school student. Natsume could only guess that she was a ghost with an obsession.
"Stupid Natsume, she is obviously a human." The big monster who turned back into a lucky cat jumped directly onto Natsume's shoulder, "If you don't believe me, look at her shadow." Natsume's ability to see ghosts is inconvenient only in this regard. He cannot tell whether the other party is a human or a ghost at the first time.
Upon hearing this, Natsume looked towards the feet of Saionji Tamon and indeed saw an extremely clear shadow. He couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly: "But didn't Saionji-san pass away? Teacher, we attended her funeral..."
Madara licked his paw and said, "Strange things like the fusion of worlds can happen, and disgusting creatures like cursed spirits can exist. What's the point of resurrection? Oh, maybe it's not resurrection, maybe she was reincarnated in another world."
You hit the nail on the head. Even if your guess wasn’t right, it wasn’t far off.
Saionji Gyomon didn't expect Madara to be so perceptive. It should be said that as expected of a great monster who has lived for so many years, he is indeed knowledgeable. However, time is urgent, so she can't explain more. She can only say to Natsume: "Yes, it's me."
She waved her hand, stopping Natsume from questioning. Picking up the finger, she said, "The resurrection is similar to what Cat suspected. I don't know the reason myself, but now there's something more important. Did you see this finger? This is the reason why the cursed spirit was so powerful. I'm sure a sorcerer will come to finish it off soon and claim this finger. I hope Natsume and Cat won't tell them about my existence. Just say you destroyed the cursed spirit."
"Of course I can, but..." Natsume had just been shocked by his friend's resurrection, and immediately received the other party's instructions. Even someone as calm as him was a little at a loss.
"Finger..." Madara pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized, "So it's a cursed item, and a special grade one at that." He immediately patted Natsume's head, "Promise her, Natsume."
As a great monster, as soon as he discovered the fusion of the worlds, Madara used his powerful network of relationships in the monster world to investigate and understand the other world. Although he does not know as clearly as Gyokuon about the origin of Sukuna's finger, he still knows a lot of basic common sense about the world of curse.
"Eh? Since the teacher said so, and Saionji-san has asked me so earnestly, then alright."
Natsume touched his head, expressing his lack of confidence in his ability to lie.
"But I'm not sure I can hide it from the other party. What if the other party recognizes Saionji-san's spiritual power..."
"Don't worry, the person who comes here should be a sorcerer and won't notice these details."
Yuyin had thought about this a long time ago. Fortunately, she used spiritual power instead of cursed power to deal with the cursed spirit. Even if the person who retrieved Sukuna's finger was her old acquaintance, the sorcerer's ability to distinguish spiritual power was far less keen than that of cursed power, so her identity would be much safer.
Just in case, she quickly used magic to dissipate the remaining spiritual power of her own, and asked Madara and Natsume to add some demonic power and spiritual power respectively to cover it up. Yuyin was confident that as long as Gojo Satoru did not use his six eyes to observe, he would definitely not find any clues.
After completing these follow-up tasks, Yuyin and Natsume agreed to meet at a nearby cafe after returning the finger, and then left in a hurry.
*
"Mr. Cat, what is a cursed object?"
Natsume Takashi, who stayed where he was, looked at the dry finger and asked curiously.
"Didn't I tell you last time about the relationship between curses and cursed spirits? Cursed objects are—"
As Madara started to speak, he suddenly jumped off Natsume, instantly turned back into a big monster, and bared his teeth in one direction.
A frivolous and casual voice naturally picked up his words: "Cursed objects are objects that carry and emit magical energy and can cause harm, so they must be recycled or sealed~"
A figure instantly appeared in front of the man and the demon. He bent his waist slightly, and looked closely at the two with his eyes covered by a black cloth. He touched his chin and said, "Oh, so you are a big demon. No wonder you can deal with the cursed spirit with Sukuna's finger."
Madara felt threatened and did not dare to let his guard down at all.
"Who are you?" Natsume was also frightened. The last time someone made him feel this way was Shizueji, Saionji-san's senior.
"Special-grade sorcerer, Gojo Satoru."
Gojo Satoru stood up straight, took his hand out of his pocket and held it out in front of Natsume, "Okay young man, give me the Sukuna finger first. This is not a good thing."
"Are you the sorcerer who came to take this thing?"
Natsume didn't expect the visitor to be like this. Teacher Cat had previously taught him about sorcerers, saying that they were specialized in dealing with cursed spirits. He subconsciously equated sorcerers with demon hunters like Saionji-san and Natori-san. Now that he actually saw a sorcerer, he felt that he was very different from what he had imagined.
If I cover my eyes, am I blind? This finger that Saionji-san and Neko-sensei are talking about seems important. Is it okay to give it to them?
As if he had seen through Natsume's hesitation, Gojo Satoru lifted his chin and smiled, "Don't think I'm just good-looking because I look so handsome. I'm the strongest person in the world."
"No. 1?" Madara couldn't help but snort coldly when he heard that. He admitted that the other party was very powerful, but to speak so arrogantly in front of a big monster was too disrespectful to him.
"Oh, I forgot about the fusion of worlds again," Gojo Satoru muttered, rubbing his head. Then he smiled again. "I believe that even if the worlds merge, I will still be number one. If you're not convinced, kitten, how about we have a competition?"
"Let's fight, do you think I'm afraid of you?" Madara sneered and pressed his front body down, looking eager to start a fight.
"Teacher!" Natsume quickly stood between the two of them and immediately threw the finger to Gojo Satoru. "Here, the finger you asked for. This is something very important, isn't it? Gojo-san, take it and leave quickly."
Gojo Satoru took Sukuro's finger and put it in his pocket: "Don't worry, don't worry. There is no one in this world who can snatch things from me."
He thought of something and suddenly grinned.
"You didn't ask about the world fusion, so you know about it, right? How about I treat you and we go have dessert and chat?"
Before Natsume could understand why the topic had suddenly jumped to this, Madara heard the word dessert, his ears twitched, and he immediately transformed back into his lucky cat form, shouting, "I want Nanatsujiya's red bean paste buns, and I also want yokan, sake, and grilled squid!"
"Teacher!" Natsume was helpless. He wondered if the cat teacher still remembered the agreement with Saionji-san.
Gojo Satoru stroked his chin and said, "The first two are desserts, but where is Nanatsujiya? Could you provide the coordinates? For the wine and grilled squid, we should go to the izakaya."
No way, Natsume held his forehead helplessly. This Gojo-san is really seriously considering inviting guests. How should I inform Saionji-san...
The author has something to say:
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The cat teacher can definitely beat the cursed spirit that just got fingers, but it was his first time dealing with this thing, and he failed due to lack of experience^-^
*
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