"Really? Nothing was missed, like unidentifiable body fragments?"
"Nothing. Were you hoping your classmate was pulverized beyond recognition?"
"Of course not!"
Receiving Roy's definitive answer, Shiki felt somewhat relieved.
If even Roy hadn't seen Satsuki, it meant she hadn't encountered the curse disaster.
She must have just been delayed. He'd probably see her at school tomorrow.
The next day.
Shiki arrived at school.
But Satsuki was absent all day.
Not only that, another student was missing from morning until dismissal.
Something was wrong.
Shiki felt deeply unsettled.
One day's absence might be understandable, but two consecutive days without any message?
This wasn't like Satsuki at all!
He visited the Yumizuka household again.
Unsurprisingly, Satsuki hadn't returned home last night.
Mrs. Yumizuka looked deeply worried.
Shiki could no longer sit still.
He rushed home at top speed.
"You want me to help find Yumizuka Satsuki?"
Roy looked at Shiki with undisguised disdain.
"Listen, young master, do you know how many curses I killed today? Thirty-eight! Eight curse attack incidents totaling thirty-eight curses!"
Do you think I'm idle?
You should be grateful I'm even willing to stay and help here! And now you want extra work?
"Um... I could pay you?"
"I don't need money right now!"
Roy smiled calmly.
Coincidentally, Rin had recently excavated a pile of gold coins from the Mage's Association underground. After the old men died, all their wealth became theirs. Though most was invested in city administration, for top-tier fighters like Roy—to ensure he remained motivated—it was perfectly reasonable to fully reimburse all household expenses at the Aozaki residence, right?
"If Tokyo were under my command, that would be different. But it's not. Why should I help you?"
Roy glanced at Shiki, his smile unreadable.
Akiha hadn't made her decision yet, and Shiki was still hesitating. Tokyo wasn't yet his city—he was merely assisting at Rin's request. Even accounting for the favors involving Nino and Itsuki, his two days of relentless curse hunting had more than repaid any debt.
Shiki's face twisted in conflict, but he ultimately had no rebuttal.
"May I hear about this matter?"
At that moment, the mansion door suddenly opened.
Waver entered with a grave expression, his gaze fixed directly on Shiki.
Roy smirked.
"Looks like the busybody has arrived. Ask him for help instead."
"Unfortunately, I'm not fond of meddling either."
Waver snorted at Roy's assessment but didn't deny it.
"However, if this young master's classmate has truly disappeared without being killed by rampaging curses, then it must be the work of whatever monster lurks beneath the surface, no?"
"You're suggesting it might be the handiwork of that hidden boss-level curse in Tokyo?"
Roy raised an eyebrow.
So that's how it is. That was indeed a blind spot.
"Perhaps it's an evil spirit, a demon, or maybe that hidden boss-level cursed spirit."
Wever shrugged, not committing fully to his words.
But judging by his excited expression—as if he'd caught onto a clue—he clearly thought there was a high possibility that Satsuki Yumizuka's disappearance was the work of the hidden boss-level cursed spirit.
"If this is the doing of that hidden cursed spirit, then I suppose I can step in."
Roy pondered for a moment before nodding agreeably.
The sooner that cursed spirit was dealt with, the sooner he could return to Fuyuki City.
As for Satsuki Yumizuka—well, that could be handled incidentally.
Upon hearing this, Shiki gave him a strange look but visibly relaxed.
"Tohno, I need you to recount everything that's happened over the past two days in detail—no matter how minor."
Wever turned to Tohno Shiki, his stern expression resembling that of a homeroom teacher lecturing a student, exerting an innate sense of authority that made Tohno feel instinctively subdued.
...
Nighttime.
Oumaru locked the door of his home and left his apartment building.
He was entirely concealed beneath a black hooded jacket and long pants, his face hidden behind a mask—as if desperate to vanish from the sight of everyone in the world, terrified of being recognized.
He trudged slowly along the brick-paved road, his steps heavy, as though weighed down by lead.
The city of Tokyo at night was barely illuminated, with only a few scattered lights—the darkness mirroring the bleakness of his current state of mind.
He wandered aimlessly through the night for a while, as if unwilling to approach the pitch-black abyss ahead. But after some time, he resigned himself and headed toward his destination.
Before long, he arrived.
A church repurposed as a school.
After entering the church grounds, he bypassed the main entrance and made his way to the backyard. There, he lifted the manhole cover and descended into the underground waterway via a wall-mounted ladder.
The space was utterly dark, devoid of even the faintest glimmer of light—like being trapped inside a lightless cavern. The path ahead exuded an eerie, unsettling aura, as chilling as a black hole.
"You've arrived."
A soft, sinister voice echoed from the darkness.
"Thank you for your efforts, Mr. Oumaru. Though you've only brought two magi—no, just two magus apprentices—over the past two days, and the efficiency is... somewhat underwhelming, I still appreciate it, you know?"
A shadowy figure crouched in the gloom.
The figure didn't bother standing, instead fiddling with something on the ground, his tone unnervingly cheerful.
"I-I'm sorry, Mahito-sama! Magi are already rare—I can't even find them! I could only trick a few apprentices into coming... Please, forgive me! Next time—no, tomorrow—I swear I'll bring more apprentices!"
Though the voice was gentle, Oumaru trembled violently upon hearing it, dropping to his knees in terror and pressing his forehead to the ground in a deep, groveling bow.
"Oh, I wasn't scolding you."
Mahito stood up. Before him lay a withered, mummy-like body—its eyes darting frantically, its mouth incapable of speech, its gaze filled with nothing but desperate pleading.
But Mahito paid no attention to the silent plea in those eyes.
He extended his hand—his palm morphing into a drill in an instant—before plunging it into the man's body with a sickening shhhhk.
"How strange. What exactly are Magic Circuits? Why can I locate them but fail to replicate them onto myself?"
The body on the ground convulsed violently, its face contorted in silent agony with tears and mucus streaming down, yet not a single sound escaped its lips. Only eyes filled with bone-deep hatred glared at Mahito as if wishing to grind his very bones to dust.
Oumaru knelt nearby, not daring to utter a word or even make the slightest noise, terrified of becoming the next experimental subject.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Mahito made a curious sound.
"Mr. Oumaru, have you betrayed me?"
"No! Absolutely not! How could I ever betray Lord Mahito! I wouldn't even entertain such thoughts!"
"Is that so? Then you must simply be too incompetent to notice we're being followed."
Oumaru's expression darkened. He had ranked near the top of his class at the Magecraft Academy and had been a corporate executive even before the Cataclysm—far from being incompetent.
Yet though resentment simmered in his heart, he dared not voice any objection or even let his displeasure show on his face.
He'd understood since long ago that this world operated on the law of the jungle. Before the Cataclysm, people had still clung to societal rules, but the disaster had sliced away humanity's last fig leaf, laying this brutal truth bare for all to see.
In the old days, if someone claimed society followed the strong preying on the weak, countless voices would rise in protest with lofty ideals about truth, kindness, and beauty.
But in this era? Such a statement would draw unanimous agreement, with everyone yearning to become the strong who controlled others' fates.
And the weak? To survive these times, they could only drift with the current.
"Seems there's no escaping this."
Mahito tilted his head, listening intently before his face fell into disappointment.
"Staying here would just make us sitting ducks. Fine then, let's go meet them!"