Kaito held up his hand, catching a single perfect snowflake that melted upon contact with his skin. "To think it's Christmas already. Time really flies, doesn't it, Tamamo?"
Tamamo, walking beside him with her hands tucked into the pockets of her stylish coat, gave a soft huff. "Is that so? I don't tend to keep track of time. When you've lived for as long as I have, your perception of it becomes… skewed."
Kaito gently took her small hand in his, his warmth a quiet refuge from the biting cold. "It's about the moments you enjoy that make time everlasting."
"Is that not also true regarding time spent in boredom? That too is everlasting, no?" she countered, a playful note in her voice.
"I suppose, but I meant it in terms of memories," Kaito conceded, a faint smile on his face.
Just then, a lady screamed in the distance. "Help! He's getting away with my purse!" A frantic robber with a terrified expression bolted toward them, clutching a handbag. "Get out of the way! I have a knife!" he yelled, brandishing a small blade.
As the robber was about to run past Kaito, he suddenly tripped on a perfectly smooth patch of pavement that had no business being there. He stumbled and tumbled to the ground. The handbag was tossed into the air, spinning end over end, before being caught effortlessly in Kaito's free arm.
"Here you go, miss," Kaito said, walking over and returning the bag to the stunned woman.
"Ah? Thank you so much!" she stammered in shock.
Kaito and Tamamo nonchalantly continued their walk, as if nothing had happened.
"I can't help but notice that more crimes and strange events are occurring around you as of late," Tamamo observed. "And with an alarming increase in frequency and intensity, too."
"It must be the No Life King," Kaito replied with a tone casual. "He probably cursed me after he was defeated by the Knight of Pitch-Black Soul. With time, I'm sure Shikabanehime would adapt to it and nullify it."
"A curse?" Tamamo scoffed. "I sense no curse on your body. Believe me, I am an expert in such matters."
"Perhaps it's hidden really well. He is the No Life King after all," Kaito insisted.
"And I am the Nine-Tails Fox," Tamamo retorted. "It cannot be hidden from me. Simply put, you can't blame the No Life King for this unusual phenomenon. He's merely a rather powerful undead, a dime a dozen in the higher-tier netherworlds."
"Speaking of the No Life King, what happened to him?" Kaito asked. "I read up on liches and their phylacteries, but it seems he isn't dead after his was broken."
"I am unsure of the true inner workings of an undead of his nature," Tamamo admitted. "However, that small vessel seems to only be an anchor for his stay in the physical realm. He's effectively a powerful soul that had temporarily unbounded himself from the cycle of rebirth. If I had to guess, he should be somewhere in the netherworlds to carry out the punishment for defying this fundamental law."
"That's good to know," Kaito said with a sigh of relief. "Hopefully, he'll never return, at least not in this lifetime."
Just then, a gunshot rang out—an unexpected sound in Japan, given its strict gun laws. They saw a robber inside a convenience store. "This is a real gun! Empty out the cash register!"
In a blink of an eye, the gun in the robber's hand appeared in the cashier's hand, now pointing directly at the robber.
"Huh?" The robber and the cashier stared at each other in confusion before the robber slowly put his hands in the air. "It's... a prank?"
Tamamo's expression was one of genuine astonishment. "It happened once again. I feel that if you were to interfere normally, these lowlifes would have stabbed or shot you, human."
"It's a good thing I'm the opposite of normal," Kaito said with a wry smile. "And it becomes a habit to deal with these simpler crimes, compared to fighting threats like the No Life King."
"I must admit, it may be a curse after all," Tamamo conceded, her expression serious. "Otherwise, I'm unable to explain this phenomenon, which I have now witnessed countless times during our numerous outing."
"If so, how would I get rid of it? Any clues, Durandal?" Kaito asked.
'Similar to Tamamo, I don't sense a curse on you either, Kaito,' Durandal's voice resonated in his mind. 'Perhaps the No Life King had advanced his capabilities after so long. In order to lift the curse, Roland and I traveled to a sacred spring in the Black Forest in Germany. Perhaps you can travel there also.'
"The Black Forest," Kaito mused. "I'll visit it after New Year. I do have to admit, it's getting annoying after a while, even if I am used to it."
They stood before a crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green. He noticed a speeding truck that wasn't slowing down, and a child about to run across the street as if the light had just turned green. With ease, Kaito pulled the child back to safety. But then, for some unknown reason, he also stepped forward into the street.
The speeding truck slammed into Kaito. The entire vehicle crumpled upon his body and came to a screeching halt. Kaito simply fell to the ground unharm. Tamamo watched the scene unfold with a puzzled expression. She pulled a talisman from her coat, and an instant later, everyone around them ignored the scene, only focusing on the shaken truck driver and calling an ambulance for him.
"You can get up now, human," Tamamo said in a flat voice. "I've hypnotized everyone. It's strange, though... why didn't you dodge? There was plenty of time to react."
Kaito lay face down on the ground, motionless. There was no response. Tamamo kicked him a few times. Again, there was only silence.
"Human?"