The soft body in his arms stiffened almost imperceptibly.
Eiko slowly lifted her head, meeting his sky-blue eyes that seemed to pierce everything. The flush on her face faded visibly, replaced by barely concealed pallor and bitterness.
She knew her greatest secret could no longer be hidden from those eyes.
She fell silent for a moment, then, as if making a firm decision, slowly sat up.
She raised her left hand, gazing at the white glove with a complex expression.
Then, right in front of Natsume, she used her right hand to gently remove the glove, inch by inch.
The instant it came off completely, a cold, ominous cursed energy surged from her left hand.
Natsume's pupils contracted sharply upon seeing the full extent of it.
That could no longer be called a "hand."
From wrist to fingertips, what should have been fair, delicate skin was now entirely covered by countless twisted white threads resembling nerves.
Those threads were fine yet tough, deeply embedded in her flesh and blood. Upon closer inspection, each one was inscribed with incredibly intricate, utterly malicious tiny cursed markings.
They writhed like living things, growing at an extremely slow but unstoppable pace, as if intent on devouring her entire arm.
This horrifying sight was enough to make any sane person scream in terror on the spot.
"Is this... a curse?" Natsume's voice carried a rare gravity for the first time.
"Mm," Eiko replied, looking at her monstrous hand with a smile that looked close to tears. "It's been there since I can remember. It keeps growing, bringing me... pain like countless needles piercing my nerves all at once."
Her voice held a bone-deep exhaustion.
...
One could only imagine the inhuman torment she had endured over the years.
"This glove," she said, picking up the lace accessory with a trace of tenderness in her eyes, "was sewn by Yashiro herself, using fabric gathered from famous shrines across the country and blessed in purification rituals. Wearing it can somewhat suppress the curse's growth rate."
"Not only that," Eiko continued, her voice catching with a sob. "Every so often, when the curse grows to its limit and even the glove can barely hold it back, Yashiro... she uses that scalpel reinforced by the graduates' grudges to personally... cut away the parts that have spread..."
Natsume's heart sank heavily.
He could fully picture how cruel that torture-like "treatment" must be for the sisters.
One had to carve into her own kin's flesh.
The other had to endure that heart-rending agony, just... to survive.
Natsume could no longer stay calm.
He grasped her cursed, icy-cold left hand, a flicker of indescribable heartache in his eyes.
"Don't move."
Before the words fully left him, an incredibly pure, warm cursed energy, even tinged with a faint golden glow, flowed steadily from his palm into her left hand.
It was energy refined and transformed by the Ancient Energy Refinement Manual, a higher level surpassing ordinary cursed power.
...
Eiko couldn't help but let out a comfortable sigh.
That warm energy spread like warmth spreading through frozen limbs, instantly coursing through her entire left arm. Wherever it went, the needle-like pain was truly eased. Even the writhing white threads seemed to slow their growth.
However, it was only temporary relief.
Natsume's brows furrowed tightly.
He realized his purified cursed energy, capable of cleansing special-grade cursed spirits, felt somewhat inadequate against this bizarre curse.
His power was like sinking into something endless. Beyond brief alleviation, it couldn't touch the curse's root. Those threads formed by curse inscriptions would shrink briefly under his assault but soon recover, even... faintly developing resistance.
This curse was like a parasitic entity fully fused with its host, possessing self-awareness, its tenacity and strangeness far beyond Natsume's expectations.
He didn't even dare to casually use his most destructive technique reversal, "Red."
Because the curse was deeply bound to Eiko's nerves, blood vessels, and even her soul. Forcibly destroying it with "Red" might eradicate the curse, but her hand, and perhaps her life, would likely not survive.
"It's no use, Natsume-kun," Eiko said, seeing his grave expression and smiling to comfort him instead. "Over these years, Yashiro took me to every legendary exorcist and curse user out there. Not one... could affect it at all. Being able to ease my pain is already... the best outcome."
Natsume said nothing, slowly releasing her hand with a grim face.
This was the first time since arriving in this world that he felt something called "troublesome."
No, he had to find a way to completely eliminate it.
Natsume made a silent promise to himself
He looked up, his sky-blue Six Eyes more serious than ever before.
"Eiko, tell me. How did this curse come about?"