The Arrow.
A Special Grade cursed tool. Extremely dangerous.
Legend has it that it was born from a meteorite—a cursed tool carrying innate power both bizarre and immense. Before being sealed away, the Arrow had drifted across the world of its own volition, hunting its prey. Most of its targets were powerful jujutsu sorcerers, and every single person it pierced had died, their soul torn open with a gaping hole.
According to all records, no one had ever survived being struck by the Arrow.
Nanami Kira was the sole exception.
Fifteen years ago, when he was still a student, during one sweltering summer break, the Arrow had chosen him. It fell from the sky and pierced his body—and from that day forward, a large cat had sought him out.
He had been searching for the Arrow ever since.
Over the course of his career as a jujutsu sorcerer, he eventually learned the truth: fifteen years ago, a riot had broken out at Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High School. The Arrow that struck him had escaped during that chaos. It had since been sealed inside the Shrine Repository.
Kira ran his fingers along the cold gleam of the Arrow's shaft, thoughts churning.
Outside, the rain was coming down even harder. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he could faintly hear the sound of wheels splashing through puddles, hear their voices drawing closer and closer...
The sorcerers must have finished dealing with the aftermath of the curse plague. By now they'd probably reached the foot of the mountain.
Kira's expression didn't change. He'd prepared for this long ago.
Killer Queen materialized behind him, its slender frame blocking most of the candlelight. Through the shadow cast on the wall, he could see it raise its left hand and detach something from the back of its hand.
A small blue tank.
Kira strapped the Arrow to the back of Sheer Heart Attack and secured it firmly with cursed energy. He stepped out of the Repository, and the driving rain hit him at once. The cold wind cut just as sharply as before.
From across the courtyard, dozens of meters away, came the sorcerers' alarmed shouts.
"What happened?"
"The pavilion—the pavilion's been destroyed?!"
"The principal—it's the principal... Principal, hang in there!"
While everyone's attention was drawn to Principal Gakuganji lying crumpled on the ground—while they scrambled to treat him—Kira slipped around the courtyard, threaded through layer upon layer of pavilions, and climbed the ginkgo-leaf-covered stone steps one by one until he reached the summit.
The mountain wind howled around him. A hundred-meter drop yawned beneath his feet. Clouds clung to the mountainside, but they were storm clouds—no ethereal mist here, only a heavy, suffocating gloom. Even the pines at the peak thrashed miserably in the rain.
Kira stood at the cliff's edge, faced the abyss on the mountain's far side, and tossed Sheer Heart Attack over.
The little tank traced a blue arc through the air. Its oversized skull-eyes stared back at Kira with an innocent look as it plummeted into the chasm.
Thud—a muffled sound rose from below, lost among the endless rain, echoing for a long, sorrowful moment before fading away.
As mentioned before, Sheer Heart Attack's cursed energy signature was extremely faint—nearly impossible to detect. And its defenses were absurdly strong, virtually indestructible.
So falling from this height wouldn't cause much damage. A few extra cracks in its shell at most.
Kira had very limited control over Sheer Heart Attack's movements. Getting it to sneak into the great hall last time had been manageable, but having it carry something as conspicuous as the Arrow past this many Grade 1 sorcerers was essentially impossible.
Fortunately, he could recall it. Once he issued the recall command, it would return to his side automatically.
So the plan was simple: throw it and the Arrow down the mountain, get himself back to safety, wait for things to blow over, then have it bring the Arrow back.
Tossing Sheer Heart Attack over the cliff did sting a little. After all, it was linked to his left hand—any damage it took, his left hand would feel.
Several small cracks had split across his left-hand fingernails. He looked at them with a twinge of sympathy.
This is all Sheer Heart Attack's fault for not being tougher... he thought, gazing out over the cliff's edge.
Rain poured in torrents. Rolling wheat fields for miles around bent and fell, the deep-gold stalks pressed flat against the wet earth like thousands upon thousands of corpses buried in their graves. At the mountain's base, everything was brown—the color of dead wheat. Midway up, everything was black—storm clouds piled thick and heavy. But the summit was silver-white, where those bleak lines of rain fell upon the peak and upon Nanami Kira.
The world was drowning, yet Kira sighed softly:
"What beautiful weather."
He turned, and went down the mountain.
Several days later, the sky cleared.
Sunlight returned to the battered earth, and its golden rays killed the microorganisms—the fungi that had bred in dark corners withered and died one after another.
July 3rd: the suicide rate in the Kyoto region plummeted by three percentage points. Multiple homicide cases were solved on the same day.
July 4th: the LINE account "Tai Guang" was cracked. Several missing police officers were rescued.
July 5th: a serial body-concealment case was broken. The suspect turned himself in, claiming he'd been blinded by hatred at the time...
That same day, suicide and crime rates returned to normal. Multiple terrorist cells were eliminated by the Self-Defense Forces—groups responsible for numerous attacks over the preceding ten days.
July 6th. Morning. 7:00 AM.
"Morning, morning, morning—Kyoto Video!"
"Good morning."
"I'm your friendly neighborhood Kai Harada. What a gorgeous morning it is! Let's kick off this beautiful day with a tune."
Kira made himself another cup of hot cocoa. Warm steam curled up from the mug in a thin haze.
Golden sunlight slipped through the pale-blue window frame and pooled in a thin layer across the polished porcelain tiles. The tiles reflected it back so cleanly that the floor looked like a shallow puddle made of sunlight.
A golden arrow lay quietly on the table.
Thanks to his buddy Todo's testimony, the school's upper echelon was satisfied that Kira was above suspicion.
In fact, they praised his heroism effusively. Principal Gakuganji in particular was deeply grateful that Kira had saved his life...
Given Kira's performance in defeating a Special Grade curse user, the school recommended him for the Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer examination—but Kira turned it down.
"Everything I did, I did for the peace of Kyoto and to uphold justice. Not for honor or power," he declared.
The real reason was that he wanted to work fewer hours.
This only deepened the leadership's admiration. The spirit of doing good deeds without seeking recognition—of giving selflessly and expecting nothing in return—was worthy of the highest praise. They preserved his eligibility for the examination and officially appointed him Semi-Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Kira finished the last sip of his cocoa, set the cup down, switched off the radio, and opened the window.
The sun had been up for a while now, warm on his skin. The sky was clear. People who'd been cooped up indoors had returned to the streets. The plaza bustled with crowds. In the parks, where flower-scented breezes drifted, the elderly and children laughed aloud.
The air after the storm was extraordinarily crisp. Days of rain had scrubbed the streets spotless.
After the downpour, everything was washed clean—and the sun rose as it always did.
For Nanami Kira. For everyone.
This was happiness.
If you asked anyone about those ten days, they would all answer the same way:
"Those were truly dreamlike days."
Eight o'clock.
Kira drew the curtains shut. Gray shadow fell across his face. He spoke to the darkness:
"Time for the last shift. When you make a promise, you keep it."
His pale-blue eyes narrowed slightly. His expression was calm.
"I've come to take what's yours, Hasegawa Kaede."