Since Namiko Shami had long since noticed the truth that her younger sister had been possessed, Xu Fu saw no need to hide anything. In a calm but clear voice, she laid out the facts.
"When we met Nagiko-san, it was no longer really her. It was a vile thing that had seized her body. That evil spirit had not only possessed Nagiko-san, it had set its sights on us as well and treated us as prey." Xu Fu frowned slightly, disgust plain on her face. "It reeked of rot, yet still came up to us acting as if nothing were wrong, so I killed it. But I never found Nagiko-san's soul. Most likely, something had already happened to it… I'm sorry. I couldn't save her."
"…No. You don't need to apologize."
After a brief silence, Namiko Shami spoke in a voice with almost no emotion in it, carrying instead a kind of cold detachment.
"This is all her own fault. Her talent was mediocre, and yet she stubbornly insisted on appearing on television and drawing attention to herself. That's why she was targeted… I warned her so many times, and still she wouldn't listen. Honestly…"
She sounded less like she was speaking of a loved one's death and more like she was stating some old matter that had nothing to do with her.
"She overestimated herself and ended up like this. No one else is to blame."
A trace of confusion rose in Keitaro Gentoga's heart. Her own younger sister had been killed, and yet Namiko Shami was so calm, even faintly reproachful. It was hard to call that normal. But he knew this was someone else's family matter, not something he should casually pry into, so he could only swallow his doubts.
Yayoi Hozuki, however, had no such reservations. Tilting her head, she looked straight at Namiko Shami with clear eyes and asked with blunt honesty, "You're not sad that your family died?"
That question seemed to hit some hidden switch. Namiko Shami's formerly placid gaze froze at once, like two deep lakes icing over in an instant, cold enough to sting. When she spoke, she kept her voice low, but every word was like a poisoned icicle sharpened with killing intent.
"My tears ran dry long before I turned sixty." Namiko Shami clenched the sleeve of her kimono so tightly that her knuckles turned faintly white. "The only thing I can do for Nagiko now is send every evil spirit connected to this straight to hell. I'll use their blood as my tears."
That sudden outburst of killing intent, so dense it felt almost tangible, made Keitaro Gentoga and Eiko Hozuki both stiffen. They instinctively held their breath. Only now did they truly understand what kind of raging fury this seemingly calm woman had buried inside herself.
Namiko Shami was not cold-hearted. She had simply spent decades as a spiritualist seeing too many partings like this one. In her heart, she had long understood that for spiritualists like herself, being killed by an evil spirit one day would never be surprising.
As the murderous aura slowly ebbed away like a receding tide, Namiko Shami's expression returned to that detached calm. She turned to Xu Fu and gave her a solemn nod.
"You avenged Nagiko. I truly don't know how to thank you… If you ever run into any trouble in the future, come to me. I'll help however I can."
Namiko Shami handed Xu Fu her business card. It had her name and contact information on it. If they wanted to find her, all they had to do was call the number printed there.
"Could you tell me your names? We've talked this long, and I still don't know what to call any of you."
So far, only Namiko Shami had introduced herself. Xu Fu's group had not yet told her their names.
Keitaro Gentoga, Eiko Hozuki, and Yayoi Hozuki each gave their names in turn. When it was Xu Fu's turn, her eyes curved into a smile, and the chilly mood from moments ago seemed to break all at once as she introduced herself in an almost buoyant tone.
"I'm Xu Fu, the cutest beautiful-girl Taoist in all the world~! Nice to meet you~!"
"Xu… Fu?"
For the first time, a clear look of surprise appeared on Namiko Shami's otherwise unruffled face. In this line of work, that name carried no small weight.
Not just anyone dared inherit the name of that ancient Fangshi. If one's fate was not strong enough, even brushing against that name carelessly could invite unforeseen disaster.
"How interesting. Very interesting. Your fate can actually bear that name? You really are something special. I'm getting more and more interested in you."
She could not help looking Xu Fu over again, more carefully this time. A moment later, a sharp smile born of genuine excitement rose to her lips.
"Well? How about studying under me? You're a gifted seedling with great potential. I can teach you everything I've learned in my life."
This time, it was Xu Fu who was surprised.
Over all these years, she had guided countless disciples, yet never had she imagined that one day someone would want to take her in as a student. It made her feel, not for the first time, that as long as one lived long enough, life would never run out of amusements.
Xu Fu declined Namiko Shami's offer. Even if she followed her, there was not much she could learn. In terms of seniority and experience, it might honestly make more sense for the woman to become Xu Fu's disciple instead.
Not long after, the conversation turned to the Old I Watergate incident. When Namiko Shami heard that the evil spirit entrenched there had already been subdued by Yayoi Hozuki, her eyes flashed again, and her gaze immediately locked onto the expressionless girl.
"You've caught my eye. Want to become my disciple?" She reached out and rubbed the springy cowlick on top of Yayoi Hozuki's head, extending the same invitation, this time with what sounded like a very tempting condition attached. "Train under me for ten years, and you'll be able to defeat most of the spirits in this world. As a bonus, you'll also get to inherit a precious weapon passed down through my family line."
Yayoi Hozuki lifted her eyes, studied Namiko Shami calmly for a moment, then shook her head and answered in her usual practical, direct manner.
"I'm interested, but I can already defeat most spirits as I am now. The return doesn't justify the cost."
After being turned down so bluntly twice in a row, Namiko Shami's disappointment was obvious.
As one of the ten spiritualists standing at the very top of this country, she had no shortage of people who would have begged for even a word of guidance from her. Yet now that she had personally lowered herself to try and polish two once-in-ten-thousand rough gems, she had run into rejection after rejection. The feeling was, to say the least, complicated.
"All right." She let out a soft sigh, but clearly had not given up entirely. Looking once more at Xu Fu and Yayoi Hozuki, she added, "If either of you ever changes your mind, call the number on that card."
From beginning to end, Namiko Shami had never personally seen Xu Fu and Yayoi Hozuki's true strength. In her eyes, they were merely extraordinarily gifted juniors in need of guidance, not already-powerful fighters who might stand shoulder to shoulder with her—or force her to reassess them altogether.
As the conversation wound down, the air in the room gradually relaxed. Even the heavy night outside the window seemed to admit a faint trace of light, and this unexpected encounter came, for the time being, to an end.
...
A park at two in the morning.
The moon was veiled behind thin clouds, giving off only a dim, hazy light that barely outlined the curve of the slide and the still silhouettes of the swings. In the dark, the children's sandbox looked like a pale scar.
The woods around the park had merged into a single stretch of undulating ink-dark shadow. Leaves rustled now and then, and it was impossible to tell whether it was the night wind or something else moving through them. Far off, the drinking fountain dripped slow beads of water. Each soft tap was unnaturally clear, sending tiny ripples through the absolute silence.
Then, in the wind thick with damp earth, rotting leaves, and rust, there came a faint trace of sweetness.
There was something poisonous about that scent.
The park's only streetlamp flickered twice. Its filament let out a dying hiss as the halo of light swelled and shrank, turning the world around it into an old film with missing frames.
And in the gaps between light and darkness, the figure of a little girl appeared.
She looked no older than an elementary school student, yet an eerie presence hung around her that had nothing to do with childhood.
Her hair was long and gray. Her eyes were utterly lifeless, and within them seemed to turn two slow whirlpools. Stare too long, and it felt as if your soul might be dragged inside.
The black Gothic dress she wore was too elaborate by far, and under the ghastly white light it showed off layers of unsettling detail. Rose-like patterns were embroidered into the lace trim, white ribbons adorned the skirt, and the dark purple lipstick painted across her tiny lips stood in nearly blasphemous contrast to the childish softness of her face. It was not makeup meant to imitate adulthood so much as proof that she had set herself apart from anything that could be called normal.
Her skin was pale to the point of transparency, and the serene smile on her face looked like a clumsy imitation put on by something inhuman.
With her arrival, the sweet scent in the air grew thicker and thicker, like rotting lilies mixed with rust, spreading outward from where she stood.
Tucked in the crook of her arm was a Gothic doll dressed almost exactly like her. Its hollow glass eyes reflected the dim light with an eerie sheen. Though it was deep in the middle of the night, the girl was also holding a black parasol.
"Former Shami-san? Former Nagiko Shami-san? Are you here? I'm here to pick you up."
The girl's name was Dorothy. Dorothy Flamsteed… or at least, that was the name of this body.
She was one of The Replaced. The organization had been particularly busy lately, and the other members all had their hands full. Only she, who still had to attend school during the day and therefore had a comparatively open schedule, volunteered to come to this park, receive the companion who had possessed Nagiko Shami, and handle the aftermath.
That companion, apparently, had been assigned a rather important task: to go to Old I Watergate and plant a cursed object. Under normal circumstances, she should have been able to place it and come right back. There should have been no need for anyone to meet her.
However, that companion had suddenly informed the others that she had found the cursed object that had been placed at H Castle Ruins and later taken away by someone unknown.
She told the members of The Replaced that the person who had taken the cursed object from H Castle Ruins was an extremely, extremely dangerous spiritualist. She had only been in contact with that person for a short while before her body was destroyed, and only her spirit had managed to escape alive.
Without a physical body, she could not move around on her own, which was why the organization had to send someone to retrieve her.
And the one who had eagerly volunteered for that job was Dorothy.
Ever since the cursed object had gone missing, The Replaced had been doing everything they could to recover it. Besides, the evil spirit that had possessed Nagiko Shami held no low status within the organization, or it would never have been entrusted with placing the cursed object in the first place.
And yet, by the time Dorothy arrived here, she could not find that "Former Nagiko Shami" anywhere.
"That's strange. Is she not here yet? We were supposed to meet somewhere around here…"
"And after all that waiting, only one of you showed up? What a waste of my time."
Until that muttered complaint sounded out, Dorothy had not noticed that there was already someone standing under a nearby streetlamp.
The girl beneath the light let out a long sigh, lifted a hand to scratch at her hair, and spoke in a languid tone.
"I gave up precious time I could have spent sharing a bed with Lady Yu just to wait here in this desolate night for you fools to take the bait. At the very least, five of you should've shown up before I could call this barely worth it."
Dorothy had come to the park according to plan, yet instead of meeting her companion, she found a girl who seemed to have been waiting here all along.
Judging from what the other girl had just said…
This was a trap?
"Who exactly are—"
Before she could finish, it was as though an invisible hand had clamped around Dorothy's throat, cutting off every sound in the depths of her throat.
All because of a single glance from the other girl.
"…Did I give you permission to speak?"
At that moment, Dorothy saw the shape of death more clearly than she ever had since the day she was born.
It was overwhelming malice and killing intent.
It was unavoidable death.
Her instinct to survive crushed every other thought. Dorothy's body reacted before her mind could. She threw herself forward, collapsing into the most abject full prostration possible, smashing her forehead hard against the cold, rough ground.
At almost the exact instant her forehead struck the earth—
Schk!
The carefully made Gothic parasol in her hand split neatly in two at the middle, the cut smooth as a mirror. Almost at the same moment, the streetlamp behind her gave out a heavy metallic groan, and its upper half slowly slid down along a diagonal cut. Farther away, several tree trunks at the same height silently showed thin lines across them, and the tops of their crowns began to tilt as wood tore apart with a sound that set one's teeth on edge.
Every cut was unnervingly smooth, as though some invisible peerless blade had swept through faster than the senses could follow.
Dorothy lay pressed flat against the ground, forehead buried in the dirt, trembling like a dead leaf in a storm.
She could feel her clothes clinging to her back, soaked through with cold sweat. Her heart hammered so wildly in her chest it felt as though it might smash through her ribs.
If she had moved even a hundredth of a second slower just now, then what had been severed would not merely have been her parasol, the light pole, and the trees.
Her head would have been among them.
"I'm in a very bad mood right now."
Xu Fu's voice came down from above once more. Her tone barely rose or fell, but every word carried the weight of a thousand pounds, crashing down across Dorothy's back.
"So while I'm venting…"
She paused slightly.
And the air in that space seemed to freeze with her.
"Keep your mouth shut and listen."
---
T/N: damn sukuna
anyway hmm do you guys prefer if i do last names first? or is this fine, i also do alot of full names :p let me know ur thoughts or i end this translation! :3
even a "I dont really care, your translations are the best translations ever Wise-sama!" is fine!