...
On the outskirts of Sendai City
Geto, Jogo and Mahito had not actually left. They were still lingering around the city limits.
"Why are we still here?"
Jogo glared unhappily at Geto, who was smiling like always and clearly scheming something.
"That Nightmare obviously has no intention of joining us."
Up in a nearby tree, Mahito was slowly regenerating on a thick branch.
Compared to Jogo, he had taken heavier damage and needed more time to recover.
Even so, his smiling face was filled with malice.
It was clear he had no intention of letting Tokisaki Kurumi go.
Anyone who could damage his soul had to die.
Geto kept his hands tucked inside his monk sleeves. "But we really do need her power," he said.
"A technique that controls time. Just thinking about it is fascinating."
While Jogo, Mahito and Kurumi had been fighting, he'd been observing from the shadows.
Slowing time. Freezing time. Reversing time.
The three abilities she had displayed were more than enough to fully capture his interest.
Jogo clicked his tongue, but he had to admit it.
He genuinely had not known how to deal with that weird time manipulation of hers.
If Geto had not shown up when he did, he and Mahito might have lost half their lives to that simplified domain of hers.
Even now, Jogo felt like something had been shaved off his existence.
What exactly had Nightmare taken from him?
"So you want to control her?"
Perched in the branches, Mahito spoke out what Geto was thinking.
They were well aware of Geto's curse-manipulation ability.
As part of the "big four" special grade curses, they did not have to worry about it; his technique was not strong enough to control them.
Geto did not bother hiding what he had in mind.
There was no point, it was obvious.
Besides, he had tried something similar before. It had just failed that time.
"If she were willing to join us, I would not want to do this," he said mildly. "But since she insists on refusing..."
He put on the look of someone forced into bad behavior by someone else's stubbornness.
"Hmph."
Mahito let out a cold laugh.
Whether it was aimed at Kurumi or at Geto was anyone's guess.
"But to control her, at the very least you need to know where her real body is, right?"
Mahito dropped lightly from the tree. "Those Nightmares we met last night were probably all clones."
He was extremely sensitive to souls.
The souls inside those Kurumis had all been complete, yet they gave him a strange feeling, like they did not belong to the "now" they were in.
Because of that, he was convinced none of those were the true body.
And in this case, he was exactly right.
Geto nodded. "Which is why we have to stir things up a little and make her true body come out."
"For example?"
Mahito's interest was clearly hooked now.
If he could watch Kurumi get taken apart by Geto, he would be delighted.
"For example, we make this city lively," Geto said.
"And as long as we avoid fighting Nightmare head on, it will be much easier to put a collar on her."
On that kind of thing, he was very experienced.
"True enough."
Mahito's lips curled up.
While they were busy plotting Kurumi's future, none of them realized trouble had already appeared at her side.
Shun might not be on Gojo Satoru's level, but beating a "normal" special grade curse was not all that hard for him.
Whether in the end they succeeded, got beaten down by Nightmare, or ended up captured and dissected by Shun...
The last outcome was probably the most likely.
...
Supermarket
After school, Shun went with Kurumi to the supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner.
"Shun, do you think we look like a newly married couple right now?"
Kurumi asked as she compared vegetables and meat.
Shun gave her a sidelong glance. "What goes on in your head all day? You think I am the kind of man you can get that easily?"
"Huh? Aren't you?"
Kurumi's eyes went wide. "Aren't you the kind of boy who comes over if I just lift my pretty little foot and crook it at you?"
"First of all, forget why I would go over. Second, why is it the foot?"
Shun's face darkened.
Kurumi leaned into him and subtly lifted the hem of her skirt.
She arched a brow. "Shun, do you not like it?"
"..."
Shun refused to answer that question.
He pushed the cart forward without changing his expression.
"Heehee."
Kurumi's smile turned devilish.
His reaction really was adorable.
And right about then, Fushiguro Megumi stepped into Sendai City.
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