By the time Megumi Fushiguro started home, the sun was already going down.
Tokyo was all orange light and long shadows. Dry leaves scraped across the sidewalk. His backpack, way too big for him, thumped against his back with every step.
He was alone, same as usual.
Other kids his age walked in little groups, talking over each other, trading snacks, laughing about dumb stuff. Megumi passed through all that noise by himself, quiet enough to look out of place.
He had one of those faces adults liked to call "mature for his age."
Really, it just meant he looked too closed off for a kid.
Being alone didn't bother him much anymore. It fit. The man he remembered raising him had always treated him with this half-hearted indifference, cigarette smoke, horse track stink, tired eyes, never really there even when he was standing right in front of you. Calling it neglect almost felt too generous. Neglect implied effort at some point.
Megumi had figured out young that his family situation was a mess.
Not weird. Past weird.
Broken was probably the better word.
Still, what was he supposed to do about it? When the adult in your life was basically a rumor and the person you actually relied on was your stepsister, Tsumiki Fushiguro, one more strange thing didn't really move the needle.
Head down, he kicked a pebble along the curb and watched it bounce ahead of him.
Then he looked up.
There was a narrow alley a little farther down, darker than it should've been because the light above it had probably been dead for years.
Something was watching him from inside.
Megumi stopped cold.
Two pairs of eyes glowed faintly in the dark.
When they stepped far enough into the light for him to see them properly, his breath caught.
Dogs.
One black, one white.
Both huge.
Way too huge.
Each one was about the size of a calf, with red markings on its forehead and eyes that were too clear, too bright, too aware.
That was the part that got him. Not the size.
Their eyes looked like they knew him.
And for some reason, he wasn't scared.
He should have been. Any normal kid would've run the second two animals that big stared at him from a dark alley.
Instead, a weird warmth rose in his chest.
It felt familiar. Like something buried so deep he'd forgotten it was there until now.
"They're beautiful..."
If they'd been normal dogs, Megumi would've been done for. Backpack on the ground, hands in fur, all dignity gone in two seconds flat. He was still a kid. No child had real defenses against fluffy things.
Not even one trying this hard to act emotionally constipated.
But his instincts had already picked up what mattered.
These weren't normal.
They felt too much like those ugly things he sometimes caught in the corners of dark rooms, the ones nobody else ever noticed. The ones Tsumiki walked past without seeing.
Nobody had ever explained any of this to him. He didn't know words like curse or jujutsu.
He just knew one thing.
These things were not normal.
And things that weren't normal were usually bad news.
Megumi tightened his grip on his backpack straps.
He stood there at the edge of the alley, warring with himself.
They look like those ugly monsters... but they don't feel the same.
They're so pretty.
Their eyes are nice.
No. Bad idea. Definitely bad idea.
One foot slid forward anyway.
He stopped himself, sucked in a breath, and turned around before he could do something stupid.
He started walking.
Behind him came a soft whine.
Megumi glanced back before he could stop himself.
Both dogs had lowered themselves to the ground right where the alley's darkness met the light from the street. They were looking at him with a kind of wounded disappointment so dramatic it would've been embarrassing if it weren't working.
The black one even made this small, pleading sound deep in its throat.
Seriously? You're gonna do that to me?
Megumi whipped his head forward again like that would help. His face twisted up in visible pain.
"Please don't look at me like that..."
Five seconds passed.
He lasted all five.
"AAAGH, fine! If I get bitten, I get bitten!"
That was it. His self-control folded instantly.
Megumi dropped his backpack on the sidewalk and ran into the alley on short little legs, committed now, no backing out.
He was still trying to slow down, still trying to approach carefully, when both massive dogs exploded into motion.
"Woof!"
"Whoa!"
Megumi flinched so hard his eyes snapped shut. For one awful second he thought, Yep. This was how I die. Mauled because I wanted to pet something cute.
No teeth came.
Instead, he got hit from both sides by warm, heavy bodies and an absurd amount of soft fur.
Then came the licking.
Wet tongues across his cheeks, his neck, his jaw, everywhere.
He cracked one eye open.
The black dog was shoving its face into his chest. The white one was doing the same from the other side. Both tails were wagging so hard they blurred.
And just like that, the tightness that always sat on Megumi's face broke.
He smiled.
A real smile, bright and open and way too young to belong to the expressionless little boy most people saw.
Both hands grabbed fistfuls of thick fur. He sank into it shamelessly, giggling while he tried and failed to dodge the nonstop licking.
"Haha, stop, stop, that tickles! Quit it..."
It was right in the middle of that warm, ridiculous little moment that footsteps sounded deeper in the alley.
A man stepped out of the dark.
Touma Hayase had come here tonight for one reason.
He wanted to confirm something.
In the previous simulation cycle, he'd already met Megumi. But this was earlier, before any of that. He needed to know whether Megumi had already awakened the Ten Shadows Technique and whether the boy could clearly see curses at this point in the timeline.
Watching the kid get mobbed by the Divine Dogs answered both questions pretty fast.
The second Megumi heard footsteps, he stopped laughing.
He pulled back from the dogs and turned toward the stranger.
Under normal circumstances, a random adult appearing in a dark alley would've made him grab his bag and bolt.
But the Divine Dogs were pressed against his sides like they'd already decided he was family, and that changed things. Instead of running, Megumi looked up at the young man in the black uniform with wary curiosity.
Then he pointed at the dogs.
"Mister... are they your dogs?"
Touma smiled and crouched so they were eye level.
As he did, a faint shift passed through his gaze.
He quietly activated Dimensional Reduction Analysis, breaking down the absurd complexity of cursed technique theory and cursed energy control into something a child could instinctively understand. He threaded it into the rhythm of his voice, into the way he spoke, into the images behind the words.
"They are," Touma said gently. "They're my shikigami. But here's the interesting part, Megumi. You've got ones like them inside you too."
At his words, the two Divine Dogs finally left Megumi's side and padded back to Touma, settling behind him.
Megumi blinked.
"You know my name?"
Touma gave a small nod. "Yeah. Your father and I go way back. We've been through some ugly situations together."
He smiled a little, softer this time.
"I used to hold you, actually."
Megumi frowned and searched his memory.
Nothing.
That made sense. Touma wasn't talking about this timeline.
Megumi didn't argue, though. For whatever reason, the guy didn't feel like he was lying.
What bothered him more was the fact the dogs were no longer touching him.
His eyes flicked from Touma to the two giant Divine Dogs and back again. Then he pointed at himself, looking honestly baffled.
"You're saying... I have those too?"
"Of course you do." Touma's tone stayed calm, patient. "It's in your blood. If you want, we can try it right now."
He slowly lifted both hands and formed a hand sign shaped like a dog's face, making the motion exaggerated and easy to follow.
"Like this. Copy the shape. Then close your eyes and picture them as clearly as you can. Take a breath, focus, and say their name."
He paused.
"Divine Dog."
Megumi stared at him.
The suspicious part of his brain immediately tagged the whole thing as scam nonsense. This sounded exactly like something a magician at a bad theme park would tell little kids.
But...
He looked back at the dogs again.
The black one tilted its head.
The white one blinked at him, calm and watchful.
Megumi swallowed.
He wanted that warmth back.
Wanted them back against his side.
Wanted, maybe for the first time in a while, something badly enough to stop pretending he didn't care.
One try, he told himself. If it doesn't work, fine.
He took a deep breath.
Then he raised his small hands and carefully copied Touma's sign, fingers clumsy, brow furrowed in concentration.
He shut his eyes.
He pictured the two Divine Dogs as hard as he could.
Then he opened his eyes again, fixed his gaze on the pair standing behind Touma, and spoke in a steady little voice that sounded older than it should have.
"Divine Dog."
Something tore out of him.
That was what it felt like.
Not pain exactly, but a violent draining, like some enormous hand had reached inside his body and yanked loose a piece of him. The strength went out of his legs all at once. His vision darkened. His knees buckled.
He pitched forward.
Before he could hit the pavement, something burst from the shadow at his feet and caught him across the back.
"Woof!"
Megumi sucked in a shaky breath and looked down.
His eyes went wide.
At his feet were two tiny dogs.
Tiny compared to the adult pair, anyway. They were only about the size of ordinary puppies, unbelievably cute, but otherwise identical. Same black and white coats. Same forehead markings. Same bright intelligence in their eyes.
They were real.
One of them, the little white one, nosed at the back of his hand with a damp, eager little mmf.
Megumi's fingers shook as he reached down and touched it.
Warm.
Solid.
Soft.
Real.
Something in his expression cracked open.
The dull, shut-down look he'd worn for years disappeared so fast it was almost shocking. Light flooded into his eyes, hot and bright and alive.
He jerked his head up toward Touma.
The excitement in his voice came out rough and thin, like he could barely get enough air.
"Mister, are they... are they really mine?!"
Touma looked at him and smiled for real.
This was one of those tiny moments people missed when they talked about fate. Nothing flashy. Just one kid, one answer, and the entire direction of a life quietly shifting.
He reached over and ruffled Megumi's messy hair.
"Yeah," he said.
"They're yours."
His voice stayed gentle, but there was nothing uncertain in it.
"And no matter what happens from here on out, they'll protect you."