Sound disappeared first.
Not all at once—
But like it was being pulled away, piece by piece.
Jinzu stood frozen, eyes locked on the thing near the fence.
It didn't look real.
Not fully.
Its shape bent and twisted like smoke trying to become solid. Parts of it stretched too far, then snapped back into place. Its surface flickered between something smooth… and something broken.
And its eyes—
If they were eyes—
Were wrong.
Too many.
Too still.
All staring at him.
Jinzu's chest tightened.
His fingers curled into his palms.
That pressure came back—
No.
It exploded.
His vision cracked.
Not blurred—
Cracked.
Like the world itself had split for a second.
Behind him, Senju didn't move.
But his voice was lower than before.
"…It found you first."
The thing near the fence shifted again.
Then—
It stepped forward.
The ground didn't react.
No sound.
No weight.
But it was closer now.
Closer than it should've been.
Jinzu tried to step back.
His body didn't listen.
His breathing stopped.
His thoughts scrambled—
Move.
Nothing.
The thing tilted its head.
Like it was studying him.
Recognizing something.
Then—
It lunged.
Everything snapped.
Black.
…
The wind returned first.
A sharp rush of air cutting through the silence.
But Jinzu wasn't there anymore.
Not really.
His body stood where it had been—
But something about it was different.
Completely still.
Too still.
Then—
His head lifted.
Slowly.
His eyes opened.
They weren't the same.
Where fear had been—
There was nothing.
No panic.
No confusion.
No hesitation.
Just… focus.
The thing rushed forward again, its form stretching unnaturally, its limbs extending like blades of warped space.
Fast.
Faster than before.
Jinzu moved.
Not back.
Forward.
The ground cracked under his foot—not from strength alone, but from something deeper. The space around him bent slightly, like it couldn't keep up with him.
The curse struck first—
A jagged limb tearing through the air toward his chest.
Jinzu didn't dodge.
The attack stopped.
Right in front of him.
Not blocked.
Not deflected.
Stopped.
Like it hit something invisible.
The air between them distorted, rippling outward in slow waves.
For a moment—
Everything paused.
Then—
Jinzu tilted his head.
Just slightly.
"…Too loud," he muttered.
The space around the curse collapsed inward—
Just a little.
But enough.
Its limb twisted unnaturally, folding in on itself as if gravity had suddenly changed direction.
It shrieked—
A sound that didn't belong anywhere.
Jinzu stepped closer.
Calm.
Unbothered.
The ground beneath his feet cracked again.
Not violently—
But precisely.
Like something was being measured.
The curse tried to pull back—
To escape—
But it couldn't.
Something held it there.
Not chains.
Not hands.
Something unseen.
Something absolute.
Jinzu raised his hand.
Slowly.
Almost lazily.
For a second—
The world around them dimmed.
Then—
Everything snapped.
The space around the curse collapsed violently inward, folding, crushing, tearing all at once. Its form broke apart—not into pieces, but into something less than that.
Like it was being erased.
The air screamed.
The ground split.
The fence behind it shattered outward—
And then—
Silence.
Nothing remained.
No body.
No trace.
Just empty space.
Jinzu stood there.
Still.
The pressure was gone.
His hand dropped.
And just like that—
Everything went dark again.
…
Jinzu woke up on the ground.
The sky above him was too bright.
His head hurt.
His body felt heavy.
He blinked slowly.
Once.
Twice.
The world came back in pieces.
The broken fence.
The cracked ground.
The distance between him…
And everyone else.
Students stood far away.
Frozen.
Some shaking.
Some whispering.
None coming closer.
Jinzu pushed himself up slowly.
His hands pressed against the ground—
Green.
Thicker than before.
Darker.
His breathing became uneven.
"…What…" he whispered.
No answer.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Steady.
Senju.
He stopped a few feet away.
Looked at the damage.
Then at Jinzu.
"You see it now?" Senju asked quietly.
Jinzu shook his head.
"I didn't… do anything…"
A pause.
Senju's eyes didn't change.
"You did," he said.
Silence.
"You just weren't there to see it."
Jinzu's chest tightened again.
His hands clenched.
"…That thing," Jinzu said, his voice low. "What was it?"
Senju glanced at where it had been.
Then back at him.
"A curse," he said.
A pause.
"And you…"
Another pause.
Longer this time.
"…are something it shouldn't have approached."
The wind moved through the broken fence.
Carrying dust.
Carrying silence.
Jinzu looked down at his hands again.
Then slowly closed them.
Not understanding.
Not remembering.
But knowing one thing now.
Every time he disappeared—
Something else didn't.