Special Grade Cursed Spirit: Novski. First sighted in Shinjuku, Japan, in 1991. Despite its high grade, it was deprioritized for exorcism due to its lack of aggressive behavior toward humans. In 2004, it was absorbed by the then-unregistered sorcerer, Suguru Geto, using Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
...
"I am a Cursed Spirit born from humanity's fear of labor."
"And yet, I do not understand what there is to fear. Labor is beautiful; it is a source of joy."
"The world is usually a pitch-black void. Humans might fear that darkness, but for a curse, it is a comfort. My only grievance is that there is nothing there. Days spent without work are unbearable."
"Though I am powerful, I despise combat."
"That man understands me. He has never summoned me for anything other than labor."
"But he does not understand me enough. Once, another Cursed Spirit with human-level intelligence approached me, hoping to overthrow humanity's rule. I refused."
"I have never harmed a human, nor do I intend to. In my eyes, humans have more value than curses, for they are the ones who create the meaning of my labor."
"My kin in that dark space have no self-awareness. They cannot communicate. But it does not matter. Talking is a waste of life. So is thinking."
"Sometimes, I do ponder the meaning of my existence as a curse."
"If you want my answer, it is undoubtedly labor. Labor is the highest honor."
"He calls this his home, but the guy clearly hasn't touched the place in years," Suguru Geto muttered, staring at the dilapidated shack before him. "Cursed Spirit Manipulation!"
The curse manifested instantly. It took the form of a white adult male wearing a red sleeveless T-shirt and denim overalls. He had short blonde hair, thick eyebrows, and large eyes, topped with a faded, short-brimmed baseball cap.
Without a word, the moment the curse appeared, it pulled a dustpan and a broom out of thin air and charged into the house to begin cleaning.
"Woof! Woof-woof!" Hachi barked furiously at the curse currently ransacking his home.
"Easy, boy." Suguru knelt down and gently patted Hachi's head. "That's one of mine. He's not an enemy."
"Whimper..." Hachi was sixty-six years old. In human years, he was centuries old. Having spent a long life with two masters, he had seen countless curses and sorcerers. He was, by all accounts, a very worldly dog.
To him, humans were friends and curses were enemies. He couldn't understand why this human was hanging out with the enemy.
"Come to think of it, Hachi can see curses. I wonder if other dogs can too," Suguru mused to himself. "Do normal people—those monkeys—really have less perception than a dog?"
They don't. What neither Hasegumo nor Suguru realized was that Hachi, having spent decades by Hasegawa Taizo's side, had been constantly influenced by Taizo's innate technique. He hadn't just gained a lifespan far exceeding his species; he had developed the ability to generate his own cursed energy.
Hachi was even a natural at energy manipulation. Perhaps by watching his masters or through pure instinct, he had learned to control his energy, preventing it from leaking out of his body. In his prime, Hachi could reinforce his body with energy to take on two grown men at once. He was a literal "dragon among dogs."
But now, he was just a tired old Shiba, slowly following behind Suguru.
...
The wind rustled through the leaves with a gentle hiss.
When Hachi first entered the mountains, he was an exhausted old dog, barely keeping pace. However, as they delved deeper into the forest, the mountain air seemed to breathe youth back into him. He began to run, picking up speed with every step.
"So Gumo grew up here? It's not bad at all," Suguru noted. The silence was a stark contrast to the cacophony of the city.
He took a deep breath, finally silencing the noise in his head. He let his mind go blank and sprinted after the dog. "Hey, wait for me!"
"I didn't know he was holding a card like that. Jujutsu High doesn't even have that curse's energy signature on file," Hasegumo whispered from the shadows. "How degenerate. With a convenient curse like that, my plan to make him empathize with commoners through hard labor is totally ruined."
"Maybe it's just because the curse is weak?" Haibara, also lurking nearby, whispered back. He watched the curse diligently repairing the roof. "Senpai, what now? Should we jump out and exorcise it?"
"No need." Hasegumo sensed that Suguru had been led quite a distance away by Hachi. He stopped whispering. "Besides, if we kill it, Suguru will feel it immediately."
"Success is an accident, failure is the norm, but the strong use their power to turn the norm into an accident." Spouting utter nonsense, Hasegumo walked toward the wooden shack.
Haibara's brain struggled to process the logic, but as Hasegumo's self-appointed sidekick, he knew his role. "That's so philosophical, Senpai! So, what's the move?"
The interior of the shack was a nightmare of cobwebs and dust. A normal person would have struggled to breathe inside, but Novski was a curse. He didn't need to breathe. He ignored the filth and kept sweeping with a stoic expression.
BOOM!
The only inheritance Hasegawa Taizo had left behind collapsed into a pile of splinters.
"That curse probably only does exactly what Suguru tells it to do. My guess is the order was 'clean the house,'" Hasegumo said, dusting off his hands. "Problem solved."
"Did you have to go that far?" Haibara stared at the ruins. The curse, covered in dust and debris, crawled out from the wreckage.
"Senpai... isn't that a little cruel?" Haibara felt a pang of pity for the thing. "It's clearly weak, it never gets summoned for combat, and its only joy is doing chores. And you just took that away from him."
"Weak curses don't have intelligence anyway..." Hasegumo trailed off, looking at the curse. Its energy fluctuations were tiny—completely different from a normal curse. It looked almost exactly like a human. If he hadn't seen Suguru summon it, he might have mistaken it for a sorcerer with a specific innate technique.
Since Suguru wasn't coming back anytime soon, the two boys stood over the dazed curse and began critiquing it.
"He's a white guy? He looks like he's from one of those 'Warrior Nations,' doesn't he, Senpai?" Haibara's eyes were sharp; he'd already pegged the curse's "origins."
"Actually, he looks familiar. He has that specific 'weathered look' from the 1970s generation."
Perhaps it was the ingrained memory of Soviet-era memes from his past life, but Hasegumo scrutinized the face. He couldn't quite place it. "I feel like I've seen him somewhere."
"Didn't you grow up here?" Haibara asked. "I don't think you would've seen many foreigners in these mountains."
"Who cares." Hasegumo turned to head back to their hiding spot. "He's Russian. His name is Novski. In Japanese, that's basically 'No-good' and 'Skipper,' right? Or 'Cowardly Driver'?"
"Haha! Good point!" Haibara caught the linguistic pun on Nuofu (Coward) and Siji (Driver) and laughed, slapping his chest.
"Using a low-level pun on a person's name is a very tasteless way to mock someone," a powerful, middle-aged male voice suddenly vibrated through the air.
The two boys froze. They whipped around to see the curse slowly standing up.
"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Novski," the curse said.
"So he really is a 'Cowardly Driver'?" the two said in unison.
"Under normal circumstances, I do not communicate with humans," Novski said, looking at them with a gaze full of undisguised disdain. "However, you have not only sabotaged my work but have also mocked me based on irrational, stereotypical impressions of my appearance."
Hasegumo stared at him. Hearing a foreign face speak perfect Osaka-ben was a massive cognitive dissonance. "You... you can talk? Does Suguru know?"
"He does not know I am sentient. I do not enjoy conversing with others unless it is necessary." As he spoke, Novski reached into his seemingly bottomless pockets and pulled out a sledgehammer the size of a man.
"Nani?" Hasegumo thought the guy was about to throw down. He prepared to charge.
Instead, Novski turned toward the collapsed house and swung the hammer. A massive surge of cursed energy erupted, slamming into the ground and creating a deep crater.
"Senpai..." Haibara watched the energy flare and swallowed hard. "This guy... he looks kind of terrifying."
"He has more energy than Suguru does," Hasegumo noted, his expression turning serious. "Suguru has a curse of this caliber? Why has he never used him in a fight?"
"While I do not enjoy violence," Novski said, finding the two boys incredibly noisy, "that does not mean I am incapable of anger. As an intellectual lifeform, could you please use a modicum of respect in your vocabulary?"
Feeling a bit tongue-tied after being lectured by a cleaning curse, Hasegumo blurted out the only thing he could in broken English: "OK, you are right."
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"It is obvious. You destroyed my work schedule." Novski tucked the hammer away and pulled out a shovel. "Based on Mr. Geto's previous requirements, I believe rebuilding the house is a highly meaningful task."
"Could you please leave? Wasting time on conversation is something I find utterly loathsome and meaningless."
While those two were dealing with the philosopher-laborer Novski...
On the other side of the mountain, Suguru Geto had followed Hachi deep into the woods until they reached the slopes of an adjacent peak.
"What is this?" He stopped, staring at a cave entrance shrouded in a black film. "A Curtain?"
He looked it over, his brow furrowed. Is there a group of curse users holding a secret meeting in here? That would be a pain.
Just as he was considering his options, he saw Hachi trot right through the Curtain as if he owned the place.
"Well... this is officially a problem."