Chapter 12

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Before nightfall fully sank in, Tsukimi Higure and Renji Yanagi went to inspect Nanxiangnan Elementary School together.

The black-haired youth leader was displeased. “Everyone says I know my limits, so why do you have to follow me, Renji?”

He felt like he was being treated like a child.

Renji Yanagi replied calmly, “If you truly know your limits, there wouldn’t be any danger. My coming along won’t make a difference.”

A reasonable argument.

“That does make sense...” Tsukimi suddenly turned to look at him. “Wait, you’re twisting the meaning!”

Renji stopped walking and stared ahead.

“What’s wrong?” Tsukimi followed his gaze.

Across the street was Nanxiangnan Elementary School, now cordoned off with a police tape line. Patrol cars were parked nearby, and passersby were politely kept at a distance.

Tsukimi spotted a figure in professional attire and muttered, “They moved fast.” Then, with enthusiasm, he greeted the golden-haired assistant supervisor over there, “Miss Nitta!”

The police had intended to stop the two middle schoolers from approaching, but since Nitta Akira was already walking toward them and they were acquaintances, they said nothing further.

Nitta Akira said, “Higure-kun, what brings you here?”

Tsukimi replied, “Since I was the one who discovered this, I’m a bit worried. Miss Nitta, what’s the situation inside?”

Nitta glanced at the unfamiliar brown-haired boy, then quickly looked away. “It’s still unclear. But we can confirm it’s a stitch curse spirit skilled at hiding, with a power level of at least Grade 1.”

“For some reason, it hasn’t harmed anyone else. So far, the only victim is Keiichi Yukimura.”

This was very unusual for a curse spirit. Such beings are born from human negative emotions and inherently harbor ill will toward humans. Intelligence doesn’t change this fact.

The previous stitch curse spirits behaved like ordinary curse spirits; this one’s strange behavior, with Keiichi Yukimura still lively after being cursed for months, puzzled her greatly.

It was not that no injuries were good news, but the unknown bred unease.

Tsukimi nodded, his guess aligned with hers, though “Window” had rated this curse spirit’s level quite high.

Its threat was slightly above that of a minor pest, so it was surprising it was a Grade 1 curse spirit.

“Can I go inside to take a look?”

Yes, just observing, not intervening — that was considered safe.

The young assistant supervisor declined calmly, “No. Miss Utakata instructed that until classmates Todou and Kamo arrive, you’re not allowed inside.”

Tsukimi was speechless. “Don’t sound like you’re releasing a dog!”

He pouted. “Do you think I don’t know what’s appropriate?”

His cousin trusted him too little — humph!

Having worked with him several times, Nitta felt qualified to comment: “Higure-kun, let me remind you, you have a record.”

Tsukimi rendered speechless.

Nitta continued, “More than once.”

Her face was full of the weary bitterness and resentment of a corporate drone.

Tsukimi couldn’t even keep up his pout because the gaze from beside him was burning.

Renji chuckled softly.

The slap to the face came too fast.

Embarrassed, Tsukimi gave a sheepish smile and gave up the idea of sneaking in. “Then I’ll just watch from outside, okay? Miss Nitta, you know my technique is very useful.”

Nitta considered for a moment, then said cautiously, “Only outside the police barricade.”

Tsukimi sighed. “...Fine. Is there no trust left between people?”

Tsukimi’s technique is “Cross Positioning,” akin to a GPS with an aiming function, capable of locking onto a target’s trace from thousands of miles away.

Its activation conditions are that the target exists in the physical world and that he possesses an item deeply connected to them or has marked the target’s cursed energy.

It’s a highly supportive technique without any offensive power, but it synergizes excellently with spiritual arrows, enabling him to do things normally impossible.

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At the hospital, Tsukimi had already marked that strange power, satisfying the second condition, so no further preparation was needed.

He extended his right hand, fingers spread wide, silently invoking “Cross Positioning.”

Cursed energy surged, and his vision shifted. The world before his eyes suddenly elevated, colors faded into black and white, and countless lines intertwined to form a massive network.

Suddenly, a red dot flickered somewhere within the intricate web.

Under the cherry blossom tree by the playground of Nanxiangnan Elementary, a green-skinned little monster less than a meter tall peeked out from the shadows. Its pointed ears twitched, and its protruding vertical pupils looked around curiously.

Apparently not seeing what it sought, it submerged and disappeared, then shortly reappeared inside a certain classroom building, glancing left and right.

The green creature kept vanishing and appearing, while the red dot flickered on and off, making it impossible to pinpoint its exact movements.

Tsukimi clenched his fist; the image seemed to shatter, and his distant gaze settled, returning everything to normal.

It was truly slippery.

Sensing his growing displeasure, Renji asked, “Atsuki, what’s wrong?”

“It seems to have a way to block my detection,” Tsukimi frowned, cheeks puffed slightly in dissatisfaction.

Such an ability belonged either to curse spirit techniques or yokai...

Nitta’s expression darkened with concern. “Even your technique doesn’t work? That’s troubling.”

“Eh?” Tsukimi blinked. “It just means I can’t see its full path, but I still have ways to catch it.”

Nitta was speechless. “Then why act so troubled?”

Tsukimi responded innocently, “Miss Nitta, why do you look at me like that?”

“Atsuki,” Renji kindly explained, “Miss Nitta’s probably thinking why you didn’t say this earlier.”

“Well,” Tsukimi shrugged, “you didn’t ask either.”

Nitta rolled her eyes and waved them off, “Go, go. What are middle schoolers still wandering around at this hour instead of going home?”

Tsukimi was speechless again. “Why attack my age when you have something to say?”

Discrimination exists everywhere in this world.

Cold indifference.jpg

* * *

The next morning, Tsukimi rose early, took his longbow and quiver, and disguised himself as an ordinary middle school archery enthusiast before heading out.

His bow and arrows were cursed tools, indistinguishable from regular ones on the market, so even if searched, no issues would arise.

Although being caught with dangerous items wasn’t a big deal, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Nitta’s car waited at the foot of the mountain, with two people in technical college uniforms sitting in the back.

The window rolled down, and a black-haired, squint-eyed youth with white cloth tying his hair nodded politely. “Higure-kun, good morning.”

“Good morning, Senior Kamo,” Tsukimi responded in kind.

His gaze shifted to a muscular youth with a scar over his right eye and hair tied atop his head like an autumn chrysanthemum. “Senior Todou.”

Aoi Todou raised his hand and cheerfully asked, “Hey, Higure kid, what kind of woman do you like?!”

Tsukimi’s eyes went blank. How had Todou not given up yet?

He was a middle schooler, in the prime of studying, with no time for such distractions!

So he said, “Sorry, I’m not interested in women.”

Todou paused, then went with the flow, “Then what kind of men do you like?”

Tsukimi was speechless.

Kamo glanced sideways. “Todou, I don’t think that’s what Higure meant.”

“Don’t you like anyone?” Todou spoke incredulously, then murmured, “Though I support sexual freedom, isn’t this a bit too free?”

Nitta snorted.

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Tsukimi felt a little lost following his seniors’ train of thought. “Senior Todou, I don’t have any strange preferences.”

“Higure-kun, get in the car,” Kamo interrupted Todou before he could say anything more outrageous, saving the assistant supervisor from almost laughing herself unconscious.

The car ride was filled with an odd atmosphere; nobody spoke.

Tsukimi was annoyed and increasingly angry. If this got out, would he still be able to stay in the jujutsu world? But they were seniors, and most importantly, he couldn’t beat them... Hmm, maybe he’d play with curse spirits later.

He thought pityingly: Don’t blame me — big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp; reality is merciless.

Upon arriving at Nanxiangnan Elementary, Nitta set up a perimeter, and the three stepped inside.

Kamo immediately noticed the problem. “No curse spirits, no cursed energy residue.”

In a school, some weak curse spirits would be normal, but this place was suspiciously clean, not making sense.

“Maybe that curse spirit is very territorial and won’t allow other curse spirits in its domain?” Tsukimi speculated wildly.

“That could be,” Kamo agreed, “but I doubt those spirits, which even ordinary people can’t affect, would threaten a Grade 1 curse spirit.”

Tsukimi was touched; even he thought his idea was ridiculous, yet Senior Kamo said it made sense.

What a kind senior!

“By the way, do you two know why the jujutsu world is treating this incident so seriously?” Tsukimi asked.

Though Todou and Kamo were still technical college students, they had surpassed many jujutsu sorcerers — one with incredible physical strength, the other wielding a thousand-year-old family technique: Crimson Blood Manipulation.

Tsukimi thought even Special Grade sorcerers would just get beaten up.

And the swift response to this matter was something the notoriously inefficient Jujutsu Headquarters simply couldn’t achieve.

Who would believe there was no foul play?

This wasn’t classified information, so when Tsukimi asked, Kamo answered.

“A month ago, Kyoto started seeing stitch monsters—fusions of curse spirits and yokai—for the first time, seriously injuring a high-ranking official.”

Tsukimi instantly recalled a page from the report his cousin had sent him. “No wonder.”

Since the harm was to their own, of course they were anxious. He didn’t understand why someone half-buried in the ground was so afraid of death.

But—

“He was too weak. Wasn’t that curse spirit only Grade 2?”

Kamo explained, “The yokai body housing the curse spirit gave it a strong physical form, greatly reducing the cursed energy’s effectiveness. That official underestimated the situation and was overconfident.”

“Senior, you’re quite good at making excuses for them,” Tsukimi teased. “I think they’re just out of practice with conspiracies.”

“Seriously, so weak. Better to rest at home than embarrass yourself in public.”

It was indeed embarrassing. That man was a Grade 1 sorcerer but was seriously injured by a Grade 2 curse spirit — a lifetime of ridicule awaited him.

Among equals, sorcerers generally outmatch curse spirits, not to mention the difference in grades.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t even dare mention it,” Tsukimi concluded.

“Hahaha, exactly,” Todou laughed heartily.

Kamo cautioned the two, “Better show some respect to the higher-ups.”

Tsukimi pouted, “They bully me at work; I won’t respect them. Besides, what else do they have besides age to earn my respect?”

“Forget it, I’ll let them have it,” he sighed. “I really am a respectful youth who loves both elders and the young!”

“...”

He sure had the nerve to say that.