The cursed spirit stood about two meters tall. Its body was pure white. It looked like a creature that had just walked out of a world of ice.
"It seems intelligent. And this feeling… could it be a special grade cursed spirit?!" Suguru swept his gaze around the place, his brow tightening.
Putting cursed techniques on display in front of civilians could cause panic. That, in turn, could spawn more curses. And fighting a special grade in a crowded area would only end with piles of bodies. The curtain outside, cast by someone unknown, made things even worse. If this dragged on, things would go wrong.
"Mukuro!"
"Got it."
At Suguru's call Mukuro already knew what to do. A glowing number "1" flashed in his right eye.
A wave of illusion swept across the restaurant. Nearly every ordinary person felt the world spin, then fell forward onto the tables with soft thuds.
After the last incident, he no longer targeted everyone. This time, the illusion hit everyone except their own group.
Better let them nap than witness a curse being exorcised.
"Satoru."
With the customers knocked out, Suguru looked at the white-haired man still licking his dessert spoon.
"Seriously! This world's so big. Just this street alone has so many restaurants. But of all places, it picked ours!"
A cursed spirit of this strength could go almost anywhere, yet it chose this restaurant, a place with three of the strongest special grade sorcerers alive.
Satoru swallowed his daifuku in one bite and grinned like a kid, flexing his fingers. Mukuro, who had stood closest to the curse, already grabbed Megumi and the little girl and pulled them back from the doorway.
"I don't know the situation, but filthy, ugly humans deserve to die."
Just as the cook was about to faint from the illusion, the cursed spirit snapped awake. It placed its right hand on his shoulder and a brutal chill swept through him. In the blink of an eye the man froze mid-fall and turned into an ice statue.
"What… what is happening?!"
The little girl watched her father freeze right before her eyes, and fear washed through her already fragile heart battered by reality. Abandonment, a flicker of hope, now confusion and terror piled together. With her emotions in chaos, the curse's true form appeared clearly before her.
"What is that thing…"
As a non-sorcerer, she had never seen anything so terrifying. It only stood there and a sense of death pressed down.
"Don't… don't be scared. We'll be fine…"
The girl trembled and stepped in front of Megumi.
She wasn't sure whether she was comforting him or herself. But she still remembered how he tried to protect her moments ago. And the older boy said he wanted her to look after him. So she had to stand up. She had to show she had value. She didn't want to be thrown away again.
"Well, that's a special grade for you. Woke up from the illusion pretty fast," Mukuro muttered. Then he glanced at the two children. "You two, stay here and don't move around."
He tapped his toe and then appeared at the doorway in the next instant, grabbing the stunned cursed spirit's face with one hand. After checking a direction he flung it like a baseball.
The creature flew across the street, rolled for dozens of meters, and slammed into an old building awaiting demolition. Dust and debris exploded skyward.
"Five minutes."
Straightening up, Mukuro held up five fingers for the other two who'd walked up beside him. That was the limit. If ordinary people remained trapped in the illusion too long, their brains might suffer for it. Five minutes was the safest window.
"I can handle it alone in five minutes." Satoru pushed up his sunglasses and vanished in a blur.
"What about that monkey?"
Instead of following, Suguru glanced at the frozen cook and asked. From an objective point of view, the man was still a human, and letting him stay like this meant certain death.
"He's your father, right? You choose." Mukuro didn't answer his friend. He looked at the little girl standing protectively in front of Megumi.
"I… I don't know… You decide…!"
She had never felt any fatherly warmth from that man, but choosing his life or death was something she couldn't do. She didn't hesitate and left the decision to those who had real power.
If she didn't want to be abandoned, she had to obey.
"Then carry him out and leave him in the sun. Call the hospital after we're done here."
That was all Mukuro was willing to do for this man.
Snap.
Suguru snapped his fingers. A humanoid shikigami stepped out of the void, lifted the ice statue effortlessly, and carried it out. He wasn't going to carry the man himself. Getting too close to a monkey would make him smell bad.
The two of them then headed toward where Satoru had gone.
"You look scared."
Meanwhile, Megumi calmly returned to the table and resumed eating his noodles as if nothing had happened.
"N-no. I'm not scared! I'll take care of you!"
The little girl, though pale, forced herself to answer bravely.
"I'm Megumi Fushiguro. You?" the boy asked.
"Ah? Me? I'm Tsumiki Fushiguro. Nice to meet you!"
The two small figures started talking in the restaurant.
* * * *
On the other side.
Boom!
The building that was supposed to be demolished had already collapsed halfway.
The cursed spirit that had bragged about killing all humans no longer looked calm. Its face carried tension as it stood in the center of the rubble.
Four minutes left before Mukuro's time limit ran out.
"What? Is this all you've got? You interrupted my peaceful dessert time!" Satoru waved dust away with a grin and mocked the cursed spirit.
"Satoru, hold on. We need to ask something first."
Just as red light flashed at Satoru's fingertips, the other two arrived.
Suguru stopped him. Curtains weren't rare, but he had never seen a curse capable of placing one. And judging by the timing, the curtain wasn't cast by this curse. That meant a curse user was nearby.
Their target was likely the three of them.
"Let's just beat it until it can't move first. It's a weak curse anyway." Satoru simply shrugged, his contempt clear.
"Damned brat! Sneaking an attack when I wasn't looking, and now you dare to act smug?!"
The cursed spirit let out a furious roar.
A wave of cold burst outward. Frost crawled across the ground and surged toward the three men.
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