Bab 14: Kuchisake-Onna
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"Ginko-san. Geto-san. We've arrived." Tanabe announced as he promptly parked the car. "According to the report this is the street where the incidents were reported. However, it also stated that they all occurred at around midnight."
Looking up, it was pretty obvious that the sun had only just begun to set.
"There's nothing wrong with being a little early." Geto didn't seem to mind. "We can do some early reconnaissance and sightseeing if need be. How large did you say the radius was again?"
"Roughly 300 meters. There were no reports of any incidents happening outside of this neighborhood, but we're unsure of whether that's a result of restriction or choice." Geto furrowed his brow as he pulled his knees towards the ground, placing his finger on the asphalt.
"If I had to guess, I'd say restriction." He added. Causing Tanabe's eyes to widen.
"What makes you say that? Geto-san."
"These residuals are clearly from a curse, not a curse user. Unless the suspect is capable of using some manner of [Curse Manipulation] like I am, that is." Though it was without a doubt a slim possibility, it remained a possibility nonetheless. "Tanabe, I need you to do something for me."
"Yes?"
"Try to get as many Window's as you can, and have them patrol around the area whilst me and Ginko aren't here. If this is indeed the work of a curse user, then our presence might cause them to change whatever plans they might have to a degree."
"Consider it done." Finding the sorcerer's reasoning and logic to be sound, Tanabe wasted little time skimming through his contacts and garnering whomever was available. "But if there's a chance it's a curse user, wouldn't it be best to have a few extra sorcerers on standby as well?"
Geto hummed in thought. "I mean, that's a little excessive if you ask me. But if they're up to the task then I don't see any reason not to either."
"Understood." Satisfied with the manager's diligence, Geto motioned for Ginko to start following him. "Uh, I should probably mention that having other sorcerers on board will cause the pay to be —"
The bun wearing sorcerer interrupted him. "Tanabe, you know full well I couldn't care less about money. Just do whatever you believe is best, I trust you." Geto reassuringly patted him on the shoulder, filling him with confidence as a slight flush appeared on Tanabe's face.
"Your faith in me is deeply appreciated." Doing his best to hide his encroaching smile, the manager rushed into the car and hurriedly got to work.
"Ginko. Have you ever been to Sendai before?" Geto asked as they walked side by side.
"Nope."
"I see, Satoru has dragged me around here quite a few times because of the abundant sweet shops around here, so I'll try to let you experience as many of the hotspots as possible before we have to leave."
"Sweets?" Ginko repeated, looking at him with sparkles in his eyes. "Did you say sweets?" He leaned closer, practically staring him down.
"Uhm. I take it you're a fan?" Geto breathed a nervous chuckle, already having flashbacks to the times when Satoru would grab him by the collar and drag him around store by store.
"Sweets." He repeated in a trance-like manner as a small line of drool escaped his lips much to Geto's disgust. "Sweets!"
"Alright alright, we'll go get sweets. Relax." He ushered as Ginko wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a content look forming on his face. "This place should be good for a start." Geto kept a little note sheet on hand at all times with a list of good shops which he dubbed his "Satoru-maintenance-catalog." A tool he could not bear to lose no matter what.
And thus, their pre-mission recreation began.
"What's this?" Ginko asked excitedly, peering through the display cabinets. "And this? And that? Oh! What about those?" The customers and cashiers were greatly unnerved by Ginko's constant pacing from one side of the shop to the other, only stopped by Geto grabbing him by the collar with a foul expression.
"Could you not act like a neanderthal in public please?" He admonished his teammate. "If you don't sit still I'm not going to buy you any sweets." He warned with his arms crossed firmly. Successfully managing to make Ginko settle down. "Good."
After purchasing the goods, Geto led him to a nearby fountain where the two of them could sit down. "You know, you're supposed to chew your food before you swallow it." He recoiled out of mild unease as he watched Ginko devour thousands of yen worth of sweets in a matter of seconds. "...Or not."
"These taste fuckin' amazing." Ginko complimented as he licked his fingers. "I should really come here more often." He let out a satisfied burp.
"Oh, there was something I was going to ask you earlier." Ginko looked at Geto. "What grade are you if you don't mind me asking?"
"Me? Grade 2." He answered honestly. Earning a doubt-ridden hum from his teammate.
'That can't be right, his cursed energy definitely isn't that of a Grade 2 sorcerer. There must have been a miscalculation of some sort on the faculty's part. Then again, I'll be able to confirm it with my own eyes today.'
"What about you?"
"Semi-Grade 1. But I'll be undergoing my Grade 1 promotion test soon, so if all goes well I'll be moving up shortly." Geto replied with a reasonable amount of pride. Ginko letting out an impressed whistle in response.
The test in question included being put under an already active Grade 1, and being put under a series of missions/test left to their discretion. Following said test, the Grade 1 sorcerer will be asked to make a decision on whether they believe the person being examined is fit for the rank or not.
Even though Geto Suguru undoubtedly qualified for the position in terms of raw power, the higher ups normally wanted to get an in-depth gauge on one's mentality on top of that. The only exceptions to this rule were anomalies like Gojo Satoru which they had no hope of bending to their will. After all people like that were assigned a grade held in even higher esteem than Grade 1.
"Hoh? You must be pretty damn strong then." He had to muster up all his effort to stop his fist from twitching, suppressing the more instinctive side of him to the best of his abilities. "Maybe you'd be interested in a spar once we return?"
"A spar?" Geto chuckled lightheartedly. "Sure, I don't see why not. As long as you don't whine about having your head pummeled in." Even Ginko could tell he said that only in half-jest.
"Naturally."
…
The day had continued on as planned, for Ginko at least. Night had already fallen as Geto was forcibly dragged from store to store by Ginko, causing him to experience flashbacks of a certain someone. "It's definitely got something to do with the hair." He muttered.
"What about my hair?" Ginko queried, somehow having heard his faint mutterings.
"It's nothing." Geto was quick to brush it off. "More importantly, how aren't you full yet? Did you install a black hole into your stomach or something?" Being able to put a strain on a sorcerer's wallet through food alone, was an achievement few could ever hope to match.
"Don't think so, I just burn through calories faster." A result of his habit of running around at full speed with his cursed technique whenever he got bored. Which had also led him to boast immense mastery in his movement proficiency.
"Uh-huh." He groaned, clutching his knees as he caught his breath. Finding a nearby bench and rushing towards his brief window of opportunity to let his body cool off. "Why is it so humid all of a sudden? It's like being stuck in a perpetual sauna for crying out loud." He moaned, ventilating his shirt.
"Oh, I can help with that." Ginko pointed his palm towards him, allowing a refreshing breeze to gently stop Geto's body from redlining.
"Much obliged." He thanked with a cheery thumbs-up. "Wait, have you been able to do that this entire time?"
"Mhm." He answered innocently, to which Geto responded by angrily throwing a pineapple bun at him. "Yummy." Obviously, Ginko simply caught it with his mouth. To which Geto meekly rolled his eyes.
Beep! Beep!
"What was that?"
"It's Tanabe." Geto pulled his phone out as he answered the call. The corners of his mouth quickly dipping as he received a frantic voice from the other end. "Ginko, we need to —"
Without even letting him finish his sentence, Ginko grabbed him in a fireman's carry as he took off at full speed. Making it to the other side of the town in a mere half-minute.
"Next time… warn me… before you do that alright?" Geto said as he tried to prevent himself from regurgitating his dinner.
"Suguru. Tanabe's presence is already gone." Ginko continued to expand his senses to the best of his abilities, but it was to no avail. "I can't sense any Window's or sorcerers either."
"Me neither, for now let's go back to where he parked the car just in case." Ginko nodded as his classmate led the way, bringing them towards the nearby parking lot.
"I don't understand, not being able to sense our allies is one thing. But I still haven't picked up on the presence of a cursed spirit or curse user. We arrived here pretty damn fast so shouldn't we have at least found some residuals by now?" Geto could only shrug in shared confusion.
"I'm just as lost as you. However, I'm willing to bet it's a cursed spirit." He said with surprising confidence.
"What makes you say that?"
"I placed surveillance curses all over the place, and strictly ordered them to follow our guys. Yet not a single one of them have been taken out, so unless the curse user knows of my technique and is avoiding them on purpose. I think we know what we're up against." He explained as they continued to run.
"Hold on, if you have surveillance curses up can't you just see what happened to everyone?"
Geto shook his head with a hint of self-deprecation on his face. "I'm not actually capable of sharing my vision with them, I have to check in every so often in order to keep track of their status."
Ginko, on the other hand, didn't show any signs of disappointment. "I see."
Eventually, they arrived at their destination. However the sight they were met with wasn't exactly what one would call pleasant.
"Shit." Geto murmured, staring at the chopped up corpse of Tanabe right next to the driver's side door. "At least we know what the screaming on the phone was about." Even Ginko's freak speed wouldn't have gotten them towards him in time.
"Poor guy." Ginko crouched, examining the traces of cursed energy on the cadaver. "Well that's not good."
"Just spit it out." Geto didn't take kindly to cliffhangers.
"I think a domain was deployed here." The bang wearing sorcerer recoiled, his eyes widening as a sense of panic started to seep in. "But it doesn't feel like a usual incomplete or complete domain expansion." He continued. "Actually now that I think of it, why would anyone deploy a domain against Tanabe? No offense."
"None taken, and you have a point." Geto hummed. "Perhaps the domain has something to do with its ability to appear and reappear so effortlessly? I mean the only reason it would use its domain against someone so weak is if it was incapable of attacking without it right?"
"That seems likely."
Ginko hauled himself to his feet to face him, but all of a sudden his teammate seemed to have disappeared from his position. "Hmm?" Moreover, a potent chill had crept down his spine as the world around him seemed to have been put on pause. Leading Ginko to only one conclusion as he felt the cursed energy around him. "I see, I've been caught in a domain." He thought aloud with an unnatural level of calm.
"So, aren't you going to attack?" Ginko turned around being faced with a tall woman with long disheveled raven hair that reached past her shoulders. Most of her face seemed to be covered by her hair, but the parts that were visible were filled with multiple rows of eyes that were all locked onto him like a hawk. The woman wore a light-colored trench coat alongside a set of simple black shoes, giving her clothing a rather plain appearance.
"Hey. Am I pretty?" She asked him, her mouth splitting wide open as it revealed sets of razor-sharp teeth.
'She forced a non-violence pact between us? Which means unless I give an answer I'm going to be stuck here indefinitely.' Ginko sighed as he quickly realized he didn't have a choice in the matter. 'Alright, I'll play your game if that's what you want me to do.'
"Not really, personally I think seeing a dentist would do you some good. Also maybe consider taking a shower? Your hair is greasy as hell." Unsurprisingly, the woman didn't take kindly to the answer. Letting out a hate-filled ear-piercing screech in his direction. "Hey, I was just being honest."
All of a sudden, Ginko was surrounded by a set of oversized shears all floating around him. One of them even having its blades around his neck, ready to decapitate him at a moment's notice.
"How shrewd. You can't attack me during the pact, but you are still able to move your shears before then. So the longer someone takes to reply, the higher chance they have of dying." Ginko's smile returned to him. "I like it."
Right as the shears were about to close, he activated [Galeforce] around his neck. Giving him enough of an opening to avoid having his head lopped off. "This isn't a true domain, which means you don't have the luxury of giving your shears guaranteed hits. How unfortunate."
All he needed was one breath to close the distance between the two, confidently ignoring the bladed constructs of death chasing after him.
"You're not actually strong, just confusing." He smiled, activating [Wind Carve] as a torrent of spherically orientated slashes assaulted the cursed spirit in front of him all at once.
"What?" He blurted out with a dazed look, somehow his attacks had done nothing more than administer a flurry of shallow cuts. None of which were deep enough to cause any lasting damage. "I stand corrected, can't say I was expecting you to be that sturdy." Not wanting to have his bowels split open, Ginko quickly took advantage of his speed to dodge the incoming shears.
"Tch." However, the opening caused by his failed attack had allowed the cursed spirit to land a pretty decent cut on his back. "You know how to keep the pressure up, I'll give you that." He bit down on his lower lip. Noticing that three shears had suddenly manifested around him, making him incapable of shielding himself with [Galeforce] due to the amount of surface area he'd have to cover.
As of now the absolute most he could cover with [Galeforce] was 8%, which was already more than his grandfather all things considered. Which put to show just how great of a boon having someone with the same technique as a teacher was.
'She's able to materialize and dematerialize the shears at will. But it isn't instant, there's enough lag in between the motions for me to counter them in time.' With his senses sharp as ever, he successfully casted a set of wind-daggers with [Wind Forge] and aimed them at each of the shears in an attempt to stun them for long enough so he could escape.
'How is she still able to keep the domain up? In terms of stamina she's got to be around Special-grade.'
"Hey, am I pretty?" Ginko couldn't believe what had just happened.
She had just reactivated the vow! It could be used more than once even in the middle of the domain's activation! The non-violence pact had caused Ginko to lose his ability to cast [Wind Forge], and allowed the shears to get in closer as he tried to run away. "The answer's still no."
'So even if my technique isn't aimed at her, casting it still counts as violence according to the pact. That's really not good.' He was forced to put up a hand-sign in order to strengthen his [Galeforce], only managing to guard himself against one of the attacks as the other two nipped him in the shoulder and calf. 'If she keeps chipping away at me like this I'm going to die pretty soon, her domain is still showing no signs of giving in so I'll just have to assume these will be the conditions of the entire fight.'
Furthermore, he had no way of knowing what Geto's situation was, meaning he would more likely than not have to exorcize the curse in front of him on his lonesome.
Which he didn't mind.
'I should probably start by making sure my movements don't become patterned.' By using the wind to push his body in different directions, Ginko was capable of bending the law of inertia to a small degree, but enough to where it made his movements seem both unnatural and unpredictable.
And as expected, the cursed spirit started having a lot more trouble accurately positing her shears and making them appear in his trajectory. He continued to dart from one end of the domain to the other, his mind racing at full speed trying to formulate a plan that led to his victory.
'If the intervals are static, then that means she's about to reactivate the vow. There's nothing that I can do about that so I'm just going to have to let it happen.'
"Hey, am I pretty?"
"Nope." He clenched his teeth as he endured multiple cuts, one of them digging deep into his already cut calf, hindering him enough to the point where movement had become difficult. But as the blood continued to drip from his body, a strange train of thought entered his mind.
'There's also a bit of delay in between her activating the vow and being able to attack. Which means if I really wanted to I could close the gap right now.' He briefly paid attention to the hampering injury on his leg. 'If I don't do it now my condition will probably have deteriorated too much to do it later. But there's also a chance this reckless charge will get me killed.'
"Ah fuck it."
Fighting through the pain he rendered the distance between him and the cursed spirit null. His eyes widening as he noticed something on its chest.
'My last attack made an opening!'
He didn't hesitate. A sharp cover of wind blanketed the tip of his fingers as he shot them towards the cursed spirit, allowing him to [Impale] it in one go.
"It was a good fight, honestly."
SHATTER
The domain fell apart, allowing him to heave a sigh of relief as he was met with the immensely worried figure of his classmate.
"Listen Suguru. I'm going to go ahead and pass out now, so make sure you absorb it before bringing me to Shoko."
"Wait wha —"
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To make up for the last chapter I wrote a much longer one this time. Also I know you guys wanted to see Ginko going all out, so here it is.
Make sure you join the discord as always, it's growing pretty nicely now and I like hearing what yall have to say. Also we do polls pretty often and stuff.
Disc: ZrWk2jqjbV
Status Power Mingguan
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Power 
-- Power
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