Kuchisake-onna: Are You Being Polite?

The little girl weaving through the dim alleyways seemed to remember something. She stopped, took several strange devices that looked like cameras or detectors from the backpack on her back, and placed them at her feet.

Soon, a tall woman wearing a shabby brown trench coat and wrapped head to toe in bandages appeared at the mouth of the alley.

The strangely behaving woman blocked the little girl's way out and slowly approached her.

If anyone had been nearby, they would have called the police immediately.

But at that moment, there was no one around the alley.

Strangely, the little girl remained completely silent, staring fixedly at the eerie woman.

"Am... am I pretty?"

The surrounding space suddenly turned pale blue, as though the little girl and the eerie woman had been placed inside a massive box.

"From darkness, born. To darkness, return. All impurities and Cursed Remnants, be exorcised."

The already dim sky seemed to take on an even darker shade as Eiji cast a Curtain that blocked ordinary people from observing the area.

"That should do it. Next are the professors."

Eiji then turned his gaze toward a truck that had just arrived nearby. Several assistants inside were unloading laboratory equipment.

"This is incredible. It's like frozen space from a sci-fi movie."

A young assistant stared excitedly at the Simple Domain released by Kuchisake-onna.

"Could the molecular motion inside have frozen? Like absolute zero?"

Another young man who had just finished setting up the equipment also began to speculate wildly.

After all, extraordinary power was something every young person dreamed of.

Having only recently graduated, they were still at an age where they were naïve and full of fantasies. Their grades had been good but not outstanding, and they had lacked the connections to enter their ideal research institutions. They had originally planned to simply coast through life.

Later, they received interview invitations. After discovering that several formerly renowned old professors were among them, they came to intern at the Eastern Folklore Research Institute with a give-it-a-try attitude.

Then, the doors to a new world had opened for them.

"How could it be absolute zero? The air inside is still moving."

A half-gray-haired professor beside them raised the detector in his hand.

"You two, stop letting your imaginations run wild and get over here to help. We're short on time."

"Yes!"

The two bespectacled assistants immediately stood at attention, bowed, and joined the urgent research.

When they noticed a massive tiger over a meter tall and three to four meters long, with wings, appearing beside them, their legs trembled in fright.

Smack.

The half-gray-haired professor slapped both assistants on the head.

"Quit dawdling. Hurry up."

"But Professor, there's a tiger over there."

"That's our Bodyguard. You're new, so you don't know yet. We've got plenty of Bodyguards like that."

"What?"

The two assistants were a little dumbfounded. Once they recovered, they worked even harder.

There were so many Cursed Spirits at the institute—no, Shikigami. If they performed well, could they apply for one too?

At the front of the research team, before Kuchisake-onna's Simple Domain.

Eiji and Suguru Geto were studying Kuchisake-onna's Simple Domain.

The moment a Cursed Spirit approached the Simple Domain, it was forced to stop.

The pale blue Barrier, like transparent glass, blocked the Cursed Spirit's path.

"My Cursed Spirit can't move at all. Is this what a Domain is?"

Suguru Geto tried to control the Cursed Spirit inside the Barrier and free it from Kuchisake-onna's Simple Domain.

"This is only an incomplete Domain. If it were a complete one, Kuchisake-onna wouldn't be a Quasi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit, but a true Special Grade Cursed Spirit."

Eiji interjected from the side.

Just now, Eiji had also let Little Black test the toughness of the Simple Domain. He found that with Little Black's strength, it could be broken from the outside.

But Eiji was in no hurry. On one hand, Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit might get hurt, but its life would not be in danger.

On the other hand, the professors and scholars in the back were eagerly studying away. There was no need for him to defeat Kuchisake-onna so quickly.

Once Kuchisake-onna was subdued by Suguru Geto, there would not be many chances left to study her.

Suguru Geto still had school to attend and commissions to Exorcise Cursed Spirits to take. He had very little time to visit the institute.

If it were weaker Grade 2 or Grade 3 Cursed Spirits, Suguru Geto could simply leave them at the institute for the scholars and professors to study at leisure. But he could not casually leave a Quasi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit at the institute.

If it accidentally triggered an attack, he might not even have time to issue an order to stop it from all the way back at school.

So, he would let these scholars and professors study it for a while longer.

As for the Cursed Spirit inside, there was nothing to worry about.

The little girl inside had been transformed from the Special Grade Demon Cursed Spirit, who excelled at shapeshifting.

Kuchisake-onna had been rated a Quasi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit primarily because of the sure-hit attack granted by her Simple Domain.

This attack was extremely dangerous against Jujutsu Sorcerers. One careless mistake could cost them their lives.

But it was nothing to the Special Grade Demon Cursed Spirit.

Though he did not have a Domain, his raw strength was undeniably Special Grade. Kuchisake-onna's attack hurt, but it was difficult for it to threaten the life of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.

The scene settled into an eerie silence.

Kuchisake-onna's Simple Domain created a domain where neither side could attack the other.

Within this domain, Kuchisake-onna would ask her target a question. Once the target answered, Kuchisake-onna would launch her attack.

She would summon several enormous scissors and cut her opponent to pieces.

Unfortunately, in the original story, Kuchisake-onna had encountered Toji Fushiguro.

Toji Fushiguro possessed a complete Heavenly Restriction, leaving him with zero Cursed Energy.

To a Domain, he was an unidentifiable invisible man, no different from a tree or stone by the roadside.

That was why Toji Fushiguro could knock away all of Kuchisake-onna's scissors before their attack landed.

The Domain could not identify Toji Fushiguro, so its sure-hit attack failed. Kuchisake-onna had to manually control the scissors to attack Toji Fushiguro. Thus, although the attack was launched, it lost its sure-hit property, allowing Toji Fushiguro to deal with it as an ordinary attack.

Come to think of it, Suguru Geto had it pretty rough too. The two trump cards of Tokyo Jujutsu High's second-years—the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Rainbow Dragon, renowned for its physical toughness, and Kuchisake-onna, powerful because of the Simple Domain's one-time sure-hit attack—had both been completely countered by Toji Fushiguro.

Rainbow Dragon had been cut down by the Soul Liberation Blade, which ignored durability, while Kuchisake-onna's strongest technique, a sure-hit attack usable only once per battle, had failed.

Just as Eiji's thoughts drifted afar, Kuchisake-onna, who had been silent for a long time, finally made a new move.

Kuchisake-onna felt insulted.

In the past, who had not screamed and run upon encountering her? Even those who could defeat her had fought her with fear in their hearts.

But what was wrong with these people around her?

The little girl in front of her had stared at her expressionlessly for over an hour without saying a single word.

Are you mute?

And those two people behind her were actually discussing and judging her right in front of her.

The curious gazes from dozens of meters behind her, as though they wanted to strip her naked and study her, were even more unbearable.

Having existed for over twenty years and reached the level of a Quasi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Kuchisake-onna was clearly not a completely mindless Cursed Spirit.

And so, Kuchisake-onna, who did not have much of a brain to begin with, became enraged.

The bandages around her mouth parted, revealing a bloodied maw full of sharp teeth that stretched all the way to her ears.

The pale blue Simple Domain vanished, and the scissors that had surrounded the little girl snapped down at her.

At the same time the scissors fell, Kuchisake-onna did not remain idle. The small scissors in her hand enlarged, and she turned to stab Eiji.

In her perception, this human bore her the most ill will.

Eiji, who had mentally gone through every method netizens from his previous life had suggested for dealing with Kuchisake-onna: ???