471 Bearing the Burden / 472 The Usual Place

It's a little past one o'clock now, which is the so-called "Chou Shi" (丑时), a legendary and very ominous time.

Shuya stood in the deserted, quiet apartment, staring at a photograph of a dead person.

He stared at Rena with a blank expression, and the air seemed to freeze.

It seemed to get colder around us.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...

In the photo, Rena's tears of blood spill from her eyes, scattering and breaking on the ground.

Her eyes became two empty voids, like bottomless abysses of hell, churning with countless evil spirits and vengeful ghosts; just looking into them brought unbearable trembling.

Suddenly, the light bulb above Shuya's head flickered, the room went dark for about a second, and then immediately returned to normal.

But in that instant, the photo in front of Shuya's eyes was completely blank, with only clumps of blood on the ground, emitting a strong smell of blood.

Shuya tilted his head, walked over, and reached out his hand, wanting to touch the now blank portrait.

Just then, a cold hand landed on his shoulder.

Shuya: "..."

Before he could turn around, a tremendous force pulled his head, trying to turn him to the left.

But embarrassingly, it didn't budge.

The hand holding his head hesitated for a moment, then tugged at it again.

This time, Shuya cooperated by turning his head to look at the scene.

As he turned his head, he saw a hideous face with empty eyes and bloody tears filling his vision.

A face resembling Rena's came closer.

Her voice was resentful and malicious as she said in a sinister tone, "It's all your fault..."

Shuya nodded, and then began to move.

He turned around quickly, grabbed her hair and pulled her down, then brutally slammed his knee into her face.

"You're trying to scare your mother! Fuck!"

Shuya, and with a flurry of punches taught by Xia Ji, Xia Ji unleashed a flurry of blows.

Then came a series of muffled thuds. Shuya vented his anger on her, and finally, four-colored chains emerged from his body, binding her tightly and hanging her in mid-air.

Shuya then stopped.

He stared at the thing, about to start pointing and cursing.

"Finished?"

But then a familiar female voice came from behind.

Shuya turned around and saw Yukino leaning against the wall, looking at the thing he had tied up.

Although that thing resembled Rena, she knew it wasn't her.

The thing, though bound, didn't struggle; it just smiled eerily, staring at Shuya with its empty eyes.

She didn't even glance at Yukino, showing absolutely no interest in her.

Shuya Yukino gagged the thing, abandoning any intention of arguing back.

"Why haven't you dealt with it yet?"

Yukino crossed her arms and stared at the eerie, chilling thing.

"You make it sound so simple; this isn't something that's easy to solve."

Shuya replied irritably.

Yukino leaned her head against the wall and said slowly, "If you're determined, you'll always find a way."

"There's nothing I can do, you overestimate me."

Shuya shrugged. "This is... Curse cast by so many 'good seniors'."

This thing that's popping up again to make its presence known isn't some new concept.

Rather... it Curse that Rena carried back then.

Curse born from the Fox God's manipulation of Forbidden Art of Life and Death.

The matter is not complicated.

Even when Shuya gathered the Power of God and Monster, he couldn't save Rena and could only watch her die.

However, the matter did not end there.

According to the knowledge of the Heavenly God, the Curse would not only torment Rena during her final days, but would also annihilate her soul after her death, preventing her from ever being reborn.

The Fox God originally shared the same fate, but it took the initiative to ascend to Age of Gods, thus completely eliminating itself. Therefore, its Curse has ended, and the Little Fox will not be affected.

Shuya, knowing this, naturally wouldn't let it go unchecked.

Rena is dying, and he doesn't want to see the woman he loves suffer in the final moments of her life.

So he made a decision.

He will bear this Curse.

Although the Power of God and Monster cannot destroy the Curse, it can be transferred to another vessel.

With the power of the Heavenly God, Three Munakata Goddesses and their Monster subordinates, Rena's Curse was transferred to Shuya.

With the power of the gods and demons, plus Shuya's own Divine Power of the Four Divine Beasts, Demon Power, and qi, they successfully transferred the Curse and sealed it within his body.

Shuya needs to do next is to slowly wear it down with various forces until the day it is completely destroyed.

The Curse was successfully transferred, but the life Rena lost could not be restored, so she still died six years ago.

Even if we can't save her, at least let her pass away without pain.

The Curse's activity decreased significantly after it sensed Rena's death.

This is how the events of that year came to an end.

However, to be honest, this Curse is indeed very powerful; even after six years, only a small portion has been eliminated.

It occasionally pops up like this, which is really troublesome.

He even experiences auditory and visual hallucinations when he's in a bad mood... though it's not very serious and doesn't significantly affect his life.

Also, a portion of the power is used for sealing, which affects combat strength, but it's not a major problem.

It's disgusting.

This Curse knew his weakness and, ever since it entered his body, it has been tormenting him under the guise of Rena's face.

It's really incredibly annoying.

There are a few minor restrictions, but they're not a big problem.

There's not much to say about the Curse; what surprised Shuya was why Yukino suddenly showed up at his door.

He casually pulled the Curse back into his body, then asked Yukino, "How did you get here? I shouldn't have made any noise."

The Curse I just hurled wasn't even that loud.

"..."

Yukino did not answer immediately.

She simply frowned and asked, "Just now... did you come and open our door?"

"When did I open your door? Are you still half asleep?"

Shuya had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

"... I must have misheard."

It seems that Yukino herself was unsure, and she didn't insist on anything.

"Then you can go back if you have nothing else to do."

Yukino left after saying that.

"... Okay then."

After this incident, Shuya no longer had any intention of staying here to reminisce.

He went back to his room to meditate.

Yukino returned to Mai and the others' room and lay down on the edge of the large bed crowded with girls.

"... Yukino, you went out just now?"

The one speaking was Motoko was being tightly hugged by Mai as a body pillow.

By the way, Ayase and Kirino are at the very back, Ayase is holding Kirino tightly.

Yukino turned to Mai and said, "She went out for a bit."

She thought for a moment and said, "Just now... Mai, you weren't up, were you?"

No, why?

"Yeah..."

Yukino nodded, indicating that everything was alright.

... Was that just a dream? Or was it all my imagination?

Yukino tried hard to recall the circumstances under which she had been startled awake.

She didn't wake up naturally.

Okay, I'll touch it tomorrow.

Section 507, Page 472: The Old Place

Yukino recalled what had just happened.

She vaguely heard the doorknob turning in her sleep, but she had locked the door before going to sleep, so the person trying to open it didn't open it the first time, but only made a sound.

Then it seemed the door lock was opened, and someone successfully entered.

Yukino thought the person was Shuya, so she decided to get up and say something to him.

Then, the instant she opened her eyes, she seemed to see a figure flash by.

The figure seemed to be wearing a rabbit hair clip, a style often used by Mai.

But the figure appeared and disappeared so quickly that she wasn't sure if she was seeing things.

So she looked back and confirmed it.

However, she saw that Mai was not awake, and the rabbit hair clip on her head was placed aside because she was going to sleep.

Mai denied her suspicions by asking the question.

So, I really did misread it in my confusion just now?

Yukino thought to herself.

She mentally reviewed her actions:

I was sleeping when I was startled awake by the sound of a doorknob turning. I vaguely saw a figure. Feeling something was off, I went out to check. I found the front door open. I went out into the hallway and found the door next door open. I went in and saw Shuya beating up the Curse.

The process is generally normal, except at the beginning.

As for Shuya and Mai, the former said he hadn't come to open the door, and the latter said she hadn't gotten up.

This is a bit strange.