An Anomaly Discovered

With a crisp sound, Toho Tetsu sheathed Fudōmaru at his waist. He silently watched the cursed spirit before him dissolve and fade away, his eyes flickering as though he were pondering something.

It had been about an hour since they arrived at this abandoned hospital. They had moved from the inpatient wing to the general facilities wing, then the outer courtyard, and finally this treatment wing.

He had just exorcised the last cursed spirit.

Utahime Iori, who stood beside him, nodded, her expression filled with undisguised approval.

"You did well. Still, I didn't expect this abandoned hospital to have so many cursed spirits. There were dozens of Grade 4s alone, and over a dozen Grade 3s. Good thing we didn't run into any Grade 2s, or it would've taken quite a bit more effort."

Halfway through, her tone turned somewhat peculiar.

"Still, some of those cursed spirits were really sneaky. They hid in such strange places, even inside cabinets, then jumped out to scare people the moment you got close. That was just too infuriating.

"Good thing I reacted quickly. I took that thing out with one punch."

Tetsu smiled when he heard that.

He recalled what had happened then. While he was exorcising cursed spirits in the inpatient wing, he had sensed multiple presences in one room. So when he entered, he had not thought much of it and immediately began dealing with the cursed spirits he saw.

At the time, Utahime had happened to enter the room as well, passing by a wardrobe.

Since the cursed spirit inside the wardrobe overlapped with the ones in the room within his sensory range, he had failed to notice it. Naturally, he had not warned her either.

Unexpectedly, just as Utahime passed by, that cursed spirit suddenly leaped out. It startled her into backing away repeatedly. Only after realizing it was merely a Grade 4 cursed spirit did she reinforce her body with cursed energy and crush it with a punch.

She might look proud now, but he still remembered how flustered she had been at the time...

"What are you laughing at? Was I wrong?!"

Seemingly sensing a hidden meaning in his smile, Utahime frowned.

"Of course not. Your reaction really was fast, senpai. If you hadn't happened to be nearby, I probably would've had to put in more effort."

"Hmph, good that you know. My stepping in might have affected your evaluation a little, but that was only because the cursed spirit attacked me, so I had no choice but to defend myself.

"Besides, you already dealt with so many cursed spirits, and you handled the entire process perfectly. There shouldn't be any problem."

As she spoke, she checked the phone in her hand. Seeing that it was not too late yet, a hint of anticipation appeared in her eyes.

"Now that the last cursed spirit has been exorcised, our mission is basically complete. Once we document the situation here and notify the Assistant Supervisor to come over, we can leave right away."

Halfway through, she added with interest.

"Maybe we could go buy something to eat afterward? I heard there's a crepe shop in Shibuya Ward that tastes really good. Want to try it together?"

Though he did enjoy sweets, Tetsu shook his head.

Of course, it was not because he worried that eating sweets after exercise would make him fat right away. He had noticed a more important issue.

"There's still something we need to deal with before leaving. Senpai, haven't you noticed that something is wrong?"

The expectant girl froze for a moment.

"Wrong... What's wrong? Didn't we already confirm that there are no traces of cursed spirit activity? We should have dealt with all of them, right?"

Seeing her confusion, Tetsu explained.

"Think carefully, senpai. The distribution of these cursed spirits seems to follow a certain pattern. Most of the Grade 4s and the insignificant ones were in the inpatient wing and the general facilities wing, while the Grade 3s were basically all inside this treatment building, right?"

At his words, Utahime, who had not thought much of it just moments ago, paused. A thoughtful look appeared in her eyes.

"And did you notice? All those Grade 3 cursed spirits were concentrated near the top floor and the third floor. There was only one on the second floor, and not even one on the first."

By this point, even a dull person should have realized it.

"So... they were instinctively avoiding something?"

"Yes. I suspect there's a stronger cursed spirit on the first floor of the treatment wing, or perhaps underground. That's why they instinctively kept away from that direction."

After hearing his deduction, Utahime immediately pulled out the information the Assistant Supervisor had given them. After flipping through it, she found confirmation of his theory.

"You're right... The previous Assistant Supervisors only recorded clearing the other areas. It seems they never went to the basement, because there was barely any cursed energy activity there."

Halfway through, she offered a new theory.

"So, if there really is a cursed spirit there that knows how to hide itself, then it must be at least Grade 2. Only at that level would it possess rudimentary intelligence, and be able to use a place like this hospital to conceal itself."

Tetsu nodded.

Now it all lined up. A Grade 2 cursed spirit had been born in this abandoned hospital before, so another one appearing was not particularly surprising. The only difference was that this one had learned to hide itself.

"So, should we notify Jujutsu High and temporarily suspend the mission?"

He thought Utahime would favor caution, but unexpectedly, she rejected the suggestion.

"I think that would be best avoided. Since Jujutsu High knew that a Grade 2 cursed spirit had once appeared here and still sent us on this mission, they may have already accounted for this possibility. In that case, exorcising it should be the best choice."

Tetsu agreed without much thought. After all, this was not his first time facing a Grade 2. Even if there truly was a Grade 2 cursed spirit lurking in the basement, it was not something they could not handle.

Besides, perhaps his judgment was simply wrong.

After briefly tidying up the scene, the two left the fourth floor together and headed down to the first. After checking the hospital floor plan, they followed the direction of the corridor and underground passage until they arrived before a heavy iron door, rusted and corroded with age.

After signaling Utahime to be careful, Tetsu's body ignited with a thin layer of blue cursed energy. Then he viciously kicked the door, sending the iron door flying.

A tremendous boom echoed through the hollow underground space. Yet after barging through the doorway, he did not rush to search for traces of the cursed spirit. Instead, he swiftly swept his gaze over both sides behind the door.

After the earlier cursed spirit ambush, they both knew they absolutely could not let their guard down in an environment like this.

Strangely, despite the enormous noise, the basement remained pitch-black and completely silent. No cursed spirit leaped out from behind the door or from the corners, either.

That made Utahime relax slightly.

"Looks like there aren't any cursed spirits here. Maybe we were overthinking—"

Before she could finish, a violent surge of cursed energy suddenly came crashing down from directly above them. Only then did she realize that the cursed spirit had not been hiding inside the room, but on the ceiling.

The attack came too suddenly for her to reinforce her body and evade it. Tetsu grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, rushing to the side and dodging the premeditated strike.

Amid a thunderous crash and flying rubble, they retreated to the wall and turned their eyes toward the attacking cursed spirit. Then they saw its full form.

It was a massive humanoid monster wrapped from head to toe in bloodstained bandages. Its limbs were grotesquely twisted and elongated, while the nails on its hands and feet appeared exceptionally sharp.

At that moment, it was forcefully pulling both hands out of the ground.

Looking at the distinct pits left behind when its claws emerged, Tetsu knew that if he had not reacted in time, the two of them might have been pierced through by that attack and lost their ability to fight.

Moreover, it was precisely because that long-planned strike had missed that the cursed spirit had failed to launch a second attack immediately.

"Senpai, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

As he watched the cursed spirit slowly twist its body around, he quietly asked Utahime about her condition.

The girl in his arms seemed to finally realize what had just happened. Her face flushed as she hurriedly broke free from his embrace, speaking in a slightly panicked voice.

"I... I'm fine..."

Though he realized that what he had just done was somewhat inappropriate, Tetsu did not say anything more. He merely drew Fudōmaru and fixed his eyes on the cursed spirit as it slowly turned around.

Unlike the other cursed spirits, this one was very quiet. It had made no roar during its attack, nor did it make any sound now. It simply stood there in silence.

Its eyes were covered by bloodstained bandages, as though it could not see. Yet its grotesque mouth, filled with jagged teeth, wore an evil smile.

Though he vaguely sensed something was wrong, all he could do now was prepare to fight. But at that moment, the cursed spirit suddenly straightened up, thrust both claws into its chest, and violently tore outward.

At once, thick black fog erupted from its split-open chest and surged toward them.