In the hotel room, the electric kettle puffed out steam with a soft sputter.
Suguru Geto sat on the sofa, holding a cup of freshly brewed tea. He blew on it leisurely, then took a sip. It was just the hotel's bagged tea, nothing fancy, but the water was hot enough to mellow much of its astringency. It tasted decent enough.
He looked relaxed, almost slouching, his legs crossed as he leaned against the sofa's backrest and occasionally glanced at the others in the room.
The star plasma vessel, Riko Amanai, lay curled up on the other sofa. Her breathing was steady, and she was still unconscious, but unharmed. Her servant, Kuroi, a woman who looked to be in her thirties, slumped in the armchair beside Riko, her head tilted to one side. She too was unconscious and unhurt.
At the other end of the room, the Q Organization member who had threatened Suguru Geto earlier was tangled up in a cursed spirit.
Its swollen body had countless heads. Just looking at it was enough to trigger trypophobia.
The Q Organization member desperately used his hands to fend off the cursed spirit's attempts to lick him, while it held him tightly in its embrace.
"Please," he said hoarsely, his voice trembling with something close to a plea. "Let me go."
He was reaching his breaking point.
"I'll leave. I'll quit the Q Organization. No-I'll stop being a curse user and go back to the countryside to farm."
He couldn't take it anymore. The cursed spirit wrapped around him was utterly sanity-shattering. After being licked all over by an enormous, slick tongue, all he wanted to do was throw up.
Suguru Geto sat on the sofa and leisurely sipped his tea. Then he turned his head, cupped a hand beside his