"..."
In the dim Japanese-style room, a young black-haired child with lingering traces of babyish innocence knelt on the floor, playing with a colorful little ball. At some point, large patches of dried blood had stained her snow-white underrobe.
Just as she was happily amusing herself, hurried, disorderly footsteps sounded from the doorway.
Several uninvited visitors pushed the door open without hesitation, their armor and weapons clattering as they moved.
"?"
Alluka paused in confusion and looked up, meeting the leader's icy blue eyes, which shone like diamonds with an almost divine light.
"Did you kill someone here?"
Unlike the others, who were fully armed, the boy leading them held a folding fan. His long white hair slipped from his shoulder, lending him the elegance of a young nobleman.
"White-haired big brother?"
Seeing him, Alluka's soft little face blossomed into an innocent, adorable smile.
"...Who is this?"
The white-haired boy was not taken in by her smile. Instead, he pointed to the human-shaped puddle beside the couch, its red already congealed to near-black.
In truth, the entire room smelled foul-or rather, the whole Sugawara Residence did.
After hearing of the upheaval at home, he had rushed back from out of town at once.
The moment he saw the dead, he thought of the unusual little child who had been handed over to them.
The facts bore out his suspicions: his eyes could see that the power of the cursed spirit attached to this child had grown more substantial.
And with the remains in this room even more mangled than the other corpses, it was hard not to suspect her.
"Hm?"
Alluka did not answer his question, merely blinking in bewilderment as though she could not understand what he was saying.
"Go investigate, now!"
The white-haired boy gave the order to the tall, powerfully built warriors beside him.
"Yes, my lord."
Behind their Wisteria Armor, the warriors wore grim expressions. The main problem was that this person had been reduced to so many pieces that they could not even guess who the victim was.
But there were exceptions to everything, and questioning the few remaining servants did turn up some clues.
"Sugawara Kentarō, Sugawara Kazukazu's father's cousin, went to that child's room a day ago. Shortly afterward, more than a hundred members of the Sugawara Clan died simultaneously."
The white-haired boy stood before the Sugawara Clan Head and reported the findings.
At the mention of that grating name, his snow-white brows knitted together.
"Father, did none of you take that child seriously? Didn't I tell you she had a Special Grade companion cursed spirit attached to her? Sugawara Kazukazu's situation was connected to her, too."
He truly could not understand. He had already explained everything clearly in his letter, so how had something this disastrous still happened within the clan?
Although the Sugawara Clan's main family had suffered relatively little, and the adults holding important positions were all still alive, losing so many people at once was enough to disgrace their clan in Heian-kyō.
"The matter was entrusted to the Third Elder. He was among those who died this time."
The Sugawara Clan Head coughed lightly and turned his face away, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
He truly did not want to admit that the clan had suffered such enormous losses because he had failed in his duties.
"Satoru, one of the ladies-in-waiting in the Chūgū turned into a Rope Person and died. I hear the Empress was so terrified that she fainted. The matter has even drawn the attention of the masters at Tōdai-ji..."
The Sugawara Clan Head considered this far worse than the deaths among the branch families and servants.
The ladies-in-waiting serving beside the Empress in the Palace were noblewomen selected from the various aristocratic families. The one who had died was reportedly someone the Fujiwara Clan had selected and sent there.
An investigation into the number of Rope Person deaths alone would implicate the Sugawara Clan, and they now had no way to kill that child and hand her over.
There was simply no peaceful way to resolve this anymore.
Sugawara Satoru let out a long breath, pressed at his painfully throbbing head, and accepted the task.
"I understand, Father."
The little child's origins could no longer be traced. No one even knew where Sugawara Kazukazu had picked her up.
The problem now lay in that cursed spirit's ability.
Sugawara Kazukazu's body had been flooded with several times an ordinary person's total cursed energy. He was still wreaking havoc in the direction of Mutsu, and no one could do anything about him.
Sugawara Kentarō had only been an old man with little ability. What connection could his death possibly have to all the others?
The child refused to answer anything, too. The only slightly unusual thing was that she had asked about the child who could manipulate ice, as well as his own name.
The other child was probably already dead. Was there something strange about names?
Sugawara Satoru trusted his judgment. Perhaps names held some important significance for the cursed spirit attached to that child.
He had no intention of experimenting with his own name.
Just as he was about to order an attendant beside him to tell the child their name, someone from the gate came to report that a master from Tōdai-ji Hokke-dō had arrived.
"..."
Sugawara Satoru felt that the situation could not have been worse.
They had yet to uncover anything, and already a master from the temple had come calling.
Tōdai-ji was a Buddhist temple passed down from the Nara period and one of the four great temples protecting the nation. The principal image enshrined in its Hokke-dō was the "Amoghapāśa Avalokiteśvara Statue," and the Hokke-dō was also known as "Kenjaku-dō."
Tōdai-ji was home to eminent monks who had cultivated for many years. Sugawara Satoru had thought these masters would be in the Palace exorcising evil for the Empress. He had not expected them to arrive at his residence so soon.
"I'll be there right away."
He rubbed the space between his brows and gave the order.