It Was All the Cursed Spirits' Fault

"How could..."

Fushiguro's and Kugisaki's expressions changed instantly.

"Was the cursed spirit after Rihito all along?"

In an instant, the abandoned laboratory fell deathly silent, save for the transfigured humans' faint cries for help from their culture chambers.

"It seems that cursed spirit still hasn't given up on you." Nanami's gaze lingered on Rihito for a moment. "Be careful."

After saying that to Rihito, Nanami turned toward the exit.

"Let's go. We'll see if there are any clues elsewhere."

The others quickly followed.

The corridor outside the laboratory was even darker than when they had arrived.

Rihito walked at the rear, Kaori's shrunken, slightly swollen face still filling his mind.

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, forcing his attention back to the present.

The passage ahead forked in two, something they had noticed on their way in.

The left led back to where they had started; the right led into the unknown.

Nanami stopped.

He glanced down the left passage, then the right, before taking a portable flashlight from his pocket and shining it to the right.

The beam swept over the mottled walls and landed on a half-open iron door at the far end.

"Over there."

They had barely started moving when a muffled crash suddenly came from deep within the left passage.

It was a heavy sound, as though something massive had fallen from a great height and slammed into the ground.

Nanami stopped dead. He turned his head, his gaze flicking between the two passages.

"You three, take the left." His tone left no room for argument.

"Mr. Nanami-" Kugisaki began, only to be cut off.

"Someone needs to investigate that noise on the left. If it's anything troublesome, I'll deal with it and catch up with you."

Nanami had already drawn the cursed tool from his waist, its short handle and broad blade gleaming coldly in the dim light.

"Stay alert, and don't split up."

He looked at Rihito, his gaze lingering a beat longer than it had on the other two.

Then he turned and ran down the right passage.

His leather shoes struck the concrete, the sound receding until the darkness deep within the passage swallowed it.

The corridor fell quiet again, leaving only their breathing and the dust drifting slowly through the flashlight beam.

"Let's go." Rihito took the first step.

The passage was short. After roughly thirty steps, the half-open iron door stood before them.

A sliver of grayish-white fluorescent light seeped through the gap, accompanied by an electrical hum.

Rihito reached out, planted his hand against the door, and pushed hard.

Creeeak-

The door opened.

The room was much smaller than the laboratory.

Shelves were built into all four walls, lined with glass containers of every size.

Rihito didn't look closely at what floated inside them. His attention was immediately caught by the object in the middle of the room.

It was a chair, much like the one in the psychiatric hospital, but larger and sturdier.

Iron restraints were welded to its metal armrests, their inner surfaces padded with leather that had turned black.

Several splits in the leather backrest exposed the dark yellow stuffing beneath.

Someone sat in the chair.

No, he wasn't "sitting" in it. He was strapped to it.

He was a boy about Rihito's age.

His head hung low, his hair covering most of his face. His school uniform was just as Rihito remembered.

A dark blue standing collar, with the school crest embroidered on the left breast pocket.

The uniform was covered in dried blood, layer upon layer ranging from dark red to brownish-black.

"Hey!" Kugisaki rushed over first.

She crouched in front of the chair and reached for his carotid artery. The moment her fingers touched his skin, she jerked back as though shocked.

"He's alive," Kugisaki said quietly. "But... something's wrong. His body temperature is way too low."

Rihito stepped forward.

When he recognized the face half-hidden beneath the long hair, he stopped abruptly.

"...Tanaka?!"

Rihito knew that face. He was a classmate who had sat in the same row, by the window.

Rihito didn't remember much about him, only a time during gym class when he had collapsed from exhaustion and the others had laughed at him.

What was his name again...

At the sound of Rihito's voice, the boy's eyelids twitched.

Tanaka slowly lifted his head. It wasn't a normal movement; he raised it in jerky increments, like a rusty hinge being forced to turn.

Then his hair slipped away from his face.

The left half still looked human, with pale skin and chapped lips that seeped blood.

But the right half...

Rihito's breath caught.

An eye nearly twice its normal size stared at him.

"...Ri...hito..."

Tanaka squeezed the words from deep in his throat. The left side of his lips trembled, while the right corner of his mouth stretched into a grin, exposing his teeth and gums.

"Run..."

Boom!

The instant the word left his mouth, his right arm, twice as thick as his left, went rigid.

The chains snapped taut with a thunderous crash and were torn straight out of the chair's backrest.

"Watch out!" Kugisaki cried. With no time to worry about whether Tanaka was still conscious, she sent three nails shooting forward.

"Divine Dogs!" Fushiguro was even faster. The Divine Dogs pounced the instant Tanaka rose.

"Aaaaaah-!!"

Tanaka let out an inhuman roar and ripped himself free of the chair.

"Hurry... run...!!!"

As Tanaka roared, several sharp bone spikes erupted from his right arm, which he swung down at Rihito.

Boom!

Unable to retreat in time, Rihito raised his arms to block. The tremendous force made the floor beneath him sink slightly.

The sharp bone spikes sliced straight through his skin, leaving several deep, bloody gashes along his arms.

A second later, the Divine Dogs lunged onto Tanaka and tore into him.

Kugisaki's three nails struck a moment later, burying themselves deep in his chest.

"I told you... to run!!!"

In that instant, sharp-

Bone spikes erupted wildly from Tanaka's body, one after another, in a sight that made their scalps prickle.

Fushiguro's Divine Dogs were pierced almost instantly, suffering grievous wounds.

Even the three nails Kugisaki had landed were forced back out.

"This is bad. It's a cursed technique!"

Fushiguro's heart sank as he immediately grasped how Tanaka fought.

"He can make his bones grow at will. That leaves almost no gaps in either his offense or defense. And since a cursed spirit transfigured him, his strength must be incredible too. Is he Mahito's new toy?"

Now Rihito had to face a grim truth.

Because of him, Mahito had captured his former classmates and used them for experiments.

And clearly, the changes made to them followed almost the same path as his own.

If not for him, perhaps this tragedy would never have happened.

"Rihito, stop standing there like an idiot! What happened to them had absolutely nothing to do with you!"

As though she had seen through his inner struggle, Kugisaki suddenly spoke.

"This is all the cursed spirits' fault. Without them, nothing you did would have put these people in danger."

"Even if you think something you did caused this, would they really have been safe with cursed spirits around?"

"Even if nothing happened to them, could you guarantee the cursed spirits wouldn't go after someone else?"

"So... Rihito, this is all the cursed spirits' fault. If we exorcise them, we can prevent more tragedies and save more people in the future!"

That's right. If not for cursed spirits, how could any of this have happened?

As long as I exorcise Mahito, no one will ever be turned into a transfigured human again.

Rihito slowly raised his head, the wavering in his eyes giving way to renewed resolve.

"Tanaka, I'll put you out of your misery!"