Sixteen years of silence

Her grandmother's injuries were worse than they looked.

As Rihito helped Kugisaki tend to the wounds, his fingers brushed the blackened edges, sending a faint numbness through his fingertips.

"It's poison. Poison from some kind of cursed technique."

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Kugisaki said nothing. She simply treated her grandmother's wounds with a calm expression.

Cleaning, disinfecting, bandaging-the two worked together seamlessly. The only sounds in the room were the tearing of bandages and her grandmother's strained breathing.

Once the wounds were dressed, her grandmother leaned against the wall, her graying hair plastered to her forehead with sweat.

With her back to her, Kugisaki stuffed the bloodstained old bandages into a garbage bag.

"Talk." Kugisaki didn't turn around.

Her grandmother kept her eyes closed and remained silent for a long time.

"Your father's name was Toru Kugisaki."

At that name, Kugisaki's body went rigid.

"He wasn't anyone remarkable," her grandmother said, her voice slow and hoarse, as though she were digging through mud for fragments of the distant past.

"He wasn't very tall, and he didn't talk much. When he smiled, the left corner of his mouth would rise a little higher than the right."

"But he kept his word. Once he made a promise, he would die before breaking it."

"...I never met him." Kugisaki finally spoke, her voice betraying no emotion.

"That was all my fault." After a moment of silence, her grandmother opened her eyes and stared at the grain of the wooden ceiling.

"Our family has guarded a cursed object for generations. It's called the Scorpion Mound. Toru was its previous guardian."

She paused, as though gathering her strength.

"Sixteen years ago, Toru met a curse user named Niezaki. His own cursed technique had turned against his body. He only had a few years left."

"To survive, Niezaki approached Toru, hoping he would use the Scorpion Mound to save his life. But Toru refused."

"His desperation to survive nearly drove Niezaki mad. He actually tried to force the seal open, but Toru discovered him, and the two ended up fighting."

"I don't know how long they fought. All I know is that Toru never came back."

Kugisaki's hand rested on the edge of the medical kit, her knuckles tightening little by little.

Rihito remained silent as well.

But his gaze fell on the hand she had braced against the medical kit.

Her knuckles had turned white, and the metal clasp had pressed a deep red mark into the side of her hand.

Rihito watched for a moment, then quietly looked away.

"The Scorpion Mound's seal can only be opened with our family's inherited Straw Spirit Cursed Technique. In the end, Niezaki failed."

"Later, I took people to look for Niezaki, but he'd already realized he couldn't force the seal open. He'd fled long before we arrived, and he never appeared again."

"My chance to kill Niezaki slipped away right before my eyes. That hatred settled in my heart, and I buried it there for sixteen years."

As the last word fell, the room went quiet.

Rihito looked at Kugisaki.

She still had her hand on the medical kit, her back utterly still.

She had held that same position ever since her grandmother began speaking.

"...Has he come back now?"

Kugisaki finally spoke, her voice low, as though she were forcing the words through clenched teeth.

Her grandmother nodded.

With the answer she wanted, Kugisaki slowly stood up.

But Rihito keenly noticed that both her hands were trembling faintly.

"Why did you keep this from me until now?" Kugisaki stared at her grandmother.

Her grandmother met her granddaughter's gaze. It was impossible to tell whether the expression on her aged face was guilt or stubbornness.

"Because I knew what you would do if I told you."

"You would go looking for him. You would follow the same path as your father. I lost my son."

"...I didn't want to lose my granddaughter too, even if you hated me for it."

Kugisaki's clenched fists slowly loosened and fell to her sides.

Rihito said nothing.

Perhaps this was why she had always avoided anything to do with her grandmother.

The more she knew, the heavier the burden she would carry.

Silence spread through the room for a moment.

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Then her grandmother spoke again, a note of gravity entering her voice.

"Two months ago, the Scorpion Mound's seal began to weaken."

"The seal needs to be reinforced every few decades. That duty has been passed down through generations of the Kugisaki family."

Her grandmother looked down at the wrinkles covering the backs of her hands. "I should have been the one to do it. But I'm too old. My body can't take it anymore."

"Once the seal breaks down completely, what's inside will escape. Then it won't just be this village that dies."

"So...that's why you called me back?" Kugisaki asked.

"Yes." Her grandmother closed her eyes. "But I never expected Niezaki to be waiting for this day too."

Rihito's brow tightened slightly.

"After sixteen years, his body should have given out long ago. But to stay alive, he somehow held on until now."

Every clue fell into place at that moment.

Her grandmother had had no choice but to send that letter so the seal could be reinforced.

And that was precisely why Niezaki hadn't killed her grandmother outright.

Niezaki had waited sixteen years for someone of the Kugisaki bloodline to willingly approach the Scorpion Mound.

"Where is he?" Kugisaki asked.

"Nobara..." Her grandmother looked at her, her voice heavy with conflicting emotions.

She hadn't wanted Kugisaki to come back, but the Scorpion Mound's seal was too important, and she was the only one who could reinforce it...

"Where is he?" Kugisaki asked again.

Her voice remained calm, without a trace of any other emotion.

But that very calm was more frightening than any roar.

Her fingers curled at her sides, her knuckles white but no longer trembling.

If anger had a shape, it would probably have been her clenched fists at that moment.

"...The mountain behind the village." Only after a long silence did her grandmother answer in a low voice.

Shing!

Azure cursed energy instantly flared at her fingertips.

Kugisaki turned and headed for the door.

But Rihito caught her arm.

"Let go!" Kugisaki looked back, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes.

"No." Rihito looked at her, his voice just as calm. "Curse users aren't cursed spirits. They use their heads. And the one you're about to face is a madman on the verge of death."

Kugisaki jerked her arm hard, but couldn't break free.

"Let go of me!"

"Kugisaki." Rihito's voice overrode hers. "Back then, your father

went alone to stop Niezaki and died on that mountain road. Are you going to charge in alone too?"

Kugisaki froze.

She might have become a jujutsu sorcerer now, and she might have grown strong enough.

But in truth, if she went alone, there was a very good chance she would meet the same fate as her father.

Seeing Kugisaki's emotions gradually settle, Rihito let go.

"Don't forget. We're comrades."

He stepped back, staring straight into Kugisaki's eyes.

"And a comrade won't let you run off alone to get yourself killed."

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"Comrades...huh?"

Kugisaki stood where she was, her clenched fists slowly relaxing.

She took two steps back, leaned against the wall, and sat down.

At some point, insects had begun chirping outside the window, faint but persistent, like something that refused to go out in the darkness.

Rihito sat down opposite her, his back against the doorframe.

Neither of them spoke.

But Kugisaki didn't take another step toward the door.