Miwa Chisei patted her round belly in satisfaction, then pressed her palms together and politely addressed the man before her.
"Thank you for the meal. If there's nothing else, I'll head home."
She looked ready to eat her fill and immediately walk away.
Behind his sunglasses, Satoru Gojo's azure eyes darkened for an instant. He leaned forward and caught the girl's arm.
Her long silver hair swept a beautiful arc through the air. The sunglasses she had just put on slipped down a little at his sudden tug, barely concealing her blood-pool eyes.
"What else is there?"
Miwa Chisei's voice was soft and light, with the clear ring peculiar to a young girl.
"You're still a minor, aren't you? Living alone is dangerous."
Although Satoru Gojo usually loved teasing everyone, he could still show a dependable side in certain matters, even if he might be directing it at the wrong person.
Miwa Chisei sighed, her brows knitting tightly as she gave the silver-haired idiot a complicated look.
"Dangerous? Do you mean Cursed Spirits, Curse Users, or creepy grown men who are just ordinary people?"
Satoru Gojo was a little speechless. For all three categories, it seemed that Miwa Chisei's appearance would be the greater danger.
"Satoru Gojo, I think you're the dangerous one."
Miwa Chisei spoke with utter sincerity, glancing at the well-defined hand gripping her arm in a silent demand for him to let go.
Ungrateful little brat. See if I care if you die!
Satoru Gojo released her, slouched back in his chair, and waved her away, his tone decidedly impatient.
"Get lost, get lost."
Given permission, Miwa Chisei immediately turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
Having eaten meat, the girl was in a very good mood. She hummed a little tune as she walked along the street toward home. This was not a particularly safe residential neighborhood; it was something of a mixed district, where some of the vendors from the traditional shopping street lived.
All sorts of people lived here, filling it with the bustle of everyday life.
As she passed a deep, dark alley, Miwa Chisei heard a familiar voice.
"Help me..."
It was Yamato Kaho, the older girl from Fortune-Telling Street who liked wearing purple wizard robes. She sometimes gave Chisei candy, then teased her by asking whether she would tell her fortune for 500 yen.
The voice quickly turned into barely audible whimpers. Miwa Chisei tilted her head toward the darkness at the alley's mouth, which resembled the maw of a great beast in the dead of night, devouring human anger, delusion, and greed.
There was no scent of a Cursed Spirit.
Miwa Chisei wound a finger around a strand of silver hair and tugged lightly, pulling it out whole. With her other hand, she slipped off her sunglasses. Her vision brightened considerably, and by the moonlight she could faintly make out two bodies entangled in the alley.
The thick, low voice grated on her ears. She could tell at once that it came from smoking too many cheap cigarettes.
"I'll pay you. Let me have some fun. You don't dress that skimpy at your little stall just to tell fortunes, do you?"
Anger colored Miwa Chisei's blood-red eyes.
This older girl appeared on Fortune-Telling Street come rain or shine. She loved her work, and though she was far from wealthy, she always smiled in contentment whenever she helped a lost young girl untangle her romantic troubles.
If you had never been part of someone's life, you had no right to judge them so casually.
Miwa Chisei stepped into the darkness without hesitation, her indifferent tone carrying a trace of mockery.
"Hey, you animal."
The clear voice interrupted the man with his pants halfway down. He turned around in annoyance. The moon emerged from behind the clouds, its light reflecting in a pair of blood-red eyes like those of a demon.
"A g-ghost!"
His first reaction was to scream. But as the moonlight grew brighter, the girl's figure became clearer. Her delicate, beautiful face was filled with indifference and contempt, yet that look stirred an indescribable excitement in him.
"Chisei, run!" Yamato Kaho screamed in terror. The girl before her was only a child. She absolutely could not let her fall into this criminal's hands.
The man leered obscenely and squeezed Yamato Kaho's full thigh.
"Buy one, get one free, huh? I'm only paying for one."
The man was powerfully built, with what looked like gang tattoos on his arms, giving him the confidence to speak with such arrogance.
Miwa Chisei wound the strand of hair around her fingertip and formed a hand seal with one hand. Red Cursed Energy burst around her, then gathered along the hair in her hand.
To the two ordinary people, however, it only seemed as though an eerie wind had suddenly risen in the dark alley.
"What are you playing at? I'll do you first, then!"
Nervous and impatient, the man immediately rose from beside Yamato Kaho and strode toward Miwa Chisei.
The girl's features were icy, as though frozen beneath a layer of frost. Her voice was flat and utterly devoid of emotion.
"Take another step, and you'll lose your right leg."
"You fucking-Aaargh!"
Before the man could finish his curse, tremendous pain shot through his right leg. He looked down to find that his lower right leg had been severed, the cut impossibly clean.
He stumbled and rolled onto the ground, writhing hideously and howling. His eyes bulged with pain as he stared fixedly at Miwa Chisei, his entire face twisted into a horrifying grimace.
Yamato Kaho covered her mouth, afraid to make a sound. Her alluring eyes were filled with panic.
Miwa Chisei, however, curved her lips into a faint smile. She brought the hand forming the seal to her lips and softly shushed him.
"If a fourth person finds out, or if I ever see you again, you'll lose your left leg next time."
Her voice was clearly gentle, but the threat it carried filled the man with fear.
All because of a mere girl.
Miwa Chisei took a deep breath and extended her hand toward Yamato Kaho a short distance away.
"Kaho, don't be afraid. Let's go home."
Yamato Kaho hesitated for only a second before standing and straightening her clothes. She shot the man a furious, resentful glare, then hurried over and took the offered hand.
It was very soft and a little cool. Although the girl had done something terrifying and beyond comprehension, Yamato Kaho did not feel afraid.
Even after they left the alley, Yamato Kaho was still shaken.
"That man..."
"No surveillance cameras, no fingerprints, no weapon. The police won't believe his nonsense, either."
Miwa Chisei led Yamato Kaho by the hand along the main road, her expression calm and innocent.
"How... did you do that?"
After a moment's hesitation, Yamato Kaho still asked cautiously. After all, as far as she knew, such a thing was impossible.
"Kaho, this is our line of work, isn't it?"
It was a very vague answer, but it made Yamato Kaho laugh. Perhaps some things were better left unknown.
"Thank you, Chisei."
Whatever the case, in her moment of despair and anguish, it was this slender girl who had stepped forward to protect her.
Miwa Chisei murmured an acknowledgment, then spotted the tall figure beneath a streetlight not far away.
A strange man who, like her, wore sunglasses even late at night.
He saw everything, didn't he? Look at how excited he is. So utterly annoying.
Before you continue