Clues, part two

On their third day in India, the five of them flew to Mumbai.

Their destination was Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus-though its official name had changed long ago, locals still habitually called it Victoria Terminus (the advantage of a shorter name).

The magnificent building, blending Gothic pointed arches, traditional Indian carvings, and stained glass, was far more than a railway station.

It was a living specimen of colonial history, and a crucible of life through which more than two million passengers passed each day.

After making a rough sweep of the main hall and casually subduing twenty-odd low-level cursed spirits bred in anxiety-ridden corners, Dio stopped beneath the imposing stone lion statue at the entrance.

His brow furrowed slightly, not because of the building's oppressive presence, but because of a more intangible, more cloying "weight."

The density of curses here was abnormally high.

He was not the only one who felt it. Even the ordinary passengers moving through the station showed faint signs of physical "discomfort."

An almost tangible collective anxiety permeated the station.

People hurried so urgently they nearly stumbled, and impatient shouts erupted at the ticket windows from time to time.

Even the pigeons roosting in the towering vaults seemed unusually restless, endlessly beating their wings among the beams and scattering gray-white feathers.

"Negative emotions accumulate here."

Suguru Geto laid out his analysis clearly.

"The fear of missing a train, the impatience of rushing somewhere, the exhaustion of commuting, the hatred of crowds...

"The daily stress of millions settles here and ferments.

"It's practically the perfect breeding ground for cursed spirits."

"Sounds like somewhere an 'amalgamation of office workers' resentment' would love," Manami said with a soft sigh as she watched the endless flow of people.

"Doesn't it? Let's go meet that local sorcerer and hear what they actually know."

The Eye of Garuda's contact was a young, black-haired man in gold-rimmed glasses and a neatly pressed suit who introduced himself as Amit.

He had reserved a table at a noisy local restaurant on the station's second floor to meet the five of them.

"Hello, I'm Amit." He adjusted his glasses, his gaze moving cautiously between Suguru Geto and Dio. "Japan's strongest combatants have come a long way. What brings you to our country?"

"You know we're Special Grade," Suguru Geto said, applying pressure with a smile, "yet you still dare speak to us in that tone?"

"Behind me stands-"

"Does your organization have a Special Grade Sorcerer?" Dio interrupted before he could finish. He did not need to hear the rest to know what nonsense Amit was about to spout.

Amit choked on his words, his expression stiffening slightly.

Larue cut into the spiced roast chicken before him and joined in unhurriedly:

"I met a few Indian curse users in Hong Kong twelve years ago. Their skills were middling, with no real top-tier fighters.

"You generally rely on special grade cursed spirits you've inherited or captured as a deterrent, right?"

Amit's expression shifted slightly. He pressed his earpiece and listened to instructions for a moment before speaking again:

"Let's get straight to the point. Our organization is willing to provide the information you need, but we also ask that you refrain from further bloodshed in Mumbai."

"Further bloodshed? That's awfully pompous wording," Toshihisa Negi muttered.

"We'll leave once we've captured the Elephant God," Dio said, leaning back in his chair. "We have no interest in meddling in your local affairs right now."

Amit breathed a sigh of relief and began his explanation:

"Ganesh, the Elephant God, is the god of wisdom and the removal of obstacles in our mythology.

"He has roamed throughout India for over a thousand years, though we can't rule out the possibility of 'successive incarnations' during that time.

"Our organization's history doesn't go back that far, however. We only have records from the past few decades."

He brought up the files on his tablet. "The first record dates to the Partition of India in 1947-he appeared and removed obstacles blocking crowds of refugees. Given how long ago it happened, the details can no longer be verified.

"The second was during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Cholera broke out at a refugee shelter in Kolkata, and conventional medication proved ineffective.

"Witnesses claimed to have seen 'the Elephant God lightly touching patients' foreheads with the tip of his trunk.' Afterward, the outbreak suddenly subsided without any medical explanation.

"He appeared sporadically over the following decades as well, and each appearance involved 'removing obstacles' or 'breaking a deadlock.'

"His last confirmed appearance was six weeks ago, right here at Victoria Terminus.

"He apparently 'bestowed' the conceptual property of 'running more smoothly and quickly' upon a delayed train.

"Taken together, these incidents suggest that 'Ganesh, the remover of obstacles' responds to large-scale, intense collective wishes for 'obstacles to be removed.'

"This isn't some mission he must fulfill or a contract imposed by a binding vow. It seems more like a game he plays whenever the mood strikes him.

"So he doesn't respond every time, and there's no discernible pattern to when or how he responds."

Suguru Geto looked thoughtful. "Indian culture views death as part of reincarnation rather than an ending.

"So perhaps the cursed spirits here aren't filled with despair and resentment like those elsewhere. Instead, they carry some kind of obsession with 'unfinished business,' repeatedly interfering with whatever phenomena trigger it."

"A station is somewhere people go to 'move,'" Manami picked up the thread, "while Ganesh is a god who governs 'obstacles.'

"He probably appeared here because there are vast numbers of prayers for 'obstacles to be removed.' That's certainly an important lead."

Dio dipped his flatbread into the spinach and cheese sauce and asked the crucial questions:

"Do you have any records of him fighting?

"How exactly does his ability to 'bestow concepts' manifest?

"For instance, could he give an ordinary knife a 'sure-hit' property? Or bestow the concept of 'impassable' upon a barrier?"

Amit shook his head.

"Absolute concepts like those probably aren't possible.

"The three types of concepts observed so far are 'alteration of properties,' 'enhancement of magnitude,' and 'deepening of concepts.'

"In theory, those could produce many applications, but the cost is enormous-the stronger the concept bestowed, the greater the cursed energy consumed and the heavier the 'burden' borne.

"That's why the intervals between the Elephant God's appearances are often so long."

"Thank you for the information." Dio put down his half-eaten flatbread, took out another rupee coin, and tossed it lightly into the air.

The coin flipped several times before landing back in his palm-heads up.

He put the coin away and looked at Amit, his question cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "Then why did you take the initiative to contact us and share this information?"

Amit fell silent for a moment, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the edge of his tablet as his eyes flickered behind his glasses.

Finally, he sighed, as though he had made up his mind:

"...You were asking about the Elephant God in Delhi. India's Jujutsu Society wasn't entirely unaware of that.

"Rather than wait for you to investigate further and possibly attract unnecessary attention or provoke conflict, we decided to offer an opportunity for... 'cooperation.'

"And we happen to have another cursed spirit here that also requires a Special Grade Sorcerer to deal with."

"Oh?" Suguru Geto's eyes lit up.

This was an unexpected windfall. They had only come looking for traces of the Elephant God, yet there was a "bonus" too?

With two users of Cursed Spirit Manipulation in the group, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that this trip to India would only net him some Grade 1 and Grade 2 "scraps" to supplement his collection.

Could it be... that I have a chance to capture a special grade cursed spirit Dio isn't interested in?

He subtly adjusted his posture, keeping his tone calm. "Let's hear it."

"Two of our Grade 3 Sorcerers disappeared while keeping watch for the Elephant God. Divination using a person-locating cursed technique indicated that 'rats' had attacked them."

Amit's voice grew subdued.

"Afterward, our leader personally led a team to exterminate them, only to return badly wounded. More than half the people he brought were lost.

"We were already considering hiring sorcerers from overseas, or luring the Elephant God in to pit one threat against the other... and then you arrived."

He pressed his earpiece and listened for another two or three seconds, then took a deep breath. "Well... we can pay ten million US dollars for the job. That's the largest foreign currency reserve the organization can free up."

"Why not abandon Mumbai and move to another base?" Toshihisa Negi interjected. "I thought curse-user groups like yours had pretty 'flexible' moral standards."

"There's something you don't understand, sir."

A bitter smile crossed Amit's face, mingling helplessness with self-mockery.

"Mumbai is our country's largest city, and the Eye of Garuda is its largest curse-user organization.

"If we're forced to withdraw from Mumbai because we can't handle a special grade cursed spirit on our own territory...

"Our bitter rivals in New Delhi-the Eight Dragon Kings, who fight us both openly and in secret-will seize the opportunity to publicize it and exploit our misfortune.

"This isn't merely a matter of territory. It's also about maintaining a certain 'dignity,' whether we like it or not."

Beside him, Larue nodded slightly in corroboration:

"I've heard about the long-running rivalry between Mumbai and New Delhi over capital status.

"Even after New Delhi ultimately won the title, Mumbai's actual influence never diminished.

"For an organization rooted here, taking one step back could mean total ruin."

"In that case, we'll take the job," Dio agreed without hesitation.

"Huh?" Amit froze and looked at Suguru Geto. "Isn't Mr. Geto, the Special Grade Sorcerer, your leader?"

"I used to be. Not anymore," Geto said with an easy, self-deprecating air.

"Could you be... the legendary 'strongest sorcerer of the modern age,' Satoru Gojo?" Amit began to break into a cold sweat.

"No, not him either. Mr. Dio is a new Special Grade Sorcerer," Suguru Geto added.

Amit sucked in a breath, abruptly slid off his chair onto his knees, and prostrated himself. "My deepest apologies! I failed to recognize your stature!"

His exaggerated gesture immediately drew looks from the surrounding diners. This, too, was a survival strategy for a minor player.

When an opponent was too powerful to resist, publicly showing weakness could instead turn public opinion into an invisible shield.

"There's no need for that." Dio waved a hand. "I'm not about to lose my temper over a probing remark. Tell me the specifics of that cursed spirit."

Amit stood up, wiping away his sweat.

"The cursed spirit can control enormous swarms of rats and strengthen individual rats' combat abilities by infusing them with cursed energy. We call him the 'Rat King.'

"Also, our leader seems to have forgotten a great many things, so he suspects the Rat King has an ability that causes his victims to lose their memories."

"Okay, lead the way. Geto and I will be enough to capture a special grade cursed spirit. If he has Domain Expansion, I don't want to have to figure out how to protect the rest of you too," Dio instructed.

Suguru Geto looked at the three officers and added, "Stay at the hotel on standby. Don't wander off. Wait for us to return."

"Roger." Riku gave an exaggerated salute.

"Don't worry," Manami said with a smile.

As they left the restaurant, Dio glanced back one last time at the enormous vault in the center of the station. Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, painting the moving crowds within in mottled colors.