Kyoto.
On the streets at dusk, pedestrians were few and far between.
Utahime Iori walked home alone, clutching her phone, its screen lit.
News alerts popped up one after another.
[Existence of jujutsu sorcerers confirmed! Government officially releases information on supernatural powers]
[Update on Tokyo's large-scale disaster: death toll continues to rise, officials call it a "jujutsu accident"]
[Jujutsu Headquarters announces full takeover of disaster response, urges public to remain calm]
She stopped and tapped one of them.
A photograph filled the screen.
It was an aerial view of Tokyo's Minato Ward. Entire blocks had been reduced to charred ruins, with a circular area in the center flattened by some force, as though something had pressed down on it from above.
Text accompanied the photograph.
"According to Jujutsu Headquarters, this disaster was caused by an unregistered, extremely dangerous jujutsu sorcerer, code name Wangchuan."
"The sorcerer deployed a large-scale cursed technique in the city, causing extensive civilian casualties."
"Jujutsu Headquarters has now established a special response team and will take necessary measures against the sorcerer involved."
Utahime's fingers tightened around the screen.
"An extremely dangerous jujutsu sorcerer."
"Necessary measures."
"Extensive civilian casualties."
She stared at those lines, her brows drawing tighter and tighter.
"Wangchuan definitely didn't do it on purpose."
If more than twenty thousand people really had died, there had to be another reason.
"And revealing the existence of jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits..."
Utahime put her phone away and quickened her pace.
"When have those higher-ups ever cared about ordinary people's right to know?"
"What they fear most is ordinary people learning that Jujutsu Society exists, that cursed spirits eat people, and what they do sitting in that dark room."
"And now they're suddenly making it public..."
She gritted her teeth.
"What are they trying to do?"
She took