The next day.
"I've submitted the report to the higher-ups," Suguru Geto spoke first, his voice still weak.
"For the principal of Third Middle School, I wrote that it was an error in judgment on the scene-that we mistook an ordinary person controlled by a Cursed Spirit for the Cursed Spirit itself. I'll take responsibility. Stay out of it."
"Why should you take responsibility? I was the one who killed him."
"There's no point arguing over this." Suguru Geto smiled, his expression as gentle as ever.
"I was in charge of the mission. If something went wrong, it was my responsibility anyway. If you get dragged into this too, who's going to clean up Satoru's messes?"
Shoko's fingers never stopped moving. Without even lifting her eyelids, she drawled:
"There's no point in you two arguing about this now. Those old foxes up top know exactly what happened. If they really want to hold someone accountable, neither of you will get away. If they don't, whatever you write is just a formality."
The disciplinary decisions arrived that afternoon: a demerit for Suguru Geto and a warning for Qingxiao. The severed-arm attack was classified as "a roaming Curse User seeking revenge" and shelved for the time being due to insufficient leads.
No one mentioned investigating further.
Over the next half month, Qingxiao used missions as a pretext to follow several leads along the Cursed Tool traces left by the pocket-realm pouch.
But every time he reached a crucial point, the trail vanished completely, as if someone had deliberately erased every trace.
"Kenjaku?"
He remembered that fellow's Cursed Technique and knew he could acquire the corresponding Cursed Technique by eating body parts.
He could not understand why Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation, specifically, had become his target, or what he intended to do