[Before long, the black sedan driven by Ijichi came to a smooth stop in a secluded back alley behind the cinema where the incident had occurred.]
[You pushed open the car doors and immediately felt the oppressive atmosphere unique to a murder scene.]
[The police had already cordoned off the cinema with yellow-and-black tape, but you needed no guidance from the personnel at the scene and did not even go through the main entrance.]
[As an experienced supervising instructor, you decided to treat this field investigation as a pop quiz for Itadori.]
[Guided by faint fluctuations almost imperceptible to the naked eye, you led him along the lingering "cursed residue," with its unpleasant, clammy sensation, straight through the fire escape to the corridor outside the screening room where the incident had occurred.]
[Standing in the dim corridor, you did not immediately push open the screening room's heavy door to examine the bodies inside. Instead, you stopped there.]
[You turned your head slightly, looking calmly at the pink-haired boy beside you as you asked softly.]
["Well, Itadori? Can you see it?"]
[At your words, Itadori immediately reined in his usual exuberance.]
[He took a deep breath, concentrated the cursed energy he had only just learned to manipulate crudely into his eyes, and studied the floor and walls.]
[A moment later, his gaze followed a distorted trace upward, and he answered you with certainty.]
["I can, sir. That trace extends out of the screening room. It didn't head toward the main entrance. It followed those emergency stairs... upstairs."]
[You glanced in the direction he pointed and nodded in satisfaction, generous with your praise.]
["Well done. That's right, the cursed residue does lead that way."]
[Then Itadori's brow creased slightly. Recalling the surveillance footage Ijichi had shown you in the car, he could