Forty-Fifth Spell: Cursed

"What is Onmyō Prep?" Haru asked Seita.

Necromancy was over and the classroom had been returned to normal by Shō-Sensei before she left. When this happened, Nayu ran out of the class with a sickly look on her face. So the boys to assume she went to throw up in a nearby bathroom.

"Onmyō Prep is like a college of sorts," Seita answered, not looking too good himself. "You go there for onmyōji training in order to join the Japanese Ministry of Magic's Onmyō Division. But you have to graduate from Mahoutokoro first, with the best grades no less."

"So it's really tough to get in."

"Yep, and my dad really wants me to get into Onmyō Prep."

"How come?"

"Because the Fumitos have been part of the Onmyō Division for generations, so it's expected of me to do the same. I don't want to, though."

"And that's why you're always slacking in class."

"Pretty much. But now that I am becoming more engaged in my schoolwork, I'm not sure if I still want to protest going to Onmyō Prep by deliberately slacking."

"Getting better grades doesn't mean you have go to Onmyō Prep if you really don't want to."

"So you're saying I can still go against my dad without having to fail in school?"

"Exactly."

Haru's mind then drifted to the dead body he examined earlier and was suddenly reminded of his adopted parents as he imagined what their corpses looked like in the burned house. It brought out the overwhelming sense of disgust he had repressed during the whole Necromancy class, which made him leave the classroom and head to the boys' bathroom on the first floor. On one side was a row of stalls with Japanese-style toilets while on the other side were a bunch of sinks below a large ornamental mirror.

After Haru vomited in one of the stalls, he washed the inside of his mouth with tap water. When he looked in the mirror, though, Daichi was standing right behind him. But just like before, she vanished the moment he looked back.

"Quit disappearing, Daichi!" Haru shouted. "I can't help you if you keep doing that!"

"Find me," said Daichi in a low quiet voice.

"What do you mean?" Haru looked everywhere around the bathroom and he couldn't locate where Daichi's voice was coming from. "You're the one who's hiding!"

Daichi then reappeared in front of Haru with blood dripping from her mouth and throat. Startled, Haru's feet moved back on their own causing him to trip and hit his head against the stone floor.

Sometime later, Haru came to and was in the Healers' Wing with Popuri-Dono sitting beside him on his right.

"Looks like I was right about constantly seeing you this year," Popuri remarked. "How are you feeling, Ryuji-Kun?"

"Awful," Haru muttered.

"That's to be expected for someone who just suffered a minor concussion," replied Popuri. "Fumito found you lying on the floor unconscious after he went into the bathroom to check on you and immediately went to get me. Luckily, I was able to cure you using this Wound-Reducing Salve."

Haru looked to his left and saw a jar full of a golden-yellow liquid.

"What's in it?" Haru asked.

"Just a simple mixture of honey, aloe vera, and chitosan, which is sugar that comes from the outer skeletons of shellfish. It helps reduce high blood pressure and aid with healing wounds. Now what happened in the bathroom? Did you trip?"

"Yeah, it was because…." Haru trailed off, worried about what Popuri would think if he told him the truth.

"Don't worry, I won't judge you," Popuri insisted.

Sighing, Haru confessed, "For the last few months, I've been seeing my stepsister Daichi randomly appear. But when I ask her why she's there, she vanishes completely. She also never talks, until just now when she said, 'Find me.' And her hands were freezing when she touched my face one time."

Popuri's brow furrowed.

"The figure you saw wasn't your stepsister, but her ghost."

Feeling lightheaded, Haru couldn't comprehend Popuri's statement.

"I know it may seem harsh, but that's the only explanation I can think of," Popuri said. "Because if Daichi was abducted by Warumo-Uragi as the rumors claim, I doubt he would have let her live since she would be nothing more than a liability."

"You're saying he would have killed her instead of keeping her alive to taunt me from a distance?" Haru shook his head. "But why would her ghost haunt me and not him?"

"He probably put an Onryō Curse on you, and that makes a restless ghost haunt a person regardless of their personal connection to the ghost. Though if the ghost is connected to the person being haunted in some way, it makes the haunting even stronger."

"But what proof do you have that my stepsister is a ghost? You've only heard rumors of her abduction and my personal account!"

"From what you've told me, Daichi keeps appearing and disappearing. Now how would she be able to do that? If she were an image projected by Warumo, you wouldn't have felt anything when she touched you. And her hands being cold is a clear sign that she's a ghost, because it means she's dead."

"She could have been cold from just being outside for too long!"

"We live on a semi-tropical island, Ryuji-Kun. She wouldn't have gotten cold in the same way one would in a more temperate climate."

Haru tried to find a counterargument, but couldn't. Then he remembered how cold the animals that Midorime brought for the Remedial Kampo Final were.

"Do you think...Daichi might be responsible for the increase of sick and injured animals in the Cloud Forest?" Haru wondered, not wanting to believe it himself.

"It's a possibility, since victims of onryō encounters tend to become very sick or injured from having their life-force drained by the onryō's touch. Though Daichi wouldn't be aware of her actions as she's likely treating the animals like she would in life."

To be continued…