Title: zenith of stars
Rating: T
Summary: "It's not the Six Eyes," they said. So then, the question is –what is it? [OC, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception!OC, AU]
Warnings: N/A.
AN at bottom.
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zenith of stars
"24: weep"
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The day of Jihei-san's funeral, the sun shines brightly overhead, with no trace of any passing clouds in sight. It's still cold, because it's early winter and winter days always bring with them a distinct biting chill. But the skies are so blue, the air is so crisp, and it's all so…
Strange.
…
… Yes, that's the right word. It's strange, precisely because there's nothing abnormal or off-putting at all when Shiki wakes up in the morning. Because this feels like another day when she should be working hard on her studies and her training again. Then, when it's time for lunch, she'll find Kiyohira-sensei and Jihei-san already seated at the table together. The two of them would probably continue to pore over their work up to the last minute, all the way until food is laid out on the table… even though they always scold Shiki whenever she tries to bring a scroll or some other reading with her to mealtimes, the hypocrites.
This feels like a normal day.
A normal day, not one where Shiki needs to put on a somber, black kimono and slip a string of juzu onto her wrist. The glossy prayer beads click-clack gently against each other when she walks, and the silken cloth weighs cold and heavy upon her skin–
It doesn't feel like a day when Shiki needs to sit through hours' worth of sutras and prayers, then burn incense in front of an empty casket. Empty caskets are the norm, for most sorcerers' funerals. Rarely are there cases where the bodies are left in a suitable condition for family and friends to pay their final respects to.
It should be another normal day. But it isn't.
… Tsumiki-san is crying.
The observation is one that registers to Shiki suddenly, strikingly. Tsumiki-san is crying, and not in a pretty way. The younger girl's face is red and blotchy. There's no stopping the flooding stream of tears that roll down her cheeks in long rivulets, the hiccuping sobs and wracked sounds that she makes through shuddering, open-mouthed gasps. Beside her, Megumi-san is biting his lip hard, but he's unable to hide the slight tremble to his frame. He's more subdued about it, but the boy keeps reaching up with his hands to rub at reddened, watery eyes.
It occurs to Shiki that she should be crying, too.
And yet… even now, the tears still won't come. This time, she doesn't have the excuse of the Kamo Clan's unwanted scrutiny to fall upon. Shiki is standing on Gojo clan grounds, where it shouldn't matter if anyone sees her crying. It would only be normal, expected. After all, it's no secret that Jihei-san was one of Shiki's close caretakers. For him to die so suddenly in an unforeseen tragic accident… it's only normal that Shiki grieves his loss, right?
So, she should be crying.
But the tears just won't come.
… It's not as if Shiki doesn't feel anything. Her throat is tight. And there's still a strange sensation lingering inside her chest, a hole that stretches empty and yawning. Except when Shiki looks down at herself, obviously there's no such hole. Her lines haven't changed, either, remaining as unerringly crimson and ever-present as they always are.
Jihei-san didn't have any lines, though. Not anymore. None of the lines that truly mattered, anyways; Shiki had seen that, back when Kamo-sama had shown them the remains of Jihei-san's corpse.
Jihei-san is dead. There's no doubt about this.
So… why isn't she crying?
Tsumiki-san and Megumi-san are both crying, and they've known Jihei-san for far shorter a length of time than Shiki did. They never sat through long car rides with Jihei-san giving advice, when missions were located in far-off rural areas. They never woke up slumped over a table with a blanket draped over their shoulders, only to look up and find Jihei-san seated across from them, preoccupied with his own work. They never knew how Jihei-san would easily agree to bring new knives to replace those that had been confiscated by Kiyohira-sensei with a hushed, secretive smile
Yet both of the Fushiguro siblings are crying, and Shiki isn't. Even though she should, by all means.
Does this… make her a bad person?
… Shiki wishes that she could ask Jihei-san for an answer. But unfortunately, Jihei-san will never answer any of her questions again.
The conflicted girl carefully lowers a small cluster of white chrysanthemum flowers into Jihei-san's casket, where it joins the sea of other funerary flowers already cast inside.
There is no body.
Only flowers.
… Good-bye, Jihei-san.
The Fushiguro siblings look up towards her, when Shiki finally joins them where they're situated a slight ways off to the side. There's a stark contrast between them and Shiki herself –unlike the teary-eyed sister and brother duo, her own eyes remain markedly dry.
Shiki clears her throat, then falters. What does she say? What is she supposed to say to them? Does she offer her condolences? Would that be appropriate?
But in the end, it appears that she does not need to say anything at all. Tsumiki-san's expression crumples upon seeing Shiki's quiet hesitance, and suddenly she lunges forward to pull her into a tight hug. Shiki actually stumbles a little bit from the unexpected movement, before belatedly realizing that she should raise her own arms to return this gesture of comfort.
Somehow, this only makes Tsumiki-san cry even harder. Shiki looks towards Megumi-san helplessly for assistance.
The boy shuffles his feet and… also leans forward and hugs her?
… Okay?
That –that hadn't exactly been what she'd been looking for. But it's not as if Shiki is against hugs, so. This is fine. It's perfectly fine. As long as the Fushiguro siblings are also fine with it, that is. Physical contact is something that most people are very careful about in her presence, for obvious reasons, but the two of them are evidently an oddity in this respect. Most likely because Tsumiki-san has no sense of self-preservation, and Megumi-san is already used to it from their sparring sessions. Regardless, Shiki finds herself caught off-guard by the unexpectedness of it all, but the hug is… nice. And it does seem to help ease the strange discomfort in her own chest somehow.
But still, what does this all mean?
Shiki stands there stiffly in awkward confusion, hugging the two Fushiguro siblings while trying not to make her own perplexity too obvious. And through it all, they're still crying. The clear grief that they display, it's…
Well, it's abundantly clear to her by this point that Shiki does not share the same sorrow as them, even though by all means she should.
… Why?
When her own parents had died… had Shiki cried, when she'd realized it? Surely, she must've–
"Ah, there you are."
Shiki looks up at the sound of that familiar voice, and feels a wave of relief wash over her. "Satoru-niichan!"
"Seems like you've got your hands a bit full," her cousin teases gently as he makes his way over.
Well… he's not wrong. The Fushiguro siblings both draw back a little bit, embarrassed, and Tsumiki-san rubs desperately at her eyes –but stops short when Satoru-niichan gives each of them a soft pat.
"We'll find out what happened to Jihei," he says. "So, chin up and don't worry about it. Jihei wouldn't want to see you guys crying like this, right?"
… Oh.
Something inside Shiki uncoils and relaxes slightly at those words. Jihei-san wouldn't want you to cry. It makes her feel marginally better about her own lack of tears, in comparison to others around her.
"It'll be alright," Satoru-niichan promises.
And Shiki believes him.
.
.
For all their suspicions regarding the Kamo Clan's culpability in Jihei-san's death, the fact of the matter remains that the Kamo Clan is the Kamo Clan. One of the Three Great Families, with all the power and influence that the title implies. Which means that in order for them to actually be able to do something about it, they can't just barge into the Kamo Clan and start turning it inside-out looking for proof to support things one way or another. Of course, Shiki has no doubt that Satoru-niichan alone would be more than enough to level the Kamo Clan to the ground if he truly so wished, but the Kamo Clan played an important role in the workings of the jujutsu world. It would reflect terribly on Satoru-niichan to do such a thing without 'proper evidence.'
Heavy-handed force is an effective solution to many problems; unfortunately, it's rarely a valid solution, which was a shame.
Shiki thinks that the Kamo Clan could really do with being shaken up and knocked down a peg or two, but that's probably just her.
As the situation currently stands… blatantly going after the Kamo Clan would be a bad idea. From all appearances, the Kamo Clan had already done their best by recovering the corpses of the deceased sorcerers and cleansing the bodies of the miasma that it had been tainted with. To continue going after the Kamo Clan due to 'baseless suspicions' would be an effort likely to be rife with difficulties at every turn.
But if the Kamo Clan was banking on the Gojo Clan being unwilling to raise a fuss over the loss of a single 'unimportant' clansman, then they were sorely mistaken. Shiki has no intention of letting this go so easily, and from the looks of things, neither does Satoru-niichan.
Jihei-san shouldn't have died.
… He shouldn't have gone into those cursed ruins without a single Gojo clansman knowing of his whereabouts beforehand. He shouldn't have been sacrificed to unlock the seal on some cursed artifact.
'Only one sacrifice was needed to retrieve the enshrined artifact,' Satoru-niichan had said, back when he'd inspected the scene. Which then naturally led to the damning question of, 'So why are there two dead sorcerers?'
Because there's no doubt that there are two dead corpses; both Shiki and Satoru had verified that during their visit to the Kamo Clan, and the chances of the Kamo Clan being able to fool both of them using something as inane as fake corpses was vanishingly unlikely. Jihei-san's corpse was very, very real. As was the other corpse that had been next to him. It had been in slightly better condition than Jihei-san's, if only barely, but it had also been dead. Well and truly dead. That much, Shiki can confirm.
But was it truly Araya Souren's corpse that she had been looking at?
The only time that Shiki had ever met Araya face-to-face was that brief encounter during Obon. In the interest of safety, Shiki had not personally encountered Araya again, not even after Jihei-san met with the man himself and struck up a rapport. So she can't confirm for certain that it was Araya Souren's corpse that the Kamo Clan had shown them, only that it really was a human corpse. Likely the corpse of a sorcerer, too; otherwise, Satoru-niichan definitely would've said something about it.
Satoru-niichan had never met Araya Souren face-to-face, unfortunately. It was one thing for Jihei-san to reach out to Araya as a proxy of the Gojo Clan, but it was another matter entirely for the clan head to demand a meeting with one of the Kamo Clan's lesser vassals. Such an unusual action definitely would've drawn unnecessary attention towards them and potentially obstructed their investigations, which they had wanted to avoid.
Jihei-san was the one who'd advised caution in this. Not that it had done him any good, in the end.
Two corpses. Two corpses that had both been those of sorcerers. Assuming that the other corpse had not been Araya Souren, then… who else could it possibly have been? In order to pass under the scrutiny of Satoru-niichan's Six Eyes, it would've needed to be the corpse of a Grade Two sorcerer at least, likely a high-ranked Grade Two or low-ranked Grade One. And sorcerers were already in low supply and high demand; to cast aside a sorcerer just to avert the Gojo Clan's suspicions was…
… something that Shiki could see one of the Three Great Families doing, actually, even if it was utterly wasteful.
Official records were kept of all active sorcerers, but this did not extend to sorcerers who served solely within their respective clans, who kept their own registries. Which meant that there was no way for Shiki or Satoru-niichan to track down whoever it was that 'disappeared' in place of Araya Souren… if a sorcerer of the Kamo Clan had really been offered up in his place as a sacrificial lamb.
That also brought up another issue with this theory: In order to make it impossible for the Gojo Clan to track down, then it would have had to be one of their own clansmen that was used. But why in the world would the Kamo Clan sacrifice a skilled Kamo sorcerer for an outsider?
Either there was a lot more to Araya Souren than just 'hojutsu specialist,' or there was something special about the mysterious cursed artifact that necessitated such measures from the Kamo Clan.
On the other hand, there was also no guarantee that it hadn't been Araya's corpse that was presented to Shiki and Satoru-niichan…
There's just no way of knowing anything for sure, at this point.
We still don't have enough information.
… It's undoubtedly going to be difficult, obtaining more information moving forward. Previously, Jihei-san had been the one largely in charge of such matters and assisting with related administrative duties. It was why he'd shouldered the task of investigating Watanabe Kaori in the first place, without a second thought. Kiyohira-sensei didn't have the patience nor the temperament for such work. There were other candidates, but… few as trustworthy as Jihei-san.
And… with Jihei-san's death and his position by Satoru-niichan's side now vacant, it was highly likely that others in the Gojo Clan would start seeing this as an opportunity.
Shiki is a little disgruntled just thinking about it.
Satoru-niichan, however, remains unperturbed. "It's an opportunity for them, yes, but also an opportunity for us."
"How so?" Her cousin's response leaves her feeling confused, before the pieces begin slotting together. "… Was there really someone involved in Jihei-san's death from the Gojo Clan as well?"
The young man hums lightly. "Kamo might've lied, but he was right about one thing. The fact that we didn't hear anything from our clan about Jihei's whereabouts,until the Kamo Clan recovered his corpse? There's definitely foul play going on somewhere. Jihei is careful enough that he would've made certain to send word to us, if he was going somewhere unplanned on such short notice."
"But why would anyone intercept Jihei-san's…?" Because it was convenient, Shiki realizes. Jihei-san's death had occurred while he was under the Kamo Clan's purview, so even if there had been any Gojo clansmen colluding with the Kamos, laying any blame at their feet would be tricky. Maybe someone was simply busy, and didn't see Jihei-san's message to pass it along in time. Maybe there was an administrative mishap. How unfortunate.
There were only too many people within the Gojo Clan who wouldn't think twice about taking advantage of such a convenient opportunity to get rid of Jihei-san, for the role he'd taken up by actively assisting Satoru-niichan, hampering the elders' own efforts to reassume control.
Was it Takatomi-sama, perhaps? Gojo Takatomi had never made any secret of his discontent with Satoru-niichan's rise to power as clan head. Yet Takatomi-sama was also the obvious answer; what if this was some other opportunistic clansman's handiwork? There are a few other names that also come to mind. Daisaku-sama appeared unlikely, but Shiki knows that he'd been displeased with Jihei-san's 'betrayal' at that fateful clan meeting for a long, long time.
"I'm going to hold off on appointing a replacement for Jihei," Satoru-niichan informs her. "People will get uneasy if I don't have someone acting as an official go-between, and all the nonessential work is definitely going to pile up. I don't particularly care about pointless meetings with the Zenin Clan and what not, but the elders care a lot about keeping up appearances."
"So you're going to turn it into a waiting game," Shiki makes a soft sound of understanding. "The elders will get antsy and suggest replacement candidates to you. Whoever is the first to submit their recommendations… or, depending on who is suggested for the role… you think there will be more clues to pick up from there?"
"Got it in one," her cousin grins. "Even if whoever is behind this doesn't bite… then, that just means that our new replacement will have the perfect opportunity to prove themselves, right? What better way to accomplish that than by setting them on the trail of the clan's internal saboteurs? And if they're unable to get any results, well. Clearly, the position should go to someone else who's a little more competent, wouldn't you say?"
Thus neatly playing the elders against each other, while Satoru-niichan would be able to just sit back and observe the unfolding chaos; if the aim behind removing Jihei-san in the first place was to inconvenience Gojo Satoru so as to swing the internal balance of power towards the elders again, then there was absolutely no way that the instigator would be able to idly stand aside while the Gojo Clan tore into itself like this. And, for all that a significant number of traditionalist elders disapproved of Satoru-niichan, it wasn't as if her cousin wasn't without his own supporters, either. Who would likely be more than happy to fan the flames from the sidelines at any signs of potential infighting between the elders.
With this, Satoru-niichan would effectively be able to whittle away at power that the elders' factions commanded while simultaneously gaining insight into the matter of unconfirmed Kamo collusion, all without lifting a single finger.
"I've also got someone else continuing to look discreetly into the Kamo Clan, even though they're a dead end for us right now, officially speaking," her cousin adds. "As things currently stand, it's probably better to let Kamo think he got one over us. As long as we don't make any open moves, he'll believe that our visit was just for appearances and we don't really care enough to look into things. Chances are, he'll be more likely to slip up and provide openings for us."
… Satoru-niichan might hold no love for clan politics, but he was certainly quite knowledgeable on how to navigate his way through such things. Shiki doesn't think that she has the patience nor aptitude for it –the entire situation just gives her a headache with how complicated everything is. Another reason why someone like her is not suitable for the position of clan heir, no matter what anyone else might have to say on the matter.
"Now that we have all of that out of the way," Satoru-niichan leans forward, tilting his head so that his sunglasses drop to one side to reveal an eye that looks directly into Shiki, "How are you feeling?"
The young girl blinks.
"Don't look so surprised," her cousin sits up straight again. "It's a pretty normal question to ask, isn't it?"
"I suppose," Shiki allows. "I'm… not sure how I feel, honestly."
She would say that she's sad, except Shiki hasn't cried. Shiki hasn't cried about anything in a long time, now that she thinks about it. But the loss of someone close to her –surely, that's something worth crying over?
Jihei wouldn't want to see you guys crying like this, right?
Shiki looks up, "Was it true?"
"What?"
"During Jihei-san's funeral, when I was with the Fushiguro siblings. You said…" Shiki hesitates, briefly. "You said that… Jihei-san wouldn't want us to cry."
"Ah, yeah, that," Satoru-niichan scratches his chin awkwardly and looks aside, a telling sign that he doesn't know for sure. But… "I mean, Jihei seems like that sort of guy, doesn't he? Tsumiki-chan was just about bawling her eyes out, so I thought she could use some reassurance. Jihei has –had, I guess– a soft spot for you kids."
"I know." Of course she knows. Shiki is well aware that she herself is definitely not the easiest sort of child to care for. The fact that Jihei-san cared about her anyways, beyond it being a task that had been initially assigned to him by Daisaku-sama… Jihei-san's sense of empathy is not unlike Ken-jichan, in this respect. Or rather, was.
Shiki folds her hands together. "Satoru-niichan, is there something wrong with me?"
Her cousin looks back sharply at that question, "Why would you think that? Did someone say something to you?"
"No, nothing of the sort," Shiki shakes her head.
Satoru-niichan hums noncommittally. "What brought this on, then, if you don't mind me asking?"
"… Tsumiki-san and Megumi-san were crying."
"Ah." As expected, her cousin easily catches on to what she's saying. "They cried. And you didn't."
"I didn't," Shiki confirms.
The young man reaches over and pats her on the head, a comforting weight. "You don't need to feel bad about it. If you didn't cry, then you didn't cry. Don't use anyone else as a baseline for your own reactions, it's not worth the headache."
He says it so simply. "But if you're mourning someone, then you cry for them. Isn't that how it works?"
"Mourning is something that varies from person to person," her white-haired cousin candidly informs her. "Supposedly, anyways. If the tears come, then let yourself cry. If they don't, then don't force yourself, either. Emotions and the corresponding physical responses to them can get a little weird sometimes."
Oh.
Yes, that makes sense to Shiki. The dissonance between the strange hollowness in her chest, and her clarity of mind and calmness, instead of open grief like Tsumiki-san or Megumi-san… it's not a sign that there's something wrong with her. Because it's not like Shiki is incapable of crying, even though she inexplicably finds herself unable to cry for Jihei-san.
It's not necessarily bad, that she doesn't mourn him the way the Fushiguro siblings do. Just… different.
… That's good to know.
"Don't be too concerned about how other people interpret or perceive you," Satoru-niichan advises. "Trust me, things will be a lot easier that way."
"Even Ken-jichan?"
The young man rolls his eyes. "Listen, Nanami has a good head on his shoulders, and I'm sure that he'd have something sensible to say if he was actually here right now instead of hunting down a cursed spirit on the other side of the country. But he doesn't always understand, does he?"
He does not.
Shiki loves her uncle, but… she doesn't always understand him. And Ken-jichan doesn't always understand her, either. Satoru-niichan is absolutely correct on that front.
The girl sighs. "I wish everything would just make sense."
Satoru-niichan huffs out a small laugh, "You and I both. Are you feeling any better about Jihei now?"
"Jihei-san was a good person," Shiki says simply. "… I miss him."
"Yeah, I know. Me too."
.
.
A week after Jihei-san's funeral, Shiki is called for another mission. Kiyohira-sensei is otherwise occupied, which means that Shiki undertakes her assignment alone.
It's not the first time that this has happened, going on a mission by herself. The Gojo Clan is still careful when it comes to Shiki's general safety and well-being, but she is no longer the helpless six year old child that she'd been when they had first taken her in. It probably also helped when she'd left her last assassin in bloody pieces behind her, reassuring them of her abilities to defend herself.
So, Shiki is technically cleared for solo assignments now, with assisting adult supervision. Generally someone acting in the role of an auxiliary manager, or the like. Although in reality, Kiyohira-sensei and Jihei-san constantly coordinate between themselves to make sure that at least one of them will accompany Shiki on any outing that requires her departure from the Gojo Clan's territory.
… Except, Jihei-san won't ever accompany Shiki on any of her missions again. Not anymore.
But she's starting to get used to it. The empty spot at the table that Kiyohira-sensei refuses to remove, the conspicuous silences lingering in the air. Kiyohira-sensei was never particularly talkative in the first place, but somehow he seems to grow even quieter in wake of Jihei-san's death.
Shiki is starting to grow accustomed to it. All of it.
… She has no intention of forgetting Jihei-san, and she definitely won't let the suspicious circumstances behind his death go unanswered. But there's only so much that can be done while Satoru-niichan is handling the messy political side of things with the elders, which means concentrating on her training in the meantime and performing her regular duties as a sorcerer.
The Grade Two curse that Shiki had been called in to deal with does not stand a chance.
It's easy. First she cuts off the wriggling legs so that it can't run, and then she cuts off its thrashing arms so it can't crawl. Shiki finishes it off by slicing down the middle directly through its torso, following the line that runs down its deformed spine.
Clean and simple.
"It's done."
The dark-haired servant of the Gojo Clan bows to her, "Thank you for your hard work, ojou-sama."
"Thank you for yours, Choki," Shiki responds. Suzurigi Choki is the one acting in the capacity of an assistant supervisor for her today. It had been a long drive out from the Gojo compound, and she knows that he was the one who'd compiled the dossier for this assignment.
"Your words honor me, ojou-sama," the man murmurs quietly. Then very politely ushers Shiki back into the car that they'd arrived in, holding out the door for her as she approaches the vehicle.
Shiki settles in for a long ride back, fiddling slightly with the dark sunglasses on her face. The same sunglasses that Satoru-niichan had given to her as a present. In terms of appearance, it's similar to the pair that he wears, although unlike Satoru-niichan's, hers don't actually darken visibility. Lighting wasn't something that actually affected her ability to see lines in the world around her, but in terms of her regular visibility while ignoring the lines in her field of view–
A ringing sound, right as Choki slides into the driver's seat. The man glances down at his phone with a small frown, mutters a swift apology, and accepts the incoming call.
It turns out to be a distress call, from one of the Kyoto school's assistant managers. A Semi Grade One sorcerer who'd been requested to perform maintenance on the seals in the area had arrived only to find a circle of ripped talismans and a powerful Grade One cursed spirit on a rampage. They'd barely managed to buy enough time for the assistant manager to run, and they were still fighting the curse right now –but they'd been struggling from the very start, and there was no telling how long they would be able to hold out. Reinforcements were desperately needed, please and thank you, preferably sometime before they die!
Choki relays the entire situation to her.
"Your orders?" he asks calmly towards the end. Or, relatively calmly, at least, which speaks volumes of his self-composure. There is only the barest hint of anxiety betraying his apprehension over the unexpected situation, and what he reasonably anticipated to be Shiki's choice.
Because they both know perfectly well that this far out in the middle of nowhere, it's highly unlikely that there are any other sorcerers who are both situated nearby and also capable of fighting a Grade One cursed spirit.
Distress calls from other sorcerers were not exactly uncommon, although this would be the first time that one fell squarely into Shiki's lap like this. There had been other similar instances before, occasionally, but usually Kiyohira-sensei or Jihei-san would leave to deal with it on their own. But neither of them are here right now.
Technically, Shiki is not required to respond. Strictly speaking, sorcerers who fell under the sole jurisdiction of their clans –such as Shiki and Kiyohira-sensei– and those who were formally registered with the jujutsu association –like Satoru-niichan and Ken-jichan– were organized under distinctly different lines of command that did not answer to each other. It wasn't strange that a Kyoto assistant supervisor would be able to get in touch with Suzurigi Choki, because there was regular communication between the clans and the jujutsu administration to coordinate missions. But they didn't have any authority to command Shiki the way the Gojo Clan did.
So if Shiki wanted to, she could just walk away from this situation, and no one would be able to say anything about it.
"We'll go take a look," is what she ends up saying instead.
… There's no particular reason for Shiki to refuse. Besides, sorcerers were already few enough in numbers, even without all the active sabotaging or turning a blind eye on each other that clan sorcerers were wont to engage in.
Choki nods. "As you command."
The subsequent trip is a rough and bumpy one over the winding backwater mountain roads. According to the information that Choki had received from his Kyoto counterpart, the cursed spirit in question was a tricky forest-curse that had caused many deaths, prior to being sealed. But seals decay over time, which was why a Semi Grade one sorcerer had been called in to redo the seal-work in the first place… except they'd arrived only to find the cursed spirit tearing a bloody path through a nearby village.
That must've been a very unfortunate surprise.
"Quite," Choki agrees. His fingers tap uneasily against the steering wheel. "It's impressive that the Semi Grade One sorcerer was able to still evacuate survivors, but without any further assistance, Iori-san will–"
Wait.
"'Iori-san,' you said?" Iori-san as in, Iori Utahime? The same woman who had been Shiki's dance instructor these past two years? This Semi Grade One sorcerer was Iori-sensei?
"Ah, yes. The request for help was from the assistant manager accompanying Iori… Utahime…" Choki pauses, as if just realizing the significance of the name to Shiki. Immediately, his eyes flicker nervously towards her in the rearview mirror. "Ojou-sama, I–"
"How much longer until we arrive?" Shiki interrupts him, not particularly interested in hearing any excuses.
"Fifteen minutes."
A lot could happen in fifteen minutes –oftentimes, even a single second could be the crucial defining point of a battle. Shiki has never seen Iori-sensei fight, but she knows that Iori-sensei isn't a front-line combatant the way Satoru-niichan is, or even Ken-jichan. She was a support-type sorcerer; Iori-sensei's cursed technique was one that augmented the strength of another sorcerer within her range, which meant that she was most effective when working in a team. It was the reason why Iori-sensei rarely took solo missions, so why–?
Something about the situation doesn't make sense, but given the urgency of it all, this isn't exactly the time to be getting wrapped up in and distracted by details.
The rest of the car ride is tense, silent.
Shiki's head snaps up.
"Stop."
They're here. Shiki knows the instant that they're close enough. Instinct, in a sense, but the unnaturally-glowing lines spread throughout the ground like a colossal spider web are also a dead giveaway. Choki heeds her command; the car jerks and screeches to a stop right before the red-violet lines.
A barrier? … No, not quite, although it was not altogether dissimilar…
Shiki immediately steps out of the car on her own instead of waiting around for Choki, and shakes her head when the older man makes to follow. He instantly stills when Shiki firmly sets her hand against his open car door to stop him.
"… Ojou-sama?"
"I don't want you standing anywhere in range of this," she informs him clearly, just so there are no misunderstandings. Choki's cursed energy is a flickering candle, in comparison to the crackling lantern that's held by a sorcerer. If it weren't for Tengen-sama's system of purification barriers set up across Japan that enhanced and supported other barrier techniques, she doubts that he would even be capable of pulling down a Curtain on his own.
"Circle around, and see if you can find survivors. Get in touch with the assistant manager that contacted you earlier, if they're still alive," she tells the man. "And… send a message to Kiyohira-sensei, when you can. From the looks of it… I think the cursed spirit seems to be trying to make the entire mountain part of its territory. A localized domain, maybe? If it succeeds, then we'll probably be looking at a new Special Grade curse on our hands."
Choki's eyes widen in shock. "A Special Grade–? If that's the case, then you definitely shouldn't go in on your own, ojou-sama. Perhaps it would be more prudent to wait until–"
"No. I'm going in," Shiki cuts him off, shaking her head. "Iori-sensei's skill set is a bad match against something like this, and there's no telling how much worse the situation might get if we just wait things out, if the cursed spirit really does end up making the final step to Special Grade while we delay things."
Choki exhales slowly. White-knuckled fingers clench tightly onto the steering wheel. "… I understand. Please be careful, ojou-sama. No matter what happens, your safety is paramount."
If Shiki's safety really was paramount, then the Gojo Clan wouldn't be sending her out to exorcise curses in the first place. She knows better than to voice this aloud, though.
"Thank you, Choki," she says instead. Because despite everything that the Gojo Clan has put her through, it's not as if Suzurigi Choki, a member of a vassal family in servitude to the Gojo Clan, has anything to do with the elders' decisions. Choki does his job well, and he treats her courteously and respectfully. That's all that matters in the end here, really.
"I will contact Kiyohira-sama first, to request additional assistance." The man exhales slowly, running a hand through his hair in a faintly frazzled gesture.
"Okay." It doesn't particularly matter what order Choki decides to do his tasks in, so long as he stays a safe distance away. The girl draws back from the car door, taking a few steps back as the vehicle's motor rumbles to life again. "See you later, Choki."
With that done, Shiki turns and heads in to look for Iori-sensei.
.
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…
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Author's Notes:
The mystery behind Jihei's death is still unsolved, and now we've got trouble coming up on Utahime's end, too. How very unfortunate for Shiki! Very unfortunate. Yes.
… Next chapter we'll be continuing with Utahime's rescue!
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-XxZuiliu