The School

I looked Kusakabe dead in the eyes and answered, "I refuse."

"Come on! Think about it! There's a special grade roaming around! It's way above our pay grade to be dealing with it." Kusakabe begged me.

"Shouldn't two Grade 1 Sorcerers be able to deal with a Special Grade Curse?" I responded not budging at all.

"Only weaker Special Grade Curses! You must have felt the amount of Negative Emotions in this town! You already know that Obsession/Love is a powerful Negative Emotion, if it's centred around a person or concept, it can become a very powerful Imaginary Vengeful Spirit, like the Nine-Tailed Fox. Seeing the amount of Spirals, the Cursed Spirit must be created from that concept. I don't know how or why a town would obsess over a Spiral, but we shouldn't stick around to find out!"

I knew that Kusakabe was a bit of a coward, but he was right. He lived this long because he knew when to cut his losses. 

But I was not going to abandon this mission.

"Kusakabe look, all the other sorcerers are busy with their missions. If we leave now, there will be no one to replace us for some time. Everyone in this town is in danger if we don't exorcise this Curse now. Plus this place seems to be a breeding ground for weaker Cursed Spirits, but we haven't seen any, other than that Cursed Hair. This means that a lot of Cursed Spirits will be born if we don't deal with this situation as soon as possible."

Kusakabe looked conflicted and I could see his face going through different emotions. 

He walked away from me and looked at the school.

I looked at the school too and could see teenagers having fun playing football on the field. Teachers work hard in their classrooms to prepare for the next lesson. An old woman coming to visit one of her grandchildren.

Kusakabe saw all of this too and finally gave me an answer, "Fine! But, we're running if the situation becomes too dangerous for us to handle."

"I agree," I responded.

'I want to save these people, but I'm not going to sacrifice my own life for them.'

Kusakabe took the lead and walked towards the school. I followed him close by.

"Sorry, where is the principal's office?" I asked one of the students.

"Uh… uh… It's on… the… second floor… at the end … of the hallway."

'Man he's slow' I thought while looking at him.

"Thank you for the explanation."

We found the stairs, then headed up and arrived at the principal's office.

"Megumi, just follow my lead, Okay?"

I raised an eyebrow and said, "Alright."

Kusakabe knocked at the door.

"You can come in."

We opened the door and went inside to find a fat man who was working on some paperwork.

"Who are you two?" He asked as we didn't look like one of the teachers or students.

Kusakabe reached into his coat and pulled out a badge.

"We're from the Public Safety Commission and are sent to deal with safety hazards. We've had reports coming in, saying that there is a weird smell in the area."

"A smell?"

"Yes, a smell. We have reasons to believe it may be a gas leak. We advise you to evacuate all the students, teachers or anyone who could be here now while we look for the source of this dire problem."

"What! I can't do that, it's a school day! Besides if it's so dangerous why do you have a kid with you?!"

"First of all, he's a full-grown adult suffering from a rare case of Highlander Syndrome. It's a condition where an adult would like a kid even if they're thirty. Second of all, if you do not comply with our demands we will report this to our superiors to have you arrested for putting the lives of all these kids in danger."

The principal looked like he would explode at any moment, but he breathed out a few times to calm himself.

He took a microphone pressed the button on it and said, "This is your principle speaking. I want everyone, including teachers, students and the cleaning staff to vacate the premises. There is nothing to worry about and it will all be over shortly. In the meantime please leave the building and stay in the courtyard."

"There, you happy?"

"I will only be happy when we can fix the problem. You should also be moving outside."

The principal grits his teeth picks up his coat and goes out the door.

Seeing as he was out of earshot I started saying, "I'm impressed, do you always use that excuse, Kusakabe?"

"Yes, it's surprisingly easy. Barely an inconvenience. You just have to flash them a badge and say they have to leave."

"Good to know."

***

A few minutes had passed and all of the classrooms were empty. Seemingly everyone had left the building to stay at the courtyard in front of the building.

In the meantime we found a map of the building and memorised it, so we wouldn't get lost. I also pulled out my phone to take a picture of it, to be extra safe.

We also looked and shouted a bit to find out if there was anyone left behind. Seeing as there was no response we decided to get started.

Kusakabe nodded towards me and said, "Alright, Megumi, do as I've taught you."

I nodded back at him and held a hand sign in front of me while saying, "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."

A dark, almost liquid-like matter drips down from the sky to form the outer barrier wall around the school's walls. Curtains change the sky tonight, provoking cursed spirits to come out of hiding.

Anything within the barrier will be imperceivable from outside view, preventing non-sorcerers from being able to see any jujutsu or cursed spirit activity inside. They will only see the environment as it was from the moment the technique is cast. 

I cast a binding vow along with it. Cursed Spirits can't leave and non-sorcerers can't enter. We can't leave either until all the Cursed Spirits are exorcised. This would reinforce the Curtain.

The school almost looked like a liminal space if it weren't for the dozen Cursed Spirits that popped up.