12 The Town

A man and a young boy came out of a train station. The man, Kusakabe, didn't look all that different from 3 years ago. The young boy, Megumi, had changed a bit over these three years.

At first glance, you would only see that he grew a bit taller, but underneath his clothing, you would see a lean body that had been tempered by extreme physical conditioning. His body had also grown resistant to poisons and the pain of electricity.

Megumi, like Kusakabe, had a Katana at his side which he kept his hand on at all times, just for any surprise attack. His eyes scoured the surroundings and he seemed to be on guard.

Kusakabe coughed to get Megumi's attention. "Okay, I'll tell you why we're here. We've been sent to investigate this town called Kurôzu-Cho because of reports of strange occurrences. If we find any Cursed Spirits or Curse Users, we should kill them. You can consider this a sort of test before the Clan Heir Brawl in 3 months to see how good you'll be in the real world. You got that, Megumi?"

"Yes, Sensei."

The two started walking towards the town and when they finally entered they felt like something was amiss. The place just felt off.

Megumi looked around to find anything that stood out. The only thing of concern was the spiral pattern that could be found everywhere. In the river, you could see whirlpools forming. When you looked up, the clouds formed a spiral.

"Sensei, have you also noticed it?"

Kusakabe didn't verbally respond but gave a firm nod to Megumi.

The townspeople didn't greet Megumi or Kusakabe but went about their day. Suddenly they stopped and looked at the sky.

A black spiral of smoke started to form which seemed to be originating from a chimney.

Megumi looked at the spiral for a bit and pulled his eyes away with some difficulty. He saw Kusakabe doing the same action and looking at him with a serious look.

One of the townspeople was just staring at the spiral before being given a wack on the head by Megumi.

"What the hell was that for? Brat!"

"Stop being a baby, explain the black smoke in the sky."

"You could have just asked instead of hitting me! But fine, if you must know, a cremation has taken place. The smoke you're seeing is caused by cremation. Now leave me alone!"

Megumi wanted to ask more questions but was caught off guard when a siren went off.

"whoOOOOOO"

The sound wasn't that loud, but somehow pierced his ears and gave Megumi a bit of a headache.

Megumi responded by reinforcing his inner ears with Cursed Energy to block the siren off which seemed to work. Kusakabe followed suit.

The previous man groaned and said "I hate that siren! It always goes off at 5 AM for no reason!"

Megumi just watched the man walk away and noticed that his back was hunched over and sticking out.

***

'What could be causing this strange phenomenon of recurring spirals? A Domain? No, the town is too big for that, as even Sukuna's domain could only encompass a maximum radius of 200 meters. This is confusing, as I can't even tell if it's the work of Cursed Spirits or Cursed Users working together. Maybe it's both?'

While I was thinking, I and Kusakabe were walking towards the town's high school and afterwards the hospital because usually in those places negative emotions build up like crazy making them a breeding ground for Curses. It may lead us to the source of this weirdness.

When we arrived we saw two girls fighting surrounded by many students. You would think they would fight with their fists, legs or even nails to scratch each other, but no.

Their hair seemed to be moving in a rhythmic pattern while they attacked each other with it.

Taking a closer look, you could see many students looking hypnotised by their hair that seemed to curl into spirals.

I wasn't going to stand around while they killed each other by strangulation of hair, so I moved in to intervene.

"New Shadow Style: Batto."

Instantly my blade came out of my scabbard and cut both of their hair at the same time.

The girls fell to the ground while the hair on the ground started to burn up with a bluish flame, similar to when a Cursed Spirit is exorcised.

Then a teenager came out of the crowd dropped his scissors and shouted, "Kirie!" to one of the girls.

He held her in his arms and got his phone out of his pocket.

"Just hang in there Kirie! I'll get you to the hospital."

Seeing as the weird hair was gone, most of the gathering students scattered, no longer being pulled in like a spiral.

We waited in the area for the ambulance to come and also to see if any other Cursed Spirits would appear.

Luckily none showed up until the ambulance came and picked up the two sickly girls.

Kusakabe in the meantime went towards the teenager and asked him some questions.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Kirei's boyfriend, Shuichi."

"What was happening before we arrived?"

The teenager looked nervously at him and responded, "I don't know, but I think they got infected by the spirals. Have you seen how their hair curled at the ends like a spiral? Kirei's hair suddenly had a mind of its own yesterday and it started attracting anyone who looked at it. Sekino's hair became like that too and she attacked Kirei."

"Are there any other strange occurrences that have happened like this before?"

"YES, OF COURSE! My father became a spiral after becoming obsessed with them. He died in a tub in his study while all his bones were broken. A girl's scar turned into a spiral that she got sucked into. I think I even saw the spirits of the people who died in the Kiln of Kirei's father. We even saw two people intertwine into a rope-like two snakes."

Kusakabe looked more grim with each tragedy that the teenager Shuichi mentioned.

"Okay, that's all."

"Wait, who are you guys anyway?"

"We're just some people passing by."

"I recommend you leave this town!"

Kusakabe looked like he agreed wholeheartedly because frankly, this situation scared him.

Me and Kusakabe walked a bit away from the public area and started to talk.

"Megumi, I think we should leave. "

I just looked at him in disappointment.

"Don't look at me like that! If I'm right, it means that this whole town is CURSED. Not like multiple lower-grade cursed spirits roam around. It means there is one special-grade curse in this town. It must be a strong one at that, seeing how everyone is affected. So, shall we leave?"

I contemplated a bit before answering.