Ch - 3.1

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Nuff said go read

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The car moved quickly in the rainy streets of Tokyo. The man in the suit driving it had a hasty look on his face as he kept listening to the phone. Oiketsu has already called Kiyotaka to come help him with the investigation, but that mission was supposed to belong to Satoru Gojo, not to a student. 

'Just why? How can Gojo-san be so nonchalant about this matter, why would he give the mission to a student?!' Kiyotaka was mad, if something happens to a student he'll be blamed alongside Gojo. Because the whitehaired-male and him were supposed to work on this matter together! 

"Ijichi-san, I'll be waiting for you at the address I've sent you. That's the address of the first family we must visit." 

Oiketsu hang up on the phone and moved in the rain towards the location. The sub-urban area with a lot of homes being literally abandoned and flats being not fully rented out. If the subjects are in such circumstances it'll be a tougher search. 

The district was not full of life, due to the rain, but also very narrow streets that created an almost insufferable environment for living. Passing just a few meters and you were already on another street. Buildings were so close to each other that one would be able to hear what your neighbor was doing. 

Supposedly, there were also multiple schools nearby. The faculty members should also be questioned about the students and where they were during the school time. Viewing camera footage would also prove to be useful. 'I don't think that teenagers of their age would for some human trafficking attempt…so, it's definitely the doing of a cursed spirit.' 

'Ijichi will help me to mask myself as a teenager. I suppose when the man in black suits comes along with black governmental cars, those parents would believe me more and reveal things. Teenage hobbies or if they had bad blood with some other people.' 

Though teenage psychology is such, they don't tell their parental figures about their issues. They keep it to themselves, thus being completely drowned in it. Oiketsu couldn't completely leave out this possibility as well. 

'That must be the house.' Oiketsu from the distance could see the two story house, pretty modern from the looks of it. Definitely not just a middle class family. Ijichi still hasn't arrived, so he would have to wait a bit before he'd knock on the door. His uniform provided some cover from the rain, but here and there water droplets managed to get on his face. 

Vroom 

The black govermental car appeared in the sight of Oiketsu. That was definitely a window, meaning Ijichi. The car applied the brakes before it got close to the house, though it took some time to stop the fast car in the rain, Ijichi stopped it right in front of Oiketsu. 

That was to be complimented at some point, 'Quite skillful driver.' Ijichi got out of the car with the umbrella instantly as the car's engine became quiet and the lights shut off. "You know you drive it rather well. I'm Oiketsu Kamo, pleased to meet you." The young sorcerer held the hand out for a handshake. 

Surprised by the act, Ijichi hesitated to hold out his hand as well, but soon became very glad. Finally he was working with a professional sorcerer, not someone like Gojo Satoru. "Kiyotaka Ijichi at your service, I'm very sorry, I didn't know that we would be working together. I would've at least brought another umbrella." 

"That's alright, it was stupid for me to not search up today's weather. So, should we proceed immediately or there's more information I should know about?" 

Ijichi thought about it for a moment, "There's nothing concrete about the mission itself, not much clues. No direct appearance of the cursed spirit, but there definitely should be one involved. With enough intelligence not to be spotted by the windows… that's why we suspected to be dealing with a special-grade cursed spirit. Gojo-san was supposed to be here today for that case…" 

"Well, we can always retreat. I was told by Gojo to call him if I spot the strong cursed spirit. Alright, if that's all, then let's head in and speak with the family." 

Knock Knock Knock 

Ijichi was the one who knocked on the door as Oiketsu stood next to him. They briefly heard a woman call them out, and soon, she opened the room for the two. 

"Greetings, madam. We are investigators and would like to ask you some questions about the disappearance of your family member, would you be able to answer us?" 

"Of course, please come inside." 

…

"Our daughter she…" The woman was considerate enough to offer Oiketsu and Ijichi, but both of them refused it due professional ethics. It was especially hard to swallow the fact that possibly this kind woman's child was already dead. They didn't tell her that, of course.

So far there was much useful information that they could use. Ijichi kept asking about her, but her image wasn't going to be helpful if they didn't figure out the location. Both of the teenagers were supposedly friends in middle school, but got separated in high school. Another thing about them was they were still hanging out together. 

The public school she went to was nearby as well, and apparently during the day of her disappearance she must've been in the school, doing some work after the lessons. Though apparently the police haven't found her there and the boy from another school got reported to be lost by his parents. 

'We need to go to the school, view some camera footage to see if they were both at school that day. This will narrow it down…' 

"Does your daughter have some kind of hobbies? For example, maybe she likes to draw things…" Oiketsu's question came out of nowhere, and both Ijichi and the mother didn't see any relation to that question. 

Though not understanding the reasoning, the woman nodded. "Then, can we please check out your daughter's working place or a room?" 

The woman was not against it, if it could help out with the investigation, then she was all for it. Ijichi and Oiketsu followed the woman to the bedroom of the girl which was on the second floor. When opening the door, it was not hard to see that the girl was a typical teenager. The room itself was tidy, however there was still a table dedicated to education and hobby. 

Oiketsu looked over the table. There were only books and notes, nothing of real interest. They contained nothing that could help the investigation. Then there were some drawings. Girl hasn't been in the house for three days, what were the possibilities that she could see cursed spirits before that point? Very low, but it seemed like… that was right. There were no sketches of cursed spirits. A shame. 

'But quite logical, if the girl was able to see cursed spirits it would've changed a lot of things.' 

"Oiketsu-kun, I suggest we go to the school and collect more information there. What do you say about thay?" Ijichi whispered in the boy's ears, and immediately got a nod of approval. This house contained not much concrete clues except bits of drawings of attractive feminine men with silver hair… much like Korean music bands. 

'Never understood girls that are heels over those types of men, ew.' 

…

The school was an ordinary public school, with no curses in the vicinity at all. There were no students inside, meaning most of them must have left already. However, the faculty members and the dean must still be inside. After all, the schools are open till the evening for other various activities aside from just normal curriculum. 

And so it appeared, the dean was understanding of an old male who didn't waste the time of sorcerers and led them to the security room where the data from the cameras was stored. From the words of the teachers, the girl hadn't even come to school that day, probably ran away with the same boy that disappeared. They believe that those two are just playing a prank. 

The situation though, can be a lot different then it really is. Even though the footage from the camera is very low quality, there is an eerie feeling to it. Oiketsu had made the dean replay some old footage of the girl before everything else had happened. In school she was rather inactive socially. She much preferred not to talk to others. 

"Did she like to talk to herself?" Oiketsu projected his thoughts in the air. To which the dean only raised shoulders a bit, he really didn't know because the student was here for barely a few weeks. She is in her first year and the semester has only begun. But it seemed like she really did like to talk to herself…

The two sorcerers locked into each other's eyes understanding something. 'It's either that she is mentally ill, or she was talking with the cursed spirit.' They must be dealing with the cursed spirit that has high intelligence. Probably the one on a level of Semi-Grade One or even Special Grade. It clearly had communicative abilities… Those were dangerous. 

Ijichi and Oiketsu swiftly thanked the dean for cooperation and left the faculty room with crucial information. Of course, the police didn't give much thought to the girl speaking to herself, but the sorcerers definitely would. The curses are not visible to the cameras as they are not physical beings, but the girl was clearly having a conversation with something. She did in the end see the curses.

"Ijichi-san, I think I'll take it over from here. Searching for possible locations from now on is stupid. I'll have to find the cursed spirit myself in every corner of the city. So, you might as well go to school and report everything." 

… 

I had not expected to have an encounter with such a strong cursed spirit any time soon. The communicative abilities in curses are not rare, but for them to be so good, that you accompany a person to school and talk normally to them, makes it at least semi-grade one curse. Extremely dangerous and cunning, they are on a whole different level compared to grade two curses. 

Poof 

Yeah, cigarettes do help me to release some stress, but it's not helping in this case. I'm very eager to encounter a strong curse and defeat it, but I fear to encounter a curse stronger than me. I can't handle the special grade cursed spirit… at least, not yet. Once I master my techniques like Todo did with his Boogie Woogie, then I'll be able to. 

So far, I have a great chance of surviving one, but not defeating it. Gojo had asked me to create a move that I would use as a trump card. Honestly, I'm still thinking about one at the moment… but I have an idea about binding vows. The blood manipulation technique reversal allows me to control the blood of other beings, but that in case my cursed energy reserves are greater than them… even then, this is to some extent. 

As I stand over the apartment building in the west of Tokyo, I keep searching for cursed energy. There are only so many abandoned buildings I must search, but since this is the only way, I must do it anyway. 

Poof 

The clock is already nearing 6PM, there's still no signs of the curse coming on the surface. The abandoned buildings I've checked out so far are all empty. There were no more disappearances of other humans as well. I continue searching further, if the abandoned buildings don't have anybody else in them, then it could be a sewage system. 

Tokyo is thoroughly mapped on satellite imagery and all the abandoned buildings are marked. So far, I've checked a great amount of them. It would be logical to check out the sewage system next, though I wouldn't be able to catch a signal down there. Underground Tokyo sewage system is very complicated, but even then, there's available maps on the internet as well. 

Poof 

"That was the last one, I swear." Dropping the cigarette on the ground, I descended from the three story building back on the street. It was time to search for the open sewage… but before that, I should probably buy something that could light up my path.