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"That stupid head is trying to close off our exit" Daisuke points out before pulling Mizuki to run the other direction.

As they're making their way across the corridor, the okubi is chasing them outside the window. Inside the building, the teacher and the animals are still relentlessly giving chase.

"Just tell me what you did for today so I can find the trigger for the curse" he instruct her as they're running.

"trigger? What are you talking about?" Mizuki responds confused.

"Like did the story specify some stuff you shouldn't do to activate the curse or how to avoid it haunting you? Anything" Daisuke explains.

"I don't know! The only thing I'm avoiding now is losing my head!"

"Fret not, both you and your head are mine alone, I won't let anyone else take them away"

"Can you cut that out already!" tired from running and tired of his pickup line, she just want to run away from everything now.

They escaped into an empty class to get away from the hallway window.

"Just recall what you did for today, since the curse only actually awakens today"

Now that they're finally not running anymore she can catch her breath

"*pant* *pant* what I did... *pant* for today...?"

Seeing as they seek shelter in the classroom on the other side of the building, the okubi tries to reach deeper from the outside window but it couldn't reach far enough inside. It looked around at first before flying off somewhere else.

For a while, the situation in the hallway and the classroom they're hiding in is quiet without any animal or footstep noise.

".- and that's pretty much what happened after that..." Mizuki finished explaining everything that she'd done for the day up till the point she reunite with Daisuke.

"I see... somewhere in there must be the actual trigger that activates the curse" a serious expression on his face for once, thinking hard and determining what the trigger of the curse could be.

"Wait Mizuki kun, did you always have that mark? Or could it be a scar?" Daisuke points under her chin, on her neck that is now exposed. All that running around displaces her scarf. On the skin of her neck, a line of scar that look too straight to be an accident. Almost like a precise cut using a thin wire.

"Eh what are you talking about? I never have scars on my neck" a genuine yet concerned look on her face as he address that.

"Wai- on your neck Daisuke kun! Something just lights up!"

As he's thinking about that, suddenly the same line appears on his neck, although his is shorter and less perfect. Like an earlier version of Mizuki's scar.

"I guess that's the mark of the curse. I have been afflicted too" he rub that part of his neck.

"Ehh?! Then... does that mean both of us are done for?? What should we do?" Mizuki panics.

In that moment too, a haunting growl came from their back, the classroom window. The giant head peeking at them inside the class, ready to reach its tongue inside to grab them.

Daisuke swiftly pulls Mizuki's arm and take her out of the class right before the tongue can get her.

"Waaaahhh!! The okubi can even get us here!? And this time even you too have the curse! We have nowhere else to run!"

"No. Actually that save us some trouble. Heh... This way, Mizuki kun!" his statement puzzles her. Then they both head to the stairway at the end of the hallway.

The okubi follows them from outside the building, it heads to the stairway windows but find none of them there. Not on the upper floor or the floor below it.

DING DONG DOON

The announcement speaker turns on.

"Umm attention... Uhh the story goes that... in this school, if you stay too long after dark, bad things will happen to you..." The involuntary voice of Mizuki over the microphone can be heard echoing throughout the entire school building. She's using the school's PA system.

While retelling the story of the curse through the PA system, she recalls her earlier conversation with Daisuke after they escaped the okubi at the stairway earlier.

"Now that I'm also afflicted with the curse, we can both compare our overlapping actions for today and rule out the trigger for the curse."

"Oh! That's what you meant earlier! But even if we know the trigger now, what can we do if we're already cursed? Oh can we like reverse the curse if we do them backwards?" A confident grin accompanies her cartoon idea.

"Well not exactly that... but we can exploit it some other way" he puts on a convincing face for her.

'This better works, Daisuke kun!' is what's inside her head as she's retelling this curse's tale across the speaker distributed into various corners of the school.

In other parts of the school, peeking from behind a corner, Daisuke sees the okubi leaving the area and following the direction of the voice.

"Now comes the first trigger, the rumor itself" a devious smile carved above his chin. He puts his palm on the surface of the window pane next to him.

"I should finish things here and help her out too"

Back to the jittery voiced storyteller, Mizuki is shakily speaking into the mic and retelling the scary rumor that she heard from her classmates earlier today "...and when the floating head gets to you... it'll claim your head next, and you'll float as a head for eternity...." she shivers from the idea alone. Touching her neck with the mark glowing brighter than before, worried about her fate.

However, just as she finishes the story and turns off the mic, a haunting shadow blocks the moonlight shining from her side.

Slowly and anxiously she turns her head to find that giant head starting straight into her soul. The horrifying grin coming out of that giant ugly face triggered her natural response for escape, wasting no time inside the broadcast clubroom.

"WAAAAHHHHH DAISUKE KUN!!! WHAT DO I DO NOW?!!!" she run for her life out the room.

behind her however, a horde of squirrel, crows, rats and cats are chasing her, covering the floor of the corridor.

"here, Mizuki kun!" Daisuke appeared in front of her, he catches her and stops her from running. what's supposed to be the classroom windows beside her is curtained off by a large fabric. He pulled it down with the same hand he caught her.

"here is fine" he claims convincingly as the sheet fall off revealing a big mirror.

"but Daisuke kun! the okubi can reach us here-" before she finishes her sentence, the okubi rear it's ugly head right outside where they're standing.

"that's the plan!" Daisuke revealed his other hand touching his katana shoved into the floor.

"Shihai Shunkan!" he shout out loud.

This time even larger than this first cast, almost half the third floor is engulfed in his split second orb of  static waves, howling across the entire building and paralyzing everything within it's radius, even the okubi outside. It only freezes up there midair.

But suddenly,

"huh? The okubi... It's shining...?"

"that's the third and fourth trigger, looking through the window from floor 3 of the school main building and seeing the large floating head, itself" he explains the triggers for the curse. Which also surprises the okubi as it's staring at it's own reflection behind the two.

"If all the signs of this curse show up to you, by that night, before you go to sleep, a giant head will come to claim your head. Unfortunately for it, since it doesn't have necks like us to cut through first..."

Suddenly outside the building, a ghastly floating, burning head, about five times larger than the okubi opens it's massive jaw and swallows the okubi in one gulp.

Mizuki could only see the lower jaw of that thing outside the window. But even from that angle she can tell how massive it is. While she's still awestruck by that thing's sheer size, Daisuke quickly tugged her out of the way when a different head appears and tries to chomp her off too.

"No time to be amazed, you're next!" Daisuke carries her and phase out of the wall, flying out of the school gate before the new giant head could manage a second bite.

"The scary thing about curse is that you can't attack it, but it's weakness is that it can also works against yourself if the triggers are activated" Daisuke continues explaining while still carrying Mizuki out of the area.

"You can save that for later, get us out of here first!!!" Mizuki tells him as the giant ghostly head is chasing her by the throat.

The next day, Mizuki is walking anxiously to school thinking out loud "so in the end, was all that flirting around really was from the curse or is that just Daisuke being very pushy...?"

"Jeez that guy... I can't tell if he's being serious or not! It's almost too over the top that I feel like he's just messing with me! Are you actually trying? Or are you just fooling around? What are you really going for?! Don't play with a maiden's heart!!!" She goes on getting angry at the thought, arguing by herself.

She ponders the situation.

'Honestly, if it's Daisuke kun... If he actually mean it... maybe I...'

As she's thinking that, she sees him in front of the gate. She pauses for a second then proceeds to swiftly rush inside, avoiding eye contact.

This continues all day throughout school even if Daisuke himself isn't trying to catch her attention. Every time she'd bump into him or catch sight of him, her cheek would turn red and subconsciously form a stupid grin on her face. She would immediately turn away or jump behind a corner to prevent him seeing her.

Time flies and it's already the last class for today. Mizuki is restless at her seat, unable to focus in class as the teacher is explaining the lesson.

'Mou what am I doing! I'm being unfair to Daisuke kun now! Yesterday he was trying so hard too!' she scolds herself.

'wait, can he hear my thoughts like yesterday? What if- no that can't be! We have to touch both our Reichitsu first for a connection and I've been avoiding him all day... all day...'

She turns toward Daisuke at the other side of the class, observing him who's paying full attention in class, a solemn expression on her face.

'I thought I'm ready to give him my answer but... who knows it could take this much courage... to change how things are... it's not supposed to be that hard, all I have to say is...' the bell chimes signaling the end of school session interrupts her monologue.

But before she realizes it, after Hirase Sensei dismisses the class, Mizuki is the first one to rush out of the class. She can even hear Daisuke's voice shortly entering her mind but vanishes away right after like a disconnected phone call. He was trying to establish SP link when she was passing in front of him on her way out.

Her action slightly concerns both Hirase and Daisuke. While Hirase have a genuine concerned look, Daisuke have a more investigative face, suspecting something's up with her.

Mizuki walking hastily along the corridor can only pin the blame on herself for her indecisiveness.

'I've done it now! This couldn't be more obvious! Ignoring him like that. I can't make up anymore excuse!'

"Kitahara san, a moment please" a gentle womanly voice greets her on her way out. Stopping her on her steps.

She turns towards the direction from which it came from "Hirase... Sensei?"

She instructs Mizuki to follow her for an errand on a different floor. Their whole journey to the room of of their destination is filled with no conversation at all. Even Mizuki is feeling a bit uncomfortable, like she's in deep trouble.

After they reached the empty classroom of their destination, Hirase just stood in front of her in silence.

"Umm Hirase Sensei...? Do you-?" Before she could break the silence and asks her questions a young male voice cuts her off.

"Curses are powerful Reichitsu phenomenon that can affect you even if the user isn't aware of your location or presence"

"Geh! DAISUKE KUN?!!"

As the supposed female teacher turns towards her, she dramatically changes appearance, almost like her current image is burned off in multiple spots, turning into the familiar Daisuke kun that Mizuki's trying to avoid so desperately today.

"Yo! Time for a lesson review" gleefully he announces.

She only laughs weakly, not sure how to properly react. Him being back to his usual self relieves her stress somewhat. A familiar environment.

'Maybe we can just take things slow for now... As long as we get to see each other again like this, I'm fine'

Meanwhile, the real Hirase is on her way out of school when a mysterious figure catches her eye. "You are...!"