Curse

"This is... where I got hurt the other day..."

Before she notices, her random steps and tantrum lead her back to the scene of the incident that took place a couple days ago. The day she transformed for the first time by her will and suffered the most painful wound of her life so far. Just remembering the scenery that plays out at that time triggers a traumatic response, hugging and covering her arm like an old injury that flares up again. As she's breaking sweat profusely, she attempts to calm herself back down.

"It's okay.. It's okay... It's not real.. It's not real... I'm fine.." she chants to herself as if casting a mantra.

'that damage felt very real back then... like my arm were torn off... that was the most intense pain I've ever felt... after that I-' she recalls her experience.

'what happened after that...? I remember crying in the hallway thinking my hand was gone and.. there were other people there... and..I can't remember well, it's all so blurry...'

Chaotic fragments of her memory from that day plays out inside her head, but it got so mixed up that it felt like a dream. Then certain scenery replays in her mind

'Daisuke kun... outside...'

The memory of her looking up to him, in his arm while he was  walking below the trees outside.

'nobody ever mentioned that incident to me after that, did they not saw me? Did Daisuke kun brought me out before they could?' she forgot about her psychosomatic pain and bring her palm to her chest, a smile carved on the damsel's face. The image of Daisuke seen from below while he fiercely focuses ahead flows her memory fondly.

'thinking back... he looked kinda cool back then...'

As she walks along that dark empty hallway, looking out the third floor window with that distanced nostalgic expression on her face, her anger and confusion subsides. A realization.

'whether or not he's doing it because of the curse or because he's making up for yesterday, it doesn't really matter anymore...'

"I actually..." her mouth finally expresses her thought.

"see Daisuke kun as-"

But before she could complete her confession to herself, a sight outside the window distracts her brain.

the corner of her eyes picked up something outside the window.

She turns toward the court below between the building. Checking if whatever it is that caught her attention was down there. Desperate as she seeks, aside from the trees and several garden benches, nothing stands out. The creeps is starting to get to her. Her steps quicken.

'Euhh... I might've ran off without thinking then, but now I really am alone by myself... Just thinking about it makes me recall the story they told me...'

She's reminded of what her classmates told her earlier today.

"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 and take it's place... Wandering the world as a head"

Now that she's finally noticing the graveness of her situation and thinking back upon the story, the fear starts to kick back in. Covering her head with both her arm, she cowers alone on the floor "Wwuahh!!! Why do I have to remember that now!? But th-that can't be real right? Daisuke kun even said so... but the signs... N-no no! Even so, judging from the story, a giant floating head, that sounds like an Okubi! They're not evil, They won't hurt humans! That's right, even if it's true I won't be harmed!!" Desperately she tries to calm her nerves down as she make haste along the empty dark hallway.

"But I really don't want to find that out right now, I have to get back to Daisuke kun- no screw it! I'll just head straight home at this point! Who cares about the mission!!" She steels her nerve one last time to escape this situation altogether.

Her eyes open wide trying to make out her way in the dark of the night. Occasionally something caught her eye to the side, outside the window and by reflex she would turn her head to see it. Nothing, each time. Sometimes the trees would sway from the wind or squirrels would cross the walkway but nothing out of the ordinary. However each instances raises her alertness more and more.

All until a very conspicuous figure registers in her mind. Among the several times she turns to check she sees nothing like it but after looking back ahead the face appears in her memory each time. Almost like she somehow notice it subconsciously but cannot consciously pinpoint where.

'it must be a trick of the mind, there's nothing there!' she thought to herself. Other times thinking it was just an optical illusion from the dark of the night. The view outside is hazy and dark, like the building across is blocked by a thick black cloud. So it's no wonder she's seeing things right?

However as she's looking at it each time longer than the last one. Ever since climbing up this floor, she starts to notice more and more details that are off about the scenery. She was subconsciously brushing it off as just pareidolia all this time but a second ago she just saw it blink. Whether it's the trick of her brain or the darkness it certainly derailed her train of thoughts. A newly focused perception on the thing leave no more room for ambiguity. Outside the window, between the floor she's in and the building across it, occupying the wide airspace above the school courtyard is a giant head, grinning menacingly at her. It took notice of her finally perceiving it and grins wider.

Mizuki freezes. Stunned by the terrifying sight of the ghost's gigantic face staring straight at her. The supernatural nature of the situation and especially the thought of her being alone sends fear throughout her body that her fight-or-flight response is in haywire.

In another scene on a different location, stuck on the floor is the kyokan blade already lit, overlooking Daisuke leaving the scene.

'This feeling... It's just like... My first time last week.. but that can't be...' back to Mizuki, she's evaluating her situation and decision

"I've grown stronger since then!!" She speak out loud, as if making a statement both for herself and the Okubi.

At her SP hand, the end of her finger that was originally blunt and even incomplete, starts to down a narrower shape. Growing thinner and longer, and sharper. Her slowly moving finger approaches the base of her thumb and stabs it. The pain shocks her body and breaks her out of the fear.

"I can move again!" Breaking free, she rushes down the stairs at the end of the hallway. But even there, the Okubi appears on the window scaring her off.

At first.

But then,

"... .. Why is it not... coming at me..?" She takes another step back up the stairs, observing the okubi haunting the stairway window. But before she gets too comfortable, the window up the floor she was coming from breaks. Surprising her with the loud noise, but even worse, the thing that breaks it.

"Bats?!" She reacts.

About a dozen bats break a hole from the window in the hallway and is looking her way with hostility. Screeching and desperately trying to flap it's wing as more bats flock in and pushes it down from the inertia. Caught in such pincer attack, between the bats behind her and the okubi in the window in front of her, Mizuki choose to rush down the one in front of her. Avoiding the window as much as possible as she goes down the stairs.

"I need to find Daisuke kun quick! He'll be able to take it down!" The following stairs down the floor has the okubi rearing it's ugly face on the window too but Mizuki just run with her head down and eyes closed.

As she reaches the ground floor, waiting outside the glass door are pack of dogs, teeth gnarled and vicious eyed.

Fearing their threat, she escapes into the long corridor when suddenly, a broom left out in the corridor falls right where she's stepping. Tripping her in front of the teacher's lounge.

"Ugh! Isn't this...?"

The teacher's lounge that was supposedly empty at this time it's strangely dimly lit, only one of the lights are on. She thought nothing of it at first until a teacher suddenly appears behind her as she stand up.

"Mizukiiiii...." In a haunting, almost possessed voice he calls to her.

"Huwaahh! Y-yes...?" Slowly she turns back toward him.

"What year did the Famine War happened?" He questions in his half dead half haunted tone.

As equally scared as she is confused, she turned upward and shout at the top of her lungs

"Isn't this exactly the effect of the curse?! What do you mean it's not real Daisuke kun!!?"

On the other side of the building, Daisuke look outside to see bats flocking into the top floor window and on the ground are cats and foxes peeking into the building.

"That's definitely unusual... Could it be-?!"

He leaps out the window and dashes midair, breaking the wall.

"Daisuke kun? help me!!!" She calls out as the dogs, cats, bats and the teacher still asking questions chases after her.

"What kind of play is this...?" he's visibly perplexed by the situation.

"That's not important, get them off my back!!!"

Daisuke took her hand and jumped through the floor above.

"Leave it to yours truly to sav-"

Just as they're out of the trouble of the ground floor, another group of bats break into the windows of this one too.

"Ughh... hold tightly! This will be quite shocking!" With a grin on his face, he pulls Mizuki into his arm with one hand and stabs his katana into the floor with his other hand, immediately touching the base of the hilt with the center of his palm

"Shihai Shunkan!" He chants.

A burst of glowing pulses travels from the base of the katana into the floor in which it's stabbing and from there instantly faster than the blink of an eye, travels evenly outward across the floor, across the air, in a 10 meter radius. Just as instantly as it appeared it's gone, leaving a trail of electrifying waves in that sphere of radius, paralyzing every bats that come within that range.

Static electricity fills the air as their pursuer falls motionless on the floor.

"well that should buy us some time" casually he tell her.

"what... was that..? No no more importantly, the curse! It's real! I told you!" she desperately tries to explain to him about what she'd gone through.

"yeah I noticed" he responds casually.

"Huh?! That's it?!" rather angry.

"well well calm down... earlier today it was true. The curse wasn't real"

"what do you mean it's not real? How do you explain-?!" before she could finish, Daisuke's finger stop her lips from moving.

"something else changes that and have enough energy to make it into a real curse. I was having a bad feeling it would happen"

"something... else..?" She pulls her head back and expresses her curiosity.

"the rumor... specifically the intensity of the rumor this time, gives enough energy to make the curse into a real thing"

"it's a complicated subject, but for now I want you to tell me the trigger for the curse first. So we can avoid it" Daisuke hold off on his explanation.

"wait a minute, what do you mean the rumor made it real? It's been around for a long time already!" Mizuki still unsatisfied with his unfinished explanation.

"no time for that, look" he denies her further explanation and points to the end of the hallway closest to them. A sound in the distance gets louder and louder like something is approaching them very quickly.