35

.

Satoru-niichan is here.

He's here.

… Wherever 'here' is, now that the thought finally occurs to her. Shiki isn't entirely sure where this newly-destroyed workshop is actually situated, location-wise. From the startled, indistinct shouting that she's hearing, there are most certainly a number of people outside in their nearby surroundings. That immediately rules out the possibility of a secluded workshop tucked away and hidden in a remote area, then.

The girl squints, noting the vaguely traditional details in various scattered pieces of the torn buildings currently hovering in a haphazard mess in the air. The structures are… not entirely dissimilar to those on Gojo clan grounds.

Then, did that mean… this was the Kamo clan compound?

It would make a certain amount of sense. Given how the Kamo Clan was behind her kidnapping in the first place… where else would they take her? Their clan compound was likely to be the most well-defended stronghold that the Kamos possessed. So if their intention was to keep everything secret, then it wasn't entirely unreasonable that Shiki would be brought to the heart of the clan compound.

But on the other hand –if this was the heart of the Kamo clan compound, then they really had no room for any plausible deniability anymore. With Satoru-niichan arriving like a vengeful god while Shiki and Kiyohira-sensei were both very clearly held at the Kamo Clan's tender mercies, there wasn't any chance of covering up what was going on here. Kiyohira-sensei is currently unconscious in a pool of his own blood, and Shiki is dangling limply from Araya's hold. Various signs of human experimentation are strewn in the background. Things really don't get any more obvious than that.

Any sorcerer would have to be blind to miss the glaring warning signs plastered over the entire situation. And Satoru-niichan was a sorcerer with Six Eyes.

Araya's hand suddenly tightening once more around her arm is her only warning.

But, Shiki isn't afraid. The frustration and the trepidation from earlier have all disappeared in this moment, vanishing like smoke beneath the sunlight that spills over them.

There's a harsh tug on her wrist from where Araya grips her, and then, nothing. Shiki feels herself falling, except she never hits the ground.

Instead, she's caught by a familiar pair of arms. She looks up just in time to see Satoru-niichan carelessly throwing away the hand that he'd torn off from the other sorcerer in the blink of an eye.

The dismembered hand distorts, twisting into itself mid-air, and is crumpled into a bloody paste under the power of her cousin's cursed technique.

… Satisfying, but it's still not enough. Considering everything that Araya had done, it's not enough.

"He tore off Kiyohira-sensei's entire arm," Shiki hears herself saying.

Satoru-niichan hums idly, readjusting his hold on her. "Want me to take both of his arms to make up for it, then?"

Although his voice is breezy and easygoing, Shiki knows her cousin well enough by this point to know that this unaffected air is simply his way of calming down others around him. Don't worry. This is nothing to worry about, I can deal with it. You're safe now.

… Satoru-niichan is not omnipotent nor invincible. Shiki has known this since she was six years old –ever since the day that she and Satoru-niichan had been run through on the same sword, during that fateful mission to protect the Star Plasma Vessel.

So, she's very much aware that Satoru-niichan is not perfect. No one is.

It still doesn't change the fact that her cousin is the strongest person she knows, and to date she has yet to see her cousin come out on the losing end of a fight.

"I want his head," Shiki says, enunciating her words clearly. Ideally, she would slice the man to pieces herself, but that's… not an option that's currently available to her.

Satoru-niichan gives her a wry look, crystalline blue eyes catching the light like thousands of glass shards, each with mirrored reflections. "I'm getting the feeling that we should probably talk about you and your growing obsession with decapitated heads sometime."

Obsession? Her? There's nothing of the sort going on, what gives him that idea? Besides, Satoru-niichan hadn't said anything back in the Gojo Clan when Daisaku-sama was trailing blood everywhere with those decapitated heads he was swinging around. The elder had even been holding two of them! Shiki was only asking for one.

Rather than giving in to the instinctive pout tugging petulantly at her lips, though, instead the little girl looks up and bats her eyes.

"Please?"

… She's not 'cute.' Shiki knows this. Too bloodthirsty, too unnerving, or whatever it was that tended to be whispered behind quiet corners in hushed whispers just outside of her earshot. There's not a single person in the Gojo Clan who would call her cute, aside from Satoru-niichan. While Ken-jichan is fond of Shiki and loves her dearly, even he doesn't think that she's cute.

But Satoru-niichan does.

It's enough, if it's just Satoru-niichan.

… Just Satoru-niichan is enough.

The white-haired young man makes a large show of humming thoughtfully, then laughs. "Well, since you're asking so nicely, how could I possibly ever say no?"

With that said, Satoru-niichan raises his arm. Across from them, Araya is promptly thrown into another piece of crumbling rubble–

But there's no crunch of breaking bones, nor any accompanying splatter of blood that flies into the air. Light flickers erratically through the cracks, and the sorcerer bursts out from the debris that had nearly buried him, concentric circles flaring brightly beneath his feet.

"Interesting barrier you've got there," Satoru-niichan comments. "That's not going to save you, though."

As if in protest to those words, tendrils of shimmering white-black light immediately whip outwards from the sorcerer's circular arrays. Shiki recognizes them; they're the same ones that had knocked Kiyohira-sensei clear across the room earlier. The rope-like extensions lash out at speed, and slam directly into Satoru-niichan's infinity barrier.

Her cousin doesn't so much as flinch. Sparks of light fly up at the harsh impact, but Satoru-niichan remains completely unmoved.

It's a curious feeling, being enveloped in the barrier of her cousin's cursed technique. This isn't her first time experiencing this, although the vague sense of dissonance inside her is something new –most likely because of Shiki's recent revelations regarding her own cursed technique, she's guessing. Either that, or it might have something to do with the persistent lack of strength in her still-paralyzed body. Which also remained a very real possibility, unfortunately.

Her cousin raises a hand, and clenches it into a fist. Araya is promptly yanked off of his feet and slams headfirst into the other side of the tattered walls. His strange barrier of overlapping circles appears to hold, however, and the man is quick to pull himself upright, looking towards Satoru-niichan with a frown.

"So this is the Gojo Clan's vaunted Limitless–"

"Nope, not listening!" Satoru-niichan's voice is markedly breezy, but undeniably cold at the same time. "Corpses don't speak, don't you know that? … What am I saying, of course you do. You oh-so-considerately left Kansuke's corpse for me to find, after all. And you even led Suguru to that temple… all to serve as a distraction for the Kamos to kidnap my little cousin."

Gojo Kansuke was dead? Shiki blinks, not having expected that. But perhaps she should've, because it's not so surprising that the Kamo Clan would choose to cut their losses. Not to say that the man didn't deserve it, but hadn't one of the Kamo sisters mentioned something about a binding vow for Gojo Kansuke's safety, in exchange for Gojo Kikuhime's cooperation with the poison? So in light of that, it was a little strange that Gojo Kansuke was killed so easily. But perhaps that was due to some loophole left in the wording of the vow itself?

That's none of Shiki's concern, though.

There is a loud crash, as the last dregs of the building's precariously-standing wooden frames finally come down, torn to pieces by the force of Satoru-niichan's cursed technique. Araya lets out a low grunt, buckling slightly beneath the crushing weight –both of the rubble, and of her cousin's cursed energy.

"He didn't get the two of you with anything too serious, did he?" Satoru-niichan gives Shiki another brief once-over, and quickly glances towards Kiyohira-sensei for good measure. One eyebrow arches up. "Oh, you figured out the stasis thing? Nice."

"I almost didn't," Shiki confesses. Because that's the truth of the matter: It had been a close thing. Far, far too close for comfort. And if she hadn't succeeded at the very last minute… "If I hadn't managed it, Araya said he would keep Kiyohira-sensei alive in exchange for my obedience. A binding vow."

"… I see," her cousin responds neutrally. His cursed energy, on the other hand, flares sharply and proceeds to flatten everything in their surroundings. Planks of wood and concrete alike are ground into dust, which is something that Shiki has never quite managed and is definitely, definitely beyond her abilities. The writhing coils of light extending from Araya's barrier pulse wildly, then fall apart in a shower of crackling sparks.

At the same time, there is a startled, pained shout. The Kamos, from the sounds of it? … Yes, there's no mistaking it. Kamo Matsuhime, cowering on the ground in an absolute mess, disheveled and wide-eyed and shrilly shouting something incomprehensible into the air. Her son, on the other hand, currently seems to be doing his best to calm his mother down and get her to be quiet and stop drawing attention to herself. Which is probably the smart thing for Kamo Nobutomo to do in this instance. Neither Satoru-niichan's nor Araya's attention on them in this moment was likely to signify anything good for either of them.

The boy's overall state is clearly better off than that of his mother's, despite also being pale-faced from the sheer pressure of Satoru-niichan's cursed energy. Likely by virtue of not having any of his bones broken beforehand.

Still, it's clear to see that the one who's faring the worst in this moment is Araya Souren. There are cracks forming in the lines of his barriers, a clear sign of instability in the technique. For all that the man had been able to easily take out Kiyohira-sensei, it was apparent that he proved no match for Satoru-niichan. Not unless he had other tricks up his sleeves, but in face of absolute, overwhelming strength… there's only so much that mere tricks can do to close the yawning gap.

"You arrived earlier than expected," Araya murmurs softly, shaking his head. "What a pity. But… perhaps this is for the best. It's not time yet. I suppose… at least this works out for one of us, at any rate."

Shiki frowns. That is not the voice nor the words of a man on verge of defeat. "Satoru-niichan–"

Her cousin is already one step ahead of her. The young man's eyes narrow, cursed eyes glowing brightly, and he raises two fingers in front of himself in a seal. Cursed energy wells up inside him. For a single moment, this can even be felt in their surroundings, not unlike the eerie stillness that lingers in the air before a heavy storm breaks, before the torrential downpour inevitably drowns everything in its wake.

"Red."

Faintly, Shiki is able to make out the sight of Araya's eyes widening, as the man crosses his arms in front of himself. The multilayered circles in his barrier glow as he feeds all of his cursed energy into them, and in response the inscriptions blaze in tandem as they are pushed to their limits. There is a heart-stopping instant where the barrier holds–

Then shatters–

And everything is promptly swallowed up in a singularly overwhelming explosion of crimson light.

The dust and debris that's immediately whipped up everywhere in the aftermath means that Shiki closes her eyes on instinct –before she remembers that Satoru-niichan has extended his barrier of infinity over her. Her eyes blink open again. There's still not much that she can make out, though. Shiki is unable to make out anything more than billowing clouds of smoke and faintly-glowing red lines.

'Red' is a highly destructive ability. It's the cursed technique reversal of Limitless, where a repelling effect is generated rather than the attractive force of 'Blue.' Convergence and divergence. Shiki is aware of the broad strokes of the technique, although she isn't familiar with all its particulars, nor has she ever seen Satoru-niichan actually using it in person like this.

The way that her cousin draws up his cursed energy and utilizes it is clean, precise, and efficient. Shiki makes a mental note of it, and silently carves a new goal into her mind. An example to be followed.

(If only she was stronger, then maybe Kiyohira-sensei–)

Satoru-niichan waves his hand, drawing away the smoke obscuring everything in sight using his cursed technique. The result that can be seen after the smoke clears is a large crevice carved into the ground, ending in a tattered mess of blood-drenched rubble, misshapen lumps of flesh and bone. Not quite enough to constitute the full body of an adult man, but it was hard to tell if everything else had just simply been annihilated by the destructive power of Red, or… or if the man had somehow managed to escape again.

After all, Shiki still remembers the corpses that they'd been shown, when they'd initially confronted the Kamo Clan demanding answers for Jihei-san's death. The clan head of the Kamo Clan had responded by feigning ignorance and claiming that the Kamo Clan was also saddened at the death of a valued retainer, when in reality they'd only quietly covered up said retainer's death and set their sights on Shiki instead.

… It might've been true that Kamo Matsuhime's only goal in this entire ordeal was for her son to obtain Shiki's cursed technique. Who knows what the clan head and the rest of the Kamo Clan had been thinking, sanctioning the lady's outrageous, drastic actions. But Araya Souren came across to Shiki as someone who clearly had his own reasons, unrelated to directives from the Kamo Clan. Not to mention, there was also the overwhelmingly suspicious fact that he'd known about Shiki practically from the moment of her birth. The very reminder still sends an unpleasant sensation tingling down the length of her spine.

But the sensation of her cousin's arms wrapped around her is grounding, calming. In all honesty, it's hard to be scared when Satoru-niichan looks like he's about ready to tear down everything in his way without a shred of hesitation.

Part of Shiki despises herself for this, though. For relying on Satoru-niichan like this, when the entire point of the relentless training that she's gone through is precisely so that she wouldn't be a burden to those around her –Satoru-niichan included. Not to say that Satoru-niichan was unreliable; he likes acting fickle, but he's probably the most reliable person that Shiki knows. Even so…

It's not right. It's not right, because Shiki should've been able to deal with this on her own. She shouldn't have gotten caught in this situation in the first place. But she had, and now Satoru-niichan is the one who needs to come and save her and deal with this entire mess.

He's always saving her, isn't he? When the Gojo Clan had initially whisked her away from the hospital, Satoru-niichan had been the one to reunite her with Ken-jichan. When Shiki had gotten into trouble with the Kamo Clan the first time around, Satoru-niichan had been the one to stare down the elders on her behalf. When Shiki had been taken by the Sorcerer Killer, an experience that she doesn't even remember, Satoru-niichan had been the one to hunt the man down, kill him, and make sure Shiki was safe.

And now, Satoru-niichan was openly wreaking havoc in the Kamo Clan because of her. Because Shiki had sat on her hands and done nothing until it was far too late, and gotten herself kidnapped with barely any resistance.

Blessed child, indeed. Shiki has never cared for titles, but something undeniably bitter curls inside her chest all the same in this moment.

"Hey, now, none of that," Satoru-niichan chides gently, with a faintly distracted note to his voice as he continues to scan their surroundings. Shiki blinks, startled out of her thoughts by the quicksilver pinch on her cheek –was she really that obvious?

… It figures that Satoru-niichan would be able to read her so easily.

"If we're assigning blame to anyone, then it should be to the Kamo Clan for orchestrating this entire thing in the first place," her cousin says, apropos of nothing, but in direct response to Shiki's line of thought all the same. Guilt is not something that she's used to experiencing. She finds that she… doesn't like it. "But we should have this conversation sometime when we're not standing in the middle of the Kamo clan compound while you and Kiyohira still need medical attention. You're still kind of like a jellyfish right now. Paralytic?"

"The Lady Kamo called it 'Kanashibari,'" Shiki shares what she knows. "They also used a cursed tool that drained cursed energy on me, but I got rid of it."

Her cousin hums lightly in acknowledgment, and hefts her up in his arms. When Shiki was younger, Satoru-niichan could easily carry her with a single arm and have her sit on his forearm, but that's no longer the case anymore. Now, he uses his other arm to gather under her legs as well so he has a firm grip on her. Despite the slightly different positioning, though, it's still… familiar. Being carried by Satoru-niichan like this is familiar, and he's warm. Satoru-niichan is warm. Much warmer than her.

Shiki thinks that she suddenly might understand why Mi-chan always likes to curl up beside the heat lamp.

Still carrying her in his arms, Satoru-niichan strolls over to where Araya –pieces of Araya, at any rate– are scattered messily across the ground, and squints down. Shiki peeks over her cousin's shoulder. Considering everything that Araya had put her and Kiyohira-sensei through, considering the man's proven capabilities when it came to convoluted, far-reaching plotting… even though she knows that Satoru-niichan is the Strongest, somehow things seemed to have resolved themselves far too easily, for Araya to just be dead like this.

There's a chance that she's overthinking things, of course. But in light of recent experiences, Shiki feels that she should err on the side of caution.

Not that she was complaining about an anticlimactic death. However, if it turned out that the man wasn't…

"Is he dead?" Shiki asks. To be honest, she isn't quite sure how she herself would've fared in battle against the man, assuming that she hadn't been afflicted with poison and was able to fight properly. Given the ease with which he'd fought Kiyohira-sensei, though, it probably wouldn't have been an easy battle.

(Going by the greater ease with which Satoru-niichan had stomped him into the ground with in turn, clearly there was still a far greater gap that existed between Araya and her cousin.)

"… You know, I can't really tell," Satoru-niichan admits after a beat, sounding annoyed and mildly dissatisfied.

"You can't tell?" Shiki is genuinely surprised. Satoru-niichan has the Six Eyes, which means that precious little details ever escape him at any given moment.

"Going by what we're seeing here–" Satoru-niichan gestures towards the mangled flesh and bone on the ground, "–it's most definitely fatal. But I know what I saw. No matter what it seemed like, Red didn't break his barrier, not exactly. He was doing something else with his cursed energy, and then the barrier fell apart on its own. What I don't understand is why he didn't even try to dodge, like he didn't care about getting hit…"

Shiki frowns. Not worrying about physical injuries meant that such injuries did not matter, which only made sense if one of two options were true:

One, physical wounds of the body did not matter because they could be easily regenerated from. She knew that Araya was capable of using reverse cursed technique, but currently Shiki has yet to see any signs of regeneration from the mutilated mess of blood and gore strewn across the ground… one that's not even human in shape anymore. Was it even possible to regenerate from something like this? The flickering lines she could observe also clearly read as 'dead' in Shiki's eyes. If Araya could still regenerate from this state, then she would be very, very surprised.

Alternatively… Araya didn't care about physical injuries to his body because… it simply didn't matter if his body was destroyed. Which would only be the case if he had some way of continuing to exist beyond the death of his physical body, or something along those lines? Because the only other possibility aside from this was be that Araya was suicidal and dead, and he certainly didn't strike Shiki as that type of man. Araya was someone who had goals, even if Shiki still didn't quite understand what those goals were, precisely. Only that his goals had involved her, and…

And there was no use musing any further on that in this moment. Right now, the problem was what happened to Araya when Red detonated, because Shiki finds it extremely unlikely that the man is just dead, even despite the proof before her eyes serving as clear evidence of such.

… If the Kamo Clan had already developed some method of extracting a sorcerer's cursed technique from their body and implanting it into another person's body, then surely it wasn't too far of a stretch to think that they might be able to do something similar with the soul's information? Araya seemed like the sort of person who would be meticulous enough to keep around a few fail-safes.

Unlike the largely-unknown mysteries surrounding cursed techniques, there was far more knowledge available regarding the 'soul's information.' To Shiki's understanding, Panda's father Yaga Masamichi would be one of the experts in this field, given his specialization. And even aside from the creation of cursed corpse dolls that contained predetermined personalities, there were also select cases of spiritual mediums who were capable of serving as a 'bridge.' Such sorcerers were capable of summoning the information of deceased souls to commune between the living and the dead. Not quite resurrection, but probably the closest alternative to it, as long as the exacting, punishing conditions were properly met.

Shiki mulls over the thought a little more before opening her mouth and sharing it with Satoru-niichan, who listens to her conjectures with a growing frown of his own.

"… That's not impossible. And it would certainly explain some things," he allows, clicking his tongue irritably. "Although if that's the case, then it means that Araya is still at large, which definitely makes things complicated."

That's true. "I'm sorry for the trouble."

"What? No, that wasn't a complaint?" With a small start, Satoru-niichan squints down at her. "Didn't Yuzuki tell you that you shouldn't apologize so easily? Especially for things that are out of your control?"

"…" Shiki casts her mind back for the memory. That was… vaguely familiar, somewhat? "… Maybe?"

Satoru-niichan snorts and shakes his head.

"Don't ever feel like you're causing me trouble," he says firmly. "Anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar."

"But–"

"I'm your Toru-nii. So this much is only natural, isn't it?"

Shiki's breath catches in her throat.

… It's hard to describe what she feels right now. There's some strange, swelling emotion inside her chest, except it's not painful, nor does it constrict her throat uncomfortably. In fact, it's not uncomfortable at all. Which is strange, because–

Because it's not like he's said anything profound. It's not a revelation that upends her worldview; this isn't anything like that. It's just Satoru-niichan, telling her that she's not a burden no matter her abject failings and shortcomings.

Just Satoru-niichan.

"… Toru-nii."

"Hmm?" Her cousin glances back towards her, from where he'd already returned to surveying their surroundings for further clues of what Araya had done to make his escape.

"Nothing," Shiki shakes her head, feeling oddly light. The girl tucks her chin over her cousin's shoulder. "I just wanted to say it."

"Oh?" She can hear the grin in his voice. "You 'just wanted to say it,' is that right?"

Now he was just teasing.

"… I don't know what you're talking about," Shiki promptly denies, and Satoru-niichan laughs.

"Well, is there anything else my cute little cousin wants from me?" There's a slight twinkle in her cousin's eyes as he continues to poke fun at her. "Unless you're a fan of unidentifiable bloody paste, getting Araya's head is a complete loss here, sorry. Want me to flatten the entire Kamo clan compound instead?"

"Please don't do that, Gojo."

At the sound of the new voice so rudely interrupting them, Satoru-niichan turns around without skipping a beat.

"Kamo," he returns the greeting flatly, in a way that sounds less like a greeting and more of a threat. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't level your entire compound."

Shiki recognizes the man who'd come up behind them. Kamo Teruichi, the current head of the Kamo Clan. She can't decide if the man is brave or foolish, confronting Satoru-niichan so brazenly like this when it's his clan that hatched this plot to kidnap her in the first place, that caused Kiyohira-sensei to–!

A trickle of sweat runs down the side of the man's face. There is a perceptible tremble to his frame, likely from the pressure of the cursed energy that Satoru-niichan is making absolutely no effort to tamp down on.

The man swallows roughly, even as he does his best to put on a calm, unaffected air. "I realize how this looks. But contrary to appearances, the… the Kamo Clan was not involved in this. We never would've–"

"Wrong answer."

Satoru-niichan doesn't make any visible motions, or any gestures. His arms are still wrapped firmly around Shiki, carrying her while she is unable to move on her own. But the moment those words leave his mouth, everything around them–

–breaks.

It's like standing in the eye of the storm. Entire rooftops are ripped apart and torn into the air, as if an invisible hurricane has spontaneously manifested itself above them, with no sign or warning. There are startled screams around them, terrified shouts ringing shrilly in Shiki's ears–

Kamo pales. "Gojo! No, Gojo, you can't–"

"And who are you," Satoru-niichan murmurs softly, in a voice that Shiki doubts the other clan head can actually hear over the thunderous rumbling of overwhelming destruction, "To tell me what I can and can't do?"

Shiki peers up towards her cousin. Satoru-niichan is dangerous –this is something that she's always known. He's a Special Grade sorcerer, after all. Of course he's dangerous.

But he's not dangerous to her, so it's never been something that Shiki had truly ever taken note of, up until this very moment when he's tearing down the Kamo Clan for her. She wonders what it says about her that she still feels zero fear or apprehension, unlike the Kamo clan head who looks to be terrified out of his mind.

… If the man was scared of the consequences, then maybe he shouldn't have gotten his clan to kidnap her in the first place.

Despite his apparent fear, Kamo Teruichi is not the head of the Kamo Clan for nothing. He doesn't quite manage to regain his composure, but he does manage to pull himself together again, if only barely. Sucking in a deep breath and squaring his shoulders while the entire world around him is torn to pieces, the man turns towards his wife and son huddled over towards the side. Kamo Matsuhime raises her head defiantly, while Kamo Nobutomo flinches.

With a few quick strides, the Kamo clan head towers above them. A strange expression twists across his face –it's not quite rage, nor is it grief, but… something not entirely dissimilar, if Shiki had to put her finger on it. He stares at the two of them wordlessly for a long moment.

"The things that you've done," he eventually says. "Were not sanctioned by the Kamo Clan. Would never have been properly sanctioned. Kamo Matsuhime, Kamo Nobutomo. You are disgraces to the Kamo name."

Kamo Matsuhime's head whips up, and there is a wild look in her eyes. "You say this now? You –you coward! Were you not the one who–"

"Silence," the man hisses. "Do you even know what you're saying, you wretched woman? Do you have any idea of what you've done in your insanity, implicating the clan like this?"

… If Kamo Teruichi was trying to absolve his clan of any blame in the matter of Shiki's kidnapping, then he was currently doing quite an awful job at it. Satoru-niichan makes an unimpressed sound, which more or less mirrors Shiki's own thoughts.

"Wait!" Kamo Nobutomo shakily moves between the two, hovering protectively in front of his mother. "I… Mother is not wholly to blame in this matter. Father, I–"

"Do not call me 'Father.'"

"… Kamo-sama." The barest hint of something bitter flashes in the boy's eyes, and he bites his lip, then lowers his head. "For… for something as heinous as this to have occurred on Kamo clan grounds is a travesty, and d-demands further investigation first before any punishments are meted prematurely. My mother is not one prone to impulsive, reckless action. There must be a reason why she chose this course of action aside from foolish shortsightedness. I implore you, please, allow a chance for her redemption–"

The man holds up his hand to cut off his son's incessant rambling, his expression stony. "You were aware of your mother's actions?"

Kamo Nobutomo hesitates. "I… knew she was planning something. But the details were unclear, so I–"

"But you had your guesses, didn't you?" Kamo Teruichi's gaze is shrewd, knowing. "If only you were the one born with Blood Manipulation, instead of your half-brother… but your attachment to your mother will be your downfall. I warned you of this years ago, didn't I? … Why must you prove me right by attempting to hide her mistakes, instead of coming forward to me the moment you realized the magnitude of what she was scheming?"

The boy hangs his head in shame. When he speaks again, his voice is only a hoarse whisper. "I apologize for disappointing you, Kamo-sama. I did not… I know that for something of this scale, there is only one proper punishment according to the clan laws. For all of Mother's faults, I still hoped to spare her from that."

"And for your folly," the man tells him, "You shall suffer the same sentence as traitors to the clan."

Kamo Nobutomo jerks, instantly looking up with wide eyes at the proclamation. "Father, I–"

He never receives a chance to finish his words.

In the blink of an eye, the Kamo clan has drawn the short sword at his side, and rammed it through his son's chest. The boy's words are drowned in a surprised breath unexpectedly forced from his lungs, a choked gurgle of blood. He stares silently at his father with wide, disbelieving eyes.

Kamo Matsuhime screams.

"No! No, no, no, not Nobutomo, my Nobutomo–"

Kamo Teruichi clenches his jaw. There is a flicker of something in his eyes, but it does not stop him from twisting the blade roughly in the boy's chest, the young boy who looks so much like him. Kamo Matsuhime screeches something shrill and incomprehensible, lunging forward and desperately grabbing onto her husband's blade with her own bare hands when the man makes to withdraw it, a futile attempt to stop her child from bleeding out immediately and dying.

"Nobutomo, Nobutomo, Nobutomo–"

The Kamo clan head releases a long, slow breath. He also releases his grip on his sword, when it becomes apparent that hysterical Kamo Matsuhime isn't letting go of it anytime soon. The woman's hands are white and pale. Soft and uncalloused, the way Shiki has only seen on non-sorcerers. They are also stained a brilliant scarlet from the blood welling up from where Kamo Matsuhime holds onto the sword with a death grip, deep enough to cut to the bone.

The woman wails.

Kamo Teruichi regards his wife's grief impassively, and draws another knife from his sleeves.

"Right, that's enough of that, I think."

Satoru-niichan doesn't physically reach out to stop the man or even raise his cursed energy in warning, but he doesn't need to. At the mere sound of his voice, the Kamo clan head freezes all the same.

"… You would allow her to live?" he asks.

Shiki almost rolls her eyes at the cautious hope in the man's voice, beneath the poorly-hidden surprise. Satoru-niichan has no such compunctions, and openly does so.

"Of course not," her cousin responds flatly. "Even disregarding your own clan laws, Kamo Matsuhime's life was forfeit from the moment she decided to target Shiki like this. But if you kill her, the Gojo Clan won't have anyone to interrogate."

The Kamo clan head falters, and frowns. "I… her trespasses and crimes are severe, but she is the clan lady all the same. You cannot possibly mean for the Kamo Clan to submit her to the Gojo Clan's–"

"You don't have a choice," Satoru-niichan informs him, in a tone of voice that brooks no argument. "After everything that happened here today, you're a fool if you think that the name of the Kamo Clan you lead will still mean anything."

The man stares at Satoru-niichan disbelievingly, a warped mirror of the same shock that had appeared on his son's face when he'd plunged the blade into the boy's chest. "That… you can't…!"

"I thought we already went over this earlier," Satoru-niichan snorts dismissively. "You have no say in what I can or can't do, Kamo."

The relentless swirl of destruction around them is proof enough of those words.

Kamo Teruichi's hands curl into fists at his sides. "The Kamo Clan is one of the Three Great Families! I admit to gross negligence on my part that allowed this incident threatening the Gojo Clan's blessed child to occur, but she is unharmed. Araya Souren, who is complicit in this affair, is already dead at your hands. Kamo Nobutomo and Kamo Matsuhime will both be executed. What further concessions do you intend to ask of the Kamo Clan?"

"See, that's the thing," Satoru-niichan's eyes flash coldly. "I'm not asking."

… Shiki thinks that she follows the overall trail of Kamo Teruichi's logic. The head of the Kamo Clan is of the belief that things can be resolved peacefully between the Kamo and Gojo clans, as two of the Three Great Families acting as the pillars of the jujutsu world. Shiki still finds it intensely unlikely that he had truly known nothing of what Kamo Matsuhime and Araya had planned, but as long as he claimed to have no knowledge of it, then he could use them as scapegoats to offer to the Gojo Clan's wrath. Surely the Gojo Clan, knowing the importance of keeping peace in the balance of power between the sorcery clans, would choose to accept this, perhaps with a few additional concessions demanded on the Kamo Clan's part.

It might've worked, had he been making these overtures with someone like Gojo Takatomi. But unfortunately for the Kamo clan head, he was negotiating with Gojo Satoru.

Gojo Satoru, who had already leveled practically the entire Kamo clan compound in a show of his displeasure at the Kamo Clan's overstep. Shiki hadn't observed any deaths that she could sense, but she wouldn't be surprised if there were many injuries, in addition to the severe structural and property damage that would take quite some time to rebuild.

If the Kamo Clan would ever have a chance to.

"The Kamos have been keeping secrets," Satoru-niichan smiles, and it's not a very nice expression. "Enough to ensure their removal from the Three Great Families, I'd say. What do you think would be the reaction that other clans would have once they knew that the Kamo Clan had a method of stealing a sorcerer's cursed technique by force? It would make what happened to the Inumakis in the past look like a joke, wouldn't you think?"

That was a slight exaggeration, but Satoru-niichan isn't wrong that the Kamo Clan would be closely scrutinized and potentially hunted, if news of this became public. From Kamo Teruichi's ashen pallor, the man has clearly come to the same conclusion.

"… What do you want?" he asks hoarsely.

"Stalling for time?" Satoru-niichan seems almost amused. "Don't bother. If your clan's Defense Squad was coming to your rescue –not that they'd stand a chance against me, anyways– then they'd be here already. Seems to me like your clan elders are already starting to do damage control, and you've been relegated to part of the collateral."

There was a certain irony in this. Kamo Teruichi had initially attempted to distract Satoru-niichan from focusing on the Kamo Clan by hinting at dissidents within the Gojo Clan acting against her cousin, and now he was the one who had been turned on and abandoned by his own clan.

The Kamo clan head stands there silently.

"Believe me or not, but I… this wasn't how things were supposed to turned out," he whispers.

Satoru-niichan arches an eyebrow. "Then how were things supposed to turn out?"

Kamo Teruichi doesn't answer the question. Instead, "There are… many innocents within the clan who know nothing of the clan secrets. They don't deserve any of this."

"Jihei didn't deserve to die. Kiyohira didn't deserve to get half-beaten to death and lose his arm. Shiki didn't deserve to get kidnapped for the Kamo Clan's plots," Satoru-niichan doesn't even bat an eye at the appeal to his better nature. It's to Kamo Teruichi's credit that he apparently still cared for his clansmen, but perhaps a little more of this consideration would've been more prudent before he'd decided that kidnapping Shiki was a good idea. "Your point?"

The man slowly lowers his head, realizing Satoru-niichan's stance on this matter. Kamo Teruichi, head of the Kamo Clan, bows his head before Gojo Satoru.

"I will not ask for lenience. But regarding my clansmen… I ask for mercy, in your judgment."

Satoru-niichan does not respond.

"… Matsuhime is yours to do as you please with. From this moment onward, she is no longer a part of the Kamo Clan." Kamo Teruichi closes his eyes in defeat. "For my own failings in preventing everything, I abdicate my position as clan head. And with my own hands, may this tainted blood restore honor to my noble forefathers."

The man raises his knife again. Not at Kamo Matsuhime, but at himself, making to sink the blade into his own stomach–

"What is it with people and automatically turning to killing as the only solution?" Shiki asks in confusion. She's never listening to anyone who comments on her and her so-called 'murderous tendencies' ever again. Even she isn't this bad! Wasn't Kamo Teruichi supposed to be the clan head? Why was his only solution in this situation killing his son, killing his wife, and killing himself, instead of properly taking responsibility and resolving matters, or at least answering questions first?

"Beats me," Satoru-niichan makes a face.

The two of them had reacted similarly; both of them had raised their cursed energy instinctively in order to stop the Kamo clan head –former clan head?– from committing suicide in front of them and leaving even more of a headache for them to deal with. Even though it was quite clear that the Kamos were responsible for inciting this incident, Shiki doesn't imagine that accusations of murdering the Kamo clan head would go over too well.

Still. The result of both Shiki and Satoru-niichan simultaneously flaring their cursed energy meant that they hadn't just stopped the man in his tracks. Kamo Teruichi was now collapsed on the ground, unconscious, his knife clattering uselessly to the side and nearly grazing Kamo Matsuhime, who had also lost consciousness along with him. Even so, the woman remains curled over her son's corpse protectively.

Shiki still has no sympathy for the delusional woman. But Kamo Nobutomo's death was…

…

The young girl and her cousin both stare silently at the bloody scene for a quiet moment.

"Well, this is a mess," Satoru-niichan finally says, forcibly cheerful. "Let's grab Kiyohira and swing by Shoko's first, before we continue setting off any more political bombs?"

"Okay," Shiki agrees.

.

.

…

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