62

Ichinose-san is quiet, in the aftermath of the minor outburst that he'd just had when Shiki killed the puppet wearing his classmate's skin.

The boy is visibly unsettled. Which is… not altogether unsurprising. The perceived death of a close classmate would definitely be quite the shocking experience.

… Even despite the fact that it's only a cursed corpse puppet, apparently.

A puppet. One that was evidently an extremely convincing simulacrum in terms of both its appearance and behavior, if Ichinose-san was unable to immediately identify any telling differences. Shiki does not know what the purpose behind such a puppet would be. Intimidation, perhaps? Or to create an emotional weakness? In that case, was Ichinose-san the intended target?

Regardless–

There are two matters at the moment which are most pressing.

First, finding the rest of the Tokyo third years… if they're still alive. Ichinose-san seems quite positive that both of his classmates are still alive and fighting, but Shiki isn't quite as sure as the older boy is. Does this make her pessimistic, or pragmatic?

… But it would be good if they still lived. Sorcerers are few in number already, even without dying to sinister, convoluted plots that may or may not involve curse users. Shiki doesn't know if Ichinose-san's confidence is born of belief or desperation, but she supposes that it's better than the boy falling into despair.

Or attempting to attack her again.

Shiki is more than capable of handling herself, of course, but she doesn't exactly appreciate such behavior, particularly not considering the… rather inconvenient timing, given their current circumstances.

The second goal would be eliminating the cursed corpses in this building. Removing the danger, before it had a chance to spread beyond the barrier and affect the city.

And if Araya is involved…

"Here!" Ichinose-san skids to a stop, and turns the corner sharply. "It's straight ahead, we just need to –ah!"

The boy breaks off with a surprised shout, promptly throwing himself backwards and very narrowly avoids crashing directly into Shiki. There is another cursed corpse that occupies the space right in front of him, holding a blunted metal bat that's buried into the ground. The strike had barely missed Ichinose-san, and the puppet moves to follow up with another attack–

But despite being off-balance, the boy is still quick on his feet. Quick enough to tuck his body into a roll and straighten in a crouch with a new talisman glowing brightly between his fingertips. He slaps the talisman onto the arm of the puppet attacking him, causing it to freeze in its tracks. Temporary paralysis?

Ichinose-san pivots and swings out with a spinning roundhouse kick that catches the puppet in its side. There is an audible crack, and the cursed corpse goes flying.

… Only to be immediately replaced by three more charging towards them down the narrow hallway. Shiki lifts her gaze, and observes even more puppets filling the corridor.

Ichinose-san's eyes widen as he notices the reinforcements. The boy promptly moves backwards, attempting to put some distance between himself and the multiple enemies rapidly closing in, which isn't necessarily the wrong decision to make, but–

"There's no need for that," Shiki informs him, drawing her sword.

Swing, and cut.

Cursed energy flows through her body, strengthening her physical constitution and lending weight to her blows as she darts forward. The blade slices easily through the mix of artificial flesh and whirring machinery, blood splattering everywhere–

But none of it reaches her.

White.

Step forward, sever. Turn around, slice. A puppet grabs onto her blade when she drives her sword into its body, attempting to prevent her from retrieving it, but it's no use. Shiki simply continues to cut along the alignment of the blade, splitting the puppet open into two bloody pieces, before she spins on her heel and proceeds to carve up its companion attempting to ambush her from behind.

Breath out.

Exhale.

Shiki shakes out the length of her sword, blood sloughing off the blade to splatter cleanly upon the ground as she flicks her wrist.

She takes a moment to glance back over her shoulder. The corridor is a little messy, now, filled with blood and misshapen chunks of flesh-machinery… but the path forward is clear.

Shiki tilts her head at Ichinose-san, who's looking extremely pale for some reason, despite the fact that there are no more enemies who pose an immediate threat at the moment anymore.

Ah. Is he tired, perhaps? He had been fighting earlier with his classmates, before escaping with Aikawa-senpai and eventually running into Shiki and her fellow first years…

But there's no time or opportunity for Ichinose-san to rest right now. And separating at this point would be dangerous –for Ichinose-san, mostly. The best solution would've been Ichinose-san leaving with Shiki's classmates and Aikawa-senpai, but that's not a valid option anymore.

"Shall we continue, Ichinose-san?" Shiki prompts the unmoving upperclassman. Who startles back into attention and hurries towards her in a rush, nearly slipping on the bloody mess and falling in his haste.

"… You're… really used to this sort of thing, huh?" Ichinose-san murmurs, still looking a little pale.

Fighting and doing a sorcerer's work? Of course she is.

"Never mind," the boy shakes his head, clearly not expecting any response from her. Which is just as well, because Shiki doesn't quite understand the strange note in his tone and this isn't the time for a drawn-out conversation, not with the numerous dangers lurking around them.

The two of them descend a final flight of stairs, and emerge into a room that is messy. Broken puppets litter the ground liberally, and there are more than a few holes that look as if they've been punched into the surrounding walls.

It's clear that a fight had taken place here, but it's…

Quiet.

… Too quiet, in Shiki's opinion.

What little color that Ichinose-san had managed to regain in his face is swiftly drained once more as he takes in the sight before them. The boy is frozen still for a moment, before his expression hardens into one of determination, and he crouches down.

"The residuals…" Ichinose-san frowns in frustration, biting his lip. "They're all mixed up. I can't tell what's going on from this. Just what in the world…?"

Shiki passes the boy and walks over to the other side of the room. Ichinose-san isn't wrong that the traces of cursed energy left behind in this room are messy to the point where it's difficult to distinguish them from each other and identify a proper trail to follow. However, it's only 'difficult' and not 'impossible.' Shiki is sure that Satoru-niichan wouldn't have had any trouble with it whatsoever, but her eyes are not quite as discerning as her cousin's are.

It takes her a moment before she is able to make out and follow the only lingering vestigial imprints that differ from those of the puppets. The trail ends at a sudden stop in front of the cold, hard surface of the opposite concrete wall.

Shiki reaches out a hand and raps a knuckle against the surface. It feels solid. There's unlikely to be a hidden room behind it.

… But the trail wouldn't lead here if there was nothing else to it. And, considering how she and Ichinose-san had also been attacked by puppets when they'd approached this room… it was also quite unlikely that the ambush on them occurred for no reason.

She looks up at the wall. For a moment, there are faint lines that seem to flicker beneath her gaze. Perhaps, if she concentrates–

"It's rude to enter a workshop uninvited."

Shiki instantly whirls around.

That voice–

"Araya Souren."

There is a man who stands in the doorway serving as the entry point to this hair, sunken eyes. The lighting is dim, but there's no mistake about the identity of this unwelcome guest.

So it really is Araya who's behind this entire mess, then.

… She hadn't noticed his arrival. To her senses, it was as if he'd just… appeared instantaneously, or something. But from what Shiki was aware of, the man most certainly did not possess a teleportation cursed most likely meant that he possessed some means of circumventing her senses.

Another thing to be wary of.

"We finally meet again, Gojo Shiki," Araya says. His voice is low, gravelly. But it sounds no different from the voice that Shiki recalls in her memories. "This has been a long time coming."

"… You know him, Gojo-san?" Ichinose-san asks, glancing between the two of them as he slowly rises to his feet. "Is he–"

The boy cuts himself off as Shiki unsheathes her sword wordlessly.

Ichinose-san looks towards Araya again, this time with a great deal more caution than he'd had mere moments prior. "… You're the one responsible for all of this?"

"If by 'this' you mean the cursed corpse puppets," Araya responds, "Then yes. An experiment, you could say."

The easy admission causes the boy's eyes to widen, then narrow. "The puppet masquerading as Isoda earlier, that was you, too? Where are my classmates?!"

"Your classmates… I see," Araya nods. "Would you like to be reunited with them, then?"

One moment, the man is standing by the doorway with a slight slouch. In the next, there are a series of glowing scripts that expand outwards from beneath his feet in rotating circles, and there is a bright white-black tendril that leaps out from the markings–

Shiki immediately grabs the older boy and yanks him out of the way before it can tear a bloody hole through his torso. There is the sound of a harsh clang as she meets the mass of writhing light head-on with Kuji Kanesada.

"Gojo-san!"

Ichinose-san stumbles, and brings out another handful of talismans. The boy throws the yellowed paper strips into the air and sucks in a deep breath. With a command of Go forth, the talismans speed towards Araya… and burn up into nothingness the moment they come into contact with the first layer of circular barriers surrounding the man.

Unfortunate, but not unsurprising.

The upperclassman hisses, "Fuck."

"Language," Shiki corrects him automatically.

The boy gives her a wild-eyed look, "… Is this really the time for that?!"

Probably not.

Nevertheless, Shiki does not deign to respond to the boy's incredulous question. Instead, she channels more cursed energy into the length of her blade and swings up, breaking the temporary stalemate with the white-black ropes of light that she'd been holding off. The tendrils undulate wildly in the air, before rapidly shrinking back and condensing down into a single symbol in the multilayered barrier glowing brightly around the man who surveys them silently.

Araya dips his head in a nod towards her, "You've improved."

"It's been three years." Three years isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, but it's a not-insignificant amount of time. Enough for Shiki to improve as a sorcerer… and enough for her to become confident in her ability to kill the sorcerer standing in front of her.

She lifts her blade.

"You've improved," the man repeats. "But not enough to make a difference."

Are the words born of arrogance, or self-confidence on his part? … But Shiki supposes that his attitude is not without reason. Years ago, he'd already gotten the upper hand over her once when he'd used the Kamo Clan as his chosen instrument and successfully kidnapped her from the Gojo Clan. Shiki remembers being paralyzed by poison, unable to move or offer any resistance. Kiyohira-sensei had been the one to save her, fighting Araya and ultimately stalling the sorcerer long enough for Satoru-niichan to arrive.

But things are different, this time around.

For one, Shiki isn't poisoned. She can move, which means that she can fight. Her defensive cursed technique lapse, White, will also make it extremely difficult for Araya's attacks to harm her in any meaningful manner. Shiki might still have a long way to go if she wants to reach Satoru-niichan's level of overwhelming strength, but she is by no means weak. Her skill with a sword is also far more polished than it had been three years ago.

Araya is a tricky, difficult opponent, but Shiki does not fear him.

… There are still drawbacks to the current situation, however. Ichinose-san would be the most obvious one. The boy was a glaring weakness for Araya to target. One that Araya had already targeted, in the brief exchange earlier. Shiki is ambivalent towards her upperclassman, but right now she is the highest-ranked sorcerer present on the scene, which means that part of her responsibilities include looking out for her lower-ranked allies.

Isoda and Matoba… are most likely already dead. What was it that Araya had said to Ichinose-san when the boy had asked about his fellow classmates earlier? Would you like to be reunited with them?

If Shiki hadn't pulled Ichinose-san out of the way of the strike that had followed Araya's words, then the boy would definitely have died.

That changes the plan slightly, then. With the understanding that the other third year students are most likely already dead, the priority is ensuring Ichinose-san's safety and eliminating Araya, in that order. If it were solely up to Shiki, the order would most likely be reversed, but–

But Jihei-san is already dead and gone. Kiyohira-sensei's arm won't grow back. A sorcerer bears responsibility towards the dead –but more so towards the living.

Shiki understands this. It's a lesson that's been repeated towards her over and over and over again by this point.

So…

"Stay out of the way," Shiki warns Ichinose-san. While she'll do her best to keep him alive, she won't be focusing solely on the task. The reasoning is simple: Between the two of them, Shiki was the only one who could fight Araya without it being a suicidal effort. If her attention faltered to the point where both of them died, then obviously the additional effort to protect Ichinose-san would be a moot point.

"You don't need to tell me twice," the boy responds. To his credit, his voice is only slightly shaky. "I'll try to avoid standing in the firing line."

For emphasis, Ichinose-san shoots her a double thumbs-up and smiles nervously. Good enough, Shiki supposes.

She flicks her gaze towards Araya.

The other sorcerer appears oddly content to just stand there and watch them motionlessly… no. No, there's a certain level of detachment to his regard that makes it seem more like he's observing them. Observing Shiki, most likely. It's not so much vanity as it is the knowledge that Araya has been fixated on her and her abilities for a long time that has her drawing this conclusion.

But none of it matters.

Shiki turns the edge of the blade in her hands; the complex barrier of concentric circles beneath Araya's feet swiftly expands outwards.

She remembers this barrier from three years ago. The lines on it then had been dull and faded. Flickering, even, to the point where it was difficult to see the lines at all.

The same holds true now. Looking at the barrier, the lines seem less like actual lines and more like faint cracks, but–

I've seen this before.

And they're easier to see than they were three years prior. Easier to see… and growing steadily clearer with every passing moment.

Shimmering white-black whips lash out towards her again, and Shiki parries them with her sword. Clang, clang. They recoil and continue to pursue her relentlessly without pause as she continues to study them intently.

Beneath her gaze, the lines flicker and darken a little more.

…

Shiki's eyes allow her to perceive 'lines of death.' And the fact of the matter is… some lines are easier to see than others. Objects that are rooted in a physical vessel in the material world are typically easy enough to visualize, barring certain exceptions –such as Ryomen Sukuna's fingers. Araya Souren was another example, but rather than having no lines at all, it was just that his lines were rather… unusual. No stranger than the spiderweb lines on his barrier technique, by Shiki's estimate.

And when it came to techniques–

Techniques and the like also have lines. But they aren't always the easiest to decipher, particularly not upon first glance when she's encountering it for the first time. Shiki still recalls the first moment that she'd seen the swirling lines of a sorcerer's cursed technique. The doll curse user who'd killed Gojo Isao. In the beginning, Shiki hadn't seen anything, but by the end of the encounter, she was able to observe and sever the sunflower-yellow lines of the woman's technique.

From what Shiki can deduce, sometimes there seems to be an 'adjustment period' of sorts when it comes to certain things, for her eyes to grow accustomed to what she's seeing and identify the desired 'death.' She has yet to figure out all the specific rules surrounding it, however.

But for now, it's enough.

Kuji Kanesada slices down into the ground, directly upon the circular barrier –and cuts through. There is the distinct sound of something shattering in the air as the first and outermost layer breaks beneath the edge of her blade. It's swiftly followed by another, as Shiki slices through the second layer without pause and–

–pivots, abandoning her strike towards the third layer mid-swing when another cluster of white-black ropes of light burst out from the barrier technique. They're densely concentrated together this time instead of striking at her from multiple angles, and the force is enough to push her back a few steps.

More importantly, though, there are also another set of these writhing whips that strike at Ichinose-san.

Shiki twists, using one hand to find a dagger and throw it towards her upperclassman. The knife doesn't quite slice through them, but it's enough to knock them off-course. Ichinose-san dives to the side, and ends up with a scraped and bloody leg instead of having it torn off from his body entirely.

There is a slight pause. Shiki can pinpoint the exact moment when Araya looks at her, then turns a considering gaze upon Ichinose-san.

… She's made a mistake.

In their brief altercation with each other, it's become abundantly obvious that Shiki's White is quite the effective defense. She doesn't have so much as a single scratch on her, despite the unceasing barrage of attacks from Araya's barrier technique. Araya's multi-layered barrier also offers him a strong defense, but Shiki has already broken through two layers, and she'll have no problem breaking through the rest. It's a bit of a brute-force method, to be sure, but there's no denying that it's effective.

Which is why Araya turns towards the same methods that he'd used three years ago –target another individual beside Shiki in order to exploit a potential weakness.

It had been Kiyohira-sensei, then. Kiyohira-sensei, who was a powerful Grade One sorcerer and the strongest swordsman that the Gojo Clan had among its ranks –for all that he'd been deprived of a sword at the time. But it hadn't stopped Kiyohira-sensei from fighting back, and successfully holding Araya off for a time even despite the disadvantage from having been poisoned and lacking a sword.

Ichinose-san, however, is most decidedly not a Grade One sorcerer. Or anywhere close to approaching Grade One, really.

Which means that if Shiki leaves the boy on his own, now that Araya is targeting him–

Even though she'll be able to break through the remaining layers of Araya's barrier technique, Ichinose-san will most surely be dead by the time she does so.

There's a grimace on the boy's own face, clearly having come to the same realization.

Shiki parries the whips of light again, and again. Each time, there is a harsh sound that rings out upon contact, as if her sword is striking against another weapon forged of steel, instead of an undulating mass of light.

"I'm sorry," Ichinose-san breathes raggedly. There are multiple talismans clenched between his fingers, pre-inscribed spells which are shredded as easily as mundane paper beneath the enemy sorcerer's onslaught.

It's not hard to guess what he means: I'm sorry for holding you back.

Shiki doesn't respond.

Instead, she focuses on diverting the next set of incoming attacks, and then grabs the boy's hand. It's clunky and inconvenient to fight while holding onto another person, but at this point it's no more inconvenient than having to guard Ichinose-san like this.

"Gojo-san, what are you –woah!"

Shiki begins her assault once more.

This time, she does not take special care to protect Ichinose-san. She doesn't need to. White is enough to protect both of them as she charges forward fearlessly, shattering the barriers one after another–

And Araya finally moves.

In the first strike, he aims to catch her blade –to catch and break it, no doubt. Shiki counters by flipping the edge of her sword and cutting. White-black sparks fly out when Kuji Kanesada connects against an invisible barrier, flickering into existence over the man's skin at the imminent threat of injury. Shiki draws back to aim for the barrier's lines–

A fist connects against her side. It doesn't hurt, doesn't affect her in the least. This time, when Shiki brings her blade down upon Araya again, the sword cuts directly into the man's body. Blood splatters into the air, and Araya's arm falls to the ground.

There is a certain measure of satisfaction in this. Serendipity, perhaps, that it's Araya's right arm that Shiki severs in this moment.

But more than just cutting off his arm–

I want his head.

… Those were the words that she had spoken to Satoru-niichan, years ago. The desire hadn't changed since then.

Araya's expression doesn't falter or change in the least, despite the injury. Instead, he looks down at the bloody stump that remains of his arm, appraising. There is a brief moment where the flesh almost seems to bubble and distort, as if attempting to regrow itself. Reverse cursed technique.

But it's a futile effort.

"You won't be able to regrow it."

"Ah. I am aware," the man nods in response to Shiki's statement. "With how your abilities operate… it's no surprise. I'm glad."

Glad?

"This guy is really crazy, isn't he?" Ichinose-san's voice is distinctly unnerved.

"That would be a matter of perspective, young man." Unexpectedly, Araya addresses the boy directly. The subsequent wince on Ichinose-san's face indicates that he would've rather that the curse user's attention didn't fall on him. "By the standards of your administration… my pursuits would indeed be considered 'madness.' But it is not I who am mad. Madness… is rooted deeply in the very essence of this senseless world itself."

Ichinose-san blinks. "… The hell?!"

"You do not understand. I would not expect you to." Araya turns his gaze away from Ichinose-san to refocus upon Shiki once more. The girl readies her blade. "And as for you… willing or not, you will comply with me. The time has come for you to finally fulfill your purpose."

Ichinose-san's eyes dart from Araya, to Shiki, and then narrow.

"Then… why did you kill my classmates?" he asks. Ichinose-san's voice is a hoarse whisper at first, but it gradually grows to a shout, "If your goal is just Gojo-san, then what about my classmates?"

"They are not the only ones in this world to experience suffering and death. This world…" Araya falls silent for a moment. "… is truly cursed."

Briefly, Ichinose-san is stricken speechless. Then, the hotheaded boy surges forward, nearly causing Shiki to lose her grip on him as she's actually yanked along a few steps with the sudden movement.

… Had he forgotten that physical contact was required in order for Shiki to operate her cursed technique lapse on another person?!

"That's it?" Ichinose-san spits out, angry and incredulous. He seems to have forgotten all about his fear towards the curse user in front of them. "That's your reason? Matoba didn't even bring us here to fight, he was just–"

"–he was simply instructed to remove a few key pieces of evidence. To erase any possibility of the Kamo Clan being implicated in the unusual occurrence in Obon this year." Araya finishes for him. Cold and calm, in sharp contrast to Ichinose-san's helpless fury. "You might consider your friends victims, but in reality there's no one here who's fully innocent."

The third year grits his teeth. "… You're insane. What is it that you're even trying to achieve here?"

"Making the necessary corrections that this world needs." Again, a vague answer. Araya does not seem inclined to elaborate, either. "This meaningless cycle of death and endless suffering… I will bring an end to it all."

"And this somehow involves Gojo-san?"

"Merely a means unto an end."

Shiki clicks her tongue. "What you seek isn't a means unto an end, but an end unto itself."

Araya tilts his head, and nods slowly. "… You're not wrong."

Ichinose-san whirls around, eyes wide. "Wait, you understand what he's getting at?"

Araya's goals revolve around achieving some higher purpose, or so the man himself has stated. Correcting a perceived wrongness in the world –this world that's full of malignant cursed spirits, of humans who curse each other and are cursed in turn. And somehow, Shiki's abilities are a necessary component to these grandiose plans, hence the reason for the sorcerer's fixation upon her.

"No," she answers.

"What do you mean, 'no?' Didn't you just say that–"

Around them, multiple pillars of shimmering white-black light burst forth from the ground, lashing around Shiki and Ichinose-san to bind them in place. The powerful force behind them is heavy, crushing–

Or it would be, if it actually affected them.

One of the winding lights coils around Ichinose-san's legs in an attempt to trip up the both of them. There's a brief moment of fumbling, when Ichinose-san stumbles despite the complete lack of any injury, an instinctive motion to protect himself. Shiki tightens her grip on the boy and yanks him forward with her, ignoring the startled sound that the boy makes.

And this time, when Araya closes in once more, flanked by the mottled white-black ropes of light that leap out to precede him in a piercing motion, Shiki simply tugs Ichinose-san and throws him in front of herself as a human shield.

"G-Gojo-san?!"

Unabashed shock, abject terror. The boy spares precisely one second to openly gape at her in horror, before the ropes of light are upon them both. Ichinose-san automatically flinches back, raising his arms in front of himself in a defensive motion that is of no practical use–

The lights slam powerfully against his body, one upon his shoulder and another two into his stomach.

Blood paints the air.

…

… And in wake of the ensuing silence, Araya lets out a low, pained grunt. The man's sole remaining hand grips onto the blade piercing directly into his torso.

Kuji Kanesada.

Shiki keeps a steady hold on the sword in her hands, driving it deeper into the curse user. The length of the blade sticks out from beneath Ichinose-san's arm at an unobtrusive angle, which had been her aim behind using Ichinose-san as a shield.

Araya has clearly deduced that Shiki will make an effort to protect her allies. Casting Ichinose-san in front of herself like this as if she's abandoning him will cause a momentary surprise because of the unexpectedness of it all. And even if it's not enough to give Araya pause, using Ichinose-san as a shield to hide her next motions will ensure that Araya cannot see the path that her blade will strike.

"You…"

Shiki twists her blade without listening to the rest of those words, and cuts the man in two.

In front of her, Ichinose-san makes a strange sound as Araya falls to the ground in two separate, bloody chunks. The boy stumbles to the side –or as best as he can, given that Shiki does not release her grip on him– and then promptly retches violently, even though nothing comes out.

Shiki glances briefly at the upperclassman, but does not comment on his overreaction.

"So that was your intention. I must admit my surprise, I suppose." Even sliced into two pieces, it appears that Araya isn't dead yet. Which comes as no real surprise; given the overwhelming evidence of human puppetry in this place, it only stands to reason that Araya would've modified his own body as well. And… Shiki still remembers the time when Satoru-niichan had 'killed' him. Araya's entire body had been destroyed, but it hadn't been a permanent death and he'd used some means to escape.

The same won't happen again this time.

Shiki doesn't bother asking about any last words, stepping forward and raising her blade–

Araya's head turns to the side to face her. "… So allow me to return your surprise with one of my own."

Without pause, Shiki swings her sword down upon the man's lines before he can say another word. There's something that's almost cathartic about carving up the man like this –this man who's directly responsible for Jihei-san's death, who'd been the one to tear off Kiyohira-sensei's arm– but also more practically speaking, Araya Souren is a tricky, dangerous opponent, and Shiki does not want to give him any further opportunities.

This time, she will make sure that he is well and truly dead.

"… Shiki?"

Her head snaps up in surprise as she whirls towards the doorway.

"Kirara?"

He's… why in the world is he still here? And it's not just Kirara, either; Kinji is also standing beside him. As is Aikawa-senpai, who wears a slight scowl upon her face.

Ichinose-san looks towards the group of their fellow students, and immediately loses all color in his face. "… They've been made into puppets, too?"

"No, it's actually them," Shiki informs her upperclassman, whose tense expression slackens into relief at that statement.

Kirara's expression, however, turns faintly queasy. "Wait… what do you mean, turned into puppets?"

"Long story," Shiki shakes her head. "Why are all of you still here?"

"Yeah, so, funny thing," Kinji starts, "I swear that we were just retracing our steps to head back, but–"

The entire room rumbles.

… There is a tremor that runs through the ground, akin to an earthquake. Before Shiki's eyes, numerous cracks begin to appear on the walls, signaling an imminent collapse.

Allow me to return your surprise with one of my own.

Was this what Araya had been referring to?

There's no time to think. The moment that Shiki leaps forward, yanking Ichinose-san behind her none-too-gently, the room is already collapsing upon itself. Her fight against Araya had taken them further into the space of the room, she won't be able to reach her classmates in time–

Jagged chunks of metal and debris rain down upon them, and a particularly large piece cuts off Shiki's field of vision, blocking the other Tokyo students from sight. Shiki slashes through it with the blade in her hand, even as she continues running along an increasingly fragmented and unsteady pathway in the encroaching thunderous darkness.

Ichinose-san hurriedly brandishes another talisman in his hand. "Light!"

The strip of paper begins glowing brightly, acting as a makeshift flashlight in the chaos of the sudden cave-in.

Shiki spots a pale hand and lunges forward for it–

There's a pained scream–

Accompanied by blood–

…

They manage to make it out together. Although the entire room that they'd just been in has been destroyed, it appears that the building's structural integrity is to be commended –the higher level that they escape to appears to remain stable for now, although there's no telling how long that will last. It's still in their best interests to leave as swiftly as possible.

Shiki and Ichinose-san are the only ones who remain unscathed. They are the only ones to have been protected by White the entire time, so it's an unsurprising result. Aikawa-senpai has a deep gouge that was newly torn into her leg, accompanied by heavy bruising, but it's nothing too serious. Of the trio, she's the one who's in the best condition. Kinji is unlucky enough to have been nailed in the face by something sharp, and his left eye is currently sealed shut with blood.

… But Kirara is the one who's the worst off. One of his arms is twisted in the wrong direction, and, most concerningly… there's a piece of debris lodged deeply into his side.

Ichinose-san hisses with a wince, "Oh, that does not look good."

Aikawa-senpai has dropped her antagonistic attitude as well. Instead, the older girl drops to Kirara's side with genuine worry shining in her eyes. "A-are you alright? Oh gods, we need to–"

"Don't touch it," Shiki says, the moment that Aikawa-senpai's hands reach for the debris buried in Kirara.

"What?! You can't mean to–"

"You're panicking, Aikawa," Ichinose-san interrupts. "Gojo-san is right. That looks like it's stuck pretty deep, and if you just pull it out like that, then Hoshi-kun might bleed out before we're able to get him proper medical attention.

The girl bites her lip. "I…"

Shiki strides over and crouches down beside her unfortunate classmate. "I told the three of you to leave."

"We did," Kinji groans to her left. "I was just telling you that earlier. There's something weird about this building –we were walking back the exact same way we came! Except somehow we just ended up finding you and Ichinose again."

That sounded like… spatial manipulation? Or perhaps it was related to barriers…

Shiki sets the thought aside for now.

Instead, she reaches out her hand and re-applies White to Kirara. There is a distinct drain on her cursed energy. Activating and maintaining the technique for an extended period of time is… taxing, especially because it's a cursed technique lapse, which has a vastly higher 'cost' in terms of cursed energy expenditure as compared to a baseline technique usage. But there isn't any other option at the moment, and Shiki is capable of bearing this strain on her reserves.

She doesn't possess the ability to heal others like Shoko-san, but at least she can prevent his injuries from worsening.

"… Sorry," Kirara apologizes weakly. Which Shiki finds unnecessary; it's not as if he purposely intended to be injured like this–

"Incoming," Ichinose-san warns, straightening. His eyes are fixated on the other end of the hallway, where there are more dull-eyed puppets gathering.

… How odd. Shiki had assumed that Araya had simply run out of materials or something, when there hadn't been any more of these puppets showing up during their fight. At the very least, it would've given him an advantage in numbers.

Shiki stands up. "Kinji, keep an eye on Kirara."

"'Course I will," the boy responds.

Once more, Shiki raises the sword in her hands despite the exhaustion settling into her body, and darts forward.

Kuji Kanesada sings through the air, leaving behind a trail of dismembered limbs and splattering viscera. Shiki is making a mess, but she does not exactly have the luxury of caring about that at the moment.

Spin and weave, turn and cut.

Shiki cuts off the head of another puppet and lops off the leg of another, before proceeding to–

–choke, reaching for her own neck with one hand–

Because there is something that suddenly clamps down around her neck from behind her. Shiki instinctively turns her sword towards the new threat, but her wrist is caught by another hand that seemingly appears out of nowhere.

Rough fingers dig into her wrist with bruising force, and forcibly wrenches it back with an audible crack. It's only sheer willpower and the low rumble of Kiyohira-sensei's voice echoing in her mind that has Shiki continuing to maintain a tight grip on her blade.

"You would do well to cease resisting now," a deep voice says.

From the corner of her eye, turning around as well as she is able to, Shiki can vaguely observe a human hand emerging from the wall, followed by an arm, and…

Gradually, the form of a familiar person emerges from the very walls of the building itself, amid the startled cries of her fellow students.

Araya Souren.

.

.

…

.