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Naoya looked at the twitching bodies and then turned towards Utahime.
"Senpai, contact Geto and Shoko. I will be back in a bit," said Naoya and used his shadows to pull the curse users to the side.
Utahime nodded and called Shoko to inform them that they might have a lead.
"Shoko here. Senpai, I was just about to call you too."
"Shoko, we caught some curse users that might be involved with the case."
"What a coincidence. We caught a group, too," replied Shoko.
Currently in a different part of the city, Suguru was restraining a group of curse users with his cursed spirits.
The group tried to ambush them just like they tried with Naoya and Utahime, but were immediately overwhelmed by Suguru's cursed spirits.
"Did you get some information from them?" asked Utahime.
Shoko looked towards Suguru.
"Geto, any new info?" asked Shoko.
Suguru pulled out some higher-grade cursed spirits to 'coax' the curse users into giving them the information.
"It will take a while, I guess," replied Shoko. "What about you guys? Did you get any leads?"
Utahime looked towards Naoya, who pulled in all the curse users inside a [Solid Shadow] dome.
"Not yet. Might get somethings out of them soon," replied Utahime.
Shoko nodded and then started telling Utahime about their location and anything that might be useful for the mission. Utahime did the same while the boys were busy getting the info out of the curse users.
-----
Inside the shadow dome:
Naoya summoned Senzu, the round deer and healed the curse users.
The men were restrained by the shadows, and once they were somewhat fixed, Naoya clapped his hands to get their attention.
"Wha? Where am I?"
"What is this dark place?"
"Someone there?! Get me out!!!"
Inside the shadow dome, there was no light and hence no one knew where they were. The only thing that they knew was that they were together.
"Such a lively group. Now then, let's not waste much time. I ask questions. You answer. You follow rules, everything's fine. You don't...well, I will pat your head, I guess," said Naoya calmly, catching the curse users off guard.
"Who said that?!"
"Did you trap us, you bastard?!"
"Is that the brat from Jujutsu High?"
"Don't go crazy over me, guys. Everyone will get a chance. Let's start with you," said Naoya, and placed his hand on one of the men's heads.
"What is a dandy curse user like you doing in the middle of the city, targeting us? Any employer who asked you to do that? Where are they?" asked Naoya.
"I ain't telling you shit!!!" said the man and spat.
Naoya dodged it and looked at the man with a smile. Even with the absence of light, he could easily sense each one of them.
"Too bad. Wrong answer," replied Naoya and grabbed the amulet around his neck.
[Will of Shadows: Divine Dogs + Nue: Twin Fang Shockers]
The amulet morphed into two metallic gauntlets and appeared on Naoya's arms, who channelled his cursed energy through them, generating lightning sparks around them.
*CHIIIII*
The shrill sound of thousands of birds chirping came from the electric sparks.
"Any of you read Naruto?" asked Naoya.
With the electricity crackling around Naoya's arms, a light source illuminated the surroundings.
The people looked at Naoya, who, because of the lighting, looked a bit menacing even as he smiled.
"Hm? No one? Well, can't expect everyone to be cultured," said Naoya with slight disappointment.
Without waiting any longer, he gave a 'loving' pat on the man's head who refused to answer him earlier.
"AWAWAWAWWAAW"
The electricity coursed through the man's head, electrocuting his entire body in an instant.
After a minute of patting, Naoya finally stopped and raised his hand off the man.
His body fell lifelessly on the ground, and he seemed to have even pissed himself as well.
"These were new shoes...oh well, who's next?" asked Naoya with a smile and looked at the other men. He still had a few more people who needed headpats after all.
*GULP*
The men looked at Naoya and then towards the lifeless body of their temporary comrade. They were not very interested in looking charred and lying in piss and shit like him.
After a few rounds of interrogation, Naoya came out of the shadow dome.
"Welcome ba- what is this smell?" asked Utahime and covered her nose.
"Oh, one of them pissed and shat himself, anyway, we got some info," replied Naoya.
Utahime looked towards the people who were inside the shadow dome with Naoya and saw that all of them were lying lifelessly with a bullet wound on their foreheads.
After Naoya was done getting info from them, he let them die a swift death. He wasn't going to spare their lives anyway.
Utahime gave them one last glance before turning towards Naoya. Death wasn't uncommon for her; it was either them or the curse users, and she would choose herself over them any day.
"So what do we know?"
"There is a warehouse near the docks and a hotel in the middle of the city. The curse users will be meeting at the warehouse and most of the hostages and in the hotel's underground section," said Naoya as he stored the dead bodies in his shadows. He will feed the fish later.
"Warehouse, I understand? But a hotel?" asked Utahime.
"I have the same question. These guys, too, didn't know why they were in a hotel. I am guessing she knows the owner or somehow the owner is involved in some way, or some other thing," replied Naoya.
Utahime nodded and started thinking. It was a bit unusual to have the hostages in a hotel.
Suddenly, her phone started ringing, making her snap out of her thoughts.
"It's Shoko."
Once they were done discussing, they decided to get moving.
The Tokyo team got similar information from their curse user group, and seeing that they might have a new lead, they decided to group up.
-----
Naoya and Utahime were the first ones to arrive at their destination, and the two waited for the Tokyo team to arrive.
"Yo"
Suguru greeted them.
"Took you a while? Everything alright?"
"Yeah, just had to deal with the bodies first," replied Suguru, and then turned towards the building.
"Is this the place?" asked Shoko.
"If what the curse users told us is true, then yes."
All of them looked at each other before they entered the hotel.
The man at the gate gave a polite bow and opened the gate for them.
"Seems too good a place for shady stuff," said Utahime.
"Agreed," added Shoko.
"Welcome. How may I help you?" said the receptionist with a smile.
Naoya and Suguru smiled and appeared at the reception in no time.
Utahime and Shoko blinked in surprise before they face-palmed.
The boys gave each other a 'stay out of it' look before focusing back at the pret- *cough**cough* receptionist.
"Hello, miss. Could you please tell us if our aunt is staying in this hotel? Her name is Kureha Toujo," said Suguru.
"She has a bad memory and told us that she is around this area in Kobe. We would be grateful if you could help us," added Naoya.
The receptionist nodded and then started looking into her register.
The boys looked like they could be trusted, and it would be bad if their aunt were to get into any danger because of her bad memory.
"Um...we do have a reservation in her name, but it doesn't seem like she has checked in with us," replied the receptionist. Maybe the aunt is already in a mess.
Naoya and Suguru looked at each other before smiling back at the receptionist and thanking her for the help.
The group got out of the hotel and started discussing what to do.
Before they could start, though, Naoya started walking.
"What happened?" asked Suguru.
"Aunty has a bad memory, maybe she got in another hotel," said Naoya.
Suguru looked a bit confused, wondering what the hell Naoya was talking about, before it clicked to him.
"I will look into that one," said Suguru and ran into another hotel.
Utahime and Shoko realised as well what was happening and ran to separate hotels as well.
After checking at a few hotels, they gather together once again.
"There is a reservation under her name at every hotel?" asked Naoya.
Suguru, Uthamie, and Shoko nodded in affirmation.
"...Welp, we got bamboozled."
"There goes our lead."
"She really is trying hard to get."
"Giving false info to those guys. She is good."
The four of them sighed and looked at the sky. It was getting late.
"...Shall we call it a day? It's getting late," said Utahime.
The rest of them gave a nod; it was getting quite late indeed.
.
.
.
Later that night, in a hotel room:
Naoya was lying on the bed. He was done having dinner and taking a bath.
*Click*
The bathroom door opened, and Geto came out of it, done with the bath as well.
The boys and the girls were in separate rooms, so for the time being Suguru was his roommate.
Naoya looked at Suguru and continued to stare at him for a while.
"...What is it? Why are you eyeing me like that?" asked Suguru.
"Does the long hair not get uncomfortable?" asked Naoya, genuinely curious about Suguru's long hair.
"Not really, once you get used to them, they don't bother much. Taking care of them is a hassle, though," replied Suguru.
"How do you take care of them?"
"...Why the sudden interest in my hair?"
"I have two young girls who just started growing their hair. Just curious how to take care of them," replied Naoya.
"Aren't you from a rich family like Satoru? Just ask the servants to do it."
"Huh? Letting other people steal my babies from me? Now, why the hell would I do that?" asked Naoya.
Sugru looked back at Naoya, wondering if he was serious, before he focused back on drying his hair and started telling Naoya how he takes care of his long hair.
.
.
.
"...and after that, Kaori-san invited me to her house," said Suguru.
After the hair talk, the boys started talking about random stuff, and somehow, now Suguru was bragging about how things were going on with a sexy milf.
"How the hell did it come to that?"
"Just constant pushing. She also seemed to be fond of me. That sort of helped, too," said Suguru with a smirk.
"You bumped into a lady, help her with first aid, she catches you skipping school, asks you to help her with grocery and you go out to help her regularly....are you sure she is not after your life or something?"
"You are just jealous."
"Damn right I am! Why does it not work for me?! I have been trying for far longer than you!!!!" complained Naoya.
"Skill issue?"
"F*ck you!"
"Haha. You will get your chance. Maybe it's not the time for you yet."
"Don't give me that pity talk."
"Just be grateful that Satoru is not around you at all times. You won't understand how difficult it is to be compared with him whenever we go around together."
"I know that better than anyone. I have known him since we were little," retorted Naoya.
Both of them sighed.
It's not like they had problems with their looks. It's just that Satoru Gojo was in a separate league altogether. He made the girls thirsty. There was no winning against him in the looks department.
After doing some more pointless talks, Naoya got off his bed and stretched his body.
"Let's get to work. Enough resting," muttered Naoya.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Just checking if the birdy I let go found its nest or not," said Naoya and summoned Snow, the tigress, out of the shadows.
Suguru got alert wondering if they were under attack.
"Don't panic, we are fine. Snow, can you sense the one from this morning?" asked Naoya.
The tigress closed her eyes and, a moment later, gave a nod.
Naoya smirked at her response.
Snow could mark her prey, and once the prey is marked, she could sense it from anywhere, no matter how well they try to hide from her.
"Suguru, be on standby. I will go and check if we have a new lead. If we do, I will give you a call. Wake up and inform the girls, too. Ask them to be ready too," said Naoya.
"Should I come too?"
"Nah, keep the base safe. I am more than enough for them."
"Okay, take care. If it's a dud, bring back some ice cream."
"Got it. Bye-bye."
.
.
.
Later that night, Naoya stood in front of a hospital.
"...Sup?" greeted Naoya.
He was surrounded by around 50 curse users, each of them eyeing him cautiously, or more specifically, the special grade shikigami that was sitting beside Naoya, enjoying the gentle scratches for doing a job well done.
*Purr*
The tigress purred in delight at the affection.
The curse users looked at the scene, not sure what to do in this situation.
"Good girl Snow....Kill them," ordered Naoya.
In an instant, the tigress stopped purring and looked at the men around her with bloodshot eyes.
*ROAR!!!!*
With a roar that made the men even more scared of the tigress, Snow pounced on the prey and started killing them.
"Ah, I should call Suguru and the others."
He proceeded to take out his phone and call Suguru, while the tiger kept killing the curse users in the background without any hesitation.
"Moshi Moshi Suguru-kun, it seems like I found the forgetful aunt," said Naoya as he casually dodged an incoming attack and summoned the [Divine Dogs] to let them play around as well.
"What do you mean, there are too many screams in the background?" said Naoya and looked behind him and indeed, the curse users were making a ruckus.
"Zero Civic sense. Can't they see someone trying to talk?" said Naoya and trapped them inside a [Solid Shadow] dome.
"Is it okay now?" asked Naoya.