Chapter 4: The White Robe's "Slap Slap Slap"
"Yahallo, Natsume-kun!"
The next morning, just as Natsume Yu walked into the classroom, a cheerful voice sounded behind him. Yuigahama Yui trotted up to him, a brilliant smile of post-disaster relief on her face. Her signature bun hairstyle seemed to bounce more energetically than usual.
"Morning," Natsume Yu nodded in response.
"Um... thank you so much for yesterday!" Yuigahama Yui bowed deeply, her voice filled with sincere gratitude. "If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have known what to do."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for the curious students nearby to overhear. Instantly, all sorts of inquisitive and gossipy gazes were directed at Natsume Yu, the transfer student who usually had no presence at all.
"It was nothing," Natsume Yu's reply was still brief. He pulled out his chair, showing no intention of continuing the conversation.
He just wanted a peaceful life. Being the center of attention clearly went against his original intentions.
Yuigahama Yui seemed to sense this as well and tactfully didn't press the matter, but in her bright eyes that looked at Natsume Yu, there was now a hint of indescribable admiration and curiosity in addition to gratitude.
For Natsume Yu, exorcising a low-grade Cursed Spirit like "Hanako" was simpler than squashing an ant. He quickly put the matter behind him and returned to his daily routine of staring out the window.
However, it seemed that trouble was always lurking uninvited in his peaceful daily life.
After school, Natsume Yu declined Yuigahama Yui's invitation to "buy him a drink as a thank you" and walked home alone, his bag slung over his shoulder.
The setting sun stretched his shadow long. At a crossroads, he saw a familiar figure.
Golden twin-tails drew two beautiful arcs in the wind. Her slender body, wrapped in the Sobu High uniform, outlined the lovely curves unique to a young girl. Even from a distance, one could feel the unapproachable aura of a top student.
Sawamura Spencer Eriri.
A student in Sobu High's Class 2-B, the ace of the art club, a half-Japanese, half-British returnee. With her outstanding looks and talent, she was extremely popular on campus, a goddess in the eyes of countless boys.
But beneath that glamorous "young lady" identity, she hid another, unknown face—the doujin artist "Kashiwagi Eri," a creator of adult-oriented "books" who had a small name in the industry.
Natsume Yu had no interest in her and was about to take another route to avoid unnecessary interaction.
But at that moment, his steps halted.
His "Six Eyes," capable of seeing through the essence of all things, had captured an extremely ominous and nauseating fluctuation of Cursed Energy.
That Cursed Energy, like a filthy rag soaked in venomous resentment, was tightly wrapped around Eriri. The source of the Cursed Energy was a disproportionately tall, twisted female silhouette.
She wore a pure white dress and a wide-brimmed hat, the face beneath the brim a blur of darkness. Her very existence was polluting the surrounding space, causing the light to bend slightly. Natsume Yu could even "see" its indescribable mouth emitting a silent, yet soul-affecting, bizarre frequency.
—A Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
Without a doubt, a calamity capable of easily destroying a small town.
At this moment, this Special Grade Cursed Spirit was "marking" the girl before it in its own way. Like a spider leaving its mark on its prey, waiting for the most opportune moment to feast.
Natsume Yu's brow furrowed imperceptibly.
Trouble.
That was the only thought in his mind. He didn't want to get involved, but his instincts as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, or rather, his bottom line as a "human," made it impossible for him to stand by and watch a fellow student be killed by a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
He changed his direction and strode directly towards Eriri.
Eriri was walking with her head down, lost in thought. Her mind was entirely consumed with storyboard ideas for her next manga, completely oblivious to the person approaching her.
"Hey."
A calm voice suddenly sounded by her ear, startling her.
Eriri shot her head up and saw a somewhat familiar, handsome face. It was that transfer student who, like her, didn't fit in.
"Wh-what? Calling out to me so suddenly is rude, you know!" She instinctively took a defensive stance, crossing her arms and speaking in her signature tsundere tone.
Natsume Yu ignored her attitude, his gaze seemingly passing through her body to the invisible horror behind her.
"Lately, have you seen a tall woman wearing a white hat and a white dress?" he asked calmly.
Eriri's pupils shrank, and the color drained from her face instantly.
"How... how do you know?!" she blurted out, her voice filled with shock and disbelief. "Are you stalking me?!"
Natsume Yu shook his head and continued in the same flat tone, "Then, have you heard a strange sound?"
He paused, mimicking the frequency of the Cursed Energy's fluctuation, and silently mouthed the syllables:
"Po, po, po."
Those three syllables struck Eriri's heart like a heavy hammer.
She froze completely.
Yes, that was it! That sound!
For the past few days, whether she was drawing or late at night, this bizarre "po po po" sound, like an insect's call or a mechanical malfunction, would randomly ring in her ears. She thought she was having auditory hallucinations due to stress, but she never expected...
...that the boy in front of her would say it, word for word!
Immense fear mixed with the shame and anger of having her secret exposed made her cheeks flush bright red.
"Who the hell are you! Stop spouting nonsense! You pervert! Get away from me!" she yelled, her voice sharp but brittle, as if trying to hide her inner panic with volume. After shouting, she turned and ran.
Natsume Yu didn't stop her.
He simply took a memo pad from his pocket, quickly wrote down a string of numbers with a pen, and then held it out in her direction.
"It will take your life within three days."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was like a cold brand, deeply seared into Eriri's ears.
"This is my number. If you want to live, call me."
With that, he stuffed the note into Eriri's hand, which she hadn't had time to pull back in her panic, then turned and walked away without looking back, leaving her with a clean, decisive view of his back.
Eriri stood there dumbfounded, the evening wind blowing through her golden pigtails. She looked down at the note with the phone number in her palm, her body trembling uncontrollably.
In the face of absolute terror, her tsundere facade was fragile and easily shattered.