The other survivors had been laid out neatly in the hotel where Minami was staying. Twelve people in total.
Including Minami, that made thirteen—exactly matching the number of missing-person reports.
They were breathing normally, and though they had grown somewhat thin, they appeared to be in no danger health-wise. They had not been eroded by curses, either.
"Can you explain what you read on that message board?"
"Aha~ You mean the Urban Legend Management Headquarters Site Wiki! The Urban Legend Management Headquarters Site Wiki is a wiki that collects urban-legend material, and once you start reading it, you completely lose track of time—"
"No. I mean that thing about going to the underworld. The one you said you tried at 4:44!"
"Ah, ah! Yes. I’ll explain."
The post Minami described was a kind of urban legend about being transported elsewhere. It claimed that if one performed a certain action, they could enter another world—a copy of reality—through the internet network.
The problem was that this “certain action” was actually based on the barrier techniques I had learned from the Zenin clan and Jujutsu High.
And when Minami, who had always been one of “those who could see” and possessed above-average cursed energy, performed it, a barrier centered on the PC café’s computers was created.
—That seemed like the most likely scenario at present.
That also answered, to some extent, the question of why this had turned into an incident.
A barrier technique essentially divides one space from another and establishes it by imposing various conditions. But because Minami had accidentally created a barrier without any knowledge of jujutsu, it had ended up with the bizarre condition written on that urban-legend wiki: “Anyone can enter at 4:44.”
As a result, innocent victims had entered the barrier, cursed spirits had occasionally gotten caught up in it as well, and the current environment had taken shape. Then the snowball effect began.
Ordinarily, a barrier cannot last indefinitely unless its user possesses barrier techniques on Tengen’s level. Before even considering the barrier technique itself, once the sorcerer runs out of cursed energy, it naturally comes undone. But Minami’s barrier had a condition attached that made it seek to perpetuate itself. It drew cursed energy from the people and cursed spirits caught inside it to sustain itself, extending its lifespan regardless of how much cursed energy Minami possessed.
"Whaaat!?"
"Do you even understand what you’re reacting to?"
"W-Well, I was surprised when terms like cursed energy and jujutsu started coming up, but my five years of experience on the urban-legend wiki has honed my ability to understand settings, so I got the general idea and went along with it!"
"Anyway, as things stand, you’ve effectively kidnapped these people. If I report this to Jujutsu High, they’ll have no choice but to arrest you as a curse user."
"What!? More importantly, that means there really is something like an Urban Legend Management Headquarters, doesn’t it?!"
"..."
Why did it feel like she was more excited after hearing that she might get arrested?
"...Honestly, I sort of knew. That this was my fault."
"Can you undo the barrier?"
"No~ I have absolutely no idea how! Honestly, maybe it was even worse that I never tried to find out. I kind of liked it here, you see. Even though I was alone, it felt like I’d stepped one foot into the extraordinary world I’d always dreamed of—"
Her formerly bright, lively voice gradually darkened, until she could no longer continue.
Minami was choking up.
"I’m sorry... that people were inconvenienced because of me."
"........."
"I was always alone at school, too. I got isolated because I was always looking up weird urban legends, just fantasizing by myself. If this barrier was created because of me, then if I die, it’ll be solved, right?"
"In theory."
"You’re cold. Aren’t you supposed to comfort me by saying we’ll find another way?"
Judging by the fact that her voice had stopped trembling, she seemed to have overcome the surge of emotion.
"Please finish me. From the way you took care of those things called cursed spirits earlier, you could probably send off someone soft and weak like me in one blow, right? Honestly, I was already starting to lose my attachment to life, so it’s fine. And if I die after getting caught up in the extraordinary world I’d longed for so much, there couldn’t be a better ending."
Silence followed.
Somehow, this had turned into a situation where I was supposed to kill her. What was I supposed to do?
When I already had a way to escape in mind.
Flick!
"Ow!"
I aimed a finger at Minami’s forehead and flicked it.
"That hurts! Can’t you send me off with a little less pain?!"
"You said you have delusions, but you’re really making a huge fuss all by yourself."
"That’s so mean!"
"I said the barrier would be undone if you died. I never once said I was going to kill you, so why are you acting like some tragic heroine on your own? Are you trying to slap a depressing tag on this novel?"
"Huh?"
When I told her there was another way, Minami turned red as a tomato and crumpled into the corner.
"Huuuuuh..."
"Chuunibyou."
"Gah!"
So you really could beat someone up with words. This was Cursed Speech.
"What’s the way out, then?!"
"Oh, you want me to explain?"
"Yes! I want to hear it!"
The principle was simple. This barrier remained active because it was constantly being supplied with cursed energy. And that supply came from the uncontrolled cursed energy unconsciously leaked by non-sorcerers.
So the answer was obvious. I would seal the survivors inside the shadows of my Shadow Technique, preventing their cursed energy from leaking out. Since I was a sorcerer, I could keep my own cursed energy from escaping. All we had to do then was wait, and the barrier would collapse on its own.
"Oh, ohh!"
"Before that, though, we need to exorcise every cursed spirit outside. They’re probably affecting the barrier’s maintenance too."
"I-I want to come too!"
I had only seen low-grade cursed spirits at a glance, so I figured it would be fine and allowed her to come along.
After clearing out all the cursed spirits with Minami accompanying me, we returned to the hotel and put the survivors into my shadows.
The sight of just their heads sticking out of the shadows like cabbages was strangely horrifying.
"I think I’ve seen this on the wiki before. Are you perhaps Shadow the Head Eater?!"
"Quit talking nonsense and get in too. Don’t forget to hold your breath. Got it?"
"Okaaay."
With Minami as the last one, I closed the entrance to the shadows and sealed it shut tight.
There was fundamentally no air inside the shadows, so it could become dangerous if this continued for long.
However, the barrier I had seen was already in a highly unstable state, so I figured it would break quickly. This was a slapdash barrier that had somehow been forcibly maintained for half a year. In a way, it was only natural.
Crack, crash!
Not even thirty seconds after I sealed the shadows, the barrier shattered.
I was in Room 4 of the PC café where I had first entered. Feeling the weight of the people stored in my shadows, I crawled out of the room and began taking out the survivors.
"Mr. Zenin!"
"Ah. It’s been a while, Ms. Nitta~"
"Is the situation over?"
Looking around, I saw that besides Akari, several sorcerers from Jujutsu High had been dispatched as well.
Whoa, it was Mechamaru? This was my first time seeing him in person.
"Yes, it seems that way. Fortunately. Come to think of it... are these the survivors? You succeeded in rescuing them too?"
"Yep. We did. Heave-ho!"
With Minami, who was crouched up with her nose pinched and eyes squeezed shut, as the last one, I pulled every survivor out of the shadows.
Even after coming outside, Minami maintained the same rigid pose. I shook her awake.
"Wake up. We’re outside."
"Huh! P-People... A robot!"
As Minami woke and looked around, Akari approached and asked,
"Um, who is this...?"
"She is..."
As I was about to explain, I met Minami’s eyes.
They were anxious. Had she remembered what I said earlier about arresting her?
"She was the first victim of this incident. She’s the one who protected the other survivors all this time."
"She did?"
"I did?"
Hey, if you say it like that, what does that make me?
"It seems she came to some realization inside the cursed spirit’s domain and learned to handle basic barrier techniques. Let’s take her to Jujutsu High, shall we?"
"Whaaaat?!"
Perfect.
I’d secured myself one lackey.
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