I told you the next one would be out soon, next chapter is probably on the 5th

Daiyousei woke slowly, her eyelids fluttering open, her vision blurry. She mumbles something to herself, feeling strangely warm, and there was a bump sensation as well, like she was moving, but she knew she wasn't walking. Daiyousei shook her head. The last thing she remembered, she and Cirno had–

"Cirno!"

Daiyosei looked around, her head going left and right until she saw her bandaged sister beside her.

"Be careful." A strong unfamiliar voice cut in, dispelling Daiyousei's confusion. "She's still hurt, you shouldn't move her unless it's absolutely necessary."

Daiyousei nodded as her surroundings came into view. The man who was talking to her was the same blonde one who had saved her and Cirno, a moment later she remembered his name was Nanami. She looked around, and shifted in her seat uncomfortably. They were in a car, she had never ridden in one before, only seen them in pictures and on the village's television. She grabbed the seat belt, running a hand across it, she shuddered, thinking of the cage. Daiyousei resisted the urge to take it off as she looked at Cirno's bandaged form.

Her elder twin sister was out cold, her blue hair shielding her eyes and falling against the car door as sur curled in on herself as a series of bandages seeped in red wrapped around her chest. Out her own window, she could see mountains and hills rushing by, an endless canopy of trees under a blanket of night cut through by the car and its headlights on the desolate road. Daiyousei looked back to the front seat, and realized there had been someone, another man, sitting next to Nanami.

"Excuse me, Mister Nanami?"

"Your sister will be fine." He said, not turning to look back at them.

Daiyousei nodded, but before she could ask another question the man next to her seemed to cough into his hand. "Ahem, Nanami."

The student scowled at the aid for a moment, his face twisting with displeasure and venom died on his tongue, before looking back at Daiyousei and sighing. "I know you and your friend–" Daiyousei nodded, not correcting the man, "–have been through a lot, but I need you to answer some questions."

Daiyousei nodded, and the questions began at once: No, she and Cirno didn't know the name of their mama–no, they didn't know their last name–no, they didn't have any family–yes, they were related. Yes, they were running away from the village–because they had been locked up–because the villagers were mad at them. How old were they–nine. Were they both Nine–yes. Twin–Daiyousei said yes again but Nanami narrowed his eyes.

Either way he switched the subject. "Why were they mad at you?" Nanami's voice was soft and measured, trying to console Daiyousei. Her mind couldn't help but go to when the villagers had approached them the same way, right before they were captured.

"Excuse me, Daiyousei?"

She shook her head, screwing her mouth close. She had promised Cirno she wouldn't tell anyone they were sorcerers!

Nanami furrowed his brow, before smoothing his face out into a smile. "Daiyousei, can you and your sister see things other people can't see?"

Daiyousei strengthened her back and shrunk back into her seat, trying to disappear.

"It's okay, you aren't in trouble," Nanami raised a finger, "Can you see this?" The cursed energy that was wrapped around his finger shifted, slithering out and forming the shape of a number '2'.

Daiyousei's eyes winded, she didn't realize you could do that with cursed energy. Nanami took her reaction for confirmation and lowered his hand.

"You see, you're a Jujutsu Sorcerer. A type of person who can see cursed energy, is your sister the same?"

Daiyousei nodded.

"I see, we were called to investigate a series of disappearances. The last thing we were told, the mayor had a culprit, would that culprit be you two?"

"W-we didn't do anything!"

Nanami raised a hand. "I don't think you or your sister did, but we need the full story."

Daiyousei shook her head, then thought about it for a moment. She knew Nanami was a Jujutsu Sorcerer too, but she still didn't know what he did. The mayor called him but here was here to save them. She tilted her head at him, "So, you protect people from bad guys and youkai?"

Daiyousei flinched back into her seat as Nanami's face twisted in a storm of emotions, before settling. "You don't have to worry about that, we'll take care of everything. Now do you have any questions you want to ask?"

Daiyousei nodded. "Where are we going?"

The aid answered for her. "General hospital."

A hospital? Daiyousei had heard of those but she had never been to one, she knew they had a bunch of doctors in them and if Cirno could get healed by one of them she wouldn't have to do it herself. She felt her heart left, but as she saw the look on Nanami's face, she wilted once more.

Nanami looked at him, scowling. Daiyouse brought her legs up to her chest as Cirno mumbled in her sleep.

The ais sighed, looking away. "Hey, don't be mad at me, Iori is fully booked, Narumi's in Kyoto right now, Eientei is too far, and those three upperclass men–" he gestured vaguely out towards the trees, "–Are all taking the special grade exam right now. Miss Okina already decided to take care of the hospital bill as well. There's no Reverse Curse Techniques expert available, and one of those girls of hers has a healing power."

Nanami went rigid at the mention of the name 'Okina', his face contributing before stared straight ahead, not allowing Faiyousei to see his face. Regardless, she retreated further into her seat.

"Is she a bad woman, mister Nanami?"

Nanami didn't say anything, keeping his eyes on the road as Daiyousei felt something creep up her back and worm its way around her heart, constricting her like the seatbelt.

"Hey," as if to respond to something unsaid the aid spoke up, "We need as many Sorcerers as we can get, no need to be picky. Besides, you can sense that blue haired girl's cursed energy, even if she's still a little brat without much output, her reserves are bigger than everyone else in this car combined. Just imagine how strong she'll be, and how many people she could save once she starts eating properly. The New Shadow School will be a great place for her."

Nanami didn't say anything in response, but Daiyousei could feel something change in the air, something in the cursed energy, like someone had sucked out all the air from the room. Beside her Cirno stirred. Daiyousei put a hand on her sister's shoulder and puffed her chest out. She could feel her heart wavering, but if Cirno was asleep that meant she was the big sister now. She'd have to teleport them away so Cirno could heal herself with that 'positive energy' stuff she had used to heal herself after their first escape attempt.

Then they could find that 'Heida' Cirno was looking for.

Daiyousei nodded to herself, holding her arms in an attempt to reassure her. That was when they turned the corner, Daiyousei having to hold herself still, exclaiming as the entire car seemed to tilt. Even Nanami braced himself at the wide turn.

The aid smiled. "Welcome to Tokyo, hope you enjoy the stay."

Daiyousei's eyes winded as the glittering cityscape appeared before them. Towers shot up into the night sky, skyscrapers Daiyousei had never seen in person, stabbing into the sky like a hundred jewel topped spears. She leaned to look out the window, almost pushing her face up against the glass as her eyes went wide. It felt like an eternity and by the time she looked away they had descended down into the Urbanization Control Area surrounding the city, its towers and skyscrapers turning from spears to monoliths, each one glaring down at them with a thousand eyes. Daiyosei clutched her and steeled her resolve, she'd protect her big sister from this Okina person, then they would find Heida.

The clock on the car radio read 10:30 as the aid eased his foot off the gas as they can to a stop in the parking lot. Outside the lampposts seem to flicker, surprising Daiyousei. When she turned back to Nanami, he was wrapping a set of bandages around his hand. The aid looked to him with confusion, but Nanami didn't explain himself, opening the glove box to heft out something that looked like a blunted meat cleaver wrapped in the bandages.

If Daiyousei had gotten a closer look she would have been able to make out the scrawlings on the bandages revealing them to be talismans, or read the words: 'Ninety Degree Meat Market -Kogasa' inscribed on cleaver's handle.

"Mister Nanami!" The aid chided.

Nanami was already out of the car, resting a hand on it as he tested the weight of the cleaver. "Stay in the car. I haven't gotten the chance to test this out."

Cars groaned in the parking lot, a large, four-legged, barrel-and-insect-like youkai revealed itself from between the rows of cars while across from it a spider with the head of a cow matched its bulk.

Nanami cocked his head at it. "Hospitals, graveyards, abandoned buildings. "All of them are a breeding ground for youkai. With those three[/]> gone, there's nothing to keep them down." Nanami's face twisted into a scowl, if he knew it then Okina certainly did.

Daiyousei swallowed her spit and the crushing fear in the back of her throat as she unbuckled herself.

A third youkai emerged, a lumpy mass of black undulating flesh rolling into the street formed by the rows of cars, slime fell off of it as a mass stalk rose from the central mass, revealing the form of a massive leech.

"Ooooohohoho." A woman's voice came from it, "Miss Whiterock didn't tell me there would be sorcerers here."

Nanami narrowed his eyes, "And I didn't expect to find a Grade one youkai here, do you care to do me the courtesy of introducing yourself?" Contrary to her words, his tone was harsh and his face warped by annoyance.

The leech youkai chuckled, "Sorry but you're too young for me, human."

Nanami's face twisted in disgust. Around them the air seemed to grow cold, black clouds gathering in the sky. He remembered the name, she was one of the Disaster Curses who had been alive since the Heian era, he already remembered reports of their former leader's reincarnation, not to mention the fact that of all their numbers the former god Hanami had survived.

"I see you and, Miss Whiterock, was it–?"

The youkai nodded.

In the car the aid was too distracted by the youkai, big and small, emerging from the woodworks, to notice her lowering the window, and grab Cirno. As the adrenaline rushed through her, she felt her sense of distance sharpen, her curse energy spike, and the soreness in her muscles dissipate.

"Right, if you and Miss Iku are going to be so discourteous, then I'll have to introduce myself first." He took a deep breath. "My name is Kento Nanami, I am a half-danish second year student at Jujutsu High and have already risen to be a Grade One; My cursed technique is called Ratio, it allows me to arbitrarily divide any selected area into ten segments, with a weakpointed created at the ratio point of seven-to-three. This statement is part of a binding vow I have made where revealing information about myself and my technique boosts my cursed energy."

The leech-thing seemed to smile. "As if a trick like that'll help you." It's comrades, the ox-headed spider and the barrel-thing laughed along.

The window of the car finished opening and Daiyousei activated her untitled cursed technique.

Nanami disappeared in a flash and cut a youkai in two with his cleaver, landing on the roof of a car with a thud and dodging an attack from the leech. He snapped to see Daiyousei holding Cirno appear in another aisle of the parking lot.

"SORRY MISTER NANAMI!"

He moved to intercept but a web shot by the spider-cow caught onto his cleaver first, forcing him to cut it free with a chop of his hand and giving Daiyousei just enough time to teleport again.

The second time she hit the ground running as she appeared at the edge of the parking lot, wrapped her body in a sheath of cursed energy, and teleported again.

She ran, holding Cirno in her arms as she ducked out of the way of cursed spirits, occasionally teleporting herself to keep out of reach, disappearing into Tokyo's alleyways.

When she was finally too tired to teleport anymore, Daiyousei had found herself standing in a small alley made by a ruined warehouse on one side, and a dilapidated building in the other. She looked at Cirno in her hands, her elder twin sister still sleeping peacefully. For once Daiyousei was happy to be the taller one. Her legs were shaking but she forced herself to walk further, entering through a hole in the warehouse before collapsing against the wall.

She hit the wall with a metal thunk. Daiyousei breathed in and out, tasting the unfamiliar and murky city air as she strained her ears, thankful to make out the beating of her and Cirno's hearts underneath her deep breaths. There was another feeling, Cursed Energy. Much higher then the background levels she had felt out in their village, she felts the hairs on the back of her neck raise as the levels of cursed energy spiked again.

Just what was going on?

Cirno stirred awake as her grip relaxed. She lifted a hand to rub at her eye, trying to clear the blurriness of her vision and properly make out her younger twin sister. "Dai, where..." a wince of pain cut off her statement.

Daiyousei hugged her sister, wrapping her arms around Cirno's neck. She realized a moment too late her eyes were teary again. "It's okay Cirno, I got us away from them, that Okina won't get us."

Cirno didn't even blink before her eyes were fully clear. "Okina?"

Daiyousei nodded. "Mister Nanami isn't a bad person but Miss Okina is and the man in the car was going to take us to her."

Cirno nodded, urgency in her movements sent a hand down to her gut, muttering something under her breath as she pulsed with warmth. Daiyousei held her breath as the claws through areas of her gut filled themselves back up under the bandages.

"Cirno?"

Cirno nodded, jumping out of Daiyosuei's lap and then embracing her in a hug. "I'll take care of you, okay?" Daiyousei hugged her back, and then felt a warm, revealing feeling pulse through her.

When Cirno let go Daiyousei felt more awake and less sore, but there was still an underlying tiredness, and now a gnawing hunger. It took the younger twin sister to realize that her big sister had been crying, beads of tears falling down her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very good at Reverse Curse Technique. I can only heal myself really well.

Daiyousei nodded, before Cirno seemed to realize something.

"Oh yeah, I'm not very good at teaching it either, but it's supposed to be like math. When you multiply a negative by a negative you get a positive, turning Cursed Energy into Positive Energy."

Daiyousei didn't think that made any sense. Wasn't a curse still a curse no matter what? Not mentioning she only had a dim idea what 'multiply' meant. Which made her sad, she wished she was as bright as Cirno, who always seemed to have everything naturally come to her.
At that moment, both of their stomachs rumbled.

Cirno frowned, looking at her stomach. "I'm hungry, but we have to hide our traces first so they don't find us."

"Traces?"

"Yeah," Cirno smiled as she saw another opportunity to explain something, "humans and youkai leave behind traces when they use cursed energy, like footprints. Just focus on your cursed energy and look at where you've been." Cirno narrowed her eyes and pointed at the entrance hole. "See?"

Daiyousei's eyes winded as she realized that a series of ethereal foot prints led right up to her. She followed them back, looking through the hole and into the alley where a circle on the ground showed where she arrived after using her Cursed Technique. "Woah."

Cirno jumped out in the alley. "Uh, huh. It's really cool, and you can tell people apart, but that's really hard, but it's easier when someone has a weird type of cursed energy like rough, electric, or poison. Now watch and learn!" She raised her hands, throwing a wave of cursed energy at the ground that blurred the traces.

Daiyousei nodded, once again surprised by her elder twin sister. "Wow, Cirno, how do you know so much?"

Cirno puffed up her chest, smiling proudly. "That's because I'm gonna be the strongest, and don't you forget it?" That wasn't really an answer, but Daiyousei was too nice, and in too much shock to do anything else but nod along. "Now come on, follow me! I feel some familiar traces nearby."

"O-okay!"

Daiyousei followed Cirno as she broke into a sprint, charging through alleyways with reckless abandon as the electric lights of Tokyo shined even into the alley, guiding their way with buzzing twilight. She tried her best, squinting her eyes as she looked in front of Cirno, but no matter what she couldn't see any footprints like they were leaving behind. Slowly without realizing it, the two were traveling to the source of that disruption, closer to the hospital. Then, the smell of cooked meat wafted through the air, hitting Cirno and Daiyousei as they arrived at a four-way alley.

Daiyousei was the first to turn, looking in the opposite direction of the traces Cirno was following. "Cirno, do you smell that?"

Cirno froze, looking torn between whatever traces she was following and the smell of food. It wasn't too long until Daiyousei couldn't hold her back and took a step in the direction of the smell, and in an instant both of them were running that way.

Daiyousei caught up to Cirno and as they turned a corner, Cirno and Daiyousei's vision narrowed and a wall of black descended on them.

The pair stumbled forward, Cirno misstepping, Daiyousei tripping into her. The next thing they knew Cirno had hit hard concrete, followed by Daiyousei bouncing off her and onto the ground.

Daiyousei scrambled onto her knees, Cirno tried to grab onto her but– "Ah!"

"Hey!" But Daiyousei kicked on reflex, her foot hiding it's place against Cirno's face.

"Sorry!" Daiyoise held her hands out to apologize, only to he grabbed by Cirno again as she pulled them closer to each other.

Soon the two sisters found themselves embracing and pressed up against the alley wall, both rising to their feet as carefully as they could.

The darkness that has surrounded them was nearly absolute, with only a small radius around the girls visible as the rest of the world was consumed by pitch black. Daiyousei's ear twitched, she could hear something in the distance, something like singing. She looked back and forth, her eyes trying to pierce the darkness. "Is it that youkai from earlier, has she returned?"

Cirno gathered cursed energy spreading ice along the wall behind them as she summoned another icicle baseball bat. "I don't know, let's keep moving."

They moved carefully, the sisters keeping their back to the wall as Daiyousei took the back and Cirno the front, each carefully scanning the patch of light around them as they navigated the darkness. Then as Cirno looked back to the end of the alley, her eyes lit up.

"Look, Dai!"

Further down the pitch black street, a bright spot cut through the darkness with its buzzing electric light and the scent of cooked meat. Once more, the girls felt something brush up against the backs of their neck.

They practically exploded, breaking out into a spring as fast as their tired legs could career them. Cirno cast her icicle back away, throwing it behind them and leaving it to explode on the alley floor, leaving a patch of ice.

The bright spot loomed closer, becoming a star, and then blinding as they ran into the store, only the vague figure of a woman behind a grill visible to them.

"Hey!" "Help Miss!"

"Oh" As she came into focus, the woman tilted her head and held a hand in front of her mouth in faux surprise. "Helloo~!" The woman said in a sing-song voice, "Just what are you two little morsels doing here?"

Cirno leaned onto the counter, almost spilling onto the grill. "We're being chased by a youkai!"

The woman waved them off, laughing. "Oh dear, well don't worry. I'll fight off any who come in here. But are you girls sure you don't have any other problems?"

Daiyousei shook. "We couldn't see! The night got really dark and the moon disappeared."

The woman tilted her head and laughed. "Hmm, well that sounds like you have night blindness." They woman took two sticks of lamprey from her grill, handing them to the girls. "How about this, they say grilled lamprey and eel is a sure cure!"

Only after devouring their skewers, did Cirno notice the wings coming out of the woman's back. "You're a youkai!"

The woman laughed, her sing-song voice itching something in the back of their brains. "Yep!"

Daiyousei nodded, still unsure of what exactly was going on. "You're nothing like that blonde girl we met before, Miss..."

The lady smiled at her. "My name is Mystia. Now–wait, blond girl? She wouldn't have happened to be wearing black and red, with a Cursed Technique related to Darkness?"

Daiyousei and Cirno stiffened. The look on their faces told her everything she needed to know. "Rumia." She whined. She shook her head. "I'm sorry about that girl, she keeps getting herself killed and then immediately reincarnating. She never learns, but what can you expect from a Grade Four like her."

Cirno snorted, barely holding back a laugh, before snapping to attention. "Grade Four, what's that mean?"

Mystia shrugged. "I don't really know, but it's something Miss Inaba and the Sorcerers keep talking about." She tilts her head, narrowing her eyes as if she's trying to remember something. "I think it's how strong you're supposed to be. Four's the weakest so one has to be the strongest."

Cirno folded her arms, offended somehow. "Just because we lost to a Grade Four doesn't mean we're weak! Besides I bet no one can hold a candle to the real strongest."

Mystia shrugged non-comitially, refusing to argue as she places another skewer of meat on the grill.

Daiyousei tilted her head, once again not entirely understanding what someone was talking about. "So you really are nice youkai?" She was starting to consider that maybe everyone outside of the village was just a weirdo like Cirno.

Mystia nodded. "Exactly and since I'm the nice sort and gave you some grilled eel to cure your night blindness that means you have to pay up!"

Daiyousei frowned, "But miss, we don't have any money."

Mystia froze her wings stretching towards the ceiling as her face twitched. Finally she huffed, putting a hand on her waist as she gestured to the two girls with a skewer. "If you don't have any money to give me, then I might as well eat you up right now!" Mystia stopped her foot against the floor, indignant like as child.

"Hey!" Cirno pointed at her, "You must be the youkai who made us night blind!" Ice and cursed energy were already gathering in the air. Daiyousei backed away, climbing off her stool as the two faced off.

Mystia put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, but you'te the ones trying to dine and dash, so who's really at fault here? Besides I'm a grade three, if you couldn't beat Rumia then you can't beat me!" She punctuated her statement by stabbing at Cirno with a spatula.

Daiyousei wilted. Now she was really regretting leaving Nanami behind, he was probably really worried as well.

Cirno narrowed her eyes, trying to judge if she could beat Mystia and what she could get away with. Then another piece of Jujutsu knowledge came to her ."I know!" the intensity in the air vanished as she extended a hand "How about this, we'll make a Binding Vow?"

Mystia cocked her head, lowering her skewer. "A binding vow?"

Cirno extended her hand and pinky finger to the youkai. "Yep, we promise that if you feed us we'll pay you back in one week's time, and if not we have to do what you say!" Cinro elbowed Daiyousei, prompting her to extend her pinky as well.

Mystia seemed to think on it for a moment, her wings fluttering. "Okay," she extended her hand and the three interlocked their pinkies, after a moment of paused something seemed to change into air and they all sprung into motion.

"Now eat your fill."

The two girls dug into the meat skewers Mystia offered them, devouring seven in total before they had to stop. Now, although full, their stomachs hurt. Daiyousei held her stomach, groaning in pain as Mystia prepared to close up shop, turning off the grill. Cirno joined her, falling into her taller little sister.

Daiyousei looked at her. "Uh, Cirno, what's a Binding Vow?"

"Oh yeah, a Binding Vow is when you make a promise with sorcery, that way Miss Yama makes sure everyone keeps their promise." Her voice trailed off at the end as she dug her head into the crook of Daiyousei's neck.

Daiyousei nodded, not fully understanding what Cirno meant but unable to resist the call of sleep either, even as her stomach hurt. Soon enough her head was resting atop Cirno's, the two sisters precariously balanced on the stools.

Mystia shook her head, looking down at the pair. "humans. Trying to dine and dash then falling asleep in my store like this." she said, shaking her head as if they were the ones who had done something wrong. Either way she opened the door to the back room and carried the two girls inside, ascending a stairwell into her living room. She deposited the girls onto her couch, covering them with a blanket before going to her toom and booting up a computer still had a couple more hours of moonlight before she'd retire for the day.

Outside, Nanami and what few Jujutsu Sorcerers were on hand exorcized the youkai crawling over Tokyo and scoured the city, while Cirno and Daiyousei drifted off to sleep.

"Ahh, looks like it's getting a bit early." Mystia slouched into her gaming chair, smiling to herself as pursued guild chat and had her undead warrior run in a circle. After the girls had gone to sleep she had booted up her new favorite internet addiction, an American game a friend had introduced to her before leaving Japan.

Speaking of that friend, Mystia moused over a private message from her.

>'Mystia, are you okay?'

>'Why wouldn't I be? I've been online all night?'

>'You didn't hear anything?'

>'Any what?'

>'You know, explosions or something???!!!?"
>'There was a terrorist attack in Tokyo! I can't believe you didn't notice?!'
> 'CGR is already absent because his work place got bombed!'

'Is that what that was?' Mysita rolled her chair over to her window, opening the curtains and peeking through the blinds. Outside, a red and grey haze has conquered the skyline of Tokyo. Her wings fluttered, maybe she shouldn't listen to music while gaming anymore? She hopped out of her chair and opened her door a crack, peeping at the two young girls; still peacefully asleep.

She sighed. They couldn't pay off their debt to her if they were dead after all. Although the mention of CGR's work place getting bombed did make her worry, she was pretty sure he was already a big <i>aged</i> by the standards of humans.

>'Mystia?'
>'Msty?'
>'MSITY?!'
>'Are you okay?'

>'Just checking on something'
>'I got some house guests recently'

>'Humans?'

>'Not like I know many youkai here now that you're gone.'

>'I'm just happy you're warming up to them, you're always so cold.'

Mystia cocked her head. She wouldn't exactly call her indebiting those two dine-n-dashers and housing them warming up that much. Although she had to admit, the past her who had met Ms Inaba and Kyouko wouldn't have spared the girls. At the same time she still didn't see anything wrong with what she had done. Either way she wouldn't disarm her friend of her notions.

>'Yeah.'
>'Anyway, what's with this terrorist attack?'

>'Well Shou never tells me anything, but she wants to return to Japan soon. It looks like something big is going down, but...'

Mystia raised an eyebrow, Kyouko had mentioned this 'Shou' person before but she still had no idea who she was.

>'But she never tells you anything?'

>'Yeah.'
>'Well I did hear one name'
>'Kenjaku'

>'Who's that?'

>'Dunno, but the other disciples are getting jumpy...'

>'Disciple? You're not part of a cult? Is that why you left Japan?'

>'Ignore that plz'

Mystia hesitated, if Kyouko really was in trouble she might need to help her. Then again it sounded like a lot of trouble, and it wasn't like the Sorcerers would take a wellness call about a youkai abroad seriously. Mystia nodded to herself and slouched back in her chair; didn't even know where Mystia was. She idly sent a message to CGR–CoolGrandpaRock–for him to get well, then back to Kyouko's blood elf warlock.

>'K'
>'Same time next week, Kyouko?'

>'ARGH!'
>'Well good day Kyouko, signing off.'

Mystia yawned, idly sent an email to Miss Inaba, and turned her computer off. Once more she peered into her living room, seeing the two girls snuggled up next to each other. "Well, at least they're cute for dine-n-dashers."

After that she went back into her room, and fell asleep for the day.

<hr>

"Come on, Dai." Daiyousei shifted on the bed. She shook her head, the last thing she could remember was that everything was cold and hard. Why was she warm? "Dai wake up."

Daiyousei blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "Wah? Cirno..." she looked around, greeted by an unfamiliar room lit by sunlight that peeked through heavy curtains. gray and stained posters she didn't recognize on the wall. They laid on an old leather couch beneath her and her sister, and a blanket thrown over them. "Where are we?"

Cirno rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "We escaped, remember? We're in Tokyo."

Daiyousei blinked, and the entire night came back to them: their flight from their home village, the youkai who attacked them, Mister Nanami, the mention of Okina, her taking Cirno into her arms and fleeing, Mystia and how Daiyousei wanting to get food instead of follow Cirno had forced them to make a deal with the youkai. "Cirno I'm so sorry for almost getting us captured, and I–"

"No!" Cirno clamped her hands down on her sister's face, shutting her up. Daiyousei tried to speak but Cirno interrupted her before she could start. "It's okay Dai, you're still learning!" She let go of Daiyousei and jumped off the couch, sending the blanket sprawling onto the floor."Now come on, if we're gonna pay off our debt we have to find who left the traces I was following yesterday."

Daiyousei nodded meekly and followed her sister, casting a glance towards a clock mounted on the wall reading nine in the morning.

"Now. First off, clothes." Cirno pointed back to the couch, her finger landing on something Daiyousei had overlooked, a series of black T-shirts and hoodies with scary pictures of flames, skeletons, and lightning on them. She looked down at their tattered dresses and shorts would only draw attention to them.

"We'll stand out even more if we don't change."

Daiyousei briefly thought of pointing out it was stealing, but the discomfort of her dirty clothes and the practicality of the situation, overrode her politeness. "And getting washed, I don't like being covered in dirt."

Cirno nodded, wordlessly agreeing with her. Finding the bathroom was a quick affair, there were only three rooms connected to the living room; Mystia's bedroom, a kitchen, and the bathroom. After trading turns in the bath, both girls quickly equipped Mystia's strange t-shirts emblazoned with phrases like 'hell-oh'.
After that the pair raided Mystia's fridge, taking what little she had inside–milk, plain cereal, eggs–Cirno pushed Daiyousei to the table as she made breakfast as she always did.

Daiyousei went along with it despite her worry, only able to pick out two paper plates for the eggs as Crino handled everything else, not wanting to dirty any more of Mystia's dishes. Cirno had always been the one to cook for them, had always been the one to pass up meals for her, and had always been the one taking care of her, even before they became sorcerers. That, had been why Daiyousei grew to be the bigger sister. Yet yesterday all she ended up doing was saving them from the problems she made; if she hadn't been hungry, if she could have stopped that youkai

Cirno hopped out of her chair, bringing Daiyousei's attention back to her as she pulled out a knife. "Now! We need some weapons."

Daiyousei looked between Cirno and her own half-finished plate, "I don't know Cirno, knives are dangerous."

Cirno blew a raspberry at Daiyousei. "They're levers!" She smiled and shook her head as if what she meant was obvious.

"What?"

"Just do what I do," Cirno said, holding out the knife like a sword. "If you circulate your cursed energy around a tool you make it more durable. Tools have a smaller area to apply force, and give you leverage, multiplying output; See?" Cirno picked up her paper plate, threw it into the air, then spun around. She caught the plate mid-air, chopping it into nine pieces before it could hit the floor. "The only problem is the durability, but that's why Cursed Tools exist."

Daiyousei nodded, not understanding much more than the fact that weapons help you hit harder. Although now that she was getting more comfortable–no longer cold, only hurting a little, and now well fed–she had a question she hadn't previously thought of. "Cirno, how do you know so much?"

Cirno smiled brightly, pointing to herself with her thumb. "Because I had the strongest teacher and now I'm your teacher so you have to do what I say."

A seed of doubt lingered in the back of Daiyousei's mind at the mention of a 'teacher', but she didn't feel like she could oppose her big sister. She supposed her answer made good enough sense anyway. "Okay."
Daiyousei quickly finished her eggs after, disposing of her own paper plate in a less dramatic manner, and washed their bowl on her insistence. After that they went back to looting Mystia's house–on Cirno's insistence they could pay her back later. They picked out an old backpack they could store things in.

Once they were done, the impassioned elder twin set her feet apart, and pointed a hand in the air. "Now follow me. We have to follow those traces I felt last night."

The two exited onto the stairwell that led to Mystia's restaurant, making sure to grab a copy of their receipt on the way out.

There was an immediate and noticeable change from the city of yesterday night; the sky had turned pale blue and a deep grey, as an unseasonable cold cold blanket Tokyo. Daiyousei shivered. .
The two continued their journey through ducking through alleyways, avoiding the main thoroughfare. Luckily for them the entire city seemed concerned with something else; red and blue lights flashing, people shouting, others huddled in doors. They carried on until Cirno stopped in her tracks.

She squinted, sweat dripping down her face as it scrunched up in concentration. "I can't see them anymore."

Daiyousei looked over her shoulder, scouring the alley as if Cirno's words or the passage of time would allow her to see what she had missed yesterday. Then a voice cut through the air like a knife.

"You should find what you're looking for right there."

Cirno and Daiyousei jumped, taking defensive positions as they turned to see a woman–a youkai–pointing down one of the four alley ways.

She was tall, and looked youthful–maybe only slightly over twice Cirno and Daiyousei's age–with a pale face, green hair, a pair of glassy green eyes, and a swarm of purple coils surrounding her; all linked to a closed third eye that fixed its attention on Cirno.

The youkai smiled at them and waved. "Hi."

The pair held their ground, as she stood like a statue. The oddest part was, despite clearly being a youkai, neither of them could sense her cursed energy.

The youkai raised a finger to her face, frowning as the coils surrounding her made a heart. "Oh, sorry. Well I'll introduce myself first; I'm Komeiji, Koishi Komeiji. Although my enemies call me Mary Mary, and sometimes the 'Emotionless Eye of Love', but you can just call me Koishi if we're gonna be friends."

Neither of the girls responded.

Koishi, shrugged. "Well you two have fun, just make sure to say hi to Miss Heida for me, okay?" Koishi turned on her heel, her boots clacking against the alleyway.

Cirno sent a hand for one of the knives, trying to discreetly open Daiyousei's backpack when the youkai's back was turned. "How did you know–"

A knife appeared in Koishi's hand, causing the two girls to freeze. "I told you, you can call me Koishi." Her smile stayed fixed. "You still haven't told me your names but I–" she trailed off, her words turning into nothing as she got a far away look in her eyes. The next moment Koishi giggled to herself, "Sorry, but I forgot what I was thinking about. I have some friends to meet so I really can't stay to chat, okay?" As she spoke, both Cirno and Daiyousei were forced to take a step back as the Cursed Energy shrouding Koishi changed, turning into a torrent. "Besides that, would you like someone rooting out all of your secrets?" She reminded Cirno of a buddha statue.

"N-no." She bowed, her sister following her lead a moment later."

Koishi laughed, "Have a good day! And by the way sorry, it's probably my fault you couldn't find what you were looking for." She waved to them. "I'll see you later but I have to meet a friend."

The two girls could only nod and turn down the alley she had pointed them tn. The torrent of cursed energy ceased, and when they looked back, they found themselves questioning if there had ever been a 'Koishi Komeiji' in the first place. The name fled from their minds, leaving an ominous void and a half forgotten encounter. Daiyousei shook off the feeling first, going back to looking for whatever traces Cirno had been following.

The two continued on their quick pace, until Daiyousei was forced to take a breath, overtaken by her sister. As she braced herself against an alley wall, she finally saw the traces they were following.

It was hardly like the footsteps she or Cirno left, more like the wake of a duck in a pond, all the cursed energy rippling along the edges while the path she and Cirno had been following was laid bare, overly still. She felt her heart seize up as Cirno neared a corner, as if whatever had cut a swath through the world itself would turn the corner and eviscerate her sister.

The realization was like being able to see for the first time, and somehow her mind connected it to the woman who they had met, and her third eye that had stared at Cirno so intently.

"Come on Dai, we're getting closer!" Her sister had turned off her heel, cupping her hands together as she yelled for her.

"Right," She gulped, casting those seditious thoughts away, reassuring herself that Cirno knew what she was doing.

Eventually, Cirno slowed down, her steps becoming more deliberate as they arrived at a dead end alley. She knelt, looking into a basement, scouring back and forth,looking for something in particular before standing up. "Dai, can you teleport us through the window?"

"I-I'll try." Daiyousei wrapped her arms around her sister and then looked through the window. She repeated the steps Cirno has taught her, focusing on negative emotions, circulating her cursed energy, concentrating on her cursed technique and intent. She felt something like a tendril reach out towards the window as she calculated the distance between the alley and the basement of the dusty bookstore, but the second that tendril hit the window, she felt her technique fizzle into nothing. She let go of her sister. "Sorry, Cirno."

Cirno nodded and reached out towards Daiyousei with an open palm. Her twin handed her one of the knives, watching as Cirno went to work on the window, applying a mixture of cold and then pressure with the knife until she popped it open. "Teleport us in, he's down there."

"Who?"

"My teacher."

Daiyousei nodded, feeling something coil in her gut at those words. Cirno put her hands on her hips and Daiyousei complied.

The two appeared in the basement with a puff of mist, Cirno immediately let go of her sister, turning on her heel to look at the side of the room she wasn't able to see before.

She held her hands to her mouth in a funnel and called: "Teacher?"

Cirno strained her eyes in worry as she looked at the blank door. She narrowed her eyes, and approached the door, moving slowly as if not to arouse anger or suspicion. Daiyousei stayed behind, frozen on the spot as she shook. She was reminded of before their capture, when they were sneaking around to avoid capture.

Cirno grabbed the door knob. "Hello?"

She opened the door and felt her heart drop.

"Cirno?" Daiyousei went to her sister, peering past her into the storage room packed to the brim with books and boxes.

"No, no, no." Cirno muttered to herself, walking into the room as she quickly descended into panic. She jumped into the mess, tearing boxes aside until she had found her target, a taped over cardboard box she ripped through in the next moment. Inside was a collection of books she tossed aside, revealing a small, finger-sized box resting in the nook between two books. She took it out, holding the box like she'd die if she let go of it.

<hr>

"Nanami?"

The aforementioned Grade One second year student of Jujutsu High blinked the sleep out of his eyes, a brown haired girl wearing a hat came into focus.

"Nanami?"

He ignored Renko's question, shifting to the side on what he realized was a couch. He took a moment to look around the room. It was a small lounge with a chair, table, coffee machine, and some cabinets, with one of Yukari's new 'Chen' shikigami seated at the table. He counted himself lucky that the aid has, probably, saved his life after he evidently collapsed from exhaustion last night. He ignored the Shikigami, more attracted to the smell of fresh coffee than he was tired. Chen ignored him politely as he got himself a cup.

He practically devoured it, holding it to his mouth with both hands before putting it back down on the counter to fill it up again. "Where's Haibara? We were supposed to meet after my mission."
Renko sighed and joined him, pouring herself a cup before dragging him back, with little resistance, to the couch. There, Nanami repeated his question about Haibara.

A Yukari's cut in from behind Chen's mouth: "Still with the Kochiya Clan, there was a misunderstanding with Lady Suwa, but everything is okay."

Nanami rolled his eyes at the mention of the miniature curse god.

Standing across from him and Renko on the couch was Yukari's newest Shikigami.. In contrast to the 'Ran' model of Shikigami he was familiar with, It took the form of a young girl with cat ears and was mass produced. Either way, hearing Yukari's voice come out of her instead of a phone speaker was odd. The thought of her making more of them was odd.

Nanami nodded. "What's the situation?"

Chen waddled a bit closer, her childishness proving an odd contrast with Yukari's voice "The attack last night was coordinated, with multiple members of the youkai terrorist group known as the Disaster Curses attacking major cities; the youkai of Blizzards, Volcanoes, and Forests all have confirmed sightings but the other higher ups from the Disaster Curses–Humanity, Revolution, and Tsunamis–haven't been seen. Hakurei is already on route here, she'll arrive mid-day tomorrow, while Geto and Gojo are intercepting the others."

Both Renko and Nanami could hear Yukari's smile thin on the other end of the line. "And for the two girls you found; Okina already has two of her own girls after them, Satono and Mai. Miss Heida has already sent someone to their village. As such I'll be sending you two after the girls as well."

Nanami looked at Renko; She was notably shorter than him with a slimmer body than most Jujutsu Sorcerers had, average cursed energy, no notable Cursed Technique. Her face was still-soft but the look behind her eyes reminded him of Marsa: a complete willingness to throw herself into the fire. Besides that she was still only a first year, and only a Grade Three, despite <i>those three</i> helping her out. Although he himself would admit that was only due to her lack of field experience.

Yukari continued: "Above all, your mission is to make sure that these girls do not come into contact with Kenjaku or the Disasters."

He nodded. Nanami understood what she meant perfectly: 'eliminate the girls if you have to, recruit them yourselves, prevent them from becoming members of Okina's New Shadow School.' His face contorted in irritation. He hated playing politics, but he hated that parasite Okina and how she had been draining the lifespan of her disciples since the Heian era. Combined with the secret teachings of the New Shadow School, she had ruled her little fiefdom within Jujutsu Society unopposed.

In tandem his mind went over his conversation with the girls, trying to look for anything <i>off</i>. He pushed up his glasses. "There's another issue, about the girls–"

Yukarri nodded with Chen's head. "Yes, we know, they're twins."

"Cirno–the shorter one–her Cursed Technique generates ice."

That caused Yukari to pause, "And the blonde one can teleport, I see..." Rather, it was odd they had different Cursed Techniques in the first place: they were the result of a unique pattern engraved onto a person's frontal lobe. Identical twins always had the same Technique, while fraternal ones were often extremely similar or interlinked somehow. "I suppose they might be non-blood related, but this <i>is</i> curious."

Nanami nodded, not wasting a second as he turned to Renko, "You. <i>those three</i> taught you what Marisa stole from them?

"Yes, but–"

"Good." Yukari smiled with Chen's cute face: "Now Renko, have this." She extended her hand, drawing a length of talismans from the inside of Chen's long sleeves.

Renko hesitated for a second, before taking them. The talismans that were identical to Nanami's reading: 'Folding Talismans, 10M length -Yakumo.' with circuit-like scrawlings written across them.

"Now be careful with those, I don't want you tying yourself up and breaking a leg. They're durable and you can control them with cursed energy. A sudden surge will activate the limited cursed technique I've imbued into them and cause them to constrict and fuse into whatever they touch. Now, there will be a driver outside and–" Nanami was already exiting the room. Yukari rolled Chen's eyes, "Be careful."

Posting this before I go on vacation for a bit, don't worry I already have decent progress on 4, and 6, with less progress on chapter 4.

"YOUKAI OUT!"

Daiyousei and Cirno jumped in surprise, turning to see a red-headed girl dressed in simple clothes and a yellow apron, charging into the room with a broom in hand. The girl waved it around, almost hitting Daiyousei.

Daiyousei flinched back, landing in a pile of books and boxes with a thud, "Ah!"

Cirno gathered her cursed energy, bringing the glasses-wearing girl's attention onto her. "Oh wait, I'm so–give me that!" The girl rushed forward, tripping over herself and dropping her broom as she fell towards Cirno.

The girl landed on Cirno face first, a box beneath them to crumple and books to fly. Her broom hit the floor in the next second.

Cirno gathered cursed energy, activating her technique, ready to hit the girl with a chunk of ice, holding the box close to herself in a death grip.

The red-headed girl went for the box, one hand feebly trying to wrestle it away from her.

Cirno thrust out with her chunk of ice, only for the red head to counter, jumping back and smashing it with the end of her broom. On contact it released a burst of cursed energy.

Crinno flinched back, barely avoiding a burn as an ice-encrusted knife appeared in her other hand. The redhead didn't have time to react as Cirno messily swung at the her.

"Cirno!"

Daiyousei's cry caused the to flinch, blade diverted from its course and missing the girl. The redhead took the opportunity presented to her, grabbing Cirno's wrist with one hand and the both with another. She squeezed down and yanked the box free, stumbling back wide-eyed as she saw the knife in Cirno's offhand.

Cirno recovered immediately, jumping to her feet and pointing the knife at the girl. "Give that back!"

"No! this[i]," the girl said, waving the box around, "Isn't a toy for little kids to play with."

Cirno stamped a foot into the ground, sending a wave of chill through the room. "Give that back!"

"Cirno!" Daiyousei rushed forward, grabbing onto her sister. "You shouldn't point knives at people."

"Yeah, listen to your friend." The girl took the opportunity to shove the box into one of her apron pouches before putting her hands on her hips, standing tall and puffing her chest out as if Cirno didn't have her at knife point a moment ago. "This thing is dangerous."

Cirno narrowed her eyes at the redhead.

"Cirno."

She hesitated for a moment, then let the ice blade in her hand dissolve into nothing. She crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine."

"Good," the girl went to pick up her broom, hefting it over her shoulder, the brush end pointed back, "I'm Kosuzu, and my parents left me in charge here so that means I'm in charge"

"No way," Cirno stuck out her tongue, "You're a kid just like us."

"I'm thirteen, that means I'm the oldest, so you two have to do what I say anyways." Kosuzu tapped the box in her apron pocket. "Besides, this thing is dangerous."

Daiyousei raised a hand, "Uh, what is it?"

"Well, it's," Kosuzu hesitated, laying her hand flat against her pocket, "That doesn't–"

Cirno pointed at her "Hey, you don't even know what it is!"

Kosuzu crossed her arms, holding her broom awkwardly as she stuck her nose in the air, "Well, do you?"

"I!" Cirno began yelling again, only to realize something, then falter, "no."

Kosuzu smiled smugly, "See! At least I know this thing is dangerous, so I'm not supposed to let anyone have it." She thumped her off hand against her chest, "and kids like you aren't supposed to be outside right now, there's an emergency."

Daiyousei looked over her shoulder to where the window was open. Flecks of ice and snow were now wafting into the basement. Then back to the redhead, even if she didn't seem to know what was going on Daiyousei reasoned she was probably a sorcerer.

She bowed to Kosuzu, remembering everything she had learned about groveling. "We're sorry miss Kosuzu, we ran away from a dangerous youkai. Can we stay here, please?"

Koszu hesitated, giving Cirno time to realize what her sister was doing and copy her. "Yeah, please, Miss!"

Kosuzu had heard stories about children as young as five, born sorcerers but without any knowledge of Jujutsu running away from home–The image of a golden haired black-and-white witch flashed in her mind, joined shortly by another blonde dressed in red-and-black–She tightened her grip on the broom. A lot of them ended up becoming servants to youkai, or if they were lucky, debatably better was dying, with joining Jujutsu Society being the prime option. , This was her chance to show them that she was not weak, that she could be relied upon, that she could even go to Jujutsu High! Kosuzu smiled, "My friends are busy right now, but don't worry, even if I'm not a sorcerer, I'll protect you!" She punctuated her statement by hefting her broom aloft.

Daiyousei's face fell as Cirno snorted, crossing her arms. "You're not a sorcerer?"

"Yep!" The girl took a hand to her ear, playing with the arm of her glasses, pushing them up and down. "These glasses allow me to see youkai, and I got this broom from, A-uh," the girl falters for a moment, adjusting how she holds the broom, "From another friend."

Cirno narrowed her eyes; on the hexagonal brush cap of the broom she could see the impression of worn down characters, illegible but clearly there.

"So," the girl clapped her hands together, resting on the pile of books proudly, "tell me everything that happened!"

The twins started from the top, giving Kosuzu a generous summary of their adventure in their favor, excluding their save by Nanami and the aide. As Cirno told their–heavilly edited– story, Kosuzu found herself sitting atop the books and cardboard boxes in the storage room.

Kosuzu had stars in her eyes. "So cool! An escape from a rural village, rogue sorcerers, and youkai. I wish I could do something like that." Daiyousei was at a loss for words, but Kosuzu wasn't, "O-oh, if you two are sorcerers, what's the name of your Curse Techniques?"

Cirno smiled, outstretched her hand and summoned an ice cube, "Perfect freeze!"

Kosuzu turned to Daiyousei and the younger girl wilted. "Uh, I haven't thought of a name for mine. But I can teleport."

Kosuzu looked at her amazed, stars growing in her eyes. She moved in a blur, causing Daiyousei to jump back as the older girl appeared mere inches from her face. "Cool, cool, cool. I have so many more questions "

Daiyousei nodded. "Yes. So, uh, ma'am. Do you have any idea what to do? About the youkai, I mean."

Kosuzu jumped up and smiled, brandishing. Her broomstick with one hand and pointed at herself with the other, "Easy, then I'll go and beat up that youkai myself!"

Daiyousei bowed. "Please don't, miss–"

Cirno pumped a fist in the air, "Yeah!" She shoulder checked Daiyousei, preventing her sister from speaking. "You should totally go after her, we can look after the shop!"

Daiyosei's face paled. Just what was Cirno trying to do getting Kosuzu in trouble?

"Hey!" Luckily for her, the aforementioned red-headed girl saw through Cirno's clumsy words. "You two are just trying to escape, aren't you?"

Daiyousei raised her hand, "We're sorry miss, but I–we–know how you can help us, but we just met you and–"

Kosuzu crossed her arms, looking at the pair long and hard as annoyance crossed Cirno's face. "Well I guess that's fine, but there's no escaping me! I'm gonna guess that there's some bad people looking for you as well." Cirno and Daiyousei could only nod with her. "So! Is there anything else I should know?"

Daiyousei played with the hem of her black shirt, "Okay, I just wanted to say that, me and Cirno got these clothes from the youkai. I don't know if we also owe the youkai for them, but they're pretty weird, and I want something different."

Kosuzu nodded. "Don't worry, I'm sure I have something laying around."

The red-head turned on her heel, and then turned pale as she saw the open window, and the slight blanket of snow on the floor. "AH! I forgot you broke in." She scampered over to the wrought open window, pulling it closed before taking out a roll of duct from a box to attack it with. When she was done. Cirno and Daiyyousei had followed her, patiently waiting before she turned back to them. "Phew, oh yeah. Don't open any doors or windows. Akyuu said that everything needs to be closed for the defenses to work best. Now, I'm going to get some clothes and something for us to eat, I'll be down when I'm done."

The sisters agreed noncommittally.

Kosuzu trotted up the basement stairs, leaving the twins to clean up. Neither of the twins were ever skilled in sorting inventory, but they did their best, haphazardly shoving books into boxes before putting everything else on top.

Daiyousei fidgeted as they worked. Curious.

"Cirno, how did you know she wasn't a Sorcerer?" Earlier Cirno had looked smug when she had called Kosuzu a sorcerer. She had seen the same expression before, when they had hoodwinked the villagers, or hidden from them, or made them believe a lie. Back before the suspicion had reached a fever pitch and she–Daiyousei–had gotten them both captured.

"I just sensed it, but– " Cirno bit her finger, cutting off something that sounded like the start of an insult, "Sorry but it's all very natural to me, I remember..." her voice trailed off into a mumble. Then she hopped up, "Okay! I'll just have to help you on a case by case basis, but–even if I'm not good at it–I'm still your teacher, okay?"

The thought of not being able to help Cirno–of always relying on her little elder sister hurt–Daiyousei, but she nodded. "Alright, but if I'm gonna be your student, then you have to tell me, what's in that box?"

Cirno crossed her arms. "Hmmm, maybe, but only if you keep it a secret, okay?"

"I promise, I really do. As your student and as your sister."

Cirno smiled wide, her eyes sparkling. She twirled around before sitting on a box of books like it was a throne. "Okay, those traces I was following, they were of my teacher, Ryomen Sukuna, he's the strongest."

"The strongest?"

"Yep. He was so strong everybody hated him because of how jealous they were."

"Why's he inside a box, is he really tiny?"

Cirno frowned. "I don't know, but I have an idea. We'll have to find Hieda, she'll know what to do."

Daiyousei nodded. "Okay, who's Hieda?"

Cirno rolled her eyes. "She's a friend of my teacher and an annoying know-it-all, but she's me and Sukuna's friend so she'll help us."

"Is there anyone else?"

Cirno tiled her head from side to side. "Well there is Kenjaku, but Sukuna always told me she's a weirdo I should avoid. Besides, I don't know where she is, Hieda is famous and really smart."

Daiyousei nodded. "So you're doing this to help Sukuna?"

Cirno nodded. "Yep, and I'll become even cooler and stronger than Sukuna with his help."

Daiyousei was shaking, the thought of running again scared her. They had just found someone so nice, and they were safe, and the house was warm and it was cold again outside, and there were probably dangerous youkai, and she just wanted to go to sleep again. She swallowed the spit in the back of her throat. "But what about me?"

Cirno tilted her head. "But don't you want to get stronger with me?"

"Well, Miss Kosuzu seems very nice." After all she had only given them work to do, she hadn't even tried to beat them. "I don't want to leave Miss Kosuzu, she's nice and she took care of us, and she–"

Cirno jumped off her box and patted Daiyousei on the back. "It's okay, when we get to Hieda, everything will be okay, she'll make sure of it and I will too."

"Okay Cirno, but do you even know where she is?"

"Nope." She said smiling, "but we don't have to go anywhere, and if we can't find her, then we'll just have to make sure she comes to us"

Daiyousei couldn't help but nod along. She was regretting not going along with Nanami, maybe if they had stayed the Okina woman wouldn't be so bad. Then again Cirno seemed to dislike her as well.

Clunk, clunk, clunk.

Daiyousei snapped to attention as she heard Kosuzu's footsteps echoing down the stairs.

The redhead smiled brightly, her smiling lighting up the room as she swung the stair door open. "Come on guys, I have clothes up stairs, dinner will be soon as well."

Kosuzu was able to furnish them with a pair of hoodies, blue and white for Cirno, green and white for Daiyousei, as well as socks, and two worn out pairs of shoes. She had grown out all of them years ago, but her parents had never gotten around to throwing them away. Daiyousei was thankful, but still she couldn't help but want socks that belong to her, and not someone hand-me-downs.

Everything she and Cirno ever had was either stolen, gifted–rarely–or more often than not was given through gritted teeth. Even if the villagers didn't like them, they had tolerated them, and no one wanted to be the person who turned away a pair of orphans. At least before they had all convinced themselves that she and Cirno were monsters.

The rice and curry did well to distract her from those thoughts, even as Tokyo outside thundered and the sunlight dimmed under the clouds and unnatural coldness that had given way to snow. That had excited Cirno, but instead of going outside they had all stayed in the living room, sheltering under an overhead light as a blank TV and a collection of board games kept them busy.

Finally, when the quiet and confusion of American English board games became too much for any of them, Daiyousei spoke up.

"Who, uh, I mean Miss Kosuzu, who were the friends you talked about earlier?"

"Oh, my friends," a wide, proud smile crossed Kosuzu's face, "They're the strongest!"

Cirno's face twisted into a grimace, but she resisted saying anything.

Daiyousei nodded along. Even if she still didn't want to leave Kosuzu, they needed information. "Are they really that strong?"

Kosuzu took that as a cue to continue speaking. "Yep, two years ago they saved me from a dangerous youkai." She said, omitting the fact that the human-turned vengeful spirit had only tried to possess her due to her own tampering with relics and various cursed objects. "Reimu was mad at Miss Yakumo and Mamizou afterwards, but she didn't mean it. You see Miss Yakumo always acts in such a roundabout way–but sometimes she's clingy–Mamizou says it's because she's shy."

Cirno had perked up at the mention of Yukari's name, recognition flickering across her face.

Daiyousei followed her sister's interest keenly, but something else was nagging at her first. "What about you? You said you wanted to go to 'Jujutsu High', right?." She couldn't even see youkai without those glasses, and she couldn't use Cursed Energy. Daiyousei herself didn't see the appeal, all she wanted was a warm place to sleep, Crino, and two–maybe even three–meals a day.

Kosuzu crossed her arms. "Yeah, mom and dad say I can't go, but they're just because they're scared. I heard that there was a guy who could fight Sorcerers even though he didn't have any cursed energy, and they even let that new girl in!"

Cirno tilted her head. She could think of a few types of people who had no cursed energy, but someone like them being down here at all was ridiculous. Kosuzu was probably mistaken. Either way, someone ridiculous like that sounded dangerous.

Daitousei nodded, reaching to pat the older girl on the back. "It's okay, what about Miss Yakumo? Are you friends with her too?"

"Well, uh." Kosuzu hesitated, looking out the window, then all around the room as if someone would hear them speaking, "I guess I only know her through Reimu, and they're not on that good terms anymore, well they were never friends in the first place." Reimu never had a nice or even polite word for the woman, she had feared her, looked up to her, then tolerated her. Even now, with how determined Reimu was to never forgive Yukari, she tolerated her, to an extent at least. "let's talk about something else."

Cirno raised a hand, "Who's Rei–"

Then, a blinding red-and-white flash illuminated the room.

The three jumped and turned, scrambling away from the window. In an instant the room was dark again, then another flash. Daiyouseif flinched as Cirno and Kosuzu got to their feet.

"That is Reimu."

Kosuzu broke out into a run of footsteps thundering under the whining of cursed energy and explosions above. Cirno and Daiyousi followed her up the stairs, out onto a fire escape in the burning cold, back into the building, and then onto the roof.

Kouszu stood, transfixed. Above they could make out a vague humanoid form in the red-and-white glow as Reimu danced through the sky joined by four yin-yang orbs orbiting her.

Across from her, another figure–a youkai no doubt–was cloaked in a blizzard and an emerald-gold glow.

The pair danced through the sky, evenly matched. talismans, needles, and yin-yang flew through the sky, slamming into sheets of ice, lasers, and decoy bodies the youkai sent out. Then, something sparked from Reimu's position, a bright flash of light. She disappeared into a gap in space. The Youkai sped up, a moment later a pillar of white-hot exploded in her direction, burning through the blizzard and destroying the emerald-gold glow in an explosion. The youkai flew out, barely grazed as the last vestiges of her borrowed power left her, falling to the city below in the form of yellow-green petals.

Space bent, Reimu reappeared beside the youkai. Something exploded and the youkai fell out of the sky, talismans closing in from all sides ready to exorcise her.

"See, she'll show that youkai who's boss!"

Cirno narrowed her eyes, something was familiar about Reimu and her technique, but she couldn't place it. Maybe she was a relative of Yukari?

Reimu closed in on the youkai, a yin-yang orb as big as her body hefted in one hand.

Then it[/] appeared in their perception all at once everyone: the sky was full of purple and green brambles and roses. Thorns shot at Reimu out and a rose caught the youkai mid-fall, surrounding her.

Reimu tumbled, curling in on herself as she suddenly changed her trajectory, dodging a mass of brambles and thorns. She righted herself when she was far enough away from the central mass of the plants. More brambles shot out towards her tipped with spades as they stabbed towards her.

Then they–

Fell to the earth. In a split second Reimu had drawn two swords–Cirno judged them to be a katana and a wakizashi–and swung them, filling the air around her with a storm of flying slashes, cutting away the brambles beneath her and turning the roses to ribbons.

Reimu shot through the mass of plants, cleaving clean through them as space bent, the trails of slashes leaving pitch black gaps in space. Then gaps exploded.

In the next moment, the city was filled with a blinding red-and-white light, forcing the kids to shield their eyes.

When they could see againReimu had disappeared from their sight then, vanishing among the buildings of Tokyo below.

Kosuzu breathed a sigh of relief, holding her coat tight to her body, "See, I'd say Reimu would win." Her hands were shaking, holding the broom in a death grip.

Daiyousei raised her hand. "Who was that youkai?"

"E-enough about that, let's get back downstairs, it's time for bed."

Cirno and Daiyousei nodded they were going to escape anyways, they could ask more about this Reimu person and the youkai later.

Kosuzu shuffled them off to her room. She had insisted on it as she took the couch. Cirno and Daiyousei politely ignored the fact that she could've slept in her parent's room. Cirno didn't give it much thought, but just looking there, being in someone else's bed, made Daiyousei uneasy. The relative opulence of the room didn't help.

A bed, her very own western style bed, not a cot on the cold stone floor, not a cage. Pillows, real pillows. Multiple types of blanket, heavy, light, and small. A picture of Kosuzu with her mother and father,all smiling. It made Daiyousei's heart ached; the closest thing she ever had to a mother was Cirno.

Regardless, Daiyousei fell asleep within a minute.

She dreamt of a blanket of snow fell down onto her, dragging her under, the warm summer sun she knew was above drowned out by. Deep beneath her a massive beast slept with four arms and eyes, twenty fingers, and two mouths. Then there was cold, and more cold, a hand against her skin, urging her to wake up.

"Come on, get up."

Daiyousei awoke slowly, then all at once. Cirno's hand was against her shoulder, icy cold, as her eyes shone blue. Daiyousei nodded and Cirno got up, already springing into motion. As Daiyousei followed, she inspected the room again and noticed a paper tag around one of the bed posts: 'Mini-hakkero Prototype 5: Broom - Marisa'.

The two had plenty of practice going unseen and unnoticed in the village, with Daiyousei's Cursed Technique it was quick work. She only needed a crack in the door to teleport through, she had been getting better, a day or two ago she wasn't even sure about teleporting through cell bars.

Cirno moved silently away from the living room they landed in, she went to stock up and wait for Daiyousei to retrieve the package.

Kosuzu was fast asleep, but she had gone to bed in her apron/ Daiyousei wasn't confident in her pickpocket skills but counting herself lucky that Kosuzu slept on her back, and not her front.

"Daiyousei..." Kosuzu muttered the girl's name, turning over in her sleep and onto her side.

Daiyousei gulped. She'd have to do this fast, it felt like she'd wake up at any moment.

She reached forward, and then squinted her eyes as she realized something. Teleporting things to you was basically the same thing as teleporting yourself to things, right? Daiyousei reached out, breathed slowly, and felt towards the pocket of Kosuzu's apron. The pocket was small, stretched open by the box, giving her barely enough space to work with as illusory tentacles wrapped around the box.

Then, burning, pain. Daiyousei bit down a yelp of a pain, her teeth clacking together. Kosuzu stirred at the sound. The box was defended, warded?, she didn't know the correct term. A moment later the air became colder, the seal weaker, and the pain lessened.

She activated her Cursed Technique.

The burning stopped. The box appeared in Daiyuoui's hand, displacing the air with a 'fwoomh' and a puff of mist. Daiyousei screwed her mouth shut and held her breath.

Kosuzu breathed in, turning over in her sleep.

Daiyusei stood stock still, readying to teleport, wondering if the slight change in air pressure would knock Kosuzu over the edge into wakefulness.

She kept herself from breathing a sigh of relief as whatever evil thing–teacher–was in the box rested in her hand. She kept her steps irregular and measured as she snuck away from the couch. As she got to the exit, she turned and bowed to their host, offering her a wordless apology. 'Sorry Miss, you're the nicest person I've ever met but Cirno needs me."

A moment later she was gone.

Nanami sliced clean through a youkai; its two vertical halves dissolved into nothing before they could hit the floor.

Around them, the streets of Tokyo unfurled, covered in fog and an endless labyrinth of barriers, both plain and invisible to the eyes of sorcerers and youkai in a massive killing field. The second Letty's disappearance had been confirmed, the barriers had gone up; too weak to stop a youkai like her, but perfect for dividing Tokyo up into a meat grinder for the remaining youkai who had followed in the wake of her attack. All courtesy of Yukari, Ran, a small platoon of Chen units, and a procession of human aides.

For non-sorcerers, it was an unusually foggy and cold morning after yesterday's terrorist attack. There had been a lot of terrorist attacks lately, namely the semi-failed, semi-secret attempt on Yukari's life.

A boom resounded several feet behind Nanami as another youkai exploded into a puff of cursed energy. A moment later, Renko stumbled out of the plume of smoke it had left behind, recalling the folding talismans back up her sleeve.

Almost immediately, their quest to find the girls–in what Yukari had dubbed the 'vanishing sisters' case–had been derailed by the Disaster Curses making their move alongside whatever was going on with the weather.

Nanami was distinctly unimpressed by the entire affair.

Renko had been confident–both in their mission and Reimu–then the green and purple vines and roses appeared out of nowhere. She had only met Mary Mary–or Koishi–twice, but both meetings had left scars. The first had caused her to become a sorcerer under the egoless youkai's impromptu brain surgery. The second meeting had ended with her bleeding out as she held–

"Renko." Nanami had turned to face her, holstering the cleaver Kogasa had made for him, "If you're not going to be able to perform your best, you should return to Jujutsu High"

"Sorry, it's just–" she was terrified; Koishi had decidedly won last time she acted, even though she was overpowered. "Reimu's so amazing, isn't she?" The red-and-white girl was the only reason she was alive right now.

Nanami's eyes flicked back up to where Reimu had been in the sky. He didn't say anything as his upper lip curled in annoyance. A moment later, he turned back around. "Perhaps. Let's go."

"So, I've been thinking about these girls. Them appearing at the same time all of this started going down can't be a coincidence, and you said the blue one could make ice?"

Nanami bit back a sigh. He could already see where she was going; he didn't even bother to correct her when she forgot Cirno's name.

"What if she's related to Letty?" Nanami remained unfazed as Renko continued talking. "I know it's supposed to be 'impossible' for a youkai to give birth to a live human, but if Koishi could turn me into a Sorcerer, and if Kenjaku experimented with Half-youkai a hundred and fifty years ago, then I don't think it's impossible she–'

"Excuse me!"

They turned to see a trio of Chen shikigami who took on humanoid forms in a puff of black. The three cats were nearly identical: red tabbard-dress thing, white shirt, green hat, brown hair; the only thing that told their lead apart was her golden earring. "Lady Yukari has a report on the two girls." The lead Chen-model shikigami explained that the two kids had last been seen by a troublesome youkai who had complained to a passing sorceress about 'dine-and-dashers' before getting herself promptly sealed and taken in for questioning when it became clear she had tried to extort the girls. According to Chen's report, after that they had briefly passed into the company of another one of Reimu's friends, and now Satono and Mai were closing in on the girls as well.

Nanami was worried–the pair were off putting–too much like their master Okina. Both in body and mind, with how the Shikigami programming overwrote the section of the brain where their Cursed Technique normally would be, replacing it with an inferior copy of Okina's.

Renko gripped her talisman bundle tightly as Nanami ran a hand through his hair.

Both of them were determined to help put a stop to this incident. Still, as the Chen's turned back into their cat forms and sprinted off, a tension lingered between them.

"So I was thinking about the girl, what if–"

Nanami would have preferred if Renko expressed her anxiety in a less talkative manner, but he didn't say anything.

Either way, they had work to do.

The second Daiyousei handed Cirno the box, she hadn't let go, holding it tightly to her chest as they ran. That was when Daiyousei realized Cirno hadn't told her their next move; true, they had the box, but they still didn't know heads or tails of where Hieda was. But she had made a promise, and they had already left Kosuzu.

Since Kosuzu's friend–Reimu–had defeated that Youkai, the city had warmed, but still a persistent, unseasonable chill had remained. Even as strange golden-green leaves fluttered in the wind, in their wake, cicada song lingered in the air alongside the smell of earth and a seasonal warmth.

With nothing else to do, and at Cirno's command, the twins had gone up to the rooftops. Suing Daiyousei teleported, of course, nearly making her collapse in exhaustion.
As she recovered, the pair looked out on the city below, where strange leaves flowed up from the streets as the snow and ice thawed, forming a fog that blanketed the deathly quiet city. Still, the roof was not high enough for the tallest of Tokyo's skyscrapers to tower above them, imposing obelisks with a thousand blind eye-like windows staring down at the city. There, Cirno stood on her tippy-toes, reaching out to grab one of the strange leaves, staring intently at its golden-green glow. Then, she ate it.

"Cirno!"

She raised an eyebrow at Daiyousei. "It's fine; it just tastes weird, sort of like," humidity, heat, cicada songs, long days spent around a lake, sweat, "Summer. It tastes like summer."

"Come on, let's collect this stuff, it's probably useful."

Daiyousei hesitated for a moment, looking at her sister incredulously. Either way, they still had the shirts they had–stolen–borrowed, and quickly fashioned them into makeshift bags, taking the emerald-gold leaves from the air and stuffing them inside. It was hard to get them to stay inside at first, but Cirno once again pulled another trick out of her sleeve. This time she expanded on her previous lessons on cursed energy reinforcement to help with the makeshift bags, using them to–as she said–'define a makeshift barrier', which they then constructed using cursed energy and could stuff the leaves into much more easily.

Once they had 'enough' of the weird leaves, Cirno directed herself and Daiyousei back down to the street level.

Two sets of footsteps resounded through the alley. Simultaneously, the sun and light vanished as a barrier cut them off from the outside world.

"Oh, who do we have here?"

At both ends of the alley, a figure appeared. Cirno and Daiyousei had dashed into a defensive formation, their backs pressed up against each other.

Standing on Daiyousei's end was a girl in pink with long brown hair, holding a branch of ginger that radiated cursed energy, revealing its nature as a cursed tool. "Hi, my name's Satono."

At the front of the alley was a girl in green with long off-grey hair. Her cursed tool was a stalk of bamboo she wielded like a spear. "And my name's Mai."

Both had exceptionally plain-looking faces despite their flashy colors and the pitch-black background formed by the barrier. There was something else about them, something that reminded Crino and Daiyousei of a green-ish youkai they could only dimly remember. It was something behind their glassy, emotionless eyes. The two spoke simultaneously. "You know, we heard the–"

Satono–the pink one–started, "The blue one–"

"Cirno was injured," Mai–the green one–corrected.

Cirno resisted the urge to rest a hand onto where the youkai had torn into her. She had used Reverse Curse Technique to heal herself, but they shouldn't be able to tell the difference between her and another person doing it, if she could–

Satono smiled and nodded along. "Oh, that's interesting. Reverse Curse Technique users are pretty rare." Evidently neither of them was going to give Cirno and Daiyousei the chance to speak, having already made up their mind on what to do. Cirno's spike in panic was enough for Satono to confirm her suspicion.

Mai nodded. "Even I have trouble with it, and my Cursed Technique allows me to manipulate vitality."

"Ooh-oh yeah, I remember apparently there are less than a hundred people in Japan that can use it, and only a handful who can use it on other people," Satono answered, smiling.

Once again the two spoke at the same time. "Not to mention all of the summer you two have stolen. Either way, Miss Okina would like to see you; could you spare a moment of your time?"

Cirno hefted her knife, and even Daiyousei scrambled for her own. The vacant look in the pair's eyes was terrifyingly similar to the girl–who?–in green they had almost forgotten.

"Don't be sad–scared–" the pair said. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, but–"

The duo hefted their branch and bamboo shoot. "–We can't let you go!"

Daiyousei blinked, and in a flash Satono and Mai jumped forward. They jerked into motion like puppets on strings, so fast and unnatural that Daiyousei froze in surprise.

Cirno squeezed Daiyousei's hand. They teleported. In her wake, space distorted, cursed energy igniting in a flash of black. Satono and Mai stumbled back as a wave of Cursed Energy hit them.

Then Daiyousei and Cirno reappeared behind Satono, with Daiyousei letting go of her sister as she stumbled. They were only afforded a moment of reprieve as Cirno and Satono turned to face each other, the younger girl firing off a blast of ice and snow.

Satono's ginger leaf went rigid, turning into a shield as she wrapped it around herself, deflecting Cirno's attack but pinning her in place as a spherical barrier formed behind her.

Cirno had failed to bat Mai, who jumped over her partner, and stabbed down between the two girls. Both moved to dodge in opposite directions as Satono hit the earth, stabbing into it with an explosion of cursed energy.

The two girls were forced against the alleyway walls while Satono moved on Cirno, whipping her leaf around while Mai was left with Daiyousei.

Clumsily, Daiyousei swung her knife with her eyes closed, trusting in her own mental map of the space. When it bit into empty space, she panicked, looking for a point to teleport to. When she arrived, her hands went wild, a wave of exhaustion hitting her.

Then, Daiyousei's world went red with pain.
The pain was so overwhelming Daiyousei couldn't even scream as her legs failed her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Mai's spear, drilled into her side, leaving a raw wound as the green-clad gil flinched back. Cirno had already returned to her side, the knife dropped as her sister caught her.

Satono was already moving, the cursed energy around her hand turning green with vitality as she went to heal Daiyousei. "Okay, now that we've won, we'll patch you up and–"

The barrier around them shattered, letting the early morning sun filter down into the alley.

Satono and Mai flinched back as a youkai emerged behind Cirno and Daiyousei. Then, as the roll of black smoke engulfed the twins, a husky voice called out.

"Sorry for bein' late."

Satono and Mai moved, stabbing into the mass of black with their weapons, only for the smoke to give way and disappear in a gust of wind. Lying where they had been moments ago was a stone tanuki, smiling at the two of them.
A moment later it exploded in a puff of cigarette smoke.

For a moment, Cirno and Daiyousei were too busy trying to orient themselves as they tumbled through the air, weightless. Then, as they landed in something soft, their vision was filled with brown fur that brushed against their skin and the smell of tobacco which clogged their nostrils.

Cirno immediately pushed herself and Daiyousei off, grabbing her sister's wound and sending a pulse of positive energy through it.

Daiyousei gasped, kept awake by adrenaline and Cirno's healing. Then, as her wounds closed, Cirno finally gave attention to their captive.

She was a tall woman–youkai–with short brown hair, round glasses, a tobacco pipe in one hand, and a large leaf-like hat that, combined with her large poofy tail that screamed to the girls, 'Tanuki' as well as 'aunty'. And over her shoulder was the small bag of summer Cirno and Daiyousei had collected.

The tanuki woman chuckled and exhaled a puff of smoke. Her brown eyes gleamed red. "You know, even an old youkai like me can get back problems."

Cirno went for her knife. "Youkai!"

She smiled and raised a hand. "Whoa, woah. You two better be careful," she leaned forward, down to Cirno's eye level. Cirno's breath hitched; the scent of nicotine was noxious, and it reminded her of the mayor of their village and her office. She blinked, and the woman rose, blowing her smoke away from the girls. "Sorry about that, bad memories, eh? I know not everyone, especially kids so young, can appreciate quality tobacco."

Daiyousei huddled behind her sister, her eyes darting around them wildly. The tanuki had 'saved' them only to put them in another barrier, and everything was hurting. Only adrenaline and cursed energy were keeping her from collapsing.

The youkai nodded at her, "Sorry about this, but you wouldn't want those two finding you again, no?"

"Right, now let me introduce myself." The youkai bounced back onto her tail, lounging half-suspended in the air. "Name's Mamizou, as you can see I'm a Tanuki. Lil' Kosuzu told me about you two, but I feel like you'd prefer to introduce yourself."

Cirno didn't let go, holding onto Daiyousei with one hand as she brandished a knife with the other, while her sister kept a spring of tension wound inside her mind, ready to teleport in an instant.

Mamizou blew out a puff of smoke before tapping her pipe, depositing used tobacco onto the ground before going for more.

After another moment, they realized she was being serious about that.

"Cirno."

"Daiyousei."

Mamizou nodded to the twins, "So glip, I guess with all the runnin' around you've been doing you don't care much for introductions." She shifted the sack over her shoulder, and pocketed the box Cirno had been holding.

"Give us that back."

"These here," Mamizou said, hefting the bag in one hand as she pocketed the box, "Ain't a toy for kids to play with, now come on, you're hurt and–"

"We can do this ourselves, and we won't let you boss us around!" Cirno tightened her grip on Daiyousei, sending another pulse of positive energy through her body. "I can take care of Daiyousei, I'm strong! Leave us alone!"

Mamizou tilted her head. To her, it sounded a lot more like she was talking to herself; either way, she didn't exactly follow Cirno's train of logic.

"What are you looking at?!"

Mamizou shook her head. "Nothin', I'm just surprised you can use somethin' like that at all. More surprising than you two even havin' this stuff." She tapped the box where it lay in her pocket and shifted the bag of summer. She doubted they even knew what the first thing was, but they wouldn't have been the first kids who ran across one of the twenty fingers of Ryomen Sukuna and promptly died, either by sorcerer, youkai, or by the relic taking them over.

She pursed her lips together, "Yep, y'know they say only about a one in a million can use Reverse Curse Technique to create Positive Energy, and then only about a third of those can use it to reverse the Curse Technique they were born with, kinda like if you made fire instead of ice. But if we're talking about people who can use positive energy to heal other people, then that's supposed to be one in twenty million." Mamizou narrowed her eyes at the pair as they brandished their knives. "Very, very interesting, ain't it?"

Mamizou shrugged. "Well, that stuff's a deadly poison to youkai like me, so it's not like I care. But I have a friend, a human one, who'd pay top dollar to have someone with a skill like that at her side, twenty-four-seven. I think Kosuzu might have mentioned her."

"Reimu?"

"Ha!" Mamiizou laughed, "Nah, not the red-and-white. I'm talking about Akyuu. She's a bit rotten, and on the side of humans. She's probably the safest person I could leave you with right now, so–" Mamizou shook her head. She had already begun walking away when she looked over her shoulder at them. "Well either way, I'm gonna get this summer here, and hand this box over to her. So–"

"Fine!" Cirno ran behind Mamizou, tiny legs carrying her fast with Daiyousei not far behind.

"So insecure," Cirno flushed red as Mamizou shook her head. "You're strong, you know, but you're also young. Very young, and also strong for your age." She let that hang in the air for a moment, careful not to point out the obvious: young powerful sorcerers who were too confident were ripe prey for youkai like herself, worse things. "Well, come on then, we don't have all day; those Disaster Curses will probably start causing trouble again soon."

Again, Cirno nodded, seeming to understand what Mamziou was talking about. Daiyousei resisted asking more. She wanted to know more about Cirno, the Disaster Curses, and Ryomen Sukuna, but she wasn't sure what exactly was supposed to be a secret, what questions could make their life harder. Instead, she hid behind Cirno, doing her best to hide her confusion and curiosity. She needed to seem scared, so she and Cirno could look like they knew the same thing. If this youkai figured out there was something different, something strange about Cirno, she feared they'd separate them.

They continued walking, and eventually...

Mamizou turned to look back at them as they walked, and then fixed her gaze ahead. "So, since you're with me for the time being, let me tell you something. I have a good information network, and you two won't be the first runaway sorcerers, not even the first skilled ones. Why, one showed up last year, and there was another girl before that. And don't think I didn't notice how skilled you two are in sorcery either. I wouldn't be surprised if you two ended up talking to a rogue sorcerer or youkai, which is what got you in trouble back in that little village." She paused for a moment, waiting for one of the girls to interject. "In fact, those two girls I mentioned, they even had the same master, some wicked former Buddhist named Kenjaku."

Cirno froze, forcing Daiyousei to a stop behind her. She could feel the cold sweat running down her sister's back as Mamizou stopped in front of them. The youkai had her pipe out again; she blew smoke out into the air, the trail forming into a snake.

"So, it was her, eh?" Mamizou put her pipe away again, a far-off look in her eyes as she gazed down the right side of the intersection. There a long road stretched out, leading away from Tokyo and out to the countryside. In her mind she saw four students of Jujutsu High on a familiar street corner. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. "Well, I won't tell anyone. All those girls Kenjaku took in, they all had a pretty high opinion of her, so I won't try to get you to give her up. But she's dangerous, and she abandoned those two girls, so don't expect her to come save you. Don't be too eager to get into a fight either, I'm talking to you, Blue, and Greeny?" Daiyousei looked up at Mamizou with skittish eyes. While in Cirno's, Mamizou saw the same light she had seen in Marisa. "Don't go throwin' your life away for something silly, ya' hear."

Cirno nodded, happy that Mamizou had guessed wrong. Daiyousei gave the woman a sad stare as she turned back around.

Mamizou just hoped she wouldn't have to hear about the death of somebody she knew so soon. Everyone from back in the day–including her–were rotten creatures in her own mind, a too-human sentiment for a youkai who had spent too much time around humans.

"Good." With that said, they carried on. "Well, I've nosed in your business long enough. Those two from earlier will probably find us unless we speed up," Mamizou gestured to her back, "Come on kids, get on."

The twins hesitated only for a moment, but Cirno was the first to jump onto Mamizou's. It was a tight fit, but with Mamizou's tail providing some support, they were able to hold on, even as Mamizou leaped into the sky.

"Now, hold on!"

A barrier surrounded them as they flew; neither Satono nor Mai had the chance to see them. To the outside world, they had vanished. Below, the countless stone monoliths and streets that made up Tokyo seemed to shrink. Once she'd reached the peak of her flight, or rather jump, the twins squeezed their eyes shut, listening to Mamizou's laugh as she fell down to the earth, before bouncing off the top of another building.

Up and down, it was hardly flying, more so jumping than falling with style. Again they ascended, then slowly, they descended, ducking into a back alley, and then turning a corner to reveal a pitch-black sheet of cursed energy. The trio passed through it with another jump.

"Enjoy it while you can; not everyone can fly, you know?"

Cirno and Daiyousei yelled something, but none of them could make it out over the rushing wind.

This time, when they landed, the trio found themselves transported to the roof of a Japanese-style mansion, the world outside the curtain gone, replaced with pastoral vistas and a bright summer that didn't exist.

Note: It's by this time you've likely figured out I wrote a previous work in this series. I posted the first part to Ao3 before this and only started posting the second part here due to ES' prompting.
Necessary information from the previous work will be exposited when relevant.

Forgot to mark the above as an update. Also, in other news, I really like Mechamaru from from JJK and the doujin RAINMAKER.