Curse Returns: What did the human-shaped wishing machine do wrong this time?

As if just remembering that someone was there, the pink-haired boy turned around at the sound.

Despite his rampage, his pure white kimono remained unstained by blood.

The cold wind, carrying rain and snow, blew his short pink hair back to the top of his head. He slightly raised his eyelids, glanced at him lazily, and casually strolled to the altar, reaching out to clamp Alluka's pointed chin.

Su Nuo casually looked this so-called nominal younger brother up and down with his scarlet eyes.

Although they are brothers, they do not actually look alike.

His cheeks were adorned with unrestrained and sharp black runes, much like his personality.

This weak brother, who had no magical power whatsoever, was the complete opposite of him.

Quiet, ignorant, and bewildered, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Alluka's cheeks were still stained with blood that hadn't completely dried. He stared at the pink-haired boy for a long time, then tilted his head slightly. A somewhat innocent smile appeared on his childish face, and his gray-blue eyes held a hint of tentative dependence.

He couldn't help but feel a little smug.

Is this my brother?

only......

Seeing his expression, the pink-haired boy nonchalantly released his grip on Alluka's cheek.

"Boring."

His tone was casual, and his voice was deep and unusual for his age.

As his fingers left, his sharp nails inadvertently grazed Alluka's cheek.

The oozing bloodstains resembled sparkling rubies, blooming on Su Nuo's fingertips.

He raised his finger, paused for a second, then gently rubbed his fingertip together and licked the blood-red stain into his mouth.

It had a salty, rusty smell.

It doesn't seem to be any different from other people's blood.

A body devoid of muscle and extremely fragile, yet containing an unusual entity.

Having solved the puzzle, he withdrew his gaze, bored.

As if seeing a complete stranger, Su Nuo turned around and tried to leave without hesitation.

The scratches on my face stung terribly.

Born from the same lotus, the twins should have been inseparable, but they are about to miss each other like strangers.

Alluka called out to his retreating figure.

Su Nuo did not turn around.

The not-so-thin figure looked somewhat distant.

Alluka tilted her head, somewhat confused.

Was he abandoned?

He didn't understand what he had done wrong.

Feeling lost and disoriented.

At that moment, he was deeply confused.

Sukuna noticed the presence of that thing inside Alluka's body at a glance.

Unlike the being inside him, the child before him was a non-human monster, just like him.

Although he saw the innocent dependence hidden in those wet eyes, he had no intention of taking this weak and useless person with him.

Snow continued to fall from the sky, as if trying to dye the glaring blood-red landscape white.

However, all the white that met the eye was blended into that blood red.

As the figure receded into the distance, Alluka unconsciously called out again.

"Brother... what's your brother's name?!"

He instinctively tried to step forward, but his bound legs were losing sensation in the wind and snow.

The pink-haired figure did not turn around.

The little child didn't quite understand his own emotions. He wondered with some confusion if he wasn't good enough, or if it was because he and his brother looked different.

"Clatter, clatter."

Two explosive slashes pierced the air.

The ropes binding Alluka's wrists were severed by invisible wind blades.

"elder brother......"

Alluka raised his hands, looking at the almost blackish-red bruises on his wrists, and lowered his head to mutter to himself.

He lowered his hands and gazed in bewilderment in the direction where the figure had disappeared, seeking answers to the unknown. However, the person who could give him those answers was already gone.

He stood in the wind and snow for a long time, until his eyelashes and long hair were stained white by the wind and snow, until all that remained on his body was a white and crimson skirt.

The person he was waiting for never returned.

*

Alluka stayed in the mansion full of dead people for three days.

Hunger and cold made him dizzy, and he lay in bed for three days in a daze.

He knew he was sick.

The high fever caused by the cold made his pale face turn slightly red.

He wandered through a dark dream, walking hand in hand with Nanica in a fog-shrouded forest, surrounded by layers upon layers of shadows, unable to find light or a direction to go.

When he woke up again, Alluka knew that everything was over.

He patted his cheeks, knowing he was now free.

No one will ever confine him to that cramped, dilapidated courtyard again. He doesn't want to see the same scenery day after day and repeat the same life. He also wants to see what the sky outside looks like.

But where could he go?

Alluka was somewhat confused and bewildered.

Just as he was thinking of doing something, a group of people bustled into the mansion.

Those people were wearing rattan armor made of straw, and the leader's armor was more exquisite. They were all dressed as warriors and wrapped up very tightly.

Alluka had never seen such a scene before.

He hugged his knees and timidly peeked through the crack in the window. The swords, banners, and armor these people carried were adorned with the four-petaled plum blossom family crest, a pattern he had never seen before.

"Tsk, is there actually a survivor here? With such a strong stench of blood, how can there still be a living person?"

The group found Alluka's hiding place, and the well-dressed uninvited guests squeezed in from the outside.

The wooden door was slammed shut with a loud bang, and the cold wind mercilessly swept in through the crack.

Alluka shivered from the cold air.

"It's just a little brat?"

The leader swaggered up to Alluka and looked down at the sickly-looking child.

He was somewhat puzzled as to how there could still be living things in this house that was already soaked in blood.

Alluka was taken along by this group.

Through their interactions, he learned that this team was the "Neon Chrysanthemum Suppression Team" belonging to the Sugawara family of Kyoto. This team was not the Sugawara family's elite force, but rather a miscellaneous force that scouted ahead for the family's elite troops.

Most of the people here were forcibly conscripted; only the young man dressed as a samurai at the head was a member of the Sugawara family's branch family.

In Hida, a small, war-torn border country, they were surprised to find such a strong smell of blood when they passed through.

The Sugawara clan's troops originally thought that a powerful curse would be generated here.

However, after they broke in, they found the place to be very clean, with nothing but a small child.