Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

After the curtain was torn, Rito immediately grabbed the songstress's wrist and turned to run without hesitation.

The two of them tacitly avoided turning around.

This was the hope of life that Yukichi had traded for; every second wasted was a desecration of his life.

The gravel made a dry, grinding sound underfoot, while behind him came the crackling of burning mech wreckage and the gradually weakening pulse of the cursed core.

Kokichi's last words were not heard by anyone.

He looked down at his newly grown feet, a color that was completely different from the rest of his skin.

Then he smiled and slowly closed his eyes.

"Farewell, tricycle."

Farewell, everyone.

The figures of Rihito and the songstress quickly disappeared on the other side of the ridgeline.

Juan Suo stood on the gravel beach, gazing in that direction in silence for a long time.

The real man walked up to him, and the severed arm was slowly regenerating, with new bone and muscle fibers wriggling outward from the break.

"Should we go after them?"

"No need. The tent is already torn; there's no point in chasing after it." Juan Suo withdrew his gaze and looked down at his scorched cuffs.

"That student named Sato Rihito knows too much. Next time we meet, we can't give him another chance to speak."

The real man tilted his head and thought for a moment, his gaze passing over the rolled rope's shoulder and landing on the ridgeline where Rito and the geisha had disappeared.

"As expected, it's my favorite Rito-chan."

The mountain wind blew up the ashes from the riverbed, which swirled in the sunlight before scattering into the gray-blue sky.

......

The slope on the other side of the ridge was much gentler than when we came.

Rihito ran until he could no longer hear the sound of the burning mecha wreckage before releasing the songstress's wrist. He bent over, panting heavily, the burn on his right shoulder stinging with sweat.

The edge of the tear in his school uniform sleeve was charred, revealing the reddened skin underneath, but fortunately it stopped bleeding.

The songstress stood two steps behind him, her chest heaving violently, her loose hair clinging to her sweaty neck.

She slowly raised her hand and tucked those few strands of hair behind her ear.

The movements were slow, as if it would take all their strength to complete the task.

Then, she turned around and faced the direction she had come from.

The ridgeline blocked everything out; nothing could be seen except for the canopies of the cedar trees swaying gently against the grey-blue sky.

She stood there, the wooden sword hanging to the ground, her left knuckles stiff and slightly bent from prolonged exertion.

"Songstress Teacher..."

Before he could finish speaking, the songstress raised her hand to stop him.

"Let's talk about it with Kokichi when we get back. I need some peace and quiet."

Rito remained silent, then slowly nodded.

The mountain breeze swept over the valley, carrying the scent of ashes and the coolness of pine resin, and fluttered the hem of the songstress and shrine maiden's robes.

She stood there for a long time, so long that the birdsong in the distance began to ring out again, so long that the burning pain on Rito's shoulder turned into a dull ache.

Li Ren lowered his head and shifted his gaze back to the soil beneath his feet.

At that moment, several images suddenly flashed through his mind.

That afternoon, when I received the assignment in the conference room, Yukichi's name, circled in red, lay quietly on the paper.

Standing by the dormitory window, I thought for a long time about how to persuade someone not to give up on their life.

At that time, I thought that as long as I could explain the reasons and pull people out of their ivory towers, things would develop in a positive direction.

But things are never that simple.

"Is this Kokichi's fate? The process is different, but the result is exactly the same."

As he thought about it, Rito clenched his fists, as if he were making a decision.

"Fate? Heh." He chuckled.

"I know everything that happened. Even if it was fate, I will never allow the same thing to happen again!"

"Rito, let's go. We should go back and report."

The songstress's voice pulled Rito back to reality.

"Okay, Songstress." Rito nodded.

Indeed, there is a lot to be done right now.

Having escaped from the clutches of the songstress, he now had a reason to tell everyone the truth.

The true nature of the rope will also be completely exposed.

There's no need to worry about Gojo-sensei being trapped in the prison gates anymore; the danger has been avoided.

"But even so, we can't let our guard down. Juan Suo isn't some NPC that just mechanically executes plans; he's an ancient monster who's lived for thousands of years."

"If we underestimate him just because we cracked his plan to break through the prison gates, then we are seriously underestimating him."

Li Ren knew perfectly well that when facing an enemy of Juan Suo's caliber, he had to be 120% cautious.

My only advantage was that I was familiar with the original plot.

But now the problem is that the original plot has started to deviate because of my intervention.

Hua Yu's death and the failure of the Yu Men Jiang plan were both indirectly caused by this.

By now, the prophet's advantage has almost completely disappeared.

How can someone without any advantages deal with being targeted by Juan Suo?

Rito gently shook his head.

"Well, since things have come to this, we can only take it one step at a time."

"The good news is that as long as Gojo-sensei isn't sealed away by the prison gate, he'll be there to handle anything, no matter how big the problem is."

As he thought about it, Gojo Satoru's casual figure flashed before Rito's eyes, and his tense body slowly relaxed as a result.

The surrounding mountains and forests returned to silence.

The two walked down the old forest trail they had come from, neither of them speaking.

The gravel made a dry, grinding sound underfoot, and occasionally a dead branch would snap underfoot with a short, crisp crack.

Apart from that, only the sound of the wind and the distant sound of water filled the silence.

"How much do you know about Xia You... that person?" Suddenly, the songstress spoke up.

She had already sensed something was wrong during the confrontation between Rihito and Juan Suo.

The sudden change in Juan Suo's expression further deepened her suspicions.

Rito paused for a moment, then shook his head: "He is Makoto's companion; I've heard him mention him before."

He certainly couldn't reveal that he knew Juan Suo's identity.

This concerns his biggest secret: his identity as a time traveler.

"I will report this matter truthfully to Mr. Gojo when I get back."

The songstress's eyes dimmed instantly at the mention of Gojo Satoru.

As their closest companion, she was naturally very clear about the relationship between Gojo Satoru and Natsuyuki.

If Gojo Satoru knew that Natsume's corpse was being controlled by someone else, I wonder how he would feel.

"They must be furious," the songstress thought.

Silence fell between the two of them again.

Rito walked half a step behind her, watching her hair sway slightly in the mountain breeze, and suddenly realized something.

The songstress never asked "Is Yukichi a traitor?" from beginning to end.

She asked about "the summer oil."

From the moment we met in that open space yesterday morning, what she truly cared about was never her student's sins, but her student's life.

Li Ren lowered his head and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

He wanted to say "I'm sorry".

But an apology is a consolation for the loser; a songstress doesn't need consolation.

What she needs is an answer.

At the end of the old forest road, the gray light off-road vehicle was still parked at the edge of the cedar forest.

The songstress opened the car door, sat in the driver's seat, and inserted the key in the exact same way she had done when she arrived.

After starting the engine, she didn't immediately shift gears. Instead, she rested her hands on the steering wheel and looked at the sky ahead, which was fragmented by the shadows of the trees.

"Let's go back."

After saying that, she stepped on the gas.