The brave Simmel wants to resign

The girl's center of gravity suddenly shifted, and her right knee slid off the ground!

Sizzle—!

The soles of her shoes rubbed violently against the ground, leaving white marks, and the girl used the momentum to slide sideways and press herself against the back of the broken pillar, her back slamming heavily onto the rough cement surface.

"Hah! Huff!"

His breathing quickened slightly, he held the knife horizontally in front of him in a defensive stance, and turned his head to stare intently at the twisted and swollen cursed spirit in the distance.

"Level 2?! That's way too strong!"

The girl whispered angrily.

—The girl's name is Zenin Maki.

A first-year student at a high school specializing in sorcery.

As a newly enrolled student, I haven't carried out many missions so far, but I have become acutely aware of the irrationality of the work of a sorcerer.

The intensity is uncertain, and support is limited.

Even the quantity was wrong!

Originally, they entered together with a sorcerer named Dog Roll, but they were separated by the other sorcerers as soon as they entered.

As newly enrolled sorcerers, they lacked the ability to accurately pinpoint the power of their companions' spells.

Zenin Maki is even weaker in this regard.

Because their innate magical power is extremely weak, almost nonexistent, they lack the ability to see through cursed spirits, and even need to use magical tools to kill them.

If it weren't for family factors, she might never have come to the Spellcasting Academy and would have chosen to live as an ordinary person.

But since we're here—

"Ugh, this is so annoying!!"

While observing the movements of the cursed spirit, Maki prayed silently.

She wasn't afraid of just sitting there and dying. The assistant supervisor, Ijichi, was a very reliable guy and would most likely go find reinforcements. What she was afraid of was the people who came to rescue her.

——Shibuya Ward.

If I remember correctly, my teacher said we had to go back to school today...

"Please, please, please don't let it be Gojo Satoru! Please, please, please don't let it be Gojo Satoru! Please, please, please don't let it be Gojo Satoru!!"

Recalling her homeroom teacher's relaxed yet irritating face and infuriating attitude, Maki could only hope that she could wait for Inugami's support, or that she could unleash her power and personally deal with the cursed spirit.

God does not fulfill one's wishes.

Just then, the cursed spirit's mutilated head slowly turned, its empty eye sockets locking onto her hiding place.

"!"

Maki gritted her teeth.

boom!

The stone bricks underfoot were instantly crushed.

Lowering his center of gravity, he leaped out from behind the pillar, taking a half-step forward while keeping his entire body close to the ground.

Almost simultaneously, the cursed spirit roared, and several sticky tentacles, accompanied by a strong gust of wind, rushed straight towards it.

With lightning speed, Maki swung her sword and cleaved off the very tip of the tentacle with her first strike.

Immediately afterwards, he braced his arm against the middle of the weapon and quickly spun around, causing the blade to twirl in a bright, sharp arc.

With a series of slashes and flashes, the remaining tentacles were all sliced ​​into pieces in mid-air, and the black and red cursed blood mist exploded instantly.

But before she could even regain her footing and feel a moment of secret joy, she was overjoyed.

boom!

The impact on her side caused her body to tilt to one side.

"Cough!"

Coughing up a little acid, Maki's pupils widened, and she uncontrollably crashed into the wall on her right.

The cursed spirit also retracted its tentacles.

Taking advantage of the poor lighting and visibility in the unfinished building, the tentacles bypassed half a floor to avoid Maki's line of sight, thus striking her.

Although this cursed spirit doesn't have a clear level of intelligence, it still managed to see Maki's flaws.

After sliding off the wall, Maki's face darkened, and she gripped her pheasant sword tightly before taking a half-step back.

(The internal organs aren't broken... the bones are okay, but the muscles are sore... if I continue fighting...)

Just as Maki was feeling nervous and at a loss—

"Hi hi hi~~ Are you busy, Maki-chan~"

Click.

Buzz——————

A white light suddenly flashed across the ceiling above Maki and the cursed spirit.

then--

boom.

The hexagonal fragment fell downwards, accompanied by a large cloud of dust.

The cursed spirit was so frightened that it backed away, while Maki covered her mouth and nose and couldn't stop coughing.

At that moment, the light in the corridor suddenly increased.

The light was shaped like an accordion due to the dense smoke, and the center of the light appeared slightly towering due to the pile of pebbles.

There was a man standing in the center position.

Her all-black attire accentuated her slender figure, and her white hair was gathered upwards by a black eye mask.

"Huh! Is it five...?"

"Wait, wait, wait! Why are you being so cold to the teacher who came to help?!"

Despite being the one who was saved, Maki couldn't help but make a nauseous sound, and her expression was also very strange, with her mouth turned down and her eyes turned to the side, like the kind of person who would be given a close-up panel in a manga.

The white-haired man was clearly very dissatisfied with this performance.

"Seriously~ I rushed over here without even buying any local specialties."

"........."

Maki couldn't speak; she just felt choked up.

The cursed spirit, seeing the man exuding such a terrifying presence, had been motionless since earlier, trembling and slowly trying to slip out of the stairwell.

But it was at this moment—

"Wu, you've arrived. Oh, excuse me."

A third person's voice came from the scene.

And almost simultaneously.

"Ka!"

Although his upper face was covered by an eye mask, it was still possible to vaguely see that Gojo Satoru was making the same expression as Maki earlier.

Maki, on the other hand, finally showed the charm that a girl her age should have.

"Teacher Simmel!"

"Ah."

As if walking up the stairs step by step, Simmel passed by the cursed spirits, first greeting the acquaintances with a smile, and then casually throwing a punch.

There wasn't even a glimpse of the fist; all that was seen was the man raising his hand as he walked past the cursed spirit, and his massive, bloated body began to swell in an unusual way before spraying outwards.

"I'm here! Is Maki alright?"

"There are no teachers!"

A white cloak.

Light blue hair.

Looking at Simmel, Maki immediately stood up respectfully and bowed at a standard Japanese 90-degree angle.

"Thank you for coming to help."

"It looks so different from before!!"

Five points of enlightenment, half of which are infuriating.

Nine years.

Children grow into adults.

The story of the new generation begins.

Chapter 57 I've Been Cursed by an Evil Spirit (Serious)

"Ms. Simmel, I'm so sorry to trouble you like this."

"It's nothing, it's nothing~ I just happened to be passing by, and there was a reason for it—ah, but Maki, you must feel that your training is not enough, right? Well, if you have any questions about combat later, you can ask me, don't feel like you're bothering me."

"Yes!"

Are you all familiar with the concept of "contrast"?

The "cuteness" doesn't appear out of thin air. Rather, it has evolved from clever character design into unique "cute" attributes along with the development of ACGN culture, reflecting the ultimate pursuit of three-dimensionality in Japanese anime.

In the 1980s and 90s, anime characters were mostly stereotyped.

A cold and aloof strongman, a gentle and lovely girl.

Some creators have begun to break with convention, adding subtle traits to characters that contradict their outward appearance. For example, a tough-looking man may be sensitive and afraid of insects, while a seemingly innocent little girl may actually be sharp-tongued and cunning. This sense of contradiction subtly captures the audience's hearts, allowing the characters to transcend a simplistic framework.

Specifically, there's Asuka from *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, Shana from *Shakugan no Shana*, and a little later, Nyanko-sensei from *Natsume's Book of Friends*, Sebastian from *Black Butler*...