.
Satoru-niichan is back early.
Shiki, for one, is quite surprised by it. Because according to the schedule that her cousin had shared with her prior to his departure, it was supposed to take another two weeks before Satoru-niichan would be able to wrap up his work and return to the country.
… Perhaps she shouldn't be surprised that he's back early, though. Considering the mess of recent events involving the deaths of two higher ups, it makes sense that Satoru-niichan would try to accelerate his schedule and come back sooner than planned.
Still, even if that was the case, Shiki would've expected it to take another week before Satoru-niichan returned.
Except–
It's barely been three days since her meeting with Daisaku-sama, and suddenly the sliding doors burst open during breakfast in the morning with a loud slam.
Shiki looks up, startled, and finds herself delightfully surprised by what she sees. Kiyohira-sensei, on the other hand, gracelessly chokes on his miso soup.
"My dearest little cousin!" Satoru-niichan crows, sweeping into the room like a white whirlwind. Okkotsu-san jumps in his seat, fumbling and nearly dropping his bowl, which earns him a breezy laugh from the older man. "Ooh, seems like you've brought a lot of friends over, hmm? A little school field trip?"
"Something like that," Shiki says.
Kiyohira-sensei coughs roughly. "What are you doing here?!"
"What a question, Kiyohira," Satoru-niichan shakes his head sadly, heaving an exaggerated sigh as he flops down and takes a seat next to the man, slinging an arm over his shoulders. "I'm the head of the clan! Isn't it perfectly normal for me to be here?"
Kiyohira-sensei twitches. "… I realize that you're worried about Shiki, but I hope this doesn't indicate that you cast aside your other responsibilities to rush back here."
"Geez, you make it seem like you're not happy to see me," Satoru-niichan rolls his eyes with a small huff. Then, spins around and scoots over so that he's sitting next to Shiki instead. "How about you, hmm?"
"I'm always happy to see you," Shiki tells him truthfully, which earns her a brilliant smile from her cousin. A brief headpat, too… which she could really do without, seeing as Satoru-niichan has taken the chance to mess up her hair again. But seeing as he most likely rushed back to Japan on her behalf, Shiki bears the over-affectionate gesture without complaint. "I hope this didn't interrupt anything too badly for you."
"You're always a priority for me," Satoru-niichan tells her with a small wink. "Besides, I'm not the only one who put stuff on hold to come back for you."
Not the only one?
Before Shiki can question her cousin about his words, the doors to the room slide open again, an answer to her confusion all the same.
Shiki blinks. "… Ken-jichan?"
Her uncle hadn't been overseas like Satoru-niichan had been, but he had been sent on a mission in Fukuoka Prefecture. Which was far away from Tokyo –and yet, there is no doubt that her uncle is currently standing before her in this moment, inside the clan compound. He looks to be rather ruffled, no doubt from hasty traveling, and–
"Shiki," he says, and there is a clear tinge of relief coloring his tone, even though it's also accompanied by something a touch more complicated than just simple relief. Because even though her uncle appears glad to see her –and Shiki is glad to see him as well– she still remembers the phone call that she'd had with him, when she'd told him that she killed the Yagyu elders.
Ken-jichan's reaction… he hadn't been happy about it, to say the least.
He hadn't been happy that the higher ups were messing with Shiki, and he also hadn't been happy that Shiki had killed two of them for it. Ken-jichan knows that Shiki lacks an average person's usual reservations towards the act of killing, but he also knows that she isn't someone who engages in pointless slaughter. Killing for the sake of killing is meaningless. Shiki, more than anyone else, is aware of the fragility of life that exists in the world around her, due to the nature of her cursed eyes.
You disagree.
… Then tell me, Ken-jichan. What should I have done instead? When the higher ups come after me and those around me again –should I just let them go?
Shiki is not the kind of person who will actively seek retribution for every wrong committed against her, but it would be erroneous to say that forgiveness is her nature merely because of this fact.
Ken-jichan wouldn't ask her to forgive the higher ups, but it was effectively the sort of message that would be sent had Shiki made no reaction in response to their meddling, especially when she'd already told the higher ups to try her patience at risk of death.
I would never ask you to sit back and do nothing when there are others acting against you with ill will, Shiki. But killing humans isn't like killing cursed spirits; it's not something to do lightly.
Yes. Shiki knows.
(The red lines are always there, even when she's not actively focusing on them. So easy to reach out and cut.)
"So! You've been pretty busy recently, hmm?" Satoru-niichan's voice pulls Shiki out of her thoughts as Ken-jichan enters the room fully. Even as tired as he is, her uncle still quirks his lips in a small, slight smile towards her when he notices her staring at him –Shiki tentatively decides to take this as a good sign; even though things aren't quite fully resolved between them on this matter, he's not upset at her over it.
Obligingly, Shiki turns towards her cousin instead. You've been pretty busy recently, hmm?
"A little bit," she says.
"Uh-huh. Ah, right," Satoru-niichan snaps his fingers. "Funny story, I briefly ran into Daisaku on my way here earlier. Wanna tell me why he took one look at me and started crying?"
Shiki frowns in consternation, faintly disbelieving at what she's hearing from her cousin about the elder. "… Started crying?"
"Okay, fine, he didn't actually start crying, I was exaggerating there," Satoru-niichan admits. "But he sure looked like he wanted to."
Well, if that was the case… then, given what Shiki had discussed with the elder during her meeting with the man last time, "Maybe it's because of your plans to teach at the jujutsu school?"
Satoru-niichan stills for a moment. The implications of her words are clearly not lost on him –why would Daisaku-sama be aware of those plans, and what sort of opportunity would be opened as a result of various factors– and Shiki is content to let her cousin sort through things on his own for now. Satoru-niichan is better with politics than she is, for all that he dislikes it just as much, and she has no doubt that he would be able to reach the same conclusions as she did.
"… You're making your suspension into an opportunity," he says, fingers rapping aimlessly against the tabletop as he gathers his thoughts. "I'll admit, this wasn't really how I thought I would be going about it…"
"But it's convenient, isn't it?" Shiki points out reasonably.
"That's true," Satoru-niichan hums. "But if that's your main reason for going along with the suspension, then I'm going to have to argue against it purely on principle."
Shiki blinks. Principle? What principle?
"Because I'd never ask you to give up on anything important to you for my own goals, you silly thing," Satoru-niichan pinches her cheek. "Youth is a precious thing, and I want you to be able to fully experience every part of it. No matter what, the higher ups won't be able to take this away from you, I promise."
There's a part of Shiki that's undeniably touched by the sentiment that her cousin is expressing. At the same time, though, there's also another part of her that is mildly irritated by the sharp sting in her cheek from her cousin's antics.
She deliberately leans away from her cousin's hand. "The higher ups aren't taking anything away from me."
"Hmm. And the elders?"
"The clan elders were the ones who suggested the idea of suspension, but ultimately I was the one who agreed to it." For various reasons, perhaps, but it was still Shiki who had agreed with the 'punishment' assigned to her. If she'd stood her ground with a firm refusal, the elders would not have been able to force her to abide by their wishes.
Satoru-niichan's gaze is knowing, understanding. "… I won't do you the disservice of questioning whether or not you've truly thought things through. But… y'know, it might seem like the days stretch on forever right now, but high school is actually a lot shorter than you would think."
Is that spoken from personal experience?
… And is it Geto-san whom Satoru-niichan thinks of, when he reminisces on his own high school days?
Shiki understands what Satoru-niichan means. He doesn't want her to regret her decision. Going along with the suspension means that Shiki will no longer be attending any of her classes, or spending time with her classmates in school.
But–
"I'm being suspended from school, not being forbidden from seeing my classmates." So it's not as if Shiki would be unable to interact with her classmates for months on end. Such an unreasonable order wouldn't have been something that Shiki would've agreed to comply with in the first place, anyways.
"Yes, but it's still not quite the same. No matter how it is, you won't be spending as much time together," Satoru-niichan tells her.
"Hey, I just had a thought," Kinji pipes up from the side, hastily swallowing down the mouthful of grilled salmon that he is chewing on. "What if, like, Kirara and I get ourselves suspended, too? Wouldn't that mean–"
"There's really no need for that, now," Kiyohira-sensei cuts in roughly.
"He's right," Takagi-sensei hastily agrees. "Gojo Shiki's suspension might be due to… unusual circumstances, but your own education is still important."
"Well, for what it's worth, I think it's a fun idea," Satoru-niichan remarks airily.
"… Suspension isn't something to joke about lightly," Ken-jichan sighs from another corner of the breakfast table. "If you really intend to be an educator, then you shouldn't be encouraging your students to get themselves suspended."
"You're all no fun," Satoru-niichan pouts. "Not even in the name of classmate solidarity?"
"Not this kind of classmate solidarity, no," Ken-jichan's voice is dry as sandpaper.
"Boo."
Ken-jichan rolls his eyes, a gesture that's simultaneously also echoed by Kiyohira-sensei. Takagi-sensei doesn't roll his eyes, but the look that he gives Satoru-niichan is one that's both incredulous and disbelieving.
"I think it would be better for the two of you to continue developing your combat skills," Shiki tells her classmates. "I'm sure that Okkotsu-san would also appreciate your company at school."
"What if Okkotsu also got suspended along with us?" Kinji asks.
"Okkotsu Yuta isn't even officially a student yet; he can't get suspended," Takagi-sensei explains tiredly. "And please don't sneak him out of the school, either. We don't need to hand the higher ups any ammunition for them to use against us at the Tokyo school."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Kinji grumbles, finally subsiding. Kirara huffs in amusement, and gives the other boy a consoling pat on the back. "Shiki, you definitely need to get better at texting, yeah?"
"Texting?" A disconcerted blink, and she tilts her head.
Kinji raises an eyebrow. "You're going to be keeping in touch with us by texting us, right? And hey, we could also hang out together on the weekends or something. Man, I can't believe I still haven't gotten around to bringing you to a pachinko parlor yet–"
Both of Ken-jichan's eyebrows shoot upwards. "A pachinko parlor?"
"It's related to his Domain Expansion," Shiki clarifies for her uncle.
"Ah. Yes, I believe I remember hearing about that," the man nods slowly. "And during the exchange event in Kyoto, it was also what the higher ups detained him for…"
"Yeah, that went great, can't wait for it to happen again next year," Kinji says, straight-faced.
Kiyohira-sensei looks towards the boy, blinking, "You really have no faith in the higher ups at all, do you?"
"I mean, would you if you were in my place?" Kinji gestures towards himself, challenging and self-explanatory all at once.
"… I suppose they haven't been portraying themselves in the best light," Kiyohira-sensei admits. "But for all their faults, those of the Jujutsu Headquarters work to uphold and enforce law and order in the jujutsu world. I'd be the first to agree that there are many problems with the way they do things, but they do perform an essential role in our world."
There's a faint grimace on Kiyohira-sensei's words, and the words are spoken grudgingly with a certain measure of reluctance.
"Anyways, though," Kirara sets down his empty bowl of miso soup, "Higher ups and everything aside… Shiki, what are your plans for what you're going to do during your suspension? I know you won't be attending regular classes anymore, but are you still going to be taking missions and what not?"
"I will continue to receive a certain number of missions." There was an extreme shortage of capable sorcerers, after all. "But yes, I will also have time to focus on other pursuits."
And there is a certain individual whom Shiki intends to use this time to pursue, and break his legs so he can't run away anymore once she finds him.
"Wait, sorry," Satoru-niichan says. "Can you say that again? Whose legs are you going to break?"
"Geto Suguru's."
Satoru-niichan stares at her for a moment, then huffs out a slight laugh.
"… Yeah, I guess he definitely deserves it by this point," he mutters, reaching up with a hand to rub tiredly at his face. "I appreciate the thought, but you should leave him to me. Suguru is my problem to deal with."
Kiyohira-sensei coughs, "Actually, Geto Suguru would be the entire jujutsu world's problem if–"
"Yes, but also no, and that's not what I was–"
"You don't have time to search for him, and Geto-san is very, very good at running," Shiki interrupts directly. "I can't guarantee that I will be able to find him, but if the information from the Yagyu Clan is accurate, then we will have a lead to work from. I'm sure that Geto-san already knows that I killed two Yagyu elders recently, and he will attempt to cover his tracks –so there's only a short window of opportunity to follow up on here. And you're needed elsewhere, Satoru-niichan."
… So it's not as if he'll be able to utilize this information himself. And by the time that he is able to take a look at things on this end, then Shiki is willing to bet that Geto-san will be long gone, and they'll be back to square one again.
"If I find him, then I will contact you immediately." It's the only thing that Shiki can promise her cousin. She can't promise that she won't get hurt, or that she won't hurt Geto-san –who would deserve it for betraying Satoru-niichan, in her opinion– especially since they are sorcerers, who are creatures prone to and skilled in violence. And it's very likely that Shiki will have to resort to violence in order to prevent him from escaping, anyways.
Satoru-niichan knows this, too.
"I don't know if I should call you considerate, or stubborn," he sighs. "… So you'll be tracking down curse users?"
Shiki nods. It hadn't been Geto-san himself who'd personally performed the transaction with the Yagyus, and she has no doubt that he would've used several intermediaries to obfuscate his tracks. But before he is able to cover them up completely, Shiki intends to find out as much as she can, tracking them down one by one if necessary.
"Be careful," Satoru-niichan says simply. "… And see what you can do about those curse users that you run into."
Shiki cocks her head and asks, "Do you mean killing them, or recruiting them?"
There's a sudden coughing sound to the side; this time, it's Takagi-sensei who choked on his miso soup. Which was strange, Shiki didn't think that the small tofu pieces floating in the soup were that large, and yet there seems to be numerous people choking on the soup today for some odd reason…
"Either or," her cousin sounds amused. "It'll be your judgment to make."
Shiki isn't entirely sure if she understands what Satoru-niichan is implying, but she nods slowly in agreement anyways.
"I'll accompany you."
Shiki pauses, and turns. Ken-jichan meets her faintly-surprised gaze evenly.
"… If you're going to be chasing after curse users and interrogating them for Geto-san's whereabouts, it's going to be quite different from hunting cursed spirits," her uncle says, and Shiki agrees with that statement. For all that cursed spirits are born from humans, humans remain dangerous in ways that are distinctly different from curses. And… unlike killing curses, killing humans is something that tends to be frowned upon. For obvious reasons, of course, but the fact still remains that human lives hold more value.
Even those of curse users. Who, despite their crimes, are human still –indeed, in many ways, one could say that they are only human.
A 'curse user' is the term that's used for a criminal sorcerer. One who wields their sorcery with malicious intent to harm others, or uses it to engage in activities that are not approved of by the Jujutsu Headquarters. There is a list of criminal acts included there that Shiki does not remember in full, but murder is one of the items on the list, albeit with certain caveats.
Exceptions are made for self-defense. Punishments are to be meted out in case of minor transgressions. And in the case of blatant disregard and mass-murdering…
The Jujutsu Headquarters has a fairly high tolerance when it comes to the wrongdoings that they are willing to accept and cover for, when it comes to their sorcerers, who are a rare resource in short supply. But there is a limit to what they're able to accept.
Even Geto Suguru, a Special Grade sorcerer, had been labeled as a curse user for killing over a hundred people in a remote village.
… But if Shiki is being honest, it was probably the fact that he'd shown absolutely no regret for his actions, combined with the horror of what he'd done, that had been the deciding factor in re-categorizing him as a curse user. If Geto-san had acted contrite over what he'd done… there was a non-zero chance that the higher ups would've been willing to overlook his little massacre after some manner of punishment for it.
Special Grade sorcerers were a rarity, after all. And what were the lives of a hundred people in the moment, compared to the number of lives that a Special Grade sorcerer would be able to save in the future?
…
It is the official policy of the administration to focus their sorcerers' efforts on finding and killing cursed spirits, rather than hunting down wayward curse users. As long as a curse user doesn't go too overboard in whatever criminal activity that they're engaging in, then they're unlikely to draw the attention of the Jujutsu Headquarters.
Which is to say–
It's not often that there's a sorcerer who explicitly decides that they're going to hunt down curse users, like what Shiki is currently planning. The higher ups see it as a waste of time, and a waste of resources, especially when most curse users are also clever enough to know to hide themselves when they become aware of a sorcerer in the area –the same of which does not stand true for cursed spirits, most of whom lack the intelligence to make such decisions in conjunction with keen awareness of their surroundings. For most cursed spirits, their intelligence extends to 'finding the next victim,' and stops at that.
Curse users tend to think about more than just finding their next victims.
… It will be an interesting experience to hunt them down, probably. Shiki cannot say for certain what it would be like, since her experience to date largely consists of being targeted by curse users, rather than the other way around. There's a certain measure of irony in the reversal of roles here.
"I guess that's true. There was that doll curse user, and Araya as well…" Satoru-niichan trails off.
Strictly speaking, aside from those two, there were also numerous others who'd targeted Shiki over the years… although their efforts had been unsuccessful, most of them rebuffed by the defenses of the Gojo Clan. But the doll curse user and Araya Souren had been the only ones who actually succeeded in harming Shiki, and they were the only two whom Shiki had killed personally with her own hands.
Not that her restraint had stopped certain individuals in the jujutsu world from spreading bloodthirsty rumors about her, anyways…
"I'll accompany you," her uncle says again. "If you're going to be chasing after curse users… two sets of eyes will be better than one."
Shiki had not considered the fact that she would be alone. She'd never thought of it in those terms, seeing as Choki would be helping her with her investigation.
But… it would be nice to spend more time with her uncle again. Living in the jujutsu school's dormitories had meant seeing less of Ken-jichan ever since school started, and it had not helped that Ken-jichan was also being sent all over the country –and sometimes overseas, just like Satoru-niichan– as a powerful and reliable Grade One sorcerer.
Spending more time together over the investigation would probably also mean that they'd be able to speak more with each other. Ken-jichan might not be angry with Shiki for killing the two Yagyu elders, but…
Well. It's something that they disagree on. Shiki knows that if it were Ken-jichan in her place, he would've reacted differently… but Ken-jichan is not Shiki, and Shiki is not Ken-jichan. Maybe Ken-jichan would've weighed the Yagyu elders' lives against the future repercussions of what their survival would mean in relation to the other higher ups, and decided that he was willing to face the higher ups' manipulations as they came.
Shiki made a different decision.
… Maybe it was the right choice, or maybe it was the wrong option to take. Shiki doesn't know how to determine this. She grew up in the Gojo Clan, constantly seeing how human lives are weighed against value and merit, and while she's never quite seen things the same way as the elders do… perhaps it has affected her decision-making all the same, merely in more subtle ways than what was immediately apparent to the eye.
Shiki doesn't know if she was 'right' or 'wrong,' but she knows what she would've gained or lost. She simply chose what she deemed to be more important to her, in order to better protect those around her in the future.
Would Ken-jichan have done the 'right' thing?
Adults aren't perfect. They also make mistakes, in judgments and in actions. One does not need to look any further than the higher ups to see perfect examples of that.
But on the whole, those who are older tend to be more experienced, more knowledgeable, and there are certain things to learn from this as well. And, even setting all of this aside… Ken-jichan is important to Shiki. His opinion is also something that she cares about. There's much for Shiki to learn from Ken-jichan, even if he is not and was never quite one of her instructors the way Kiyohira-sensei was.
Maybe Ken-jichan wishes to accompany Shiki as she hunts for curse users because he is worried about her. Maybe he wishes to do so because he's concerned that she will kill more people.
… Admittedly, there's a nonzero possibility of that happening. She's sure that there are extenuating circumstances for some of them, but from what Shiki has seen so far… curse users tend not to be very good people. And while not all curse users have a kill order on their heads, higher-ranked sorcerers are given leeway to use their own judgment to deal with curse users that they encounter as they see fit. Up to and including summary execution, although it's likely that they'll also have to submit a thorough report explaining their actions and why they deemed it necessary afterwards.
"I'd be happy to have you with me, Ken-jichan," is all Shiki says. And her words are genuine, truly.
"… He's her uncle?" Okkotsu-san whispers to Kinji on the other side of the table. It's meant as a quiet whisper, but the quiet lull that falls over the table at that precise moment means that it ends up being heard by everyone anyways.
"Yeah," Kinji answers, foregoing all attempts at discretion entirely. "Like, actually her uncle. Brother-of-her-mother uncle, instead of some distant familial relation."
"O-oh." Okkotsu-san does not say anything else, clearly embarrassed by the attention, but his gaze does drift tellingly between Ken-jichan and Satoru-niichan for a moment.
… If one were to make a blind guess without any context, they'd probably think that Satoru-niichan is her uncle and Ken-jichan her distant relative. But appearances can be deceiving –and in this particular case, they are very deceiving.
Okkotsu-san's reaction is one that Shiki is well-used to at this point, given the number of times that it has repeatedly played out around her.
"So you'll be following her?" Kiyohira-sensei looks towards Ken-jichan. "I suppose that's a relief, in some ways."
Shiki tilts her head.
"Don't worry too much about it," Satoru-niichan's hand comes down to deliver another headpat. "If he bullies you, then you can come running to me, okay?"
"Excuse me?" Ken-jichan's voice is faintly affronted by the joking implication.
The only response that he gets from Satoru-niichan on this is a short, sharp bark of laughter.
.
.
Extra.
.
Breakfast is cleared from the table, and the crowd slowly dissipates. Kiyohira makes his excuses and returns to his office to deal with more Tobiume busywork, while Shiki is dragged off by her classmates to run around the clan compound a bit. The kids are quite energetic it seems. Okkotsu Yuta still reminds him of a jumpy little rabbit, just a bit, but he certainly seems to be more relaxed around the others now.
Satoru is glad to see that. The kid also doesn't seem to be avoiding Shiki, even though he'd apparently been present on the scene when she'd killed the Yagyu elders. Satoru takes that as a good sign.
"Is there something that you want to say to me?"
"Hmm?" Satoru lifts his gaze.
Nanami Kento stares levelly back at him, unaffected. "You didn't go after either Kiyohira-san or Shiki, so I presume there's something that you wanted to discuss with me. Am I wrong?"
Nah, he's right. But as for how Satoru should go about saying this…
The white-haired sorcerer ponders about it for a moment, before shrugging and deciding to just be blunt. "Did something happen between you and Shiki?"
"… No."
Satoru arches an eyebrow. He hadn't missed the way that Shiki had stared carefully at her uncle when he'd entered the room. Not just because she was happy to see him, there was also something in her gaze that indicated she'd been studying Kento, the way children do when they're gauging an adult's reactions.
Honestly, Satoru can put together the pieces well enough: There's only really one 'major' incident that's happened recently, after all.
"You disagree with Shiki killing the Yagyus," he states.
"… I do," Kento admits. "I understand that there are times when killing is necessary, but… this doesn't strike me as one of those times. We've talked about it before, and Shiki explained her reasoning to me. I understand her thought process and rationale, but… killing people just to send a message, it's…"
"It's not something that sits well with you," Satoru deduces as the younger man hesitates. He thinks that he understands now. Nanami Kento does not quite have the same understanding of jujutsu politics that Shiki does, and does not possess the same lack of hesitation when it comes to killing besides. "Did you have an argument over it?"
"Not quite," the other sorcerer sighs. "But we didn't come to any sort of agreement. I don't believe that I convinced her about my perspective, and… I can't say that I agreed with her perspective on this, either."
"You think that she shouldn't have killed the Yagyus?" Satoru asks, vaguely curious as to the younger man's thoughts.
"I think that no matter if she killed the Yagyus or not, the higher ups… will continue to meddle, in the future," Kento shakes his head. "Perhaps they would behave themselves for some time, given that she killed the Yagyu elders, but… Satoru, she's going to be a Special Grade sorcerer in the future. There's no chance that the higher ups will leave her alone, and unless she kills every single one of them, sooner or later someone is going to try the same thing that Yagyu Nariyasu did again."
"Whether or not the higher ups decide to be pushy are their own problems. Whether or not Shiki decides to put her foot down and make herself clear is her choice." There are days during his darker moments when Satoru has fantasized about slaughtering all the higher ups just as Kento had described, so he's probably not the best person to be making any judgments about this. "And y'know, the higher ups will only get worse if they think that Shiki is the sort of person to make empty threats."
Kento frowns, "So you also think that her killing the Yagyu elders was the best course of action?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Satoru responds glibly. This sort of thing is hard to say for certain –only time will tell the answer; there's a reason why people say things are clearer in hindsight. But no matter what it turns out to be, he's not about to censure his little cousin for it. Not for something that he, too, had the potential to be guilty of.
Granted, Satoru isn't quite the same as Shiki when it comes to killing. Yet, while he doesn't share the same complete lack of aversion… killing is easy, and Satoru recognizes that this isn't something that's exactly normal for most people.
There had been a time, a single moment when he'd teetered on the precipice. Satoru still remembers it, the raucous sound of incessant, unceasing clapping surrounding him. Amanai Riko's corpse, cold and heavy in his arms.
A quiet whisper rising in his mind.
What if I just killed them all?
… He could've done it. Easily, and without a single shred of remorse. Maybe if he'd done so, he would be the one that's a curse user right now instead of Suguru.
But at the time, Suguru had shown up and stopped him, and it was more important to get Shiki to the hospital, anyways.
…
Satoru has killed countless scores of cursed spirits over the years, but he hasn't killed very many humans. The first time that he'd done so, he'd been almost startled by how easy it was, to the point where it almost looped right back around to being disturbing.
He doesn't suppose that the same holds true for Kento here. Come to think of it, has Kento ever killed anyone before? He probably has, if he can say things like 'there are times when killing is necessary,' right?
"Are you going with Shiki because you're worried that she's going to kill more people?" Satoru asks, curious.
Kento sucks in a short, sharp breath. "Even setting aside the issue of whether or not I agree with if someone should be killed or not… Satoru, I know that she's more capable than the vast majority of most grown sorcerers already, but she's still a child. This isn't something that children should be dealing with."
Cease this foolishness, Satoru. You're a sorcerer, not a child, and you must learn to uphold the responsibilities that your station demands of you.
… Man, what a depressing thing to remember. "I agree."
Kento startles. "… You agree?"
"What, is that so surprising?" Satoru rolls his eyes. "Even if I don't think she should have to kill people, I won't look at her any differently if she does. Have a little more faith in her, Kento. You don't have to agree with her reasons for it, but you have to admit that she's not killing indiscriminately. And for a sorcerer with her abilities, I'd say that she's been remarkably restrained about committing murder, really."
If it were Satoru with her abilities, he doesn't know if he would be half as patient and restrained as her. He probably would've been a complete terror in his childhood.
The elders really dodged a bullet there, huh? They should all learn to appreciate his cute little cousin more, in Satoru's humble opinion.
The same goes for Nanami Kento, too.
… But even despite his current disagreement with Shiki, the man still cares for her. It's more concern for her wellbeing than distrust that has him wanting to set aside his own work to follow the girl while she terrorizes Geto's curse users, and Satoru won't begrudge Kento for that.
He supposes that he could take on a partial burden of Kento's missions in the meantime, so that the other man will be able to spend more time with Shiki without having to worry about the higher ups breathing down his neck.
"Thank you."
"Mhm, don't mention it. Enjoy your vacation with Shiki!"
"… My what."
.
.
…
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