Takako's Technique is Sky.
Through her Technique, Takako can grasp and manipulate the "plane" of the sky.
It is an ability similar to distorting space.
It usually manifests as her physically grabbing the "sky" with her hands and manipulating it like a curtain or blanket.
Takako, who usually doesn't wear clothes, always drapes a blanket made of sky over her body to cover her vital parts.
If an enemy or an attack enters the space controlled by Takako's Technique, it will be distorted along with the space.
Takako can choose to deflect the attack or send it right back at the opponent.
Normally, this spatial distortion directly damages the enemy, twisting their body unnaturally.
However, by strengthening her Cursed Energy, Takako can shatter the captured spatial plane like cracking thin ice, creating a powerful offensive blast that sends the enemy flying.
At this moment, Takako was floating in the sky, gazing down at the modern city below while searching for a suitable vessel for incarnation.
"What a prosperous era..."
Like Ryomen Sukuna, Takako had lived over a thousand years ago.
Back then, resources were scarce and food was hard to come by. Many people couldn't eat their fill.
Now, Takako had heard that the government was even planning to implement policies to control national weight gain.
Her gaze drifted over the countless fried chicken shops, milk tea stands, and other snack stalls lining the streets.
Golden fried chicken, pink milk tea that matched her hair, and skewers of meatballs and octopus drenched in sauce... For a moment, Takako was truly tempted to descend and try some.
Though she would skip the octopus.
She had never eaten chicken before.
Roughly 1,300 years ago, an emperor in Japan had issued a ban on meat, prohibiting the consumption of beef, horse, dog, chicken, and monkey meat.
This ban wasn't lifted until the Meiji Restoration.
So Takako was genuinely curious about what chicken tasted like.
"I heard chicken tastes better than those bony little birds."
She shook her head hard, trying to clear her mind of these stray thoughts.
Then she spotted a chubby, fair-skinned boy holding a large KFC family bucket.
"This one looks like he has good Aptitude. I can take him as a vessel for incarnation."
Takako nodded to herself.
The boy on the ground had no idea he was being targeted by a woman whose eyes were practically glowing green.
He was humming to himself, happily making his way home.
"Found him. This is the one."
The boy picked up a crispy, fragrant fried chicken leg and opened his mouth to take a bite.
He didn't notice the dark, poorly lit alley next to the supermarket he'd just passed.
Crunch.
The sound of teeth snapping shut rang out, and the boy looked at his hand in confusion.
"Did I bite wrong? No way, I've been eating like this for years... Where's my chicken leg?"
He stared wide-eyed at his empty palm.
If not for the bit of crispy chicken skin still stuck to his fingers, he would've thought he'd just dreamed the whole thing.
The next second, a pale hand pinched his mouth shut, stopping him from making a sound. An overwhelming force dragged him straight into the alley.
Ten minutes later, Takako licked the corner of her lips, a satisfied expression on her face, then picked up the boy, who was now foaming at the mouth, and brought him back into the barrier.
The next day, the supermarket owner reviewed the surveillance footage at the store entrance and saw something shocking.
A chubby boy with a backpack and clear, somewhat silly eyes had been eagerly pulled into the alley by a naked woman who'd suddenly rushed out from behind the store.
The woman moved so fast and aggressively that the footage only caught a blur of pink hair and a vague outline from behind.
The store's security cameras were only basic models meant to prevent theft, not the kind of high-tech surveillance used in Eichi's lab that could detect Cursed Techniques.
So, in the eyes of ordinary people, Takako's Cursed Technique made her... essentially invisible.
Gulp.
The store owner swallowed nervously, his face turning slightly red.
He quickly switched to the footage from the back door.
Unfortunately, the camera there was aimed directly at the supermarket's back entrance and didn't catch the entire corner.
All it managed to capture was Takako's face as she left the alley carrying the boy, her expression filled with satisfaction.
"So terri..."
"Boss, today's delivery is here. Uh, what were you saying?"
"...ble. I was saying, so terrible."
Seeing the delivery guy enter suddenly, the store owner quickly changed his words.
"Terrible? What happened? Your store didn't get robbed again, did it?"
The delivery guy looked at him, concerned.
"No, no robbery."
The boss immediately denied it.
Then he looked the delivery guy over carefully.
He was handsome and young, working part-time delivering goods every morning to earn money.
'Now that I look at him, this kid's pretty good-looking. Much better than that chubby kid last night.'
"Uh... Is something wrong with how I'm dressed today?"
The delivery guy felt uncomfortable under the boss's gaze.
It was the kind of look that made him feel like the man was trying to strip him with his eyes.
'Don't tell me... the boss's fallen for me?'
He began to feel uneasy.
"Nothing. I just wanted to remind you of something."
"What is it?"
Relieved to see the boss's gaze return to normal, the delivery guy relaxed a little.
"Yamamoto."
"Huh?"
"When boys go out, they need to protect themselves. Especially good-looking ones like you."
The boss spoke earnestly, even patting the delivery guy on the shoulder.
"Huh? Uh, got it. I'll be careful. Let's unload the goods first."
'The boss did fall for me. This place is dangerous. I'm applying to get my delivery route changed today!'
The delivery guy finished unloading the supermarket's restock order at record speed, then twisted the throttle to full and sped off on his electric bike.
"So fast. As expected of the young."
The boss smiled as he watched him disappear down the street, then began restocking the shelves.
Inside the barrier by the sea.
The sun had already risen from the horizon. Night had passed.
Takako tossed down the last person she'd caught, then returned to the barrier to rest.
It wasn't that she was tired. There were just too many people out during the day, which made kidnapping inconvenient.
"You caught more than a dozen in one night. Well done, Takako."
Tamamo-no-Mae, who was using the Sanzu Kawa Technique to control Cursed Spirits, walked over, satisfied with the dozen or so people Takako had captured for use as vessels.
"Do you have money?"
"Money?"
Tamamo-no-Mae looked confused.
"Yeah, money."
"I do. How much do you need?"
"..."
'How much was a bucket of fried chicken again?'
Takako thought hard, recalling the numbers she saw on the billboards.
"Give me five... no, ten thousand yen first."
Mid-sentence, she suddenly thought one bucket might not be enough and asked for more.
"Here you go."
Tamamo-no-Mae casually handed over five bills.
She didn't care about money at all. The Sanzu Kawa had already gathered plenty by wiping out a few gang organizations.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)