--------------------------------------------------
"Pfft."
Kai laughed at Conan's reply and didn't bother to argue. There was no reason to. Conan might be the main character in a regular detective story, but here, that didn't give him any special protection. He didn't know anything about Cursed Spirits, so it was natural for him to be skeptical.
"You'll understand soon enough."
Conan looked at him, confused. 'Why does this guy always have to talk in riddles?'
He wanted to ask Kai for an explanation, but the steady confidence in Kai's voice made him hesitate. For the first time, Conan started to wonder if he really understood the world as well as he thought.
'That couldn't be... There was no scientific proof for ghosts, souls, or anything supernatural.'
——————————
"Why..."
Mr. Yukinoshita stopped just before he reached the center of the banquet hall. He kept his head down, repeating the same word over and over.
"Why... Why..."
His quiet muttering grew louder until it became a roar.
"WHY?"
He snapped his head up, his eyes open as he glared at the guests around him.
"I SHOULD BE THE HEAD OF THE YUKINOSHITA FAMILY! WHY WASN'T IT ME? WHY DOES NO ONE LISTEN TO ME? ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE ANSWERING TO ME!!"
His face grimaced into a snarl. His bloodshot eyes swept across the hall, full of hatred.
"That is enough!" Fumino snapped, her expression darkening. "Remember your place and go home this instant!"
She usually avoided making a scene, especially in front of important guests, but her husband's outburst had pushed her past her limit.
Until tonight, she hadn't realized just how much he resented the Yukinoshita family.
He wanted to be the head of the family? Did he forget that he had married into it??
Without the Yukinoshitas, he would have stayed a street thug. He might have died in some dirty alley during a pointless fight. The family had given him status, safety, and a respectable political job he could never have gotten by himself.
Fumino thought she had already given him more than enough. Any affection she once had for him had faded over time because of his constant lack of ambition.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"
Before, Mr. Yukinoshita would never have talked back to her. He would have kept his frustration to himself and stayed quiet when she scolded him. But tonight, he glared right back at her.
As soon as he shouted, pitch-black Cursed energy burst from his body. A violent wind swept through the banquet hall as the thick energy wrapped around him, slowly forming the huge shape of a twisted creature.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"
"I AM THE CENTER OF THIS FAMILY! I AM ITS MASTER!"
"YOU WILL ALL OBEY ME! YOU WILL FOLLOW MY COMMANDS!"
"ANYONE WHO DEFIES ME CAN ROT IN HELL!"
The force of his Cursed energy hit the guests like a real blow. Their chests tightened, they struggled to breathe, and some almost collapsed on the spot.
"W-What is that?"
"A monster!"
"RUN!!"
The banquet hall exploded into chaos. As soon as the guests snapped out of their shock, they rushed for every exit they could find.
Alas... They were already too late.
The doors slammed shut one after another, and the windows shattered inward. Ugly black creatures crawled out of the shadows and blocked every way out.
'So this is a Cursed Spirit.'
Unlike the other high-society guests, Tomoko Suzuki didn't run in panic. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she made herself stay calm, just as people expected from the head of the Suzuki family.
Until now, she had only read about Cursed Spirits in secret reports. She knew they were dangerous in theory, but reading about them was nothing like facing one in person.
Now she understood.
The pressure alone made it hard for regular people to breathe, let alone fight back.
Tomoko looked over at Kai. He stood still, calm and unfazed by the creature. Seeing him like that made her feel a little less afraid.
Now she was sure that Kai was a Jujutsu Sorcerer. If Cursed Spirits were this powerful, then the people who fought them had to be just as extraordinary.
——————————
"R-Ran... we're not going to die, are we?" Sonoko clung to Ran's arm hard enough to hurt. Her body trembled so badly that she could barely remain standing. "What is that thing?"
"Sonoko..." Ran whispered, her own face drained of color as she supported her friend.
Ran was talented and had trained in karate for years, but martial arts still had limits. Even worse, she had always been terrified of ghosts and anything supernatural. Now, faced with a real monster, she couldn't even lift her fists.
"Don't worry," Haruno told them.
Neither she nor Yukino looked panicked.
"We'll be fine. Kai-kun is very strong."
They felt confident only because Kai was there. The situation scared everyone else, but as long as he was with them, the sisters didn't think they were really in danger.
"Kai-kun?" Sonoko repeated.
She and Ran turned toward him, clinging to Haruno's certainty.
Yukino stayed quiet, looking down. No matter what had happened between them, the man turning into a monster was still her father. Seeing him change like this made her chest ache.
"Don't dwell on it," Haruno said softly.
She knew her sister well enough to see the pain behind Yukino's expression. With a quiet sigh, she put a hand on Yukino's shoulder.
"Perhaps this was always where his path would lead. None of us realized how deeply he resented the Yukinoshita family."
Yukino couldn't deny it. She had heard every word her father shouted. He really thought he deserved to lead the family and wanted everyone to obey him.
At first, she just couldn't believe it. If he really wanted to be the head of the family, he should have worked for it. If he had shown any real skill or ambition, he wouldn't have ended up so powerless at home.
Yukino kept those thoughts inside. She slowly shook her head and stared at the monster in silence.
Haruno was right. Their father had chosen the path that brought him here.
——————————
"What the..."
Conan stared at the creature, too shocked to speak. His heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst.
In just a few seconds, everything Conan believed about the world was completely shattered.
A real monster stood before him.
How could logic or deduction explain something like this?
"Well, Mr. Detective?" Kai asked, glancing at Conan's stricken face. "Do you believe in souls now?"
"Huh?"
Conan whipped around and stared at him in disbelief. 'Is he seriously making jokes right now?'
Kai burst out laughing.
Watching the usually confident boy genius left speechless was just too funny.
He didn't tease him any further. After one last chuckle, Kai turned his attention back to the changed Mr. Yukinoshita.
"All right. Playtime is over."
His calm voice seemed to have a strange power. As soon as he spoke, the panic in the room lessened. The screams faded, and the frightened guests turned to look at him.
"DIE!"
Half of Mr. Yukinoshita's body had merged with the Cursed Spirit. Flesh and shadow twisted together, turning him into a creature that hardly looked human anymore.
'His consciousness is already gone.'
Kai shook his head. Once things got this far, there was no way to save him.
Mr. Yukinoshita had given in completely. If he had fought back at all, the Cursed Spirit wouldn't have taken over his body so fast.
Before Kai could look at the creature any longer, Mr. Yukinoshita swung one of his huge, twisted arms. It was a silent command.
The smaller Cursed Spirits guarding the exits rushed forward.
They closed in on the trapped guests from all sides, ready to attack everyone in the hall.
"Kuchisake-Onna." Kai did not move.
A moment later, a tall, eerie figure appeared behind him. Long hair framed the face of the Slit-Mouthed Woman, and her strange voice echoed through the room.
"Am I pretty?"
The banquet hall fell silent.
Every human and Cursed Spirit froze in place, their bodies completely immobilized.
Kuchisake-Onna's Simple Domain had been deployed.
--------------------------------------------------
Don't forget to drop some power stones!
--------------------------------------------------
~ Every 400 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ 15 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)