Searching for someone

Shuuta and Hikaru entered the school, and the difference from their own was immediately apparent. Everything here exuded opulence and refinement. Chandeliers adorned the entrance, and numerous sofas invited relaxation.

Shuuta's senses were overwhelmed by the rich ambiance. He could smell the scent of oak wood, and it felt like he was lost in a forest of fragrances.

"Not bad for a private high school. It's very cozy in here," Shuuta remarked, continuously glancing around the entrance. But their observations were suddenly interrupted by a lady's voice.

"I'm glad you find it comfortable. Do you guys need anything?" The lady was dressed as an office professional, her outfit form-fitting and attractive, and her confidence was unmistakable.

Shuuta couldn't help but be mesmerized by her appearance, but Hikaru's voice quickly snapped him back to the moment. "Yes, we need to find a teacher in this school." Hikaru paused and produced a picture from his pocket. "His name is Han."

The lady's expression soured suddenly. "My husband? Hell, I wish I knew where that cheating snake is."

Another landmine, Shuuta thought, as their search grew more complicated. Hikaru attempted to clarify, "So... you don't know where he is?"

"No, I'd rather not acquaint yourself with him. Why would you need a liar?" She was growing impatient, her arms crossed.

Shuuta's eyes widened. "Great..."

Was Han someone who could cure curses? Shuuta's gaze shifted to Hikaru, who, surprisingly, remained remarkably composed. It was the first time Shuuta had seen Hikaru with such a serious expression.

'He means business,' Shuuta thought, nodding sagely.

"He can cure curses, correct?" Hikaru inquired, his arms crossed.

"Curses? I'll be damned. What kind of curses? Death? Misfortune? Constipation?"

'Constipation? Ugh...'

Both boys were taken aback, and they exchanged cold glances. Who would craft such a malicious curse? Oh, right...

"Apparently, it's an arousal curse. The demon mentioned something about 'Asmodeus.'"

"Asmodeus? That bastard? His curses are a pain to purify." The lady started playing with her pen, clicking it absentmindedly.

"Can you purify it instead?"

"Of course not! I don't deal with curses. My husband does. I just like to chat, but I feel bad for whoever was cursed."

"So, who's the lucky one? Which one of you was there when she woke up?"

"M-me..." Shuuta stammered.

The lady appeared well-informed and knew how the curse worked. She grinned, turning her attention back to Shuuta. "Congratulations on your new marriage!"

"Huh?!" Shuuta was left bewildered.

Hikaru's reaction was equally incredulous. "What?!"

"To the one afflicted, the first to lay eyes upon you shall disperse the curse with holy essence," the lady explained with a hint of amusement. "Fail to do that, and her life will perish within a month."

"A month?!" Both Shuuta and Hikaru exclaimed, their faces growing serious. Nearly a week had already passed since the incident.

"Nah, just messing with you. It's a month; everything else is true, though." The elegant lady, with a twisted sense of humor, smiled at Shuuta. "And you, have fun! Unless you don't want to have sex with the afflicted. In that case, find my husband."

"Sex? Excuse me?!"

'I forgot Noara didn't mention this,' Shuuta realized, his face turning as white as a ghost.

Hikaru's reaction was swift. He turned to Shuuta with a menacing, beady-eyed stare. "Explain."

Shuuta recounted the situation to Hikaru, who wore an unusually cold expression. Shuuta couldn't decipher what emotion Hikaru was concealing behind that façade.

Hikaru then faced the lady with determination. "Can we gather information around to find your husband?"

"Do what you want, just don't bother any students or classes, all right? And if you find him..." The lady's expression transformed from scary to enigmatic. "Bring him to me. I'll reward you."

"Y-yeah..." Shuuta replied nervously.

Hikaru swiftly led Shuuta deeper into the school, and they found themselves navigating a labyrinth of opulent hallways.

The school was truly massive, and they were quickly getting lost in its luxurious complexity. The sheer number of halls was overwhelming.

Shuuta grumbled, "This place is massive."

"That's an understatement!" Hikaru agreed, his frustration evident.

Shuuta turned left and came upon a mysterious student with a prestigious uniform. The boy appeared wealthy, wearing a well-fitted uniform in shades of blue and black. His aura reeked of a spoiled, privileged life.

"Trouble's coming our way. Watch out, partner," Shuuta warned, his arms crossed.

The affluent student halted in front of Shuuta and Hikaru, flicking his hair in a suave manner. His attitude exuded arrogance and unfriendliness.

"I can tell that you guys are not from my school," the lad remarked, his eyes radiating animosity. "Are you on a tour? Because we are not an attraction."

Shuuta glared at him, poised to respond aggressively, but Hikaru's firm hand stopped him, and a menacing smile crept across his face.

"Sorry for the intrusion. I'm Ogawa Hikaru, from the Ogawa Clan, and I've decided to pay a visit to my property," Hikaru declared, offering a smile that Shuuta knew concealed a much more menacing intention.

The moment the lad recognized Hikaru, he stammered in disbelief, "O-Ogawa?! Y-you're…you're the White Prince?!"

Shuuta couldn't help but cough up blood at the lad's comment, his inner thoughts mirroring his exasperation. 'White Prince?! They call him White Prince here too?!'

Hikaru, on the other hand, flicked his hair in an obvious attempt to mock the lad. "I'm sorry for bothering you, sir! I will never look your way again! In fact… I'm just a speck of dust in your boot!" The lad promptly apologized, proceeding to perform a dogeza-style bow with his face pressed against the wooden floor.

Shuuta stared with a bemused frown. "Ouch…"

Hikaru, showing no sign of amusement, waved off the lad's self-deprecation. "It's fine; let's forget about this matter. I have some questions for you."

The lad, relieved to be spared further humiliation, looked up at Hikaru, ready to respond.

Hikaru proceeded to inquire, "Do you happen to know where Han is?"

Meanwhile, deep within a forest, chaos reigned. The ground quaked as demons clashed, and the area was shrouded in darkness, with trees vanishing as they were obliterated. The sound of battle echoed through the dim woods.

A gruff voice cried out, "Blade Magic: Manaburēdo!"

Magical blades materialized out of thin air, rapidly darting toward a low-class demon.

Fiush!

Fiush!

Fiush!

The demon was impaled, and its body disintegrated into steam.

The man who had launched the attack landed gracefully on a tree branch, catching one of his swords as he did so. He leaped across the forest floor and swiftly dispatched another lurking demon with a double slash, erasing it from existence.

With a graceful spin, he swung his sword, cutting through the trees and vanquishing numerous other demons that dared to challenge him.

One particularly intelligent demon bore the name "Yuuji Han" in its thoughts, and it couldn't comprehend how this man singlehandedly decimated its entire army of demons.

"Yuuji Han..." the demon whispered, its frustration palpable.

The demon gnashed its teeth, then channeled its magic, casting a sinister spell: ["Curse Magic: Shitai o yomigaera seru!"]

Magic circles materialized across the forest, and the once-deceased demons were abruptly resurrected and returned to the world of the living.

Han smirked, reveling in his triumph: ["Anti-Curse Magic: Burēdo Zero!"]

A black sword emerged from a magic circle etched upon the ground. The sheer magical force generated by this blade sent a powerful gust of wind surging forth, toppling numerous trees in its path.

"Anti-Curse Magic?! Asmodeus lied to me! Damn you!" the demon cried out, his frustration apparent. Enraged, he charged at Han.

Han took a stance, extending his arms and placing his left foot forward, ready to face the impending attack. As the demon extended its deadly claws toward him, Han executed his technique: ["Blade Technique: Tsunami no Ikari!"]

With a slow, deliberate swing of his sword, Han sliced through the air, summoning a mighty wind that surged through the forest, obliterating everything in its path like a tsunami. When the wind subsided, a significant portion of the forest had disappeared.

A deafening cry accompanied the wind, and when it faded, there was nothing but silence.

"Elimination completed," Han stated, nonchalantly shaking dirt from his grey kimono. His sword began to disintegrate.

Meanwhile, the demon slumped against a tree, struggling to maintain its balance. "Damn you, human... You will suffer the wrath of the Sins."

"Humans will cease to exist! And Mystics shall be exterminated like the rats they are!" the demon declared, extending its claws and making a final, desperate lunge at Han, who patiently waited for the attack.

Han expertly sliced the demon in two, ending its existence.

Finally, Han observed the rift in the sky with a contemplative gaze. "Good grief, that breach in the sky really is a burden. When will it close?" He sighed, his eyes locked onto the rift from which monsters and demons continued to emerge, a spectacular yet terrifying sight.

Elsewhere, Shuuta sprinted through the forest, his eyes fixated on the rift's bright light. Landing atop a pine tree, he scanned the surroundings. His face paled as his eyes fell upon a section of the forest, utterly torn and destroyed.

Although he had faced formidable monsters, nothing compared to the level of destruction in front of him.

"I see him, Shuuta. He's close to the area… that's missing," Hikaru informed him, his eyebrows twitching. "Let's approach him."

Together, they navigated the forest, making their way toward Han, who was seated in meditation.

And then, unexpectedly, Han tapped Shuuta on the shoulder from behind.

"W-what?" Shuuta exclaimed, taken by surprise.

Han sneered, a wicked grin breaking across his bearded face. His montsuki kimono flashed briefly from Shuuta's view, and then a blur slammed into him with the impact of a runaway freight train, sending him hurtling across the forest to land in a small crater of dirt and mud.

Dazed and bewildered, Hikaru demanded, "W-why did you do that?! We need your help!"

But Han merely glared down at Hikaru with icy eyes, ignoring Shuuta's presence completely. He had something profound to reveal, something that would shake Hikaru to his core.

"I can sense the Menos within him, the one who caused that level 5 breach," Han declared. He leaned over Hikaru, his expression filled with purpose. "My objective is to eliminate whoever opened it."

Sweat began to bead on Hikaru's forehead as he realized the gravity of their situation. He needed to buy some time to prepare, to ensure the breach had a chance to close.

"If you kill him now, the breach might never close," Hikaru implored, his voice urgent, appealing to Han's sense of responsibility.

Han, however, remained unswayed. He swung his right arm backward, conjuring a powerful gust of wind that manifested a sword from a dark, ethereal light. He became light itself, vanishing from Hikaru's sight in an instant.

"Tch. He's going to kill Shuuta!" Hikaru thought, panicked, but his efforts to intervene were futile.

A thunderous boom echoed through the forest, kicking up a cloud of dust that shrouded Hikaru. He sprinted to the newly formed crater and found Shuuta, gritting his teeth and groaning, his body being pressed into the ground. Han held Shuuta down with a smaller but still formidable force.

"Damn…this debuff…sucks!" Shuuta lamented, struggling against the overwhelming pressure.

Hikaru watched in dismay, unsure of what to do. Han's blank expression revealed no remorse or hesitation; he was merely executing his orders.

"Damn it…Noara…" Shuuta muttered through gritted teeth.

Han's face shifted, color returning to his cheeks, and his tone took on a more conversational, albeit bashful, manner. He even stopped his elimination process.

Hikaru couldn't help but feel utterly bewildered by the abrupt change in Han's behavior.

"Did you say Noara?" Han bashfully asked, sweat forming on his forehead as he stumbled over his words.

Shuuta, equally baffled, found himself lost for words, unable to comprehend what had just transpired.

Hikaru, still perplexed by the situation, grumbled, "Heh heh?! You were going to kill me!"

And just like that, their mysterious attacker seemed to have experienced a significant change of heart.

Han suddenly became elated. "I see, Noara needs me… I'm so happy."

Shuuta was left flabbergasted, wondering about the connection between Han and Noara, and what had triggered this inexplicable shift in Han's attitude.

As they continued their conversation, Shuuta recalled something that had nagged at the back of his mind.

"My husband? Hell, I wish I knew where that cheating snake is." Hanako recalled to Shuuta.

"This guy!"

But before he could articulate his thoughts, Hanako chimed in, adding her own perspective with a smirk. "Yeah, I would've killed him if I was that lady!"

Shuuta's reaction was immediate and defensive. "I-I would never do that… never!"

Hanako floated in front of Shuuta and stared into his eyes with a profound intensity.

"So, umm… you can cure curses?"

Hanako gave an amused, "Humph," and turned her gaze away like a child avoiding a difficult question.

"Cure? No, kid, I can bind the curse, essentially making it stable enough for the person to bear," she explained. "Curses are and will always be a burden, one that might stick like super glue."

Shuuta probed further, eager to understand. "Err… so how do you unstick the glue?"

But Han's response was stern and matter-of-fact. "Eliminate the creator of such a curse."

The situation had taken a strange and intriguing turn, and Shuuta and Hikaru were left grappling with newfound information and the unexpected change in Han's demeanor.