Fear coils low in my stomach like a snake ready to strike. In an hour, the whole camp went to shit. Satoshi stayed with my body. I’ll try to understand the meaning behind that later.

  I gape at Satoshi, hands trembling.

  “What happened?” I ask quietly.

  “One of the Grade Twos reinforcing the barriers ran out of cursed energy.” He clenches his jaw. “The barrier fell and every cursed spirit within a mile radius honed in on us.”

  My knees wobble and my head spins. The scent of death and decay hits me. Oh gods. They’re all dead. Everyone. Strong arms encircle me. I glance up at Satoshi with blurry vision as he hugs me from behind. I relax into his touch. If we’re the only ones left, I’ll have to trust him. He did stay with my body after all—but that means people died because he didn’t leave. I grimace.

  “Why did you stay?” I whisper, tears threatening to spill.

  He spins me to face him, pulling me close and burying his face in my loose hair, inhaling deeply. I still before slowly wrapping my arms around his torso. Is he smelling me? Weird.

  “Because I refuse to see your body maimed by a cursed spirit.” He murmurs against my neck.

  My breath stutters in my throat. He cares enough about me to not want to see my body ripped apart. I let out a long breath and press my cheek against his chest.

  “Where is everyone? Are they dead?”

  He pulls back and stares down at me. “You think I’d be standing here hugging you if my friends were dead? What kind of monster do you think I am?” He bites his lip.

  And we’re back to being an ass. He takes a hand from my shoulder and runs it through his hair, eyes darting around the campsite.

  “No, we lost the Grade Two as the barrier fell. I didn’t bother to learn their name. They were one of your team.”

  My blood turns to ice.

  My team.

  I’m responsible.

  Fuck.

  My vision tunnels. Satoshi snaps his fingers in front of my face. Then grabs my chin and lifts my head.

  “Hey, it’s not your fault. You were kind of dead.” He grimaces, dropping my chin.

  I clap a hand to my mouth stifling the surprised laugh bubbling up my throat. His electric-blue eyes snap to my mouth and his lips twitch upwards.

  The crunch of quick footsteps pulls my attention past Satoshi, my gaze lands on Misaka, Aki and Hiro. I sprint towards them and crash into all three of my friends, taking them to the ground. They stare at me in horror. Ah. Right. I was dead.

  “Surprise?” A loud oof punches out of me as I’m crushed by three sets of arms.

  “You—”

  “How? Wha—”

  “You were—”

  I pull away and sink onto my knees. “I’m alive. I didn’t even know I died.”

  “As much as I’m relieved you’re alive, Ren, we have bigger problems.” Hiro gestures to the horde of cursed spirits rushing towards our tents. I blink. How the shit did I miss them?

  “Fuck me.”

  “I’ve got this.” Satoshi exhales slowly as he rolls up his sleeves, glancing at me over his shoulder before stalking directly into the path of the cursed spirits. Blue glows at his fingertips.

  He brings his hands together to create a perfect sphere of sapphire. Rolling it around, gathering debris, concrete, trees—everything.

  “Cursed technique amplification, maximum output: Blue!”

  The ball of scrap blazes as he drags his open palm around himself, destroying the buildings nearby. Wood splinters in an arc and I throw my arm up to cover my eyes.

  He throws his hands outwards and sends the cursed spirits flying through the air, exorcising nearly all of them in a puff of black smoke. His hair whips around his forehead in a blur of white.

  Well, that was easy. He really is on another level of power.

  My head whips to the space behind Satoshi, the air ripples like heat in a desert. What the f—

  A figure wearing a black trench coat and a plague doctor mask slices a katana through Satoshi’s chest. My eyes widen. My legs propel forward before my brain catches up. Hiro is hot on my heels.

  “Satoshi!” I scream, gathering my hands into the mudra for Pressure Cut, feet digging into the dirt. Hiro snatches my wrist.

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  “No. You could hit him.”

  Satoshi holds his hand up, stilling both me and Hiro. He thrusts his palm backwards and sends the figure crashing into the nearest tent. The clang of metal smacking against the ground echoes around us.

  “I’m fine,” his eyes flick to Hiro and he nods. Whatever silent conversation passes between them is cut short when I’m whipped off my feet and thrown over Hiro’s shoulder. I kick against his chest, pounding my fists on his back.

  “Put me down!”

  “Renegade,” Satoshi’s voice is soft, gentle and any fight in me dies at his tone. I twist to look at him, agony carved into his beautiful face. “You take it from here, baby.”

  No. Fuck no. He is not sacrificing himself.

  I shove the warmth in my chest into that box in my subconscious. I don’t know when I stopped wanting him dead but the shake in my legs doesn’t lie. My heart races as Hiro breaks into a sprint. My eyes never leave Satoshi as he fades into the darkness.

  Trees rush past us, branches cracking around us. Hiro has dragged me into the woods and left Satoshi behind. I have so many questions. Why didn’t Satoshi have Infinity active? Is he going to be okay? Are the others alive?

  Hiro drops me onto my feet, the dead leaves rustle under my boots. I drive my fist into his nose. Blood sprays from his nostrils and his head snaps back.

  “What the fuck, Ren?”

  I raise a finger and jab him in the chest as he cups his nose. “You know what that was for.”

  Hiro narrows his piercing blue eyes and chews the inside of his cheek.

  “Yeah, alright.” He sighs. His arms fold across his chest. “I’m going to go and grab Misaka and Aki. Stay. Please.”

  “Okay.” I lie. There’s no way in hell I am staying put in the woods whilst Satoshi and my friends could be dying or dead.

  Hiro pinches the bridge of his nose and exhales sharply. “You can’t lie to me, Ren.” He reaches forward and places a hand on my shoulder. “You’re not going to stay here are you?”

  Bile rises in my throat, and I swallow hard.

  “I can’t, Hiro. I’m a fucking Special Grade sorcerer. I can’t stand around and do nothing!” Tears gather in my eyes, threatening to dampen my cheeks. He pulls me into a hug, arms wrapping around my neck.

  “Toshi wants you safe. Stay. For him.” He murmurs into my ear.

  This fucker. Playing the guilt card. My shoulders slump as he pulls back.

  “Alright, I’ll stay here. But if I hear any screams, I’m running back.” I lift my chin, wiping away the salty tracks that found their way to my mouth.

  Hiro nods and turns, readying himself to sprint. “That’s fair. I’ll be back as quick as I can.” With one last sideways glance he dashes off. Wind slaps at my skin from the speed of his movement.

  I pace, kicking at the soil beneath my feet.

  Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

  Fucking stupid.

  I hiss as my boot connects with a mossy rock. Pain shoots up my leg. I flip off the stone and turn my back to it. Not today, Mr. Rock. I’m winning this battle.

  I’m losing my godsdamned mind. It’s been all of thirty seconds since Hiro left, and I’ve started arguing with a piece of nature. A low groan reverberates through the trees. Great. Now the rock is moaning at me.

  I furrow my brows. My eyes snap up, scanning the gaps between trunks. Rocks don’t groan.

  Please be a cursed spirit. Don’t be an animal.

  I squint into the darkness. Nothing. I can’t see a damned thing. I take a deep breath and focus on locating any cursed energy residuals. Not a flicker. Am I hearing things?

  Another groan. It sounds almost … human. I whip my head towards the clearing—

  “Shiori!” I sprint towards her, the closer I get the more my heart lurches. Her normal white shirt is stained dark crimson.

  No. No. No. Not Shiori. She shouldn’t be here. She was on leave.

  I scramble to catch myself as I trip over a gnarled tree root. Shit. I grit my teeth as bark shreds my palms. I’ll heal that later. I need to get to my sister. I crash into her and wrap my arms around her waist tightly. She doesn’t move. I lean back and look at her face. She has glassy eyes. I shake her.

  “Shiori, what happened?” My voice cracks on the last word. She doesn’t reply.

  Her mouth opens in a silent scream. I fall back onto my ass. What the fuck? The skin melts from her face, leaving blackened eye sockets and a row of razor-sharp teeth under a curled lip. She snarls at me. My hands are damp with sweat. That isn’t Shiori, and I just ran straight into the trap. I’m going to have fucking nightmares for weeks.

  I grab a handful of dirt and scatter it into the cursed spirit’s face as I scramble to get to my feet. Twigs and leaves crack under my weight. Moonlight illuminates the twisted features of what wore my sister’s face. The spirit throws its arms over its eyes with a high-pitched screech.

  My right heel slides backwards in the mud. I steady myself with my other foot and lift my hands to create the mudra for Pressure Cut, flicking my wrist forwards, compressed air sharp as knives hurtles towards the pseudo version of Shiori.

  The attack lands, slicing an arm off. The limb thuds to the earth. Within seconds flesh is knitting back together.

  “It’s like that, huh?”

  Those razor-sharp teeth curve into a sadistic smile. I should’ve been a hairdresser. No creepy curses wearing family members’ faces.

  Jerky movement to my left snaps my attention sideways. The curse lunges at the shadowed figure with a loud warble. The tree branches sway, causing the moon to light the figure’s face. I let out a sigh of relief. Hiro.

  His eyes flick over me, cataloguing any injuries. They widen as the curse’s mouth unhinges and bites down on his forearm. Why didn’t he attack?

  “Toshi?” His face crumples in agony as deep purple saliva burns into his flesh.

  Satoshi? Oh fuck. This curse doesn’t wear one person’s face. It wears the faces of the ones we care about the most.

  “Hiro! That’s not Satoshi!”

  I dart forwards, palm outstretched. My hand lands on the curse’s back with a slap.

  “Pressure Cut,” I murmur, focusing my cursed energy to attack directly from my palm. The face-wearer splits into multiple ribbons of skin. Black smoke billows from the strips before dissolving into the night.

  I steady Hiro by the elbows.

  “Still with me?”

  “Y-yeah.” He nods, hands trembling.

  Hiro—the fearless sorcerer who never hesitates to throw the first punch—is shaking like a tuning fork. I tilt my head, studying him.

  “What’s wrong?” My eyes flit over the empty woods. “Where are the others?” My nails dig into his exposed arms, the skin turning pale under my touch.

  “Toshi …” Tears well in his eyes.

  My heart stops. The forest closes in on me, gravity bending, warping everything I think I know into whatever this reality is. I try to drag my mind through the overwhelming shock. But I can’t think straight.

  Satoshi can’t die. He’s the strongest. I remind myself to keep from panicking. He’s just waiting to heal himself. He’ll be fine.

  “What happened?” My voice is barely above a whisper, gaze unfocusing into the distance.

  He’s fine.

  He’s alive.

  My fingers grip desperately to Hiro’s arms, hard enough that I’m certain the skin must be breaking.

  “The plague doctor thing—katana—sliced through—chest.”

  My knees crash into the forest floor, pine needles cutting through my trousers.

  Why does my throat hurt?

  My vision blurs, eyes burning.

  I’m screaming.

  Not any scream. A scream full of so much grief that the trees curl in on themselves.