Chapter 5

Koji proved to be quite an inventive scoundrel and stretched our punishment out for a week. During this time, we got pretty dusty, hauled a ton of junk in the form of textbooks, books, files, papers, and other nonsense, and even started to annoy each other less than before.

It was all met with silent resignation. If it must be, it must be. Satu was angry. At me, at the teacher, and it wouldn't be a lie to say at herself. After all, she could have beaten up the airhead Aska somewhere quieter.

But now it was a major screw-up. And a big one at that. She and her friends were not the clear winners. By some strange twist of fate, she had met with resistance.

It was just a shame I still hadn't figured out whether the original Aska could defend herself or not. It would take time. The problem was, it was unclear how much time I had.

The morning started with warm-ups. We would go out to the courtyard in front of the school and work with Teacher Ayu, who showed the wonders of human body flexibility and endurance. Then we would have breakfast in the dining hall and go to our classes. History, geography, math, calligraphy, mentalism (at which I was hopelessly clueless), and ryoku technique. The last two subjects were new and confusing. But so far, I had managed to get by. I kept quiet and didn't stick my neck out, and the teachers were only giving us theory.

It turned out that ryoku was a kind of inner strength that could be used to control various physical processes with only mental effort. The Weaver had said as much, but I hadn't understood everything. And then came problem number two—mentalism. It taught you how to get your thoughts in a bunch and believe that you could, for example, erect an invisible wall with your mind that no one could pass through.

It was some kind of magic that I had never encountered outside of books and movies in my past life. Interestingly, I perfectly understood what a "movie" was from my past life, but my own name and identity... not at all.

The thought that I would remember all this only when it pleased the Weaver didn't leave me alone. And the Weaver was clearly up to something. Plus, I hadn't forgotten that she had told me to bring her the head of a tsumi. My intuition told me it wasn't just an empty threat, so I needed to get my brain working.

After classes was lunch, a break, and a chance to do some more studying, and then the storehouse awaited Satu and me. The work wasn't incredibly hard. Just monotonous and exhausting. But for me, it was also intriguing. For example, when a box literally fell apart in my hands, and a pile of burned clay tablets with hieroglyphs spilled out.

"We were sent to clean up, not to make a mess, Aska," Satu said mockingly.

But... when she came closer, she frowned, instantly forgetting her sarcasm.

The hieroglyph on each tablet glowed softly with a lilac light. We crouched down, carefully examining our find.

I picked up the nearest tablet and turned it over in my hands. I ran my index finger over the sharp lines—my skin tingled a little.

"Don't touch it," Satu hissed, exhaling through her nose. "How do we know what this is? I can feel from here that they're packed with ryoku."

I listened to my own sensations. Strange, I didn't feel anything like that. My intuition wasn't screaming, and I had no desire to throw these things away. On the contrary, I was drawn to examine them more closely. And there was also a strange feeling that the pattern of scars on my arm, left by the Weaver's kumihimo, had twitched and moved.

I immediately pulled down the sleeve of my keikogi. If Satu noticed anything, I'd have endless questions to answer.

"Well, ryoku," I said, to at least break the tense silence that had fallen over everything. "So what?"

Satu looked at me like I was an idiot. Keep looking, as long as you don't forget to show how smart you are.

"You really are crazy," she spat. "Onmyoji and sorcerers use these to summon spirits. And the darker the glow of the hieroglyphs, the more malicious the spirit. It's better not to touch these things without performing a special ritual. Otherwise, you might never be the same person again."

Well, that's not news to me. It's not out of the question that before going to the Weaver, Aska had stuck her nose into something. So, scaring a hedgehog with a bare ass... I mean, with magical trinkets, won't work anymore.

I glanced at the tablets. Well... it could have been worse. It wasn't black or purple after all.

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"Let's say," I didn't deny. "But then, for the love of everything, what are these things doing here in the Gozen School storehouse?"

Satu had no answer. Besides, even though she said they shouldn't be touched, she was clearly torn between the desire to touch a tablet and the attempt to stay away.

My question, judging by her expression, hit the mark.

I'd have to figure out who these onmyoji were and what they did. Satu clearly believed in their power. Spirits... who knows... Gods exist, and these tsumi do too. Therefore, there could be spirits crammed into every corner. Not that this logical chain made me happy, but at least the picture of this world was becoming clearer. Besides people, Taiyoganori was full of all sorts of nasty things. And it wouldn't be easy to figure out which ones were useful and which ones should be destroyed without getting close.

Suddenly, a growl came from a dark corner. Someone's eyes flared like smoldering embers, and the air filled with the smell of burnt flesh.

Satu and I instantly tensed up. A faint hope flickered that the creature that had appeared would change its mind about coming out, and we would have time to run. At the same time, I knew perfectly well that we either had to bolt for the door or freeze. If Satu and I ran at the same time, we would probably collide at the exit and lose precious minutes.

"Who did you summon, you idiot?" Satu whispered, not taking her eyes off whatever was hiding in the darkness.

"Takes one to know one," I shot back. "Or do you think it just politely introduced itself to me?"

Satu pursed her lips. She was probably calling down all the heavenly punishments on my head. To hell with punishments! What was important now was to do everything right.

My forehead was beaded with sweat. So... we didn't know how big it was, what it could do, or why it had come out. What to hit it with in case of aggression was also unknown. In short, our little equation had a whole lot of unknowns, and I still had no idea how to piece them together and find a solution.

Satu glanced toward the door. Either she wasn't particularly brave, or she had brains, understanding that it was better to run and get help than to get killed ingloriously.

"If anything... we jump in opposite directions," I whispered, quickly assessing which crates I could climb if the creature charged.

"Very smart. The tsumi..."

On that last word, the creature roared, as if it had heard us talking about it, and lunged at us. I grabbed the tablets in a handful and jumped onto a bench; Satu bolted for the crates.

The tsumi leapt out. Up to three meters long, with reddish skin shrouded in wisps of black mist. Covered in spikes and growths, it had a flattened snout with a bared maw. A powerful tail thrashed the floor. With every movement, the mist dissipated and then gathered again a moment later, enveloping the creature's body.

I deliberately threw the tablets at its head. A growl erupted; the creature hadn't expected such an insult. It was beside me in an instant. Its jaws snapped. I jumped and kicked it in the head. And then I howled, because a fiery pain shot from my foot to my knee.

Satu threw a metal scoop at the tsumi. Another growl.

I climbed onto the crates, tore the lid off the first one I found, ripped off a slat, then another, and threw them both to Satu. She deftly caught them, understanding my plan. A bad weapon is better than no weapon at all.

This creature reacts to blows, which means it can be hit. It seemed to understand that and jumped, trying to snap at my leg. I jumped too. Satu, in the meantime, jumped up and unleashed a barrage of nonstop blows on the tsumi. A flick of its tail—and the girl was sent flying against the wall.

I grabbed the lid from another crate, flew down, and slammed it with all my might into the tsumi's head. The lid predictably split in two, and blood appeared on the creature's skin. I heard Satu groan; it seemed she had hit her head pretty hard.

During the tsumi's moment of distraction, it almost tore my arm off. A jump, a roll—I grabbed a discarded slat with a sharp end. Its ember-like eyes watched my every move.

Satu, wincing, got to her feet. She had really been hit hard, but she was still standing, good for her. Even though she didn't inspire warm feelings, a capable fighter was more useful to me right now than one lying on the floor.

The tsumi began to circle us.

"Try hitting it with ryoku," Satu rasped, slowly moving toward me.

Very good advice. Just wonderful. If only I knew how.

My thoughts were racing like crazy. Logically, I knew it wouldn't work. But what about reflexes? Oh, what the hell!

I held out my hand, and my palm began to tingle. The tsumi was quicker—it darted toward us. Cursing, I dodged, then plunged the slat into its withers. And then something strange happened—the wooden slat flared with a violet light that instantly spread through the tsumi's body. A blinding glow flashed before my eyes. Satu screamed and turned away. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the bright spots dancing in my vision.

The tsumi didn't move.

For a while, trying to catch our breath, we just stared at it. Then I knelt down, carefully examining the corpse. The black mist covered it in wisps; only occasionally did red veins flare up, becoming dimmer with each second.

I need its head...

I had already reached out my hand, but Satu was suddenly beside me and grabbed my wrist.

"Are you crazy! Tsumi are no less dangerous after death."

No one had bothered to warn me about that.

Meanwhile, the creature's body melted away, as if it had never existed. I frowned. My task was definitely getting more complicated. Not only was it dangerous, but I had to grab the creature before it dissolved into thin air.

Satu seemed to realize her position and quickly released my hand. But I didn't pay attention. I was much more interested in the question of how often these creatures got onto school grounds. Did this mean I had to be on my guard all the time?

Satu was apparently thinking something similar.

"They've completely lost their fear," she muttered. "Tsumi never used to come here."

"What could have provoked it?"

She shrugged. And then we both looked at the cracked tablets with the hieroglyphs. Some of them still glowed with a cold lilac light.

And in that moment, for some reason, I knew: the trouble was just beginning.