"You four! The mission department's issued a new task!"
Masamichi Yaga strode into the classroom, clutching the mission brief, his face stern.
He froze the moment he entered.
Sawa Gojo and Suguru Geto were pinning Satoru Gojo's arms, while Shoko Ieiri gleefully drew tiny turtles on Satoru's face with a marker.
The trio wore mischievous grins straight out of Spy x Family's Anya, while Satoru looked utterly defeated, like a bullied bride.
"…"
Yaga felt a headache coming on.
After months of teaching, he'd figured out these four.
Powerful, arrogant, prodigiously gifted, and… total troublemakers!
Sawa noticed Yaga at the door first. "Oh?
When'd you get here, Teacher Yaga?"
Suguru and Shoko instantly sat up straight, playing innocent.
Satoru grabbed a wet towel, wiping his face.
"Damn it! How could I lose seven games in a row? You guys cheated, didn't you?"
"Satoru!"
"Yes, sir!"
Satoru snapped to attention.
Yaga rubbed his forehead, sighing deeply, and waved the mission brief limply.
"New mission: a Grade 1 cursed spirit, Kuchisake-onna. Intel says it's far stronger than typical Grade 1s!"
Satoru snatched the brief, brimming with confidence. "Don't worry, Teach, we've got this!"
"Got this?"
Yaga paused, then spoke flatly. "One year ago, the sewer explosion in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward—that was you, right, Satoru?"
"Uh…"
Satoru clammed up.
Yaga's gaze shifted. "Ten months ago, the collapse of that abandoned toy factory in Tokyo, Sawa—that was your doing, wasn't it?"
Sawa scratched his head sheepishly. "Well… it was abandoned, so I thought I'd help demolish it."
"Six months ago, Suguru, you released a cursed spirit, and a passing cop saw it. He insisted there were invisible ghosts and got labeled a nutcase."
Suguru gave an awkward, polite smile.
Finally, Yaga's eyes landed on Shoko.
Shoko raised her hands. "Sensei, I'm a non-combatant! None of that's on me!"
"I know."
Yaga's forehead vein throbbed. "But who stole my three prized bottles of liquor?"
Shoko froze, then gave a nervous laugh, rubbing her head.
Yaga took a long breath. "I see it now. You're all masters of your own chaos!"
Satoru stared at the ceiling, Suguru at the floor, Sawa at the sky outside at a dramatic 45-degree angle, and Shoko zoned out, eyes vacant.
All four playing dumb…
"Ugh…"
Yaga let out a weary, fatherly sigh.
"Complete this mission properly. No shenanigans!"
"Yes, Sensei!" ×4.
…
Outside the apartment building, Sawa, Satoru, and Suguru stretched.
"One Grade 1 curse? You three can handle it. I'm sitting this out!"
Shoko lit a cigarette, looking melancholic.
Her rare Reverse Cursed Technique could heal anyone with a pulse, but her teammates were absurdly strong.
After every mission, they weren't just uninjured—their clothes were barely dirty.
A scratch would heal before she could use her technique.
Still, she enjoyed the downtime.
Shoko pressed her fingers together, chanting, "Born of darkness, blacker than black, all impure spirits, be cleansed!"
A black, tar-like substance surged, forming a massive cubic barrier around the building.
"The veil's set. It's all yours!"
"Let's go!"
Sawa led, striding into the dim apartment building.
Satoru and Suguru followed close behind.
Inside, a thick miasma of resentment and cursed energy clung to the walls like grime.
Countless low-grade spirits drifted through the halls.
The trio swept floor by floor, but even at the top, there was no sign of the "Kuchisake-onna" from the brief.
Satoru frowned. "Huh? What's the deal? Did the higher-ups screw up the intel?"
Suguru shook his head. "Kuchisake-onna's a powerful curse, way beyond standard Grade 1s. The higher-ups wouldn't botch something this big. Anywhere we haven't checked?"
Sawa thought, then snapped up. "Wait, doesn't this building have a basement?"
They exchanged a glance, racing from the top floor to the first, locating the basement door.
Creak—
Sawa pushed it open.
Instantly, an overwhelming sense of wrongness flooded their senses.
The environment, even the air, shifted dramatically, as if the world had turned upside down.
Their faces darkened.
"A domain!"
Not all domains are fully realized.
Some powerful cursed spirits can't achieve a complete Domain Expansion but can create incomplete domains.
Like the cursed womb Dagon, encountered by Yuji, Megumi, and others at the juvenile detention center in the future.
Weaker spirits might use their cursed energy to form a simple domain, amplifying their techniques.
Neither has the special abilities or guaranteed hits of a true Domain Expansion.
Right now, the basement was saturated with cursed energy, transformed into the resident spirit's personal domain.
The moment Sawa opened the door, they'd stepped into it.
"At least it's not a full Domain Expansion!"
Sawa exhaled in relief.
Suddenly, Kuchisake-onna appeared before them.
Beneath her disheveled hair, her face was a mass of countless eyes.
In a chilling, bone-piercing voice, she asked, "Am… I… beautiful?"
"Hideous!"
Sawa shot back without hesitation.
"AHHHH!"
Kuchisake-onna's resentment surged, and she lunged, scissors flashing.
Even a cursed spirit couldn't bear such an insult.
Her sharp blades gleamed with menace, but they slowed to a stop before SawaSystemic issue detected.
A gash opened behind Suguru's ear, blood trickling down his neck.
"Tch, Limitless Technique's so damn handy!"
Suguru, watching Sawa and Satoru block attacks without moving, felt a pang of envy.
"Rainbow Dragon!"
As Kuchisake-onna pressed her assault, Suguru waved a hand, and the dragon spirit roared, coiling tightly around her.
"Technique Forward: Blue!"
"Shinbu-Ryu: Tiger's Piercing Heart!"
The trio launched a righteous beatdown.
Shocking! Three men in a basement do this to a helpless woman!
After a while, the battered Kuchisake-onna lay limp, thoroughly wrecked.
Suguru stroked his chin. "This curse is pretty strong. Worth taming!"
"Cursed Spirit Manipulation!"
A black vortex swirled in Suguru's palm, sucking in Kuchisake-onna's form, condensing it into an egg-sized, shimmering black orb.
"Whoa! So that's your technique!"
Satoru leaned in, eyes wide like a curious kid.
Though he knew Suguru's technique was Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Suguru hadn't faced a spirit worth taming until now.
This was Satoru's first time seeing it in action.
Suguru chuckled. "Just turning spirits into orbs and swallowing them."
Sawa piped up, "How's it taste? It's a cursed spirit, so it's gotta be gross, right?"