Shino looked clearly unhappy and even clucked his tongue.
“Don’t make it sound so simple.”
“I’m not! But—”
“There’s nothing I can do, at least as of now.”
“What?!”
Masamichi was taken aback by Shino’s unusual declaration of defeat, which was rare for him.
“As a general rule, a spell can only be undone by the person who cast it,” he said very calmly.
“…So you’re saying Kagiroi has to undo it?”
“That’s right. Otherwise, many spells disappear or weaken if the person who cast them dies. That would be one way, but…”
“It’d be a challenge to defeat him now. Even if he’s weaker than usual.”
“He’s currently injured, but it would be difficult to kill him. Unlike me, his soul isn’t sealed away in some vessel. He can take on any form he wants or disappear and make himself hard to find. It would be tough to chase and corner him.”
That’s what he told me!
Masamichi recalled the look on Kagiroi’s face and his voice when he mocked Shino, who continued to be bound by his late master’s curse, and a small flame of anger ignited again in his mind.
But telling Shino about that would only make him more unhappy. Thinking that, Masamichi pushed Kagiroi’s mocking words back down into the depths of his mind.
“So there’s nothing we can do? Am I going to stay like this forever?”
“Calm down. I said, ‘as of now.’”
Unable to understand what Shino was getting at, Masamichi was at a loss.
“Are you saying there’s a way to fix this with time…?”
“I can’t confirm at this point. But at the least, rebuilding the chi he stole from you won’t be a waste of effort. For a while, your job will be to eat and sleep. Don’t worry about anything else and leave the rest to me.”
Adding that it sounded like an easy job, Shino gave Masamichi a wicked smile.
“…Sorry.”
There was nothing else that Masamichi could say. All he could do was hang his head in dejection.
That night, Shino called Masamichi to his room, and they ended up sleeping together.
“I can’t imagine that Kagiroi would go to the trouble of entering the barrier and doing something at this point, but to be on the safe side, you should stay with me tonight.”
There was no way that Masamichi was about to object.
He was grateful as he slipped under the covers. He was likely to think endlessly about bad things if he went to bed alone.
Shino turned off the light and joined Masamichi.
Unlike when they shared the mattress as adults, there was plenty of room due to Masamichi’s small size.
I can even move my arms and legs.
But it was uncomfortable to do so; and his lower body felt cold, since he was sleeping in a thin T-shirt.
I hear some people sleep naked, but I don’t think I could ever do that.
Silly thoughts went through Masamichi’s mind as he decided to come right out and ask Shino something that he had thought of during dinner.
“Shino? Can I ask you something?”
“Go to sleep.”
“I can’t sleep since I keep wondering. It will only take a minute.”
“…Do what you want.”
Shino seemed to be aware that although Masamichi was shy, he was oddly stubborn and persistent at times. Masamichi thanked him for his half-hearted but affirmative response.
“You said earlier that many spells either disappear or weaken when the person who cast them dies,” he said, his eyes gradually getting used to the darkness, and he glimpsed Shino’s profile as the specter looked up at the ceiling.
“So what?”
“Then why is it that you’re still bound by Tokifuyu’s curse more than a thousand years after his death?”
“That’s because Tokifuyu took steps to make sure it continued…”
It was a simple question. But for Shino, it appeared to be a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
After speaking as if it was obvious, he gasped and mumbled to himself, “I thought it was a punishment.”
“A punishment?”
“Tokifuyu always said that I should live, learn what was good, and do good; that it was the only form of punishment and atonement for the lives I’d cruelly taken for my enjoyment; and that, as a result, it would save me.”
Masamichi chewed on the words that Shino whispered. He could feel Tokifuyu’s quiet passion and deep affection for Shino from those words.
But Shino said in an emotionless tone, “Regardless, no matter how hard he may have tried, I had no idea what this human goodness was. That had to be why he gave up on me, sealed me in a jar, and used me to protect the capital. I believed that was my punishment…until I perished in the jar.”
“So that’s why you’re angry with Tokifuyu and hold a grudge against him.”
“It’s not that simple. Don’t try to simplify things.”
Masamichi’s small body trembled at Shino’s harsh words.
“Sorry. I—”
“But…perhaps that wasn’t all that Tokifuyu had intended. From the way Kagiroi spoke and what you just asked, I’ve arrived at one possibility.”
“What’s that?”
Shino finally turned his head toward his servant.
“Tokifuyu said nothing about Gentetsu Izumo after he was done away with. I believed it was because the matter had been settled, but perhaps Tokifuyu hadn’t thought that Gentetsu’s death was the end of the plans the Izumos had crafted.”
“Are you saying he thought something or someone was still around?”
“That was probably the case. The only thing was that he didn’t have enough evidence to persuade the Bureau of Spiritual Mediums to continue their investigation and remain on alert. And…perhaps Tokifuyu also sensed that his death wasn’t far off.”
Masamichi was stunned by Shino’s reasoning, and his already higher-than-usual voice rose to another level.
“What?! You mean he knew Kagiroi was going to kill him?”
“Shut up. Stop barking like a noisy puppy. I have no idea…if he knew that Kagiroi would be the one to kill him, but naturally, he must have assumed the Izumos had another accomplice,” Shino said, narrowing his almond eyes as if remembering those distant days. Masamichi tilted his head slightly on his pillow.
“Isn’t it strange that he would seal you when you were supposed to protect him?”
Shino widened his eyes with a look of amusement.
“Hey, Masamichi. You’ve become awfully sharp since you took on that tiny body. Why don’t you stay that way forever?”
“…Don’t make fun of me. I know I’m not very useful, even as an adult, but it’s worse in this form. I want to hurry up and get my old body back. But more importantly…”
Shino turned serious again and said, “He deliberately pushed me away from him.”
“Huh?”
“If I stayed with Tokifuyu, I would have put myself on the line to protect him no matter what happened and who I was up against. Regardless of what I think of him, that’s what a contract means. But if I was attacked, and if I was to be defeated, Tokifuyu would have lost both his life and his physical power—me.”
“…Because even if Tokifuyu was in charge of the magic, you were his physical strength.”
“Right. That may be why he sealed me away and hid me deep underground. That way, everyone would think I had been turned into a cursed tool.”
“I…see! No one would have noticed you or been wary of you if you didn’t count as his physical power.”
“Precisely. I knew you were sharp tonight. I’ve heard it’s hard for blood to get all the way up to the brain of a tall man, and it’s starting to sound more plausible.”
“Oh, geez! I wasn’t a big man to begin with! But never mind that. What Tokifuyu did to you…”
“He could have simply turned me into a magical tool if he only wanted to use me to protect the capital. He could have taken away this human vessel and turned my soul into a stone, and I would have become one of the devices that protect the capital forever. That would have been much safer, leaving him with no worries about the future.”
“Th-that’s true…”
“But he didn’t do that. I thought he’d been so disappointed and angry with me that he wanted to torment me for as long as possible… That’s what I’ve always thought.”
“Did he do what he did on purpose? To leave you as you were so you could keep on living long after he died?”
“To allow me to live on so I could foil Izumo and his son’s plan, which he had predicted would be carried out after he died.”
Shino suddenly fell silent, his lips twisted in displeasure. “No,” he said and shook his head.
“Shino?”
“If that was the case, he should have told me everything. Then as my master, all he had to do was order me to hide somewhere and stop the Izumos’ plan from being put into effect after he died. To stop the mastermind and Kagiroi once and for all.”
“Yeah… Yeah, that makes sense.”
“He could have simply left our master-servant contract in place, restored some of my power, and lived out his natural lifespan. Oh god, I’ve been interpreting his intentions in a much too positive light. Forget what I just said.”
“Huh?!”
“I’ve answered your question. Go to sleep.”
With that, Shino glared at Masamichi.
There was clearly irritation in Shino’s expression. It was evident, even in the dark, but Masamichi thought it was directed more at Shino himself than at him.
“I know I’m just an outsider who doesn’t know anything,” he said, working up the courage to speak again.
“That’s right. Now, that’s enough.”
“But geez! I don’t think everything you’ve just said could be wrong. Tokifuyu— Ngh.”
Shino’s hand shot out from under the covers at an incredible speed and mercilessly covered Masamichi’s small mouth.
Shino glared at him with a furious look.
“I said that’s enough. It’s a shame that Tokifuyu’s curse prevents me from ripping off that mouth of yours. But there won’t be a third time. Shut up and go to sleep if you don’t want to be kicked out of my mattress.”
Masamichi quickly nodded to show his agreement, and Shino let go of his mouth, rolled over, and turned his back to him.
Regretting and fearful of having stepped on the tiger’s tail, Masamichi felt his heart beating like a drum. There was no way that he could go to sleep.
Still, further conversation would only irritate Shino.
He had no choice but to sleep. He had to restore whatever amount of his chi he could so he was ready to use it when they found a way to get his old body back. That was the only thing that Masamichi could do.
“Good night,” he whispered, then after a brief pause, he gently placed his forehead against Shino’s broad back. Shino twitched slightly but didn’t push him away.
Feeling a little comforted, Masamichi closed his eyes as if sensing that Shino had forgiven him.