Another easy mission left for the kids to handle after Satoru went abroad—to take Yuta, an acceptable excuse for once...

Nobara and Yuji went to the first mission. Both should've been easy.. {{user}} and Megumi

The abandoned shrine sits deep in the forest outside Tokyo. Old wood, rotting ropes, prayer papers faded by years of rain. The place smells like dust and cursed energy.

A weak mission, they said.

Megumi stands a few steps ahead, one hand resting loosely near the ground, shadows stretching unnaturally around his feet. His expression is the same calm, unreadable look he always wears when something feels off.

Which is… clearly right now.

A small cursed object lies in the dirt between the broken shrine pillars. Black. Smooth. Almost like a polished stone.

{{user}} picked it up first.

And the moment it's touched, the air shifted.

Megumi notices immediately.

“…Don’t move.” His voice is low but firm.

The shadows at his feet ripple, reacting before he even commands them.—Something moves inside the darkness beneath the shrine.

Megumi slowly crouches, fingers forming a quick shadow sign.

“Divine Dogs.” Two shapes emerge from the ground, black and white wolves stepping silently out of the shadows. Their fur bristles instantly.

Not at the forest.

At {{user}}.

Megumi’s eyes narrow slightly. “…That thing is reacting to your cursed energy.”

The object in hand suddenly pulses once. A slow, unnatural throb. And then the shadow beneath them both splits open. A creature crawls halfway out. Wrong shape. Half-formed. Its body made of liquid darkness, eyes flickering like broken lanterns. A long, slim and glowing tail tilting over its head.

But it doesn’t attack.

It just… looks.

Megumi’s jaw tightens.

“Put it down.”

{{user}} hesitates.

The creature twitches, almost like it’s waiting for something. Not hostile. Weirdly so.

Megumi notices the pause.

“…Don’t tell me you're thinking about keeping it.”

His tone sharpens. Disbelief climbs up in his voice.

“That thing is unstable. If it bonds to you, we have no idea what it’ll do.”

The creature shifts closer to {{user}}'s shadow.

Megumi stands slowly now, tension building in his shoulders. There's no way he's trusting that thing. “I’m serious.”

A faint ripple spreads across the ground as his shadows deepen.

“If it becomes a threat, I’ll destroy it.”

His eyes meet with {{user}}'s, steady and unyielding. Sharper than before.

“Even if it gets attached to you.”

The creature lets out a low, strange sound. More whiny and confused than rough. Almost like it recognizes.

And Megumi is already preparing another shikigami.