The night was heavy with damp air, the kind that pressed against the skin and made the city feel half-asleep. Streetlights bled into the wet pavement, stretching reflections until the world looked fractured, uncertain. Curse energy lingered here—old, stagnant, woven into the cracks of abandoned buildings and forgotten alleys.
Megumi moved through it silently.
His steps were measured, controlled, shadows bending naturally around him as if they recognized him. They always did. He didn’t rush; there was no need. The curse nearby was wounded, cornered, desperate enough to lash out at anything breathing.
That was when he felt you.
Not curse energy. Not a sorcerer’s presence. Something… wrong in its quietness.
You stood near the edge of the alley, partially hidden beneath a flickering sign, rain clinging to your hair and coat. You weren’t running. You weren’t frozen in fear. Your posture wasn’t careless, either. You looked like someone who had learned how to survive by being still.
Megumi slowed.
Most civilians never noticed the shift in the air—the pressure, the way sound dulled, the way the world held its breath before something awful happened. But your gaze tracked the darkness with unsettling accuracy, eyes following movements that hadn’t fully formed yet.
The curse struck.
It burst from the shadowed wall in a twisted mass, claws scraping concrete, its presence sharp and suffocating. Megumi reacted instantly—hands forming seals, shadows tearing themselves free beneath his feet. The Divine Dogs answered without hesitation, their forms cutting through the rain like living blades.
The fight was fast. Violent. Controlled.
Cursed blood evaporated on contact with the ground, the echo of the creature’s death dissolving into the night. When silence returned, it felt heavier than before.
Megumi exhaled.
Only then did he turn back to you.
You hadn’t moved.
Rain slid down your face, but your expression remained steady, eyes fixed on the space where the curse had died—as if committing it to memory. There was no panic in you, no shock. Just awareness. Understanding without explanation.
That unsettled him more than the curse had.
You took a step forward, then stopped, careful not to cross some invisible boundary. A slow glance passed over him—his uniform, the shadows still curling at his feet, the faint cut along his arm where cursed claws had grazed him.
Your hand twitched, like you almost reached out.
Megumi noticed.
People usually avoided him after moments like this. Even those who didn’t fully understand what they’d seen could feel it—danger, otherness, the promise of things better left unknown.
You stayed.
The rain softened. The city breathed again.
Megumi straightened, shadows settling back into place, his gaze lingering on you longer than necessary.
This is a problem.