Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

The gray fog spread outwards from the center of the man.

Like the last thin film of water on the beach after the tide recedes, it silently covers the ground and the scattered fragments of bone spurs.

Nanami stood at the doorway, the spell tool in her right hand unconsciously drooping a little lower.

He saw the mist rise from beneath Li Ren's feet, and then it stopped.

It stopped exactly half a meter in front of Kugizaki and Fushiguro.

The edge of the mist seemed to have been measured by an invisible ruler, precisely drawing an arc that protected the three of them outside the domain, except for Tanaka, who was encircled inside.

"...You stopped." Nanami's voice was so low that only he could hear it.

Tanaka stood in the center of the fog.

His right arm, which was twice as thick as his left, remained in the thrusting position, with five bone spikes protruding from his knuckles, their tips pointing directly at Rito's brow.

But the movement suddenly stopped.

His eye, twice the normal size, was spinning wildly, and on the left side of his human face, his chapped lips were trembling, as if he were about to shout something.

Frost began to spread, like a thin veil.

It spreads from the ankles to the calves, from the knees to the thighs, and with each inch it spreads, the body in that inch comes to a complete standstill.

"Tanaka," Rito said.

His voice wasn't loud, but in the abandoned laboratory, every syllable clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

"I didn't help you up when you fell during PE class."

Tanaka's human eye stopped moving.

"Actually, I saw it."

Li Ren's voice was flat, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"That day, my mind was a mess, full of random thoughts. I saw the people around me laughing because you fell, but all I could think was, 'What does this little thing have to do with me?'"

He paused, then continued:

"That's what I thought too when Kaori confessed to me."

The frost had reached up to Tanaka's chest.

The eye, twice its normal size, swirled wildly, turning into something murky, as if it understood his words, yet also seemed not to.

When I said "I have no plans to date for the time being," it wasn't because I didn't want to date, but because I felt that such things were unimportant, that dating was meaningless in this world, and that I should spend that time thinking about how to survive.

As he spoke, Rito took a step forward.

"But I never imagined that for her, that was her whole world."

"Whether it's being rejected after confessing your feelings, or falling down and no one helping you up, these things that are 'unimportant' to me are real moments in other people's lives. But I didn't even give them a single moment."

He raised his right hand, palm facing Tanaka's chest, and gently pressed down.

"Tanaka, I'm sorry, I should have helped you back then."

Tanaka's lips trembled violently on the left side of his face.

Something was welling up in that cloudy eye.

His tear ducts had long been damaged by the transformation of inaction, but something still tried to well up from his eyes.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

But, the rational person understood.

"...It's okay."

Tanaka's left eye slowly closed.

The next second, frost covered his head.

---

When the domain dissipated, Nanami was the first to move.

He walked to Li Ren's side, glanced at the completely frozen body on the ground, and then looked away.

"Can you still move?"

"Yes." Rito withdrew his right hand from Tanaka's chest.

The moment my fingertips left the ice, the ice made a very soft, crisp sound, like something had finally been put down.

He walked past Nanami and headed towards Kugizaki and Fushiguro.

Kugizaki sat on the ground with his back against the wall, the red marks on his neck from being strangled beginning to turn blue.

She watched as Rito walked over, her mouth moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just stretched out her hand.

"...Thanks," Kugizaki said.

Her voice was still hoarse from coughing, but her tone was no different from usual.

Rito shook his head. "I should be thanking you. If it weren't for that nail, I'd probably be dead by now."

Kugizaki paused for a moment, then turned his head away, putting the nail back into the leather sheath at his waist. "...No need to thank me, I was going to fight anyway."

Fu Hei leaned against the opposite wall, his hands supporting his knees, his breathing still catching.

He saw Rito walking towards him, and with a push, he straightened up.

"I'm fine."

"What a tsundere! He's even embarrassed to be helped up?" Rito thought to herself as she watched Fushiguro force himself to get up despite his discomfort.

He pulled the pain-relieving spray from his pocket and tossed it at Fu Hei.

"Fuhei, use this, it works quite well."

Looking at the spray in his hand, Fu Hei paused for a moment, then lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought.

At that moment, Nanami's voice came from behind the two of them.

"Everyone, let's go. There's nothing left to see in this room."

Before leaving, Rito looked back one last time.

Tanaka's body was slowly turning into grayish-white powder beneath the ice, falling from his toes like a sand sculpture that had been forgotten for too long finally getting some wind.

Then, he turned and left.

The air in the abandoned corridor was colder than when we arrived.

Nanami walked at the front, Kugizaki and Fushiguro were in the middle, and Rito was at the back.

After walking about twenty steps, Nanami suddenly stopped.

"Riri, write everything that happened earlier into your report when you get back."

"...All of them?" Rito asked.

Nanami paused for a moment, then said, "Write down the details of the lab work as they are. As for the rest, you can decide for yourself."

Li Ren fell silent.

The technique itself is the greatest secret of all techniques, especially in the realm where it is used as a trump card.

If we report it like this, it will definitely attract the covetous eyes of the higher-ups.

This is very disadvantageous for people who have not yet matured.

Moreover, those high-ranking officials at the university, anyone who has read the original work, naturally knows what kind of people they are.

"Mission complete, time to get some rest." Kugizaki stretched, his eyes filled with anticipation for returning to the high school.

"Don't even think about it. The exchange meeting is starting in two months. Teacher Gojo won't let us rest. In fact, the training volume will be doubled."

"Oh my god, how could I not have thought of that!" Kugizaki cried out in despair, his beautiful dream shattered in an instant.

The corridor fell silent once more.

The laboratory's iron door slowly closed behind me, trapping the grayish-white fluorescent light and the falling bone powder inside.

The sound of footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

At the deepest part of the passage, a figure covered in stitches slowly emerged from the shadows.

The real person tilted his head, gazing in the direction where the four had disappeared.

On that face covered in stitches, the corners of his mouth were slowly widening into a grin.

"They can even contain the domain—"

He covered his face with his hands, and a twisted laugh seeped out from between his fingers.

"Hehehe... Rito-chan, you're getting more and more interesting."