// SURVIVOR'S GUILT // : MAKI ZEN'IN

1.

Maki Zen'in felt it on her back.

Cold, decisive, perfect to a fault in execution.

The gaze of a curse-killer, no sorcerer. One who relished in the hunt of cursed spirits, not seeing the torturous job as a means to an end, but rather one who relished the means themselves above all else. The prowling, the biding of time, the patience in anticipation of the perfect one-hit kill, the delight of a swift execution in a single blow. Only pure, unbridled lethality could emit such a potent presence on her, one to paralyze her entirely.

She encountered several people with this presence back in the Zen'in clan higher-ups, namely her father, Ogi. A man seldom satisfied with anything and even less satisfied with his children, the only thing which seemed to satiate him in any way was the reassurance of his status and power. One such way of reinforcing his status was the execution of both spirit and rogue sorcerer, if only to be seen as an equal to her uncle and his brother, Naobito, the clan head.

The Hei were filled with bloodlusted monsters embodying this cold nature.

Maki could only surmise on the presence of famed sorcerer-killer Toji Zen'in, a man outcasted from the clan on his own accord. Regardless, the aura of a sorcerer above the very concept of sorcery, one who delved into the realm of pure force of nature, she felt it.

Three, golden, sharp eyes piercing onto her back from above, belonging to a killer.

His words pierced her chest, and a pit burnt through her stomach, making her flush with nausea.

A Cursed Speech User of the Inumaki Clan, and a small-fry Cursed Tool User alongside them....?

How.....Mundane.

Despite internal pleas for her body to budge and retaliate in any meaningful way, she could only be still beside Toge, fixated on the unmoving body of their fellow sorcerer.

Until-

"Ah- H-Holy shit, you guys are high schoolers?!"

The sudden shift in deep tone to that of a teenager and complete dissipation of the intent to kill shocked Maki and Toge out of their fear, and both teenagers jerked their heads the opposite way towards the source of the voice with a moment's hesitation.

Maki made eye contact with the figure first.

The boy on the other side of the hole in the floor was, just as she had guessed, no older than the rest of them. Despite his boisterous voice and shocked expression, the young man had a much more innocent look to him; round, almost droopy hazel brown eyes and scruffy black, neck-length hair split down the middle contrasting a sharp and slim nose were his most distinguishable features, putting aside the structured nature of his sunken cheeks and defined jaw. He was just shy of tall, no more than a dozen centimeters taller than Maki, with the look of a veteran sorcerer by aesthetics alone; baggy olive cargos, black combat boots that had seen better days and a skin-tight long-sleeve accentuated his build.

He looked like a weathered dog, if anything.

The boy, while Maki was still recovering from the assault on her emotional state, seemed to relax and rub his nape with a half-baked sorrow etched on his face.

"Aw, man, that's my bad!" He sighed.

The boy leapt over the hole in the floor, and, though dazed, Maki managed to awkwardly push Inumaki back as she took a step away from the boy before them.

The boy moved past the two and said, "I'll be honest here, I thought you two were here to kill me, and sic'd that panda stuffy at me to mess me up!"

Both Inumaki and Maki herself were both lost for words, yet filled with thoughts on the matter.