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❅⋆꙳•❅*‧ ‧*❆ ₊⋆
UMEKO NEARLY SCREAMED upon witnessing a large curse with a brown liquid-like body trying to sneak into gojō's room.
the dark-haired woman was used to seeing small curses — like fly heads — loitering around. she never tried to reason it with anyone else, since most people would just call her crazy. however, she never came across bigger ones, ones like the size of an elephant.
frozen in place, umeko gripped tightly onto the wooden door frame to keep herself from melting into the ground. she didn't know what to do. she wasn't sure what to do. her mother never encountered such creatures since she couldn't even seen them.
'what would she do? what would she do?', she consistently questioned herself, as the curse was already slowly seeping through the door's crevice and entering the bedroom.
"HEY!"
the curse jerked upwards, staring at umeko with its one eye.
umeko gripped tightly onto the fabric of her night kimono, convincing herself that the curse wasn't even that bad. she was coping real hard.
"COME OVER HERE YOU DINGLE-BAT!!", the woman insulted, to which the curse had started sluggishly heading towards her.
beginning to make a run for it, umeko could only tell herself to not look back. she wasn't exactly sure where she was heading, but as long as it was away from the young heir's room, that was fine.
huffing and puffing, umeko could feel her lungs about to collapse for she wasn't used to doing much physical activities. and just as she was about to trip over a pathetic twig, an arrow was shot and pierced the curse into pieces.
dropping onto her knees, umeko gasped for a breath of air that wasn't forced into her throat by her survival instincts.
"are you okay?", yui questioned, strolling towards the exhausted woman who took a while to nod her head.
"seems like you can see them", the old maid mumbled.
"you can seem them too?"
"a small portion of the population can", yui informed, "though that's not much of your concern as of now".
"young master...h-he's safe!", umeko choked out, finally returning back to her regular breathing pattern.
"he'll be safe regardless. you needn't worry about him".
'how could i not? the boy's only seven'.
"now, i'll be honest with you. this happens more often than not. those things will never cease. gojō-sama knew it was going to happen, as it does every time. he just didn't know it'd be this soon".
"what are you talking about? what—"
"umeko-san", yui sternly interrupted, "you now have two choices. one, you take the money and leave this estate once and for all, never uttering another word about it".
"or?", umeko questioned, her dark-blue eyes holding uncertainty and slight discomfort.
"or you stay. but be prepared, because if you're not careful around those curses, you'll end up dead".
umeko suddenly remembered the young gojō's words. the pieces all making some sort of sense now.
"curses you say..."
❅
gojō woke up having the best sleep he's had in the short years that he's lived. it was unusual, for he always made sure to be cautious during the night.
"good morning young master. may i come in?", yui greeted from the other side of the door.
"where's the new nanny?", gojō questioned.
a moment of silence ensued, to which the young heir had just sighed.
"she left didn't she? did a curse come by and scare her off? if so, how come i didn't hear it?"
"she has not left yet. i gave her a day off to think things through first", yui informed, "and i believe young master wasn't aware of the curse because of the chamomile tea she had served you last night. tea has a calming effect on the human body".
"hm, i see. well, whatever she decides doesn't really matter to me", gojō shrugged, getting ready for his day as another maid just came by to drop off his breakfast.
he honestly didn't miss her. they barely even knew each other. but perhaps gojō had secretly hoped in his seven year-old heart that umeko was different than the others.
"satoru", his father would instruct him, "you don't need anyone. you're a six-eye user with the infinity. you'll become the strongest, and the strongest doesn't need others. do you understand?"
and poor little gojō satoru would just nod in agreement, even though his father was just as much of a stranger as his previous caretakers are.
"yes father. the strongest doesn't need anyone", he recited.
