Bloody turquoise eyes | JJK x OC

Canto XXVI - A Fleeting Reunion

Even from the outside, the air around the curtain was oppressive to the point of compressing your chest, breathing soon became a chore, the closer they got the harder it was to fill their lungs with oxygen. Coming off the Ebisu station, the path to the tollgate on route 3 had been rather quick and troubleless, the neighboring areas were already evacuated by the police by the time they crossed them. But no matter where they were, the Kyoto squad could always see the dark veil towering over the city, blending in with the lightless night sky. This cursed pitch of darkness that hid within its walls unseen terrors turned their legs into jelly, and in Mai's case, her mind was catapulted back to last year's Christmas Eve, how back then that night seemed to never end like the hundred upon hundred of cursed spirits unleashed on the city.

Her fingers trembled at the thought, her fear that a night like that could have ever been repeated, in a much more condensed scale but ever so destructive. The gunslinger occupied her mind by making a mental check of how many bullets she brought with her as the team was getting briefed by the Tokyo high principal. News from the district was sporadic, communications were down, casualties amid the assistants were high and the ones that survived reported a situation completely out of hand. The only sorcerers confirmed alive were Fushiguro Megumi and Takuma Ino, both unconscious in the medical tent but in stable condition, everyone else was considered MIA. And lastly, as if that wasn't enough, there was an exorcist crisis that required extreme caution, three Empyrean-level threats that nobody knew their whereabouts and status. Indications were clear, the targets were too dangerous to be left alive.

After the briefing, her teacher came close to her: “Remember what I told you.” she told her, Mai could only nod. 

They were ready to mobilize, each one of them had a precise role to play. Momo will scout ahead on top of her broom while the rest will stay in position waiting for a signal to come, simply as that. Due to their long-ranged weaponry, Mai and Noritoshi were relegated far back, with her standing the farthest. Nothing that wasn't wrong or played an unnecessary unfairness in her book. She knelt as she laid her bag on the ground, the zipper head ran along to open the case, and one by one her rifle and revolver came to the light. As she strapped the holster to her hip, a sudden turmoil caught the gunslinger’s ears. Mai raised her head above the rail, she saw the cursed corpses forming a circle around something down the road.

Everyone rushed to the handrail, whatever was happening was however too distant to understand what was going on. 

“Did they find us?” Utahime said.

“The corpses would have dealt with it already if that was the case. But something is making them stall.” Principal Yaga responded, “I can't tell exactly from here.” 

Hearing this, Mai immediately took her rifle and looked through its scope. One big breath and her aim stabilized, the cursed corpses’ large frames were preventing her from a clear view but when a crack broke in between the three silhouettes, a glimpse of white fire hit her lenses.

“An exorcist.” She let the word escape her lips unwillingly.

“An exorcist, you say?!” Her teacher looked at her stunned. Principal Yaga almost gave them the order to attack, but the marksman quickly stopped him as she saw something else hiding in the exorcist’s back:

“There’s a child in there!”

~ 12 minutes earlier ~

It worked, they were standing outside the veil. Gabriele felt relief trail down his body, allowing himself to finally loosen up and indulge in this sense of freedom after escaping that, only in appearance, open-sky prison. His essence wasn’t aching up nearly as much, the concentration of cursed energy indicated there weren't any real threats around, thankfully.   Even Hoshi seemed to calm herself as if she could perceive the difference in the atmosphere, too. Looking around, Gabriele noticed this part of the city was untouched by the violence yet devoid of any trace of life, just like the Fire-Dori street where he first entered the district under the curtain.