Fun and Games (self-insert #4)

Chapter 7

I gave Naru a long look as he and Bou-san strode out of the principal's office. In the time it took for the door to close behind them, I heard a voice spluttering indignantly. "You finished?" I asked sympathetically.

"Just about."

"He sounds happy."

Bou-san grimaced.

Back at the base, Mai was indignant. "What!? We're giving up?" She asked, rubbing the salt in Naru's sore pride with each question. He pretended to ignore her, though, as he flipped though his notebook. "Right in the middle of our investigation?"

"Yeah, we decided in a meeting." Bou-san said wearily. "It was Nira's idea."

Mai rounded on me, aghast. "As bad as things are, we're just gonna leave?" She exclaimed.

"That's it!" I said as brightly as possible. Please don't forget that I'm the only one who has some sort of idea of what's going on. This needs to play out exactly how it goes in the manga.

"B-but..."

Bou-san stepped in, taking control of the conversation. "We told our client that we were giving up." He said defeatedly.

I was still smiling with a demented cheerfulness so she switched her target to Naru. "That's impossible! Naru! You're okay with this?"

He snapped the notebook shut as his answer. No, he wasn't okay with this, but that fact that he'd followed my advice really showed how much he trusted me. Mai flinched but forged on. "But...but that thing is still here. If we leave, it'll still devour the remaining spirits...and then it'll grow even stronger." Her voice rose insistently. "In the end, all that'll remain will be the most powerful spirit ever, right?!"

Naru had been staring at his notebook. His eyes widened and his head turned slowly. "What did you just say?"

"Huh. You mean, 'it'll still devour the remaining spirits, and all that'll remain will be the most powerful spirit ever'?"

"Y-yes." For the first time, Naru looked shell shocked. His dark eyes were wide and his expression was stunned, as if I'd hit him over the head. "That's is. Maybe this is...a spirit Kudoku!"

Lin stiffened. "Did you say 'Kudoku'?" Mai asked uncertainly.

"It's a type of curse."

"A CURSE?!"

Naru nodded, running his slender fingers over the notebook's spine. "It's an ancient magical curse from that came from China. But it's use is pretty rare these days. A curse usually employs an instrument—most of the time it's an object, like a figurine or a charm. But some curses employ a living creature. That kind of curse is called a Kudoku. A common instrument for Kudoku is an insect—for example, the insect that's known as Kinsan. However, it can use other creatures as well: snakes, centipedes, and so on." He said, his voice reverting to Textbook Mode. "The conjured of the curse would fill a jar with the insects and bury it in the ground. After some months, he would dig up the jar, and nearly all of the insects would have devoured one another. But always there was one remaining. That last remaining insect is the one they would use in the curse. The insect would bring great prosperity to the conjurer's house, but at a price: every so often the conjured would have to bring it a human sacrifice or else be devoured by the cursed insect. If the master couldn't take care of the spirit anymore, he would cast into the street all of the riches it had brought to his house. This is the insect that's called Kakinsan, or the 'dowry insect'."

"B-but..." Mai stammered. "If all of those riches were just laying around in the street, couldn't just anyone take them?"

"Anyone who tried wouldn't know about the curse." Ayako said softly. "And would himself be devoured."