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A blood-curdling scream awakened everyone within the Gojo estate the following morning, signaling the tragedy that had unfolded in the family's garden. Mirai, the very sorcerer Sora Akari had been searching for the previous night, discovered the body of the older woman, her skin clinging to her bones as if she had been drained of all liquid prior to death.
Hotaru, driven by curiosity and a sense of foreboding, burst from her room. The lack of sleep from the previous night now seemed like a premonition of the horror that lay ahead. As she sprinted down the hallway, her heart raced with both dread and an urgent need to understand what had happened.
Turning a corner, she encountered Satoru, who was rubbing the sleep from his tired blue eyes, still clad in the sweatpants and baggy T-shirt he had slept in. Their eyes met, and she was struck by his calm demeanor, a stark contrast to the panic that had seized the rest of his family.
It was clear he knew something.
Without another word, Hotaru hastened her steps toward the snow-covered garden. The expressions of horror and fear on the faces she passed only fueled her anxiety. Drawing closer to her father's figure, she noticed the fearful glances directed at her.
The Gojo family was afraid of her.
"F-Father?" she stuttered, the anger and heightened cursed energy surrounding him palpable. As he turned to face her, the sight of her deceased mother was almost too much to bear, bile rising in her throat.
Tenji, her father, grabbed her shoulder roughly, pulling her close. "What did you do?"
Before she could reply, she felt a sharp smack across her face.
Reeling from the blow, Hotaru fell to the snow, the cold against her cheek offering a fleeting moment of clarity amidst the chaos. The accusation in her father's eyes, the fearful and suspicious gazes of the onlookers, it all seemed like an inescapable nightmare.
Standing over her, Tenji's presence was imposing, his cursed energy crackling with barely contained fury. "Explain yourself," he demanded, his voice a low, dangerous rumble—a stark contrast to the gentle man who had once taught her how to care for her wounds.
Struggling to her feet, Hotaru wiped the blood from her nose. "Father, I swear, I didn't do this. You have to believe me!" Her voice was laced with desperation, pleading for understanding from the one person she believed would always support her.
The garden fell silent, the wind whispering through the trees the only sound. Every eye within the Gojo estate was fixed on her, searching for a confession or any sign of guilt. "Your cursed energy residuals are everywhere!"
Satoru, arriving at a more measured pace, surveyed the scene with critical eyes. His unreadable expression took in everything from Mirai's pale, drawn face to Hotaru's desperate attempts to maintain her composure.
"Enough," Satoru's voice cut through the tension, his arrival beside the Akari members halting the accusations. "This isn't the time for baseless accusations."
