A hundred lives for the life of one (is this the end?) | JJK

CHAPTER FOURTEEN | THICK WITH FEAR

Nukumi knew this was a terrible idea. She knew she was being reckless. If someone was powerful enough to take out Satoru, a special grade sorcerer, she stood no chance. Despite this, she couldn't stop herself from leaving the safety of Yasuo's office once Tenma's unsettling energy became a faint buzz in the back of her mind. She pushed through the door with a mental apology to Tenma; regardless of how much she knew she was being foolish, she felt an urgent need to act.

Moving swiftly through the halls leading from Yasuo's office, she dashed past the chilling morgue and the medical center that shared the building with his room. She ignored the silence and didn't bother to focus on the lingering cursed energy pressing against her senses, almost as if urging her to return and stay put. Nukumi recognized the influence of Tenma's cursed energy. Having felt it personally, she could sift through the lingering traces of his essence and practically sense his intentions and emotions clinging to it. In any other situation, if it weren't such a charged, dangerous incident, she likely wouldn't have been able to detect these impressions. She might not have even reached for Satoru's cursed energy if it weren't for the adrenaline coursing through her veins. It was the first time she'd ever done that, and the increased stimulation of the cursed energy brushing against her senses was overwhelming, making her want to curl up into a ball. But there was no time for that.

She's eternally grateful for her training, and overall increasing body capabilities, that allow her to swiftly escape the building and pelt down the paved sidewalks into the woods. It was a shortcut, a straight shot to Satoru instead of using marked paths. While it led to her earning a few cuts from stray branches and almost resulted in her eating dirt, she continued unbothered. The sting would likely reach her when the adrenaline fully seeped from her body. Not that she was waiting for the inevitable crash. That was sure to be an unpleasant experience.

The girl, with only some struggle, weaves through the undergrowth. Her sneaker-clad feet slap against the loose dirt and leaf-litter, sliding against puddles and trampling over young trees. She would be apologetic about it if it weren't for the panic and worry cloying her sense of self. If her hair wasn't a mess before, it was a rat's nest now, loose leaves and small twigs making its way into her thick hair.

When she breaks the tree-line, half-blinded by the sudden increase of sunlight, she halts. Before her is the aftermath of a heavy battle. Where there was once buildings and cobblestone paths, all that remains is the earth gouged around a center plateau. Even that spot seemed unstable. She expected to see Satoru in the center of the destruction. Every part of her was telling the girl that the older boy was in the center of it all. With the lingering, electrifying feeling of his cursed energy swarming the area there was no doubt he was here. But, she couldn't sense him.

What she felt of a weakening, slowly recovering energy was gone. It slipped through her fingers, leaving behind remnants and the carnage his cursed technique left behind. She stumbles forward, almost tripping into the pit. Instead, she trudges through the rubble to make it to the island in the center. When she got closer, it was clear he was in this spot recently. And, with the thick stench of copper, he had bled. She hauls herself up onto the useless, unstable piece of earth. The first thing she notices is the tang of curses, their blood and weak energy slinking through the gaps Satoru's overwhelming power made. The next thing she notices is a large pool of blood, slowly drying.

Was she not fast enough? She knew the boy was here. Swallowing down the bile that wanted to escape in response to Satoru's blood staining the ground, she hops from the island in the center of destruction. Maybe she could locate him? That idea was quickly turned down when she tried to reach out her senses and only found these remnants and the distinct signatures that could only be Suguru and Tenma in the distance.

She was stupid to try to involve herself in this. Maybe it would be better to return to Yasuo's office? If Satoru got up, surely he was okay. Surely Satoru would help Tenma and Suguru.