Zephyr was speechless with embarrassment. Lumine firmly insisted that they go nowhere else and headed straight for the supermarket.
"So many people here," she muttered.
The other shoppers, upon seeing Lumine, instinctively moved aside to make way for her.
Only then did her mood brighten considerably. "It must be because I'm just _too_ cute."
Zephyr rolled his eyes. "No, it's because your clothes look way too weird."
The cutest!
If it were just that, it might be fine. But the main issue was Lumine's golden hair — she looked exactly like a delinquent girl.
...
Lumine clenched her fists. "That Gojo Satoru! He promised ages ago to get me a new outfit, but he still hasn't! Just wait till I get back — he's dead meat!"
Paimon chimed in, "Exactly! Every time Paimon fly out, those four characters on my outfit are so _embarrassing_! Paimon don't even dare to fly around anymore."
Zephyr added, "You're not even _supposed_ to be seen, okay? Even if you wore normal clothes, it wouldn't make a difference."
As he spoke, he gave the backpack a few squeezes.
"Mmph mmph..."
Lumine said, "Let's go buy a couple of outfits in a bit."
Paimon agreed, "Paimon is all for it!"
Zephyr said with a grin, "Well, if my _wife_ says so, of course I'll go. But Paimon, are you sure you can even find clothes that fit you?"
"Who's your _wife_!?" Lumine snapped.
"Paimon totally can!" Paimon insisted.
Zephyr teased, "Aren't you my wife? Isn't this game I'm playing called 'My Wife Searching for Her Sister'?"
"What kind of dumb name is that?" both Lumine and Paimon said in unison.
Lumine declared righteously, "No matter what wicked thoughts you may have about me, I'll never give in. My number one goal is to become stronger! As for your requests—wait till I'm powerful enough to consider them."
Paimon muttered under her breath, "Wasn't your goal to save your sister?"
Lumine's face turned slightly red. "Ahem, that was a slip of the tongue. My actual goal is: first, rescue my sister; second, get stronger; third, seek revenge."
"And fourth is marry me? Fifth is have three kids with me? Sixth is go back in time and marry me all over again?"
"Pfft! Keep dreaming!"
Paimon's eye twitched uncontrollably.
Suddenly, Zephyr noticed something odd — among the crowd, there was one guy who kept staring at him.
"Huh? That guy over there… he's watching me?"
"Why the hell is he looking at me?"
Paimon said, "Maybe he's not looking at _you_, maybe he's looking at the Traveler."
"Why would he look at her? Because she's pretty?"
"That _is_ possible."
"Welp, can't help it — I _am_ just too adorable."
Paimon: "…"
But after wandering around the supermarket for a while, Zephyr noticed the guy was _still_ watching them.
Now _that_ started to annoy him.
"Sure, I'm good-looking, but that doesn't mean you can just keep staring at me, right?"
He walked straight over.
"Hey, kid, what are you staring at!"
The young man in front of him panicked immediately. "Ah! Sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"Oh? So if it wasn't unintentional, it _was_ intentional? Speak up, what are you trying to do? Otherwise, I'll say you were harassing me."
"Wha—!?"
The boy looked completely flustered.
"S-Sorry, it's just… it's my first time seeing such a beautiful girl, so I couldn't help staring…"
"At least you have good taste. But even if I _am_ good-looking, you can't just stare like that. I'll get embarrassed, y'know."
Paimon mumbled under her breath, _This is such a weird scene. A pretty girl calling herself "ye" [a masculine self-reference in Chinese] and claiming to be embarrassed. Where is the embarrassment, huh?_
"I… it's because someone told me… if I ever see a girl with a black uniform and golden hair, I should stay far away. I was just curious, so I… Uh—I didn't say anything!"
"Girl with a black uniform and golden hair?"
Zephyr looked down at himself. Hmm… he didn't look like the one being described.
Then he looked over at Lumine.
"They mean Lumine? Stay away from her? Why?"
Suddenly, the boy looked _very_ familiar.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Junpei Yoshino."
"Junpei Yoshino!?"
Zephyr froze for a second. "_You're_ Junpei Yoshino?"
He really hadn't noticed before. But after checking his info, it was exactly who he thought it was. What a stroke of luck—just when he'd been looking everywhere, he runs into him by chance. Jackpot.
"Come with me for a sec."
"Huh?"
Without waiting for a response, he dragged the boy out of the supermarket.
Junpei looked confused. "U-Um, excuse me, but… do you need something from me?"
Zephyr took a deep breath. "Nah, nothing serious. I just want to ask you a few questions."
"Okay, go ahead then."
"Wait, let me come out first."
Paimon flew out of the backpack, letting out a relieved sigh. "Phew, Paimon was suffocating in there."
"Eh?"
Junpei's eyes went wide. "A cursed spirit!?"
"Paimon flying kick!!"
Junpei froze, stunned, as Paimon's tiny feet kicked him right in the chest.
"…It didn't hurt?"
"Ugh…"
Paimon puffed out her cheeks, clearly annoyed. "Then how about this? Paimon headbutt!" And she smacked right into his face.
"OW! That hurt!"
"Now you feel it, huh! Waaaah… but it hurt me too…"
Zephyr sighed and muttered, "This must be what they mean by _hurting yourself a thousand to damage the enemy eight hundred_…"
Paimon winced through the pain and said, "That's what you get for running your mouth!"
The boy covered his nose and asked, "You're not a cursed spirit? Then… what _are_ you?"
"You!!"
Junpei quickly covered his mouth. "Uh—sorry! I'm not very good at talking…"
"Oh, Paimon can tell. You're not _bad_ at talking—you're _horrible_ at it."
"S-Sorry…"
"But since you can recognize a cursed spirit, Paimon know Paimon didn't mistake you for someone else. Let me ask you—have you met Mahito?"
Junpei's eyes widened. "Mahito…? You know Mahito too!?"
Paimon said, "Ah, so he _does_ know that murderer Mahito."
"M-Murderer? That must be a misunderstanding! Mahito-san isn't a murderer!"
"You were probably at the movie theater that day. You saw him kill people with your own eyes—how is that _not_ a murderer?"
"Uh…"
Junpei lowered his head. "Mahito-san… only killed bad people…"
"Even if they were bad people, it's the law that should punish them—not a cursed spirit doing whatever it wants."
"…"
"You need to understand—he's not even human. He's a cursed spirit."
"I know that."
"No, you _don't_. You don't understand what a cursed spirit truly is."
Junpei bit his lip and said, "Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirits… some cursed spirits are classified this way. Cursed spirits are the manifestation of cursed energy that leaks from humans. Even if they don't actually exist, shared perceptions of fear can easily take shape as powerful curses."
"You know quite a bit, huh."
"That's all stuff Mahito-san taught me."
Zephyr frowned. "That part might be true, but I bet he didn't tell you the real reason cursed spirits exist."
"Eh…"
"Cursed spirits exist _to kill_. They are born from hatred, anger, and negativity, and they exist to vent those feelings through slaughter. Every day in this world, tens of thousands of innocent people die—killed by cursed spirits."
"What…? That's… Then what about you? Who _are_ you people? Jujutsu sorcerers?"
"Yeah."
"Then… the reason you're talking to me… is it to arrest me?" Junpei asked with a complicated expression.
Zephyr replied, "You haven't killed anyone—why would I arrest you?"
"Huh?"
Junpei was stunned. He'd thought this guy came to catch him, but apparently not.
"Besides, arresting people is the police's job. Our job is to _exorcise cursed spirits_."
Upon hearing that, Junpei's face went pale. "So you're here to kill Mahito-san…? No! I won't betray Mahito-san!"
Zephyr shook his head. _Man, he really _has_ been brainwashed._
//END
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