"I feel like we missed it." Alina said, leaning back into the chair, many, many hours, breaks and pages later.
"Why?" Cayne asked, turning to look at her.
"Look at the number of pages left."
"Ah, well. We don't know for sure that it's not later." Rihito said hopefully.
"It's not," Hikari chipped in, turning the last page.
"Means we have to do this all again." Rihito grumbled. "You're sure this is the right witch, right?"
"Yeah." Hikari was confused.
"What she said," Shōhei said.
"Someone jog my memory and tell me why this last name sounds familiar." Cayne said, also staring intently at the page.
"What name?" Korū asked, staring blankly at a wall.
"Saeki… right there." Cayne stabbed his finger at the name.
Korū turned abruptly. "What's the curse?"
"Wait, what's happening?" Tsukiyama asked as he finally re-entered the room.
"Seems like we were careless enough to miss the curse we were looking for." Rihito answered. "But it also seems like they found something else."
"Interesting. What is it?"
Cayne read out loud, "'Refer to the curse on the Okazaki family for more details: all members of the family must die before they are forty.'
"'On top of this, they must now die in the hands of a Saeki. The Saeki family, who is close to the Okazaki family, has also offended us when they claimed that we are dishonourable people when I failed to seal a deal with them-'"
"Sounds a tad bit unreasonable, don't you think?" Alina muttered. Rihito shrugged.
"I like to think we've improved." he muttered.
"'-the terms of this curse are as follows: only one member of the Saeki family will carry the burden of killing off the Okazakis personally before any of them reach forty, or die of other causes. Failure to do so will result in a death equivalent to that of an ikrar. This Saeki is known as the cursed, who will be marked with a skull on their left wrist.'"
"Harsh." Alina commented, getting a glare from Linda, who gestured for Cayne to continue again.
"'On the death or demise of the cursed, the responsibility will be passed on to either a random member of the family, or a person who was present at the time of death. If the person the curse is passed on to is not part of the family, the curse will bounce back to the Saeki family after the stranger has perished.'
"'Breaking this curse will result in both of these families, Okazaki and Saeki, to be freed of their respective curses. One, the cursed, be it a member of the family or an unlucky stranger, must be burnt in the End Abyss.'"
"There's no 'two'?" Alina asked as Cayne stopped reading. Cayne shrugged in response, gesturing to the empty right side of the book.
"Burnt?" Korū dug his nails into his palms. "That's fucking brutal."
"Murdered? Sounds fun. I'll join you." Alina said.
Korū curled his lip in a snarl. "I'm not gonna burn people, I don't care if it's a Saeki or not. No one deserves that."
"No one deserves that, but you don't deserve to die early either. And others will still suffer in the end, because this curse will still be handed down the generations." Alina said.
Hikari blinked slowly. "If you can't bring yourself to kill anyone, I'll do it." She gagged internally. She would do what she had to do.
"You do know how long and dangerous the trip is to the End Abyss right?" Rihito asked, sighing.
"If they're unable to bring themselves to kill people, even if the trip is easy, nothing's gonna happen," Shōhei pointed out.
"Even if you are a bloodthirsty monster who wants to kill everyone, how are you supposed to get your hands on him and drag him there in the first place? And I would do it for you if you wanted me to, if you didn't want to do it yourself." Alina said.
"Drug him? There are things that can easily do that to a dragon."
"Wow, easy. No problem finding him and hunting him down in the first place." Alina said sarcastically.
"Why are you so aggressive?" Cayne asked her. She just shrugged.
"Wait, him as in Akui?" Linda asked.
"Who?" Rihito said, not following the conversation.
"Most likely him. Which means he'll come for us eventually," Hikari pointed out. "We can do it then."
"Foolproof." Alina muttered. Linda elbowed her.
"I mean, I could help." Tsukiyama offered. "I feel kind of bad for being part of a family who had a penchant for cursing anyone and everyone."
"What do you suggest, then?" Hikari growled at Alina.
Shōhei met Tsukiyama's eyes. "But you might die, and none of us are gonna be able to live with it."
"Wow, I don't know," Alina told Hikari. "But I know I have a score to settle with him too because he murdered my brother. He also most likely took my best friend. We need to come up with a plan as foolproof as possible so that as little people die as possible."
Tsukiyama smiled a little at Shōhei. "That's the least I could do."
"Cool. So the plan is, Korū and I go to the End Abyss and stay there. If Akui wants to kill us, he's gotta find us there." Hikari folded her arms. "I don't think there's another way to get him out of hiding."
Shōhei sighed. "If you want to."
"Night Stalker is still looking, though. They may be successful. Anyway, he has like, thirteen years before he really needs to kill you." Linda said.
"Patience is virtue."
"If you're going to waste up to thirteen years of your life waiting, isn't that defeating the point of living longer to a certain extent?" Cayne questioned.
"Yeah, but-" Hikari started.
"If it helps everyone in the next generation somehow, we're willing," Korū interjected.
Alina snorted hard.
"What?" He glared at her. "We'll still be alive. Doesn't matter."
"What he said," Hikari chimed in.
"Damn I got my cheek scraped for no reason. He secretly loves life." Alina muttered, having flashbacks to their useless scuffle.
"Wrong. I don't love life," Korū corrected. "I don't mind life. I'm still alive because if I die, he," he pointed at Shōhei, "is not gonna live with that, and I'd prefer he stay alive."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Alina sighed. "I thought you were borderline suicidal."
"Why the hell would I be suicidal?"
"Yeah, all that suicide talk was for fun," Hikari offered. "If it wasn't, I'd have chucked a therapist or Kumori at him."
Alina was wearing a very fed up look. Rihito cleared his throat. "Can I suggest that you wait till Night Stalker gets back to you?"
"...no."
"Korū!"
"Okay, fine, sure." Korū huffed at his sister.
"Great. Do we head back first?" Linda asked.
"I can fly some of you back," Shōhei offered. "Or there'll be four people in the back because of Hikari."
"Yes, then we will kindly abandon the car." Alina said.
"I said some, not all," he stated. "Plus I can't fit all of you onto my back, anyway."
"Damn it. The last time I flew on a dragon was when it was trying to kill me, and I stabbed the base of his wing."
"You what?" Shōhei blinked.
"I almost cut his wing off." Alina continued to say.
Korū's gaze was flicking between Alina and Shōhei, hoping nothing too drastic was gonna happen.
Shōhei was just deathly silent.
Alina raised her eyebrow at Shōhei. "Two were eventually locked up for life for human murder, and the other two only a few years because they were not directly involved, but abetted. I remember one had the surname of…" her lips curled infinitesimally, into an unseen snarl, "Akiyama."