The next morning, Shun woke up early as usual.
Morning exercise, then sorting through everything that had happened the day before.
That was his routine.
People were easily influenced by their recent experiences, which could skew their judgment.
So every day, Shun would go over the previous day, summarizing events and combing through all the information he had picked up.
It did not guarantee new discoveries every time, but at the very least, it helped him gain a little clarity.
When he was done, his phone chimed with a new email.
This was the result of a request he had sent to an acquaintance the night before.
Because he produced a large number of techniques and was also a pretty strong sorcerer, Shun had connections both in the jujutsu world and in the normal one.
In some respects, he might even have it better than Satoru among ordinary people.
Shun tapped the email open.
The contents were entirely about Tokisaki Kurumi.
"Why do I feel like a creep spying on a girl's private life..."
He stared at the screen with a strange expression.
But that was not the point.
The important thing was the information on Kurumi.
Right now, the "ordinary" Kurumi was his only real breakthrough point.
So he had to understand everything from her birth to her present, top to bottom.
Only then could he figure out what connection she had to that cursed Kurumi.
The email covered practically everything.
Shun went through it line by line, trying to spot anything unusual.
He read all the way through nearly half of her file and still had not found a single problem.
Instead, he was getting a bit speechless.
From beginning to end, Kurumi was painted as a proper rich young lady.
Beautiful looks.
Kind personality, excellent grades, fond of small animals.
Highly skilled in cooking.
...
"Where did this perfect noble lady template come from?"
Shun could not help complaining.
Every part of the first half of the email that mentioned Kurumi eventually looped back into some kind of praise.
He even started to suspect his contact might secretly be in love with her.
Otherwise, why all these glowing descriptions?
He shook his head.
If it was all just that, there would be no useful clues at all.
He scrolled further down.
As he kept reading, his expression slowly turned complicated.
If the first half of the report was happiness, then the second half was the polar opposite.
The timeline had reached her high school years.
At that point, in the "parents" column, the status had changed to "deceased".
"Members of a national research institute, killed in an experimental accident one year ago..." Shun murmured.
One year ago.
Right when the girl had just entered high school.
The same time as what she had told him last night about her parents leaving her money and then disappearing from her life.
The email even came with photographs.
Images of Kurumi attending her parents' funeral, and of her visiting their graves...
"What an idiot..."
He thought back to the way she had smiled so brightly the night before and cursed under his breath.
The apartment she lived in now was the last thing her parents had left behind.
Everything else had been confiscated by the authorities because of its nature.
As for the pension she should have received, most of it had been sucked away by Kurumi's relatives, like vampires closing in on fresh blood.
The girl had not been able to resist them at all.
The apartment, protected by its governmental status, was the only thing they could not touch.
You could call it the last shred of mercy shown by the state.
This was also why Kurumi had started taking on various jobs as soon as she entered high school.
The maid café was just one of them.
She had plenty of other part time work.
Even going to the abandoned building yesterday had been because of a job request she took from some "odd jobs" agency.
The email ended there.
The contrast between the first half and the second half of her life was like heaven and earth.
It was hard not to feel something.
Shun slipped his phone back into his pocket and looked up at the apartment above, his gaze heavy.
Maybe, last night's tears had not been just about curses.
"I suddenly respect this girl a little more."
He let out a long breath.
He had never expected her to be carrying this kind of story on her shoulders.
After something like that, Kurumi had still kept living, working hard, and smiling.
It made him both admire her and feel a pang of pity.
"And now she is tangled up with curses on top of it. The heavens really are cruel to you in every possible way, huh, kid."
Shun headed up the stairs.
He had decided. He was going to settle this whole mess properly.
"I brought breakfa..."
Carrying the breakfast he had picked up on the way, he opened the apartment door.
Only to see Kurumi in an apron, busy at the stove in the kitchen.
Morning sunlight streamed over her as she moved, warm and gentle.
When she noticed he was back, Kurumi turned with a smile.
"I made breakfast for us. Come eat."
Shun nodded. "Alright. Thanks."
As he spoke, the bag of breakfast in his hand floated up, wrapped in his cursed energy, drifted back out the door and dropped neatly into the trash can downstairs.