Yuji finally stopped patting the Divine Dog.
The shikigami looked relieved.
It shook its fur once, then immediately walked ahead like it wanted to put as much distance between itself and the group as possible.
"Let's go," Megumi said.
The four of them moved deeper into the warped building.
The deeper they went, the worse the place became.
The hallways narrowed, then widened again without warning.
Pipes twisted out of the walls like veins, covering the entire area.
Doors appeared where there should not have been doors.
The smell of rot grew stronger.
Somewhere in the distance, water dripped in an uneven rhythm.
Then they found a body.
It lay near the corner of a crooked hallway.
A young man.
One arm bent at an unnatural angle.
His uniform was stained dark.
Probably one of the detained youths.
The skin of his face had gone pale.
His eyes stared blankly at the ground below.
The air around the group changed immediately.
The strange maze no longer felt like an eerie place from a horror movie.
Now it felt like a real domain of a cursed spirit.
Nobara's expression hardened at the sight.
Megumi looked away for half a second.
Yuji stepped forward without saying a word.
He crouched beside the body.
His face slowly went still.
"Tadashi..." he muttered.
Sora looked at the corpse.
The name clicked into place.
The woman outside who was crying for her son.
The one who had begged the police to bring him back.
Yuji reached down and touched the boy's shoulder.
His jaw tightened.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
The only sound was the distant dripping of water somewhere deeper in the building.
Then Yuji slowly stood up.
"I'm taking him with us."
Megumi's head snapped toward him.
"Absolutely not."
Yuji frowned.
"His mom is waiting for him."
Megumi stepped closer.
"Leave the body. We were only asked to bring the survivors. Not the dead. "
Yuji stared at him with stubborn resolution.
"I'm not leaving him here."
Megumi's voice sharpened.
"We are in the middle of a special grade's territory."
Yuji did not back down.
"Then we move faster and escape."
Sora found the situation escalating.
But he could care less about them bickering.
Megumi grabbed Yuji by the collar.
"Use your head!" Megumi shouted.
"Bringing a body with us will slow us down! If something attacks us while you're carrying him, what then?!"
Yuji grabbed Megumi's wrist.
At first, his voice was low.
But it did not stay that way.
"So what?!"
"His mother is waiting outside!"
"At least let her know for sure that her son is dead!"
Megumi's eyes narrowed.
"Itadori. You have not read the content of the mission. This man right here-"
Megumi pointed at the corpse.
"He drove without a license."
Yuji froze.
Megumi's grip tightened.
"Driving without it is not bad but he did get into accidents."
His voice was cold now.
"Lastly. This was his second time here. If he was someone worth saving he would've been outside."
Yuji said nothing.
Megumi kept going.
"So why should we risk ourselves for him?"
"Why should we save people who are just going to hurt others anyway?"
The hallway fell silent.
Yuji's expression shifted.
His anger did not disappear.
But the realization settled behind it.
He loosened his grip on Megumi's wrist.
Nobara finally snapped.
"Would both of you shut up already?!"
Her voice bounced through the warped hallway.
"This is not the place to have your drama!"
Sora barely heard them.
Something was wrong.
The cursed energy in the air had changed.
It had become more prominent.
The fight between Yuji and Megumi had drowned everything else out.
But now Sora could feel it.
His senses rang like alarm bells.
The cursed energy around them was concentrated at a place.
Sora's head snapped to the side where the dog was.
A flash of white caught his eye.
The Divine Dog.
Or what was left of it.
Its body had been smashed deep into a distant wall.
Cracks spread outward from the impact point like a spiderweb. Blood stained the concrete.
The shikigami's head hung limply to one side. It was dead.
Sora's eyes widened.
Something beneath them moved.
He looked down.
The cursed energy under Nobara's feet suddenly spiked.
"Nobara!" Sora shouted.
She looked up too late.
The ground beneath her exploded open.
A hole with unnatural cursed energy was made.
Nobara was lost her footing as she toppled downwards.
Nobara's eyes widened.
"What the hell?!"
Sora lunged toward her.
Metal surged from his arms.
He reached for her hand.
But he was too late.
The floor swallowed her whole.
One second she was there.
The next, she was gone.
The concrete snapped shut behind her.
Silence crashed down over the hallway.
Yuji and Megumi were now attentive to their surroundings.
Megumi was surveying his surroundings as quickly as possible.
'Why is there curses around us? Divine dog would have warned us-'
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw what was left of the divine dog.
"QUICK MEGUMI!! YUJI!! THE CURSE IS HERE!!"
Sora screamed at the top of his lung when he saw the special grade.
Both Yuji and Megumi were unaware of the arriving curse.
It was nearly right besides them.
'Shit. I will have to drag them myself.'
Materializing a metallic lasso, He quickly grabbed the two and made distance.
*thud
*thud
Yuji and Megumi were both flung behind Sora.
And in the front of the trio was the curse.
A creature of pale skin and strange eyes who was smiling as if he found his toys.
"Hehe.."