Chapter 191

In the wake of the Shibuya Incident, Noritoshi Kamo came to understand that puppets of Kenjaku were already seeded throughout his clan. He pushed to have the post-incident rulings reversed in hopes of drawing the foe out, only to find Kenjaku several moves ahead. Left with nothing else, Noritoshi enters the Culling Game alongside Maki, where the two run into a peculiar cursed spirit whose presence feels eerily familiar.

Inside the Kyoto-based Kamo Main House, late on November 3rd with the clock reading 11:05 P.M., Noritoshi set out to reach Yoshinobu Gakuganji and the rest of the major clans. Stepping back into the home for the first time since Shibuya, he found it deserted, with an aged attendant named Shino failing to know who he was. Their quarrel broke off the instant something dawned on him, and pressing further inside he came upon Kenjaku lounging at ease in the master bedroom. Shino, Kenjaku explained, had been made to believe she was living a century and a half ago, and he told Noritoshi to simply pay her no attention.

Kenjaku observed that Noritoshi had arrived later than anticipated, pinning it on the out-of-service Tokyo Metro. Noritoshi had figured the conservative faction was already tainted, given Kenjaku's links to the clan as the original Noritoshi Kamo, yet a standing execution order on Suguru Geto hinted that some conservatives stayed uncorrupted. Placing his faith in Gakuganji, he had intended to beg the higher-ups to lift the ruling that branded the unsealing of Gojo a crime. Kenjaku had anticipated all of it, having already wiped out the conservatives behind the orders to execute Geto and Yuji, claimed the faction whole, and installed himself as the Kamo clan's 25th head in place of Noritoshi.

Kenjaku informed Noritoshi he held no place in the clan and that the two would never cross paths again. Taking it for a threat, Noritoshi triggered Flowing Red Scale, but Kenjaku merely laughed, judged him no danger at all, and dismissed him.

In the present, the calendar now reading November 12th, Maki and Noritoshi register the enormous curse that has just slipped into the Sakurajima Colony and feel uneasy at its presence. The thing locks onto Maki and dives at a speed that shatters the sound barrier, blowing out windows and ripping through buildings as it blurs past Noritoshi before he can respond, forcing him to concede it is far too fast. It crushes Maki against a cliff, blinks away when she throws a punch, then materializes again to drive her back into the rock. Dodging the next blow, she watches the worm-like body coil around to pin her once more and bare its real face: the features of Naoya Zenin push out from a hole in the shell, proof that he was cursed after his death and reborn as a vengeful spirit, announcing that he too has crossed over to this side.