Chapter 9: would you date me ?

Takumi strode through the streets of the city, his senses heightened as he approached the old, decrepit building rumored to house an acursed spirit. With each step, he could feel the weight of anticipation settle on his shoulders. He arrived at the place, and from the outside, it's just a normal two-story building that got left in the dust for too long. He walked inside, under the crumpled sign of this place, the letter faded with time. [Quest: exorcised curse spirit 0/0] Upon entering the building, Takumi searched the first floor thoroughly, but found nothing out of the ordinary, just old furniture. Worry, nervousness, fear. All these emotions inside of him are normal to experience, but he isn't normal anymore. Right now, he might be just as strong as a background character, and that needs to change. He needs to get stronger. Pl, this is the perfect time to test his new skill. [Paralyzing gaze(D)]: any target that is caught under user'suser eyes will fall into a state of immobility *must keep eyes on target for a technique to work.* Undeterred, he turned to ascend the second. Floor. However, as his foot touched the first step, a sudden attack from the shadows caught him off guard. A tail whipped out from the darkness, striking Takumi right in the ribcage and sending him crashing into the adjacent wall. Wincing in pain, he quickly regained his footing. 'At least no broken bones.' He noted. Pushing back the burning pain in his lungs, he fixed his gaze on finding the source of the ambush. Emerging from the shadows in front of him, the curse spirit revealed itself grotesque amalgamation of a snake's lower body and a top body has humanoid features. Long-armed possessed sharp claws, with a body adorned with green scales, writhed and hissed menacingly at Takumi. "Grrrrr~" With a grimace, he channeled the power of the curse energy coursing through him, a flare of green covered his hand as he drew his blade. It pounced, its claw arm swiping at him. He dodged by ducking under the attack. *slash* *Thwack* A quick slash to its sides and a gut punch pushed the monster back as he passed. The slash only resulted in a shallow cut, and his punch was mildly effective at angering the curse. *HISS* It hissed in pain, trying another swipe, turning around. 'Slow, maybe a grade 3 perhaps?' He thought, backing out of the way from its attack. The curse, now turning more violent, sends out more strikes, wits, causing him having dodge and block the slashes from his blade. [Perception] helps his eye track the cursed spirit attacks. Its direction, where the hit would land. Right now, his body is temporarily unharmed by the coming attack, but he's already pushing his limit. So, he could be h, it, and any small mistake would mean his demise. 'I think that's enough.' One of the hands was about to hit Ta, Kumi, but a flash of green cast out to the. Room Takumi's eye iris dilated as he used his technique. He can feel cursed energy running through it as he locks into the cursed body. [Paralizing gaze] The blood vessels in his eyebulged out as his eye landed on the monster's body stopped moving. Seized by an unknown force, weapon in hand, he approaches the curse. Takumi can sense it's struggling to move with every step he moves toward it, the more it tries to move, the more strain is put on him, Takumi had to pour his curse energy into forcing it to stay still. He felt dryness in his eyes, but he was determined to push on with his eyes fixed on the creature. Standing in front of it, Takumi's blade is just inches above its head. *whoosh* He thrust the tip of his blade into the cursed spirit's head, The blade stabbed through the monster's head. The tip of the knife skewers the other side of its skull. A final blow that shattered its form and reduced it to nothing but dust. Breathing heavily, Takumi surveyed the Now, an empty room, the silence echoing in The aftermath of his battle. With the [Ding] notification from the system, he finally relaxed hía body. [Quest completed] [Received 1 gacha pull] [+1 Strength] [+1 Endurance] [+2 Perception] [+1 Agility] [+2 Energy] ------------- [User status] Name: Takumi Nejima Level 2 (28 points) Strength: 21.2 Perception: 25.2 Agility: 15.0 Endurance: 20.4 Energy: 26.0 Luck: 12 (+10 ) The blessing of the gacha goddess. [Gacha pulls available: 2] ---------------- He exited the building with a sense of accomplishment, he wondered what he should do next. ------ [Questline: She who left it all behind] [Raise your affection with Tojiko to progress] [progress:□□□] ----- His relationship with her isn't that great, nor is it bad in any way. She would visit a lot and bring him many gifts. Most of which he doesn't like, want, or even need, they often have many conversations with each other. Through, she wasn't interested in whatever topic he was talking about and rather only liked listening to him. He hadn't realized it first, but he could identify a red flag when he saw one. And Tojiko had plenty, the way her eye looked at him was the eye of someone who is very possessive. She would trace him like a predator, there were many times when he felt her eyes on him when he went outside. Takumu was sure that if Tojiko didn't have to go to her "work," she would follow him all day, every day. Her attitude towards another woman doesn't matter, age, or gender. If she caught him smiling at another person, she would act in a very "agitated" manner. It was getting so bad that his business was also getting affected. Takumi would also have to minimize her interaction with his clone bodies. He was sure she hadn't found out he is a curse user; at most, she could know he has curse energy. Picking his phone out of his pocket, he dialed her phone number. The ringtone sounded for a second before a voice answered on the other end. "Who is this ?" A cold voice greeted him on the other side. "Hey Tojiko, how's your day been?" He greeted her in a casual tone. "Oh hi-mean *ehem* hello there Takumi. I was not expecting you to call me so soon." Tojiko's voice turned sweet all of a sudden, her tone sounded more cheerful as she talked to him. "Just wanted to call to check on you." "Oh, m? I'm doing fine. *crack* just fine." There was a slight pause in her voice, and TTakumi couldn't hear something snapping in the background. "Am I interrupting you over there? I can call-" "NO, nonono. Everything is fine on my side, nothing is wrong at all. Let's keep talking. *swoosh*" He can still hear a faint slashing noise and dripping of some liquid on the other side. But since she doesn't want to talk about it, Takumi decided to ignore it, too. "So, I was wondering if you want to hang out with me this weekend ?" "Hang out? With you, I like the sound of that." Her voice turned tense and possessive. "Yeah, so do you want to go anywhere ?" "Oh, andwheree work for me, as long as you are there with me." "Sure, I know an amusement park near my place. Let's go there then." "Sounds perfect, I'll even pick you up," Tojiko answered eagerly. "Great, I'm looking forward to it. Bye." Takumi ended the call there. He was sure he would hear someone's death cry if he stayed one second longer.