High School DxD: Fox of Ill Omen

Yuki

At my request for her to explain, my contractor nodded and let out a shuddering breath.

“I… I broke up with someone three weeks ago,” she said. “He didn’t take it well.”

She looked at the box again.

“He was very generous and caring, and at first everything was going great. But then he started becoming controlling and obsessive with me. He started randomly accusing me of being unfaithful or thinking about leaving him, and he always wanted to know where I was and would get angry if I did something without him.”

I quietly listened to her.

She glanced at me once, then looked back at the floor as she continued.

“He changed to the point that he wasn’t like the man I had first started dating. He was… creepy and jealous over everything… So I told him that I wanted to end things. But instead of getting angry with me or being upset, he just smiled and said he understood. He said that he only wanted the best for me,” she let out a humorous laugh. “I thought things had ended surprisingly well. And then that box showed up at my door the next day.”

She looked over at the coffee table.

Her gaze was heavy and tired.

“What’s in the box?”

“A necklace. It looks custom-made, and I didn’t see any logos or brand names on it,” Hiyou-san said with a sigh. “It had a note saying that it was from him. He wrote that he hopes I would be happy and that he wanted me to have something to remember the good parts of our relationship by… I didn’t open it right away,” she continued. “I probably should have thrown it away, but… I thought maybe he had meant it. Maybe he had really accepted it, and I could have some closure. So, I opened it, and things started to go wrong.”

“What kind of things?” I asked.

She rubbed at one of her wrists as she stared at the coffee table.

“It was nightmares first. I would have one every night, and they were much more vivid than normal. Then I started to feel like I was being watched while I was alone in my apartment. It went away when I had friends over, but the second they left, the feeling would come back. And then at night, I would hear someone else moving in the apartment. I thought it was a burglar at first, but after I checked each time, no one was there. It got worse when I woke up one night, and I heard someone trying to open my bedroom door. When I would yell at them to leave, the sounds would stop, but it would come back again later.”

Her voice was shaking when she stopped to take a breath.

It was easy to tell that she had been pushed to a breaking point already and was desperately trying to hold herself together now.

“And then I started getting messages from him too,” she said quietly. “Asking how I was and if I missed him. And then if I had started wearing his gift yet. L-Like he knew that I h-hadn’t put it on.”

“Did you try disposing of it?” I asked.

Hiyou-san nodded. 

“I tried. I took it down to the trash collection room and threw it away. The next morning, it was on the table again. I tried a second time, and when I woke up the following day, it was on the floor outside my bedroom door. I was scared to try getting rid of it again after that.”

“So what led to this happening?” I asked, looking at the mess around us. “And what about the creature you mentioned?”

Hiyou-san wrapped her arms around herself before replying.

“I started seeing something two weeks after receiving the box. At first it was something in the corner of my eye at night. I would turn to look, and nothing was there. Then I would think I saw someone or something at the end of the hall or in reflections around the apartment. And then it started showing itself more. There would be a clawed hand holding a doorframe, a figure clearly standing in a doorway, or deep red eyes watching me while peering around a corner,” she shuddered as she recalled it. “I would call out to it or throw things, but it didn’t react. It would only leave if I turned on more lights or got closer to it. And then lights started going out randomly, and I had to get closer for it to leave.” She looked up at me. “I tried staying with friends, but I would feel ill when it got dark and only feel better when I came home. I even tried staying at the office overnight, but I fell asleep while working. When I woke up, I was on my couch in my living room. I don’t know if my coworkers brought me home or if something else happened.”

She stood and took one of my hands.

“Please. I don’t know what else to do. I-I can’t keep living like this. I-I don’t know what will happen to me.”

I nodded.

“I will complete our contract. You don't need to worry. I’ll have to take a look at the bracelet first, but I will end this for you. Tonight.”

Her relief was immediate as she slumped back down onto the couch. 

I moved to the coffee table.

I could feel the curse energy radiating off of the necklace.

It was thick with malice and obsession.

I removed the box’s lid and looked inside. 

There was a beautiful silver necklace inside.

It had thin inlays of gold running along the silver chain and what looked like garnets housed in pendants made of a darker metal.

There was a larger ruby pendant housed in the same kind of metal.

It looked expensive, but it felt off, wrong. 

I used my Veil Sight.

The color of the box and table faded away, but the bracelet darkened to a mixture of muddy red and deep black.

The energy around the bracelet moved and shifted as I watched it. 

There were strings of energy running down from it and spreading out all around the apartment.

But the largest thread of cursed energy went straight to Hiyou-san.

I inspected the curse for a few moments before determining that it had most likely been created by a human.

Some spellcaster, a wizard or a magician of some sort.

It lacked the signs of demonic energy and any traces of Ki or Youjutsu.

It didn’t match the curses that Devils and Youkai like to use.

Devil curses were simple but powerful.

They latched on quickly and hard, but only had one main effect.

Youkai curses were cruel but ultimately harmless.

They were meant to punish or mess with someone in most cases.

Only the extreme ones were much nastier.

This curse wasn’t like either.

It was more complex and insidious, which matched what you would expect from a human-made curse. 

They could come in any shape or size, but they all had the same feeling of wrongness to them.

This one seemed to latch onto the target and slowly build in strength, feeding off of the target's negative emotions and growing in power with time. 

From my brief inspection, it seemed to be designed to break the target’s will before forcing them to put on the cursed necklace.

From there, the curse’s main function would activate. 

I couldn’t discern exactly what it was, but it was likely some kind of control or manipulation effect.

I frowned to myself as the situation made me think of how Asia was being pursued by Diodora despite repeatedly telling him she was not interested.

I pushed the thought from my head as I studied the necklace. 

“Would you say that your bedroom is where you noticed most of the strange events?” I asked, looking back at Hiyou-san. 

“Y-Yes.”

“Where is your bedroom?”

She turned and pointed down the hall to the last door on the left.

I looked with my Veil Sight and saw the curse energy was much denser there.

Whatever had manifested from the curse would likely react to my presence if I agitated it.

Whatever I faced would be too much for a normal human to handle, but I would be able to dispatch it with ease. 

“Stay in the kitchen,” I said.

Hiyou-san sat up straighter. “What?”

“Stay in the kitchen and do not leave it until I tell you,” I repeated.

I summoned talisman paper and a pen and began to create a talisman to contain the curse.

“Do I... do I need to do anything?” Hiyou-san asked.

I looked around the room and then down the darkened hallway.

“Turn off all of the lights besides the ones in the kitchen,” I replied as I finished. 

She paled.

“A-are you sure?”

I nodded.

“I need to draw the manifestation out fully.”

She gave a hesitant nod before hitting the light switch in the living room and retreating to the kitchen.

The apartment became dark besides the lights from the kitchen at the far end of the living room.

I glanced at my contractor.

“Do not leave the kitchen.”

She nodded rapidly.

“I-I won’t!”

I turned towards the hall and placed a still mark in the middle of it.

I felt a small chill form in my chest, and ignored it. 

I took a breath.

Then I placed the talisman over the necklace.

There was an immediate reaction.

The lights in the kitchen dimmed, and Hiyou-san let out a scared yelp.

Then the manifestation of the curse began to form in the darkest corner of the hallway.

Right by the bedroom.

A shadowy mass began to rise from the ground.

It was misshapen and amorphous at first, but then it began to take a proper shape.

First, an arm with a clawed hand.

Then a smooth and featureless head with only two red glowing orbs where eyes should be.

Then a second, far longer arm.

Then a thin and starved-looking torso.

Then its spindly legs that ended in a pool of darkness rather than feet.

The thing stood leaning slightly to one side as its legs were uneven.

Its body seemed to be made of shadows or smoke, with wisps of darkness peeling off and dissipating as they moved away from it.

It stared at me with an unnerving intensity as it took a first stuttering step forward. 

Then it took another, more sure step.

It moved silently as it came closer to me.

It reached out one of its spindly arms towards me as it approached. 

It walked into the Stillmark.

Its form flickered and became less solid as it made contact.

I pointed a hand forward, and tendrils of shadows moved from the darkness around it and started.

My Shadow Briar restrained the being, pinning it in place. 

I thrashed and tried to break free as it silently raged.

I could hear Hiyou-san gasp in fear behind me. 

The thing seemed to react to her fear as it pulled harder.

I formed a Baleful Bolt in my hand as I prepared to finish off the creature. 

It broke its larger arm free and reached towards me. 

I fired my spell into its shoulder.

Its shoulder and arm broke apart into dark smoke as it silently roared.

I fired another bolt before it could recover.

Then another and another.

Its body broke apart more and more with each spell, until finally it was gone. 

I shook my wrist as I stared at the place it had been. 

I glanced at the box containing the necklace in my other hand.

It was no longer radiating the same level of malicious energy. 

With my talisman containing it, it had gone dormant.

I closed my eyes and rubbed them to stave off the headache that was beginning to form from overusing Veil Sight. 

“I-Is it gone? Is it f-finally over?” Hiyou-san asked nervously from the kitchen. 

I waited a moment to make certain the thing was gone, then I turned toward her.

“It’s done.”

Hiyou-san carefully stepped out of her kitchen and into the living room. 

She nervously glanced at the box in my hands. 

“Is it really gone?”

Her voice wavered as her eyes were full of cautious hope.

“Yes, it has been sent with. The curse has been contained,” I replied.

“Contained? B-But I thought you killed it?”

I let out a small sigh.

“That was only a manifestation of part of the curse. It wasn’t something alive. It lost most of the power it had accumulated and went dormant until it could regain its strength.”

I saw her eyes start to widen in panic.

I put a hand out to stop her before she could spiral. 

“It won’t be coming back. I managed to seal the item to keep it in a dormant state. I’ll be taking it with me to properly store it.”

The tension that had built in her panic quickly left her body.

“That… that’s good. But what if he does it again? He’s already sent something to me once. What’s to stop him from doing it again?!”

I shook my head.

“I don’t believe that he will be bothering you again. The type of magic that was used to create this curse isn’t something a random mage would be able to easily replicate. Curses have a price associated with them. Either the caster or the target pays that price. My guess is that the one who created the curse had you ex pay that price for the spell. He likely used his obsession and some of his life force as the fuel. But if I’m wrong, summon me again, and I’ll help. For a price.”

Hiyou-san let out a shaky laugh as she took a seat on her couch.

“Kenta was right about you. I… Thank you. Thank you s-so much!”

She covered her face with her hands. 

Her shoulders shook as she let out a muffled sob.

I quietly waited.

After a few minutes, she looked up while wiping her eyes.

“I’m sorry about that. It’s… things had gotten so bad. I didn’t feel safe enough to sleep. I didn’t know what that… that thing would do to me,” she said, then more quietly. It crossed my mind… once or twice… that it might be better if I ended things before it could get me.”

She took my free hand in hers.

“Thank you, Yuki-san. If I call for you again, you’ll come, right?”

I nodded.

“Of course,” I said simply.

I meant it.

I normally did not care much for the average person I met, but no one should have to go through what she had.

“Now, for payment. I think that this necklace has sufficient value for the job,” I said.

“Oh! Umm, hold on!” She said before scurrying out of the room.

She came back a minute later with a few small jewelry boxes.

“Take these too! It doesn’t feel right using the necklace to pay you, since you have to take it anyway. This jeweler is also from my ex. It was from when we were together,” she said as she handed me the boxes.

I set down the necklace box and opened the new boxes to inspect them. 

There was a simple gold bracelet, a pair of pear earrings, and a necklace with an empty photo locket.

“This is more than enough to count as payment. Are you sure you want me to have all of it?” I asked.

She nodded with a relieved smile.

“Yes, you get paid, and I get rid of his things.”

I used a spell to store the non-magic jewelry and stepped back.

The return teleportation magic circle formed beneath my feet.

“With this, our contract is complete.”

The circle began to glow.

Hiyou-san bowed deeply.

“Thank you again, Yuki-san.”

Her voice was cheerful and full of relief. 

I nodded to her, then with a flash of light, I was back in my room at Issei’s home.

I had decided to return home rather than head back to the club room.

I would report back to Rias later with the payment for the job.

I wanted to contain the cursed item first. 

I flexed my hand as I crossed my room before arriving at my bookshelf and desk.

I set down the box containing the necklace, reached out to one of the upper shelves of my bookshelf, and picked up a lock box.

It was something I used to contain objects like this cursed necklace, though the necklace was the most dangerous item I now had.

I set the lock box down on my desk and opened it.

Inside were a small assortment of items.

A few rings, a small cloth doll, an ornate brush, and a dagger.

They were items I had found or taken during my Devil work.

I kept them so that I could study them as a way to expand my knowledge and understanding of curses.

The inside of the box had multiple magic circles drawn in it, and they all faintly glowed as they suppressed the cursed item's energy.

I took the necklace from its box and placed it into the lockbox.

Now, as long as I properly stored it, it would never be able to wake from its dormant state again.

I closed the lockbox and placed it back in its spot. 

I walked back to my bed and sat on the edge of it.

I began to unbutton my school uniform.

It wasn't very late, but I would probably just go to sleep after I got changed and relaxed. 

I glanced at the door to my room.

I wondered if Koenko would be coming to sleep in my room again.

She didn’t do it every night, but it was often enough that it was quickly becoming a normal thing.

Just like her sitting in my lap, I had simply accepted it.

My door was still locked, but she had a key to let herself in.

I stood and moved to my dresser.

I removed the rest of my uniform, and I changed into clothes to sleep in.

Then, there was a knock at my door.

I paused, then walked over to the door and opened it to see Koneko standing there. 

“Hello, Koneko. Why didn’t you let yourself in?” I asked.

“…Hi, senpai. I didn’t know if you were back yet or not,” she replied.

I noticed that she was holding what looked like a bag full of costumes.

“Well, come in,” I said, moving to the side. “But what is that bag for?” I asked.

“Asia-senpai said that everyone was going to be trying on cosplay costumes together. And I wanted your help.”

I raised my eyebrow at her.

I looked closer at the costumes and noticed that some of them looked like cosplay clothing while some looked more like lingerie.

“That doesn’t exactly sound like something Asia would plan,” I commented.

“…Asia-senpai said that Akeno-senpai wanted to surprise Issei-senpai by wearing an outfit she promised him she would wear. Since Buchou isn’t here to stop her, she was going to wait for him to get back from his Devil work in his room while dressed up. Asia-senpai heard and wanted to wear something too. She then told the others and me about it, and now it’s a whole group thing.”

I shook my head.

This sounded like the girls competing over Issei again and like Akeno using the opportunity to tease Issei and annoy Rias when they got back.

Rias had stayed at the club room and would wait for Issei to get back before coming home, so they would be arriving together soon, most likely.

I was surprised that Koneko wanted to wear a costume since this would basically be a way for the girls to dress up for him.

She hadn’t really shown any interest in Issei, but maybe this was the start of it for her. 

Or maybe she just wanted to have fun with everyone else.

“So what do you need my help for? Do you want me to help you pick out an outfit?” I asked.

Koneko nodded.

“Yes, but I also want you to wear a costume too, Yuki-senpai.” She said, pulling out a leotard made of a stretchy material.

Her eyes looked far too determined as she held it out to me.

I blinked.

“What?”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!