The room quieted the moment Geto entered.
Not completely.
There were still low conversations curling through the hall, the occasional clink of a glass against wood, the lazy shifting of bodies at rest. But the atmosphere changed all the same. People noticed him. Adjusted around him. Oriented themselves toward him without being asked.
Oden noticed that immediately.
So this was the kind of man Suguru Geto was.
He was not loud and overbearing.
Just the sort of person a room unconsciously moved around.
Miguel walked in like he belonged there.
Which, apparently, he did.
Oden followed a step behind, hood still up, white blindfold tied neatly across his eyes, the small snake around his neck lifting its head now and then as it shared its sight with him. Through it, he took in the large room in fragments, the gathered curse users, the lounging postures that weren't truly relaxed, the curious stares that sharpened the moment they settled on him.
Geto stopped near the center.
"Everyone," he said, voice even and pleasant. "I'd like you to meet someone."
That was enough to draw full attention.
A few faces turned with open interest.
A few with caution.
A few with immediate judgment.
Geto gestured lightly toward Oden.
"This is Oden."
Miguel, already known to the group, moved off to the side without ceremony, leaving Oden standing there under the weight of too many unfamiliar eyes.
And, unfortunately, Oden immediately became exactly what he always became in situations like this—
awkward.
He didn't speak.
Didn't move an inch.
Just stood there with his face half-shadowed by his hood, blindfold over his eyes, and that unnerving little snake resting around his neck like it had every right to be there.
The silence stretched.
Nanako Hasaba raised a brow.
"Well," she said, "he's talkative."
Mimiko folded her arms.
"He hasn't said a word," she muttered. "How arrogant."
Oden heard them.
And because he was, in fact, growing increasingly nervous under the attention of this many strangers, his usual defense rose up automatically—
coldness.
He turned his head slightly toward them.
"If I wanted your opinion," he said flatly, "I would have asked for it."
The room reacted at once.
Nanako's eyes widened.
Mimiko stared at him in disbelief.
Then both looked offended.
"Excuse me?" Nanako said.
Mimiko's expression darkened. "You really do think highly of yourself."
Oden's face remained unreadable beneath the blindfold.
'No. I'm just trying not to feel weird standing here while all of you stare at me.'
What came out instead was—
"You two seem loud."
Miguel pinched the bridge of his nose.
Geto's smile twitched.
The twins bristled instantly.
"Loud?" Nanako repeated.
"That's rich coming from someone dressed like a suspicious side character," Mimiko added.
Oden tilted his head.
"That hurt less than you probably hoped."
Nanako made an outraged noise.
"He's definitely arrogant."
"And he's definitely annoying," Mimiko corrected.
Oden looked away.
He wasn't trying to start anything.
He genuinely wasn't.
But whenever too many new people looked at him at once, it became difficult to act normal. Too many eyes. Too many expectations. Too much room for him to say the wrong thing.
So he defaulted to detached.
And detached usually sounded rude.
A curse user lounging against the far wall glanced toward the snake around Oden's neck and frowned.
"You keep that shikigami out casually like that all the time?"
Oden turned toward the voice.
"Yes."
The man narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't that burn through your cursed energy?"
Oden blinked once beneath the blindfold.
"…Burn through?"
"Burnout," the man clarified. "Maintaining a summon. Keeping output active. Doesn't it drain you?"
Oden considered the question honestly.
Then answered with the same blank tone he used for most things.
"I've never felt that before."
That drew a stronger reaction than his earlier insults had.
Several people looked at him properly now.
Miguel gave a quiet, humorless huff through his nose, like this was exactly why he hated explaining Oden to people.
Geto, on the other hand, looked amused.
"Of course he hasn't," he said.
The room's attention shifted to him.
Geto folded one sleeve back slightly as he spoke.
"That would require his reserves to be within a normal range," he said. "They aren't."
His eyes moved to Oden.
"His cursed energy is abnormal. The only modern comparison that comes to mind is Yuta Okkotsu."
That landed.
Oden could feel it in the room.
A subtle tightening.
A recalculation.
Even without seeing their faces directly, he could sense how the mood shifted around that name.
Interest became caution.
Curiosity became seriousness.
Miguel crossed his arms.
"Now you understand why I brought him."
Geto's smile returned, small, controlled and knowing.
"Yes," he said. "I do."
He let the silence settle for a beat before continuing.
"Since everyone is gathered anyway, this is a good opportunity."
The room quieted again, this time with intention.
Geto's voice carried easily.
"The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons is approaching."
There it was.
Purpose.
The kind of statement that aligned every person present around a shared axis.
Geto began explaining the plan.
How the event would unfold. How chaos would spread across Tokyo and Kyoto. How the sorcerers would be forced to divide their attention. How, amid that disorder, the true objective would be reached.
Yuta Okkotsu.
Rika.
Geto spoke of it with calm conviction.
He would kill the boy.
He would subjugate the curse.
He would take Rika for himself.
Some in the room listened with admiration.
Others with hunger.
Some with grim focus.
Oden, however, stood there listening for perhaps a minute and a half before deciding he was thoroughly uninterested.
He slowly raised one hand.
The room paused.
Geto's explanation stopped.
Everyone looked at him.
Oden spoke in the same tone one might use to comment on weather.
"This is boring."
A silence followed so complete it almost became sacred.
Then Oden continued.
"I'll just do whatever Miguel tells me to do when the time comes."
Nanako stared at him as though he had personally insulted the concept of hierarchy.
Mimiko looked equally appalled.
"You interrupted Geto-sama for that?" Nanako snapped.
"What is wrong with you?" Mimiko added.
Oden turned his head slightly toward them.
"I didn't interrupt him for nothing," he said. "I interrupted him because I was bored. That's different."
Miguel closed his eyes briefly.
'Amazing. Truly. Eight years of training and this is what came out of it.'
The twins looked ready to explode.
But Geto only laughed softly.
A genuine sound.
"It's fine," he said.
That stopped them immediately.
Geto's expression was, if anything, amused.
"I appreciate honesty," he said. "Even when it arrives without manners."
Oden accepted this with a small nod, as if that settled things.
Then he asked, "Can I go?"
Nanako looked scandalized all over again.
Geto smiled.
"Yes," he said. "You can."
Oden didn't waste another second.
He turned and started toward the exit.
Miguel opened one eye.
"Where are you going?"
Oden answered without looking back.
"To take a mini tour of Tokyo."
And then he left.
The room stayed still for a moment after the door slid shut behind him.
Nanako was the first to break the silence.
"He's impossible."
Mimiko nodded sharply. "And rude."
Miguel let out a long sigh.
"You have no idea."
Geto, still smiling faintly, looked toward the closed door with only interest.
"…What an unusual boy," he murmured.
And outside, beneath the lights of Tokyo, Oden adjusted his blindfold, let the small snake around his neck raise its head toward the city air—
and began walking.
---
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