Summary:
After the Shibuya incident, Noritoshi Kamo realized that Kenjaku already had puppets in his clan. He tried to get his superiors to reverse their post-incident decisions and flush out the enemy, but Kenjaku was already several steps ahead of him. Left with no options, Noritoshi participates in the Culling Game alongside Maki and encounters a mysterious cursed spirit with a familiar presence.
Plot:
On November 3rd at 23:05 at the Kamo Main House in Kyoto, Noritoshi attempted to contact Yoshinobu Gakuganji as well as other major clans. When Noritoshi returned to the house for the first time since the Shibuya incident, he found that no one was home and an elderly attendant named Shino no longer recognized him. Noritoshi began arguing with Shin until he realized this. He went deeper into the house to find none other than Kenjaku casually resting in the master bedroom. Kenjaku explained that Shino had been manipulated into believing that he lived in a world one hundred and fifty years ago, and told Noritoshi simply not to mind.
Kenjaku said that Noritoshi is later than he expected to understand because the Tokyo subway is out of service. Noritoshi believed that the conservative faction was already compromised because Kenjaku, the original Noritoshi Kamo, has connections to the Kamo clan. However, an order was issued to execute Suguru Geto, which means that there are conservatives who were uncorrupted. Noritoshi trusts Gakuganji and wanted to ask him to cooperate with the superiors and withdraw the notice for making the unsealing of Gojo a crime. Kenjaku had predicted all of this and had already eliminated the conservative parties that had ordered Geta and Yuji’s executions. He completely dominated the conservative faction and also took it upon himself to become the 25th head of the Kamo clan instead of Noritoshi.
Kenjaku told Noritoshi that he had no place in the clan and that they would never meet again. Noritoshi took this as a threat and activated Flowing Red Scale in response. However, Kenjaku did not want to provoke him and laughed at him. Kenjaku does not see Noritoshi as a threat and tells him to leave.
In the present day on November 12th, Noritoshi and Maki notice a large cursed spirit that has just entered Sakurajima Colony. The curse has a strange presence, making Noritoshi and Maki worried about what is really going on. The curse spots Maki and flies towards her at high speed. It moves so fast that it breaks the sound barrier and breaks numerous windows and breaks through several buildings. He zooms right past Noritoshi before he can even react to what’s going on. He turns to see Maki missing along with the curse, which makes him admit it’s too fast.
The curse pins Maki to the cliff and she tries to fight it off when the large worm-like creature suddenly disappears. The curse reappears next to Maki, knocking her back onto the cliff. Maki recognizes that there is something unnatural about the speed of the curse as she dodges a follow-up strike from her opponent. The worm-like curse turns the back of its body to pin Maki back to the wall, then reveals its true face. Naoyi Zenin’s face emerges from one of the holes in the curse face, revealing that he has been cursed and reincarnated as a vengeful spirit after death. Maki recognizes Naoya’s face as she claims that he “came to this side too!”.