The thing is, she still doesn't have a lot of friends. Definitely not ones that are around. Sayuri is... yeah. But she's not local. And Nanami is... a lot. And also not human. Which is fine, but also means she has her own thing going on a lot of the time.
So one evening before dinner, it's just Tsubaki and Nyanko-sensei strolling down the riverside.
Which is when she hears some tiny youkai muttering something about an odd human, from the approximate direction of 'her feet.'
They fairly quickly stumble on a cleared bit of grass, with a circle with strange symbols drawn in it in the dirt.
...Hrm, possibly spiritually significant? Nyanko isn't exactly classically educated.
Tsubaki will take some notes for the next time she meets with Sayuri.
Any tracks or disturbances in the vicinity?
It doesn't take too long for them to come across a girl about Natsume's age, using a long stick to draw details in a circle in the dirt. She's vaguely familiar.
She startles. "Natsume - ?" And then her eyes go wide and she clasps her hand over her mouth - "I'm sorry!"
And she turns to run off.
"Don't I- know you from school? Why are you drawing these circles?"
"Um. What kind of trouble are you in? I... know some people?"
"I know some people. Like that." Oh, talking is terrible. Why does she do it.
"...These circles let me see ayakushi. But one day, almost a year ago, an evil spirit wandered into my circle. It cursed me, said that if I could catch it within the next year, it would spare my life. If not, it would kill me and the last thirteen people whose names I'd called."
"...Big and dark. It had two white eyes like glowing holes in a shadowy outline."
"I don't recognize the description... But that's a harsh wager. Ayakashi with that much malevolence are rare, and others might have fallen afoul of it..."
"She does that. Um. Would you prefer not to know her name, considering?"
"Though it's unclear if nicknames will have the same effect... Best not to risk it."
"Nanami, to start. And the C-listers might know something - I can handle interrogating them and all of the low-rank spirits."
Okay good Nyanko didn't say Sayuri. Tsubaki does not think she would be helpful in this situation.
"Right. Hopefully someone knows something. Or has seen it themselves."
Together for now, if they need to cover more ground tomorrow they can split.
Unfortunately, they don't find much if anything before it's time for Tsubaki to return home for the night.
It would have been nice, but that was kind of a long shot. She can call Nanami tomorrow.
No competition among those of Tsubaki's personal acquaintance, certainly.
Tsubaki calls Nanami the next morning after breakfast, timing it so that her appearance and
happens around a corner where no one is likely to see her suddenly stumble for seemingly no reason.
She gives Tsubaki one more nuzzle then swoops down upon Nyanko. "Oh no! I'll have to kiss the kitty all better!"
Yay!
"Soooooo... why did you call me today? I love it when you do, but you always want something."
"...Natsume's been cursed, something that spread from someone else. We need to find the youkai that laid the original curse."
"It was someone else who was originally cursed. We have to help her."
She gives them. "I don't recognize the spirit, nor does anyone we spoke to - it's elusive, whatever it is. And it might react poorly to us poking around."
"If we really needed subtle I would have called someone else."
And Nyanko and Nanami off to hunt.
"She's a very good student," Nyanko comments as they start.
"She's soooo smart," Nanami mimes a swoon. "Just like Reiko-chan. Well, Reiko-chan was much wickeder with it. Tsubaki-chan's just a good girl."
Not much, but it's enough to distract them - they won't be able to immediately wait for Natsume when she leaves school.
Back to the lovely Tsubaki-chan! Without whose presence every moment is a tragedy.
Those tragedies will likely continue, since Tsubaki isn't there when they finally make it to the school.
Her classmate is, though, and she looks somewhere between confused and worried.
Tōru looks over! She starts to say something, then bites her lip and hurries over.
This girl probably can't see Nanami. "Where's Tsubaki-chan?" she asks anyway.
Yeah, she doesn't seem to have heard - though she does pull up short and glance around.
" - She vanished. There was a lot of wind." Probably they should go somewhere not around other students to talk?
Once they're in private: "You can't see my companion, can you?"
She shakes her head. "I'm fast at those circles now, though, so I can draw one."
Once Nyanko relays that, she gets to work. Soon enough, there's a decent sized circle in front of her.
"I was heading over to join her when this big wind started up - I had to close my eyes - and when it died down, she wasn't there."
"It's possible - but that'd mean the spirit was actively monitoring you, and was stealthy enough to get past me. Natsume gets targeted fairly often though for... Unrelated reasons."
It's in view of the school, so Taki doesn't want to act too weird - but Nanami and Nyanko could look.
Nyanko shifts into her great cat form, and starts sniffing the ground. "Hmmm... It's faint, but there's definitely a malevolent power here - and it feels like the one that cursed Taki and Natsume."
She nods. "Or their attention was drawn to the Book of Friends..."
Elsewhere, Tsubaki is-
Well. It's dark. And someone's tied a rope to her leg. So, 'in trouble' sounds about right.
There's rough, slightly damp rock under her, and a distant echoey drip - probably yet another cave. Malevolent ayakushi sure seem to like their caves.
There's also a dark miasma in the air, a sense of great spiritual power.
