"Nanamin, I’m going."
"No, you’re not. I’m sure I already explained why this morning. If the [Curtain] has been set, then he’s still alive, and there’s a high chance he’s at Satozakura High School. I’ll head back right away, so Itadori-kun, stay put."
Nanami’s firm voice came through the receiver.
But Itadori, who had already made up his mind, couldn’t be stopped.
Helplessness. Shame.
He didn’t want to chew over that sense of defeat anymore. He wanted to be recognized as a jujutsushi who could pull his own weight.
That thought set Itadori in motion.
"Ijichi-san, please move aside."
"........Our job is rescue. And that includes students from Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School like you."
-You can’t go, Itadori-kun.
Before the words had even finished, Itadori had already passed Ijichi.
I won’t make that mistake again.
Sorry, Ijichi-san.
--------------------------
Itadori’s fist, packed with cursed energy, slammed into Junpei.
“That hit!”
If it had been an ordinary curse or a human, that blow would have knocked anyone out cold.
But the opponent was bad news.
"[Sediment Moon]!"
Boom
A jellyfish appeared in midair and wrapped around Junpei, blocking the fist.
With the sound of someone pounding a stubborn sandbag, the jellyfish was shoved back, and Junpei burst out from inside it.
He looked completely unharmed.
“A jellyfish shikigami! If he’s inside that thing, physical hits don’t work?”
"I’ll say it again. Back off, jujutsushi!! This has nothing to do with you!"
"That’s not for you to decide!"
Junpei formed hand signs and drew up his cursed energy.
Itadori settled into stance, cursed energy gathering in his fist.
The two boys, locked in a standoff, collided again a moment later.
"What’s the point of indiscriminate salvation? Don’t mistake the value of life!"
Countless tentacles shot out from [Sediment Moon] behind Junpei and swallowed Itadori whole.
With no room to dodge, they overwhelmed the space through sheer numbers.
It was a tactic only possible in a narrow hallway.
Buried under the tentacles in an instant, Itadori disappeared from view.
As a finishing move, Junpei squeezed poison out of his cursed energy and fed it generously into [Sediment Moon]’s tentacles.
This was the end.
I won’t kill you.
You were still a decent person.
Junpei snapped at Itadori, who must have gone rigid inside.
"Human emotions, all that nonsense about acting like the crown of creation—it’s all just the soul’s metabolic activity!! It’s fake!! Don’t try to bind me with those false rules."
He had no right to stop someone from taking a life.
So stay there and sleep.
I have to go back. I’ve got something I need to do.
As Junpei said that and turned up his collar, someone’s hand grabbed him.
Grab
"?!"
"Who exactly are you making excuses to?"
Itadori’s hand burst through [Sediment Moon]’s tentacles and sent Junpei flying.
With a force beyond human limits, Junpei smashed through the window and crashed to the floor.
Why isn’t [Sediment Moon]’s poison working?
Just before he fell, he used [Sediment Moon] beneath him to absorb the impact.
Feeling the bounce like a trampoline, Junpei rolled across the floor, sprang up, and formed hand signs.
Why are you getting in my way?
You weren’t there when Mom died, so why am I...
Why.
Why.
Why the hell!!!!
"[Coffin]."
Pachin
[Sediment Moon]’s tentacles fused into one, then drew out massive spikes on both sides.
He wasn’t using poison. He would push through with pure piercing power, speed, and mass alone.
Now that it was clear poison couldn’t handle Itadori, this was the time for raw offensive power.
Then Itadori came into view, dropping straight toward Junpei.
He’s in the air! He won’t be able to move there.... No. If I want to pin him down...!
He had to aim for the moment just before landing.
Junpei chose not to intercept Itadori, but instead to strike at the opening created the instant he touched down.
Normally, that wouldn’t be a wrong judgment.
But he had underestimated Itadori’s combat sense.
Puhwack!
Itadori wrapped both hands in cursed energy and slammed the ground with the force of his fall.
The massive shockwave that followed shook not only [Sediment Moon]’s nearby tentacles, but Junpei too, wobbling on unsteady feet.
He had tried to create an opening, only to create one for himself instead.
Itadori didn’t miss it.
"Junpei, I don’t understand a single thing you’re saying."
He kicked off the ground and rushed straight at Junpei’s face.
What came to mind was his teacher Gojo’s advice.
‘If you want to beat a shikigami user, you have to knock out the sorcerer themselves, not the shikigami.’
"You’re cobbling together something that sounds reasonable, but really you’re just....."
-trying to believe that you’re right.
The fist that came with that refutation smashed into Junpei’s cheek.
Crash
“Ah.....”
As he was sent flying through the glass window, Junpei felt pain in his chest.
The cheek that got hit didn’t hurt.
More than that, right now.....
He was too confused.
Itadori was looking at him from afar with a pained expression.
Why isn’t he going for the finishing blow?
Looks like that guy still hasn’t given up on persuading him.
"I don’t know why you’re doing this. I’m sure you have your reasons."
Yes. If you understand, then leave me alone.
"But is it really something worth throwing your whole life away for?"
Stop it. What do you know?
I didn’t want this either.
"If you’re going to say human feelings are fake,"
Stop.
"Could you say that in front of her?"
.........
Mom.
"Humans don’t have hearts or feelings."
"You, still...!"
"I said they don’t!!"
He thought he’d already cried all he could, but apparently there were still tears left.
He hated how ugly he looked crying.
He hated Itadori for talking nonstop and dragging up memories he’d wanted buried forever.
"If that’s not it...!!"
I know. I know better than anyone.
There’s no way the love I have for Mom is fake.
There’s no way Mom wasn’t precious to me.
"If that’s not it...!!"
I was just going to forget everything and keep living.
But you dragged it all back out.
"So you’re saying Mom and I were both cursed by human feelings...?"
That’s too cruel.
So there are no such things as hearts.
There can’t be any such thing as hearts.
"Keh. Now I don’t even know what’s right and what’s wrong anymore....."
That horrible sight, that brutal death of his mother, had come from human feelings.....
I’m terrified.
I can’t accept it.
So please, don’t stop me.
Junpei, his face smeared and streaked, prepared to counterattack.
In the end, this was a fight where one of them had to go down.
I can never accept human feelings.
Of course, if this kept up, I’d lose.
But I’ll struggle until the end.
I don’t want to feel helpless again.
That attack had been thrown with a half-given-up heart.
Thud
"Huh...?"
He didn’t dodge.
Even though he could have, he just took it.
Blood dripped from Itadori’s chest, pierced through by the spikes.
Junpei froze, forgetting he was even in a fight, stunned by the unexpected turn.
"Why.....why didn’t you dodge?"
Itadori quietly lifted his head and looked at Junpei.
His eyes were full of sorrow and pity. There wasn’t a trace of fighting spirit left.
Junpei’s hand fell limply.
"Sorry. I was talking big when I didn’t know anything."
"........"
"Tell me what happened."
"Even if you say that..."
"I will never curse you. So....."
Tell me, Junpei.
So I can help you.
Tears rolled out of Junpei’s shut eyes.
--------------------------
Junpei dropped the hostility from the fight as if it had all been a lie, and told Itadori everything that had happened.
The days of being targeted and bullied by Ito.
The mother who had accepted him when he refused to go to school.
That mother’s horrific death.
The cursed object someone had brought into the house to curse him.
When he reached the part about his mother’s death, his throat tightened.
It was hard to speak while dragging up that awful memory, but he managed it at last.
Itadori, who had listened with solemn eyes, could be felt genuinely grieving at that part too.
"No way... your mother....."
With reddened eyes, Itadori covered Junpei’s hand.
He had never imagined something so cruel had happened.
It was enough to understand why Junpei had gone this far off the rails.
What can I do to help Junpei?
This poor boy who lost his mother, this friend who was wandering without a path.
He remembered Junpei smiling brightly when talking about the movies he liked.
Could he see that clear, unclouded expression once more?
As Itadori worried over it, a thought pierced his mind.
Whoever had taught him, Junpei’s potential was enormous.
If the opponent had been anyone other than someone resistant to poison, that first attack would have ended it already.
A rare cursed technique based on poison, and a shikigami built for both offense and defense.
He was still an uncut gem, but he was overflowing with talent.
Gojo-sensei would welcome him with open arms.
"Junpei, come to Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School."
There are a lot of ridiculously strong teachers here, and plenty of reliable allies too.
If we all work together, we can definitely find the guy who cursed your mother.
"I’ll make sure he pays for it. So, let’s fight together."
At those words, Junpei felt his nose sting again.
He had been saved once by Mahito, who gave him power and salvation in that thought.
And now he had been saved once more by Itadori.
Someone who could truly grieve another person’s death, someone warm enough to reach anyone—Junpei felt his own soul growing clear just from standing before him.
Could they really find the true culprit who cursed Mom?
Before Junpei could even ask that,
"Who are you?"
A man in a bizarre outfit appeared behind him.
"Nice to meet you, Sukuna’s vessel."
‘What is this guy? Is he human?’
No, this feeling—
Wobble
Before Itadori could even finish sorting out his thoughts, the man grotesquely transformed his left arm.
Junpei was just as confused.
Why is Mr. Mahito here, when he said he was busy?
Curse spirits and jujutsushi are supposed to be enemies...
No.
I can’t let Yuji die.
"Mr. Mahito, wait!"
Bang!
The man’s transformed left arm instantly swelled in size and smashed into Itadori.
Even if he tried to escape, that enormous mass wasn’t about to budge easily.
‘Am I an idiot? A human-shaped curse with a ragged face! That’s exactly the look Nanamin described!’
Trapped by Mahito, Itadori shouted at Junpei in frustration.
For some reason Junpei seemed to know this guy, but there was no way that curse would ever be kind to humans.
"Junpei, run! I don’t know what your relationship is with this guy, but!! For now, just run!! Please!!"
"Itadori, calm down! Mr. Mahito isn’t a bad person....."
Not a bad person.
Junpei started to say it, then hesitated.
He was definitely his benefactor and teacher.
But was that only true for him?
The grotesque results of the experiments Mahito had created flashed through his mind.
Just as Mahito reached out his sinister hand toward the wavering Junpei, something changed.
Along with the sensation that time had stopped, what entered Junpei’s brain was.....
-A memory that did not exist.
[Junpei, you’re about as stupid as the human you think is an idiot, maybe a little worse.]
[Yu...ji.....why...?]
[Sukuna!! I’ll do anything, so fix Junpei!]
[I refuse, brat!]
[Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!]
What he saw in that memory was his own miserable death.
His benefactor’s betrayal.
His friend’s despair.
As time resumed its normal flow, Mahito’s hand came at him again.
Even with his head feeling like it was splitting open, Junpei instinctively pulled his body back.
With Mahito’s hand slicing through empty air, Junpei’s hand signs were already complete.
"[Sediment Moon]!"
"Oh...?"
"Haa, haa....."
What should never have happened had happened.
The future of a boy who should have been trampled without a trace changed.
Whether it was the work of someone who regretted wasting that talent, or the flow of cursed energy that wrapped the world itself.....
No one knew the answer, but one thing was certain.
"You noticed? You’re not as stupid as I thought, Junpei."
"Mahitooooo!!!!!"
The Sea God, bearing the ocean of vengeance, is born.
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