By the time Uro and Higuruma finished making contact under the table, a league of their own was unfolding in the relatively peaceful neutral zone.
"I just got back."
"You’re late. I clearly told you to report by 6."
"S-sorry."
Because of the structure of the Culling Game, the weak had no choice but to stay put and live quietly, not even daring to think about earning points.
Below the rankers, the difference in strength didn’t matter; everyone was equal. If they wasted time dreaming impossible dreams, all they’d do was lose their lives.
On this huge board where the strong stood their ground, the weak had almost no options.
Stick together.
Of course, as always, only the strong among them were qualified to exploit that structure too.
"Still haven’t found him?"
"The rankers have been on another level lately. We couldn’t even get near the starting area and had to come back."
As the blond man lowered his head, the black-haired boy called the boss, Fushiguro Megumi, frowned.
'Damn it. Where the hell are you, Itadori?'
It was now the fourth day since entering the Culling Game.
From the very start, an unexpected random transfer had scattered them from their comrades.
Nine starting points and eight people. Unluckily, not a single comrade had landed where he did.
Not only had their plan to split into three teams fallen apart, but they couldn’t even get in touch.
To make matters worse, the moment he was transferred, they were attacked by a group calling themselves "beginner hunters."
They were a man and a woman who could transform their hair into a helicopter and a jet, respectively.
An ordinary player would have been caught off guard by the sudden ambush, but Megumi was different.
'You’re saying you don’t care if you die, right?'
Once Megumi realized there was no hesitation in their hands, he wiped out the beginner hunters on the spot.
Their lives were worth 10 points. For people who called themselves hunters, it was a little strange that they hadn’t managed to kill even one person, but he ignored it since the idea itself was disgusting.
Thanks to that, he was also able to seize the errand-runners under them.
Megumi, who had instantly become the new boss, used those errand-runners to search for his scattered comrades, but he hadn’t achieved much.
The errand-runners would panic just from approaching the areas occupied by rankers. Even if he sent out Divine Dogs and Nue, their limits were obvious, so there was nothing to be done.
If anything, it was fortunate that he had at least gotten close to his main objective.
"Fine. I’m not scolding you. More importantly, did you check the rumor?"
"Ah, yes. We secured testimony from the Nakano area that a winged woman was seen there. It seems most of her activity is confined inside that zone."
The search for the angel. It was finally within reach.
At the long-awaited good news, the flatness in Megumi’s expression loosened just a little.
Sensing that the boss’s mood had softened, the blond man, Amai Rin, quickly put on a sycophantic smile and started flattering him.
Compared to the previous bosses, Hanyu and Haba, Megumi was far more merciful and easier to talk to, but that didn’t change the fact that he was an overwhelming powerhouse.
With his life hanging by a thread at any moment from a single word out of Megumi’s mouth, Amai had no choice but to be desperate.
"Should I send some of the underlings to bring her in?"
"No. I’ll go myself."
"You, Boss?"
"I told you from the start. I came here to find that woman."
"Don’t tell me she’s your childhood friend you were separated from when you were little...."
Ah.
He got too excited and said something he really didn’t need to say.
Smack!
Unfortunately, Megumi wasn’t the kind of person who would indulge that sort of joke.
A punishment flick to the forehead came flying immediately, and Megumi ordered the dazed Amai, clutching his stinging head, to leave.
"Get out."
"Y-yes...."
As the dejected Amai trudged out of the room, a new face came in.
The only person in this neutral zone allowed to stand on equal footing with him.
It was Kugisaki Nobara, the first comrade he had found after landing here.
"Something happen? Amai looked like he was about to die."
"He keeps trying to act like we’re equals."
"Huh. No doubt he mouthed off and got hit. He’s got guts, trying to tease the head of the Zenin clan."
Ignoring Nobara as she drawled with a face full of mischief, Megumi got to the point.
"I think I found the ‘angel.’"
"What? Really?!"
"She seems to be operating in the Nakano district while avoiding the rankers. Her range doesn’t seem that wide. There are rankers posted all around her."
Nakano, where the angel was active, lay at the edge of the colony.
The road from Nakano to the center of the barrier was surrounded by Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and Shibuya.
Those were the territories of Ishigori Ryu, Higuruma Hiromi, and Doruv Lakdawalla, respectively.
He didn’t know how strong they were, but at the very least, they clearly had a personality that disliked fighting.
"The road over there must have been rough at first, right?"
"Yeah. It’s different now, though."
The neutral zone was in central Tokyo.
No one had approached this place after the rankers fought and turned it into ruins, but several players had instead slipped in here, taking advantage of that fact.
Since the battle ended at dawn on the second day, in a way Megumi could also be considered one of the neutral zone’s original members.
Anyway, thanks to Junpei taking care of Ishigori and Doruv, moving around had become much easier.
The road to the angel would no longer be so rough.
"As expected, he’s my man. Heh-heh."
"......"
"What’s with that face just now! Explain yourself!"
"No, it’s just, I can’t get used to it."
Megumi, who had been staring at Nobara’s lovestruck expression with a rotten look on his face, broke into a cold sweat at her pointing finger.
Every time Nobara, who was anything but a delicate woman, showed off that occasional pink atmosphere, he felt an indescribable revulsion.
Should he call it disgusting? He wondered if her boyfriend Junpei knew what kind of side she had and was still dating her.
"I-I knew it!"
And Amai, who had been secretly eavesdropping on the two of them from outside, clenched both fists.
He had suspected it ever since she had been desperately searching for the woman, but those words just now confirmed it for him.
"As expected, he’s my man." You couldn’t just casually say something that embarrassing.
'So they really are dating!'
They absolutely weren’t, but his misunderstanding showed no sign of clearing up.
Unable to resist the itch in his mouth, Amai stormed up to the door and shouted at Megumi.
"Boss! Are you planning to cheat on Kugisaki?!"
"....?"
"I get it now. Even though you already have a girlfriend, you still couldn’t forget the girl you met when you were young, so you joined the Culling Game, right? You shameless basta..."
Thwack!
Before Amai could even finish, Nobara’s dropkick slammed into his jaw.
After he instantly lost consciousness and collapsed, Nobara grabbed his collar and shook his head around.
"You crazy bastard! Since when is that sea urchin my boyfriend?!"
"Ugh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh..."
"Haah....."
Only Megumi, watching from behind, covered his face and let out a sigh so deep it seemed to sink the floor.
'Can I really escort the angel with these idiots?'
And he still had to find the lost Itadori too.
For some reason, he missed Yoshino.
The Itadori Yuji in question was doing very well for himself, much better than expected.
And with the escort target, no less.
"Whoa! I can’t believe something like that happened! So Hana still likes Fushiguro?"
"Y-yes... because he’s the person I’m destined for."
"But if you meet him in person, you might be disappointed. That guy’s insanely prickly, and he’s a total siscon."
"D-don’t lie to me, Itadori-san! There’s no way Megumi is like that!"
They had even gotten close enough to exchange personal stories.
To understand how this happened, we have to go back two days.
'Heeey! Fushiguro~! Kugisaki~!! Okkotsu-senpai is fine too~!! Is nobody here~~?!'
The moment he entered the barrier, Yuji landed quite far from the center.
For a while he wandered around alone, exorcising curses and even fending off a few jujutsushi who came at him, but the more time passed, the more anxious he became.
'What if Sukuna comes out again? Junpei still hasn’t come in... I need to get together with them fast.'
In the end, unable to endure being alone, Yuji climbed to the top of the tallest building and recreated exactly what he had done in Shibuya before.
It was dangerous, but he thought this was the most effective method. In the end, what came to find him wasn’t a comrade, but a swarm of curses and players who had been thoroughly aggroed.
'Get that guy!'
'W-whoa?!'
Fortunately, no ranker came after him, but he still had to spend a long time in a chase-and-be-chased pursuit.
After the big fight on the second day, the players who had properly entered combat mode were relentless, and Yuji had to expend energy subduing them without killing them.
What saved him after he had been tossed around and worn out was the ‘angel,’ Kurusu Hana.
'This way!'
'I don’t know who you are, but thanks.....huh?'
'What is it?'
'I-I found the angel!'
'Eek?!'
That was how they met, and it had continued until now.
For the past two days, Yuji had been living in the hideout Hana had prepared in advance, acting as her escort.
At first Hana had been wary, but after he explained the whole story, she readily agreed to help, showing a friendly attitude.
"So when are your comrades coming?"
But the ‘angel’ inside her had a slightly different stance.
A vessel type, but a variant that chose ‘coexistence.’
Unlike Hana, the angel seemed determined not to cooperate until she met her comrades in person.
Part of that was actually Yuji’s fault.
To put it kindly, he was pure; to put it badly, he was a blockhead. Yuji had an extreme ability to get along with people, but he was terrible at negotiations like this.
He still didn’t fully understand the rules of the Culling Game or its clear objective, so he had only explained that they needed the angel’s help to end the Culling Game.
Of course, the angel couldn’t easily trust Yuji, whom she had just met, and was putting off the deal until she heard clear evidence and a plan.
"We’ll find them soon. Fushiguro’s smart and good at searching."
"So the rescue work you mentioned was effective after all."
"I saved people while I was at it, and spread the word that we’re here! By now they should be on their way."
Of course, Yuji hadn’t just sat around like an idiot either.
He had persuaded the angel, who was extremely reluctant to go outside, to let Megumi find this place.
It would have been inefficient for Yuji to search by roaming around himself, and with the rankers still in place, they had no choice but to take that approach.
It had been two days since the rumor was spread, so it was about time for a reaction.
And as if his prediction was right, not long after, a familiar shikigami flew in through the window of the building where they were staying.
"That’s Fushiguro’s Nue!"
"At last, Megumi...!"
Delighted, Hana and Yuji hurried downstairs, where familiar faces welcomed them.
As Yuji ran up with a face bright with emotion at finally seeing them again, Megumi’s iron fist landed squarely on his face.
"Fushiguro, Kugisaki! I knew you’d come loo..."
Boom!
"Dejaaak!"
Yuji sprawled out like a chump who had been taken down in one hit, and Megumi trembled his fist above him.
He hadn’t expected him to be living this well and eating this well.
Now he felt like the idiot for worrying at all.
"That’s too much..."
"What’s too much is you, lounging around here and having a grand old time."
"Huh, the tiger of Nishi-chu...!"
Watching from the side, Amai was once again intimidated by the way Megumi treated Yuji so casually.
He had heard they were comrades, but to treat Itadori, the local delinquent hunter who was famous around town, like that....
The boss really was a scary person.
"Um....."
"You’re the ‘angel,’ then."
"Hello...!"
Megumi stared at Hana, who extended a hand with a slightly flushed face, then took it.
'I’ve seen her somewhere....'
'Will he remember...?'
The two of them were each thinking different things, while Yuji watched them with a pleased expression.
Megumi, who hadn’t noticed Hana’s silent plea not to say anything, looked completely unconcerned.
"Your expression is annoying."
"It’s nothing."
After many twists and turns, the three of them had finally gathered.
The angel escort team’s full-scale mission began.
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