If it falls within the concept of a "hand," then a high-five is always possible.
Even if it belongs to the other person.
Laru’s face snapped to the side from the blow he took unguarded.
-Clap!
And then, another clap.
"It’s coming!"
-Thud!
Keeping watch for an opening, Laru stomped down hard.
The force sent a violent tremor through the ground, gouging it and spraying stone fragments backward.
But contrary to what he had expected, Todo’s position did not change.
"If I don’t switch, then I don’t switch."
Even if he clapped, Todo was the one who decided whether to change positions or not.
That was also why he could seize such an overwhelming advantage in a battle of wits.
Todo’s back hand drove into Laru’s solar plexus, catching him in the opening created by the missed attack.
-Smack!
"Hngh!"
"...!"
Unlike what he had expected, Laru endured it with Cursed Energy reinforcement and sheer toughness instead of backing off.
He swallowed the breath that had been knocked out of him, tightened his abs, and grabbed Todo’s arm.
If he could keep him from clapping, then at the very least he could drag him down to his own level.
"Damn it, I should’ve hit and run. You’re tough."
The grip on his arm felt like a ploy to buy time, and it was strong enough that it seemed like he had no intention of letting go.
Todo’s other hand came flying in, aiming for Laru’s face.
-Whoosh!
Laru ducked with a nimbleness utterly unlike his bulky frame, dodging the strike, then used the arm he had seized as a brace and kicked off the ground in a jump.
He lifted his hips high to wrap around the arm, then swung one leg over Todo’s head and hooked it around his neck.
All of it flowed together in a single instant like water, completing a flying armbar.
-Thud!
-Creaaak...
The two men crashed to the ground, the arm taking a heavy load.
As Laru twisted the arm trapped between his legs and tried to break it, an ominous sound came from the elbow.
He was still holding out with brute strength, but given that the difference in their physical builds was not that great to begin with, there would be a limit.
"Want to give up? I think the match is decided."
"Th... this much...!"
The balance of the fight had flipped in an instant.
If he kept holding on any longer, the arm would break, but he couldn’t exactly let this bastard go gently either.
In that situation, what Todo chose was...
-Crack!
"Oh my...!"
He dislocated his own shoulder joint.
The arm that had been straining rigidly went limp, and the instant the choke loosened, Todo rotated his body and his hook smashed into Laru’s jaw.
Laru let go of the armbar and rolled across the ground, and the dangling arm flopped free from his grasp.
-Clap!
Todo hurriedly put distance between them and popped his shoulder back into place.
The pain was nothing new, so that was fine, but he couldn’t raise the arm properly.
It looked like it wouldn’t recover until the fight was over.
"I’ll have to focus even more on messing with him."
The cost of a moment’s carelessness was huge.
To think he’d already resorted to a strategy of sacrificing flesh to take bone.
It was a bold decision, but if that was the case, then all he had to do was respond in kind.
"Try grabbing me again like you did before."
"You look like a brute, but you fight like a total slimy bastard."
The two men charged at each other again.
At the same time Todo scattered the pile of stones he had been holding around the area, and a huge fist came crashing down over his head.
Apparently Laru had learned something, because he no longer rushed in with his palm open like before.
-Boom!
He could switch positions to dodge, but an attack with such a wide area was hard to deal with, and if he wasn’t careful it could steal his timing.
For the sake of the board he had set up, he had to refrain from overusing his technique.
Todo dodged the fist that came crashing down, and a thick sole filled his vision.
-Thwack!
A front kick landed dead on his forehead.
Laru rushed in toward Todo, who staggered from the first effective hit of the fight.
As he grabbed Todo around the waist and threw his weight forward, Todo’s feet were dragged along the ground.
"I’m not into going to the ground with men!"
Todo defended against the takedown by dropping into a sprawl, then brutally smashed his elbow down into Laru’s back.
-Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The tremendous impact shook Laru’s back and churned his insides.
Even with his toughness, if he kept taking this, it would become dangerous.
Sliding forward as if to roll with the momentum, Laru wrapped around Todo’s leg.
-Grip!
"Get off me, you damn homo!"
"Heh heh, you’re sturdy. At this rate you’ll be popular..."
"Aaaagh, no!!"
As Laru clung to him tenaciously, Todo let out a roar and grabbed him by the hair.
Even in a situation that would have infuriated anyone, Todo still did not lose his composure.
He fixed his stance and drove a knee up.
-Smash!
The knee struck with a chilling impact, accompanied by the sound of bone rattling.
Todo chased after Laru as he stumbled away clutching his nose, intending to finish him off, but something grabbed his arm.
-Grab!
The illusion of [Heart Catch] that Laru had summoned in advance while they were still locked together.
Todo was lifted into the air in an instant, and just for a moment he felt the sensation of floating before his body was slammed into a nearby ruin.
-Crash!
Through the showering stone dust, another phantom fist came flying in.
If he got grabbed or hit again, he would not be in a good place.
Just as he was about to activate his technique and evade—
[Heart Catch] - [Cutie Honey]
The second effect of Laru’s technique activated.
Todo’s two hands, which had been about to clap, lost all strength and froze in place.
He had to dodge.
He knew he had to dodge....
"Why the hell can’t I take my eyes off that gay bastard?!"
"Heart Catch doesn’t just seize the body! If I’ve caught someone once, I can seize their heart too!"
With [Heart Catch], in other words, a [mark] is engraved on the target caught by the heart-snatch.
By consuming that mark, he could drag the target’s gaze away once at any time.
The duration depended on how long the [mark] remained, but even that brief moment was fatal in battle.
-Whoooosh!
The sound of air splitting rang out, and when the smoke cleared, Todo’s battered body was revealed.
He was in a somewhat dangerous state too from taking hits, but now the damage had reversed.
So now, he would end it.
From two directions, the illusion of [Heart Catch] and Laru unleashed fist strikes toward Todo.
An offensive driven by the desire to finish the match.
But Laru still did not know.
"I... can’t believe I was bewitched by a man..."
That the target of the Fire Play technique did not apply only to the user himself, and
"This is the first time I’ve ever been humiliated like this...!"
that Todo was, right now, very, very angry.
-Clap!
Switch.
The Todo standing in front of Laru vanished, and in his place was the flying fist of [Heart Catch].
-Pow!
"Guhh!"
Laru ended up getting hit by his own attack, practically injuring himself.
It was his own Cursed Energy, so the damage wasn’t severe, but his posture was broken, and in that opening Todo’s kick landed with force.
Even as he was driven back, Laru lunged to grab him, but Todo slipped out and clapped again.
-Clap!
Switch.
This time the illusion and his position swapped, leaving him to ram his face straight into the fist Todo had already extended.
Even though he had the overwhelming advantage, Todo’s rage did not cool, and with merciless claps raining down, a fierce barrage followed.
-Clap clap clap clap clap!
-Thwackthwackthwackthwackthwack!
One clap, one strike.
It was a movement impossible to predict where it would switch to.
There were many ways to counter it, such as having reaction speed far beyond Todo’s, or sweeping the surrounding area with a wide-area annihilation attack, but unfortunately Laru had neither.
Todo’s way of toying with him, constantly testing the line of whether he would switch or not, was almost devilish.
-Clap!
Switch.
Another clean hit.
-Clap!
This time he didn’t switch.
He smashed the back of the guy’s head the moment his gaze turned.
"Aaaagh!"
-Clap!
Dodging the attack he threw in desperation, switch.
But he would have expected that much, so switch again immediately.
-Clap!
After two consecutive position changes, Laru’s judgment was delayed just a little.
The instant his counter sliced through empty air, he felt a presence behind him.
Pretending to turn his gaze away, Laru had his re-summoned illusion cover all directions and prepared to land a counter.
-Clap!
But the sound of clapping rang out again.
Todo’s figure was already nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he? Did he switch? Or is he still there?"
The range of possible choices was too wide to predict.
The clapping sound, as if mocking him, bewildered him and made his head spin.
Laru could no longer make a normal judgment about where the deception ended and the truth began.
Switch, switch.
Switch again.
-Clap!
An unreadable one-sided bombardment.
That was the essence of [Boogie Woogie].
"Brother, watch this!"
-Pow!
Todo’s uppercut, surging up from below, landed cleanly.
Meanwhile, at the base in the center of Itabashi, Kusakabe was scratching his head with a troubled expression.
"I’ve got a bad feeling something annoying is about to happen again."
After returning empty-handed from the north, Todo still hadn’t shown up even by the promised time of 2 p.m.
He thought about waiting a little longer, but the feeling was bad.
It was the kind of instinct that comes from a long life as a jujutsushi, or something like that.
"That guy isn’t the type to break a promise."
If he wasn’t coming, then something had definitely happened.
He checked the list and confirmed that Todo was still alive, so there were only two possibilities.
He had run into an enemy so strong there was nothing he could do and been captured.
Or, he had found some important clue.
Personally, Kusakabe thought it was the latter.
At a time like this, there was no reason for a ranker-level powerhouse to be moving around, and considering Todo’s attitude yesterday, it was more than possible.
"Fine, I’ll go look for him. What else can I do...."
After grumbling to himself, Kusakabe picked up the sword he had set aside and headed in the direction Todo had gone.
Fortunately, before long he managed to find the remnants of Todo’s Cursed Energy.
Following it and quickening his pace, Kusakabe soon came face to face with Todo.
"What the hell happened to you...?"
"It’s nothing."
"And what’s that supposed to be?"
"He was spying on me nearby."
Todo looked like he had just come back from fighting a yasha-race warrior, and beside him was a man tied up in even worse shape.
Somehow, Kusakabe had known this would happen.
Shaking his head, he was about to inspect the man Todo had brought when he was startled.
"Isn’t that Laru?"
"Laru?"
"That’s this guy’s name. He’s a curse user who used to be under Geto."
"I know that."
"What? Anyway, never mind that... he disappeared after Shibuya, and here he is."
It was a truly unexpected harvest.
If they interrogated him properly, they might even learn Kenjaku’s whereabouts.
And maybe, just maybe, he had some connection to Tsukumo Yuki.
"Hey, wake up."
"Mm...."
Kusakabe tapped Laru awake, then crouched down in front of him and began asking questions.
"Oh my. Who are you?"
"You don’t need to know my name. I’m a jujutsu sorcerer on the side of Jujutsu High. If you answer my questions honestly, I promise I’ll let you live."
"So you had comrades too. Then my defeat was certain."
"Stop talking nonsense. I know you were Geto Suguru’s companion, Laru. Where is he now?"
At the direct question, Laru fell silent for a moment.
The question of how he should answer did not take long to resolve.
Because he really did not know.
"If you mean Kenjaku, the one who stole Suguru-chan’s body, I don’t know. We split up in Shibuya with the other comrades."
He wasn’t lying.
They were cooperating again now by chance, but he had not met him since then.
Tsukumo Yuki had been the one handling direct contact with him.
"What do you think?"
"Doesn’t seem like a lie. From their point of view, there’d be no reason to stick with a guy who desecrates a comrade’s corpse."
Fortunately, it seemed he believed him.
But this had been a leading question for a trap.
"We never once said the name Kenjaku out loud."
Kenjaku’s name was only revealed near the end after Shibuya.
The odds that he, while perfectly impersonating the dead Geto Suguru up to that point, would have spoken his own name aloud were low.
The strongest proof was that even the special-grade vengeful spirits, and the captured Hasaba sisters, did not know the name Kenjaku.
Laru’s face twisted with a look of defeat.
"So you lied. You’re definitely connected to that guy."
"Ha, and what if I am?"
Since he had already been exposed, Laru decided to go all in.
Even if he died here, he had nothing to fear. Tsukumo would carry on Geto’s dream, the one he himself had failed to realize.
He felt sorry for how worn down she was becoming, but at the very least he could not stand in her way.
"Why did you join the Culling Game? And are you connected to Tsukumo Yuki in any way?"
"I’m not saying anything."
"Stubborn, aren’t you. Still, I like people who don’t betray their comrades carelessly."
"If you know, then just kill me. Or maybe let me go?"
"Well. You might change your mind if you hear my story."
What Laru cherished most were the comrades who were like family.
The dead Geto had been that, and now Tsukumo Yuki was the same.
And so were the other curse users he had been with.
That fiercely loyal personality could, at times, become a shackle.
"Hasaba Nanako and Hasaba Mimiko. Negi Toshihisa, Suda Manami. They’re all alive."
The Hasaba sisters were currently being held in Jujutsu High’s underground prison.
He didn’t know where the other two were now, but at the very least they had not died in Shibuya. He had seen them fleeing together back then.
"Ah..."
At the familiar names, tears welled in Laru’s eyes.
As if to comfort the man with his head bowed low, Kusakabe offered one last proposal.
"Jujutsu High has secured the Hasaba sisters, and I saw the other two escaping. If you cooperate with us, we’ll not only grant amnesty to you and your comrades, we’ll also help you reunite."
"........."
"Don’t worry. We won’t harm them. So think carefully."
Tsukumo or his old comrades.
That was the question.
As Laru agonized over which side to choose, he squeezed his eyes shut and made his decision.
"I, I..."
"That’s far enough."
Someone cut off Laru’s words in the middle.
Kusakabe didn’t know who it was, but Todo and Laru recognized the voice at once.
"Sorry, Laru. I made you face such a painful choice."
Long straight blond hair that fell to her thighs.
A tank top that left her navel fully exposed, and loose red track pants.
A mature beauty with an active, energetic air appeared.
"...Long time no see, Aoi. Kusakabe’s here too."
"Master....!"
"Tsukumo Yuki!"
The target, Tsukumo Yuki, had appeared.
"You wanted to see me, didn’t you?"
I didn’t really want to see you, though.
As she said that, Tsukumo Yuki’s expression somehow looked a little sad.
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