The [Jitsuseongjin Unit] lived in the dark without ever being given a name of devoted service.
More like [tools] than [people]. For those who handled the clan’s dirty work, a name was no more than an unnecessary ornament.
That place where “people” who did not exist in the world gathered was both a graveyard for the nameless and the only place that held Fujiwara’s secrets.
Uro was the first exception.
After completing a mission in the light, she was given a new name. There was no longer any reason, or any way, to hide her existence.
It was not an open secret. It was formally declared after her name had been bestowed upon her.
The girl who had become a woman was no longer [Roku].
A fragmentary record of history.
The achievements of some unknown person once written down as “identity unknown” were rewritten under the title of “captain of the [Jitsuseongjin Unit].”
Normally, when a jujutsushi made a name for themselves and were chosen by Fujiwara, they would become a retainer.
The jujutsushi of the [Oheojang] became formal retainers when they were promoted and entered Fujiwara’s service.
They would proudly bear their own family name and given name, support Fujiwara, and build their own power base.
Uro naturally thought it would be the same for her, and began the handover.
Anyone with a name could no longer belong to the [Jitsuseongjin Unit].
She had accepted that fact as something utterly obvious.
She designated the person who would succeed her as captain and left all the foundations there for them.
It was a name that remained moving no matter how many times she turned it over in her mind.
It was also proof of a status that would allow her to leave the darkness and operate in the light.
She thought everything would go well.
Had she been too excited because her wish had come true? Or because she believed that, on a sinking ship, her “lord” had remembered her loyalty and pulled her out?
Unusually for an assassin, she had a distinct sense of self, and that made her miss the essence of things.
That [Fujiwara] could not stand the sight of anyone besides themselves becoming special.
She should never have done that.
-“Criminal, Uro Takako, submit to restraint at once!”
Even when the [Oheojang] surrounded her residence and leveled their spears, Uro believed there must have been some mistake.
Even when she was tied up and brutally tortured over incomprehensible charges, Uro believed her “lord” would save her.
And when she was dragged into the courtroom and faced the face of her “lord” standing on the platform, her faith shattered to pieces.
The charge was murder.
The victim was a Fujiwara blood relative, just like her “lord.”
And he belonged to the opposition faction that had been pushing, time and again, for the dissolution of the [Jitsuseongjin Unit] and was obsessed with ruining her “lord’s” reputation.
No matter how much Uro protested, it did not matter.
The trial was nothing but formality. From the beginning, this was one giant show for her execution.
Before she knew it, Uro had become a failure who had raised her hand against the clan that had taken her in and stained her lord’s name.
And her “lord,” who had clearly planned all of this, was shedding fake tears and spouting words he did not mean.
It was his subordinate’s fault, he said. He would take responsibility.
The people gathered in the courtroom comforted him as he wailed as though heartbroken, and the gaze directed at Uro grew even colder.
“A traitor who failed her mission and killed a blood relative because she wanted to survive.” That was her crime.
Betrayal.
Humiliation.
She felt as though every kind of rage and despair was surging up inside her.
Only then did she understand what had happened, all of it.
Her “lord” had fallen into danger of losing power after the operation to exterminate Sukuna failed.
While desperately searching for a way out, what caught his eye was the [Jitsuseongjin Unit]. It had once been his greatest weapon, but now it was just a troublesome burden with nowhere to go.
Using that as his inspiration, he murdered the leader of the opposition faction who posed the greatest threat to him, then pinned the blame on Uro.
That was how such a viciously clean picture was completed.
Giving her a name had only been a setup for this moment.
He could not pin a crime on “someone who did not exist.” For the plan to work, [Roku] had to become “someone.”
The lies he had told her—saying she should continue to serve him well, that it was enough for her to remain herself—tore her heart to shreds.
Tears of blood streamed from Uro’s eyes as she knelt.
Because the price of the loyalty she had given, the goal she had looked toward and run toward all her life...
...was nothing but false hope, built while being toyed with in the palm of her “lord’s” hand.
His final order was to take on his罪 and die while keeping the secret.
The death sentence was unanimous, and as though obediently carrying out the order, Uro was dragged to prison without resisting even once.
It was not because of some habit of mechanical obedience, but because she had let go of the will to live.
And then, when she was waiting only for the day of death, someone came to find her.
The fairy from a storybook, wearing the face of a guard, smiled meaningfully and held out a hand to her.
-“Let’s make a contract.”
An offer that, if she contracted, she would become a vessel after death and be able to live a second life.
It was the last hope she had grasped at the end of life.
There was nothing to think about. She accepted the offer.
The fairy with the striking stitched scar on her forehead smiled faintly, cast an unknown jujutsu on her, and disappeared.
Time passed, the day of execution arrived, and when she faced the [Fujiwara] who had come to watch her final moments,
-“AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!”
Uro burst into wild laughter.
As her crazily laughing head was placed in the execution device and the blade was about to fall, she spat out a curse.
-“Fujiwara!! I curse you!! Even if I die, you will never sleep peacefully again, and someday you will fall even more miserably than I did!!”
After an instant that felt like eternity passed—
Her head fell to the floor.
Her face, bleeding from every opening, was veiled in a terrible madness.
From “the Fourth” to [Roku].
From [Roku] to Uro Takako.
Thus ended the life of a woman who had never been able to become anyone at all.
This story was unquestionably a tragedy.
And yet, the second story that unfolded after it.....
Was not over yet.
---------------------------------------
The place Junpei took Uro was the first-floor counter.
It had been handled so roughly that the walls were broken and the windows shattered, giving off a slightly eerie atmosphere, but it still had everything it needed.
For example, the counter staff greeting him with a smiling face over there.
That was some admirable professional dedication.
“Please give me the key to room 4101.”
“Yes, here you are.”
“Thank you.”
Junpei, having fetched the new room key, handed it to Uro.
The room she had been staying in earlier was definitely 1001.
She had thought Remi must have the key, and wondered why they had come all the way here, but it looked like they were giving her a new room.
“Use this. It’ll probably be better than the previous room.”
“That room looked pretty good too. I thought I could just keep using it.”
“That was just temporary lodging. This is a suite.”
Suite.
At that word, Uro swallowed hard.
A suite in a building like this would surely be so expensive and nice that the original owner of this body could work her whole life and never get to see one.
“Bath, bar, wall-mounted TV, computer, and all sorts of game consoles and toiletries besides. It’s got pretty much everything, so it should be enough.”
“That’s even better than a luxury ryokan. Back in my day, I couldn’t even imagine this.”
“Enough with the old-lady talk. Let’s move on.”
Leaving the counter, the two headed for the elevator.
The doors opened, Junpei stepped inside, and pressed the button for the basement.
After a brief moment, when they came out, a super-luxurious leisure facility spread out before her eyes.
“What... is all this?”
A bowling alley, billiards room, arcade, karaoke rooms, and even a few amusement rides.
The hotel basement was structured like someone had taken every human pastime they could find and shoved it all into one place.
As Uro looked around with curious eyes, unable to hide her awe, Junpei laughed to himself.
“No matter how much of the modern world you’ve learned through incarnation, you’re still an old-timer at heart.”
Knowing something from memory and experiencing it directly are different things.
Every time he showed her something, she reacted so vividly that it was fun to bring her along. It was like standing in front of some primitive tribe and saying, [Ah... this is called a ‘phone.’ You’ll never want to let it out of your hands again.]
Of course, Uro probably wouldn’t go, “Uu, tteutya, so amazing, tteutya tteutya tteutya,” but the intent was similar.
Anyway, it seemed like Uro was enjoying herself too, which was a relief.
Just as Junpei was about to roughly tour the whole floor and head to the next stop, Uro grabbed him.
“Why?”
“That...”
The two of them had stopped in front of the arcade, where all kinds of game machines were lined up.
What Uro showed particular interest in was the punching machine out front.
Junpei had used it once too, found it boring, and left it alone, but it seemed like she wanted to try it.
“I want to try that.”
“It won’t be fun. If people like us, who can reinforce our bodies, hit that thing, it’ll break. Even if you don’t use cursed energy, it’s about the same.”
Junpei warned her, but Uro didn’t listen even with one ear.
Her head was already full of thoughts of smashing that dangling punching bag right this instant.
When she stubbornly insisted, Junpei finally gave in and allowed it.
“Fine, go ahead.”
“Okay!”
“Don’t use cursed energy!”
Junpei warned her one last time, but by then she had already shot forward like an arrow and taken a punching stance.
The punching bag, the size of a human head, dangled right in front of her.
On top of it, she overlaid the face of her old lord whom she wanted to kill—!
-Boom!
“Ah.”
“I knew this would happen.”
That one blow, filled with murderous intent, landed beautifully.
Except for the fact that the punching bag burst and the glass on the display panel was smashed to pieces by the backlash.
While Uro stood there awkwardly, avoiding Junpei’s pitiful stare, someone came rushing out from inside after hearing the crash.
“Huh? You were here—aaahhh!!!”
It was Remi, who had been sulking and obsessing over setting a new record all by herself in the arcade.
In front of the broken punching machine, Remi bounced up and down like the world was ending.
“My stress-relief machine!”
“...Do you maybe think of me every time you hit that?”
“N-no? Absolutely not? M-more importantly, who did thissss!!!”
“I did it?”
“Ah.”
Remi, who had been grumbling while brushing off Junpei’s questioning, froze when she spotted Uro.
Uro, who had already been feeling awkward, found a nice target and started mercilessly picking on the easy prey Remi.
“Got a problem?”
“Nope? Of course not?”
“Uro, stop taking your frustration out on Remi for no reason.”
“When did I ever take my frustration out on her...? Tch.”
Even while fidgeting with her hands, Uro kept glancing around the arcade.
She had smashed the machine, but it seemed like hitting it had been fun.
Junpei let out a sigh and led her inside.
“Let’s find something to play that doesn’t require any control over your strength...”
“T-then let’s start with that one...”
What had been meant as a simple guided tour turned into a full-on play session in an instant.
Since Junpei didn’t stop her hard, Uro, like a fish in water, started darting around and trying everything that looked fun at least once.
Remi, who had been hovering awkwardly nearby, joined in for good measure.
“H-how do you do this!”
“Step on the pads to the timing of the notes. Right. Like that. Huh? You’re off-beat again.”
“Stop backseating and try it yourself!”
“Pfft.”
“You laughed? You laughed, didn’t you?”
“What are you going to do about it? What can you do besides writhing around and dancing there? What can you do, huh?”
“Grr...!”
They teamed up to tease Uro, who, despite being a trained jujutsushi, was spectacularly bad at dancing,
-Clack! Clack-clack! Clack! Rattle!
“Match point.”
“Why are you so good at this too!”
“Move. My turn next.”
“It’s not... over yet...!”
They took turns enjoying an air hockey league match, and
-Bang! Bang-bang-bang!!
“Is this what they call a [horror game]?”
“It’s pretty famous in the industry. It even got up to the seventh installment.”
“The curses I see sometimes seem scarier. As expected, modern occult practitioners are weak.”
“That’s true, but... saying that while having more fun than anyone else...”
“........”
They even grabbed fake guns and happily shot up zombies on the screen.
It’s no secret that they excluded cursed energy entirely to make all of this feel more real.
The three of them, having lost all track of time while loitering inside, only crawled back out when they were completely exhausted.
“Flexibility, first place. Reaction speed, first place. Overall, dead last.”
“Uro, you lost.”
“When did I ever agree to some stupid bet! I was trying all of it for the first time in the first place!”
It felt like they had tried every game in the arcade at least once.
The two of them kept forcing absurd logic on her, yelling nonsense like, “Then the next round is on Uro.”
She was clearly enjoying it inside, even while shouting back in outrage.
It would be a shame to end here.
If you’re going to play, you might as well play hard.
The next stop for the group was karaoke.
“Imademo ao ga sundeiru~ imademo ao wa sundeiru~”
-98 points!
“That was a song that was 2% lacking, just like the score.”
“What part of it?!”
“It’s your turn now, Uro, right?”
“Me? I only know a few songs...”
“It’s fine, just sing.”
“O-okay.....”
And then Junpei and Remi witnessed a glimpse of genius.
The emergence of talent that could cause fatal brain damage just from being witnessed.
-100 points!
“What is that voice....”
“What is that voice....”
“What kind of reaction is that....”
Uro was terrible at everything involving games, but she sang one song incredibly well. Good enough to make a career out of singing as a hobby.
If she hadn’t become an assassin, would she have become a diva instead?
Anyway, after they had played to their hearts’ content and came back outside, it was already getting dark.
“What’s next?”
Junpei pushed away Uro, who was begging him with sparkling eyes like a child.
“Sorry, but I’m done for today. I’ve got things to do.”
“What things?”
“We’ve played enough, so tomorrow we’ll head out again. I’m meeting someone for a bit before that.”
“I see... can’t be helped.”
She tried not to look disappointed, but the words of regret slipped out anyway.
It was a side of her that would have been impossible to imagine from the sharp-edged woman she had been before.
Junpei snorted and shoved Remi toward Uro.
“Remi will show you where to go next.”
“Me? Is that okay?”
“I’ll open up the lower floors. No, wait. You’d probably just be copying the master key and sneaking in and out anyway.”
“Ugh, how did you know that...”
“Where else do you think all the luxury stuff on your body came from? If you don’t know, you’re an idiot.”
“You’re not going to scold me?”
“Not my problem. Even if I stop you, you won’t listen. Anyway, see you tonight, Uro.”
Junpei waved as he walked away.
Remi tugged Uro along, while Uro waved back with a dazed look on her face.
“Where are we going now?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Even as she was being dragged along, expectation swelled in Uro’s heart.
What new and amazing thing would pop up next?
Where they arrived was,
“Ta-da!”
A shopping mall lined with every kind of luxury brand store.
“Ah....”
Memories from the past came flooding back.
The sight of someone she had hated beyond endurance, walking down the street in flashy clothes while laughing and chatting.
Something she had thought she would never have any connection to in her entire life was now standing before her as reality.
“You can’t keep wandering around in pajamas forever, can you?”
“I’m barely holding back from ripping these off right now.”
“Eek, are you going back naked again? If you do that outside later, you’ll get arrested.”
Remi, tugging Uro along, had eyes shining with amusement.
With no makeup and walking around half-naked, if she was already this beautiful, how incredible would she be when she really tried?
She wanted to see Junpei’s face when he was shocked senseless.
“Let’s surprise Yoshino.”
“That guy already has a girlfriend. Someone like me wouldn’t even register.”
“You never know. Just because there’s a goalkeeper doesn’t mean the ball won’t go in.”
And so the great Uro makeover operation began.
She tried on all sorts of clothes and accessories, and if something didn’t feel right, they moved on to the next thing.
After browsing for quite a while, she was dressed in something that looked pretty decent.
“And makeup too!”
“I don’t suit that sort of thing.”
“Don’t say that, just sit still!”
Uro had already had a good face to begin with.
Add to that Remi’s methods, honed from seducing countless men, and the result went beyond imagination.
“Wow....”
“This is... me.....”
Uro’s trembling hand touched the mirror.
The thing she had hated, and deep down had envied.
The feeling of experiencing it herself was a little strange.
“......”
It felt like she was wearing clothes that didn’t suit her.
It also felt like she had reclaimed something that should have originally been hers to enjoy.
She felt an emotion she couldn’t quite pin down and define.
One thing was certain... it wasn’t as intense as she had expected.
The face reflected in the mirror looked like it wanted to cry a little.
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