Wheeeeeee
Uraume, who had managed to grab hold of their fading consciousness, woke in excruciating pain.
Szzzzzzzt!
The brat’s full-body armor spun violently as it clung to them, shredding their skin.
It felt like it was going to tear through flesh, muscle, and even bone beneath the skin. And on top of that, poison kept worming its way deeper into the body.
The brutal sight of blood and chunks of flesh spraying into the air only made it feel even more horrifying.
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
They had never felt pain like this, not even a thousand years ago.
“Gyaaaah!!!”
“You’re awake?”
When a scream of agony burst from Uraume’s mouth, Junpei hugged them even tighter.
For an ordinary person, these were the kind of injuries that would have killed them long ago from shock or blood loss. Even with cursed energy protecting the body, there were limits.
If they were still alive, and even conscious, then they must be repairing themselves with reverse cursed technique.
As expected, this was no easy opponent. Better to kill them here and now so there’d be no future trouble.
He also didn’t want to keep looking at this disgusting scene any longer.
Determined to finish it, Junpei made [Black Scale] grow larger.
Kkakakakak!
The blade, now about twice as long, drove into Uraume’s upper body and scraped against their ribs.
The intercostal nerves clustered there were severed, and their brain screamed for mercy.
“Kuhh—!”
If they stayed here any longer, they’d die. Forget what came after; surviving came first.
Uraume’s vision went white. As a shock response, they bit down hard on their tongue. The metallic taste of blood spread through their mouth and snapped their mind back awake.
At the same time, Uraume abandoned the protection of cursed energy and gathered everything they had, chilling the cursed energy around them.
“Let go of meeeee!!!”
Boom!
With that furious scream, ice crystals exploded outward from Uraume’s body, enough to blanket the surrounding streets.
A 200 percent self-destruct that cared nothing for friend or foe. Its power far exceeded anything an ordinary jujutsushi would have imagined.
Even the nearby buildings were swept up, unable to withstand the pressure.
“They still had that much power left?!”
Junpei, his whole body frozen stiff and blasted upward through the air, grimaced.
He had known the opponent was strong. Maybe even stronger than Mahito.
So this was the output they got when they got serious.
“I was going to save it for the final showdown...”
Now wasn’t the time to be weighing pros and cons. He had pushed them back, but they still had reserves hidden away.
If that attack came again, then both he and Nobara—and Nitta, who had been evacuated far away—would be dead meat.
Praying that his remaining cursed energy would hold, Junpei formed a hand sign.
“[Light]...”
“I’ll never forget this humiliation!”
“...?”
He had finally steeled himself to use his finishing move, but it seemed the other side had different plans.
Uraume, having shattered the ice that had trapped them, was already riding a disk of ice and flying off into the distance.
Not forgetting to leave behind a parting line straight out of a third-rate villain, either.
While Junpei stared blankly after them, Uraume grew smaller and smaller until they were nothing but a dot.
“Should we chase them?”
“...Leave them.”
There was no need to chase a fleeing enemy just to finish the job.
A rat backed into a corner would bite the cat and go berserk.
The tension gone, the two of them collapsed where they stood.
“My whole body aches...”
“Same.”
The opening battle that announced Shibuya’s destruction.
With Uraume’s retreat, the match ended in a narrow victory for Junpei and Nobara.
------------------------------
After the fight ended, they went to find Nitta, who had been hidden underground.
Before the battle had properly begun, the couple had worried she might get caught up in it, so they’d evacuated Nitta first. Thankfully, she was safe.
Though she did look a little cold.
“B-brrr... th-th-th...”
“Are you okay?”
“I-it feels like I just came out of a refrigerator...”
Once Nitta had warmed up and recovered a little, Junpei explained why he’d come here.
The sealing of Gojo Satoru, the enemy’s forces, the jujutsushi teams entering from the four stations surrounding Shibuya Station.
And because Ijichi, who had been acting as the control tower, had been attacked, Nitta would have to take over that role.
After receiving the necessary information, Nitta headed off toward the camp outside the Curtain with a solemn expression.
“She’ll be fine, right?”
“The one attacking the assistant supervisors was probably just that one guy. And with Ino there as escort, she’s safe now.”
“More than that, I’m worried about Ijichi. That guy was a total monster.”
“I hope he’s alive.”
Junpei muttered bitterly, and Nobara looked up at him intently.
“What are we doing now?”
“Kusakabe’s side seems fine for now. Nitta said she’d spread the word. We should head over and join Yuji and Fushiguro.”
“I’m coming too.”
Nobara’s eyes were burning with determination.
But her legs were still trembling, so the aftereffects of the earlier fight were clearly lingering.
It would be great to have her with him, but was it really right to take her into that den of monsters?
When Junpei had come to Shibuya, he’d intended to smash every enemy standing in his way.
But...
Gojo Satoru’s sealing, Mahito’s mass terror attack, and the encounter with Uraume.
After going through three big events he’d never expected to face in his lifetime, Junpei’s confidence had taken a serious hit.
He had nearly died to that white-haired monk just now.
Setting aside the fact that the guy had been stronger than expected, there was still Mahito’s special-grade curse group inside, along with Geto Suguru, the special-grade curse user.
The place was packed with enemies he might not even be able to beat if he fought with everything he had.
In an environment where he was already struggling just to keep himself alive, he had no confidence he could protect Nobara.
“No.”
“Why not!”
“Shibuya’s a den of monsters right now. I only barely managed to beat that one with you helping me. I have no idea what stronger freaks are waiting inside.”
“You saw it yourself. If you and I work together, we can still...”
“I’m saying that might not be enough!”
“....”
“I... don’t have the confidence to protect you in there. I’m barely hanging on as it is.”
At the word protect, a vein throbbed on Nobara’s forehead.
“So you’ve been thinking of me as someone you have to protect? Do I really look that weak to you?”
She knew it too.
That compared to Yuji, Megumi, or Junpei, her own raw combat power was pitifully weak.
She didn’t have monstrous strength that could smash through steel doors barehanded, or a wide range of shikigami that could handle almost any situation, or poison that could invade an enemy’s body.
If Nanami or Gojo had said that, she probably would have grumbled, but gone along with it.
“...Yeah.”
“...You jerk.”
But from Junpei. From the person she loved most.
She didn’t want to hear that.
Maybe she had secretly wanted him to say she was strong, to fight alongside her, to stake their lives together.
It was a childish tantrum, no different from a spoiled kid throwing a fit.
And because Nobara knew that better than anyone, she lowered her head.
“...Sorry.”
And cruelly, Junpei still didn’t withdraw his stance.
He understood her position in his own way, but he still refused to back down.
Losing someone precious once was enough.
Even though he had chosen a bloodstained profession as a jujutsushi, Junpei still wasn’t ready to accept the death of someone close to him.
If she were murdered in front of him, he might die after her—or go insane.
“If I died, would you do the same?”
Selfishly, Junpei had been prepared to give up his own life, and he felt a deep disgust toward himself.
He had even thought he’d follow her into death if she died first, yet he still wanted her to keep living after he was gone. Because he loved her, it was the horrifying contradiction that had taken root in someone so obsessed with consistency.
Wasn’t love the most twisted curse of all? He remembered something Gojo had once said.
“Don’t go into Shibuya Station. Focus on rescuing civilians outside. Inumaki-senpai went that way too, so you can link up with him.”
Just as he turned away and tried to walk off, Nobara grabbed him.
“...Give me your button.”
“...?”
Tuk
Before he could stop her, Nobara tore a button off his clothes and clenched it tightly in her hand.
Junpei was wondering what she planned to do with it when he suddenly remembered the conversation they’d had once, in the same bed.
“A remote reverse cursed technique...?”
“Cursed Technique Reversal: [Bloom].”
Nobara’s Straw Doll Technique was a cursed technique that used a detached medium to inflict damage on a target connected by the soul.
At the same time, Nobara’s cursed energy also traveled along the path through the medium to the target.
Drawing on that, she had been searching for a way to convert it not into cursed energy with negative properties, but into positive energy and send it through.
Of course, it wasn’t easy. Reverse cursed technique itself was hard even for most strong sorcerers, and applying it to another person was even harder.
Because her technique itself acted on “objects,” Nobara was at least able to find a clue.
Ieiri Shoko, who should have been her teacher, wasn’t talented at teaching, so Nobara had to reach this level on her own.
And yet she had done it.
In exchange for giving up growth in direct combat during that short period, she had gained a technique that set her apart from everyone else.
The “flower” in [Bloom].
Was there any name more fitting than that?
An original technique carrying the tender wish that a bright light would always shine down on the person she loved.
It had started as a joke of an idea, but it had ended in something magnificent.
Paaang!
“H-huh...?”
Nobara’s cursed energy, flowing through the button as a medium, blossomed from Junpei’s body into white flowers.
They were lilies, with large and beautiful blooms that left a strong impression.
Realizing what those flowers meant, Junpei’s face turned red.
The meaning of the lily flower is...
Unchanging love.
Sararara...
One by one, the lilies blooming across his body faded away and melted into Junpei’s flesh.
He touched himself here and there in amazement, then suddenly realized that the fractures, frostbite, and puncture wounds from the earlier fight had all vanished without a trace.
His body, fully restored by positive energy, was in perfect condition.
“...When did you learn to do this?”
“You’re not the only one who worked hard. I was doing my best to keep up too.”
“......”
“There’s a limit to my cursed energy too. I can probably use it about four more times.”
Wiping away the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, Nobara smiled brightly.
Then, wrapping her arms around Junpei’s neck, who was at a loss for what to do with his gratitude and guilt, she whispered softly:
“If you die, I’ll kill you.”
“I’ll come back. I promise.”
The lips of the two people clinging tightly to each other met.
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