“I’ve compiled a report on the recent disappearances, the bodies found, and the remnants left behind by the ‘spears.’”
Nanami pointed at a map covered in dots and arrows.
The “dots” marked the last known locations where the missing or dead had been found. The “arrows” showed the direction the remnants were heading.
The more recent the time frame, the more the dots clustered in a specific district of Kawasaki City, and the direction indicated by the remnants narrowed as well.
No matter how meticulous you were, if your tail was long enough, someone would step on it eventually.
“This should let us narrow down the culprit’s hideout to some extent.”
“Okay! Should we storm in?”
“No. It’s only ‘to some extent’ for now. I’ll keep investigating, so Itadori, please handle something else.”
The boy at the cinema, Yoshino Junpei. He’d been investigated based on the footage captured by CCTV.
Judging by his overall impression, Nanami thought it was unlikely that he was a jutsushi, but if he was connected to the victims, that was another matter.
He was a classmate at the same high school as the three victims.
“Jutsushi?”
“A malicious sorcerer. I’ve already told Ijichi what to do, so the two of you should investigate Yoshino Junpei together.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Understood.”
“Come to think of it, are there no other assistant supervisors besides Ijichi?”
“I’m afraid I’m the only one who knows that Itadori is alive...”
As Itadori chatted his way out of the room, Ijichi stopped just before leaving and looked back at Nanami.
“You already know, don’t you? Where the culprit is.”
Nanami was smart. Not only was he intelligent, but thanks to his experience in corporate life, he was also skilled at paperwork and analysis, which earned him high praise.
His being a grade 1 jujutsushi was due in part to his formidable combat ability, but the fact that he could conduct an investigation on his own also played a major role.
Ijichi thought there was no way Nanami would take this long just to investigate some remnants like that.
“Of course. If he wanted to, the culprit could leave the scene without leaving even a trace of remnants behind. We’re being lured again.”
The risk of charging in alone versus the risk of bringing Itadori. The choice was obvious.
No matter how exceptional the boy’s physical abilities were as Sukuna’s vessel, he was still an immature child.
As an adult, Nanami had a duty to protect him.
Ijichi didn’t object to that decision either. It was something many sorcerers overlooked, but Nanami was almost the only one who consistently upheld even the most basic decency.
“Nanami-sensei!!”
Just then, Itadori, who had left the room, suddenly swung the door wide open and came back in.
Grinning, he raised a hand in a casual greeting.
“Be careful. I forgot to mention something earlier...”
“Itadori.”
“What?”
“I’m not in teaching, so don’t call me sensei.”
“Then, Nanaming...”
“Are you asking to be slapped?”
--------------------------
By the time Junpei finished talking with Mahito and headed home, two pairs of eyes were following him.
“Huh? He’s in plain clothes?”
“Looks like he hasn’t been going to school for a while.”
“What do we do now?”
Ijichi explained to Itadori the plan he had worked out with Nanami.
They would release a low-level curse, Sudo, and judge Junpei’s reaction, then respond differently depending on what kind of person he was.
First: if Junpei was a non-sorcerer who couldn’t see Sudo, Itadori would rescue him.
Second: if he could see Sudo but had no way to deal with it, they would rescue him and then question him about the day of the incident.
Third: if he exorcised Sudo with jujutsu, he would be arrested immediately.
However, if he was judged to have the potential of a grade 2 jujutsushi or higher, they would retreat on the spot and regroup with Nanami.
“If he’s grade 2, I feel like we could barely handle him?”
“That’s for curses. Sorcerers are different. Normally, sorcerers of the same grade are assigned to exorcise curses, so a grade 2 jujutsushi can naturally defeat a grade 2 curse. You can think of it as roughly the combat power of a grade 1 curse.”
“Why didn’t I know something that important...?”
“Because Gojo is so damn careless...”
Swallowing the words, Ijichi pressed his temples, thinking of the man who was as needlessly free-spirited as he was powerful.
How could he not explain something this basic? He says he wants to be a teacher and raise the next generation, but does he actually mean it at all...?
“Anyway, let’s get off here.”
“This feels kind of staged, so I’m not really into it...”
“We still have to do it. Once you’re ready, I’ll release Sudo. Ah, here he comes.”
Ijichi, who had gotten out near Junpei’s house, prepared to open the cage holding Sudo.
The moment he spotted Junpei, he turned his head away and failed to notice that someone else was standing in front of the house.
“Huh? Ijichi...”
“I’m going in, Itadori!”
Before Itadori could even finish speaking, the cage was opened.
Before anyone could stop it, Sudo spread his wings and began charging straight at the two people.
“Wait! There’s someone there!”
“Huh?”
Five seconds before the operation failed from the very start.
Things were not going to go smoothly.
-----------------------
Junpei replayed the conversation from earlier in his head as he walked home.
“I accept everything about you.”
Human beings have no dignity. The heart and the soul are no more valuable than stones scattered on the roadside.
Because of that, conviction is an illusion, and you can live however you please.
It was unmistakable indulgence, but it felt like someone had scratched an itch he couldn’t reach himself.
The words of the only man in this world who knew the truth about souls and emotions. Junpei felt a deep sense of kinship with them.
Wasn’t there already a crowd of people living by his theory?
There was no way a guy who burned cigarettes into other people’s foreheads while stone-cold sober had anything resembling a heart.
That was when it happened.
“Yoshino, where have you been? You shouldn’t skip school.”
“Sotomura... sensei...”
A heavyset man, sweat pouring from every inch of his body, was sitting in front of his house.
It was his homeroom teacher, the one he’d thought he’d never have to see again.
The stench of sweat and cigarettes coming off him made Junpei feel sick, and before he realized it, he had taken a step back. Sotomura looked at him in confusion, tilted his head, and went on with what he had to say.
“Did you hear? I heard Sayama, Nishimura, and Honda died.”
Those were the names of the three people who had been at the cinema.
“You were close with them, weren’t you?”
...What is he talking about?
“Huh?”
Junpei’s expression twisted at the incomprehensible words.
Even though that wasn’t a normal reaction, Sotomura paid no mind to the change in him.
“They took such good care of you, even though you didn’t have any friends. And you didn’t even come to the funeral...”
Close with them? Me? Those guys?
He’s not in his right mind.
I didn’t know he could be this indifferent to other people.
“I’ll go with you, so let’s at least go burn some incense.”
Ah.
Indifference.
Was that what he meant?
Even I, who preached indifference as a virtue, felt my insides boil when I actually faced this kind of indifference.
In the end, there is no consistency in a person’s “heart.” Whether the subject is yourself or someone else, you just accept it differently each time.
Empty, all is empty.
“People like teachers... you went to school and then kept working at a school, so I guess you’ve never experienced what’s generally called society?”
He and that guy and the next guy—everyone was half-baked.
-That’s why someone like you ends up being made: just a big child.
It had been a sincere rebuke, but apparently it hadn’t reached him.
Wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, Sotomura picked at his ear and grumbled, as if to prove he was fat even in the ears.
“What are you mumbling about? Did you hole up somewhere and go crazy? Haha, just kidding.”
Good.
I’ll kill him.
Just as Junpei’s cursed energy began to whirl violently and form hand signs,
“Sto-ooop!!!”
Someone barged in.
-----------------------
“Hmm... So this is all there is? A grade 1 jujutsushi.”
Meanwhile, a life-or-death battle was unfolding in the sewer.
Mahito looked down at Nanami with a relaxed expression. Meanwhile, blood was seeping from Nanami’s right side, staining his white suit.
With victory clearly leaning one way,
“Haa... unfortunate, but...”
Nanami let out a sigh and loosened his tie, and cursed energy began to surge through his body.
As Mahito flinched at the ominous shift in pressure, Nanami had already prepared his counterattack.
“From here on out, this is overtime.”
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register