Chapter 13: Even Geniuses Get Hungry

In the final moments of his life, there were neither comrades at his side to support him nor cursed spirits he needed to defeat.

"..."

Grrrrumble...

Perhaps the information gathered by Jujutsu High had been wrong. What awaited those dispatched on a mission thought to be Grade 2-level was a special-grade cursed spirit that they stood no chance of handling.

A cursed womb of the specific disease cursed spirit, [Nurarihyon].

Faced with Nurarihyon’s terrifying power, which shattered the boundary between reality and delusion and made its victims lose themselves, the sorcerers made a decision.

A binding vow paid for with their lives.

An unnamed semi-Grade 1 sorcerer burned away his own life and succeeded in exorcising Nurarihyon.

A private residence reduced to rubble. And Furutani Ryota, a worthless sorcerer whose actual combat ability amounted to no more than Grade 3, was left behind.

He had survived and escaped the cursed spirit’s threat, but he never regained his senses before the end of his life.

The mind shattered by Nurarihyon never returned.

As he lay beneath the wreckage of the collapsed building, having lost himself and sprawled there like a doll, the television before his eyes—previously switched off—suddenly turned itself on.

Despite the chaos, the power had not been cut off, and the TV had come on at the time someone had set it to.

And one song that began to play became Furutani Ryota’s funeral song, accompanying him to his end.

Let’s go eat when we’re hungry♪

Eating will give us strength♪

Listening to the opening theme of some anime as his final sound, the sorcerer Furutani Ryota starved to death.

The aimless cursed energy left in his dead body mingled with the remnants of the special-grade cursed spirit remaining at the scene, preparing a cursed womb for a new existence.

This was the special-grade cursed spirit, Nohara Hiroshi.

It was the background behind how the human who had once worked as a sorcerer under the name Furutani Ryota had been swallowed by a curse and fallen so low.

-

A golden domain appeared as though draped over the logistics warehouse.

A gigantic plate emerged across the floor, and a massive golden ring spread out around it.

All manner of dazzling dishes were arranged atop the ring, rotating like a table at a Chinese restaurant.

New Shadow Style, Simple Domain.

Before recovering his memories of his past life, Zenin Daisuke had made a contract with the New Shadow Style and learned Simple Domain.

He had never deployed it even once since then, so he was not confident, but with an all-or-nothing resolve, he somehow managed to succeed.

I succeeded in deploying a Simple Domain. Miguel... is he outside the domain?

Miguel Odu was a sorcerer who had developed his skills within Africa’s own independent system of jujutsu. Naturally, he had no ties to the New Shadow Style.

If he had entered the domain, it would have been a disaster.

His original technique, Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums, is an ability that copies food. No matter how much the technique’s range has expanded... No, that’s not it.

Overwhelmed by the domain he had encountered for the first time in his life, he pulled himself together just before he could lean on optimism.

Indeed, as Zenin Daisuke himself had denied, humans too fell within the targets of Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums.

It was the result of its user transcending humanity and becoming a cursed spirit.

Thus far, Nohara Hiroshi had displayed a total of three abilities through Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums.

First, duplicating and releasing food. Second, shikigami techniques using duplicated food. Third, creating temporary bodies for his true body to possess.

Judging from that, the likeliest scenario if he was struck by the sure-hit effect was for a duplicate of Zenin Daisuke himself to be created.

Zenin Daisuke’s caution was entirely reasonable—and correct.

Nohara Hiroshi’s technique, Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums, grew more effective the deeper the curse contained in the food it duplicated.

There was a reason he had traveled the world massacring non-sorcerers and gathering human flesh.

Still, the fact that he activated his domain means that his true body is at least inside this domain. I thought he’d be troublesome to deal with because he kept changing bodies whenever he pleased, but I just need to finish him in here!

Having made his decision, Daisuke provoked the cursed spirit.

"What, you were so confident, but you’re not coming over here?"

"I’m not stupid enough to approach the New Shadow Style without thinking."

"Damn it, you only roleplay when it suits you!"

For a moment, the cursed spirit spoke not as Nohara Hiroshi but as Furutani Ryota, then returned to Nohara Hiroshi’s expression.

Before long, at the cursed spirit’s gesture, the dishes on the ring surrounding the outside of the plate writhed and changed shape.

They were Gluttons, food shikigami created through the Extension Technique of Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums.

Daisuke tensed at their appearance. They looked exactly like the ones Miguel had been facing outside the domain.

There were countless shikigami that Miguel—a man capable of tying down Gojo Satoru for ten whole minutes—had struggled against and been unable to immediately rejoin them because of.

Gwaaaaaah!!!

The Gluttons charged.

"New Shadow Style Simple Domain, Batto—!!!"

The New Shadow Style’s distinctive automatic counterattack activated against the Gluttons that stepped into the Simple Domain.

The special-grade cursed tool at his waist, [Star Mutation Particle], was drawn, and the flying slashes butchered the Gluttons.

For the moment, Zenin Daisuke was handling their numbers without issue, but there was no end to them.

Even now, Gluttons were being continuously supplied from the outer ring.

Just as he began to feel that the strain was becoming too much—

The special-grade cursed spirit Nohara Hiroshi was thinking the exact same thing.

"Release the technique."

KABOOOOOM—!!!

The techniques placed upon the Glutton remnants piling up in the Simple Domain, as well as the Gluttons gathered around it, were released, causing an explosion of pure cursed energy.

The Simple Domain collapsed from the impact. Zenin Daisuke was left completely exposed to the sure-hit range of Nohara Hiroshi’s domain, [Banquet Orange Ring].

To eliminate the troublesome sorcerer before him, Nohara Hiroshi naturally activated his technique. The duplication of Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums began.

At the same time, to recover from his current injuries caused by the explosion and endure any possible sure-hit technique, Zenin Daisuke activated Reverse Cursed Technique at maximum output, filling his entire body with positive energy.

The discordant harmony of the best decisions each had made according to their own judgment. That unforeseen synergy bestowed both blessing and curse upon them.

The activation condition of Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums was to consume the food to be duplicated.

The technique analyzed the structure of the consumed food and produced a duplicate. Once that condition was met, any food within his range of perception could be made a target of the technique.

When the target was human, however, the conditions became somewhat more complicated. Even non-sorcerers possessed their own individual cursed energy patterns.

That was why merely having consumed human flesh did not mean he could target just any human with his technique.

That did not change even when he activated the technique through his domain.

Only the process of consumption was omitted while obtaining the structure and cursed energy pattern of the food—Zenin Daisuke.

And his hard-working technique, Thirst Quenching by Thinking of Plums, detected food filled with positive energy for the first time since its master had become a cursed spirit.

Without considering just how fatal that would be for the cursed spirit Nohara Hiroshi, the technique activated based on Zenin Daisuke’s information, and the result was—

"Kuhurk...!"

"!?"

Nohara Hiroshi coughed up blood.

At the same time, the domain began to collapse.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but if his domain collapsed, that means he won’t be able to use his technique for a while! I need to rush in and exorcise him now!

Tap!

Zenin Daisuke’s leg strength, enhanced by the Divine Dogs’ spiritual garment, let him make a starting dash no human-shaped sorcerer should have been capable of.

The distance closed in an instant. Nohara Hiroshi, still unable to get his bearings after being struck by positive energy for the first time since forming as a cursed spirit, had no chance of responding.

Slash.

Nohara Hiroshi’s head was severed.

The very moment he thought it was over, cursed energy surged forth.

The cursed spirit Nohara Hiroshi’s true body burst out through the severed surface of the head, revealing itself.

It had a hideous appearance no different from any other cursed spirit.

"The Nohara family—"

Its massive arm descended upon Zenin Daisuke.

"Fiiiiire—"

Don’t move.

The cursed words that rang out just before the unexpected blow could catch Zenin Daisuke off guard.

It was the arrival of a modern anomaly: Okkotsu Yuta.

-

"Can we consider the mission complete?"

"Of course. By the time I arrived, it was already nearly over. You did really well against a cursed spirit that even had a domain."

Okkotsu praised me.

Everyone at Jujutsu High was out of their mind, so aside from Gojo Satoru, nobody ever said anything this embarrassingly sincere to me. It made me genuinely happy.

I had let my guard down just before exorcising the special-grade cursed spirit Nohara Hiroshi and nearly been caught off guard by him, but Okkotsu’s Cursed Speech saved me.

His corpse was devoured by Rika, Okkotsu’s shikigami.

It was likely to simplify the cleanup, but perhaps it was also to add another piece to Okkotsu’s technique storage.

"I wasn’t any help again..."

"But you’re cute. That’s enough."

"That’s all!?"

Minami had come all the way overseas, only to accomplish absolutely nothing, so I tried to comfort her.

Of course, it did not seem to comfort her much.

Still, Minami’s true worth would soon shine through.

As far as I could tell, Minami’s talent in barrier techniques was on Tengen’s level. During the upcoming jujutsu terrorist attack in Shibuya, complicated curtains would make it difficult to enter, delaying the response and causing countless tragedies.

If we could just lock down Shibuya properly, then the story of Jujutsu Kaisen could practically end without ever reaching the Culling Game.

"So, Zenin Boy, are you heading back to Japan now?"

"That’s a shame... If you stayed here and carried out a few more missions with us, you’d be promoted to Grade 1 in no time."

"Still, simply getting acquainted with the two of you has been a tremendous gain for me."

Honestly, the Black Rope Okkotsu was looking for no longer existed, so I wanted to tell him to stop wasting his time, return to Japan quickly, and do something about Kenjaku. But I could not think of an effective way to convince him.

For now, all I could do was return myself and get ahead of things before they escalated.

"Then, I’ll see you again soon."

"Next time we meet, it’ll be in Japan, right?"

After our final farewell with Okkotsu, the airplane carrying us took off.

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