Seeing Takako Uro briefly disappear, then return fully dressed, Gen finally let his drifting gaze fall from the sky to the woman in front of him.
After the fight ended, Takako Uro, just like Ryu Ishigori, questioned Gen about why he had not killed her for points.
Gen brushed it off casually, saying he wanted to get some information about Sukuna from someone of Sukuna’s era.
“You’re really going to challenge that monster?”
“Of course.
I incarnated for the sake of fighting Sukuna to the death.”
Takako Uro was left speechless for a moment.
The information she knew about Sukuna was mostly the kind of thing later generations could have recorded as well.
After telling him everything only she knew, Sukuna’s open Domain, Fūga, and the Binding Vows he had made in his original form, Takako Uro looked at the man in front of her.
She had not gotten a clear look during the fight, but now that she saw the golden hilt hanging at Gen’s waist, radiating Cursed Energy, Takako Uro silently turned her head away.
She had planned so much, yet had not even managed to force out her opponent’s Cursed Tools.
It reminded Takako Uro of what it had been like fighting Sukuna while she was alive.
She remembered Sukuna, bored with being surrounded, swinging Kamutoke and Hiten inside his Domain.
Even though she had not faced Sukuna head-on, the sight of him wiping out whole swaths of Jujutsu Sorcerers with a single wave of his hand, as easily as cutting wheat, had left an indelible memory in Takako Uro’s mind.
“How did you die?”
Looking at Gen, Takako Uro weighed the question for a long while before finally asking it.
“Me?”
Gen pinched his chin, lifted his head slightly, and pretended to think.
“After making a deal with Kenjaku, I killed myself with a Cursed Tool right in front of him.”
“…”
Takako Uro no longer felt much like talking to the man in front of her.
He was a handsome young guy, but there was clearly something wrong with his head.
“So, do you have any more information about Sukuna?”
“No.”
“I see.”
After learning there was nothing else, Gen turned to leave.
Takako Uro raised her head.
“Hey!”
Watching Gen gradually move away, Takako Uro called out to this strange man.
“What is it?”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
“You’re the second person to ask me that.”
Gen did not turn back.
He only raised a hand.
“You’re no saint, but keeping you alive makes me feel a little better.
If you don’t want me to change my mind, then don’t attack ordinary people.”
Lightning flowed across Gen’s back as Nue’s wings spread behind him.
“See you.”
Takako Uro still wanted to say something, but all that remained before her was a trail like a sudden bolt of lightning.
…
“Five points have been added.”
“You’re not exactly…
the dessert I was looking for…”
The condensed Cursed Energy cannon instantly blasted apart the Jujutsu Sorcerer in front of him.
After absorbing modern knowledge of firearms, Ryu Ishigori had successfully combined the concept of a “handgun” with his Cursed Energy Discharge, greatly increasing both its activation speed and firing speed.
“Hah…
Not dessert, but I guess it’s at least a little cookie.
Compared to that guy, though, nothing feels satisfying.”
Ryu Ishigori restored his right hand, which had just been blown to pieces, with Reverse Cursed Technique.
Then he sat on the steps and looked up at the sky.
A flash of lightning streaked past his eyes in an instant.
“…How many times has that been now?”
High above the Sendai Barrier, a bolt of lightning flickered constantly.
As that lightning darted around wildly, the number of Players inside the Sendai Barrier rapidly dwindled.
…
“Haaah…”
Stretching lazily, Gen crushed the Cursed Tool under his foot and looked around at where he had ended up.
It was a single-person residence.
“Nue, Shiro, Kuro.”
Three black shadows instantly stretched out from Gen’s shadow.
Gen took out a Cursed Tool, pointed its tip at the door, and clicked it open.
After he pushed the door open, Shiro and Kuro poured inside.
Nue kept his parrot-like form, flapping his wings in midair.
“You’ve been letting people go.
Are you preparing something?”
Nue landed on a table inside the house, his somewhat sharp voice ringing through the room.
“I have to leave Kenjaku some people to keep things running.
Besides, I think they’re pretty decent.”
Naturally, Gen mainly wanted to watch the Sendai four-way battle, so he was doing his best to spare the key figures involved.
That said…
“Of course…
haven’t I always been like this?”
“Devious and cunning, fond of jokes, and fond of playing with people’s minds?”
“Who are you describing?”
Nue looked into Gen’s eyes, then turned his head away.
“Mahoraga.”
“That does sound about right.”
Gen looked over the layout of the detached house.
The original owner had kept not only a dog, but a parrot too.
Though it looked as if no one had been back here for a long time.
Judging from the traces of scent left in the air, the owner of the house had not returned in over half a month.
Gen slipped into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took a still-usable piece of beef from the freezer.
He pressed his finger against the beef, and Cursed Energy quickly spread through it.
After rapidly thawing it, he placed it on a clean cutting board.
“Hah…
nice place.”
Gen did not take out any kitchen knives.
Instead, he picked up the golden hilt at his waist and poured Cursed Energy into it.
The front of the hilt seemed to surge with Cursed Energy, soon forming a sharp kitchen knife.
“Sss…”
He set a clean frying pan on the stove.
As the flames rose, a small piece of beef tallow quickly melted under the heat.
Fat danced across the bottom of the pan, releasing a rich, roasted aroma.
While waiting for the pan to heat, Gen arranged the thick slices of beef one by one.
“Nue, the seasoning over there.”
Nue grabbed the black pepper shaker and tossed it to Gen.
Gen caught the bottle and gave his wrist a light shake, evenly scattering fine grains across the surface of the steaks.
“Sizzle…”
The instant the beef hit the pan, thick white smoke mixed with the aroma of meat rushed toward the ceiling, tangling with the roar of the range hood.
Gen turned the pieces of meat with tongs, watching the surface quickly form a browned, crispy crust.
“Ah…
modern times really are better.
Here, Shiro, Kuro, catch.”
Gen flipped the pan, and the pieces of meat were quickly broken apart midair by the Divine Dogs before landing in the dog bowls in front of them.
“Are we just going to stay in here?”
The cooking was over quickly.
Even though Gen could survive perfectly well without eating, it was obvious that food improved one’s mood.
After pushing Nue’s portion, cut into small bird-sized bites, toward him, Gen first cut off a piece of steak and put it in his mouth.
He chewed for a moment, then looked at Nue.
Mm.
Not good.
“Of course not.”
“Kogane.”
“At your service!”
With a pop, the little golden bug appeared beside Gen.
“What’s my score right now?”
“Report.
Your current score is 95 points.”
Ninety-five points…
Gen fell silent for a while.
Then Nue spoke at exactly the wrong time.
“If you killed either that exhibitionist or that pompadour guy, you wouldn’t have to worry about points here, would you?”
“Don’t say it.”
“If you felt like it, you could go out right now and kill a Jujutsu Sorcerer too, couldn’t you?”
Faced with Nue’s question, Gen looked at the Divine Dogs Shiro and Kuro rolling around in their warm dog bed.
“Can’t you act like a bird?”
“Don’t compare me to those two dumb dogs.”
“You’re a dumb bird too.
Just a little smarter than them.”
“Fuck you, quack quack quack quack quack quack!!!”
Before Nue could launch into a full tirade, Gen immediately shut off his ability to speak.