Wind?
So that was how it worked.
Gen steadied himself and looked not far ahead.
The familiar scent in his nose meant he had not actually left that variety show at all.
“What the hell?
The audience is going to hate you if you use a transition like this, you know?”
There it was.
Takaba’s scent.
Behind him?
Gen turned around.
On the rooftop of this building, nearly fifty meters tall, Takaba’s head appeared like the Colossal Titan at Wall Maria, his hands gripping the edge of the roof as his eyes stared straight at Gen.
“What the hell!
You’ve been doing nothing but stuff that’ll get you sued ever since earlier!”
Gen planted his feet on the ground.
As the two steel cables at his waist shot into Takaba’s shoulders, his body flew forward with the burst of gas.
Gen spun through the air and sliced through Takaba’s neck in a spiral.
As the flesh at the back of Takaba’s neck flew free, Takaba’s body broke out from the nape.
“For a variety show, copyright is just something you can take or leave, right?”
Bang!
Gen felt his midair maneuver slam hard into a wall.
His vision went black, and when he opened his eyes again, he was already in a hospital.
An unfamiliar ceiling…
“Hey, are you awake?
Patient!
Hang in there!
Don’t fall asleep!”
First, something metallic approached Gen’s chest.
Then a current even stronger than Hajime Kashimo’s exploded through his body.
Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt!
Gen instinctively tried to activate Nue’s Cursed Technique, but the instant he started, he realized something.
The lightning on his body still seemed to be getting absorbed by the lightning rod.
Lightning coursed through Gen’s body, and under the influence of Takaba’s Cursed Technique, even cartoonish white bones appeared over Gen’s lightning-covered silhouette.
Gen could only run Reverse Cursed Technique as fast as possible, quickly healing his charred body.
“You’re a quack.”
Spitting out a breath of gray smoke, Gen propped himself up and looked at Takaba.
“Sorry, this is my fault.”
Takaba bowed, then sheepishly rubbed the defibrillator.
“This guy’s on his first day at work.
He doesn’t know how to adjust the intensity.”
“That’s completely because you cranked up the voltage!”
“We sincerely apologize for the unpleasant experience.
Would a five-hundred-yen voucher be acceptable compensation?”
“Not at all!
I paid to have my life saved!”
Hahahahahaha.
With a burst of laughter, the two of them once again stood on opposite sides of the variety show stage.
“What the hell!
I almost died just now!”
Gen walked up and slapped Takaba hard on the shoulder.
“But you’re still alive!
That means the treatment was a success!”
“Huh?
My fists are about to stop caring who they hit.”
“Then that’s violence against medical staff!
I’m calling the police!”
Takaba dodged Gen’s rapid punches while pretending to make an emergency call.
“Stop!
Police!”
At the voice behind him, Gen instinctively turned his head.
The person who had arrived was none other than Takaba!
“That’s still you, isn’t it?”
“No, no, no.
The one just now was Doctor Takaba.
This is Officer Fumihiko!”
Takaba blew a whistle, then stretched out his index finger and pointed at Gen.
“You are now suspected of causing a disturbance at a medical facility.
You’re coming with us!”
“Huh?
If you can catch me, I’ll turn myself in!”
The moment Takaba stepped forward, Gen immediately ran toward the other side of the stage.
“Don’t run!”
As Gen disappeared off the other side of the stage, Takaba quickly chased after him.
Right after Takaba disappeared off that side as well, the “people” below the stage burst into thunderous applause.
When the curtain opened once more, the two of them appeared in front of the microphone again, dressed in tailored suits.
“This really was fun!
But it’s almost over.”
Gen clapped his hands and looked at Takaba on the other side.
“It was fun.
If you had been my partner…
maybe I wouldn’t have failed so badly.”
Takaba smiled as he sat down on the chair that appeared beneath him.
“You’re interesting.
As long as you keep going like this, people will keep watching you, right?”
“No…
You don’t have to flatter me.
Before I met you, I was just a washed-up comedian.
I know my own level better than anyone.”
“…If someone only knows how to make people laugh, he’ll never go out of style.
If someone thinks he’s washed up, then he really is washed up.”
“I see.”
Listening to Gen, Takaba thought back on his past.
“Someone once told me…”
“Only two kinds of people stay popular forever.
People who think they’re funny, and people who actually are.”
Takaba fell silent for a while, then raised his head.
The variety show set around them melted away like snow, and the two of them sat on chairs in the middle of the road, while a trace of melancholy appeared on Takaba’s face.
“Which kind do you think I am?”
“Both are possible.
That’s my answer.”
“I see…
How is that any different from saying nothing, you jerk!”
“Anyway, I still stand by what I said.
You’re a lot of fun.”
Gen stood up and stretched.
“Fight me again when the time comes.
Aim to beat me, and go all out against me.”
Takaba raised his head.
“When that happens, as long as you beat me or fight me to a draw, I’ll be your partner and do comedy with you.”
“Okay!”
Takaba nodded, then raised one fist.
“It’s a deal!”
Gen first checked the Cursed Energy in his body, as well as the Ten Shadows Shikigami’s Cursed Techniques.
Good.
As soon as he was free from the influence of the Comedian Cursed Technique, everything had returned to normal.
“It’s a deal.”
…
Shibuya.
As Naoya Zenin’s attack ended, Choso and Itadori exchanged glances.
“What the hell?
I thought you two were weak.
Looks like I really underestimated you.”
Naoya looked down at the two of them, unable to make sense of the situation for a moment.
Sukuna’s vessel made sense.
But who was this person beside him, the one who did not look like someone from the modern era?
He needed to end this quickly.
At the same time, Itadori and Choso finished processing the information they had exchanged through their eyes.
After roughly determining that Naoya’s speed was an added effect of his Cursed Technique, the two used that brief pause to think about how to handle the next round of the fight.
But in the next instant, all of them sensed a surge of Cursed Energy.
Frenzied, and unbelievably dense.
What was going on?
All three of them had already sensed the approaching person’s “amount of Cursed Energy.”
And Yuji Itadori sensed Cursed Energy even denser than Satoru Gojo’s, but more chilling to him than Satoru Gojo’s Cursed Energy.
Just as the three of them looked in disbelief toward the source of that Cursed Energy, a huge white hand released the person it had been gripping tightly.
“Thanks, Rika.”
Before the huge white hand let go, a low female voice reached the three of them.
“One…
two, three…
Ah, so you’re not alone after all, Yuji Itadori.”