“You don’t have Jujutsu Sorcerer licenses, do you? A child’s adventure ends here. I’ll contact your guardians.”
The man paused, then continued, “The world of Jujutsu Sorcerers is far crueler than you imagine. Winning 1 or 2 times doesn’t mean anything, because Cursed Spirits will keep being born endlessly.”
“But you only have 1 life.”
The man sincerely reached out to them.
“I’m Yaga Masamichi. If you’re willing, I’ll protect you and teach you after you grow up. This world isn’t so cruel that it needs children to carry it. Leave it to us.”
Yaga did his best to show sincere feelings that he would not hurt them.
Toji and Gintoki did not move.
They could not say it.
After all, they had come here to make money.
Toji pushed Gintoki back a little, signaling that since the other party had offered himself up, his wallet had to be searched whether he wanted it or not.
His undisguised killing intent and beast-like gaze gathered into a threat like a sharp blade.
But in the man’s eyes, this refusal to move aside looked no matter how he saw it like he wanted to protect the younger child behind him.
He was clearly still a teenager, yet he had already shouldered the duty of protection.
Yaga’s tough-guy heart was moved until it melted, while an uncontrollable anger surged up at the same time.
Where the hell had the adults who were supposed to protect them gone!?
Even so, he still patiently coaxed the children.
“Even if you still don’t believe me, at least let me stay by your side.” He took out the chocolate in his pocket that had already melted.
“Okay?”
“Who would fall for this kind of shabby chocolate?” Toji coldly refused.
Gintoki had already secretly slipped over beside the man and taken the chocolate.
“Don’t say that. Anyone who doesn’t take chocolate when it’s offered is an idiot. It’s blasphemy against sugar! When I think of what I threw up earlier, my stomach and my heart both feel empty. This came at just the right time.”
At just the right time.
While eating the chocolate, Gintoki recalled things.
Even if the appearance was a little different, manga characters’ settings were mostly the same from the moment they were born.
If you did not believe it, just think about the childhood versions of those bastards.
Right?
Even if they did not appear much in the main story, you could still tell which one was a cute little brat and which one was a tsundere bastard from childhood, right?
Not to mention, he had already called himself Yaga Masamichi.
Gintoki felt that it would be way too hard for another wild Yaga Masamichi with the same full name and same setting to pop up 10 years later.
So, even though he did not know why Toji would run into Yaga, Gintoki subtly developed a rare bit of responsibility.
‘This…
can’t be my fault, right?’
This can’t be because of my influence, right!
Is this that butterfly effect thing?!
The future will collapse, collapse!’
Smart readers had probably recognized him long ago.
From the moment those fluffy Cursed Corpses appeared, this muscular man was without a doubt Yaga Masamichi.
Look at the length of that beard, the length of that hair.
It was basically the aura of a schoolteacher.
Practically identical.
“You already stuffed enough into your stomach. Even if you’re not afraid of poisoning yourself, use your brain a little.”
Toji carefully observed the man’s movements, hoping that Gintoki’s careless candy-eating would make the man lower his guard and expose even the slightest opening he could seize for a 1-hit kill.
Unfortunately, Gintoki hit the mark the moment he opened his mouth.
Toji could handle him, but it would not be that easy.
The man was not some weak Jujutsu Sorcerer who relied on his Cursed Technique and lacked training.
His physical combat level was not weak, and with the unknown Cursed Corpses added in, even if Toji rushed in, this was still a deal where the wallet would have a hard time breaking even.
Not worth it.
It was just not worth it.
Toji curled his lip.
The money he would give Gintoki was 500,000 yen at most.
All right!
Attack mode over there canceled!
Gintoki had also pretty much chewed and swallowed the chocolate in his mouth.
He put on the lonely expression of a rebellious, love-starved child running away from home, only for the adults to really not notice he had disappeared.
“Don’t bother with us. Even if you help us, it’s not like you can help us forever, right? Without strength, we can’t survive at all. Even if we stay home, we’ll only get bullied.”
‘What nonsense are you talking about?’ Toji looked over.
But Yaga, who was listening to those words, only felt like his heart had taken a critical hit.
It stabbed so hard his chest hurt.
With tough-guy tenderness, he carefully continued taking things out of his pocket.
‘What the hell are you two doing?’ Toji lost his temper and was too lazy to look at them.
Yaga was not a Jujutsu Sorcerer born from a traditional sorcerer family.
This could be seen from his position.
He belonged to Jujutsu High, which was publicly one of the only 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer training schools in the country.
What the school trained were people scattered outside traditional families, people who could be useful as Jujutsu Sorcerers, but would never be able to enter the higher-ups in their whole lives.
They were just workers for the higher-ups.
Because they had no background, all the dirty and tiring work could be pushed onto them.
And if they died, well, Jujutsu Sorcerers already had a high death rate in the first place.
Did you not read the risk notice before entering this line of work?
If you died because your strength was lacking, then blame yourself.
Even the compensation for dying in the line of duty was low!
So there had always been a thin film between Jujutsu Sorcerers from families and wild Jujutsu Sorcerers.
It was probably something like, “Lowly people like them aren’t worthy of negotiating with me,” and, “Why are those things in the higher-ups so arrogant?”
Yaga, for the time being, also had this kind of understanding.
At this moment, that understanding was shattered.
This was not the same as he had imagined!
Shouldn’t children from this kind of background, with family guidance from birth, have a better environment than children from ordinary families like them, who had not been understood since childhood!?
At the very least, they had only not been understood.
They had not reached the point where they had to consciously run away from home and train themselves at such a young age!
The more Yaga thought about it, the more pitiful he felt they were.
He could no longer take out any chocolate, but there was still another hard thing in his pocket.
His wallet.
Inside were his ID and some change.
A salaried Jujutsu Sorcerer could not compare to those bastards who took jobs on the black market.
Yaga’s personal stash was so poor that he almost could not afford the wool felt for making Cursed Corpses.
But Gintoki had already finished the chocolate and was staring at him eagerly, waiting for him to take out something else.
He looked like a child who had not eaten sweets in 800 years.
Considering the bounty Gintoki had mentioned, money could be earned again, but a child’s growth only happened 1 time.
Yaga firmly pulled his ID out of his wallet and put it into his own pocket, then handed the entire wallet to the pitiful Gintoki.
“I don’t have the ability to save you two right now, but please hold on. You’re both good kids.” Like stroking the head of a Cursed Corpse, Yaga gently touched Gintoki’s messy curly hair.
“Someday, I’ll definitely protect you and let you grow up healthy.”
What deeply moving words.
Yaga’s body shone with the radiance of a teacher of the people.
How dazzling!
However, what Toji saw was only Gintoki, hidden in the shadow of that radiance, holding Yaga’s wallet and showing him a smug, provocative smile that Yaga could not see, but Toji could see perfectly clearly.
Happy reading!