[Her legs could still move.] [Her hands could still carry weight.] [Her eyes could still see.] [Her skin was still using a burning throb of pain to prove it was still alive.] [Even the ring on her finger felt just as ice-cold as always when she touched it, completely normal.] [Ah…
then, why?
Why was that person collapsed right in front of her?] [——If Rui-kun wasn’t around, what was the point of a vague, ambiguous thing like “herself” continuing to live on?] [Miss Okotsu dropped to her knees in front of you.
Her look right now was completely different from when she drank your blood, when she said she’d protect you, or when she said her goodbyes…
It was unlike any of those moments.] [She just softly called out your name.] [“Rui-kun…?”] [No response.] [“Rui-kun, Rui-kun…
Rui-kun, Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun Rui-kun…?”] [No…
response.] [Her heart didn’t hold emotions as straightforward as sadness or despair; there was only a blinding void slowly expanding inside her.] [With nowhere to vent, her feelings surged, bounced back, and piled up in her chest, ultimately pointing like a blade at the only living soul who could be held responsible for this.] [“Is it…
my fault…?
Was I just not supposed to exist in the first place?
If it wasn’t for me, Sugumi Geto and that stitched-forehead woman would have never come to attack Jujutsu High…”] [“Ah…
ah…”] [Yuna Okotsu forgot where she had read it, but they said the stomach is the human body’s largest emotional organ.] [Turned out that was true.
A person really could get so incredibly nauseous purely from their emotions that they’d throw up.
She retched until she had nothing left but dry heaves, her vision going black in waves, followed by a violent fit of dry coughing so intense it felt like she was going to hack up her own lungs…] [Yet this kind of self-destructive “punishment” actually made her feel a tiny bit better.] [“I’m sorry…
I’m so…
sorry…”] […] [Rewinding time just a little bit.] [You hadn’t previously understood what Senior Hakari’s infinite cursed energy state felt like when she hit the jackpot in “Idle Death Gamble.” That was until the exact microsecond you unleashed your Binding Vow of Ultimate Sacrifice…
An endless, overwhelming ocean of cursed energy flooded your entire body, triggering a fully automatic Reverse Cursed Technique that completely erased every shred of your injuries in a single flash.] [This wasn’t quite the same as Yuna Okotsu’s infinite cursed energy.
Hers was closer to “instantly refilling no matter how much she burns through,” whereas your situation was a literal, non-stop overflow of raw energy–converting mana to health, mana to attack, mana to defense…] [In a state like this, who cares about tactics?
You just charge right in!] [You pulled Rika back on the spot, telling her to bench the Pure Love Beam for today and go wait for further notice.
Miss Okotsu stared blankly at you, taking several seconds to process what was happening before a wild mix of shock and pure joy washed over her face.
To put it in perspective, she looked exactly like a Gojo fan seeing “those eyes are unmistakable” for the very first time.] [Back then, that Gojo fan had no idea what they were going to see the following week.
And right now, Miss Okotsu had no idea that your life was already a flickering candle in the wind.] [You unleashed your Construction Technique.
Your currently roaring cursed energy was more than enough for you to manifest a flawless, fully operational insect armor suited for both offense and defense, just like Yuna or Yorozu.
But you didn’t care about practical combat efficiency; you just mindlessly layered on heavy carapace after heavy carapace.
If it could help you hold out for even a single extra second, it was a victory.] [Of course, you still had to drop the legendary protagonist quote.] [“Buying time is fine and all, but it’s cool if I just take this thing down, right?”] […] [You broke your promise.
And so did she, the one where said she would protect you.] [When Satomi Gojo finally materialized in the sky, obliterating Mahoraga with a maximum-output “Reversed Cursed Technique: Red,” Yuna actually felt a sickening surge of resentment…
Why now?
Why couldn’t she have been earlier, or later?
If she had just been a few minutes later, Yuna could have closely followed you, dying under that exact same Sword of Extermination.] [“…Sigh.”] [Taking in the sheer horror of the scene, even the usually unbothered Satomi Gojo couldn’t keep up her casual front.
She stood before your broken remains, falling into a long, heavy silence.
She seemed to want to say something at one point, but ultimately swallowed it all back down.] [“Man…
seriously.”] [Ms.
Gojo propped a hand against her forehead, a look of genuine exhaustion washing over her features.] [“I thought that with Rui around, you two would balance each other out, and I wouldn’t have to worry about Yuna’s mental state anymore…
To think things would end up like this.”] [What was she even saying?] [To Yuna Okotsu, those words sounded like white noise filtering in from a completely distant world.] [“Still, since Rui beat you to the punch and traded his life for a Binding Vow, it just goes to show he didn’t want you to die, right?”] [“…Why.”] [This was the first time she had responded to anyone since you collapsed.
Her body was curled tight, her voice incredibly raspy.] [“Why…
why do you have to say something so cruel, teacher…?”] [She couldn’t imagine it, nor did she want to.] [Was she supposed to just keep living in a world like this?] [A world where the sin she had just committed could never be undone by any means, and where absolutely no one was left with the right to forgive her on your behalf?] [“…Yuna, what do you plan to do from here on out?”] [“I…
don’t know.”] [——The world waits for no one’s grief.] [The assault on the Tokyo branch of Jujutsu High sent massive shockwaves through the entire Jujutsu community.
Taking full advantage of the chaos, Satomi Gojo completely overhauled the higher-ups in the headquarters.
*To guarantee the safety of the kids, this is something that absolutely must be done,* she stated.] [Every single year, brand-new sorcerer prodigies would crop up.
The names of the deceased–Rui Tachibana, Keiko Nanami, Megumi Fushiguro–slowly stopped being brought up.
The freshmen moved into the dorms you used to live in, sat through the same lectures you used to listen to, and pondered the exact same questions you used to think about.] [The sole variable in all of this was the legendary Special Grade Sorcerer, Yuna Okotsu.] [Some claimed she was a powerhouse second only to Ms.
Gojo herself.
Others described her as a deeply melancholic, sickly beauty.
Word was she still resided somewhere within the Tokyo Jujutsu High campus, though very few had ever laid eyes on her…
When someone occasionally grumbled that “being a shut-in has its limits,” Ms.
Gojo was always quick to provide an answer.] [“It’s true, you know.
That kid absolutely hates meeting strangers…
To put it bluntly, she doesn’t really want to see familiar faces either, though I do try my best to encourage her to go out for walks…
How should I put it?
It’s basically a sickness of the heart.”] [Winter faded away.] [The thin layer of residual snow that had been clinging to the tree branches just last night was completely gone by this morning, leaving behind no trace.
Fresh green buds were already sprouting from the once-withered limbs.
Out of vanished existences, brand-new life was currently being nurtured, looking exactly like every other spring that had come before.] [Surrounded by this sudden burst of beautiful spring scenery, Yuna Okotsu closed the notebook in front of her and slid her fountain pen back into its holder.] [Feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over her, she leaned her upper body down, resting her head against the notebook as she drifted off into a light nap.] [——*When the day comes that I finally get to see you again, what should I say first?*] [If she was lucky enough to catch a dream like that, she might as well start rehearsing ahead of time for their reunion a few decades down the line.] — LanLi: Damn..
TT_TT.