“Wow, that hospital really is incredible…
Everyone back then kept saying your disease was terminal and couldn’t be cured, but you actually managed to beat it.
My grandma’s health has been super poor lately, I wonder if I should have her check in over there too?” …Isn’t this junior high girl a bit too unfazed by everything?
Putting that aside…
Rui composed himself, letting out a couple of coughs as he tried his absolute best to sound solemn and serious: “Miss Itadori, you are currently in a very dangerous situation.” Ryomen Sukumi was an entity who, a thousand years ago, had single-handedly waged war against the entire Fujiwara clan—which could essentially be understood as the Big Three Families plus-sized of the Heian era—and completely triumphed over them.
Even though Yujina Itadori had somehow managed to suppress her through unknown means, based on Rui’s understanding of those ancient higher-up fogeys, they would explicitly never permit the existence of someone capable of upending the entire order of the jujutsu world.
Sure, they couldn’t beat Sukumi, but couldn’t they easily execute an incarnation vessel?
“Dangerous?” Miss Itadori tilted her head, seemingly lacking any real, tangible sense of the predicament she was in.
“Yes, dangerous.
If you head back right now and attend school like normal, the residual dregs…
meaning the heavy aura radiating from those fingers, will likely be detected by jujutsu sorcerers in no time.” And the attitude of the jujutsu higher-ups toward an “incarnation vessel” had perpetually been a singular one: immediate execution.
“…I’ll be sentenced to death, then?” Miss Itadori leaned her back against a tree trunk, twirling her bangs with her fingers.
Her expression looked significantly closer to absolute bewilderment than actual terror.
“Then, Rui, aren’t you one of those jujutsu sorcerers too?
Why are you saving me?” Rui fell into a brief silence.
“I…
am currently considered a fugitive by the jujutsu world.
According to how the higher-ups at headquarters puts it, I’m supposed to be called a curse user, not a jujutsu sorcerer.” He chose not to disclose the specific nature of his crimes, fearing it might terrify her.
“If I am discovered, I will be subjected to a secret execution, just like you.” Ever since he fled the ruins of the annihilated Kamo Clan, he had repeatedly thought to himself that in the brief, fleeting lifespan he had left, he explicitly never wanted to be entirely alone again, never wanted to return to that utterly isolated and helpless state…
He wanted to be needed, wanted to be relied upon by someone, wanted to escape the crushing loneliness.
“Therefore, I have a proposal.” ——*Could it be possible that things haven’t actually degenerated to that absolute extreme?* ——*Could it be that Jujutsu High actually possesses wonderful teachers who would actively protect a talented student who suffered an entirely unprovoked disaster?* Rui possessed no way of knowing these answers.
He only felt his heart burning scaldingly hot, pumping blood with a violent intensity for the very first time in his entire life.
“Miss Itadori—run away with me.” He wanted to step directly into the abyss alongside her.
[…] [The grand act of running away always arrives with frantic haste and zero preparation.] [Under the absolute cover of night, the two of you stealthily sneaked back to Sendai, leaving a swift note at Wasuna Itadori’s house claiming that Yujina had simply run away from home and would return shortly.] “Grandma…
I’m so sorry.
This time, it might genuinely be a very long time before I get to see you again…” [Miss Itadori pressed her palms together in front of her chest at the entryway, offering a deep bow.] [The two of you boarded the train running all the way to Hokkaido.] [It was currently November; the climate had already begun its transition into the dead of winter, making the night train exceptionally freezing cold.] [Noticing Yujina Itadori let out a sharp sneeze, you handed her a tissue…
She accepted it with a hint of hesitation to blow her nose, the tip of her scrunched-up nose slightly flushed red from the biting wind.] [She didn’t speak much throughout this entire stretch of the journey, merely trailing silently behind your back as she watched you.] […You knew that profound doubts still lingered deep within her heart.] [You, a childhood playmate, had suddenly crashed back into her life alongside surreal terms like curses and jujutsu, claiming you wanted to take her and flee.
Exactly how much genuine sincerity lay beneath those words?
She had no way of knowing.] [The two of you sat face-to-face in perfect silence on the speeding train, the pitch-black night bleeding through the windowpane to form an invisible barrier between you.] “Rui…
Ah, always calling you by your full name feels a bit strange.
Are you older or younger than me?” [Ultimately, she was the one who proactively shattered the silence.] “Oh, you’re a year older than me—then I guess I should call you Senpai?” [She adopted a relaxed, cheerful tone, as though she were merely engaging in casual small talk, yet you could distinctly hear the faint trembling at the very tail end of her words.] “…Senpai, that Jujutsu High you mentioned, are they really coming to kill us?” [Yujina Itadori’s understanding of the jujutsu world was a perfect zero.] [She had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do or who she was supposed to believe; it was merely a coincidence that you had materialized right in front of her face at this exact moment, presenting her with a highly dangerous alternative.] [*What if this is all just a massive lie you fabricated?* She couldn’t help but hypothesize.] [Just as you prepared to formulate an answer, an icy chill suddenly locked onto the back of your neck…
A profound sense of impending doom crept violently up your spine, forcing you to snap your head around in sheer horror.] [The lights inside the train carriage began to extinguish one after the other.] [The moonlight was dim and broken, barely managing to cast a vague humanoid silhouette right at the far end of the carriage…] [Her footsteps were as exceptionally light as a cat’s; even while bearing a drawn blade, she could walk in absolute, unbroken silence.
Until this exact microsecond, you hadn’t registered her presence in the slightest.] [That was until a wave of cursed energy—so monstrously titanic it didn’t even feel human, a volume you had explicitly never encountered on anyone besides yourself and Sukumi—erupted violently from all around her body.] [Aided by the dazzling flash of pure pink cursed energy, you finally caught a crystal-clear look at the newcomer’s true appearance.] [A Jujutsu High uniform, messy jet-black hair, and facial features that originally looked so remarkably delicate they seemed prime for being bullied—yet right now, her expression was incredibly, ruthlessly cold.] “—Special Grade Curse User, Rui Tachibana.
You have been officially designated for immediate execution by headquarters.
Please refrain from offering any resistance and return with me…
If you choose to fight, I will explicitly not hold back.” [The her of this specific world-line possessed absolutely no acquaintance with you.] [Having operated as a sorcerer for a mere half a year, she already commanded a level of raw power that perfectly matched the prestigious title of Special Grade—the modern prodigy trailing right in the wake of Satomi Gojo…] [The burning question you harbored earlier was finally answered.
Your designated executioner was none other than her: Yuna Okotsu.] [Her gaze drifted over toward Yujina Itadori standing right by your side, and she froze for a brief instant.] “A hostage?
No, this specific feedback of cursed energy is…
an incarnation?
Miss Gojo mentioned that several of Sukumi’s fingers that were previously stored securely across external locations went missing recently…
Don’t tell me?” [Sensing the razor-sharp gaze locking onto her, Yujina Itadori couldn’t help but take a full step backward.
You instantly stepped forward, shielding her firmly behind your body.] “…Whatever, I’ll just bring both of them back to Jujutsu High first.” [Yuna Okotsu completely abandoned any further thought.] —