[Blades collided, unleashing a violent shower of sparks.] [This confrontation was fundamentally unequal.
Yuna Okotsu’s objective was to capture you alive or execute you, whereas your sole purpose was to escape…
Consequently, you refrained from wasting an excessive amount of cursed energy, opting instead to construct a cursed tool to engage her in close-quarters combat.] [With every clash of your weapons, you intentionally feigned being overwhelmed and retreated, stamping heavily against the ground.
You seized these exact moments to utilize Idle Transfiguration, splitting off a portion of your physical form to inject it into the carriage, letting it move stealthily beneath the floorboards.] [Her pool of cursed energy was simply too titanic; because of this, she was noticeably deficient in areas such as perception and refined control.
She completely failed to notice the minor maneuvers you were pulling right under her nose.] [By the time she realized that your primary body—or rather, the hollow husk you had left behind in your place—was exceptionally weak, it was already too late.] [“Huh?!”] [The floorboards directly beneath Yujina Itadori’s feet abruptly shattered.
She plummeted toward the train tracks, only to be securely caught by a soft cushion you had prepared in advance, before slipping out from between the spinning wheels to make a clean getaway.] [Yuna Okotsu pondered in silence for a brief moment, sliding her blade back into its scabbard.] [She didn’t make a move to pursue you, pulling her phone out from her pocket instead.] “Hello?
Miss Gojo?
Yes, I encountered the target.
There was a girl by his side, and I suspect she might be Sukumi’s incarnation vessel…” “Keep it a secret from the higher-ups?
Understood, I got it…” […] [Your method of travel was forced to shift entirely to foot.] [To be precise, you were utilizing Idle Transfiguration to levitate and carry Yujina Itadori alongside you as you hurried along.] [Given your raw strength, your traveling speed wasn’t actually any slower than the train…
however, the sheer level of turbulence was night and day, and it was simply impossible to fully shield her from the biting winter wind slashing against her face.] [Under such grueling conditions, even Yujina Itadori—the absolute strongest track-and-field athlete—fell ill.] [Idle Transfiguration could seamlessly heal physical trauma, but it possessed no way to eradicate bacteria or viruses.] [Perhaps the sudden plunge onto the train tracks had also left her deeply shaken?
She was running a massive fever, so severe that her consciousness had grown entirely hazy.
You could hear her mumbling incoherently in her sleep as she lay cradled against you:] “Mom…” “No, I don’t want to die…
Grandma…” “Stop talking inside my head…
This is my body…” “No, I didn’t mean to break the washing machine…
I’m just naturally strong…” *What on earth is that last sentence supposed to mean?* [Previously, Miss Itadori had consistently put up a brave front.
Upon hearing you say she would be sentenced to death and that the two of you needed to flee together, she had merely smiled and agreed with an easygoing cheerfulness, as if she were simply accepting an invitation to a spring school trip.] [It was only at this exact moment that you could say for certain that she truly was terrified as well.
She was frightened enough to curl her body tightly against yours, her breathing shallow and labored as she continuously murmured…
that she didn’t want to die at such a young age.] [To verify her temperature, you pressed your forehead firmly against hers.] [“—”] [In an instant, a torrent of memories materialized within your mind.] [Heading out entirely by herself to watch a movie at the local theater near her house.
Catching sight of a seemingly delicious ice cream on her way home and, despite it being the dead of winter, spending every last bit of her allowance to devour it in one go, only to end up with a terrible stomachache.] [Waking up to find her grandmother had set a steaming cup of milk tea right by her bedside.
Lifting the cup to take a sip and watching the very first snowfall of the year begin to drift outside the window, while the distant chime of bells rang out so perfectly it could make anyone believe Santa Claus truly existed.] [Those were her memories.] [Every single detail preserved within those memories consisted of things you hadn’t laid eyes on in an incredibly long time.] [Movie theaters, ice cream, milk tea…
every object left you feeling as though a lifetime had passed since you last touched them.
In fact, you could likely drop the words “as though,” because the last time you had encountered them was explicitly during your past life.] [She lived a life that was the exact polar opposite of yours.] [Yet, you harbored no idea what specific emotion you were supposed to feel regarding this reality.] “…Senpai?” [It seemed Miss Itadori had finally regained a fraction of her consciousness.] [You let out a sigh of relief, lowering your voice to reassure her that everything was fine, that you had already successfully shaken off that jujutsu sorcerer.
You explained that you were currently advancing toward Iwate, and that once you entered the city limits, you could secure a brief moment to rest.
You added that you had heard the scenery in Iwate was exceptionally beautiful…] [She offered no verbal reply, perhaps lacking the physical strength to do so.
Instead, whenever you finished a sentence, she simply let out a soft “mm” from her nose as her response.] [Gradually, you ran out of things to say.] [What could you possibly talk about?
You possessed zero knowledge of what kind of place Iwate actually was, nor did you know that Iwate was explicitly her hometown.
Your claim about the “beautiful scenery” was nothing more than empty rhetoric you had skimmed from a travel brochure on the train.] [Flakes of snow began to drift silently from the heavens.] [An exceptionally well-timed first winter snowfall in November.] [You felt a sudden tightening around your neck…
Miss Itadori had wrapped her arms around you from behind.] “Senpai.” [Her voice was laced with a delicate trace of dread, sorrow, and utter helplessness.] “How it feels to kill someone…
it must hurt a lot, right?” [The effect of the trait Hearts Entwined was strictly bidirectional.] [You had shared her memories, and she had naturally experienced the exact same with yours.] [The entire night you slaughtered the Kamo Clan, including every single cause and consequence, had replayed across her mind in meticulous detail, resembling a cult film packed to the brim with raw gore and visceral violence.] [Was she supposed to say something about it?] [Miss Yujina Itadori didn’t possess an answer herself.] [What exactly did you count as to her?
A friend?
Yet, for the past six years, the two of you had possessed absolutely no overlapping contact.
You had abruptly crashed into her life, and she had done the exact same to yours; she couldn’t bring herself to pretend she understood everything, tossing out a flippant “it’s fine, it’s all in the past” to put an end to the topic.] [Then did you count as her savior?
If your connection was built purely on a debt of gratitude, she possessed neither the necessity nor the right to forcefully interfere in your deeply personal matters.] [But…
but she could distinctly see that you were hurting terribly right now.] [Could sitting idly by and ignoring that agonizing pain genuinely be considered the correct path to take?] [You felt the arms around your neck tighten a fraction more.
Miss Itadori still chose not to speak, merely continuing to lean silently against your back.] [The snow fell heavier and heavier, turning the entire expanse between the sky and the earth into a blank sheet of pristine white.
All that remained was a single line of footprints, and two silhouettes overlapping as one.] […] [The two of you resolved to rest and recuperate in Iwate for a few days.] [To a certain degree, this heavy snowfall had successfully eradicated the residual dregs of your tracks.
If it were Satomi Gojo, she might have been able to track you down smoothly…
but Yuna Okotsu was simply incapable of doing so, granting you a much-needed breathing window.] [The only cash you possessed between the two of you was the pocket money Yujina had taken from home.
If you didn’t factor in long-term living expenses and purely spent it like a vacation budget, it was temporarily manageable.] [For accommodation, you relied entirely on a manga cafe.
It was a minuscule cubicle, offering only about two square meters of space where it was impossible to fully stretch your legs.
With two people squeezed together, a certain amount of physical bumping was inevitable, prompting the following exchange:] “Senpai, what kind of girls are you into?” “Never thought about it.” “Eh—just pick any random trait, come on, tell me, tell me.” “…A girl who is a bit more understanding and accepting, I suppose?” “Understanding…
Hmm, I guess I don’t really fit that description, do I?
In that case, Senpai definitely won’t try anything funny with me, so I’m just going to book a single cubicle, okay?” “Book two of them, it’s not like we’re entirely broke.” “I want to save some cash to rank up at the arcade.
I’m almost at W6 lately.” *What on earth is this girl talking about…* — LanLi: What Itdaori means, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (often just called Wangan or Maximum Tune), an incredibly popular, real-world Japanese arcade racing game.
It’s a street-racing arcade game based on the manga Wangan Midnight.
Players use physical magnetic cards to save their car data, tuning progress, and competitive ranks.
The Ranking System: Player ranks in the game start at Rookie and progress through letters (F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS).
Once a player goes past SSS, the ranks transition into the “W” (World) ranks—W1, W2, W3, and so on.
Hitting W6 is an *incredibly* high competitive rank that requires hundreds, if not thousands, of intense versus matches against other players at the arcade cabinets.
It’s a 90s manga btw.