Chapter 33
"How could you tell?"
"Because I have a special pair of eyes." Kamiki Yūhaku pointed to his eyes, a faint red glow in their dark green depths. "I came to ask whether you had any leads on what I wanted, but it looks like I made the trip for nothing."
"Huh? You're looking for someone?" Mahito looked at him. "Tell me about it. I don't know, but our companions might. I've never met you, but I'm in contact with all of them."
"That's wonderful." Kamiki Yūhaku nodded. "Have you seen a life-form that's neither human nor a Cursed Spirit?"
Mahito sat up in surprise and looked at Kamiki Yūhaku. "Neither human nor a Cursed Spirit? Does something like that exist?"
"I ran into one before." Kamiki Yūhaku thought back. "How many years ago was it? Thirty?"
"Speaking of which, what kind of curse are you?" Mahito looked at him. "Judging by appearances alone, you look more human than I do. I was born from the hatred and fear humans have for one another, so I should be the type closest to humans. And yet you beat me when it comes to looking human."
"Ah, that question."
Kamiki Yūhaku stood up on the steps and looked up at Mahito, his dark green eyes reflecting Mahito's face.
Though Kamiki Yūhaku was looking up at him, Mahito inexplicably felt as though he were looking down on him. Kamiki Yūhaku was smiling and showed no sign of being threatening, yet Mahito felt an indescribable discomfort.
"The future."
"Hm?"
"I'm probably a curse born from humanity's fear of the future," Kamiki Yūhaku said with a smile. "Mahito, I can see your future."
Mahito frowned. "My future?"
"My Cursed Technique is Prophecy, so of course I can see a person's future. The same goes for Cursed Spirits." Kamiki Yūhaku smiled. "So I heard the answer to the question you just asked me in your future."
Mahito was somewhat surprised.
"You got the answer to my question from my future?" Mahito stared at Kamiki Yūhaku.
A moment later, he smiled.
"How very interesting."
After leaving the sewer, Kamiki Yūhaku walked on with his hands in his pockets.
Although Mahito had told him that some Special Grade Cursed Spirits had gathered as companions, he had little desire to join them. He had once been human, and even after dying and becoming a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, he bore no great hostility toward humanity. Besides, Kamiki Yūhaku had always been an adult.
He would never take one person's suffering out on the whole world.
Cursed Spirits were formed from humanity's negative emotions and were born with an aversion and hatred toward humans. They were born from desires and made no effort to hide their own. Mahito was one such example, and the other Special Grade Cursed Spirits were probably much the same.
Even though Special Grade Cursed Spirits with Cursed Techniques and intelligence had thoughts and feelings like humans, most were extreme.
But Kamiki Yūhaku was different.
Humans were often filled with worry and fear about the future, and all sorts of circumstances in their lives left them in despair over it. But humans could also look forward to the future. Ultimately, that was because the future was unknown to them, and whether they anticipated or loathed it was perfectly normal.
So Kamiki Yūhaku had no desire to hurt humans.
"What should I do next?" Kamiki Yūhaku murmured.
He walked along the overpass, seemingly unconcerned about being spotted by a Window. Looking down at his feet as he took one step after another, he resembled a child at play. The chains on his wrists swayed back and forth, clinking crisply against each other.
Just then, a man walked past from the other side of the overpass.
He wore a black coat, his hood covering his hair. Though he wasn't wearing a mask, he still looked somewhat suspicious, like a shut-in who disliked making eye contact.
Kamiki Yūhaku passed him, then stopped in his tracks.
"Hey." Kamiki Yūhaku turned to look at him. "You can see me, can't you?"
The man said nothing and didn't even break stride, as though he hadn't heard Kamiki Yūhaku at all.
"Not going to answer? Pretending you can't see me?" Kamiki Yūhaku tilted his head. "But we've met before, haven't we?"
The man stopped, a smile on his lips. "I don't remember meeting you. Are you a Special Grade Cursed Spirit?"
"That's right. Where are you going?" Kamiki Yūhaku looked at him. "You're not going to see Mahito, are you? Ah, does that make you a Curse User? A Curse User who colludes with Cursed Spirits, no less. I didn't expect Mahito and the others to join forces with a Curse User when they say they hate humans."
"That has nothing to do with you." Suguru Geto turned and glanced at Kamiki Yūhaku. "But I've never seen a Special Grade Cursed Spirit like you. Were you born recently?"
Kamiki Yūhaku stared at him. After a moment, he asked, "What's your relationship with Gojo?"
"Gojo?" Suguru Geto thought for a moment. "Oh, you mean Satoru Gojo."
"He used to be my best friend, but now we're enemies."
"Really?" Kamiki Yūhaku nodded. "Then you're the person Gojo came to ask me about last time? Hmm..."
Suguru Geto frowned slightly and met Kamiki Yūhaku's gaze. After a moment, he asked, "What are you looking at?"
"Your future." A smile shone in Kamiki Yūhaku's dark green eyes. "Gojo asked me about your future last time, but I couldn't give him an answer because I didn't know you. Now perhaps I can give him a proper reply."
Suguru Geto's eyes widened slightly. "The future?"
"Are you the Special Grade Cursed Spirit who's been under Jujutsu Society's control all this time?"
At that moment, Kamiki Yūhaku clearly sensed the man's panic, though there was a hint of excitement mixed in with it.
Gojo's best friend was panicking and excited because he saw him?
"Looks like I'm in luck." Suguru Geto pulled back his hood, a smile in his eyes. "I can't believe the people in Jujutsu Society were willing to let you escape. This works out well. If they kept you hidden away in there, I'd never get to see you, or have a way to deal with you."
Hostility.
The man before him, a complete stranger he had only heard about from Satoru Gojo, was filled with killing intent toward him.
Kamiki Yūhaku leaped away with ease, and the spot beneath his feet was instantly corroded by a high-grade Cursed Spirit. He landed atop the overpass and looked down at Suguru Geto.
"Let me ask you something." Kamiki Yūhaku looked at him, his dark green eyes reflecting his face. "Why do you want to kill me?"
"Do I need a reason?" Suguru Geto held out a hand, a Cursed Spirit coiling around his shoulders. "A Special Grade Cursed Spirit with the ability to predict the future, classified as Special Grade because of the nature of his Cursed Technique, but posing no threat himself and having little fighting ability."
"And my Cursed Technique is Cursed Spirit Manipulation."
"If I take you as an asset, my wish can come true sooner."
Kamiki Yūhaku nodded in realization. "I see. It looks like I'll be used as a tool whether I'm with Jujutsu Society or the Curse Users."
"What a regrettable life."
Suguru Geto smiled. "I hope your next life won't be so regrettable."
The moment he finished speaking, countless Cursed Spirits appeared in the air and buried Kamiki Yūhaku in an instant. Suguru Geto watched the Cursed Spirits drag him down from the overpass, a subtle look in his eyes.
"Was it really that easy?"
Suguru Geto jumped down from the overpass and walked toward the ball of Cursed Spirits that had engulfed Kamiki Yūhaku. He reached out, intending to take something from within.
Just as he was about to touch the Cursed Spirits, a light suddenly flared, and white light swallowed every Cursed Spirit around him. The instant he realized what was happening, Suguru Geto immediately used a Cursed Spirit to shield his body. A tremendous force sent him flying, and the Cursed Spirit in front of him was reduced to ashes.
It hadn't been a particularly powerful Cursed Spirit, but it was still a grade 2 Cursed Spirit.
It couldn't even withstand a single blow?!
The white light vanished. Kamiki Yūhaku stood where he was, his green eyes glowing as red markings flowed continuously through them.
"So it really wasn't that simple." Suguru Geto braced himself on one knee.
"I thought only those guys in Jujutsu Society believed I wasn't a threat." Kamiki Yūhaku's voice held a childlike innocence. "Yes, my Cursed Technique is Prophecy. It isn't an offensive technique; it can only see everyone's future."
"But when you have absolute Cursed Energy, you don't need skill."
Vast amounts of Cursed Energy swirled around Kamiki Yūhaku. He smiled, as beautiful as sunlight streaming down.
"How could you believe a Cursed Spirit?"
Chapter 33
Satoru Gojo spent a week on business in Hokkaido. When he returned to Jujutsu High, he was met with two pieces of news that sent his mood plummeting.
First, Cursed Womb Must Die had appeared at the Eishu Juvenile Detention Center in West Tokyo City. Principal Masamichi Yaga had been dealing with a thorny matter at the time, so, without any of them noticing, assistant supervisor Kiyotaka Ijichi had received orders from the higher-ups to lead three first-year students to rescue any possible survivors.
The result was exactly what the higher-ups had planned: Yuji Itadori died.
Second, on a Tokyo overpass, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Kamiki Yūhaku had fought fiercely with an unidentified Curse User, damaging every building within a hundred-meter radius. A Window had detected an amount of Cursed Energy in Kamiki Yūhaku no less vast than Okkotsu's.
In other words, the Prophecy Cursed Spirit who had long been described as "no threat and incapable of fighting" actually possessed greater strength than other Special Grade Cursed Spirits.
Satoru Gojo nearly laughed in anger. Both the first and the second matters infuriated him.
He truly hadn't expected those arrogant people to dare make a move so openly, without the slightest attempt to hide their intentions. Even after learning of Kamiki Yūhaku's prophecy, they had sent three first-years there, brazenly lying that "there are no Jujutsu Sorcerers of the appropriate grade nearby" to do so.
"It's rare to see your emotions running this high." Shoko Ieiri walked in wearing a white coat. "In a bad mood?"