Chapter 38

Satoru Gojo stood with his hands in his pockets, watching Kamiki Yūhaku. "Why don't you exorcise it?"

"Why should I?"

"Are you a masochist? Do you like listening to a low-grade Cursed Spirit curse you out every day?"

Kamiki Yūhaku shook his head. "I just wanted to leave a trace, that's all."

"A trace of being treated like a monster?"

"You really should learn how to talk to people, Gojo." Kamiki Yūhaku looked at the Cursed Spirit, which was still ranting away. "I just wanted to leave a trace and come back to see it now and then, so I could remind myself never to forgive anyone because of it."

The so-called "beautiful, powerful, and tragic" character had to be beautiful enough, powerful enough, and have a tragic enough past.

As long as things followed that setup, success was all but guaranteed.

But Kamiki Yūhaku had rebelled against it. He refused to let things unfold so casually, only to vanish like a bubble without leaving a trace.

Why did he deserve to have nothing at all?

So he refused to die as a Cursed Spirit, refused to leave as something inhuman. Instead, he remained here, watching his Recognition fall bit by bit.

Satoru Gojo watched Kamiki Yūhaku casually repair the breach he had made. With no Cursed Energy at all, the curse's voice gradually grew fainter and fainter.

After doing all that, Kamiki Yūhaku turned to leave.

"Hey," Satoru Gojo said. "You said she died because of you. How did she die?"

"A Binding Vow," Kamiki Yūhaku said. "If a Jujutsu Sorcerer's blood relative is offered as a sacrifice through a special method, the sorcerer's Cursed Energy and Cursed Technique will be temporarily sealed. The stronger the sorcerer's Cursed Energy, the shorter the duration. But for a Prophecy-type Jujutsu Sorcerer, even a few minutes of being sealed is an insurmountable obstacle."

So was this the truth behind Kamiki Yūhaku's death?

The Kamiki Clan had first lied to the people Kamiki Yūhaku knew, tricking them into getting him to leave the protection of Jujutsu High. Then they had sacrificed his blood relative to seal his precognition and Cursed Energy.

Without precognition and his Cursed Technique, an ordinary person could not stand against a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

Even if it lasted only a few minutes, that was enough time to kill him.

Why had Kamiki Yūhaku become a Special Grade Cursed Spirit after his death?

Because he bore the sins of the entire Kamiki Clan.

From a thousand years ago to the present, the Kamiki Clan had shifted all responsibility onto him. Countless negative emotions had dragged him down, and after he was murdered, he had finally become a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.

When the "kudan" was stripped of its Cursed Technique, it made a Binding Vow. It said: when a child with a Prophecy Cursed Technique was born into the Kamiki Clan, all sins would come to an end, and everything taken from the Kamiki Clan would be returned. The head of the Kamiki Clan at the time did not know that this was not a Binding Vow at all, but merely a prophecy.

The Kamiki Clan would trap itself, create a Prophecy-type Special Grade Cursed Spirit with its own hands, and then strangle itself to death.

"So you kept that thing to remind yourself how miserable your life as a human really was, and to tell yourself you couldn't forgive anyone?" Satoru Gojo said.

"Why do I feel like that's not quite right?"

Satoru Gojo ventured a guess. "You're telling yourself not to forget that you were once human, aren't you?"

"I've seen countless Cursed Spirits, plenty of Special Grades among them. I've seen almost all the ones on record, too, and some of them were people who fell and became Cursed Spirits after death. Even Rika had only a little consciousness left after becoming a curse. So you really are special."

"You've kept your human reason, you bear humans no ill will or hostility, you refuse to associate with Cursed Spirits, and you've even preserved traces of your life as a human."

"Aren't you doing everything you can to maintain your human self?"

Chapter 38

Curses could also be called Cursed Spirits.

Humans had negative emotions, and those emotions produced energy. Negative emotions with no outlet would coalesce and form curses. In other words, curses were formed from the most negative aspects of humanity and bore the most innate malice toward humans.

The ocean, forests, the earth—these familiar, manifested images were feared by people. After absorbing vast amounts of negative emotions, gaining intelligence, and acquiring Cursed Techniques, they became Special Grade Cursed Spirits.

Human fear and negativity deepened Cursed Spirits' loathing of humans. So Cursed Spirits were supposed to be mad and malicious, intent on exterminating humanity. Even unusual Cursed Spirits merely cared more about some particular trait.

Rika, for example, was a Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit whom Yuta Okkotsu had unintentionally cursed. After becoming a vengeful spirit, she had retained none of her human reason. The only thing she fixated on was Yuta Okkotsu's love.

That was why reasoning with Cursed Spirits was futile. They were born as collections of human negativity.

Yet Kamiki Yūhaku had retained his reason for so long. Thirty years had passed without him ever attacking a human. Why?

After considering many possibilities and seeing the low-grade Cursed Spirit confined inside, Satoru Gojo suddenly thought of one.

Was it possible... that even after becoming a Cursed Spirit, Kamiki Yūhaku still did not want to forget he was human? Even though he accepted that he had died and become a Cursed Spirit, he still hoped to live as a human. He had his memories of the past and everything he needed to be human, so he wanted to remain human.

Kamiki Yūhaku stopped. When he spoke, his voice held a childlike innocence. "Does it make any difference?"

"Does it matter whether I want to be a Cursed Spirit or a human? If I wanted to be human, would you accept me?"

"If it's the latter, at least I can accept you." Satoru Gojo's voice was soft. "Special circumstances call for special treatment. I'm not that old-fashioned. Jujutsu High already has a mutated Cursed Corpse like Panda, so one unusual Cursed Spirit wouldn't be a big deal."

"Well, thanks for that." Kamiki Yūhaku smiled and stepped back. "But I don't like being scrutinized. If I listened to you and went back with you, I'd just be locked up again, wouldn't I?"

"After all, I'm a Special Grade Cursed Spirit who can predict the future. I'm a huge threat."

Kamiki Yūhaku said, "I've had enough of being locked up."

Satoru Gojo did not stop him or ask him to stay. He watched Kamiki Yūhaku disappear, then, after a moment, turned to look at the low-grade Cursed Spirit beside him. It had returned to its original form and was curled up in a ball, stuffed into the corner. He felt unsettled, irritation and frustration churning inside him.

What the hell is he holding back?

If he's a Cursed Spirit, then he should go wild, go crazy, and let out all the pain and frustration from back then.

The way things are now, if I'm asked to exorcise him, how am I supposed to bring myself to do it?

Satoru Gojo sighed and turned to leave, acting as though he had never been there.

Meanwhile, Kamiki Yūhaku walked outward, step by step. The chain around his wrist swayed constantly, making a crisp sound. Seemingly annoyed by the noise, he wound it around his wrist and gripped the end in his palm. Its chill traveled from his hand all the way into his heart.

He had to admit that Satoru Gojo was very clever. He could spot many issues in the smallest details and reason his way to the most accurate conclusion.

Yes, that was right. Kamiki Yūhaku did not want to become a Cursed Spirit.

Why had his Recognition kept falling? Because Kamiki Yūhaku simply did not want to become a Cursed Spirit. Recognition told him that the key to the [inhuman Jujutsu Sorcerer] character setup was [inhuman], but Kamiki Yūhaku refused.

He wanted to be human.

A human who could be remembered.

With his hand against a tree trunk, Kamiki Yūhaku tightened his grip slightly, a hint of nostalgia in his dark green eyes.

"You really gave me a difficult problem, Yukimi."

Kamiki Yukimi was someone Kamiki Yūhaku had met after being confined in the forbidden area. He was the same age as Kamiki Yūhaku and an orphan, but the Kamiki Clan had treated him well because of his exceptional talent. He was playful by nature, however, and unlike the hidebound members of the main family, he had never cared much for rules.

So, while the main family was not paying attention, he had slipped into the forbidden area and discovered Kamiki Yūhaku.

He was the first stranger Kamiki Yūhaku had ever met.

Yukimi disliked rules, loved reading, and liked trying all sorts of things. He was willing to learn about anything; even when it came to the stuffy old men in the clan, he was willing to listen to their theories, though he rejected them every time.

As a result, the old men among the Kamiki Clan's upper ranks did not like him.

But Kamiki Yūhaku did.

Ever since coming to this world, Kamiki Yūhaku had been imprisoned in the forbidden area. He had never seen the outside world. Though he possessed a Cursed Technique and Cursed Energy, he had never seen those terrifying Cursed Spirits and knew nothing of Jujutsu Society.

Yukimi often came to see him, telling Kamiki Yūhaku all sorts of fanciful things and describing what Cursed Spirits looked like.

Perhaps that was what a human should be like, living freely with a clear conscience.

Kamiki Yūhaku had once wondered self-deprecatingly whether he was not so unlucky after all. No matter what sorrowful things befell him, he always met a few good people and gained precious bonds.

But after those bonds, all he ever received was hurt.

Kamiki Yūhaku had regretted it, too. He had wondered why he needed friends. Without friends or attachments, he could take his revenge as wildly and freely as he pleased, doing everything for himself, solely to fill out his character setup as quickly as possible and leave, like a gear or a nut, nothing more than a tool.

But Kamiki Yūhaku was not a tool after all. He was a person with feelings, and he longed for friends.

Thirty years ago, the Kamiki Clan had deceived Yukimi and the others under the pretext of undoing the Binding Vow. The clan head had said that once the Binding Vow was lifted, Kamiki Yūhaku would become the next clan head. Everyone had been delighted, believing things could really end that way. But they were not stupid enough to call Kamiki Yūhaku back to the Kamiki Clan so easily.

Unfortunately, even though they had thought of that, the Kamiki Clan had still made thorough preparations, using a specially made tracking talisman to locate them and carry out its plan.

Once his Cursed Technique was sealed, Kamiki Yūhaku could no longer know how the future would unfold. Although his Cursed Technique had not been completely sealed, he still could not see his own future. In that state, he could only dimly make out Yukimi and the others fleeing, so he immediately told them to leave.