Curse

Okkotsu Yuta was found lying motionless in a battlefield ravaged beyond recognition by the aftermath of the battle. He gave everyone quite a scare at first, but after checking on him, they realized he was merely asleep from exhaustion.

After they shook Okkotsu awake, he opened his eyes to find everyone gathered around him. The first thing he did was anxiously check on their injuries.

"Is everyone... okay? And Genichi, you're back too."

Shen Yuanyi helped him up. "Everyone's fine. Gojo-sensei and I came back together. Something happened there, so we were delayed."

Panda smiled beside him. "Yuta, you did great. You drove back that Special Grade Curse User all by yourself."

Okkotsu Yuta looked at Panda's raised left arm, half of which was missing, fluffy cotton spilling from the torn end. He cried out, "Panda! Your arm!"

Panda shook his cotton-stuffed arm. The same stuffing was spilling from his chest, yet he looked completely relaxed. "Yuta, don't worry! My body isn't like theirs. There are other ways to fix it later."

"Thank you for saving us."

"Salmon!"

Panda's earnest words and Inumaki Toge's nod made Okkotsu's eyes ripple with emotion. Perhaps because she had changed her hairstyle, Maki did not look as sharp as usual. Instead, she said gently, "Congratulations, Yuta. Your wish is starting to come true."

A heartfelt smile appeared on Okkotsu Yuta's face as he looked at his companions around him. It felt as though something had filled his heart. Then a voice calling his name sounded from behind them.

When he turned around, he saw Rika, whose appearance had changed somewhat. Her head, which had originally consisted only of a fanged mouth, now had a vertical eye. Though she was calm at the moment, her presence seemed even stronger than before.

Okkotsu Yuta froze for a moment before rising to his feet and walking toward Rika. Panda asked in confusion from behind him, "What's wrong, Yuta?"

Okkotsu Yuta's steps halted. He half-turned away, not daring to look at them as he said, "Um... I asked her to lend me her power, and in exchange, Rika and I promised to leave this world together."

"Huh? Isn't that just suicide? What the hell were you thinking, idiot?!"

Maki, having regained some of her usual demeanor, immediately shouted Okkotsu Yuta down. He stammered, unable to say anything, when Shen Yuanyi suddenly waved a hand in front of Maki's face. Her brows shot up in anger, but following Shen Yuanyi's gesture, she, Panda, and Inumaki Toge all stared blankly at the sight before them.

The once-gruesome figure had already dispersed into black mist drifting in every direction. In its place stood a small figure—a little girl.

"Rika."

Clap, clap, clap. A burst of crisp applause rang out. Everyone looked over to see Gojo Satoru walking toward them without his blindfold. Then Maki and the others all said in unison, "Who are you?"

Gojo Satoru's smile froze. "I'm the handsome Gojo Satoru-sensei."

After clearing his throat, Gojo Satoru continued, "Earlier, Okkotsu raised a point that I found interesting, so I had someone investigate your family backgrounds. Rika's was quickly checked, and there was nothing unusual. But Yuta's background couldn't be determined right away. I only found out afterward."

"You're actually a descendant of Sugawara no Michizane. In other words... although we're rather distantly related, Yuta, you're my relative~" Looking at Gojo Satoru's somewhat childish grin, Okkotsu Yuta was bewildered. "Who's Sugawara?"

Maki and Panda explained it to him. He was one of the legendary Three Great Vengeful Spirits and seemed to have once been a real Jujutsu Sorcerer in the Jujutsu World. He was also an ancestor of the Gojo Family. Hearing them, Shen Yuanyi finally recalled some vague impressions.

"So Yuta's idea was right. It wasn't Rika who cursed you. You were the one who cursed Rika."

That unforgettable scene surfaced before Okkotsu Yuta once more: blood splashed across the road, the twisted figure collapsed before his eyes, and his younger self, nearly breaking down.

"Don't die!"

Gojo Satoru looked at Rika in the form of a cute little girl and said slowly, "When the one who cast the curse removes the master-servant binding, and the cursed party has no intention of punishing them, the curse is lifted. Though Rika's appearance already makes that clear."

Okkotsu Yuta felt as if something had gripped his heart. His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees, tears dripping down and wetting the ground beneath him. "It was all my fault... I was the one who made Rika become like that. And all those people who were hurt because of me, and Geto targeting me, nearly getting everyone killed... It was all me."

Nearly sobbing, Okkotsu Yuta sank into deep self-blame. Everything, from what had happened to Rika onward, had been caused by him. Even Panda, Maki, and Inumaki Toge, whom he now considered friends, had nearly "died" because of him today.

And the person he had wronged most was Rika.

She must have suffered terribly, forced to remain by his side in that form.

"Yuta... thank you."

A pair of little hands rested on Okkotsu Yuta's head. Rika, in the form of a little girl, came over and hugged him, then said softly, "Thank you for giving me the chance to stay by Yuta's side. These six years, Rika has been happier than she ever was when she was alive."

Okkotsu Yuta's eyes widened slightly before tears flowed down again. But this time, they were no longer entirely tears of self-blame. After hugging Okkotsu Yuta for a while, the little figure released him. When he raised his head, he saw Rika smiling sweetly, her entire body seeming to emit a faint glow.

Rika reached out and placed a hand on Okkotsu Yuta's face, wiping away his tears. Then she smiled and said, "Yuta, take care of yourself, okay? Don't come looking for me too soon."

"Goodbye."

The light around Rika grew brighter and brighter, and parts of her body had already begun to turn translucent. As Okkotsu Yuta nodded, trying hard to smile, Rika's figure transformed in an instant into glowing motes that floated into the sky.

Everyone looked up at the beautiful sight. Whether their eyes had been drawn in by the scenery or their thoughts caught up in the story between the two of them, they watched the faint rainbow glow reflected in the sky in silent stillness.

Okkotsu Yuta rose to his feet and gazed at the fading traces in the distance. Tears still stained his face, but he wore the most genuine smile.

On the other side, Shen Yuanyi asked Gojo Satoru beside him, "Sensei, is love really a curse? Yuta unintentionally cursed Rika because of love, but in the end, they were both saved by love too. Doesn't that mean we should look at these things dialectically?"

Shen Yuanyi paused, then abruptly changed the subject. "Oh, right. I forgot. Sensei, you don't seem to have a girlfriend or anything, so naturally you wouldn't understand topics like this. That's understandable."

Gojo Satoru's smile finally broke. "Huh? You brat!"

The battle was over, and naturally, all sorts of cleanup work followed.

The damaged buildings in Shinjuku, Kyoto, and Jujutsu High had all begun to be repaired. Casualties on their side had not been severe. Geto Suguru, the ringleader, had been eliminated, while the remaining followers had retreated quickly from the battlefield. Most of the dead had been Cursed Spirits.

After Shuten Doji was exorcised, Gen Naine's possessed body was carefully taken in by Jujutsu High. Her healed body appeared to have returned to normal, but Gen Naine could not immediately return to it.

Ordinarily, returning to her body using her cursed technique should not have been difficult. It was not as if she lacked experience with leaving her body and returning to it. But according to her in her soul state, her body now seemed to have undergone some changes, making it difficult for her to return.

This also piqued Ieiri Shoko's interest. Under her and Gojo Satoru's arrangements, research into the situation had begun. They had also used many cursed tools, barriers, and talismans to stabilize Gen Naine in her soul state. Though no one knew whether any of it would truly help, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Based on the current situation, Gen Naine's return to her body was only a matter of time. They left it to Shoko to handle.

Maki and the others, having been healed by Okkotsu Yuta, recovered quickly as well. Panda returned to Principal Yaga to have his body repaired. Later, when they heard about Shen Yuanyi's accomplishments on the battlefield—that he had exorcised another Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the legendary Shuten Doji, who had even used Domain Expansion—

Their expressions all became complicated. On one side, Yuta had single-handedly driven back and severely wounded the Special Grade Curse User Geto Suguru. On the other, Shen Yuanyi had slain a Special Grade Cursed Spirit within a Domain Expansion. No matter how they thought about it, the pressure was immense.

"No, we can't let those two leave us so far behind. Panda, Toge, let's go train."

Maki dragged the two of them toward the Training Ground. Shen Yuanyi looked toward Gojo Satoru, who had finished talking with Okkotsu Yuta. Gojo then handed Okkotsu his lost student ID.

"I wasn't the one who found it. It was my best friend—my only best friend."

With bandages wrapped around his face, Okkotsu Yuta could not see the look in Gojo Satoru's eyes. Okkotsu did not understand what had happened, but Shen Yuanyi roughly understood the meaning behind those words, as well as who Gojo-sensei's best friend was.

Shen Yuanyi was not someone who was good at comforting others. In fact, he also felt that Gojo Satoru did not need anyone's comfort. Some things, some emotions, could only be borne and experienced alone.

The saying that people's joys and sorrows are not shared was sometimes more than just a joke. Feelings born from empathy toward another person's circumstances were usually one-sided. Even when facing the same event, different people could feel it with entirely different depths of emotion.

Perhaps what you believed was shared pain did not even carry one ten-thousandth of the weight it held in the heart of the person involved. Perhaps only time could handle such things. What time could not erase, it would eventually bury—as long as no gust of wind brushed away the sand covering it and stabbed you bloody once more.

"Oh, right, Genichi. Your First Grade approval has been granted. From now on, you're a First Grade Sorcerer."

Hearing Gojo Satoru's words, Shen Yuanyi showed no excitement. Instead, he casually asked, "By the way, Sensei... those rotten old guys haven't interfered with Gen Naine's situation under Shoko's care, have they?"

Surrounded by the chill brought by the snowy scenery, Gojo Satoru said lightly, "No. Everyone there was personally assigned by me. Nanami is there too."

His gaze fell, just like Shen Yuanyi's, on the three Cursed Blades at Shen Yuanyi's waist. With the curses attached to them removed, the three blades revealed bodies as clear as autumn water beneath their aged aura. Even if they were not cursed tools, they would likely still be rare and precious swords.

"Since they lost this sword, it should be my trophy now, right?" Shen Yuanyi, walking behind him, wore a cold expression. The thought of how their so-called tight security had failed in an instant, allowing Dojigiri to be lost and Shuten Doji to return to the world—also causing Gen Naine's current condition—made anger rise within him.

Gojo Satoru showed no particular reaction. He agreed with Shen Yuanyi and said he would handle what came next. As for the rest, they would have to wait for Gen Naine herself to awaken. This matter was not over so quickly, and there was also the matter of Kento and the others. It seemed those old men needed to be "fixed up."