A Subtle Turn

Although Kana Shizumi had left by taxi.

In reality, he hadn't ridden for very long... late-night fares were outrageously expensive.

Kenjaku had given him a bank card to use freely, but it wasn't his own. If Kenjaku later decided to settle accounts and asked where the money had gone, he'd only be making trouble for himself.

If your mom gave you a card and told you to use it however you wanted, would you really swipe it to your heart's content?

What if she treated you to a beating afterward? Tell me!

So Kana Shizumi got out nearly five kilometers away.

He didn't need a car for the rest of the trip. With cursed energy reinforcement, he could run the entire way... compared to before, Kana Shizumi had now basically stabilized at the level of a Grade 2 Sorcerer.

As long as he didn't use large-scale or highly precise techniques, he could sustain himself and recover at the same time.

Only rookies ran out of mana... when had those fighting high-end matches ever worried about endurance?

Either they had a Rika tucked away, or they casually landed two Black Flashes. Everyone's mana bar could dance all night anyway, so they used whichever techniques looked coolest.

It was like the chaotic melee in the Sendai Colony. Put anyone other than Okkotsu in that situation, and whoever couldn't open a Domain would be embarrassed...

"Sir, are you sure it's alright for me to drop you off here?"

The taxi driver looked at the desolate wilderness and hesitated.

This kid wasn't planning to kill himself out here, was he...? Even if he really died, it wouldn't directly involve him, but he'd still be questioned afterward. It would affect both his income and his job.

So he decided to think his words through carefully.

"Ahem, sir... at your age, you really don't need to care so much about what others think. I was young once too. When I was your ag— Huh?! Where did he go?!"

He hadn't paid yet!!!

Kana Shizumi shoved open the door and jumped straight down from the mountain road.

There was no way he'd fall to his death. With Sky-Covering Jade's ability, he easily maintained a hovering state and began moving at high speed...

Flying was, in fact, much less tiring. After becoming basically familiar with his abilities and expanding their range, Kana Shizumi could now maintain a fairly high travel speed.

He was only slightly slower than the Shinkansen.

Thanks to the concealment effect of the Curtain, Kana Shizumi didn't need to worry about exposing himself during this time... before carrying out any operation, residual cursed energy could very easily become the source of an exposure.

Gojo could travel from Tokyo to Yuji's old school and back at nearly teleportation-level speed. By normal standards, that was at least a three-hour drive...

Better safe than sorry. Gojo was like a freight truck—if you got hit, you got hit... just consider yourself unlucky!

After weighing things up, Kana Shizumi reached a conclusion.

He could probably return to Tokyo before dawn.

While he had the time, he also sorted through what he'd gained this time.

"Recovered a Cursed Object from Six Paths Tsuji, increased my attributes, and gained a new trait..."

In terms of its nature, it was probably like greatly amplifying poisonous blood.

Considering that Uraume had been unable to recover even with the Reverse Cursed Technique in the original story, poisonous blood's utility was clearly extremely powerful.

Now he could even add blades to Crimson Blood Manipulation... that counted as increasing his damage output in another sense.

But that was all.

There was nothing afterward...

"Logically speaking, something should've changed after I came into contact with Yuji, right?"

To be honest, Kana Shizumi had truly thought so at first. But after confirming that no notification had come in, he more or less realized something.

Perhaps, for Yuji Itadori, this experience itself hadn't contained anything worth "changing."

His grandfather would still die.

Yuji Itadori's home would still be cold and empty.

Without anything else substantial enough to affect his thinking, club activities would continue, Sukuna's Fingers would be taken away... he would still meet Fushiguro, then swallow that fated finger.

After analyzing it all, Kana Shizumi felt that theory had quite a bit of merit.

From the looks of things, he hadn't changed anything at all... he had merely let Yuji have a good time and let him know he had a friend like this.

So, should he get to know him more deeply?

Kana Shizumi wore a thoughtful expression... as the absolute protagonist of the entire story, the literal number one figure in the plot.

Yuji Itadori was tied to countless side plots. Anything connected to him could set off a chain reaction.

So even if Kana Shizumi was anxious to "draw some blood" from Yuji, he still had to consider things carefully.

After all, he needed to figure out his own position first...

They were in the villains' camp.

If he ruined Kenjaku's plans, and something happened to Yuji that caused Sukuna to disappear, Gojo could cheerfully send every last one of them to their deaths with a punch each...

Whether on the heroes' side or the villains' side, the top combatants possessed strength that utterly eclipsed everyone else.

And these two were especially problematic—one was too casual, the other too difficult to deal with. No matter how he approached them, Kana Shizumi felt he might get kicked to death on the spot...

What a headache.

With a sigh, Kana Shizumi continued onward and returned to Tokyo.

He hurried to the place Kenjaku had arranged beforehand... unlike the last place he had stayed, this time it was another high-end apartment in the city.

It had a comprehensive access-control system, security measures, and the exclusive one-unit-per-elevator design.

It was on the sixth floor, and from the living room, he could even see Mount Fuji in the distance...

Seeing the thoroughly modern decor and furnishings inside, Kana Shizumi almost laughed in exasperation.

So after living for so many years, aside from arranging his schemes, Kenjaku's remaining hobby was property speculation? Otherwise, it was really hard to explain where all these luxury residences had come from...

Or had he cleaned up some assets while taking over the head of the Kamo Clan?

With that thought, Kana Shizumi washed up, found a spare room, and prepared to rest.

After staying awake all night, even his special physique felt somewhat weary... thinking over everything that had happened yesterday, he soon fell asleep.

At the same time.

In Kyoto, inside a metropolitan hospital.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The violent coughing never stopped. Even out in the hallway, one could vaguely hear the weak sounds coming from inside.

The girl, who had originally maintained a calm expression, unconsciously quickened her pace.

Even if she didn't want to admit it... her body was still remarkably honest.

She raised her hand and pushed open the door.

Smack!

"Mai, I heard you were injured?"