You're Not Human

"Tch..."

The spiky-haired boy clicked his tongue helplessly after hanging up the phone.

On his hard-earned day off, he'd originally had other plans. But now they'd been interrupted... It was only natural that he was in a bad mood.

Raising a hand to press lightly against his temple, Fushiguro Megumi closed his eyes and used what remained of his "free time" to sense everything in the room.

Beep. Beep. Beep...

But from the beginning, the only thing he could pick up was the echo of the machines.

"..."

He silently opened his eyes.

The stark whiteness flooding his vision was like something sharp stabbing at his optic nerves, making him narrow his eyes instinctively.

He swept his gaze around, taking in everything nearby.

A single-patient hospital room...

That was all.

Aside from the necessary monitoring equipment, the fake flowers by the bed were among the few vivid colors in the room.

Fushiguro Megumi silently rose to his feet, walked forward, and stopped beside the hospital bed.

Lying there was the family member he cared about most in this world.

Fushiguro Tsumiki.

As though she were merely asleep, Tsumiki retained all the signs of life, yet showed no indication of waking.

It had happened when Fushiguro was in his third year of middle school. Tsumiki had gone to Hachijo Bridge with some classmates, and after returning, she had fallen completely unconscious. Even now, there was still no sign of her waking up.

It wasn't an illness, nor was there any deeper cause... Because Fushiguro Megumi had tried countless methods to wake her, but every attempt had vanished without a trace.

Could it be that she would never wake up for the rest of her life?

The thought surfaced only briefly before he forced it back down.

No.

Or rather... it shouldn't be this way.

Kind people shouldn't meet such an end, and those who deserved happiness shouldn't have their lives wasted like this.

There had to be a way. He simply hadn't found it yet.

So until then... just endure a little longer.

Raising his hand, Fushiguro Megumi gripped the rail beside Tsumiki's bed. His gaze passed through the window, landing on the bright sunlight outside.

Just as Satoru Gojo had seen over the phone.

"The weather's pretty nice today..."

Fushiguro Megumi spoke softly.

"I'd planned to take you outside to get some sun... The doctor said going out once in a while could give your body the signal that it wanted to recover. But... I have a mission today. Sorry."

Then next time.

Fushiguro Megumi lowered his head, then turned around as he let out a quiet breath.

He left the hospital room, and after a long while... a subtle change appeared in that seemingly tranquil, utterly undisturbed room.

Beep. Beep. Beep...

The sound suddenly became rapid, as if it had developed fluctuations. Wave-like arcs appeared.

Yet the phenomenon lasted only a short while before vanishing again, leaving behind not the slightest movement.

As though everything that had just happened... was merely a fish flopping desperately on the ground before it was scorched to death by the sun...

It meant nothing.

"Yo! Fushiguro!"

Following the agreed-upon route, Fushiguro Megumi heard a familiar voice from nearby before he even reached the destination.

He turned his head halfway toward the source of the voice.

Two utterly different figures came into view, making Fushiguro Megumi straighten up slightly before replying in a louder voice.

"Panda-senpai, Inumaki-senpai."

"Salmon!"

Tokyo Jujutsu High.

By school year, Fushiguro Megumi was a first-year student.

And those above him, now standing before him, were second-year students.

Inumaki.

His full name was Toge Inumaki.

As a descendant of the Cursed Speech clan, he too was the inheritor of a long-standing bloodline and possessed a special ability.

Cursed Speech... a unique cursed technique that turned words into curses and made them take effect immediately.

By carving cursed markings along the edges of the tongue and lips, even the act of "speaking" itself could trigger and activate the technique.

It sounded pretty cool, like making things happen just by saying them.

But in reality, the thing was incredibly inconvenient. Since it directly affected the mouth and tongue, those modifications interfered with everyday life as well.

It didn't even let him speak properly... forcing him to use his favorite rice ball fillings as coded phrases for communication.

A perfectly fine person, and they'd practically made him disabled.

So, from the standpoint of practical use and daily life, if the cursed markings were carved onto the back of the hand like in the later sequel, then covered over the mouth only when activation or use was needed, they wouldn't affect daily life.

"Detachable" was quite a practical concept.

Besides...

More advanced cursed techniques came with greater risks. They consumed tremendous amounts of cursed energy and also affected the throat and other areas.

Basically, he had to carry throat-soothing drinks and candy with him at all times. Otherwise, the physical discomfort would be agonizing... And when facing opponents far stronger than himself, using Cursed Speech could even cause backlash.

Thinking about how he kept coughing up mouthfuls of blood in the original story, it really did feel like he had a hard life.

After all, the villains who appeared were always at least Special Grade, with no upper limit... while Inumaki himself was probably only at the Semi-Grade 1 level.

Every shout got him humiliated, and he was constantly suffering physical injuries. It was truly something to lament.

But if forum users were the ones controlling him, that ability might have entirely different uses—if forcibly inflicting damage or using Cursed Speech against someone far stronger caused backlash, then why not follow that line of thought and target only a specific body part?

For example...

"Relax your sphincter!"

This Cursed Speech didn't cause damage itself, nor was it meant to restrict the target's overall movements.

By narrowing the target down and focusing on a specific body part, perhaps the backlash could be reduced.

The results would naturally be outstanding...

Once the sphincter relaxed, wouldn't they shit their pants?

Try pulling that on Sukuna during the Shinjuku battle. There was no way Sukuna, who saw himself as a cultured man, wouldn't lose his temper!!!

Of course, such a lowlife tactic remained only a concept for now. Putting it into practice was an entirely different matter.

In any case, no matter how one looked at Cursed Speech as a technique, it gave the impression that it had only been developed to a limited extent and hadn't fully made use of its strengths.

As a second-year, Inumaki had spoken with Fushiguro Megumi many times before, so his greeting was fairly casual when they met.

That was enough about him. As for the one beside him...

Frankly speaking, he wasn't human.