But in truth, Shoichi Kano had never intended to kill Riko Amanai. The girl had never done anything to him, and unlike Toji, he had no need to prove himself by deliberately sabotaging Gojo and Geto's mission.
As luck would have it, he had discovered a few rubber bullets mixed in with the handgun ammunition Toji Fushiguro had given him. Toji had probably overlooked them while checking his equipment.
That had given him an idea. Rubber bullets were great! As long as he controlled the distance, they wouldn't actually kill anyone, and he could still make it look like a real shooting-as long as he hit a vital spot and knocked the target unconscious.
He had wanted to ask Toji Fushiguro for more rubber bullets to practice with, but Toji refused. Left with no other choice, he could only work through it in theory.
Fortunately, he had pulled it off this time. His first shot missed, but the second bullet hit Riko Amanai and knocked her unconscious on the spot.
To keep Suguru Geto from noticing anything suspicious, he had taken advantage of the chaos to weave a large spider out of thread, one that could move independently of his body, and used it to carry Riko Amanai somewhere safe.
Suguru Geto had been focused on watching the battlefield and controlling his cursed spirits, so naturally, he hadn't noticed Kano's little maneuver.
Of course, Kano really did want to mess with Suguru Geto a little.
After all, back in his Jujutsu High days, Geto hadn't yet taken the path of crimes against humanity. At heart, he was still an idealist with light in his heart.
Idealists full of "righteous arguments" were the most fun to tease.
"You want to compete with me in hand-to-hand combat?" Suguru Geto noticed Kano's reverse grip on the Switchblade and his obviously amateurish stance. "That's hilarious. You can barely even keep your footing."
He seized an opening, ordering Tamamo-no-Mae to use her cursed technique on him as he darted forward. He intended to attack Kano's legs with a sweeping kick and seize the knife in the process.
After all, fighting an armed opponent barehanded put him at something of a disadvantage.
"So fast!" Shoichi Kano cried out, but a moment later, Geto had already caught his wrist. The sweeping kick had been a feint. His real goal had simply been to take the knife!
Distracted by adjusting his legs to defend against the sweep, Kano had naturally paid less attention to Suguru Geto's hands.
His preconceived notions were partly to blame. Since Geto in his cult-leader days had been outmatched in close combat by the student Okkotsu in Volume 0, Kano had assumed Geto wasn't good at hand-to-hand combat.
But he had forgotten that he himself wasn't particularly strong. Even after expanding the applications of his cursed technique through quick thinking during this time, he had only reached Semi-Grade 1 at best. Yuta Okkotsu, meanwhile, had already been Special Grade as a student.
Kano abruptly released his grip. The Switchblade fell, and Suguru Geto instinctively reached to catch it.
At that moment, Kano shot thread from his other hand, sticking it to the knife. With a sharp tug, like pulling back a yo-yo, he drew the Switchblade into his own hand.
"A cursed technique that controls thread?" With that, his innate cursed technique had been exposed to Suguru Geto.
But Kano considered that acceptable. He didn't believe he could reliably beat a knife-wielding Suguru Geto barehanded, so revealing his cursed technique to keep his cursed tool was, in theory, no loss.
Kano said nothing. The moment he had a firm grip on the knife, he slammed his shoulder toward Suguru Geto, trying to knock him away. But Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate's cursed technique, combined with Geto's own enormous cursed energy, affected him. Like a weightless sheet of paper, Geto "floated" backward several dozen centimeters, narrowly evading the Iron Mountain Lean that Shoichi Kano had thought was certain to land.
Then came three vicious flying kicks in succession!
Suguru Geto's legs, clad in the slightly loose trousers of his Jujutsu High uniform, almost blurred into a single black afterimage. The hiss of air and flashes of cursed energy merged together, leaving Shoichi Kano overwhelmed. He could only cross his arms to protect his torso and retreat again and again!
"Is that all you've got?" Suguru Geto seemed certain he had Kano firmly under control, and that tone of assured victory returned.
The four-eyed, kimono-clad cursed spirit Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate noticed what was happening on her master's side as well. She tried to circle behind Kano and help Suguru Geto restrict his room to maneuver.
Elsewhere, Rainbow Dragon began yet another probing dive. This time, however, Slit-Mouthed Woman seemed to have found a way to deal with him!
Slit-Mouthed Woman felt she needed to reserve most of her cursed energy for opening her Simple Domain and using the Forced Q&A technique against Suguru Geto. Thus, her current approach was the least taxing way she could think of to break the deadlock.
If she wanted to use brute force, she could simply wait for Rainbow Dragon to swoop down to the ground, then open her Simple Domain, trap him, and slowly wear him down. But that would probably leave her with little cursed energy.
She could recover some of that expenditure by absorbing the scattered cursed energy Rainbow Dragon released after being exorcised, but that wasn't a lasting solution either. After all, Rainbow Dragon originated from a region's snake-worship traditions, while her curse originated from an "urban legend." Their sources were different, so she couldn't simply devour and absorb him like "combining like terms."
In any case, just as Rainbow Dragon's savage head plunged downward, about to sink his teeth into Slit-Mouthed Woman-
She used her long-handled scythe as a vaulting pole and, with a somewhat sloppy pole-vaulting motion, leaped straight onto Rainbow Dragon's back.
Feeling something foreign on his body, Rainbow Dragon naturally tried to shake her off. But Slit-Mouthed Woman jammed the edge of the Wrongful Death Blade into a gap between his scales and gripped the handle tightly. At the same time, she channeled cursed energy into her lower body, anchoring herself firmly to Rainbow Dragon like a barbed suction cup.
The blade lodged between his scales caused Rainbow Dragon intense pain. He struggled furiously, twisting and thrashing like a ribbonfish hauled out of the water as he tried to shake off the restraint.
Meanwhile, Shoichi Kano noticed Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate trying to cut off his retreat. He feinted with the hand holding the Switchblade in a reverse grip, making Suguru Geto instinctively step back and guard.
Then Kano bent his left arm and drove his elbow hard behind him. As he knocked Tamamo-no-Mae away, he turned and slashed her several times, sending foul-smelling, dark purple cursed spirit blood spraying from the Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
While Tamamo-no-Mae froze in pain, he created a mass of threads, bending and layering them into a springlike shape. He braced them against the ground and leaped, safely escaping the encirclement.
Suguru Geto seemed to have developed a new trick as well. Small black vortices clung to his fists, resembling a rudimentary version of Cursed Spirit Manipulation's Maximum: Uzumaki.
Whatever the case, those little vortices contained power drawn from several cursed spirits of Semi-Grade 1 or higher in Suguru Geto's internal stockpile. They were not to be underestimated.
Shoichi Kano had learned his lesson. Since those punches looked painful, he simply wouldn't take them head-on. He would keep his distance.
So, amid the chaos, he gave the support-oriented Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate a beating, then put distance between himself and Suguru Geto before Geto could catch him, turning the fight into a chase around obstacles.
He even occasionally wrapped his thread around the Switchblade's handle and launched the little knife, catching Suguru Geto off guard with a slash. Though it couldn't do much damage, it was enough to irritate him.
Kano could even use those openings to land another couple of hits on Tamamo-no-Mae, forcing Suguru Geto to recall her early to prevent Kano from exorcising her.
The turning point in the battle came the instant Rainbow Dragon shook Slit-Mouthed Woman off.
Kano instinctively looked up and saw a "mysterious woman in a trench coat," carrying a long-handled scythe, plummeting from high above like a human-shaped meteor.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dragon hovered in the air, his scales already battered and covered in countless small blade marks.
But Slit-Mouthed Woman thought quickly in midair, flinging away her scythe and rapidly forming hand signs!
She had realized that she was falling directly toward Suguru Geto!
As luck would have it, Suguru Geto was focused solely on killing Shoichi Kano at that moment, so he overlooked the threat from above.
By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
"Simple Domain: Forced Q&A!" A gray field of cursed energy spread around Slit-Mouthed Woman, enveloping Suguru Geto.
The Simple Domain's framework formed instantly, leaving Suguru Geto with no choice but to resist its compulsory rules with his own cursed energy for the moment. But his tactical instincts remained sharp. An instant before the Simple Domain closed completely, he ordered Rainbow Dragon to come to his rescue.
But Shoichi Kano had already picked up the long-handled scythe and fixed his gaze on the white, dragon-shaped cursed spirit in the air.
Inside the Simple Domain, Slit-Mouthed Woman gently removed her mask, exposing the split corners of her mouth. The stitches Shoichi Kano had sewn for her were still there.
"Am I beautiful?" she asked, her voice slightly husky, with a mature woman's timbre.
Geto, the veteran hunter who had finally been pecked in the eye by his prey, felt utterly screwed. As he released cursed energy to erode the Simple Domain and free himself from its restraints, his true feelings spilled out in a roar:
"So you're pulling this trick? You hideous bitch!!!"
Before you continue