A fellow transmigrator

Satoru Gojo's point of view

The basement I had prepared to hide Yuji.

A young man lay asleep there now. Well, this kid sleeping was nothing unusual.

"...This must be the backlash from overusing cursed energy."

Haruka Itadori lay in a hospital bed on an IV drip, his breathing steady and his pulse normal.

The reason was simple. He wouldn't wake up.

Three days had passed since Haruka intervened in Yuji's mission and things took a turn for the worse. I had asked Shoko to heal his physical injuries, but the wounds deep inside him couldn't be healed, leaving him in this state.

Fluffy pink strands lay across his pale face. I reached out and brushed them aside, feeling the faint warmth of his breathing against my fingertips.

I sighed softly.

The mission should have been fairly simple. Instead, a confirmed special grade case-the "Godslayer"-was added to it. Never mind me, even that old man at Kyoto Jujutsu High knew nothing about it... So who tampered with things?

The victim was apparently a young Grade 3 Sorcerer in his first year at Kyoto Jujutsu High. I heard he was a gloomy kid with no friends, who hardly interacted with his classmates.

But to the boy sleeping here, he had probably been an important friend.

After hearing the voice message the deceased had left behind, I understood that with painful clarity. In a short time, they had come to understand each other, and he had become an irreplaceable presence who supported and encouraged Haruka.

He had probably been Haruka Itadori's first true friend. This kid was good at acting spoiled, but he was just as good at keeping people at a distance.

...Maybe he's a little like me.

But he didn't need to resemble me in losing a precious friend, too.

"What were you feeling when you went to save Junpei Yoshino?

"You lost your precious friend, Haruka, but your brother's precious friend is still alive. You kept him alive."

A massive Domain Expansion. Its range had reached across the entire Kanto region.

Expanding it that far must have consumed an enormous amount of cursed energy. His body should already have been exhausted to its limit.

"You're too kind, Haruka."

And the higher-ups had deemed that Domain Expansion a "threat."

He had only fought with everything he had to save his brother, yet even that had been suspected of being an act of rebellion. What utter stupidity.

With the hand that wasn't stroking his sleeping eyelids, I tightly crumpled the paper I held. It contained a summary of the area affected by the mission.

"Mount Akagi, Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture. After completing a mission involving a grade 3 cursed spirit, the subjects encountered a special grade fallen god. Combat continued for three weeks, during which one Grade 3 Sorcerer died.

"Although the fallen god was exorcised by Semi-Special Grade Sorcerer Haruka Itadori, his Domain Expansion caused nearby residents to disappear. He subsequently expanded another domain encompassing the entire Kanto region, and was therefore deemed to possess intentions of rebellion against Jujutsu Society. Upon regaining consciousness, he is to be arrested and executed immediately."

"As if I'd let them."

Satoru Gojo muttered in a low voice.

A kid mourning the death of someone more precious to him than anyone else should never be killed in a place like this.

And that was precisely why I couldn't leave this here, either.

"This is a curse."

The white phone Haruka had received from his friend. Yuji and I had listened to the message on it, and afterward, Yuji had wiped away the blood.

Sealed inside was the overflowing friendship, respect, loneliness, regret, and lingering attachment his one true friend had left him, preserved in this world as a voice turned curse. It bound Haruka, refusing to let him forget... However much I sympathized, I could never let Haruka hear it.

Yuji had probably left it here for his little brother. Murmuring, "Sorry," I took it away.

If Haruka hears this, he'll surely curse others. He'll kill for the dead.

I couldn't let this kid become a "villain." I couldn't taint this gentle boy.

"I'll keep it for you somewhere you can't see..."

When I left the bedroom, Yuji was clearing the table in the living room, his shoulders slightly slumped. Apparently, he was putting away my dishes too. What a good, homely kid.

"Yuji."

At my call, he raised his head and looked over as though startled.

Beside him sat Haruka's meal, untouched again today and already covered in plastic wrap. It would probably become Yuji's lunch tomorrow.

He must have noticed my gaze. He grinned and scratched his cheek.

"I'm still not used to Haruka not being at the table. Maybe it's because I was making enough for three until just recently."

His back looked visibly dejected as he carried the plate to the refrigerator.

He often treated me to meals, too. Yuji's cooking was warm and delicious. Thinking of it going cold, uneaten, felt like such a waste.

Thump. The refrigerator door closed.

"I know he's not here, but I still keep expecting him to peek over from the couch... He likes listening to me cook."

For some reason, hearing that made the phone in my right pocket feel heavier. Another "Sorry" slipped naturally from my lips.

And the brother of that equally gentle boy shook his head.

"It's not your fault, Sensei. Anyway, let's all have hot pot again next time. We'll invite Junpei too, and make it the four of us."

Had I managed to smile properly when he said that?

Having fled by teleporting, I had no way of knowing.

For the next few days, I avoided the basement.

Who exactly did I feel guilty toward? I simply found it inexplicably hard to return to that space.

I couldn't bear to leave Yuji eating alone, so I sent Junpei Yoshino, our new transfer student, down to visit. Of course, he was happy to go. I hoped the two could enjoy watching movies together while training. That was my plan.

Even though there was another presence inside Yuji. A king who loved seizing on people's weaknesses like some fool.

...And I readily believed Junpei when he said, "I'd like to do hand-to-hand combat training with Yuji in the basement."

"Heyyy, Yuji! Long time no... Huh? Just you and me?"

When I went down to the basement, for some reason, only one person was there. Yuji sat on the couch with one hand raised, but Junpei Yoshino was nowhere beside him.

"Yeah. That's right.

"There's something I want to talk to you about, Mr. Gojo."

As he spoke, he patted the empty spot on the couch. I immediately understood and settled lightly beside him.

"What's wrong? Lonely because I haven't visited lately?"

"No."

An unusually serious denial cut off my joke. My eyes widened a little despite myself.

"...Did something happen?"

I lowered my own voice slightly as I asked.

There's no sign anyone else has discovered this place, and it doesn't look like Haruka has woken up.

As I wondered, I noticed something in Yuji's hand on the side away from me. Something flat and rectangular.

He raised it and thrust it in front of me.

"Sensei, give the real one of these... back to Haruka."

A white phone appeared under the basement's warm lighting.

"Sukuna told me... There's a cursed technique on this phone that keeps Haruka asleep. I'm sure you have a reason, and I won't pry into that... But at least let him keep the real keepsake beside him."

Yuji's utterly earnest gaze pierced straight through me.

*...*

Yes. I had stolen the phone beside Haruka and replaced it with another white phone bearing "a curse that would keep Haruka asleep for a while."

Though I hadn't expected Sukuna to see through it and tell Yuji.

...I couldn't look away. He just kept staring at me.

I gently exhaled what had been weighing on the depths of my heart. I knew I had no choice but to accept it.

"No. I can't give that back to Haruka."

I formed the refusal clearly.

Of course I knew this brother, whose thoughts were entirely on his little brother, would glare at me. Meeting his gaze head-on, I smiled bitterly.

"Neither you nor Haruka needs to understand, but this is necessary to keep both of you alive. Even if you don't understand, please accept it. All right?"

But he shook his head.

"No."

"...Then do you want both of you to be executed?"

Although I had expected this, frustration at Yuji's refusal to listen drove me to say it. His eyes twitched sharply, and his mouth twisted.

"Of course not. That's not what I'm saying."

Tap. He lowered the hand holding the phone and placed it back in mine.

"To Haruka, these are his best friend's last words. He has a right to hear them."

He made me take it, telling me to return it.

Yuji can only say that because he knows nothing, understands nothing.

"...If acting on emotion could solve this, I'd want to do that too. I would."

I was sad too. Angry. Frustrated.

"But if we let our emotions dictate our actions, we won't be able to protect Haruka's mind or body. We'll only make him cry again, make him lose control again. And in the end, the only road waiting for him will lead to the execution block.

"Are you saying you're fine with that, Yuji?"

"How could I possibly be fine with that?!"

Bang! He slammed the table hard.

Yuji, who had shown only gentle expressions here until now, glared at me, breathing harshly.

"You always settle everything on your own, but that's just self-satisfaction! Can you really say you're doing this for Haruka?!"

His body trembled like a beast's as he raged. Shouted.

"If you say it's for us, then have a little more faith in Haruka! You think he's going to get lost in grief and destroy the world or something? Of course he won't.

"Haruka will wake up. He'll get back on his feet.

"What those of us around him should do isn't drag him away from his grief. It's support him as he faces his feelings and gets back up!"

After saying all that, he panted heavily. Having apparently voiced everything he wanted to say, he looked a little relieved.

But... immature as I was, I couldn't nod and apologize there.

I gritted my molars, then, just like Yuji, drove my fist into the table he had struck.

Crash!

With that sound, two plates of food covered in plastic wrap fell from the table. The dishes shattered. Even the table split easily in two.

"Then..."

I knew I shouldn't say it, but emotion drove the words out anyway.

"Haruka lost his friend, but you still have Junpei, don't you?... What does someone who's never lost anyone know?"

I was probably projecting my past self onto Haruka. I knew a dangerous fire had flared in the eyes hidden beneath my blindfold.

"What can someone who knows nothing say about the feelings of a person who's lost the only one who understood him?"

Memories seared the backs of my eyes. Years of memories surged through me in seconds, my head creaking as though it would burst.

By the time I came to my senses, I had seized my student by the front of his shirt.

"Lose someone yourself, Yuji, and you'll understand. How painful and difficult it is to get back up afterward, to claw your way out.

"Especially if they were 'murdered.'

"If Haruka hears that voice so full of lingering attachment, if he takes on that curse... there's no way he won't curse someone."

I spoke as I tightened my grip. Copper-colored eyes glared at me, brimming with pure anger.

Being constricted around the chest must have hurt. A thin sheen of tears appeared in his eyes, and his brows drew tightly together.

When his mouth twisted in frustration and a faint groan escaped him-

"I told you, brat. Whatever you say to that man, your voice won't reach him."

Sukuna's eye and mouth appeared beneath Yuji's eye. The eye regarded me with contempt, while the mouth sighed at his vessel.

"That fool is merely projecting his own mistakes onto that whelp."

The instant he pointed it out, an indescribable filth settled deep in my heart.

This was why I hated cursed spirits. The more useless intelligence they gained, the better they became at stirring things up.

"...Switch with me, Yuji Itadori. This is no longer your stage."

"But-"

"Enough prattle. If you insist on seeing your will through, show the resolve to do so even if it means using me."

"Yuji, do you... understand what you're trying to do?"

It wasn't a voice I should have used in front of a student. Its bitter cold echoed through the room.

The boy before me flinched for an instant, as though frightened, but immediately glared at me again.

"If I lose here now, you'll definitely regret it.

"...As Haruka's brother, I'll do anything to follow the path I believe is right."

His expression was resolute. He was... serious.

"Come to your senses, will you? Yuji, are you saying you'll endanger all humanity for your own selfish desires?

"Do you know how many people will die if you so casually hand your body over to Sukuna?"

Without realizing it, I tightened my grip on his shirt.

"But!"

Yuji shouted in defiance.

"Even so, I'll do it! Because Haruka saved my friend for me! Because he's been protecting me all this past month!

"Now it's my turn! Even if it's only to preserve the memories, I'm going to protect Haruka's friend!"

A fire of resolve blazed in his copper-colored eyes. At the same time, Sukuna's presence began spreading thickly through the air.

Knowing I couldn't let this continue, I tried to knock Yuji unconscious.

Crackle.

Cursed energy repelled my fingers like an electric current. I failed.

And in that moment, Yuji shouted.

"Sukuna!"

"...Hmph. Finally."

"I don't understand you at all, and I think you're a seriously annoying bastard. But...if you care even a little about Haruka, about my little brother, lend me your strength."

"..."

"I...no, we! We'll make a Brotherly Binding Vow with you!!"

Crack.

In that instant, cursed energy swelled explosively.

With a deafening crackle, the ominous cursed energy raging out of control knocked my hand away.

Yuji's body was engulfed in it, painted pitch-black. Something indescribable erupted around him, radiating an astonishing pressure and presence. I watched coldly as it gathered.

Even as that rampaging circuit of cursed energy stretched toward the bedroom where Haruka slept, I hardly had the attention to spare.

"Yuji, so this is the answer you chose."

I pulled down my blindfold and concentrated on controlling my cursed energy.

Now that things had come to this, I would probably have to take matters into my own hands.

This wasn't a manifestation through a vessel's body, but a "virtual complete manifestation" based on the vessel's wishes and a binding vow. The boy apparently had no idea what a catastrophe this would bring...but it was practically equivalent to Sukuna's complete resurrection-for several minutes.

"What a shame. To think I'd have to attack my own student..."

"Shut up, brat."

Bam! The unmistakable sensation of a hard blow. I had activated Limitless, yet I had still been hurt.

"...Ha, haha. Last time, I had you dancing in the palm of my hand."

Before me stood the King of Curses, radiating overwhelming pressure.

His enormous body easily towered over even my tall frame; he had four arms adorned with rings, and two pairs of blood-red eyes looking down at me.

I had said, "I'd definitely win," but now I was breaking into a cold sweat. The very presence of death stood before me.

"It's simple. The hungry brat and the other brat made a binding vow, establishing a proper Brotherly Binding Vow between three brothers.

Once connected to the sleeping brat's cursed energy circuit, even a temporary complete manifestation is child's play."

Sukuna snorted. He held no cursed tool and didn't seem inclined to attack. What was this bastard's reason for intervening? I looked up at him.

His four eyes curved mockingly as he looked down at me.

"...Huh?"

I glared back, but he certainly lived up to the name Ryomen Sukuna. He curled his lips higher, provoking me further.

"How unsightly...no, how pitiful, Jujutsu Sorcerer."

He spoke without concealing the derisive chuckle deep in his throat.

"All that sentimental nonsense you spouted earlier-I'll throw it right back at you. That brat with a bug-sized brain is far more reasonable than you."

There was no need to hold back anymore. Deciding instantly, I swung a fist at his massive body.

Of course, he easily blocked the blow with an arm, but I immediately leaped into the air and crossed my fingers.

"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."

I didn't care if the basement collapsed or the other students found out. Right now, I couldn't swallow my anger without blasting away this goddamn bastard of a cursed spirit.

I immediately unleashed the technique I had primed.

The familiar red flash raced forth, bursting as though to destroy the space Sukuna and I occupied.

Those four eyes, slightly darker than the flash, remained motionless. He merely watched me moving through the air as if trying to discern something, then sighed as though he had lost interest.

"Cleave."

One arm rose casually, and he flicked his fingers.

With that simple movement alone, my technique was sliced apart, grazing Sukuna's body before striking the wall. For an instant, I thought of the room beyond it, but I turned forward again.

Because he was the one I needed to confront right now.

I was considering whether to end this quickly with Domain Expansion when-

"Rest assured, I won't harm a hair on the hungry brat's head. I've merely come to settle matters at the other brat's request."

That hateful voice reached me.

I twisted my head in midair to bring him into view...and met those cold, crimson eyes.

"I am, after all, his 'older brother'...'100% Release.'"

The familiar way he constructed the technique made a grunt catch in my throat.

"Ha."

Sukuna vanished. A sound rang out. The air shifted.

Before I could fully register any of it, his fist was already closing in.

"You piss me off. Let me punch you once."

Even with Limitless active, I couldn't defend against the merciless blow that came at me.

It struck my face...or rather, my cheek, sending me flying before I could dissipate any of its force. My brain rattled violently with a sensation of flight I had never experienced in a sparring match, and then I slammed into the wall.

My back hit hard, but I barely felt any pain.

Only the place he had punched burned hot.

Holding the injured spot, I raised my head. At some point, Ryomen Sukuna had returned to human size, and now he looked down at me listlessly in Yuji's form.

"You call yourselves teachers, yet understand nothing of human nature...astonishing."

He sat on the refrigerator that Red had cut diagonally through earlier and spoke at his leisure.

"The hungry brat's worth lies neither in his cursed technique, nor his cursed energy, nor his Heavenly Restriction. Such things are everywhere.

What sets him apart is his 'humanity.'"

Surely I could be forgiven for blurting, "Huh?" After all, if Haruka's cursed technique and Heavenly Restriction were "everywhere," most sorcerers might as well not have techniques at all.

"To me, humans are no more than weeds. With a single stroke, they all become identical lumps of flesh.

...Yet even among those lumps of flesh, there are exceedingly rare specimens. Deviants who display humanity's arrogance and ferocity, lay bare their human instincts, and defy the absolutely strong."

I understood what Sukuna was saying, but I couldn't agree.

Haruka, who was always so lethargic, would bare his human instincts and fight back? Impossible.

"Haruka is an ordinary kid. He's incredibly kind, but that's all. He's neither arrogant nor violent."

At that, Sukuna looked even more incredulous.

I couldn't shake the feeling that he was looking down on me, and it pissed me off.

"Ever more incomprehensible. I am beyond astonishment, beyond words. You...are those Six Eyes merely decoration?"

"Unfortunately for you, I've been using them since birth. I can see Ryomen Sukuna's face perfectly clearly, too."

"Ha. Mere bluster.

The essence of that hungry brat reveals itself only through loss. Kicked, trampled, beaten, berated, his precious things destroyed...the courage to glare back even then is what belongs to him. Eyes that cannot see even that are no different from glass marbles."

The boy I knew as Haruka Itadori certainly grew stronger when facing powerful opponents. The worse the adversity, the more he clung to his enemy with unbelievable growth and ingenuity pushed to its limits.

But that was...

"Would you call him 'pitiful'?

Foolish. When all is said and done, were you Jujutsu Sorcerers not the ones who dragged him into this?"

His crimson eyes looked coldly down at me.

"If you are his teacher, and still intend to keep him alive...then do not bar his way forward."

Meeting those unblinking eyes, I blinked my own blue ones, exposed beneath my lowered blindfold.

"...Forward? Are you saying I shouldn't hinder his growth?"

He-that cursed spirit-didn't answer my question.

"I will not permit you to make him flee the hatred that drives him."

Leaving only those words behind, his expression suddenly vanished like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Yuji's body swayed and toppled to the floor.

The black markings on his face and body disappeared. He seemed to have returned to being my sleeping student, his brow faintly furrowed.

Setting aside the damage, the risk of discovery, and all the other problems for now, I let out a relieved breath. I crossed the wreckage of the room, which looked as though it had hosted a major battle, and approached Yuji.

After all his reckless behavior, he was now sleeping peacefully.

He did exactly what he wanted, then went straight to a nice, comfortable sleep. Could he be any more childish?

With an unusually long sigh, I lay down beside him.

The cheek Sukuna had punched was still hot. With that throbbing, dull ache, I had certainly felt the weight of both older brothers' fists.

"That hurt like hell..."

I lay spread-eagled and gave a few dry laughs.

"I really can't beat the big brothers."

I muttered it quietly.

Haruka Itadori's point of view

Clang, clang. Bang, bang. Rattle, rattle, rattle.

A noise far more violent than an alarm clock forcibly woke me, prying my heavy eyelids open.

"Yuji...isn't here."

No complaints or compliments greeted me when I woke, so I immediately knew my other half was absent. Feeling a little lonely at that, I tilted my head.

"...,..."

For an instant, I held my breath.

Even too sleepy to think, I knew what the thing beside my head was.

"I see."

My slightly widened eyes gradually drooped shut again.

It felt as though something had dropped heavily into the pit of my stomach. I accepted that fact naturally.

"You're...not here anymore."

Murmuring those words, I lowered my eyelids to go back to sleep.

Right now, I just wanted to sleep a little longer. I wanted to immerse myself alone in those memories that had already faded away.

Whether it's that racket, Yuji's voice, or Gojo-sensei's voice...I don't want to hear any of it right now.

After a while, I would probably be able to go back to my usual self. I would probably be able to be properly kind again.

Making those excuses, I painted the lost weeks in my dreams.

One month earlier.

After the hot pot party, Gojo-sensei told me, "I've got a mission ready for you!" The very next day, I was shoved into a car and driven somewhere. He had clearly said it would be a week later, yet he dragged me out the next day. Just how much did he love working?

"...So sleepy. Hah."

Transported in the car, I was utterly limp, and in the end, a stunned assistant supervisor had to prop me up and drag me to the supposed meeting place. Apparently, Gojo-sensei had specifically instructed him to handle me that roughly.

The meeting place was beneath a roadside tree in front of the station, the sort of spot that made you think of meeting someone for a date. There happened to be a brick flower bed there, and I was unceremoniously dumped onto it to lie down.

It was broad daylight.

Passersby could see me, but I simply couldn't beat the afternoon drowsiness.

Dozing groggily, I decided I would sleep once whoever I was waiting for arrived.

Sunlight poured down. A breeze blew now and then. The ground had warmed beneath my body.

Ah...I'm almost in the perfect position.

With that thought, I curled up.

"...Are you Yuji Itadori?"

Someone abruptly grabbed my shoulder, bringing a very serious face close to stare at me.

I blinked slowly a few times, then tilted my head. "?"

"Nope."

When I answered, he froze for several seconds with a vacant expression. Then his face visibly turned bright red.

"Huh, seriously!?"

"Seriously."

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing!!"

He flailed about in a panic on the spot, looking thoroughly pitiful, his face crimson.

"Mistaking someone for someone else is the worst...I even struck a cool pose. Are you kidding me? Ugh...Now I just look like an embarrassing idiot..."

He looked so completely crushed that even I felt compelled to offer some comfort.

"Um...I'm not Yuji, but I am Haruka Itadori. Yuji's twin brother."

When I introduced myself, his head shot up. "Oh," he said.

Then he shrank in on himself again, as though about to wilt completely.

"Aaaaaaah. I got the name wrong...I can't do this on our first meeting. It's over.

I'm going back to Kyoto Jujutsu High to start all over again!!"

Oh...another deeply eccentric person had shown up.

He looked ready to dig a hole and bury his head in it, which put me off a little.

"Are you the person I'm doing the mission with?"

For now, I asked the most important question.

"Oh, embarrassing as it is, yes.

I'm Kai Sagami, a first-year at Kyoto Jujutsu High."

"?"

"Oh, you haven't heard of me, huh?

Makes sense. A guy like me who's worse than an ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerer-probably even my classmates haven't heard of me."

He had misinterpreted things in another strange direction.

Pressing my face firmly against the bricks, which were warm as underfloor heating, I fought my final battle against sleep.

"...Doesn't matter. I have a Heavenly Restriction...So tired..."

"Huh? Wait. Did you fall asleep? You fell asleep in a situation like this!?"

"Zzz."

"No way, you really fell asleep."

And so, I caused Sagami a huge amount of trouble right from our very first mission. If it had been Yuji, I could have leaned on him as much as I wanted without a second thought... but Sagami, who fell well short of Yuji in both build and strength, had to practically drag me all the way to the inn.

"Seriously, um... I'm sorry..."

Apparently, the Cursed Spirits we were supposed to deal with on the mission had attacked at just the right time, and he had handled all of them on his own, too.

I had done nothing. I had just been dead weight for him to haul to the inn.

"It's fine, it's fine. My being a little late was part of the problem, too."

I prostrated myself on the tatami to apologize, while Sagami sat formally in front of me, desperately trying to stop me.

Then he gripped my shoulders and muttered something.

"Still, I didn't know there was a character like this."

"Hm? A character?"

The word felt strangely out of place. I raised an eyebrow and looked up at him, and he immediately changed the subject awkwardly. "Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself."

"You're not a 'Reincarnator' either, are you?"

At those words, I blinked and parroted back, "Re... incarnation." It sounded like a word I had heard somewhere before. I tried to fish it out of the sea of my memories.

"! Don't tell me you're the same as me!? Did some weird god tell you, 'I made a mistake and got you killed,' and then dump you into the world of Jujutsu Kaisen!?"

The emotionally volatile Sagami grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.

My head rocked so violently that I felt as though my insides might shake loose. But more importantly...

"...That rotten old bastard."

With half-lidded eyes, I stared blankly at the ceiling and remembered.

Right. Before I was born as "Haruka Itadori," I had lived as someone else, and I had worked pretty hard at it, too. That bastard had ruined everything with his mistake.

The more I thought about it, the more furious I became, and the light slowly died in my eyes.

(This ridiculously troublesome constitution-all of it was that god's fault. Having Yuji around made it bearable, but still. And I kept getting dragged into one mess after another.)

Seeing me like that, Sagami instead looked as though everything had suddenly clicked.

"Thank goodness~! Having a fellow Transmigrator around makes me feel so much better!!"

"...Well, we are fellow victims of a god, after all."

His earlier gloom vanished completely. He grabbed both my hands and vigorously shook them up and down.

When I pointed that out, he said, "That's about the limit for a hopeless otaku." I didn't really understand, so I let him be. Apparently, the Hindi incident, where communication proved impossible, could happen even between people from the same world.

He grinned and spoke with a charming smile.

"Man~ But you ended up in the protagonist's little-brother role, too, Haruka. Talk about bad luck."

"...Huh?"

I would need him to explain that part in detail.