Mahito Appears

The movie theater was almost empty.

Evil Dead 3 was an old film released long ago, and its poor online reviews meant few people bought tickets.

Junpei Yoshino, who had skipped school to watch the movie, sat near the back and stared impatiently at the three delinquents in the front row.

High schoolers shouldn't skip class to come to the movies!

Though I'm doing the same thing.

The three kept talking in the quiet theater, their phones glowing brightly and ruining the viewing experience.

I can't follow the movie at all!

Stop talking!

Turn your phones off!

Junpei Yoshino closed his eyes, his face full of irritation. They already got beaten up so badly. Why can't they behave?!

And where's that strange guy the monster told me about?

As he looked around in confusion, searching for him.

He suddenly noticed a strange man standing behind the three people he hated, wearing black clothes patterned with a grid and sporting three sections of hair.

A twisted smile spread across Mahito's face. He opened his arms to encompass all three of them and lightly touched the cheek of the delinquent talking on his phone.

"All of you, mind your manners in the theater."

The instant he touched their bodies, the flesh on their faces went out of control and began growing wildly, until they became grotesque, distorted monsters and died.

Having finished, Mahito turned and left the theater.

Junpei Yoshino hurried to the front row and stared in shock at his three dead, distorted classmates.

Can a human really do something like this? And if they can, do they still count as human?

Is this the strange thing that monster was talking about?

His mind raced. Both his own instincts and Araki Itsuki's instructions drove him to follow.

He hurried out of the theater and chased Mahito through the bustling crowd.

He finally found Mahito in a narrow, damp alley crowded with outdoor air-conditioning units.

"Did you do that?"

Mahito turned around in surprise. "You can see me?"

"If I did, what would you do?"

"Were they special to you?"

Junpei remembered those animals picking up disgusting bugs and stuffing them into his mouth with smug grins.

Junpei Yoshino's eyes widened with rage, bloodshot.

How dare you say they were special to me? You've just given me a reason to kill you!

"Could I do the same thing?"

Junpei Yoshino's icy tone surprised Mahito, and an intrigued expression appeared on his face.

Test subjects who come to me and willingly cooperate are pretty rare!

At the underground base in the Sewer.

Junpei Yoshino curiously played with the little human-shaped doll Mahito had given him.

"The opposite of love is indifference. Whoever first said that must have gotten what they deserved and gone to hell by now."

"How could treating someone with malice possibly hurt them less than not wanting anything to do with them?"

"The opposite of love is hate. They deliberately complicate a simple answer, then congratulate themselves for it."

As Mahito listened to Junpei Yoshino's misanthropic remarks, he found them rather to his taste, and his smile grew wider.

"Everyone likes playing those word games. Humans are creatures that can't survive without making all kinds of excuses."

Then he led Junpei Yoshino over to a giant baby. The ugly, obese infant leaned against the sewer wall, its arms thicker than Mahito himself.

"What is this?"

Mahito rested his chin on his stitch-covered hand and explained, "I'm experimenting to see how much I can expand a person."

"The one in your hand was to see how much I could shrink one."

Junpei Yoshino hurriedly pulled out the shriveled toy he held.

"This is a person?!"

Noticing that Junpei Yoshino was only briefly surprised and showed little further reaction, Mahito asked:

"Junpei, are you used to seeing corpses?"

Junpei Yoshino shook his head.

"If this were my mother, I'd lose my mind. I might even hate you, Mr. Mahito."

"But I know how ugly humans are, so I don't expect anything from anyone. Even if someone dies, I won't feel anything."

"Indifference is the ultimate virtue humans should have."

Mahito noted the information Junpei Yoshino had revealed. So his mother is important to him.

An amused smile played on his lips. "You say that, but you actually want revenge."

Junpei Yoshino covered the left side of his forehead, riddled with cigarette burns. "Are you saying I'm contradicting myself?"

Mahito neither agreed nor disagreed. Instead, he asked, "Junpei, do you think people have hearts?"

"Without a heart, people couldn't stay alive."

"People don't have hearts."

Mahito explained his findings. "People have souls, but those aren't hearts. I'm the only one in this world who understands the structure of the soul."

"And I can change a living being's shape simply by touching it."

"Joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure are nothing more than byproducts of the soul's metabolism. Calling that a heart is far too blind, isn't it?"

He stared into Junpei Yoshino's eyes, continuing to feed him his ideas.

"You know, life has neither value nor weight."

"Like water cycling between heaven and earth, life merely cycles between them. You and I are the same, without meaning or value."

"So it doesn't matter what you do. Live however you want."

Finally, he coaxed him gently. "You don't need to be bound by indifference, and you don't need to live by the same rules forever."

"When you're hungry, eat. When you hate, kill!"

Crack!

Mahito crushed the human doll in his hand.

"I affirm you and everything you do."

Junpei Yoshino stared at Mahito in a daze. Those words, that people had no hearts, had saved him.

"Mahito, please help me!"

A triumphant smile appeared on Mahito's lips. He slowly approached Junpei Yoshino, placed both hands on his head, and activated Idle Transfiguration.

Junpei Yoshino had an innate cursed technique, and his total cursed energy had reached the level needed to see cursed spirits. However, his brain was that of an ordinary person, lacking the special structure of a sorcerer's.

That meant his brain needed to be altered with Idle Transfiguration before he could use his cursed technique.

As Mahito modified his brain, a jellyfish-like shikigami was summoned.

"Your cursed technique is poison, Junpei."

Mahito explained as he continued the alterations.

"Your shikigami's tentacles can secrete poison refined from cursed energy. You can adjust both the poison's potency and the shikigami's size. You'll learn that later."

"I can teach you tricks that ordinary sorcerers take ages to master. You'll be able to fight right away."

Mahito had already seen through the boy's utterly empty heart, desperate for praise and recognition. His gentle tone broke through the boy's final defenses.

"Junpei, you're very talented."

Having gained power, Junpei Yoshino walked home alone. He no longer intended to contact Araki Itsuki.

Mahito's recognition and praise had struck the emptiest, most vulnerable part of this pitiful boy's heart.

"Junpei, aren't you forgetting something?"

A familiar voice suddenly came from the roadside. Shock appeared on Junpei Yoshino's face, and he slowly turned.

Araki Itsuki stood beside a railing on the right side of the street, watching him with a faint, ambiguous smile.

"Come with me."

With that, Araki Itsuki turned and walked away.

Junpei Yoshino considered running and considered fighting, but in the end, he obediently followed Araki Itsuki.

In a quiet hotel room.

Araki Itsuki leaned against the white wall, while Junpei Yoshino sat on the clean bed.

"You don't actually think that Mahito is a good guy, do you? Let me tell you what cursed spirits are. They're monsters born from absorbing humans' negative emotions."

"Mahito told you what kind of curse he was born from, didn't he?"

Junpei Yoshino nodded. "Mr. Mahito told me. He's a curse born from humans' hatred and fear of other humans."

"But that's exactly why he accepts me."

Araki Itsuki gave a mocking smile. "You're already calling him Mr. Mahito. That guy's really good at brainwashing people."

"Junpei, does Mahito know about the scars on your face?"

Junpei Yoshino nodded in acknowledgment.

"Then why didn't he remove them for you? You've seen what he can do. He can even change the structure of your brain, let alone those little scars."

Junpei Yoshino wanted to explain, but he realized he had no idea what to say.

If Mr. Mahito really accepts me and really cares about me, why didn't he remove the scars on my forehead?

"Idiot, don't you get it yet? That curse just thinks you're entertaining. He's using you, nothing more."

Junpei Yoshino hurriedly waved his hands. "I just want some power to protect myself. I won't hurt anyone.

"If I killed someone, I'd tarnish my mom's soul!"

"You think you can control how all this turns out?"

Araki Itsuki approached the bed and looked straight into Junpei Yoshino's panicked eyes.

"You told him about your mother, didn't you? If Mahito kills her, will you still be able to keep yourself from hurting anyone?"

"Compared to a curse, you're still far too naive."

Hearing that, Junpei Yoshino hurriedly stood up. If his mother really were killed, there was no way he could stay rational.

Araki Itsuki held up two fingers. "I'm giving you two choices."

"First, I'll heal the scars on your forehead and give you a large sum of money. All you have to do is disappear for a while."

"Second, I'll turn around and leave. You can keep believing Mahito and follow that path all the way into darkness."

Junpei Yoshino stared at Araki Itsuki's raised fingers, deep in thought. Mr. Mahito's gentleness and acceptance stood in stark contrast to Araki Itsuki's violence and domineering manner.

This pitiful, tragic, infuriating boy made his choice.

"I choose the second!"

But to his surprise, Araki Itsuki didn't turn and leave. Instead, he bent forward with a regretful expression and sighed. "Gaining power and recognition made you want even more, huh?"

"Then, as someone utterly stronger than you, I'll pin those desires beneath a mountain!"

Junpei Yoshino hurriedly stood up. "What do you mean?"

Araki Itsuki grinned viciously. "I mean I'm gonna beat you until you pick the first one!"

Then he rushed forward and gave Junpei Yoshino a savage beating.

"Ah!"

"Stop! Stop hitting me!"

"I choose the first!"

A little while later.

Araki Itsuki helped the bruised and swollen Junpei Yoshino up and smiled at his bewildered look. "Feeling better now?"

"I know. Even if Mahito's a bad guy, he still accepted you. Abandoning someone who accepted you just because of a few words from me would've felt pretty rotten."

"But now it's different. You were forced to choose because I threatened you."

Junpei Yoshino stared blankly at Araki Itsuki's handsome face, and tears slowly began to fall.

"Araki... you're a very kind person too!"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"You're making this really awkward!"

Araki Itsuki hurriedly stopped Junpei Yoshino from crying. "Don't cry. I'll treat those cigarette-burn scars now."

Half an hour later.

Junpei Yoshino's delicate, gentle face appeared at the hotel entrance, but a mocking smile curled his lips, as though life were nothing more than a game.

If Itadori and Fushiguro had been there, they would surely have found it familiar.

A light breeze lifted the bangs covering his forehead, revealing the dense cigarette-burn scars. Strangely, he didn't care at all.

"Mahito, let's have some fun."