It's okay

Gray mist spread outward from Rihito.

Like the last thin film of water left on a beach after the tide receded, it silently covered the floor and the scattered fragments of bone spikes.

Nanami stood at the doorway, the Cursed Tool in his right hand unconsciously lowering a little.

He watched the mist pour out from beneath Rihito's feet, then stop.

It stopped less than half a meter in front of Kugisaki and Fushiguro.

As though measured with an invisible ruler, the edge of the mist traced a precise arc, keeping the three of them safely outside the domain and enclosing Tanaka alone.

"...He reined it in." Nanami's voice was so low that he could barely hear it himself.

Tanaka stood in the center of the mist.

His right arm, twice as thick as his left, was still extended in a thrust. Five bone spikes protruded from his knuckles, their tips aimed squarely between Rihito's eyebrows.

But his movement stopped abruptly.

His eye, twice its normal size, darted around wildly. On the human half of his face, his cracked lips trembled as though he were trying to shout something.

Frost began to spread like a thin veil.

It crept from his ankles to his calves, from his knees to his thighs. Every inch of his body it covered became utterly still.

"Tanaka," Rihito said.

His voice was quiet, but every syllable reached everyone in the abandoned laboratory clearly.

"That time in PE, when you fell, I didn't help you up."

Tanaka's human eye stopped moving.

"I actually saw you."

Rihito's voice was flat, as though he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"My head was a mess that day, full of all sorts of nonsense. The people around you were laughing because you'd fallen. I saw you, but all I thought was, 'What does something so trivial have to do with me?'"

He paused, then continued:

"When Kaori confessed to me, I thought the same thing."

The frost had already reached Tanaka's chest.

The wild movement in his oversized eye gave way to something murky, as though he understood Rihito's words, yet also as though he didn't.

"When I said, 'I'm not planning to date anyone right now,' it wasn't because I really didn't want to. I just thought it didn't matter. I thought dating in this world was meaningless, that I'd be better off spending that time figuring out how to stay alive."

As he spoke, Rihito took a step forward.

"But I never considered that, to her, it was her whole world."

"Having a confession rejected, falling with no one to help you up-those things I considered 'unimportant' were real moments in someone else's life. And I didn't give them even a single moment of mine."

He raised his right hand, held his palm toward Tanaka's chest, and gently pressed it against him.

"Tanaka, I'm sorry. I should have helped you up back then."

The lips on the left half of Tanaka's face began to tremble violently.

Something welled up in his clouded eye.

Idle Transfiguration had long since destroyed his tear ducts, but something still tried to spill from his eye.

His lips opened and closed, yet no sound came out.

But Rihito understood.

"...It's okay."

Tanaka's left eye slowly closed.

A second later, the frost spread over the top of his head.

Nanami was the first to move when the domain dissipated.

He walked over to Rihito, glanced at the completely frozen body on the floor, then looked away.

"Can you still move?"

"Yes." Rihito withdrew his right hand from Tanaka's chest.

The instant his fingertips left the ice, an exceptionally soft, delicate crack came from it, as though something had finally let go.

He walked past Nanami toward Kugisaki and Fushiguro.

Kugisaki sat on the floor with her back against the wall. The red marks on her neck from being strangled were already beginning to bruise.

She watched Rihito approach, her lips moving as though she wanted to say something. In the end, she merely held out her hand.

"...Thanks," Kugisaki said.

Her voice was still hoarse from coughing, but her tone was no different from usual.

Rihito shook his head. "I'm the one who should be thanking you. If it hadn't been for that nail, I'd probably be dead."

Kugisaki froze for a moment, then turned her head away and tucked the nail back into the leather pouch at her waist. "...No need to thank me. I was going to attack him anyway."

Fushiguro leaned against the opposite wall, both hands braced on his knees, his breathing still uneven.

When he saw Rihito approaching, he pushed hard against his knees and straightened up.

"I'm fine."

What a tsundere. Is he embarrassed even to have someone help him up? Rihito silently quipped as he watched Fushiguro force himself upright despite his discomfort.

He took the pain-relief spray from his pocket and tossed it to Fushiguro.

"Fushiguro, use this. It works pretty well."

Fushiguro stared at the spray in his hand for a moment, then lowered his head, his thoughts unreadable.

Just then, Nanami's voice came from behind them.

"Everyone, let's go. There's nothing left to see in this room."

Before leaving, Rihito glanced back.

Beneath the ice, Tanaka's body was slowly turning into grayish-white powder. Starting at his toes, it trickled down like a sand sculpture that, forgotten for far too long, had finally met the wind.

Then he turned and left.

The air in the abandoned corridor was colder than when they had arrived.

Nanami walked at the front, Kugisaki and Fushiguro in the middle, and Rihito brought up the rear.

After about twenty steps, Nanami suddenly stopped.

"Rihito, put everything that just happened in your report when we get back."

"...Everything?" Rihito asked.

Nanami fell silent for a moment. "Report the laboratory's contents accurately. As for the rest, decide for yourself."

Rihito fell silent.

A sorcerer's Cursed Technique was their greatest secret, let alone a domain kept as a trump card.

If he reported it just like that, it would undoubtedly draw the covetous attention of Jujutsu High's higher-ups.

That would put Rihito at a serious disadvantage while he was still developing.

Besides, having read the original story, Rihito knew exactly what sort of people Jujutsu High's higher-ups were.

"Mission complete. Time for a nice, long rest when we get back." Kugisaki stretched, her eyes full of anticipation at returning to Jujutsu High.

"Forget it. The Goodwill Event starts in two months. Gojo-sensei isn't

going to let us rest. He might even double our training."

"Ah-God, how did I forget about that?!" Kugisaki wailed, the lovely dream she'd just imagined shattering in an instant.

The corridor fell silent again.

The laboratory's iron door slowly closed behind them, shutting away the grayish-white glow and the softly falling bone dust.

Their footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

In the deepest part of the passage, a figure covered in stitches slowly emerged from the shadows.

Mahito tilted his head, gazing in the direction where the four had disappeared.

On his stitch-covered face, the corners of his mouth slowly spread into a grin.

"He can even rein in his domain now, huh-"

He covered his face with both hands, twisted laughter seeping between his fingers.

"Heh heh heh heh...Rihito-chan, you're getting more and more interesting."