Mechamaru

Rihito turned his gaze back to Miwa.

Her breathing was a little ragged, but the tip of her sword was remarkably steady.

"Rihito Sato." This time, Miwa called his name in a steadier voice.

"Your opponent right now is me."

Rihito said nothing.

His gaze passed over Miwa, probing deeper into the forest.

That was the area where Itadori and Todo might be.

He wasn't sure when Hanami would appear.

But he knew that if Hanami really came, Itadori and Todo's battle would become the most crucial part of the entire team event.

"Damn it, is a rookie looking down on me? I'm a second-year upperclassman!"

Miwa gritted her teeth, clearly taking his silence the wrong way.

The next second, she pushed off the ground and charged at Rihito with her sword.

Her blade slashed diagonally downward, a little faster than when she had been fighting Kugisaki.

Rihito sidestepped. The wind from the blade brushed his shoulder, making the fabric of his uniform flutter.

Then he raised his right hand and punched the flat of Miwa's blade, knocking it two inches off course.

Miwa didn't retreat.

Using the momentum of the deflection, she twisted her blade and swept it upward in a reverse slash, its tip aimed straight at Rihito's throat.

The angle was tricky, and the strike was fiercer than before.

Rihito had to retreat half a step, watching the tip flash past his face.

Yet Miwa's assault showed no sign of stopping.

Her swordsmanship had a solid foundation. One slash followed another, flowing far more smoothly than during her fight with Kugisaki.

Rihito blocked as he retreated. Fallen leaves crunched beneath his feet, the soft sounds echoing through the quiet woods.

He still hadn't counterattacked once.

It wasn't that he didn't want to. The threat of Hanami hung over his head like a bomb, keeping him from fully concentrating.

"Damn it, fight back!"

Miwa snapped at him, unable to stand his attitude any longer.

He was looking down on her completely.

Meanwhile, gunshots and the clang of a hammer continued in the woods to their right.

Mai glanced their way between dodges, her brows drawing together.

"What is Miwa doing? She still hasn't beaten one rookie?"

Kugisaki's hammer swung at her from the side.

Mai twisted out of the way, spun her revolver half a turn between her fingers, and pulled the trigger with a backhand shot.

The cursed energy bullet skimmed past Kugisaki's shoulder and struck the broken wall behind her, scattering fragments of stone.

"Rihito might be a rookie," Kugisaki said, a knowing smile curling her lips.

"But he's no ordinary rookie. Underestimate him, and you'll pay for it."

Mai frowned without answering.

She tilted her head away from a nail that flew past her ear, let her gaze linger on Rihito for a moment, then looked away.

Kugisaki gave her no chance to keep watching.

Her hammer came down again, and the two resumed their clash.

Miwa hadn't heard what they said.

All her attention was focused on the opponent in front of her.

Rihito had already closed in, driving his right fist toward her side with cursed energy wrapped around it.

With a bang, her blade shook violently. Miwa stumbled back four steps before barely regaining her balance.

Rihito had begun to counterattack.

His strikes weren't particularly fierce, but each carried just enough force to break her rhythm, preventing her from linking her sword attacks together.

Miwa darted backward, instantly opening up the distance.

Her chest heaved, and her fingers had gone slightly white from gripping her sword too hard.

"Where were you looking just now?" Miwa asked, anger edging her voice.

Rihito came back to his senses and returned his gaze to her face.

"Whew..."

When Rihito didn't answer, Miwa took a deep breath and raised her sword in front of her.

She gripped the hilt with both hands, aiming its tip between Rihito's brows.

Her stance changed. Gone was the probing middle guard she had used before; her whole body was taut like a drawn bowstring.

"I'm still a Grade 2 Sorcerer from Kyoto Jujutsu High."

Her strained voice finally cracked, exposing the emotions she had been suppressing for so long.

"You're a rookie who hasn't even been enrolled for half a year. What gives you the right to look down on me?"

Rihito froze for a moment. He was about to explain when Miwa moved.

Her cursed energy drove her foot into the earth, leaving a shallow depression as dead leaves burst out to either side.

Miwa was much faster than before. Her blade gave a shrill whistle as it cut through the air.

Rihito's pupils narrowed slightly.

He raised his arm to block. His arm collided with the back of her blade, and the clash of cursed energy sent a ring of air bursting out between them.

That slash carried more force than all her previous attacks combined, but it still failed to injure Rihito.

The instant her blade bounced away, Rihito closed in and drove his cursed energy-wrapped right fist toward Miwa's side.

Miwa hurriedly brought her sword back to guard, and the impact made its blade shudder violently.

She stumbled back four steps before barely regaining her balance. Her breathing was visibly out of control now.

"What...? How is this happening...?"

Miwa stared at Rihito, stunned for a moment.

Wind passed through the treetops, lifting dead leaves from the ground and sending them swirling between the two.

Rihito was about to speak when a metallic glint suddenly flashed from the bushes behind Miwa.

His gaze sharpened.

Then a faint, rhythmic scraping of mechanical joints came from deep within the bushes.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Miwa didn't turn around, but her fingers tightened slightly around her sword.

A tall figure emerged from the depths of the forest.

His metal joints made faint scraping sounds as he moved. Sunlight fell across his torso, reflecting off his outer shell in cold white patches.

It was Mechamaru!

Mechamaru's gaze swept over Miwa, then Rihito, before finally turning toward Kugisaki and Mai's fight on the right.

"Miwa." Mechamaru's synthesized voice was flat. "After all this time, you still haven't beaten him."

The instant Miwa turned and saw Mechamaru, her body instinctively relaxed, only to tense up again.

"I can..." She stopped halfway through.

She knew herself that those words weren't convincing at all.

Mechamaru said nothing more.

He walked to Miwa's side and faced Rihito alongside her, Rihito's standing figure reflected in his metal eyes.

"We'll deal with this rookie first, then support Mai." Mechamaru spoke as though he were reciting a set of data.

"That's the most efficient approach."

Miwa fell silent for a moment, then tightened her grip on her sword again.

"Understood."

Rihito looked at the additional opponent before him and frowned slightly.

He knew Mechamaru's strength in the original story very well.

The immense cursed energy granted by his heavenly restriction, combined with his mechanical body's ability to attack from every angle, put him a level above Miwa.

If they worked together, with Miwa keeping him occupied head-on and Mechamaru providing midrange covering fire, holding back any longer would be genuinely dangerous.

"Two against one?" Rihito murmured. It was hard to tell whether he was talking to himself or asking them.

Miwa didn't answer.

Mechamaru had already raised his right hand. His palm detached at the wrist, revealing the dark opening of a cannon barrel.

Rihito took a deep breath.

He abruptly drew his cursed energy perception into its tightest focus, shrinking its range from the entire forest to a fifty-meter radius.

That act pushed his thoughts of Itadori and Hanami deep down.

He slid his right foot back half an inch, lowered his center of gravity, and held his fists staggered before him.

The cursed energy over his fists shifted from vivid blue to a darker shade.

In the distance, a speck of orange-red light appeared deep inside Mechamaru's cannon barrel.

Miwa raised her sword again.

Rihito's gaze sharpened.

Come on!