Cursed Technique

"Nanako."

After watching her feed him Sukuna's Finger, Mimiko tugged at her, ready to leave. "Let's go!"

Just then.

Jogo appeared beside them in a flash and demanded coldly, "You two..."

"How many fingers did you feed him?!!"

Meanwhile, Toji Fushiguro slowly emerged from a mass of flames.

His entire body was charred black.

He staggered toward Megumi Fushiguro.

Each step left a black footprint, with bits of human tissue stuck to it.

Only when...

He was almost within reach did he stop and ask in a hoarse voice, "Your surname's Fushiguro?"

Apparently.

He still retained some awareness and had heard what Kaneki had just said.

"Yeah."

Megumi Fushiguro answered.

"That's good, then." A faint smile appeared on Toji's charred face.

With that.

He toppled forward and fell to the ground.

At the sight.

Naobito Zenin grinned.

Ken Kaneki had originally intended to tell them to leave Megumi Fushiguro for now.

He hadn't expected...

That before he could say anything.

They would split up on their own.

Nanami and Maki went to clear out the transfigured humans in the station, while Naobito Zenin went to find Shoko Ieiri for treatment.

As for...

Megumi Fushiguro.

He wanted to rest here for a while before deciding where to go.

Hearing this, Ken Kaneki smiled. Even heaven's on my side.

22:51

Shibuya tollbooth.

Dressed in a white lab coat, Shoko Ieiri leaned against the railing and smoked.

"By the way..."

Principal Masamichi Yaga watched her smoking and asked in confusion, "Didn't you quit?"

Shoko lowered her head slightly. "I just... remembered a few things from my school days."

Just as she was about to put out her cigarette.

A gentle voice asked from behind her, "Could I have one?"

"Miss Shoko."

"It's you?!"

Ken Kaneki still wore a black shirt, but Yaga immediately recognized his distinctive face and white hair.

"Nice to meet you," Ken Kaneki greeted him with a smile. "Principal Yaga."

"As for my situation."

"I assume Shinji has already told you everything?"

"He has."

Yaga looked at him and murmured, "Someone who can see the future."

Shoko took a cigarette from her pocket, handed it to Kaneki, and lit it for him.

"Thank you."

Kaneki took a deep drag and slowly exhaled. "Miss Shoko."

"Hmm?"

Shoko looked at him.

Looking out at the deserted street, Kaneki asked, "Can you make someone's severed limbs grow back?"

Shoko fell silent for a moment, then answered in her usual languid tone, "No, I can't."

"I can only repair existing damaged tissue. I can't reconstruct a whole body from scratch."

Reverse Cursed Technique.

It converted negative energy into positive energy, allowing the user to heal flesh and regenerate muscles, bones, and other organs.

But.

Healing oneself and healing others were two completely different things.

Healing oneself was easy.

Healing others was far more difficult.

First, the user had to be able to output Reverse Cursed Technique.

That alone was something only a handful of sorcerers could manage, which was why most sorcerers couldn't heal others even after learning Reverse Cursed Technique.

Another thing.

Healing oneself.

Was far more effective than healing others.

Generally, when using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal someone else, the healing efficiency was less than half what it would be when healing oneself.

Moreover.

Shoko's Reverse Cursed Technique wasn't as powerful as Satoru Gojo's or Sukuna's.

If Shoko herself lost an arm, she could grow a new one.

But.

When treating someone else.

She couldn't regenerate their severed arm.

In the original story, she hadn't been able to regenerate the severed limbs of either Toge Inumaki or the Angel, Hana Kurusu.

"This complicates things."

Kaneki frowned and immediately took out the Communication Puppet. "Fushiguro, have you summoned Mahoraga?"

The moment he finished speaking.

The entire ground shook as though an earthquake had struck.

That was the commotion caused by Sukuna and Jogo's fight.

"Furube, yurayura."

Fushiguro didn't answer, but the Furube incantation for summoning the Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga rang out from the Communication Puppet.

"Quick!"

Kaneki's expression changed, and the moment he heard the incantation, he shouted, "Hide in your shadow!"

Then.

He hurriedly added, "Stall for a bit. Someone will save you. Once things are over there, come straight to Shoko and find me!"

After that.

Not another sound came from the other end. It was utterly silent.

Kaneki asked tentatively, "Still there?"

However.

There was no response.

Either someone had destroyed the Communication Puppet, or Megumi Fushiguro couldn't use it after entering his shadow.

Fortunately.

He had told Fushiguro where he was beforehand. Hopefully, Fushiguro had listened and hidden in his shadow.

"Is it a serious problem?"

Shoko asked.

"Not too bad."

After thinking for a moment, Kaneki came up with a solution and asked, "If someone only lost a chunk of flesh, could you make the missing flesh grow back?"

"That wouldn't be a problem."

Shoko nodded.

She could still manage to regrow a missing chunk of flesh.

Then.

Shoko asked, "Does this have something to do with your cursed technique?"

"Yeah."

Kaneki nodded, took a deep drag, then put out his cigarette and slowly exhaled.

Amid the drifting smoke.

Ken Kaneki's gaze grew resolute.

Shoko lit another cigarette and asked him with it between her lips, "Want another?"

"No."

Kaneki raised a hand to decline.

"So this is where you are..."

Two figures appeared out of thin air ahead of them. Holding the unconscious Fushiguro, Itadori stood on the ground below and sneered, "The brat who can see the future."

No!

This wasn't Itadori.

Masamichi Yaga immediately realized that the person before him wasn't Yuji Itadori.

It was.

The King of Curses.

-Ryomen Sukuna!

At those words.

A faint smile appeared on Kaneki's face.

Looking at the Yuji Itadori before him, so familiar yet so unfamiliar, he said in an utterly calm voice, "Itadori, it's time to wake up."

As his words fell.

The markings on Itadori's face began to fade.

Sukuna's smile froze.

After setting Fushiguro down, he abruptly vanished before the three of them and returned to the battlefield.

Rather than teach Ken Kaneki a lesson.

He had to make Itadori savor his suffering!

Kaneki silently apologized.

Then he leaped off the pedestrian bridge and landed beside Megumi Fushiguro.

Hearing the noise.

Megumi Fushiguro still showed a faint reaction.

"Not completely unconscious?" Kaneki murmured. "Looks like..."

"You listened and hid in your shadow."

Seeing his condition.

Ken Kaneki roughly pieced together what had happened.

Clearly.

Unlike in the original story, Megumi Fushiguro hadn't been beaten to the brink of death by Mahoraga first. Instead, he had immediately hidden in his shadow.

As for Haruta.

Mahoraga had probably killed him.

After killing Haruta, Mahoraga had entered the shadow to kill Megumi Fushiguro, who had fled back into the real world.

After being severely wounded, he had been saved by Sukuna.

"Get some sleep."

As he spoke, Kaneki struck Fushiguro's neck with a knife-hand chop. "Sorry..."

"What are you doing?!"

Yaga immediately demanded.

Kaneki didn't answer. Grabbing Fushiguro by the collar, he jumped back onto the pedestrian bridge with him.

"My cursed technique."

"Lets me temporarily acquire a sorcerer's cursed technique by eating their body tissue. The more I eat, the longer I can keep their technique."

As he spoke.

Kaneki paused briefly.

Looking at Shoko, he pointed to his own brain and said, "I need to eat enough for the cursed technique to become engraved in my brain."

"So."

"Sorry for the trouble, Miss Shoko. I'll leave the rest to you."

With that said.

A sharp blade glinting with cold light slid from his sleeve into Ken Kaneki's hand.

Beside him, Yaga froze, speechless.

"All right."

As a doctor, Shoko immediately nodded in agreement.

She was used to seeing life and death.

She barely reacted to this.

Then Ken Kaneki sliced off a piece and ate it, then another, as though he were eating lamb hot pot.

The more he ate.

The blacker the whites of his eyes became, and the redder his pupils grew.

Until.

They looked just like the Kakugan in the manga he had drawn.