As his words fell, the chilling killing intent around Toji dissipated.
He lowered his eyes, his gaze settling on the boy's dust-stained school uniform, and murmured:
"Not Zenin, huh... Yogada."
The breath he had held for over a decade finally eased out.
But that relief lasted less than three seconds.
Toji abruptly looked up, his brows knotting together. The confusion in his eyes vanished completely, leaving only undisguised astonishment:
"Wait, that ain't right! What did you say your surname was?"
Megumi Fushiguro froze at the question, instinctively drawing his neck back as he stammered out the answer again:
"Gu... Gu Yue."
Toji: ＜(º0º)＞
"What the hell?!"
Toji laughed in anger, his knuckles cracking around Playful Cloud as a vein in his forehead throbbed twice.
Guyue Qingxiao.
You sure are fucking something!
His anger rose into his throat, but when he looked down at the boy before him again, he forcibly swallowed it back.
Megumi Fushiguro stood there with his back straight, even cornered against a wall and covered in injuries. His use of his cursed technique barely passed muster, too.
... He really did put his heart into it.
Toji's Adam's apple bobbed, and the anger inside him slowly drained away.
Forget it.
What right did an irresponsible dead man like him have to say anything?
The kid was alive and well and hadn't gone astray. That mattered more than anything.
Fushiguro or Gu Yue, a surname was just a label in the end.
He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, only calm remained.
The body summoned through the séance would not last much longer. If he dragged this out, his consciousness would dissipate.
He had no regrets left. Tightening his grip on Playful Cloud, he thrust it toward his own temple without hesitation.
Standing across from