Igarashi Amayo set the fried meatballs in his hand down across from Toji Fushiguro, plopped into a seat, and rubbed his neck. With a dead-fish stare, he said, "Too noisy. I came out for a bite."
"I'm so jealous, Mr. Tycoon," Toji Fushiguro said enviously, propping his head on his hand as he looked at Igarashi Amaha.
"I'll give you 100 yen to fetch me a cup of tea. Help you recoup your losses. How about it?" Igarashi Amaha raised his eyebrows toward the television announcing the results.
Toji Fushiguro smiled. "I think you'd be better off buying painkillers. Getting a hole punched through your chest hurts quite a bit, after all."
Igarashi Amayo picked up a meatball with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. "Looks like your Heavenly Restriction didn't forget to strengthen your mouth," he said indistinctly.
With that, he leaned back against his chair, a smile curling his lips as he said with a hint of mystery, "Let's hope your body is as tough as your mouth."
"What do you mean?" Toji Fushiguro raised his eyebrows.
"Well, who knows? A hole is better than losing half your body. Heh." With that, Igarashi Amayo rose and headed toward the tea station.
Toji Fushiguro frowned, rising as he asked, "Are you cursing me?"
"Of course not."
The two tall figures got up and headed toward the tea station together.
Bang!
Toji Fushiguro's attention was entirely on what Igarashi Amaha had just said, and he walked straight into a middle-aged man carrying a bowl of noodles, knocking him down.
"Hey, you..." Just as the man was about to say something, Toji Fushiguro crouched in front of him and gave him a look. The immense pressure instantly frightened him, and he swallowed every word of the scolding he had been about to deliver.
Returning with his tea, Igarashi Amaha saw the scene and chuckled. "What's this? The monkey king picking on a little monkey?"
"Heh." Toji Fushiguro glanced at Igarashi Amaha's teasing face, said nothing, and walked straight toward the tea station.
The two returned to their seats one after the other, eating and chatting on and off.
A few minutes later, with both of them fed and watered, Igarashi Amaha got up, stretched, and lit a cigarette. He asked Toji Fushiguro pointedly, "What do you think of the name Megumi Igarashi?"
Toji Fushiguro frowned again. "...Who?"
Why does this guy keep saying weird things?
"Pretty good, right? I think so too." With that, Igarashi Amaha vanished from the spot in a blur.
He left behind a thoroughly bewildered Toji Fushiguro.
"What the hell? Why does this brat keep saying things that make no sense? And Megumi... who was that again?"
"Forget it. Time to check things out over there." Somewhat confused, Toji Fushiguro tapped his head, got up, and headed outside.
"Sir, the person who was with you hasn't paid yet. Could you please settle his bill?"
A man stopped Toji Fushiguro as he spoke.
"Huh?" Toji Fushiguro's face was full of question marks. "Are you sure?"
The man shuddered. "Y-yes. He really didn't pay, and he told me whichever of you left last would pay."
"That bastard." Toji Fushiguro cursed under his breath, pulled a few crumpled bills from his pocket, and handed them to the owner. Then he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked out, seething with resentment.
At noon, under bright sunshine, Igarashi Amaha stood atop a high-rise, gazing at Satoru Gojo's group dozens of kilometers away.
They had just run out of the school, and a masked man with the Clone Cursed Technique was serving as an NPC for Satoru Gojo to farm experience.
"Is the interesting part finally about to begin? Satoru Gojo, Toji Fushiguro, Reverse Cursed Technique, Hollow Purple, and... throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one... So cool~ Heh."
Igarashi Amaha withdrew his gaze from Satoru Gojo, extended a finger, and drew a straight horizontal bar in the air.
"The world's balance."
Then he lit a small flame on the left side of the bar. In that instant, the flame seemed to acquire gravity, weighing the bar down until it began to tilt like a scale.
"Satoru Gojo broke the balance of the scales, changing the rules and causing cursed spirits to proliferate."
Next, he lit an even brighter flame on the raised side. The tilted line was instantly pulled back, even going beyond its original position.
"Ryomen Sukuna, the strongest of a thousand years ago, the opposing side's greatest fighting force. But he was too powerful, tipping the scales again."
Looking at the slightly tilted bar before him, an imperceptible smile curled Igarashi Amaha's lips. Then he turned the bar around, exposing its reverse side, and lit another spark in the air. The next second, as though pulled by something, two lines extended from the bar's ends and connected to the newly appeared flame. A flat triangle emerged before Igarashi Amaha.
"Brain-kun Kenjaku, the conspiracy theory in a world of force, the instigator of everything, a vital part of the plot. Body Swapping, Cursed Technique Extraction... Quite something."
The bar, which had originally been only slightly uneven, began trembling violently when it connected to the third flame. It was extremely unstable, as though it might collapse at any moment.
"Scales, balance, framework, collapse. What if I said I could make you a little more three-dimensional?"
Igarashi Amaha lit another flame directly above the triangle, and the trembling flat triangle instantly settled down.
Hum!
The uppermost flame flickered, producing three rays of light that extended toward the three corners below, connecting, merging, stabilizing.
A three-dimensional triangle floated peacefully in the air, undisturbed, still as a mountain, flowing as a river.
Igarashi Amaha pulled the three-dimensional triangle toward him and spun it a few times. But no matter how he turned it, it always returned to its original configuration, with the final flame forever at the top, directing the three sides below.
"What's this supposed to be? The god... of a new world?" Igarashi Amaha laughed a little awkwardly. Then his expression turned playful, and he reached toward the very top of the three-dimensional triangle. Two fingers firmly grasped the flame, and he gave it a slight tug. The next second-
Bang!
The three-dimensional triangle instantly collapsed into a scattering of colored glass. Watching the lingering glimmers of fire in the air, Igarashi Amaha said, "Unfortunately, I don't really like your plot. Sorry, that's just my nature. Unrestrained. Joining you is honestly a little tiring. I'll do whatever the hell makes me happy. Let's see which of you has better luck. Heh."
Please send anything you can. I'd be endlessly grateful.