A week later.
Mukuro and Suguru finally headed back to Tokyo.
Suguru stayed behind a little longer to find a good place near the school for Mimiko and Nanako. Because of that, he hadn't returned to Jujutsu High yet.
Mukuro, on the other hand, went straight to Masamichi's office after receiving a call.
"About half a month ago, you and Suguru carried out a mission together. But despite all this time, the school still hasn't received any report or feedback from that village."
Mukuro had barely sat down before Masamichi spoke. He also slid a report across the table for him.
Inside, it clearly stated that when the school sent people to check, the village had no survivors left.
Bodies filled the place. It looked like something terrifying had torn through it.
There were no traces of cursed energy, so it wasn't caused by a curse. They then shifted the theory toward large wild animals.
But the strange part was that no animal blood or tracks were found. And in the surrounding mountains, there were no creatures capable of that level of destruction.
"What a bunch of pitiful worms."
Mukuro just skimmed the report and tossed it back on the desk with a sigh.
"You did it, didn't you? And why?"
Masamichi asked directly. Mukuro's tone made him convinced of his guess.
Only one student in the entire school had the ability to control creatures that could slaughter a village so thoroughly.
And among the higher-ups, only Masamichi knew what Mukuro truly was capable of.
"You know where I came from, right? Think about it. In a rotten little village like that… what do you think happens when a kid is born with jujutsu talent? I'm strong. Even without cursed energy, the Zenin clan couldn't touch me. But those girls weren't like me. Without someone to help them, they would've died."
Mukuro didn't admit it. He didn't deny it either.
He simply explained the spark that started everything.
"There were better choices. That was over a hundred lives…"
From Mukuro's words alone, Masamichi already knew the answer.
No anger. No reprimand. He simply rubbed his forehead, blank, as though his brain had stopped processing.
"If you want me to choose between ignorant monkeys and innocent lives, then this is my choice."
Protecting the weak? Sure. But only when the weak understood their own place instead of acting like they were standing above the one protecting them.
"…Just try not to do this again. This time you got away with it because no one knows the full extent of your abilities, but if it keeps happening, someone will catch on eventually."
Masamichi sighed deeply.
Mukuro's view of right and wrong had been his headache since the day they met. A year of watching him only made that clearer.
Mukuro could be brutal, but he never hurt the innocent. Still, killing civilians should never be the first choice. Leave it to the police if possible.
They were sorcerers, after all.
"Don't worry, Teacher. I know what I'm doing."
Mukuro stood up, ready to leave.
"Hold on!"
Masamichi's phone rang suddenly. He stopped Mukuro before he reached the door.
"A curtain appeared in the city for no reason. Someone outside is shouting your name."
Masamichi frowned hard after finishing the call. It was obvious this was aimed at Mukuro.
"No big deal. I'll go take care of it."
"Be careful."
Mukuro waved a hand casually and headed out with the assistant manager.
* * *
Half an hour later.
"So you're the one calling for me?"
By the time Mukuro arrived, Jujutsu High staff and the police had already sealed off the area around the curtain.
He walked toward a man who matched the description from the call.
"Huh? I don't even know you. Some guy just told me, 'If you want the people inside saved, tell Mukuro Fushiguro to come.' That's all."
Faced with the scale of the response, the man panicked and dumped everything he knew.
"The same guy as last time…?"
Mukuro had already formed a rough guess.
Among the three active special grade sorcerers in Japan, he was the one with the least public information. Someone was probing him.
"Fushiguro-san, this…"
The assistant manager reached out and pressed a hand against the curtain. It was as solid as a wall.
"No problem. Give me a few minutes."
Mukuro ignored the curtain and walked straight through it.
* * *
Inside.
"Someone came in!"
The moment Mukuro crossed the boundary, he saw people packed tightly together, but there was no curse in sight.
Bang!
A frog-faced curse with four eyes suddenly sprang from the crowd, killing dozens in a blink.
Those who couldn't see curses screamed and scattered in panic. Chaos erupted instantly.
"Sleep."
With a sweep of his illusion technique, everyone collapsed where they stood.
Even the curse froze in shock, its eyes blank as it stared at Mukuro.
"That face… Sukuna's finger?"
The next second, Mukuro's trident pierced its skull.
A special grade curse died without lasting a single exchange.
Above them, the curtain lifted.
"A vessel… so someone fed him Sukuna's finger. Using this to probe me is a bit insulting."
He looked at the corpse still hanging off the trident, its form not yet dissolved. Whoever this was had ingested one of Sukuna's fingers.
But the mastermind was nowhere to be found.
"Fushiguro-san! What?!"
The assistant manager ran over, stunned.
From the time Mukuro entered the curtain until the mission ended, not even a minute had passed.
"He probably had a Sukuna finger in him. Handle the body. These people are only asleep. They'll wake up in a few minutes."
Mukuro dropped the corpse, shoved both hands into his pockets, and walked away.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a house not far from the scene.
"So that's the rumored body that traded away all cursed energy for pure physical talent?"
A man with stitches across his head, looking to be in his fifties, muttered to himself.
The curtain had been designed to block all living creatures. And Mukuro walked in like it was open air.
"And that… creation ability out of thin air. Plus knocking out every person at once…"
He touched his chin in thought.
He hadn't expected a single Sukuna finger to reveal anything useful. He only thought that since the finger was stored at Jujutsu High, he might as well use it fully.
Yet he discovered an ability he had never even heard of.
"Interesting. Very interesting."
Satoru Gojo, Mukuro Fushiguro, Suguru Geto and Yuki Tsukumo… the jujutsu world was entering a new peak era.
And with it… could the return of the King of Curses be far behind?
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