Suguru's eyes widened as he stared in disbelief at the two girls confined in the cell.
A moment later, he rubbed his forehead, a slight headache rising.
"What is going on here?"
He tried to keep his tone calm.
"What is going on?"
The middle-aged man behind him stepped forward.
"These two are the culprits behind the strange incidents that keep happening in the village."
He spoke as if it were common sense.
No.
Suguru refuted him internally but said nothing aloud due to the principle of Jujutsu secrecy.
"These two brats are insane. They keep spouting nonsense and used some strange power to attack the villagers..."
The middle-aged man grew more and more agitated, as though the two in the cell weren't just girls, but heinous criminals.
No.
Suguru continued denying the man's words in his heart.
"It wasn't us! It was clearly them—"
"Shut up, you monsters!"
The injured girl tried to argue, but a nearby fat woman harshly cut her off.
Hearing her voice, Suguru opened his eyes and looked at the girl inside.
The two girls were huddled together in the cage, trembling, their eyes filled with fear and helplessness.
A powerful emotion surged within Suguru. He couldn't comprehend why the villagers would torment these two girls like this.
One of the oil lamps in the room, the one near the door, flickered erratically, disturbed by the wind seeping through the door crack.
The unsteady light seemed like it could go out at any moment.
And with it, Suguru's heart wavered as well.
His perception of Jujutsu Sorcerers and non-Jujutsu Sorcerers was constantly shifting.
He slowly stepped closer to the cage, wanting to get a clearer look.
As he neared, the girls trembled even harder, and he could hear their faint sobbing.
Suguru's brow furrowed. A stab of pain and rage bloomed in his chest.
By the time he turned around again, he had already recovered his smile.
"You two, step outside with me for a moment."
The middle-aged man and the fat woman, hearing this, led Suguru out of the cell.
Suguru's hand trembled slightly, as though he were on the verge of making a decision.
Although his heart hadn't been shaken as deeply as in the original timeline, thanks to Eichi's intervention, the crushing weight of the recent missions had pushed him to his limit.
The Righteous Path he had clung to was barely restraining him.
"Do you want to vent?"
Eichi's voice came from behind.
Suguru turned to look. For some reason, hearing that voice brought him a strange sense of relief.
"Why are you here?"
He asked softly.
"I heard there were Curse Users attacking villagers nearby, so I dropped by to check. And well..."
Eichi glanced toward the cell.
"You saw it too."
He shrugged.
"What are you going to do?"
Suguru asked after a brief silence. His eyes held a deep, burning rage.
It looked as if that fire might consume the entire village at any moment.
At the same time, doubt rose in his heart.
Why hadn't Eichi, who clearly arrived earlier, rescued the two girls?
"What do you want to do?"
Eichi responded with a question of his own.
...
'I want to kill them all.'
Suguru said nothing, the words echoing only in his heart.
"Let it out."
Eichi gently placed a hand on Suguru's shoulder.
"The police will be here in an hour. Until then, do whatever you want. Just don't kill anyone. They still have to live the rest of their lives in prison, repenting for what they've done."
Suguru looked at Eichi in shock.
In his mind, Eichi was someone who, like him, upheld and believed in justice.
"Do you remember our conversation at that café three years ago?"
Eichi smiled at him.
"...The anime convention one?"
Suguru recalled.
Back then, they'd all teased Satoru for throwing a fit after getting a cavity.
"Exactly. Do you remember what I told you then? That not all weak people are worth protecting. Some people disappearing would make the world better."
Eichi said, glancing toward the two villagers still walking ahead toward the village chief's house.
"...Is that so."
Suguru suddenly smiled. He felt relieved, yet also powerless.
He remembered another moment—five years ago, on the rooftop of junior Tokyo Jujutsu High.
"Geto, you have the Aptitude to become a Demon King."
That's what Eichi had told him back then.
Looking back on how he'd changed over the past year, and what he had just almost done, Suguru suddenly felt like Eichi had seen straight through him.
"Want to vent?"
Suguru stopped walking. His gaze darkened as he stared at the two villagers in front of him, then looked toward the rest of the village.
Soon after, terrified screams echoed from within the mountain village.
Outside, in the TV broadcast vans, the reporters excitedly scribbled down article drafts.
Feudal village. Dungeon. Child abuse.
These keywords kept flashing through their minds. They stacked BUFFs one after another on this story.
Eichi didn't say anything about it.
After all, he planned to make every villager involved in the persecution spend half their lives in prison. The more public attention, the better.
Dee-woo, dee-woo~
The sound of sirens pierced the small town.
The police superintendent, leading the patrol car, was stunned by the chaos the villagers had fallen into upon arrival.
He quickly ordered his officers to control the villagers who appeared to be suffering from some kind of mental breakdown.
Then, he called the hospital and the psychiatric ward.
The next day, newspapers across the country ran headlines about a young man from a charity organization who had visited a rural village and exposed feudal practices and suspected cult activity.
Pixelated photos of Suguru also began circulating online.
After medical evaluations confirmed that they had no mental illness, the village chief and other villagers involved in the abuse were arrested and imprisoned.
Meanwhile, Jujutsu Headquarters had originally intended to punish Suguru for using Cursed Spirits to "attack" civilians.
But the case was sealed and classified so quickly that they could not act.
After all, they also had their reputation to consider. Punishing Suguru now would make them look like the accomplices of those "feudal" villagers.
The next day, Suguru, who had not slept all night, returned to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Under Eichi's guidance, he submitted an application to Masamichi for an off-campus internship.
Masamichi asked him a few questions, then approved Suguru's temporary departure to go overseas.
At the airport, under the curious stares of surrounding tourists, Suguru struggled to peel Satoru off him, while Satoru clung to him and shouted, "Don't go! How am I supposed to live without you?!"
Eventually, Suguru boarded the plane overseas, accompanied by Mimiko and Nanako.
There, he would rendezvous with the rest of his team and begin his journey around the world.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ I'll be dropping two bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)