"That's true. After all, this was my own choice. The fact I can still keep some clear thoughts like this is already pretty good."
Tengen lifted a hand and scratched the back of his head, smiling in a simple, honest way. Even his four eyes narrowed from the smile, his face full of calm acceptance.
An immortality technique, yet not eternal youth.
Every five hundred years, he had to merge with a Star Plasma Vessel just to refresh the body information that was on the verge of collapsing. It was almost ridiculous.
In the end, maybe this was the world's curse on him. He refused to keep extending his old life by taking someone else's youth.
The moment he chose evolution instead of merging, he had already considered the possibility that one day he might completely lose himself, or even become humanity's enemy.
Even though he had become something closer to a cursed spirit in nature, he could still rely on barriers to keep his original form and consciousness. That was enough for him.
"It's good that you can think that way."
Tengen's mindset was even better than Mukuro expected. He could not help but respect him a little more.
Then he squatted down. A strange-shaped backpack appeared in his hands out of nowhere, and he carefully packed the three jars inside, one by one.
"By the way, you've lived for so long. Do you know someone with a spiky teeth-looking head? I need to talk to him about something."
After lifting the backpack, Mukuro finally revealed the other reason he came here.
"Spiky teeth head… You mean Kenjaku? You know that guy too?"
Tengen paused for a moment. Then it clicked, and he asked right back.
"I guess you could say we've crossed paths. I want to have a little talk with him about life."
Even as he said that, Mukuro did not hide the killing intent in his voice. His tone was as casual as if he were saying he wanted to treat someone to dinner.
"I rarely use my barriers to actively search for a specific person. Kenjaku is one of the very few exceptions. But these past years, he's been trying to avoid me."
Tengen did not question how Mukuro knew that ancient monster, or why he wanted to kill him. He simply gave his answer, his voice turning a little serious.
Kenjaku's skill with barriers was second only to his. He was also someone who had existed since a thousand years ago. And after all these years, he clearly had some kind of plan.
Tengen could not ignore him even if he wanted to.
But starting about twenty-one years ago, Kenjaku began deliberately avoiding his barriers. Or he would switch bodies, hiding his cursed energy so completely that even his search could not find him.
"I see… then forget it."
Mukuro never had high hopes for that. It was just a casual question.
The answer was exactly what he expected.
On the dim road leading out, the two of them kept chatting, one sentence here and one sentence there. There was no logic to it, no hidden tricks, no careful traps.
It was like neither of them really knew what the other was talking about. Yet they spoke freely anyway.
Tengen liked that feeling.
He had lived for over a thousand years, but he spent most of it inside the Tombs of the Star Corridor. He rarely interacted with humans.
Humans were complicated, and he could never fully understand them.
But Satoru Gojo and Mukuro Fushiguro were different.
Because they were strong, strong enough that they never needed schemes to survive. They said what they wanted, and did what they wanted. They did not bother hiding things or setting traps.
So being around them felt comfortable.
"Let's stop here. If anything comes up, have someone from Tokyo Jujutsu High contact me. Or through barriers, it shouldn't be too hard for you to find me either."
In just a short while, they had already reached the gate Mukuro came through.
He turned his head slightly and looked at the strange-looking, yet warmly kind old figure beside him.
"Hahahaha. If trouble shows up, I'll come looking for you even if you don't say anything."
Tengen waved with a smile, watching the young man from his memories walk out, until the gate shut again.
The dark space fell silent once more, just like it had been for most of the past thousand years.
His smile slowly faded, and his body melted back into the darkness.
* * *
Meanwhile, outside, in front of a shrine gate.
Right as Mukuro was about to leave, his pocket suddenly buzzed.
"Mukuro, where are you right now?"
He answered the call, and Masamichi's serious voice came through the phone.
"Me? I'm at Shrine Gate Number 69."
Mukuro glanced at the number plate beside the shrine and answered honestly.
This was expected, it just came a little faster than he thought.
"Stay there and wait for me. I'll be there in five minutes!"
Then the call ended.
"Five minutes, huh."
With nothing else to do, Mukuro casually sat down on the shrine steps. He placed the three jars neatly in front of him.
"Can you hear me?"
He lightly knocked on the transparent jars filled with some unknown liquid, asking out of curiosity.
Sadly, there was no response.
Inside, three cursed objects floated quietly. Their shapes were different, yet they all looked a bit like human embryos. They were completely still, like dead things.
"Alright then. They're just cursed objects, I guess they can't really talk until they incarnate…"
With no cover at all, the three jars sat out in the open on the ground. Mukuro simply played on his phone beside them.
* * *
A few minutes later.
"Mukuro! You seriously had Master Tengen open the vault for you, and then you stole special grade cursed objects right in the open. What the hell are you trying to do?!"
Masamichi had not even appeared yet, but his voice arrived first.
After confirming there was nobody else nearby, he came storming over. Veins bulged on his forehead, and the moment he saw Mukuro, he could not hold it in anymore.
This former student of his was completely out of control.
"First of all, there's a mistake in what you just said. You know I went in openly. So how can that be called stealing?"
Mukuro raised a finger and corrected him.
"Stop talking nonsense. Why did you specifically take these things? You do know what they are, don't you?!"
Masamichi refused to accept the correction.
As he reached Mukuro, he pointed at the jars on the ground and demanded an answer, his expression stern.
The group match had just ended. He was about to go eat with Gakuganji and catch up properly, when the vault guards suddenly reported what happened.
He had rubbed his eyes several times before he finally believed it was real.
So after hurriedly apologizing and ditching Gakuganji, he rushed back as fast as he could.
"Yeah, I know. A hundred and fifty years ago, they were made by that scumbag head of the Kamo clan, Noritoshi Kamo. The Cursed Womb: Death Paintings."
Mukuro stretched lazily and stood up.
Then he answered the second question clearly.
"These are Numbers 1 through 3. They're classified as special grade cursed objects."
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