"Phew—"
Yuji took a deep breath and deactivated his Maximum Technique.
The pitch-black armor receded from his body like an ebbing tide, dissipating into the night wind. The young man's bare upper body was once again exposed to the moonlight.
For him right now, the Maximum Technique consumed far too much cursed energy. Although it provided extremely formidable close-combat capabilities, it was still a countermeasure meant for specific situations.
However, he didn't need to worry about any of that right now.
It was over.
"Yuji!"
Choso's voice called out from not far away.
Yuji turned his head and saw his older brother walking briskly toward him. Behind him was Kento Nanami, who was also walking quickly, carrying an unconscious blond man in his hand.
Hm? Isn't that Naoya Zenin?
Yuji raised an eyebrow. He had noticed Naoya tailing them when they first entered the school, but he hadn't paid him any mind. It turned out this guy had long since been knocked out by Choso.
Choso was initially a bit worried, but upon confirming that Yuji had no fatal injuries, his tense expression finally relaxed—replaced by a gratified smile.
"Beautifully done." Choso raised his hand and patted Yuji firmly on the shoulder. "I knew you could do it."
"To be honest, I still can't quite believe it."
Kento Nanami let out a long sigh, a rare hint of awe in his tone.
"The strength of that curse would rank among the very top even within the Special Grade category, and you actually exorcised it all by yourself."
Yuji scratched the back of his head and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "It wasn't that exaggerated. It's thanks to you guys helping me hold off those clones. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to finish it off one-on-one."
"Humility is a virtue, but excessive humility is hypocrisy."
Kento Nanami continued.
"Itadori, your growth rate can no longer be measured by common sense. If I remember correctly, it's been less than a week since you enrolled, right?"
"Counting from midnight, today is the sixth day," Yuji answered.
"Amazing, my little brother. To think you've grown this much in just six days."
Hearing this, Choso's tone was full of pride.
Being praised back and forth by these two made Yuji blush a little. Just as he was about to say something to change the subject, Choso suddenly pointed at Naoya Zenin, whom Nanami was carrying.
"By the way, Yuji—do you know this person?"
"I met him at the exchange event. What's wrong?"
"He was probably coming to cause trouble for you." Choso's tone grew a bit colder. "I ran into him near the gymnasium shortly after entering the school and took care of him conveniently. Later, we found him at the school gate again. He was probably caught up in the battle."
"Yuji, what do you plan to do with him?"
If they handed him over to the higher-ups, Naoya Zenin would be held accountable for trespassing in a mission area. But with the Zenin clan's influence, it would highly likely just end with a painless reprimand.
"Why don't we just..."
"Forget it, Choso. Let's just leave him here to fend for himself."
Yuji shook his head.
"But..."
"A guy like this isn't worth wasting my time on."
Yuji added a sentence, then turned around, his gaze sweeping across the campus that had been reduced to ruins.
Because they possessed true physical bodies, the corpses of the clones didn't dissipate but lay amidst the rubble. However, Yuji could no longer feel any cursed energy from them.
The battle had indeed ended.
But Yuji still had an unresolved doubt in his heart. The intel Mechamaru had passed to him earlier mentioned a specific phrase: "Yin-Yang Reversal."
Taken literally, this cursed technique effect should be able to reverse or invert something.
But up until now, the giant baby's abilities were only creating dreams and splitting its flesh. It had absolutely nothing to do with the words "Yin-Yang Reversal."
Was Mechamaru's intel wrong? Or was the technique simply never triggered?
WHOOSH—
A gust of night wind blew by, kicking up dust and debris from the ground. Yuji instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes. But the instant this movement was completed, the young man suddenly caught a trace of an extremely faint cursed energy fluctuation.
"...?"
The cursed energy fluctuation came from the direction of the giant baby's corpse.
Yuji abruptly turned around.
Inside the hotel room.
"Screw you, Kenjaku!"
Hajime Kashimo leaned against the headboard, his hands behind his head. He glanced at Kenjaku, who was sitting in a chair resting with his eyes closed, his tone impatient.
"What the hell is going on with that crappy experiment of yours? The cameras have been broken for almost half an hour. Are you just going to make me wait here?"
"Are you kidding me? My passion is about to cool down completely!"
Kenjaku slowly opened his eyes, a faint smile on his lips.
"Why the rush? When there is a result, it will naturally show."
"..."
Just as his words fell, his eyebrows suddenly twitched.
"Oh? It seems the child has succeeded."
"Succeeded? You mean that meatball won?" Hajime Kashimo sat up straight. "Didn't you say it was just a disposable item?"
"Won? No, it couldn't possibly win."
Kenjaku shook his head.
"But it has completed its mission."
Kenjaku stood up and walked to the window. The moonlight fell through the gap in the curtains onto his face, half-illuminating the face bearing the stitch marks.
"I planted a cursed technique within its body in advance. The trigger condition is its death."
Hajime Kashimo raised an eyebrow. "And then?"
"That cursed technique is Yin-Yang Reversal. Specifically, it is a mechanism used to alter personalities. You've already seen its dream cursed technique, right? But what I'm talking about isn't a simple dream—it's the ability to forcefully erase a person's memories and then drag them into a dream entirely opposite to their life experiences."
"A dream opposite to their life?"
"Exactly. For example, a timid coward would become a fearless hero in the dream, while a kind person would be molded into a bloodthirsty killer. All personality traits are inverted. Fear becomes courage, love becomes hate, and kindness becomes malice."
Kenjaku crossed his arms, leaning against the windowsill.
"Originally, this technique needed to be triggered repeatedly to completely rewrite a personality. The efficiency was too low. So I added a Binding Vow to it: at the cost of its death, the power of the cursed technique is pushed to its absolute limit. This way, it only takes one brief contact to completely invert the target's personality."
Hajime Kashimo was silent for a moment. "You really are a master of taking out loans."
"This is called understanding jujutsu."
Kenjaku tapped his forehead.
Hajime Kashimo smiled. "Interesting. That means that brat is currently...?"
Kenjaku spread his hands. "If he got hit by this move, he should have turned into a thorough villain by now."
"However much he wanted to save others before—that's how much he'll want to destroy others now."
"Yuji Itadori never had a firm stance as a jujutsu sorcerer to begin with."
"He isn't fighting for a clan, not for profit, and not even for so-called justice. He only saves people because saving them makes him happy. This kind of stance is far too fragile. Once his mindset changes, his stance will change along with it."
"Since the higher-ups of Jujutsu High already harbor thoughts of executing him as Sukuna's vessel, when that happens, there will no longer be a place for him in the jujutsu world."
"As long as he no longer feels joy from saving people, he will no longer be Yuji Itadori of Jujutsu High. When that time comes, he will naturally side with us."
"...You really are incredibly sinister."
Hajime Kashimo shook his head, but his tone lacked any real condemnation. Instead, it sounded more like he was praising the cooking time of a fine dish.
"Thank you for the compliment," Kenjaku replied with a smile.
"You've got it all perfectly planned out, but are you sure that move can actually hit him?"
Hajime Kashimo was doubtful.
"That's why I set the technique's condition to activate upon death. Because at that point, Yuji Itadori and the giant baby would definitely have fought to mutual exhaustion," Kenjaku answered.
"..."
But after saying this, the man suddenly fell into silence again.
It's just that...
For some reason, even though he had personally orchestrated this plan, and Yuji defecting would be highly beneficial to advancing his goals...
For a fleeting moment, Kenjaku hoped that Yuji would not be affected by the giant baby's cursed technique.
The baby, which had previously withered into a dry husk, had at some point reverted to its original state.
Its body recovered that bloated appearance, and the surface of its skin was covered in dark red cracks. The curse's eyes had become two pitch-black, empty voids. Dark red liquid poured from its eye sockets, sliding down its cheeks like two streaks of blood-tears.
"What is that...?"
Kento Nanami's pupils violently contracted.
"Watch out!"
"WAAAAAAHHHHH—!"
The baby's body suddenly moved.
With a speed completely unmatched by its bloated physique, it lunged fiercely toward Yuji!
"Yuji!"
Just as Choso called out to Yuji, the young man reacted swiftly, retreating rapidly and then raising his hand.
"Crimson Binding!"
Scarlet blood surged from around him, transforming into slender ropes that lashed out toward the baby.
However, the blood ropes passed right through the baby's body.
"?!"
The attack was ineffective? But this guy clearly still had cursed energy fluctuations...
The young man stomped hard on the ground, his body retreating rapidly. But the baby's speed was faster than he anticipated. Despite its bloated body, it ran astonishingly fast across the ground.
Seeing that the blood baby was about to catch up to Yuji—
"Yuji! Catch!"
Choso's voice came from the side. Yuji glanced over from the corner of his eye and saw his older brother had somehow rushed to the unconscious Naoya Zenin's side. He grabbed the blond man by the back of his collar and hurled him toward the baby like a sandbag.
Naoya Zenin's body flew through the air, perfectly intercepting the space between Yuji and the blood baby.
The blood baby, lunging toward Yuji, had no time to change direction and crashed straight into Naoya Zenin's forehead.
THUD—!
Naoya Zenin's body slammed heavily onto the ground. The baby clung to his face, covering it entirely.
"..."
A drop of cold sweat slid down Yuji's face.
What just happened?
"...What was that just now?"
Kento Nanami tightened his grip on his blunt blade, staring warily at Naoya Zenin lying on the ground.
Yuji didn't answer. He just stared intently at the blond man.
As the blood baby clung to Naoya Zenin, a burst of dark red mist seeped into the latter's head. The baby made no further movements, but its cursed energy fluctuations grew increasingly intense.
"Is this guy... using a cursed technique?"
"..."
A moment later, the incapacitated Naoya Zenin finally stirred. The three present immediately raised their guard.
The blond man first pushed himself up from the ground, then raised his hand, grabbed the blood baby clinging to his face, and forcefully flung it away.
THUD—!
The blood baby was still crying as it crashed heavily onto the ground, its cursed energy fluctuations gradually weakening. Yuji shifted his gaze to Naoya Zenin.
Moonlight spilled across Naoya Zenin's face. Dark shadows covered the upper half of his face, making his expression somewhat hard to read.
Immediately after, Yuji saw on Naoya Zenin's face...
Two streams of hot tears?
Naoya Zenin abruptly raised his head, looking at the blood baby he had just thrown a short distance away, two tear streaks staining his face.
The man's lips trembled, tears continuously pouring down his cheeks. He opened his mouth and shouted in a tone of absolute grief and indignation:
"Why! Why does trash like you exist in this world!"
"Do you have no human heart at all?!"
Yuji: "...Huh?"
Choso: "...Hah?"
Kento Nanami: "...Ah?"
Naoya Zenin paid no attention to the three astonished onlookers. He pointed at the blood baby and began a tearful, impassioned denunciation.
"Do you think your suffering makes you so special? Do you think being bullied gives you the right to bully others?! You killed your mother and sister! They were the only people in this world who loved you! Do you know how many people desperately want a family like that but don't have one?!"
"My older brothers are all feudal remnants! My uncles are all absolute trash! Aside from my father and Toji, there isn't a single decent person in the entire Zenin clan!"
"Even though I've bullied Maki-chan, I would absolutely never point a kitchen knife at my own flesh and blood! Do you have any humanity left in you?!"
Naoya Zenin cried and cursed, his face a mess of tears and snot.
"Taking a kitchen knife to hack your own mother—are you kidding me, you piece of garbage!"
"Look at the state of you! Fat-headed, big-eared, ugly, and unhygienic!"
"Saying your sister stole your father's love and your mother made you this ugly! Isn't it because you couldn't beat your sister in exams, stayed home every day eating junk food, and ended up out of shape and with bad grades?! Are you kidding me, you bastard! The one in that family who deserved to die the most was clearly you!"
"The useless trash blaming his own ugliness on his mother and sister is you!"
"You're so utterly toxic! Even a stray dog on the street would be disgusted by you!"
"You're jealous that others are handsome? You're jealous that others have friends? You're jealous that others have talent?! Then go work hard! Go exercise! Go make friends! You bastard!"
"Did you think becoming a curse would change anything? You became a curse and you're still a fat pig! You can't even be a good curse! You deserve to be looked down upon! You deserve to have no one love you!"
"..."
Naoya Zenin, crying and screaming, was so engrossed in his tirade that he completely failed to notice Yuji and Choso standing behind him, utterly dumbfounded.
"Useless trash like you, with an ugly soul, an out-of-shape body, and zero redeeming qualities, deserves to be reduced to ashes! You don't even have the right to go to hell!"
As Naoya Zenin continued cursing, the corpse of the clone that Yuji had previously punched through actually began to gradually turn into ash and drift into the air.
And the blood baby was no exception. It had stopped crying, its face now replaced with an expression of shock and profound unwillingness.
"...?"
Yuji's eyes widened, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.
Is... is this?
Did it get cursed to death by insults?
Naoya Zenin stood in place, panting heavily, tears still streaming down his face. A moment later, he turned around and looked at Yuji with tear-blurred eyes.
"Itadori!"
His voice suddenly became gentle and affectionate, and a brilliantly radiant smile squeezed onto his face.
"I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you just now! Seeing you face such a powerful enemy alone broke my heart! You are so incredible! You are simply the pride of the jujutsu world! The person I, Naoya Zenin, admire the most!"
Yuji: "...Huh?"
Choso: "...Hah?"
Kento Nanami: "...Ah?"
Wiping his tears, Naoya Zenin stepped forward, wanting to grab Yuji's hand, but Yuji reflexively dodged.
Naoya didn't mind—simply continuing to look at Yuji with those teary eyes, his tone so sincere it sounded like a confession of love.
"I know I've done a lot of wrong things in the past. I bullied Maki, I looked down on women, I abused the Zenin clan's name to act tyrannically, and I even thought about killing you."
"But now I understand! All of that was wrong! Completely wrong! I will turn over a new leaf! I will be a good person! I will be like you, using my own two hands to protect the weak! To save more people!"
As he spoke, his knees suddenly bent, and he dropped to the ground with a THUD, then kowtowed heavily toward Yuji.
"Please give me a chance! Let me start over as a new man!"
"...?"
For a moment, Yuji suspected he might still be trapped in that curse's dream.
"...Seriously."
Yuji stood in place, taking a good while to confirm he hadn't been hit by the curse's technique.
The blond man kneeling on the ground, weeping profusely and swearing to turn over a new leaf, was indeed Naoya Zenin himself.
However, judging from that tearful denunciation just now, this guy's personality seemed to have been completely inverted.
Combining this with the "Yin-Yang Reversal" Mechamaru mentioned, even if Yuji was slow, he figured out Kenjaku's goal.
Well played, Kenjaku.
The originally arrogant, condescending, and evil young master of the Zenin clan had now turned into a "saint" overflowing with a sense of justice, unable to tolerate even the slightest bit of ugliness.
As for the blood baby, it seemed it couldn't handle the mental breakdown from the verbal abuse—or more likely, all its cursed energy had finally run dry, and the lunge was its final dying struggle. And so, it truly began to turn into ashes amidst Naoya Zenin's insults.
Yuji walked around Naoya Zenin, slowly approaching the blood baby, looking down at it from above.
"How pathetic..."
Half of the blood baby's body had already turned to ash. On its remaining half-face, hot tears of blood were still flowing.
"One day... one day... you will also die... Yuji... Itadori..."
The baby still felt unwilling. Before it died, it spat out its final "curse" at Yuji.
Yuji looked at it expressionlessly.
The night wind blew by, gently ruffling his short pink hair. Reflected in his clear amber eyes was the baby's disintegrating face.
"Of course."
Yuji replied.
"Humans will all grow old and die one day, and I am no exception."
The pink-haired young man blinked.
"But you are different. You shouldn't have existed from the very beginning."
"Ugh—"
The baby opened its mouth, as if wanting to retort, to curse, to pour out all the resentment it had accumulated in its life—but its body had already turned to ash filling the air.
The ashes were swept up by the night wind, floating high into the sky and merging into the moonlit night.
It was truly over.
Everything had been brought to a close.
Yuji turned his head and looked at Choso and Kento Nanami waiting behind him.
"Let's go."
"The mission is over."
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