Chapter 71: One Last Kiss
"Rinko..."
On the platform of the giant Tanuki's cockpit, Pakura called her lover's name with a complicated expression.
At this moment, her voice, so light it seemed fragile, sounded more like she was confirming that the being standing there was still the person she knew.
Resentment, hatred, lamentation, obsession... the ominous aura wrapping around Hiiro Rinko was like the concentrated sediment of a deep, fierce curse. Emotions so intense they were almost tangible, intertwining and knotting into a heavy, massive abnormality.
Even Pakura, who wasn't skilled in spiritual abilities, could clearly sense this from her lover. In fact, it was precisely because she sensed it that she was so worried.
"Mhm. I'm here."
Rinko, who was performing the final calibrations on 'Shukaku Type-Zero,' looked up, meeting Pakura's gaze calmly. "What's wrong? Does the Old Hag have a plan that needs my cooperation?"
"...No... I'm just worried about you..."
Pakura's gaze fell on the cockpit, specifically on the unraveled Chakra-suppressing bandages discarded casually to the side. Perhaps that explained where the aura surrounding Rinko came from.
How far would his Yin Release Chakra, further stimulated by such massive negative emotions, condense? And what effect would that crystallization have on him? Probably no one but Rinko himself knew.
Just being near him, Pakura could feel an intense sorrow and another, indescribable emotion.
"Ah, if it's about Nii-san, it's fine. In the end, doing a job like being a shinobi, where you earn people's hatred... this kind of thing happens to everyone eventually."
"To kill and be killed. That's all there is to it."
Rinko gave Pakura a smile that was hard to decipher, his hands never stopping on the keyboard. But this level of comfort obviously couldn't soothe Pakura's mind, affected as she was by the gloom he radiated.
"But looking at your face, I know that's not what you mean."
"I've just figured a few things out, and I'm going to act in a way I'm better at. Why look like that?"
Rinko was genuinely puzzled by this.
"Because, Rinko, you're giving off an aura like you're going to a very faraway place."
"Ah... is that what you think? I can't do anything about that—"
"Mmph!"
With a short sigh, Rinko suddenly reached out, somewhat forcefully grabbed Pakura's collar, and claimed her lips in an extremely aggressive manner.
One second, five seconds, ten seconds... It wasn't until dozens of seconds later, when a mist instinctively clouded Pakura's vision, that she was released from the suffocatingly deep kiss, falling off-balance into Rinko's arms.
"Hah... what... what was that for, all of a sudden..."
A tiny whimper mixed into her moist panting. Pakura's tone carried a bit of indignation.
It's such a serious situation, what do you mean by using these outside-the-box tactics?!
Although, coming from someone who had been utterly disarmed by a single kiss, her words lacked conviction.
"Hm? You didn't feel my heart? That's strange. I read in picture books and stories that people can understand each other's thoughts just by kissing."
He pinched both of Pakura's flushed cheeks, forcing her to look at him.
"Like hell that happens!"
Pakura, who always lost these 'staring contests,' turned her blushing face away and shouted angrily.
"Yeah. Because that doesn't happen, I didn't plan on letting anyone understand~"
Rinko's voice tilted up slightly, but his expression could hardly be called a smile.
"My brain is very clear. In fact, it's so clear it's disgusting. For you and Karura, for the Old Hag and Sasori... I don't plan on doing any suicide attacks."
After learning of Yūsa and Chōko's deaths, he truly felt immense grief. That overwhelmingly massive emotion nearly caused his Cursed Energy to burst its banks.
But this reckless surge of spiritual power also pushed him to complete the Quadruple Split-Thinking.
The processing power of 256 parallel thought processes instantly brought his rampaging Cursed Energy under control. But simultaneously, the exponential increase in calculation suppressed his emotions.
'Use this grief to rapidly increase Cursed Energy and Yin Release.' 'Further optimize the Seven Essences Unlocking Gates operation and keep it open continuously to balance Yin and Yang.' ...Such plans gushed forth instinctively, overriding even his desire to think.
He even felt his emotions completely severed from his thoughts, as if the former were only preserved by the latter because they were "still useful to him."
For this, Hiiro Rinko felt a strong self-loathing.
That was why he untied the Yin-suppressing bandages, letting that massive gloom flow freely.
At least in this moment, let me be driven by emotion to do something, rather than subconsciously exploiting that emotion.
"If that's the case, at least let me go with—"
"Mhm... I'm afraid not. I don't think you're weak, or that you can't help, but you're just not strong enough yet."
He scooped Pakura up in a princess carry and walked out of the cockpit. Kicking the cockpit door shut to ensure no one could enter, Rinko placed another kiss on her forehead, then without hesitation, pressed a point on the back of her neck.
"After losing Nii-san, I don't want to be separated from someone I love again in such a short time."
He placed the unconscious Pakura on a chair on the platform, pulled a blanket from his wrist scroll to cover her, and meticulously tucked in every corner.
When Rinko said he couldn't command a legion, it wasn't an excuse. In his past life, the entire Jujutsu World didn't have that many people; there was no concept of a 'legion.' And now as a shinobi, he preferred solo breakthroughs, or at most leading a squad of fewer than twenty.
Besides, whether in the past or present, he defined himself as a 'Researcher.'
But if I really have to do something, I can only truly let loose when I'm alone.
Or rather, when there's only 'myself'.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Clone.
Ninja Art: Transformation Jutsu.
Gojō Satoru, Muta Kokichi, Fushiguro Toji—the trio that didn't exist—stood together in this moment.
"Let's go wild."
Feeling the rage surging within him, hot enough to evaporate his blood, three beings with completely different appearances revealed the exact same ferocious grin.