"Ouch... No, that was a close one. Nanami, Haibara."
"Though you did most of the work, sensei!"
"We merely created an opening with a surprise attack, after all."
"Nah, I don't have cursed energy, so I'm a bad match for that kind of indiscriminate spatial bombing. If it were a personal job, I would've bailed instantly, but..."
So spoke Toji, who had sustained a fair amount of burns on his arms.
The fact that he had escaped with only that much damage despite being suddenly caught in a rain of explosions was a testament to his skill, but as he said, it was a losing battle. Against an enemy with an area-of-effect bombing capability that seemed designed to kill those with Heavenly Restriction, and an immortal one at that, all Toji could do was focus entirely on defense.
For him, who couldn't even perform the basics of a sorcerer like protecting his entire body with cursed energy, the time until Nanami and Haibara arrived as reinforcements had been quite grueling.
Well, to vent that frustration, Toji was the one who sharply seized the opening created by Nanami's 'Collapse' and used the special grade cursed tool 'Split Soul Katana' to dice the enemy into cubes, soul and all, so Haibara and Nanami's claim that 'Toji did most of the work' was also true.
"Still, I heard the transmission, but letting Kuroi get captured was a blunder... I threw her on impulse, but I guess it didn't work."
"Gojo-senpai and the others should be chasing them now, so it'll be fine, I'm sure!"
"Still, that man has become quite inhuman with his warping."
"Gojo was a monster to begin with. He's just a kid now, so it's only at that level, but once he matures, no one will be able to beat him. Don't try to measure a Godzilla and a human with the same ruler, Nanami. You'll go bald. You and Haibara should look up to people like Geto or Naoya."
"Well, that might be true... Now, is this enough for the bandages?"
"Yeah, thanks. ...Alright, let's head to Okinawa too. On this guy's tab."
Just as Toji spoke, Naoya Zen'in appeared at the perfect moment.
"Normally, wouldn't that just be covered by expenses? Well, I don't mind fronting the money, though."
As he said this, he efficiently called an assistant director to secure the tickets. Watching him, Haibara and Nanami thought to themselves, 'Naoya really moves like Toji's underling, doesn't he?'
Having overcome the crisis and gained a bit of peace of mind, they headed for the airport to follow Gojo and the others who had gone ahead.
---
"Hmm, well, well. Too bad, too bad. I guess it was a difference in experience after all?"
"My apologies, Master Wessen. My 'predecessor' was simply incompetent and failed to meet your expectations..."
"It's fine, it's fine. The fun is only just beginning. More importantly, is the memory inheritance going well?"
"Yes. I have successfully inherited the memories of the two previous 'Bitz' units."
"That's good. I still need you all to collect more data, after all."
Exchanging these words were Wessen, the leader of 'Q' with a rather punk appearance and stitches on his forehead, and Bitz, who was supposed to have been killed by Naoya and Toji. If their conversation was accurate, it seemed that the Bitz present here was the third individual.
"Still, it was a good thing I kept Kaori Itadori's body. It was already heavily adjusted for the birth of 'Sukuna's vessel,' so readjusting it was easy, and there were still eggs left over."
"Kaori Itadori... was she our maternal host? And what is Sukuna's vessel?"
"That's right. Kaori Itadori is your mother. The vessel of Sukuna is called Yuji Itadori. He's your older brother. ...Well, strictly speaking, there are about nine others, but those are failures... Messing with cursed spirits wasn't very interesting. It's quite a bother, really."
"I see. Thank you for telling me, Master Wessen."
"No, no. If you 'memorize' this kind of information, some interesting chemical reaction might occur within you. —By the way, now that your memories are synchronized, did you figure out the identity of the person who snatched Misato Kuroi? I couldn't see clearly from the shikigami I had out due to the angle."
"No, not at all. At first glance, they looked like a boy... but something felt off. No, perhaps it's just that kind of technique..."
"Meaning?"
When asked by Wessen, Bitz tilted his head and offered his opinion.
"Can humans fly by spraying jets of cursed energy from their feet?"
"Hmm? Well, even without a technique, it's possible depending on the refinement of cursed energy manipulation. It might be a 'cursed energy discharge' technique like Ishigori's. I can do it too, technically. ...However, the fuel efficiency is poor. The opponent might be someone with a considerable cursed energy output."
"I see. Thank you for teaching me."
As Bitz replied, Wessen mused, 'Still, to think such a strong individual was lying low. Did the 100 million reward from the Star Religious Congregation lure out an unexpected powerhouse?'
Continuing his secret maneuvers at the Q headquarters, he would use the lessons from this battle to continue his research in pursuit of further 'possibilities.'
---
"There, there! You intervened at the perfect time, Kokichi!"
"...It was just a coincidence, Master. By the way, is it really okay to leave this Kuroi person with the curse users in Okinawa?"
"It's fine. The curse users where we're leaving her are weaker than Kuroi. With her skills, she can escape on her own."
"I see... But Toji Fushiguro is terrifying. He threw her exactly toward us."
"I told him beforehand, 'If there's a boy who's neither human nor a cursed spirit in a pinch, that's an ally I've arranged.' He must have seen through your puppet. ...Toji-kun did well too. All that's left is to successfully prevent Riko-chan's merger. ...Now, after we leave her with the curse users and confirm Kuroi's escape, we'll head back to training, Kokichi. You need the Reverse Cursed Technique, don't you?"
"I understand."
Having this conversation in a vacation villa in Okinawa were a beautiful Special Grade sorcerer and her disciple.
Unlike the original history, because Yuki Tsukumo had devoted herself to the research of Heavenly Restriction, the disciple she discovered was the very person who snatched Kuroi... or rather, the operator of the 'puppet' that snatched her.
Yes, Kuroi's kidnapping was a sort of farce involving Toji Fushiguro. It was part of Yuki's plan to take advantage of the situation and prevent the merger of the Star Glass Vessel.
The key to that plan was her young disciple. He was a new type of Heavenly Restriction user—different from Toji Fushiguro, Maki Zen'in, the artificial Heavenly Restriction body Bitz, or the full-body-binding human of the Shiba-Shiba Fruit, Naoya Zen'in—who had gained a powerful technique range and inexhaustible cursed energy output in exchange for his physical body.
————.
The four-year-old boy who went by the alias 'Mechamaru' was Yuki Tsukumo's second disciple, whose type was 'someone who treats everyone without prejudice.'
"Once you learn the Reverse Cursed Technique, you'll be able to move freely with puppet prosthetic arms and legs. If you keep healing your body constantly, the pain should ease as well. My Reverse Cursed Technique output is so inefficient that I can only heal a scratch even at full effort, but it was at least a little better, right?"
"Yeah, Master. If I could activate that more strongly and freely, I would surely—"
While transporting Misato Kuroi safely to the designated location by controlling the puppet in the corner of his mind, the young Kokichi devoted himself to training his cursed energy manipulation inside the pod of culture fluid arranged by Yuki.
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