The Aomori Colony. In this location, the northernmost point of the great disaster known as the Culling Game, Yuta Okkotsu was being harrassed by a certain woman.
"I thought I'd be a free woman if I fled to this land, so why is there a monster like you here! And Sukuna too! This is more than I can stand! I just want to enjoy my second life for my own sake, so why does everyone have to get in my way!?"
"No, even if you tell me that... I mean, a life lived only for yourself... doesn't that eventually reach a limit? Like, the motivation just won't last..."
"Hah? ...You, you're a Fujiwara, aren't you. You have the same stench as those 'people who have already become someone,' the ones who prattle on about 'living for someone else' or how 'there is no need to be anyone' whenever it suits them!"
"Fujiwara? I think I heard that in class... was that the old name for the Fujiwara clan? I'm supposed to be a Sugawara, but well, since they were both noble houses, maybe there was some marriage? But does my lineage really matter right now? I don't know your past, but wouldn't it be better to have friends or a lover? If this is a second life. Living only for your own sake seems like an insect's existence, doesn't it?"
"You—! You're definitely a Fujiwara! I've decided! As soon as the main event starts, I'm taking you down first! I won't let anyone interfere with my life!"
"What an emotionally unstable person... I don't mind fighting, but on one condition. If I win, please cooperate with me."
'Yuta? A bit of playing around is one thing, but can you stop hitting on naked old ladies? You have terrible taste.'
"That's not it, Rika. She's not my type at all... and you know I'm not good with delinquent types."
'But you were checking out Yuki Tsukumo and Maki's breasts, and both of them seem like delinquents.'
"That... that was just... by accident... I'm sorry."
'Well, I guess this old lady is just average size, so it's fine. Besides, both Yuki Tsukumo and Maki are smaller than me!'
While Rika asserted her dominance over everyone else, the image she beamed into Yuta's mind was a vision of a seventeen-year-old Rika Orimoto who had become incredibly glamorous.
Yuta gave a wry smile at the sight of her looking triumphant, as if she were saying "Yay! Peace, peace!" In reality, Rika had achieved a significant level of stability through her fusion with Yuta, making it possible for her to manifest in the form of that very image.
However, Takako Uro, who was being ignored while this flirting played out and had even been insulted by being called 'small-breasted,' was grinding her teeth. If it weren't for the restriction of the grace period, she looked ready to leap at Yuta and bite him.
But in contrast to her fury, Yuta was perfectly calm.
'Yuta, did you memorize it yet?'
'Yeah. Being this close for this long helps. A technique that interferes with space itself... it seems quite useful.'
'It certainly looks easy to use. ...Though the side effect of making the old lady look naked is an unnecessary feature.'
'Projection Sorcery and Construction Techniques are the same, but depending on the technique, it comes with brain processing capabilities different from an ordinary person. That's probably why.'
As their internal conversation suggested, the reason the Okkotsu couple had dared to provoke her with insults was to buy time to mimic Takako Uro's cursed technique.
Entering the colony early despite the grace period wasn't because they were particularly bloodthirsty; they simply wanted to mimic and stock the techniques of 'reincarnated sorcerers' as safely as possible.
As a first step, they tried engaging with Takako Uro, who had called out to them from a distance, and the results were excellent.
'I can probably expect more from the other reincarnated sorcerers too.'
As he pondered this, Yuta's mindset suggested that becoming a demon might have increased his sense of self-righteousness just a little bit.
---
Meanwhile, Maki, who had begun scouting the various colonies by utilizing her physical constitution that allowed her to enter and exit them freely, was being accosted by a strange middle-aged man in the Tokyo Colony, which she had stopped by simply because it was close.
"You—! That frame, those legs! You have talent! So—let's do sumo!"
"For a college club recruiter, you look a bit too much like a kappa... are you some kind of monster?"
"I am Miyo! Let's do sumo!"
"What kind of name is that. ...Is this one of those reincarnated sorcerers from the past that Yuji mentioned? ...Certainly, he said they had their own goals... but isn't this guy a bit of a freak even among them?"
"KATANAAAAA!!!!"
"Great, now there's more of them. Don't tell me this is the standard style for sorcerers from the past...?"
"Hmph! You there, girl! I see you are of this era! My name is Daido! Do you have a sword!"
"If an ordinary mass-produced katana is fine, I'll give you one."
"Oh! You have my thanks! —Umu! Not bad!"
"Tch! Hey, sword geezer, don't let out such a hideous bloodlust all of a sudden. Fighting between participants during the grace period is forbidden, isn't it!?"
"Is that so? Ah, sorry! Now that you mention it, there was some brat lecturing us! Was he saying something like that?"
"What!? What about my sumo!?"
"Why did neither of you listen to anything!?"
Maki found herself firing off retorts at the two middle-aged men who were acting like comedy duo foils, perhaps a result of her own innate Kansai nature.
The moment they realized she wasn't a sorcerer through the course of the conversation, they happily challenged her to a sumo match and a swordsmanship bout. After Maki defeated them with her physical prowess and refined martial arts sense, she somehow ended up forming a trio with them, resulting in her staying behind in the Tokyo Colony.
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