That Day When Suzuki-kun Wasn't the Mob-B! Chapter 474: A Sore Loser (Patreon)

"You okay?"

As Yuji finally opened his eyes, surfacing from beneath the suffocating presence of the curse, Suzuki looked down at him. He wondered if the guy was alright after that beatdown.

"Yeah..." Yuji groaned.

He was lying flat on his back in the crater. His legs were twisted at completely unnatural angles, his right arm was bent backward, and his ribcage was visibly sunken. Despite looking like he had just been run over by a bullet train, he still tried to flash a reassuring smile.

"Don't move. I'll heal you."

Suzuki stepped closer and crouched beside the boy. With a quick snap of his fingers, he injected a localized burst of cursed energy into Yuji's nervous system, acting as a powerful magical anesthetic. Once Yuji's pain receptors were deadened, Suzuki swiftly and brutally snapped the shattered bones back into their proper alignment.

Before Yuji could even process the sensation, Suzuki activated the Reverse Cursed Technique. A soft, humming light enveloped Yuji's broken body, rapidly knitting his bones and regenerating his torn muscle fibers. Yuji merely blinked in awe as the crushing pain evaporated.

"You can use the Reverse Cursed Technique?" Gojo asked, suddenly appearing beside them, his tone laced with genuine curiosity.

"Is that a question you really need to ask when you literally just watched me do it with those fancy eyes of yours?" Suzuki deadpanned.

"Fair point. That was a stupid question." But even as he admitted it, the gears in Gojo's head began to visibly turn.

"Don't even think about asking something stupid again," Suzuki cut him off, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Hey, I haven't even said anything yet!"

"You were about to ask me to work as a healer for Tokyo Jujutsu High, or maybe act as a medic for your students when they get themselves nearly killed, right?"

"...."

Gojo fell perfectly silent, a sheepish grin spreading across his face.

"You can use Reverse Cursed Technique too, right? Why don't you do the healing yourself?" Suzuki asked, raising an eyebrow.

The issue was the Reverse Cursed Technique (RCT) was arguably the most complex and difficult jujutsu technique in existence. By taking negative cursed energy and multiplying it by itself, a sorcerer created positive energy, which could be used to regenerate living tissue.

However, the number of sorcerers capable of using RCT could be counted on one hand. Satoru Gojo, Ryomen Sukuna, Suzuki, a certain second-year student currently studying abroad, and the chronically overworked resident doctor at Jujutsu High.

The real problem lay in the application. Using RCT to heal oneself was incredibly difficult. Outputting that positive energy to heal others was even harder. This was the exact reason why the resident doctor, Shoko Ieiri, worked to the bone. She was one of the only people on the continent capable of outputting an RCT to save dying sorcerers.

"You overestimate me," Gojo chuckled, crossing his arms. "I can run RCT on autopilot to keep my own brain fresh, but I absolutely cannot output it to heal others."

"...Is that something you should be saying with such a proud expression?" Suzuki sighed.

Instead of reflecting on his failure to master the technique or striving to improve, Gojo seemed genuinely pleased with his own limitations. It was a stark reminder to Suzuki that despite being the "strongest," Gojo was far from a perfect being. He had inherent flaws and blind spots. In the original timeline, those exact flaws had ultimately led to his brutal death. The title of "strongest" did not mean "invincible."

But I am different, Suzuki thought.

He knew exactly what his path forward was. He didn't need to steal techniques or rely on external factors. His goal was to continuously refine Projection Sorcery, pushing the boundaries of physics until it surpassed the adaptation of Mahoraga and the infinite space of Gojo's Limitless.

"But seriously, if you can heal others, you should definitely step up! You could earn so much easy money on the side, you know?" Gojo tried to tempt him.

"Forget it," Suzuki dismissed the idea instantly. "Whatever the school pays would just be pocket change. I make far more revenue doing absolutely nothing. Besides..." Suzuki looked down at the teenager. "Yuji, how do you feel?"

"Ah, yes! I'm perfectly fine now, Sir!"

Yuji scrambled to his feet, testing his limbs with a few quick stretches. He didn't feel a single ache, looking at Suzuki with absolute amazement.

"As expected, you're too soft. The next time we meet, I will tear you apart."

Suddenly, a slit opened on Yuji's cheek, and a mouth materialized. Sukuna had resurfaced to deliver a final threat.

"Hey, stop it! You lost, didn't you? Don't be a sore loser!" Yuji scolded, slapping a hand over his own cheek to shut the ancient curse up.

"I have not lost!" Sukuna snarled through Yuji's fingers.

To the King of Curses, a true loss only meant death! Being forced back into his cage without inflicting any damage didn't mean he was defeated. It simply meant he had graciously allowed Suzuki to live a little longer! The next time he took control, he would butcher this arrogant modern sorcerer!

Suzuki merely smiled, a cold, mocking expression on his face. "You should be grateful you're trapped inside him right now. If you had a body of your own, I would have just killed you."

"......"

Sukuna fell dead silent for a long moment before erupting into a dark, guttural laugh. "Funny! Very funny! Let's see if you can back up those arrogant words when the time comes."

"Wait until you can actually take over the kid's body before you make threats. Also, with only one of your twenty fingers consumed, you're too weak," Suzuki retorted lazily.

Suzuki didn't take Sukuna's immediate threat seriously. Yes, Sukuna was the undisputed King of Curses, the terror of the Heian Era who eventually killed Gojo. But based on the fundamental mechanics of their techniques, Sukuna was uniquely ill-equipped to handle Suzuki's speed.

However, Suzuki also knew that fighting a fully realized Sukuna would be an absolute nightmare. The monster possessed the highest reserves of cursed energy in history. If they ever truly clashed to the death, the battle would likely drag on for days. Sukuna would never stop until one of them was a corpse, making the entire ordeal incredibly troublesome.

"Until you find your missing fingers, you're nothing but a temperamental toddler in my eyes," Suzuki yawned, turning his back on the curse. "By the way, Yuji. I'm going to have you run some errands for me from time to time, so you can work off the massive debt your roommate just incurred by destroying my garden."

"..."

Yuji froze, completely at a loss. He looked desperately at Gojo, who simply shrugged and gave him a cheerful pat on the shoulder.

"Do your best, Yuji~!"

Sensei! Yuji wanted to cry, but no tears would fall. Looking at the sheer scale and luxury of Suzuki's estate, and then at the massive crater Sukuna had carved through the outer wall, Yuji knew the crushing financial debt was going to ruin his life!

Deep within Yuji's innate domain, Sukuna sat on his throne of skulls, glaring through his vessel's eyes at Suzuki's retreating back. He couldn't wait to slowly shred this man to pieces.

Everyone is exactly the same, Sukuna thought darkly. They are all so disgustingly arrogant in the beginning. They all think they are the absolute pinnacle.

But Sukuna knew the truth. He was the ultimate victor. He was the one who always stood at the end of the massacre. When the time came, Suzuki would inevitably beg for mercy, and Sukuna would gleefully deny it.

Just wait... just wait until then...

Simultaneously, Suzuki was also patiently waiting for Sukuna to reach his full power. In the back of his mind, he was thinking of using the terrifying ability he possessed through his multiverse connection to his counterpart in Arifureta.

It was a skill derived from the 'Merchant' job class, known as Hostile Takeover.

By combining the absolute authority of the Merchant class with the 'Steal' skill from the Assassin class, Suzuki of Arifureta had evolved the ability to forcefully seize the powers, jobs, and stats of his enemies.

Was Suzuki planning to steal techniques in this world? Did he lack confidence in his own Projection Sorcery?

No. He had absolute confidence in his own innate technique. But logically, there were countless unique, powerful abilities scattered across the jujutsu world. It would be a waste to let those techniques die with their original users, or worse, be squandered by incompetent trash.

Why not acquire them for himself?

"By the way, Gojo," Suzuki called out over his shoulder. "Take the kid and get out of here. As for the Elders, I'll send them a formal notice placing Yuji under my protection. But if they send any black-ops assassins in the dead of night, you're on your own."

"Understood! Thanks!" Gojo smiled, clapping Yuji on the back. "Say thank you, Yuji."

"T-Thank you very much, Sir!" Yuji bowed deeply once again. As he straightened up, he noticed a young woman with dark green hair tied in a ponytail and a pair of distinctive glasses standing quietly in the doorway, staring in their direction. Without a word, she turned and followed Suzuki inside.

"Hey, Maki! Are you heading back to school later?" Gojo called out cheerfully.

"No," Maki Zenin replied without looking back. "I'm staying here. The school isn't going to teach me anything useful anyway."

"Really...?" Gojo sighed dramatically. "Poor Yuta..."

"Hmm?" Yuji blinked, completely confused by the name drop, but he knew better than to ask.

"Anyway, let's head back, Yuji. I have a lot of things to teach you," Gojo said, throwing an arm around his new student.

"Okay?"

With Yuji's survival secured and the King of Curses officially awakened, the gears of Kenjaku's millennium-long master plan finally began to turn. The world was about to change forever, and absolutely no one could stop it.