Chapter 69: Welcome to, Karasuno Town (Patreon)

Chapter 69: Welcome to Beika Town

…

"Why are you here?"

Of the blond siblings who had appeared out of nowhere, the blond, blue-eyed older brother stepped in front of his sister and put the question to the group.

Satoru Anjouin hadn't expected to run into the Hoshino siblings here.

"Wait. Non-sorcerers can't get into a curtain."

He frowned instinctively.

Which meant the siblings showing up here was the abnormal part.

"Who are you? How did you get into the curtain?"

Maki Zenin had obviously reached the same conclusion, and she questioned the blond pair in front of her.

Kento Nanami, however, studied their faces for a moment, then raised a hand to stop Maki and the others from going on guard.

"There's no need to be tense. They aren't curse users."

"You're Aquamarine Hoshino, called Aqua, and Ruby Hoshino, called Ruby, correct?"

Seeing Nanami act like a dependable adult, the blond brother lowered his guard.

"But that's Mom, isn't it?"

"That little girl... she looks just like Mom."

Behind her brother, the younger sister kept tugging at his clothes, pointing at Anjouin, who was tucking away the talisman.

"Give... give Mom back! Who are you people, anyway?"

"Ruby, calm down."

Aqua turned and gripped his sister's shoulders. His gaze swept over the group with their nata cleaver, naginata and swords. Beneath his relaxed expression lay a trace of unease.

What had happened earlier was clearly beyond reality.

Still, for a pair of siblings who had been reborn as the children of their favorite idol, a bit of the surreal was something they could accept.

"Sir, could you tell us what just happened?"

"Looks like you can see them. At the very least, you have the potential to become windows."

Nanami had found himself a fitting excuse.

Under that pretext, he could reasonably reveal the truth to people outside the jujutsu world. Since it involved these two children's mother, Nanami had always felt they had a right to know.

Of course, he had also guessed why the siblings had suddenly appeared here.

Anjouin, who had guessed the same reason, frowned.

He had no intention of handing the idol vengeful spirit over to the Hoshino siblings. That cursed spirit had cost him enormous effort to obtain.

A Grade 1 sorcerer had led the team. They'd brought along the Cursed Speech user who, in the original story, would be semi-Grade 1 a year from now, a Grade 4 sorcerer who could exorcise a Grade 2 cursed spirit with ease, a mutated cursed corpse, and one rookie Grade 3 jujutsu sorcerer. Even so, they'd had to probe again and again, analyze the range of the idol vengeful spirit's technique, and confirm that Cursed Speech could stand against it before they dared to commit everything at the very end.

One slip, and the idol vengeful spirit might have achieved its "Love" Binding.

The moment the Hoshino siblings appeared, Anjouin had known it: the idol vengeful spirit had chosen to become a more complete cursed spirit.

Besides, over the course of those repeated clashes, Anjouin had worked out that the essence of the spirit's "Lie" was deception.

Technically, when people heard "Lie," the first things that came to mind were lies coming true, or truth being turned into lies.

But judging by the deep influence he'd felt earlier, when he'd taken the idol vengeful spirit for a classmate outright, Anjouin thought the Lie technique was superbly useful. You could slip into any organization with it.

Of course, a power that made lies come true would be even better.

He could just claim he was Yuji Itadori's brother, and if that lie came true, he might gain a body on par with Itadori's.

Or he could claim he had the Six Eyes and Limitless, and if that came true, he might get Special Grade power on the spot.

Pity that the idol vengeful spirit's "Lie" was only ever a lie.

While Nanami explained things to the Hoshino siblings, Anjouin turned to Maki beside him.

"Big Sis, what time is it?"

"Right now, um... crap, my phone's dead."

"Mine too."

Anjouin let out a long sigh.

The phone he'd left on the stairs had been destroyed by the idol vengeful spirit when it caught him and Nanami hiding on the landing at the stairwell corner.

Still, it was a loss incurred on the job, so he could file for reimbursement. Maki offered him a couple of words of comfort, then waved the matter away.

Compared with a broken phone and a Bluetooth speaker, the wear on her cursed tools hurt far more.

Whatever else you could say, they'd fought a Grade 1 cursed spirit. Even among Grade 1s, this one wasn't remarkable for its strength or its toughness. Its technique was simply complicated.

Cursed spirits with techniques were like that, which was exactly why the death rate among jujutsu sorcerers was so high.

Anjouin felt he'd gained quite a lot.

Although he'd spent the whole fight running, he'd kept watching how Maki, Inumaki, Panda and Nanami exorcised curses, and how they approached the problem.

He might joke about Elbow Kaisen all the time, but once cursed techniques were involved, it was unavoidably a matter of information warfare, probing, countermeasures and plenty of other considerations.

Especially since the original story revolved around the theme of defeating Ryomen Sukuna.

At that level of combat, without a qualitative change in your cursed energy, without a domain, without domain countermeasures, without even Reverse Cursed Technique, you didn't qualify to join the fight.

Against a Domain Expansion, a Grade 1 cursed spirit didn't have the strength to resist at all.

And if you had mastered Reverse Cursed Technique, along with the skill to project it outward...

Then you'd be like Yuta Okkotsu fighting a Special Grade Cursed Spirit: as casual as passing by. One touch and it's instantly dead, or one kiss and it's purified.

Anjouin couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just experienced the bitter daily life of a Grade 3 jujutsu sorcerer.

Then again, this trip had been an internship to begin with, a chance to tag along with Maki and the others and farm merit.

He'd achieved almost every goal. Not only had he learned better escape techniques, he'd also watched others use Black Flash with his own eyes.

He couldn't pick up Reverse Cursed Technique just by watching, the way a certain lawyer had, but it had still opened his eyes.

Going back to school would feel like dynamiting a fish pond.

And yes, Anjouin freely admitted he loved dynamiting fish ponds.

Forget winning as the underdog or winning through scheming. He had always preferred bullying the weak and crushing enemies with overwhelming strength.

Anjouin resolved to hurry up and reach Grade 2, then spend 10 million Private Points on Black Flash experience, complete the qualitative change in his cursed energy, and deepen his understanding of his cursed energy core.

He also wanted to obtain more Binding rules and create more Bindings like the Marriage Binding.

And of course, the schemes and Bindings he hadn't managed to use this time could be put to work next time.

On the other side, as Nanami explained, the Hoshino siblings kept glancing Anjouin's way.

Under Nanami's explanation, they understood that what had been captured wasn't their mother, but a cursed spirit born from their mother's resentment.

In fact, the reason they had appeared here at all was that the idol vengeful spirit had sensed danger and, torn between maintaining the Binding of Love and becoming complete, had chosen the latter.

In other words, the Hoshino siblings had nearly been killed.

Even so, the sight of their mother being caught like a Pokémon had left a powerful visual impression on them.

Anjouin ignored them and pulled up the Intel System.

It had to be past midnight by now, so the Intel System should have refreshed.

Earlier, he'd been too focused on running, and after regrouping with Nanami and the others they'd gone straight into the all-out battle, so he'd had even less time to look at any intel.

Incidentally, he'd also wanted to try out a new Binding he'd come up with.

For example, sacrificing a cursed tool's durability in exchange for a boost in its damage (Limit-Breaking Blade?).

Then he saw today's first piece of intel.

[Intel One: Special Grade Cursed Spirit "Detective" often appears at accident scenes.]

"Hm?"

Anjouin had assumed that since he'd dealt with the idol vengeful spirit and fought a few small curses today, the intel would be about that.

Somehow, this strange entry had shown up instead.

"...An accident scene could also be called a crime scene, I guess."

After all, a detective was always drawn to the truth.

Then came the second piece of intel.

[Intel Two: Special Grade Cursed Spirit "Detective" is the sense of justice split off from the cursed spirit "Regret," which is beyond Special Grade. Beika Town is the domain of "Regret," which is beyond Special Grade.]

Anjouin raised an eyebrow. Something about this felt off.

Suddenly he wasn't sure he wanted to keep going.

After a moment of silence, he read on to the last piece of intel for the day.

[Intel Three: The more you learn about cursed spirits beyond Special Grade, the more likely you are to encounter them, or to be drawn to them.]

[In an age of curses without faith or awe, the ghost stories, rumors and even myths that once carried that faith and awe have now become vessels for curses.]

[Rumors currently spreading in secret through the island nation include the Rumor of Beika Town, the Rumor of Hinamizawa Village, the Rumor of Mitakihara City, the Rumor of Advanced Nurturing, the Rumor of Heavenly Host Elementary School, the Rumor of the Yokai, the Rumor of Ryomen Sukuna, and the Rumor of the Island Nation's Terrifying Politician... several hundred in all, large and small.]

[Behind several of these rumors lie cursed spirits beyond Special Grade. Some rumors were deliberately released by a certain politician. The rest may be true or false.]

After reading Intel Three, Anjouin felt like a mouthful of old phlegm had lodged in his throat.

He suddenly wanted to pack up and head straight back to Advanced Nurturing High School that very night. Who could have guessed the outside world was this dangerous?

What the hell have you people stitched together?!

Intel Three made his scalp go numb.

Especially the part about cursed spirits beyond Special Grade: the more he knew about them, the more likely he was to run into them, or even be drawn to them.

As a transmigrator, just reading the intel was enough to bring the matching information to mind.

He quietly set a Binding on the spot to make himself forget that information for the time being. He just didn't know whether it was too late to do that now.

And he really did want to go back to Advanced Nurturing right now. He already missed the dorms.

"Senior Nanami..."

Anjouin looked up and happened to see a very short, black-haired boy standing beside the Hoshino siblings' legs.

The boy had a slightly oversized head and wore glasses that were glinting in the light. His hair had bangs in front and two cowlicks sticking out at the back.

He wore a blue suit, a white shirt, gray shorts, and a bright red bow tie on his chest.

That look was far too familiar. Anjouin felt like a stirring, well-known tune was playing in his ears.

With camera flashes clicking away, a high school detective began to introduce himself.

The next instant, the sky turned bright.

Anjouin was standing inside a train station.

The station's announcement was sounding beside him.

—Welcome to Beika Town.