Chapter 122 (Patreon)

A gentle breeze swept past.

“Looks like we’re late.”

Ragnar Kagenou glanced at Megumi Fushiguro, who lay motionless on the ground.

“No way… Fushiguro…”

Yuji Itadori sniffled dramatically as he produced a white funeral wreath from seemingly nowhere.

“Where did you even get that?!”

Nobara Kugisaki blinked. By the time she opened her eyes again, the wreath was already resting in Yuji’s hands.

Ragnar calmly pulled out a handful of white chrysanthemums as well.

“Megumi was a dependable teammate. It’s truly a shame.”

Watching the two of them prepare a funeral without the slightest hesitation, Nobara instinctively took a step back.

“Don’t decide he’s dead already! He might still be alive…”

Just as Nobara was beginning to fall for Ragnar and Yuji’s performance, Megumi’s closed eyes suddenly opened.

He stared flatly at the three of them.

“Oh, you’re back. I’m glad everyone’s safe…”

His gaze slowly dropped to the funeral wreath lying across his chest, then shifted to the white chrysanthemums someone had placed in his hand.

Megumi fell silent for a moment.

“…What exactly are you doing?”

Yuji looked down and saw that Megumi was awake.

His face immediately twisted in horror.

“AHHH! Fushiguro turned into a Cursed Spirit and came back to kill us!”

Smack!

“Ow! That hurt! Why did you hit me, Kugisaki?!”

Nobara sighed, looking utterly exhausted.

“Idiot.”

“I-Idiot? Who are you calling an idiot? You can’t possibly mean me, right?”

“…”

“Why are you staying silent?! And what’s with that look? It’s like you’re saying I have absolutely no self-awareness!”

Seeing the two of them as lively as ever, Megumi felt a quiet sense of relief.

“Please… keep it down.”

Unfortunately, his voice was too weak to reach the noisy pair.

Damn it… My head is killing me.

I survived a fight against a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, only to be annoyed to death by these two.

“Huh? Where did Kagenou-sensei go? Wasn’t he standing right here?”

Megumi looked around, but Ragnar was nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, Ragnar stood on the bridge with his phone pressed to his ear.

“Mm-hm. That’s right—the Eighty-Eight Bridge. Yuji and the others are here too.”

Megumi’s head snapped upward when he heard Ragnar’s voice.

“What?! He’s reporting us! How underhanded!”

“Reporting us?” Yuji asked. “For what? And to whom?”

“Uh… what are you two talking about?”

Nobara gave Yuji a sidelong glance.

“Like I said, you’re an idiot if you can’t understand something this obvious.”

“What?! I’m not an idiot!”

Megumi shut his eyes again.

“This is more exhausting than being cursed…”

He reached out and tugged at Yuji, but then sensed something nearby and turned his head.

“What is it?” Yuji asked.

“The finger.”

“Fushiguro, why were you pretending to be dead while clutching Sukuna’s finger?” Nobara tilted her head as she looked over. “That’s seriously weird.”

“Who would want to hold on to this thing?” Megumi retorted. “And Kugisaki, how do you even know about Sukuna’s finger?”

“Do you really have time to worry about that right now?”

“…No.”

Yuji suddenly raised his hand.

“Why don’t I just eat it?”

“This isn’t leftover food.”

“Then maybe we should give it to Kagenou-sensei…”

Megumi looked up toward the bridge.

Ragnar was leaning lazily against the railing, showing absolutely no interest in the finger.

“He’s far too indifferent for a teacher,” Megumi muttered. “And there’s no way he can’t hear us.”

After considering it for a moment, Megumi decided that since Ragnar had no intention of intervening, he would leave the finger with Yuji for safekeeping.

“I’ll leave this with you. Whatever happens, don’t eat it. We don’t know what might—”

“Don’t worry. I definitely won’t eat it,” Yuji declared confidently.

Before handing it over, Megumi gave him one final warning.

“I’m saying this one more time. Under no circumstances are you allowed to eat it.”

“I know, I know. You don’t have to keep repeating yourself…”

Without warning, a mouth opened in the center of Yuji’s palm.

Before any of them could react, it swallowed the finger whole.

“Ah…”

All three of them froze.

Megumi was the first to snap out of it.

“I just told you not to eat it!”

“I didn’t!” Yuji shouted. “Sukuna did that on his own!”

Nobara stared at both of them.

“Two idiots.”

——————

Ragnar swept his left hand through the air.

A translucent interface appeared before him.

He selected 【Kill Records】.

【Special Grade Cursed Spirit exorcised. Cursed Energy increased by 1,000 points.】

【Special Grade Cursed Spirit exorcised. Cursed Energy increased by 1,000 points.】

“Two Special Grades…”

Ragnar studied the records.

“Kechizu was killed by Yuji and the others. That means Hashihime survived. She’s more tenacious than I expected.”

She had managed to survive one of Ragnar’s attacks.

Still, unless their paths crossed again, he had no interest in going out of his way to finish her off.

“Riko’s marker hasn’t disappeared yet, so she’s still alive. Her current location is…”

Ragnar checked Riko Amanai’s position on the map.

“Oh? Interesting.”

He shifted his attention to another section of the interface.

“Now, let’s see the requirements for releasing the Third Seal—and what I’ll receive in return.”

Cursed Energy: 9,110 / 13,540

【Releasing the Third Seal of the Gate of Babylon requires the exorcism of three designated Special Grade Cursed Spirits.】

【Once the Third Seal of the Gate of Babylon has been released, conceptual Noble Phantasms below EX-rank and Innate Skills will become available.】

“Three designated Special Grade Cursed Spirits?”

Ragnar’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“That must mean those three.”

He had originally intended to ignore the remaining two.

However, if their deaths were required to release the seal, the situation was different.

“I had no reason to trouble myself with you before.”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“But now that I need you…”

“Your deaths are inevitable.”

——————

One day later.

Suguru Geto had completely accepted a life without Cursed Energy.

Several months had passed since he had become one of the “monkeys”—the ordinary people he had once despised so deeply.

“The difference between those who possess Cursed Energy and those who don’t… isn’t as great as I imagined.”

Although Suguru had lost his Cursed Energy, Mimiko and Nanako had never left his side.

The same could not be said for the others.

The moment the remaining members learned that he had lost his Cursed Energy, they looked at him with the same contempt he had once reserved for ordinary people.

Then they left.

Suguru had asked the sisters why they still chose to follow him now that he was nothing more than an ordinary man without Cursed Energy.

Their answers had been identical.

Suguru Geto had saved them.

Whether he was a jujutsu sorcerer had nothing to do with it.

From that moment onward, Suguru had gradually come to terms with everything—the jujutsu sorcerers, ordinary people, and even Cursed Spirits.

“Ragnar… if it weren’t for you, I might have died that day.”

Suguru gazed through the window at the peaceful world outside.

Living an ordinary life was not so terrible.

The Curse User known as Suguru Geto was dead.

He had died on the day the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons came to an end.

“Satoru… I’m sorry.”

Suguru lowered his eyes.

“I don’t have the courage to face you again.”

The man who remained was no longer a Curse User.

He was simply an ordinary person named Suguru Geto.

Perhaps his life would continue like this—quiet, warm, and uneventful.

He would work from morning until evening, return home, and live out his days like any other ordinary person.

Splatter!

Warm blood sprayed across Suguru’s face.

Until that moment, he had truly believed he could spend the rest of his life in peace.

“Mimiko! Nanako!”

Unfortunately, that peaceful life ended today.

No one could truly escape the jujutsu world.

Not even someone who no longer possessed Cursed Energy.

“Riko!”

Suguru stared at the figure before him in disbelief.

“Why are you doing this?!”

Thick branches erupted from Riko Amanai’s hands.

They shot through the air and impaled the two sisters, suspending them helplessly above the ground.

The jujutsu world had always been like this.

Mercilessly cruel.