Chapter 155 (Patreon)

“Wah!”

Tsumiki Fushiguro screamed and immediately bolted. Even while sprinting for her life, she didn’t forget to call out to Yorozu.

“H-Help me, Miss Yorozu!”

Yorozu was speechless.

The cursed spirit pursuing Tsumiki was moving so slowly that it could barely be considered a threat.

But Tsumiki didn’t care about that.

She ran and ran until her legs finally gave out. Only then did she stop, leaning against a street sign while gasping desperately for air.

“Th-That was close... I almost died again.”

After taking some time to recover, Tsumiki entered an abandoned 7-Eleven and began searching the shelves.

“Honestly... I was in serious danger back there, but you didn’t do anything, Miss Yorozu.”

“If you had calmed down for even a moment, you would have realized that cursed spirit was far too slow to catch you.”

“B-But it was really scary!”

“Stupid woman.”

“Y-You... You...”

Yorozu’s voice turned cold.

“What about me?”

Tsumiki immediately deflated.

“Nothing...”

As she wandered through the convenience store, another thought occurred to her.

“By the way, Miss Yorozu, you’re a jujutsu sorcerer, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

Tsumiki found a backpack and began filling it with bottled water and food.

“That’s amazing. Jujutsu sorcerers can exorcise cursed spirits so easily...”

“What? Do you want to become one too?”

Tsumiki scratched her head, sounding uncertain.

“Someone like me probably wouldn’t be able to—”

“You can.”

Tsumiki froze.

“...Really?!”

“Tch. Damn it. I said more than I needed to.”

Tsumiki scratched her cheek.

“Miss Yorozu, you accidentally said that last part out loud.”

Yorozu stared through Tsumiki’s eyes at the hopeful expression on the foolish girl’s face.

“A barrier ritual known as the Culling Game is taking place across this land. Anyone who survived the barrier’s selection and transformation possesses the potential to become a jujutsu sorcerer. You are no exception.”

“C-Culling Game... That’s surprisingly hard to say.”

Tsumiki quickly gave up trying.

“Never mind. So, only people with the potential to become jujutsu sorcerers can enter this barrier?”

“That interpretation isn’t entirely wrong. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to incarnate inside you.”

Tsumiki spent quite some time quietly muttering to herself.

“I see... Come to think of it, some white-haired man visited our house once. He said something about my little brother becoming a jujutsu sorcerer in the future.”

“Is that so? Then, as long as a cursed spirit hasn’t killed him, you should be able to meet him again.”

“Cursed spirits, huh... It feels like the entire world changed while I was asleep.”

Under Yorozu’s guidance, Tsumiki soon discovered that she could manipulate a small amount of cursed energy.

“Oh! This feels incredible!”

There was a reason Yorozu had suddenly become willing to teach Tsumiki how to control cursed energy.

As Tsumiki gradually learned to manipulate it, Yorozu discovered that her soul was becoming increasingly compatible with Tsumiki’s body.

Simply put, whenever Tsumiki used Yorozu’s cursed energy, Yorozu’s control over her body grew stronger.

That was precisely what Yorozu wanted.

Once the right opportunity presented itself, she would be able to seize complete control of this body with ease.

“Up ahead... I think there’s someone over there. Can you see them, Miss Yorozu?”

Tsumiki narrowed her eyes at a distant silhouette.

“It really is a person.”

Using cursed energy to sense the figure, Yorozu confirmed that the other party wasn’t a cursed spirit.

They also appeared to be quite powerful.

“See? I told you! Thank goodness. I’ve finally found another living person.”

Tsumiki jogged toward the distant figure.

“Hey! Excuse me! Can you hear me?”

“Guilty.”

“Huh?”

Tsumiki stopped in her tracks.

“Guilty? Who? Me? Why?!”

In a single instant, countless possibilities raced through her mind.

Bang!

A judge’s gavel appeared in the man’s hand. Cursed energy gathered around it, causing its handle to extend in an instant.

The gavel smashed through a cursed spirit lurking behind a nearby doorway, obliterating it with a single blow.

Tsumiki stared at the massive crater left in the side of the building.

“No way... That tiny gavel caused all this damage?”

“Wait...”

Just as Tsumiki was about to approach him, the man in the black suit spoke again.

“I’m a lawyer. If you wish to speak with me, I charge a consultation fee of five thousand yen for every thirty minutes.”

“Huh?”

“I’m joking. I merely wanted to play the part of an unpleasant, unscrupulous lawyer.”

“Really? You didn’t look like you were acting just now.”

The man paused.

“So, miss, what can I do for you? Ah, I nearly forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hiromi Higuruma.”

“I’m Tsumiki Fushiguro. I suppose I’m... a student.”

Tsumiki wasn’t entirely certain about that anymore.

She had been unconscious for so long that she had probably already been removed from her school’s enrollment.

“You suppose...?”

Higuruma glanced around the deserted street.

“This area is dangerous. We should find somewhere safer to talk.”

“Oh, all right.”

Yorozu’s voice immediately echoed inside Tsumiki’s mind.

“You really believe anything a stranger tells you, don’t you?”

“But... I don’t think he’s lying to me.”

Higuruma glanced over his shoulder.

“Hmm? Miss Fushiguro, did you say something?”

“Ah, sorry. I was only... talking to myself.”

A short while later, the two of them arrived on a nearby rooftop.

“Mr. Higuruma, I’m looking for my younger brother...”

“You’re searching for someone?”

Higuruma’s expression grew serious.

“You must understand the situation we’re in. Finding a specific person in a place like this would be extremely difficult.”

Higuruma had deliberately chosen his words carefully.

In truth, finding a single person amid the chaos of the Culling Game was almost impossible.

Boom!

A blur suddenly shot toward them.

A violent explosion tore across the rooftop.

At that moment, Higuruma managed to catch a glimpse of what had attacked them.

“A jetpack?”

High in the sky, Hanyu pulled her goggles down over her eyes and spat to the side.

“Those two really are lucky. I can’t believe they dodged that.”

Hanyu raised her wrist to her mouth and spoke into her watch.

“Darling, come meet up with me.”

Higuruma stared up at Hanyu as she hovered in the sky.

“Without the restraints of law, murder and violence inevitably become commonplace.”

Whoosh!

“What—Miss Fushiguro?!”

A blur swept past Higuruma.

It appeared to be Tsumiki.

“Trash like you dares to damage my vessel?”

Yorozu had seized partial control of Tsumiki’s body.

She appeared in front of Hanyu and caught the woman by the throat with one hand, her eyes overflowing with murderous intent.

Hum—

Flowing liquid metal emerged from Yorozu’s left hand.

Shing!

The liquid metal hardened into a pitch-black longsword.

“Carve this moment into your heart.”

Yorozu raised the blade.

“It will be your last.”

“No, Miss Yorozu! You can’t kill her!”

Just as Yorozu was about to behead Hanyu, Tsumiki desperately fought to regain control of their left arm.

Slash!

The black blade sliced across Hanyu’s arm instead.

Blood sprayed through the air as her severed arm spun away.