NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Responsibility and Reunion.
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Mad Bastards over at Webnovel reached the Goal I set for them…
I am a man of my word so here, very early chapter.
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The next day, 8 am.
Southern Shizuoka Prefecture.
"Yes, I did say that Sukuna took over his body, he took over so I had to kill him. I don't understand what you're not getting here!" Megumi repeated exasperated into his phone, he was currently sitting in a black car that was speeding down the road to get to a specific residence near the south of Shizuka prefecture.
The black haired man had 3 files on his lap, each of which had information on Minor Jujutsu Clans that had a potential to be either sympathetic to his cause or down to have a major upheaval in how the world of Jujutsu is built and maintained.
And he was currently doing research on each one to ascertain which one to visit first all the while in a call with the higher ups of Jujutsu HQ. They were currently grilling him for information on how the 'Eishu Detention Center Incident' had played out as they were sceptical about the death of Yuji Itadori despite the report given from Shoko Ieri.
"How many times do I have to say it, I burned the corpse to ashes to make sure Sukuna couldn't take it over again. What was I supposed to do? Take a picture of the body and send it to you old geezers through a fax machine before you believe me?" He growled into the phone with clear annoyance.
If one looked closely, you would notice that Megumi Fushiguro's normally Viridian Green irises were currently burning a Crimson Red that signified the activation of his Rabbit Escape Incarnation.
He was currently maintaining the form of a clone back at Tsumiki's room which had the purpose of protecting her as well as studying her curse, trying to get a clear outline for her soul which was merged or rather as how he recently ascertained, suppressed by Yorozu's dormant soul with the help of kenjaku's seal whenever he had brain power and attention to spare.
"Look, I told you what happened on my end. Believe me or piss off, I don't care which." Megumi closed the call immediately afterwards and went back to considering his next moves by going through his files once more.
"Young Master, you didn't have to come along, I could have delivered the package by myself. I am yours to command after all, so there's no need for you to come along and busy your already packed schedule." Rin commented as she turned the car with terrifying speed and grace down the street, barely missing a child that was walking a few steps into the street by a few centimetres.
"Well, in the end, it is my responsibility. I have to make sure that the failures of both myself and my people are accounted for. If I as the future leader of Jujutsu Society don't know the importance and weight of taking responsibility, then who will? We would just fall back into the same hole we're currently trying to get out of." He stated.
He then read a file that held intensive information about the 'Kyofu' clan which had undergone a steady decline over the past few decades due to the lack of competent sorcerers born of it. And so he thinks that with a bit of support, and of course some manipulation, he could pull them to his side easily.
"As you command, Young Master." She accepted his reasons with a small smile just as the car stopped as they had reached their destination which was a small and humble house in the suburbs of Shizuoka.
Megumi closed the file in his lap and exited the car in a single movement, eager to be done with this and move on to the next part of his today's checklist. Rin followed closely behind him, stopping briefly to open up the trunk of the car to grab a large rectangular object.
The Black Haired man walked ahead towards the front door of the house, adjusting his black tie as he did so as he had chosen to wear an all black suit with a white shirt for this part of the mission. He tidied up his hair for a moment before he rang the doorbell and waited for the door to be answered which took about a minute.
"Y-Yes, can I help you?" Asked a familiar woman, she had deep eye bags and faded tear streams going down her cheeks.
"I apologise for bothering you Ma'am, but I have come here for an important matter regarding your son 'Tadashi'." Megumi announced with a stoic expression.
"EH?! What is it?! What happened to Tadashi?!" The woman demanded immediately, all her tiredness seemed to have vanished immediately.
"That is why I am here, I regret to inform you that Tadashi is dead." He Informed with a sense of warmth in his voice.
Megumi didn't flinch even as the woman slapped him with all her strength before she fell against him and cried her heart out once more, he didn't move an inch as tears soaked his vest.
'It isn't any fault of her own, she's just a woman grieving for the loss of her son. Not like I even felt it.' Even though he felt nothing for the death of Tadashi, he still held himself responsible for his death as it should have been his responsibility to save him and so he allowed it to slide.
"But, if it grants any solace, we did manage to recover his.. Remains."
"Y-You d-did?" She asked as she backed off of his chest while muttering a soft "Sorry…".
"Yes, but I must warn you, it is not a pretty sight." Megumi confessed, adding an air of hesitation in his voice, he looked into the woman's eyes to look for an answer before he sighed and snapped his fingers before stepping aside.
When he did so, Rin walked into the house with a large coffin shaped box in her hands which she was holding comfortably. She walked past the woman with the box and placed it in the middle of her living room.
The woman rushed towards the coffin and opened it to look at what was left of her son. Shortly after opening it, she fell to her knees and started crying again with a mixture of happiness and sadness.
"I know this doesn't make our failure any better. But I hope that this, along with this envelope, will help you finally heal and move on. Goodbye." Megumi said as he reached into his suit and retrieved a small envelope before placing it upon the coffin.
The older woman looked up from her place on the ground and saw with widened eyes that both Megumi and Rin were bowing to her together, she reached towards the envelope and opened it before she gasped loudly at the check within it.
"Excuse me, I couldn't possibly take this much when it wasn't your fault to-!" She cried out in surprise as she looked back up towards the two of them and paused as they had both disappeared from view completely.
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Megumi had told Rin to stop the car a few miles away from the house at an isolated bridge, the black haired man exited the car with a small sigh as his assistant followed him out. He took off his vest and walked to the edge of the bridge, he moved his hand back with his vest on it which was taken from him by Rin.
She then handed him his Signature Haori with her head bowed down, although it had been modified to have the symbols and shadow figures of his Shikigami emblazoned along its entire form. He put on the Haori in a single motion and looked back to see her now on one knee with her head bowed even further, causing him to sigh with a feeling of helplessness.
'Well, I did save her family from a lifetime of servitude under the Kamo Clan and some would consider that a fate worse than Death. I suppose it can't be helped, if she wishes to serve me with this much fervour then it would be more harmful to push her away after everything.' Megumi sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Rin, I'm going to fly home. I need you to reach out to the Kyofu clan as they will be the next ones we bring into our side, find out what they need and lure them in with what we can give them in return for their allegiance." He ordered while rolling his shoulders. "Also, have our people search for a cursed spirit with the ability to have a sub-space within it which is compatible to become a shikigami and make sure it is capable of shrinking."
"Cost is not a factor, so look even outside the country if necessary. Can I trust you with all of this?" The Special grade sorcerer asked as he jumped on top of the edge fence of the bridge.
"As you command, so it shall be Young Master." Rin simply said with a smile bathed in an air of reverence, she seemed oddly happy to be given complicated tasks by her chosen master.
"Good, then get to work Rin, I expect great things from you." Megumi declared as Onyx-coloured wings sprouted from his back before he flew off at awe-inspiring speeds that caused a sonic boom in his wake.
Rin watched him as he flew away, the sonic boom he created during his lift off had caused air to blow her hair around as the demure smile on her face grew into an excited grin, she jumped in her place for a moment in quiet celebration before she got back into the car and drove off eagerly.
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Megumi flew forwards at incredible speeds with sonic booms sounding out in his wake, even the skies cleared when he passed through the heavens and the clouds. He crossed the distance between southern Shizuoka and Tokyo Jujutsu Tech at blinding speeds that surpassed anything that he could have imagined before.
He had crossed a 120 kilometres of distance in exactly 4 Minutes and 11 Seconds.
'If I had to take a guess at my current flight speed, I'd have to say it's well past the speed of sound but lower than Naoya's top speed in his Vengeful Spirit form. Makes sense, dumb bastard has a pretty strong speed-based cursed technique. Shame he's such a huge dumbass it doesn't matter how much Potential it has, the only reason he was able to cast a Domain Expansion was pure hatred of women. It's almost impressive really.'
Megumi arrived at the outer barrier of the school and crossed it without much further fuss, he hovered in the sky for a moment as he located the two of his classmates sitting on a flight of stairs of a shrine in the middle of the forest.
Now locked onto his classmates' signatures, he turns mid air and flies over to their location before landing in front of them. He turned to look towards Kugisaki and Itadori with a tired grin as his wings fluttered for a moment before melting away into shadows and leaving behind a few falling Onyx-coloured feathers.
"Why are the two of you sulking out here in the sun? Shouldn't you two be training?" Megumi asked with a hint of amusement as he placed a hand on his hip.
"It's too frickin' hot to do that you monster!" Itadori shouted out incredulously while pointing at him.
"Yeah, not all of us are genetic freaks who could go for 4 days without food or water all the while doing missions and training!" Kugisaki called out, annoyed at his casual demeanour.
To this Megumi chuckled as he had done that a week ago to test out the limits of his evolved body. Much to his delight, he found that as long as he gave his body enough time to regenerate his cursed energy and took breaks every once in a while; he could keep performing at high capacity for days on end with low resources.
'Hm, is it smart to let Sukuna know I can summon more than 4 Shikigami at a time? No, prolly not. Would it really matter much in the end? No, prolly not either. He'd be able to kill them pretty easily if I summoned them by themselves anyways. Eh whatever, trying to hide so much because I'm scared of Sukuna is for pussies, I can handle him.' Megumi considered for a moment before deciding to throw caution to the wind.
He let out a small sigh before his shadows expanded outwards way larger than ever before as one by one, each one of his 8 tamed Shikigami were released from his shadows, allowing them to relax and stretch their limbs in peace.
"Baku, before you go off, could you spray water into the air every once in a while?" Megumi asked the elephant as she exited his shadow.
Baku huffed for a moment before she aimed her trunk at the skies, a short charge up time later, she released a huge torrent of water into the open air. The water flew up 20 metres into the sky before it broke apart and dispersed into a wonderful drizzle of rain that cooled down the hot and dry area.
The appearance of all of the Shikigami, along with the drizzle of rain that cooled down the area had completely revived the two classmate's fervour and spirit as they cheerfully got up from their slumped places on the stairs to enjoy the cool atmosphere.
"Sorry for not letting you guys out much lately, I've been busy and been getting side tracked a lot so I've never had the time." Megumi called out to his shikigami as they all spread out to relax for a while.
To his credit, they all didn't seem bothered by it and just happily moved on. Blizzard however was quite excited to be able to simply stand by his master and relax in his presence after so long they spent apart or unsummoned.
He showed this by running up to the black haired man and jumping on top of him, his sudden weight pushed Megumi to the ground where the wolf proceeded to lick his face, his tail turning into a helicopter as he did so.
"I missed you too buddy!" Megumi laughed out while trying to get the excited canine off of him but struggled to do so due to how large he was and his own unwillingness to use force against him.
"Well you guys look like you're having fun." Said an amused yet very familiar voice from ahead of him.
Before Megumi could respond, Blizzard shot up from his place on top of him and shot off towards the voice, to which the black haired man huffed in amusement as Yuji came up to him and helped him up to his feet.
"Finally done with your mission in Hokkaido, huh Maki?"
Megumi looked towards where Blizzard ran off to and laid his eyes on his favourite sparring partner and most trusted ally; Maki. She was currently holding the giant wolf Blizzard with one hand in a baby carry while rubbing his belly with the other, she didn't seem to be exerting herself in the slightest as she did so despite the huge disparity of size.
"What's with the hair, and why do you look like you tried to check if you were volcano proof?" He asked, curious and a bit concerned as he recognised her current hairstyle as the same one she had after the Shibuya incident and especially concerned as she looked like she had light burns all around her body.
Maki suddenly looked ticked off and annoyed at remembering something that happened a day prior, Megumi then heard giggles from behind Maki as he felt 2 other familiar signatures come up behind her.
"It's funny you say that…" Panda laughed out in between giggles and heavy breathing.
"Salmon Roe!" Inumaki agreed, holding his stomach in pain from laughing too hard.
"I cut my hair like this for Mai and.. Some Bastard Volcano Head curse forced me to repeatedly tank blasts of fire for civilians because the fucking windows failed to secure and clear the village of any leftover civilians during the evacuation!" The Black Haired woman growled out in rage, veins on her temple bulging out as she did.
"'Volcano Head'?" Yuji mumbled, turning to Kugisaki beside him confused as he tried to imagine a curse that matched the name. However the brown haired girl was uncharacteristically quiet, her cheeks were dusted with a light pink.
"Wait hold on.. Nobara do you like- Urgh!" Yuji started asking after a moment of thought but was stopped by her elbowing him in the gut as hard as she could without saying a word, causing him to grunt and double over in pain.
"Shut up!" She hushed him, her cheeks now burning even harder which confirmed his suspicions.
"If it managed to hurt you at all, it must've been a special grade curse to manage even that. Did ya manage to kill it at least?" Megumi questioned, recalling Jogo who was a Special Grade Disaster curse that matched her description and it would be very convenient if she killed him early.
His question caused Maki who had dropped Blizzard onto the ground and was now just simply petting his head to become even more pissed somehow, causing her to put more pressure onto the ground beneath her and create a crater from her pure strength alone.
"H-He was a Special Grade yea', he could talk pretty fluently and was crazy strong after all. Maki had him on the ropes for the entire fight and forced him to target the civilians as a distraction, he managed to get away in the end with the help of another curse." Panda explained, stuttering at the start as he calmed himself to stop laughing.
"I shattered both his arms with Playful Cloud and had him dead to rights twice but I couldn't finish him off without a good blade, so the bastard managed to survive and run away right after I was gonna take his head thanks to that piece of shit Plant-!" Maki ranted on and on, her rage at being forced to take repeated blasts of fire to protect innocent people and then having her kill stolen was overwhelming.
'So Jogo is still alive huh? How annoying, she should be able to kill him as she is now, he might be stronger than normal because of me. Looks like she's also being held back since she doesn't have a special grade blade to use since any others she uses break under her immense strength. Too bad she can't use Kage or the Greatsword to their fullest extent without Cursed Energy, we need to find her one soon.' Megumi considered.
"But never mind all that, my burns are gonna heal by themselves in a few days according to Shoko, why don't you introduce us to our new Juniors?" Maki asked after taking a moment to calm herself down.
"Oh right, my bad. You two, this is Maki. Maki, this is Nobara Kugisaki and Yuji Itadori." He simply said, not elaborating in the slightest.
"Hey! That's not descriptive at all, and you forgot the two of us!" Panda called out in outrage from the side.
"Tuna Mayo!"
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Author's Note:
A bit of a set up and character development chapter, what can ya do?
KEEP SENDING THE STONES MY CHILDREN! OUR EMPIRE SHALL CONQUER THE STARS SOME DAY!
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Next Chapter Title: 2 Months.
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