Five days later.
At dusk, Kira Nanami looked out at the deepening night and the autumn wind stirring the fine rain.
During this time, he had also thought about Snake Head's purpose in attacking him.
No matter how he considered it, he reached the same conclusion: it had something to do with Amber Mansion.
Amber Mansion had drawn it here.
Was all of this Tengen's design...?
Tengen had cooperated with Amber Mansion. There might also have been traces of their involvement behind the decision to send Kira to the auction. And during those brief moments when Amber Mansion went out of control, Tengen had been the first to stabilize it.
Kira Nanami wanted to confront Tengen face-to-face, but unfortunately, Tengen hid within the Tombs of the Star. The Tombs of the Star had a thousand doors, and its location was constantly changing.
Every five hundred years, Tengen needed to merge with a Star Plasma Vessel in order to preserve their humanity. The last time a Star Plasma Vessel was transported, Kira Nanami, Gojo Satoru, and Geto Suguru had been responsible for the mission, so Kira had been fortunate enough to meet Tengen once.
How should he put it...
Their appearance suited the aesthetic preferences of Cursed Spirits rather well.
If that really had been Tengen themself... how should he describe it...
They looked like one of Mahito's early works.
Four eyes.
No nose.
Kira Nanami had no interest in what Tengen wanted, whether that form was an incarnation, or whether they were good or bad for humanity.
But Tengen was not allowed to interfere with his life.
Otherwise—
Kira Nanami gave the lonely sky one last look and closed the window.
October 19.
Inside a dark warehouse.
"You finally came. I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me."
Fungi grew wildly in the damp environment. Exposed steel frames looked cold and ferocious. Nutrient solution flowed through white, blue, and multicolored tubes that coiled and tangled together before connecting to a boy.
Bandages covered his entire body. The eyes exposed between them were lifeless, gray, and gloomy.
At last, a trace of emotion appeared in those silent eyes. He forced his eyelids open and spoke contemptuously to the figures before him.
"We're not that stupid. The backlash from a Binding Vow is no joke."
Geto Suguru wore a faint smile as he leaned lazily against the doorway. His body blocked most of the light from outside, casting a shadow over Mechamaru—or rather, Muta Kokichi.
"You provide us with information, and we heal your body using Mahito's technique, Idle Transfiguration."
"Trash."
Muta Kokichi forced his voice through clenched teeth:
"Where's your companion?"
"Dead, unfortunately."
Kenjaku said it was unfortunate, but there was not the slightest hint of regret in his eyes.
"Oh?"
Muta Kokichi felt a trace of schadenfreude, but far more anger.
"You're saying that disgusting Cursed Spirit is dead?"
"We made a Binding Vow. If you can't heal me, you'll suffer the backlash."
"Relax, relax."
Kenjaku waved a hand and explained, "I can use Mahito's technique too. It's just Idle Transfiguration..."
Then his tone shifted. His gaze sharpened as he said softly, "I'll heal you."
Because of the powerful Heavenly Restriction he had possessed since birth, Muta Kokichi had traded his vitality for extraordinary talent in jujutsu.
Rather than a blessing, Heavenly Restriction was closer to a curse—a curse that followed a person for life. Kokichi hated the shackles bound to his body.
He did not know what sunlight felt like, because he had lived underground from the moment he was born. The instant sunlight touched his skin, it would rot and collapse.
He did not know what a breeze against his cheek felt like. He did not know the heat of summer.
"The willow breeze does not chill the face; the apricot-blossom rain does not wet the clothes."
He had experienced none of it, because his body was impossibly fragile.
What he wanted most was to know the feeling of her hand brushing across his cheek.
What would that feel like?
Muta Kokichi did not know.
Perhaps in her eyes, he was only an ugly cursed corpse that might devour someone at any moment. Kokichi often thought that way.
In a certain sense, Muta Kokichi and the curse user Hase Kaede had something in common.
Both had exchanged their bodies for talent. Hase Kaede had gone even further and could maintain a collapsing body only by devouring souls.
Hase Kaede had already become a notorious curse user.
What about Muta Kokichi?
"Trash. Heal me."
He stared at Kenjaku as though looking at a dead man.
"All right, all right. We'll do it your way. Whatever you say."
Kenjaku spread his hands as though soothing a child. Murky cursed energy surged and revolved above them.
It enveloped Muta Kokichi's body.
He felt as though his entire body had fallen into the ocean, then melted into magma. Every organ, every cell in his body seemed to be reshaped and granted new vitality.
"Idle Transfiguration," Kenjaku said softly.
When the black flood receded, the boy's thin body was revealed.
He truly was gaunt.
Muta Kokichi flexed his fingers, planted his feet on the ground, and rolled his neck. Every movement gave him real tactile feedback. In an instant, he fell in love with that solid sensation. It made him feel as though he were no longer floating in the air.
"How cold."
Kenjaku sounded almost aggrieved. He raised an eyebrow.
"Can't you act even more indifferent?"
"Save it until everything is over."
Muta Kokichi pressed one hand against the mechanical conduit beside him.
The machine seemed to come alive.
He looked at Kenjaku without the slightest hesitation or retreat in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth split into an exaggerated grin.
The expression pulled at the scar across his face, making the boy look even more frightening.
With that, the Binding Vow was fully completed.
The battle to the death began.
Muta Kokichi had not made this choice blindly. He had his own calculations.
During the more than ten years he had been confined, he had accumulated energy every single day. By now, according to his calculations, even a top-tier Special Grade Cursed Spirit would have great difficulty withstanding a single strike.
In fact, as Geto Suguru felt the oppressive atmosphere around him, he too realized the man before him was anything but harmless.
And with the Ultimate Mechamaru he had secretly constructed...
I can definitely escape from here.
Then I'll tell Mr. Gojo the Cursed Spirits' plan, and I can make up for what I did...
As long as I escape, I'll be able to do everything I've always wanted...
I can bask in the sun. Feel the cold wind. Stand alone in the rain.
Those were all things he had always wanted.
And most importantly, most importantly...
He had to get out.
Because there was something he absolutely had to convey!
Thinking this, Muta Kokichi activated Ultimate Mechamaru.
But to his confusion,
Kenjaku still did nothing.
He only smiled faintly.
Muta Kokichi finally sensed that something was wrong.
Following his instincts, he turned around.
His pupils contracted, then began trembling violently.
"You... You're..."
Blood sprayed through the air.
October 20.
Record—Grade 1 candidate jujutsu sorcerer Muta Kokichi / Mechamaru missing, suspected of defection.
October 30.
Record—October 31, 2018, 19:00.
A Veil with a radius of four hundred meters appeared, centered on Tokyu Department Store, Toyoko branch.