Was she dead?
Believe it or not, Mahiru really had thought she was about to die back then.
It was only now, waking up, that she realized she hadn't died after all.
That was the nature of Positive Energy: the moment a Cursed Spirit touched even a sliver of it, they'd be annihilated. It was a pure, mechanical counter—there was simply no way around it.
But the crux of the matter lay in the very instant Mahiru was engulfed by the Positive Energy—an instant before being devoured, she'd managed, just barely, to absorb the gray Mahoraga into her body.
Remember what that Mahoraga had once adapted to?
It had adapted to another Mahoraga's existence, Cursed Energy, attacks, and defenses—and 'Positive Energy' happened to fall within that very scope.
And so, in absorbing the gray Mahoraga, Mahiru simultaneously gained an Adaptation to Positive Energy as well.
The damage Positive Energy dealt to Mahiru plummeted dramatically.
So the girl didn't die. She survived.
But it seemed she'd been unconscious for a very long time.
Glancing left and right, the girl felt something was off.
This wasn't Tokyo—it was some wilderness, a jungle in the middle of nowhere.
'My butt, ugh...' Mahiru rubbed her behind as she stood up, her head clearing a little.
She promptly sensed that something about her body wasn't quite right.
She quickly looked down to examine herself. The more she checked, the more wrong it felt, yet for the moment she couldn't figure out what exactly was going on.
Suddenly, on instinct, she spread open her palm—perhaps following some subconscious urge, or perhaps by some inexplicable twist of fate... And as a spark of inspiration flashed through her mind, a pure, transparent energy rose from her palm like a flame.
Mahiru's mouth fell open in shock.
'Holy crap!' This was Positive Energy!
This was the Reverse Cursed Technique!
She... could actually perform the Reverse Cursed Technique, outputting Positive Energy?
But wasn't she a Cursed Spirit?
Shouldn't a Cursed Spirit be instantly annihilated the moment it touched reversed Positive Energy?
So what on earth was going on now?
She examined her body again.
The more she checked, the more alarmed she became.
Her body really did seem completely different. Most crucially, her 'form of existence' had changed.
A Cursed Spirit was an aggregate of negative energy, which was why she'd feared Positive Energy touching her and annihilating her.
But now she no longer feared Positive Energy—so was she even still a Cursed Spirit?
Yes—in fact, she was no longer a Cursed Spirit at all.
Mahiru could feel that her current form of existence was neither Cursed Spirit nor human. Both her body and her soul had transformed into a state more complex and elevated than a human, a Shikigami, or a Cursed Spirit.
The change in her form of existence was only one aspect.
For another, the Cursed Energy within her had increased. In her earlier battle she'd fired off most of the Mahoraga's substance like cannonballs—but a portion had still been absorbed, raising her Cursed Energy up a whole level.
In truth, shedding her Cursed Spirit body was an immensely important thing for Mahiru.
For one, because Cursed Spirits were countered by Positive Energy.
For another, a Cursed Spirit's body actually had a ceiling on how much its strength could grow.
Once a Cursed Spirit grew into its complete form, its strength would grow no further—the ceiling would be locked firmly in place.
But now her form of existence had changed. The girl could clearly feel that the invisible boundary that had sealed off her growth ceiling had been utterly broken through.
The girl bounced in place a couple of times, feeling herself considerably stronger than before.
Honestly, her hands were itching to test just how much stronger she'd become, but until she figured out what was going on around her, she chose to keep a bit of a low profile.
So where was this?
She didn't know how long she'd slept, but the spot where she woke was far too bizarre.
Wasn't she supposed to have fallen unconscious inside Tokyo?
Could that explosion have blasted her tens of thousands of miles away?
Hilarious—if that were really the case, she might have accidentally invented the greatest teleportation technique of the twenty-first century.
Might as well fly up and take a look.
Wings extended from the girl's back, and with a single beat, she shot straight up into the clouds.
She was faster now.
Her explosive power was greater too.
The girl really did feel different from before.
But soon, having flown up into the azure sky to hover alongside the white clouds, the girl felt more and more that something was wrong.
Faintly, she glimpsed the city in the distance.
'Hsss...' But was that Tokyo?
It looked... somewhat like it. Yet also somewhat unfamiliar... Wait, that's not right—hadn't Tokyo long since been reduced to rubble?
Why, then, seen from afar, did Tokyo look perfectly intact?
The skyscrapers did seem fewer, the buildings shorter, but there wasn't the slightest trace of destruction.
Holy crap! Don't tell me Tokyo had already been fully rebuilt?
Just how long had she been unconscious?!
Surely she hadn't slept for several whole years?!
So the girl hurried closer to the city and set about investigating.
About ten minutes later, the girl discovered, to her shock, several facts.
First: this place really was Tokyo.
Second: she hadn't been unconscious for long.
Third, and most damning of all——
Mahiko smacked her lips, sitting on a park bench, staring at the flyer in her hand—one printed with a date twelve years ago—and for a moment, she truly didn't know what to say.
She... seemed to have traveled back into the past.
It had been a week since Mahiru died.
Mahoraga had been slain, Sukuna had been swallowed by a Black Hole and thus vanished, and Kenjaku, too, had died at that girl's hands.
Everyone had indeed averted a catastrophe of annihilation. But in reality, things weren't over—the situation in Japan remained perilous.
The Culling Game, in fact, was not over.
'...Hey, Fushiguro, do me a favor, lend me something to use...'
'...It's fine, you don't need to sacrifice yourself to deal with Mahoraga... You just need to wholeheartedly accept the assimilation of my Domain...'
In her dreams, faint and indistinct, she once again heard the blue-haired girl's voice.
The black-haired girl opened her eyes; within the dream, all she could see was the blue-haired girl's receding back, growing ever more distant, waving to her.
'Don't worry, everything will be fine...'
Urgh!
Fushiguro jolted awake from her dream and stumbled into the bathroom, hugging the toilet, dry-heaving in great convulsive gulps.
Her insides churned, stabbing pains tormenting her heart again and again.
Whether from the pain or from something else, the black-haired girl's tears streamed down uncontrollably. After the dry-heaving passed, her breath trembled, and she slumped weakly against the rim of the toilet, letting out a sound close to a mournful wail.
In the girl's eyes, Mahiru had died to save them.
And at the same time, she had been killed by her own hands.
The weapon that had killed Mahiru was the girl's own Mahoraga.
The girl had thought she was helping Mahiru, bringing Mahiru victory, never imagining that her help would become the very cause of Mahiru's death.
'...Urgh! Urgh——'
Recalling it again brought on another fit of dry-heaving.
How could this have happened... Why had things turned out this way...
The black-haired girl was in agony beyond enduring.
For the girl, more than the masses of humanity, what she truly valued were the few people close to her.
Had she known things would come to this, had she truly been forced to weigh the lives of countless strangers against the lives of her companions—she would have been the first to urge Mahiko to let go.
But now, whatever she thought, whatever she said, it was all far too late.
Mahiru was already dead.
With a click, the door behind her was pushed open. Miwa—clearly not in much better mental shape—was carefully peering in from outside.
'Fushiguro... are you okay?'
'...I'm fine,' the girl shook her head with her eyes closed. '...I just need to take a walk.'
She walked out of the room, and Miwa, clearly uneasy, followed behind Fushiguro.
This was Jujutsu High. Outside it was the small hours, the dead of night.
But though it was deep night, the place was anything but quiet.
On the contrary, a great many people were walking back and forth, bustling about.
The sports field and the training grounds were packed with tents, the lights glaring, all manner of temporary command posts and meeting rooms set up.
As mentioned before, the greatest threat had been eliminated for now, but in reality the crisis was far from over.
When Kenjaku attacked Tokyo, he had simultaneously launched the initialization process of the Culling Game. Though the process was now halted, it had in fact already progressed more than halfway.
The Culling Game was built upon Tengen's 'Pure Realm.' The nascent barrier of this death game blanketed the entirety of Japan, its scope even vaster than the ten barriers of the original work.
The countless Cursed Spirits Kenjaku had released into the barrier ahead of time were now running rampant across the country. At the same time, given how fearful and anxious people had been of late, the number of newly spawned Cursed Spirits was not to be overlooked either.
Kenjaku had remotely applied Idle Transfiguration to many people he'd secretly marked in advance, converting them all into Jujutsu Sorcerers and pulling them into the death game. On top of that, he'd made a second improvement upon the original—Kenjaku used Spirit Descent to create even more Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Japan was now plunged into utter chaos and turmoil.
To make matters even worse, they currently had no way whatsoever to undo Satoru Gojo's seal.
Unsealing him originally required the Angel's technique, but that Angel had long since been body-snatched by Sukuna, and now it was unknown whether she was dead or simply missing.
They would have to find another way.
Still, there was some good news.
Before her death, Mahiru had already revived Yuki Tsukumo from the Black Hole, and on top of that, Yuta would be rushing back to Japan in a few days.
Now they at least had two figures who surpassed even standard Special Grade sorcerers to hold the line, keeping the situation from spiraling completely out of control.
Now, everyone at the High was dead tired. And whenever they were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, the same thought would surface in their minds: if only that blue-haired Cursed Spirit were still here.
If Mahiru were here, she'd surely have a better plan.
If Mahiru were here, the present difficulties might well be readily resolved.
But alas—that blue-haired Cursed Spirit had sacrificed herself to shield them from ninety percent of the danger.
They could never rely on that girl again.
'Fushiguro? What are you doing here again? Aren't you supposed to be resting?' Nobara stepped out of a tent and, spotting Fushiguro, froze for a moment. '...You, don't forget what you've got to do during the day.'
'Mm.' The black-haired girl nodded. She knew she still had a mission during the day.
But she really couldn't sleep.
The image of Mahiru's death would likely become the nightmare of her entire life, forever.
'...Where's Itadori?'
'Tch, that bastard.' Nobara gritted her teeth. 'He went off again without a word.'
Mahiru's death had struck everyone hard. But if one asked who on the Jujutsu High side had changed the most—it was, without a doubt, Itadori.
Mahiru had died for them, and yet he'd been able to do nothing.
After suffering such a blow, the boy's mindset seemed to have changed utterly.
Not a trace of a smile remained on his face; from dawn till dusk he fought tirelessly, hunting down every Cursed Spirit within the barrier mechanically, like a machine part.
Even Fushiguro and Nobara together couldn't talk him back.
'Sigh...' Nobara sighed, scratching her head hard enough to muss up her hair. 'Damn it all... With Mahiru gone, it's like the sky itself has fallen.'
A few more people emerged from the tent. Fushiguro was startled at first, then greeted them—it was Tsumiki.
Behind Tsumiki followed Jogo and little Kaori.
With Mahiru dead, Jogo no longer had any reason to cooperate with this bunch from Jujutsu High.
Her purpose in coming this time was to return Tsumiki and Kaori to the people of the High, and to have nothing more to do with them thereafter.
In the end, however, owing to little Kaori's own wishes, only Tsumiki remained at Jujutsu High.
Little Kaori would be taken back with them.
Fushiguro and Jogo exchanged a glance.
The black-haired girl thought of Mahiko once more; her heart shuddered with guilt, and she hurriedly averted her eyes.
Jogo, coldly saying nothing, took little Kaori's hand and got into the back seat of the car beside them.
In the driver's seat sat Mai.
'...Little Kaori isn't staying?' Mai was taken aback.
'No, I'll live with all of you big sisters instead.' Kaori shook her head.
The little girl's spirits were low too.
'You, on the other hand,' Jogo glanced at Mai, 'why don't you and your sister go back to Jujutsu High?'
'Because we made a promise to Mahiru.' Mai answered as if it were the most natural thing.
Jogo clicked her tongue, her voice tinged with irritation. 'But Mahiru is already dead.'
'But I'm not dead, and neither is Maki. Unless we die too, the promise won't be broken.' Mai said, then paused. '...And besides, maybe...'
Mai muttered a few more words after the word 'maybe.'
For a moment Jogo didn't catch them clearly. 'What?'
'Maybe...' Once Mai raised her voice, it oddly lost its conviction. 'Maybe Mahiru isn't actually dead...'
'...Huh?' Jogo's eyes went wide, her emotions igniting and exploding. 'She's not dead? Is there something wrong with your damn head? After all this time, after everything, you idiot are still saying she isn't dead??'
Ever since Mahiru's death, Jogo had maintained an outward emotional composure.
Until now, when she really couldn't hold it in any longer—her emotions burst the dam, and she began cursing loudly as if venting, kicking the back of Mai's driver's seat hard.
'She's not dead?' 'Tell me, how could she possibly not be dead?'
'Easy for you to say, isn't it?!'
Her voice trembled as she pointed at herself, screaming herself hoarse. 'I searched for Mahiru on that damn battlefield for five whole days! I couldn't find so much as a single strand of her hair. She's not dead? Tell me how she could possibly not be dead! Tell me!...'
The white-haired girl cursed, her eyes rimming red.
Mai's gaze flickered; she pressed her lips together and said no more.
She knew she really had been rather tactless this time.
Mahiru was dead, utterly gone... that was a fact everyone knew.
That girl had indeed done many incredible things, achieved many feats beyond ordinary comprehension...
But death listens to no reason.
Because dead is dead.
No matter how strong or formidable a person, once dead, they'd be erased all the same, utterly gone.
'Big sister Jogo...' Little Kaori reached out, trying to comfort her.
'...Sorry.' Mai apologized.
Having vented a great torrent of emotion, Jogo knew she'd lost her composure too. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to calm down. '...Forget it, I was being an idiot too... Let's just go home first.'
Mai stepped on the gas, and the car slowly drove off, the scenery outside the windows beginning to flow past.
Jogo looked out the car window.
She suddenly felt so powerless, as if all the strength had been drained from her body.
Mahiru was dead. They had lost the most important person to them, and at the same time... lost the purpose of their lives.
For Jogo and the others—including Maki and Mai as well—the meaning and purpose behind their former lives and actions had all been strongly tied to Mahiru. Indeed, Mahiru's very existence had itself been the meaning.
Now Mahiru was gone.
Jogo and the others suddenly felt they no longer knew what they were living for.
And it was just then that Jogo's brow suddenly furrowed—she'd sensed an unusual aura of Cursed Energy.
She whipped her head around to look at little Kaori.
Because that aura of Cursed Energy was emanating precisely from little Kaori's body.
At that very moment, little Kaori's body suddenly stiffened, her expression froze, and her pupils abruptly dilated, as though she'd just suffered some kind of mental attack.
Then, the very next second, the girl's body jolted violently, her gaze regained its clarity, and she even let out a shout——
'Holy—did I make it back or not?!'
Little Kaori's demeanor changed drastically. She quickly glanced around, then met Jogo's eyes. '? Jogo? Haha... Looks like I really did make it back...'
The girl was delighted, planting her hands on her hips and laughing smugly.
'To even pull this off—I really am a genius!'
Little Kaori's sudden, drastic change in personality gave Mai a huge fright.
Jogo stared blankly at the little Kaori before her, her gaze flickering and trembling, the expression on her face shifting from confusion, gradually into suspicion, and then into... disbelief.
'You...' Jogo felt her throat go somewhat dry.
Her instinct... could not possibly be wrong.
As the one who spent the most time with Mahiru day to day, Mahiru's tone of voice, her gestures and mannerisms, had all long since been etched into her memory——
Yes—there was no mistaking it.
And the demeanor, the movements... and the tone of the little Kaori before her were, completely and utterly, Mahiru!
'You...' The white-haired girl gritted her teeth, forcing the question out of her throat. 'You're... not dead?'
'Hm?' Mahiru—now possessing little Kaori's body—heard this and shot Jogo a puzzled glance.
Then, as if realizing something, she turned to look back at the gradually receding camp, at the ashen-faced Fushiguro and Nobara within it.
She turned back again to look at Jogo, who was staring at her in disbelief, even with two streaks of tears running down.
Ah... Mahiru gave an awkward grimace.
'Ah, well...' Only now was she telling Jogo that she'd never actually died from start to finish... Wasn't that maybe a little too late?
____
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