More than ten minutes later.
Noritoshi walked aimlessly down the street, looking completely lost.
Born into the Kamo clan, one of the Big Three Families, he appeared glamorous within the jujutsu world. He possessed an inherited technique and became a grade 1 sorcerer at a young age, a genius admired by many.
But outside the inner circles of the Big Three Families, how many people actually knew he was merely the illegitimate son of the former clan head?
His mother was just an ordinary person. If the legal wife of that man had not failed to give birth to a talented child, he himself would never have been treated as a successor.
Even so, the people of that cursed family still could not tolerate the existence of his mother, a mere "mistress."
That was why the hatred his mother held toward the clan became the origin of the name "Noritoshi."
Sharing the same name as a sinner was not because she hated him. She simply knew he would be valued and wanted to use him to disgust that family.
Noritoshi never cared about any of that.
He only kept working hard, desperately pushing himself to become stronger so that one day he could properly sit in the position of Kamo clan head and proudly bring his mother home.
Back to the home that belonged to them.
But now, even he himself had been expelled from the Kamo clan. How was he supposed to fulfill that promise anymore?
He was so tired...
Noritoshi recalled the sorrowful expression on his mother's face when she left all those years ago.
He never wanted to see that expression again.
'I should find a way to contact Fushiguro-sensei first.'
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to refocus. Everything could still be fixed. As long as his teacher made a move, dealing with a mere Noritoshi Kamo would be nothing difficult.
But when he took out his phone, he realized there was no signal at all.
Noritoshi lifted his head to look around. Judging from the surroundings and the small number of pedestrians still present, the cursed spirit attacks had probably not spread to this area yet.
Most likely, Noritoshi Kamo had done something to cut off communication signals across an entire region.
But transportation across the country had already nearly collapsed, especially between Kyoto and Tokyo. If he wanted help from the special grade sorcerers currently in Tokyo, just traveling back and forth would probably take a great amount of time.
While he was still thinking, a familiar figure suddenly entered his sight.
'So I ended up here after all...'
Looking at the figure before him, Noritoshi could not help becoming absent-minded.
While lost in thought and walking without direction, he had unknowingly arrived at the street where his mother's home was located.
Currently, not far ahead on the road, three people were gradually walking away with their backs facing him.
Two adults and one child.
A warm little family of three.
"Mother..."
He did not call out to her.
Right now, Noritoshi suddenly felt like a bad child who had lost everything after making a mistake, secretly peeking at his family's happiness from outside the door.
Yeah...
He had obviously known it for a long time, so why had he never truly thought about it?
His mother was happy now.
The place where she belonged was not somewhere that only existed because he was there. Even without him, their family could still live happily together.
So in truth... she no longer needed him.
When he realized that, Noritoshi laughed bitterly at himself.
What exactly had all these years of effort been for?
Remaining in that rotten family, a place no different from a garbage dump, where both his body and mind had been imprisoned for over ten years.
At that moment, from up ahead, the man among the three turned his head slightly and asked in a soft voice, "Are we really not leaving? Japan has been having those terrifying incidents nonstop these past two days."
Even though the news was desperately trying to cover up the various incidents happening across the country, events like the Shibuya Incident and the Culling Game had already spread throughout Japan.
Like many others, he had originally wanted to flee overseas with his family, but his wife had opposed it.
"Kyoto's transportation system has already collapsed. We don't even know how long we'd have to wait to leave the country. We might run into those things before we even get there..."
As the former "wife" of the Kamo clan head, she naturally knew many things ordinary people did not.
Kyoto, as the sacred land of jujutsu, certainly had many cursed spirits. However, with Jujutsu High and the Big Three Families stationed there, it was far safer than most other places in the country.
Besides, trying to leave Japan now was almost as difficult as swimming across the ocean themselves.
More importantly...
"And Noritoshi is still in Kyoto."
The woman lowered her head slightly with a faint smile. Her eyes rested on her younger son, yet her thoughts drifted toward the eldest son she had abandoned many years ago.
Ever since leaving that household, she had never contacted him again.
"Let's bring Noritoshi with us and leave Japan together."
Beside her, her husband showed no surprise upon hearing the name. Back when they fell in love, she had already told him some things about her past, including the existence of her son.
And he did not care.
If possible, he was even willing to treat that pitiful child as his own son.
"Who is that?"
The younger boy looked up at his parents after hearing the name "Noritoshi."
At home, he often heard them mention that name.
"He's your older brother. Do you want to meet him?"
The woman stopped walking and crouched down before him. Through the child's clear eyes, she seemed to see herself reflected back.
Did she want to see him?
She had always known the answer.
"Mm... I don't know if I want to or not. I don't even know what kind of person he is..."
The little boy rubbed his chin and thought very seriously about it.
"He must be a very kind person!"
Because he is her son...
The woman answered her child's curiosity without the slightest hesitation.
Bang!
Just then, a cursed spirit suddenly burst out from a nearby alley and charged straight toward the family.
"Run!"
After living within the Kamo clan for a period of time, the woman had become able to see cursed spirits because of the environment she had been exposed to there.
Anxiously, she tried to push her family away.
Whoosh!
Several arrows tore through the air. Infused with cursed energy, they shot forward at incredible speed and nailed the cursed spirit to the ground.
"Nori… toshi?!"
The family looked toward the direction the arrows came from, and the woman recognized that cool and heroic figure in an instant. Her voice trembled slightly.
* * *
Meanwhile...
Bang!
The gates of the Kamo clan estate were violently kicked off their hinges.
"Alert!"
After hearing the noise, the members of the guard unit quickly gathered in the courtyard and stared toward the smoke-covered entrance.
"No need to be nervous. I'm just here to ask a few questions. I hope your answers satisfy me."
From within the smoke, Mukuro casually walked out with his hands in his pockets.
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