"Mother..."
Noritoshi simply allowed her to hold him while softly murmuring under his breath.
He was finally no longer the future head of the Kamo clan. No longer trapped by those countless rules and restrictions that blocked out the light ahead.
Right now, he was simply his mother's son.
He only wanted to properly cherish this moment, this embrace that had been absent for more than ten years.
"Why are you so thin? Were you under too much pressure living in the Kamo clan...?"
Only after several dozen seconds did the woman finally release him from her arms with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. She carefully looked over this familiar yet slightly unfamiliar face while gently brushing her fingers across the bandaged wound on his skin.
Growing up in a suffocating family like that, even if he had long been acknowledged as the "future clan head," her son must have suffered endless grievances over the years.
She wanted to ask him to leave that cursed family and return to her side.
But when the words reached her lips, she forcefully swallowed them back down.
How could people like them possibly fight against a jujutsu clan that had existed for centuries?
If the Kamo clan had ever been willing to let Noritoshi leave, she would have done so more than ten years ago. Why would she wait until now?
Saying such things now would only add more worries to this long-awaited reunion between mother and son.
"No. I'm doing pretty well now. And I'm very free," Noritoshi answered with a smile.
Free, yet homeless.
The gentle nature shared by both mother and son left one unable to say what he truly wanted, while the other chose to hide her thoughts instead.
Neither wanted to ruin the atmosphere of their reunion. Neither wanted the other to continue worrying after finally meeting again.
But where was he supposed to go from here?
Since childhood, Noritoshi had always possessed a very clear goal. He naturally believed it was the right path and devoted everything he had toward it.
But now that reality stood before him, he could no longer see the road ahead nor grasp the direction of his future.
"So it's Noritoshi. What a coincidence."
Just then, a familiar and reassuring voice sounded from behind him.
"Fushiguro-sensei? Shouldn't you be in Tokyo handling matters related to the Culling Game? Why are you..." Noritoshi was confused, so he asked directly.
With Japan already in such chaos, there was no longer any need to keep matters of the jujutsu world hidden. Besides, his mother already knew about such things.
Just moments ago, he had still been thinking about how to contact Fushiguro-sensei regarding Noritoshi Kamo. Yet before he even found a place with signal to make the call, the man had already appeared in front of him.
"I had something to handle just now, so I stopped by the Kamo clan estate and casually crushed a bunch of suicidal ants along the way. You don't mind, right?"
Mukuro made no attempt to hide what he had done earlier.
"So sensei already knows... Honestly, whatever those people did and whatever happened to them no longer has anything to do with me anymore..."
Now that his teacher knew everything, Noritoshi only felt calmness and relief inside.
That place was never his home, and those people were never his family.
From beginning to end, their relationship had merely been one of mutual benefit.
As the "genius youth" of the jujutsu world, he carried the future of the Kamo clan on his shoulders. And in return, the clan promised him the future position of clan head, allowing him to cling to the hope of one day giving his mother a place to belong.
But now, neither side had any use for the other anymore.
"No, no, no~ For the sake of stability within the jujutsu world, I didn't kill every single one of them. I still left you a tiny bit of manpower."
Mukuro shook his finger lightly.
Inside the Kamo clan's main estate, corpses now littered the ground everywhere. Only a small number of obedient survivors had been intentionally spared by Mukuro to assist Noritoshi.
Of course, if he did not want it, then there was no real need for the Kamo clan to continue existing at all.
"Eh?"
Noritoshi looked completely stunned. This was a direction he had never even imagined.
"W-Wait! Noritoshi and this... sir? What exactly are you talking about...? That's the Kamo clan..."
Beside them, the woman covered her mouth in shock after partially understanding the conversation. The amount of information contained within those words was simply too overwhelming.
"Mother, Fushiguro-sensei is someone capable of overturning the entire jujutsu world. A mere Kamo clan means nothing to him."
The smile on Noritoshi's face no longer looked forced. Gathering up his courage, he slowly extended his hand toward the woman before him.
"Can we return to the Kamo clan together? All four of us."
Fushiguro-sensei had already cleared away every obstacle for him. Now, Noritoshi wanted to try fulfilling the dream he once held.
His gaze moved across the three of them. It was obvious he had already accepted the fact that his mother had a new family, and he also hoped they could become his new family as well.
"I don't think that's necessary. That place was never somewhere beautiful. How about you instead, Noritoshi—"
However, the woman gently shook her head.
"Big brother, do you want to come live with us instead? Mom has always missed you a lot."
Just as she was about to explain her thoughts, the younger boy suddenly spoke first.
"Yeah. We're family."
The man beside her followed up with his son's words. Over the years, after listening to his wife constantly miss Noritoshi, he also deeply hoped they could reunite.
Her husband and younger son had already spoken the thoughts hidden within her heart, so the woman simply kept looking at Noritoshi silently.
Even though it was their first meeting, both sides had already accepted each other deep inside.
"Okay! Though I might still come back here occasionally to handle matters related to the Kamo clan. Would that be alright, sensei?"
Noritoshi turned his head awkwardly toward Mukuro with an apologetic expression, like an elementary school student admitting a mistake to an elder.
He did not want to waste his teacher's good intentions, nor did he want the jujutsu world to descend into even greater chaos because one of the Big Three Families suddenly collapsed.
Besides, with the Kamo clan's massive foundation and resources, his mother's family could also live safer and more comfortably.
"As long as you're happy."
Mukuro merely smiled lightly before preparing to leave.
"Noritoshi is a student we're all very proud of."
However, just before turning around after saying goodbye to them, Mukuro suddenly looked at the woman and spoke.
As the first meeting between a teacher and a parent, there should always be a proper conclusion.
"Thank you so much!"
The woman bent deeply at the waist and gave a respectful bow.
Mukuro simply waved his hand before walking away casually.
At that moment, the chaotic road before Noritoshi's eyes finally seemed to clear, as though someone had pushed away the clouds and fog.
As sunlight poured down, a group of people stood at the very front.
"You're so slow, Kamo~"
"Noritoshi, this is our homework..."
His companions from Kyoto Jujutsu High.
They stood on a road leading toward an unknown future, turning back as they waited for him, the one who had fallen behind.
"The future belongs to all of you."
At the very front stood Fushiguro-sensei, Utahime-sensei, and Principal Gakuganji.
Right...
He had never truly been alone.
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