"What is that, exactly?"
The moment we came face-to-face, Tengen pointed at Fou.
There was no displeasure in it. Only pure curiosity.
How was I supposed to explain Fou?
I had expected this question, but the second I tried to put it into words, my thoughts tangled up.
So I took a moment, organized everything in my head, and spoke.
Only the information that mattered.
"...Hmm. So if it remains in human society, it feeds on malice and grows into something vicious? The structure of its growth is similar to a Cursed Spirit."
Once I finished explaining, Tengen nodded.
It was kind of similar, yeah.
"Fou."
Fou, sitting quietly in my arms, gave a small cry.
He seemed uncomfortable being compared to some mere Cursed Spirit, but also willing to let it slide.
"As you know, the barrier surrounding this Tombs of the Star Corridor is not one that blocks intruders. It causes them to avoid it."
"Right. Still, I was told it would be fine once he entered the Tombs of the Star Corridor. I figured it might be because this place is the origin point of the barrier..."
"Hmm. This is the first case of its kind to begin with, so I cannot be certain, but it is a plausible deduction."
Tengen folded his arms and nodded.
Same conclusion, positive attitude. Nice.
"In any case, I understand your intent. I accept it."
The instant I got permission, I rubbed my chest and let out a long breath.
Thank God. That went smoothly.
"Thank you."
"However, you seem drastically different from before. Previously, you felt incomplete. Now you are complete, and vast."
"Ah... I ended up like this after using [Idle Transfiguration]. The circumstances are complicated, so it's hard to explain."
"I did not expect a full explanation, but it seems you have transcended the boundary of life. Is that correct?"
"Yes. I don't die anymore, and I don't age either."
Infinite Magical Energy. Immortality.
The process that led there had been complicated, but the conclusion was simple.
"Hmm. I see. Understood. And that creature over there appears to possess a similar nature."
"Pretty similar."
Fou had existed for over a thousand years, going all the way back to Merlin's era.
And through all that time, he had never aged.
I couldn't say for sure whether he was truly immortal, but natural death clearly had nothing to do with him.
"By the way, would it be okay if I stayed here and talked with him for a bit?"
"Hmm? A beast capable of conversation? How fascinating. Do as you like."
"Thanks."
I sat down on the white floor and set Fou down in front of me.
Our eyes met head-on.
"I already told you about me on the way here, right?"
"Yeah. So I can stay here?"
"I'll stop by now and then. Tengen isn't the type to get attached, but they won't reject you. You can just stay."
"Seems that way. Their humanity is thin, but they're not trash like Merlin, so they seem fine. More like a plant, really."
Fou gave a single nod.
Experience earned over a long life didn't just vanish.
"Your instincts really are sharp."
"Yeah. But don't you have something else you wanted to say?"
"I do."
I told him about Sukuna.
And about how I'd been agonizing over ways to kill that monster.
"...So I'm trying to use the dive technique we used in the SE.RA.PH Singularity, but it's rough. None of us are true specialists in Magecraft. Me included."
"So you have enough fuel, but not the technique?"
"Exactly. If we had BB, or a first-rate mage like Circe, Louhi, or Medea, it'd be way easier. There probably would've been other options too..."
"If they were here, what you're trying to do would be simple. But they aren't, and that's the problem?"
"Yeah. If I could summon them outright, maybe. But this world doesn't even have the Throne of Heroes."
The Throne of Heroes.
A kind of database where every Heroic Spirit of past, present, and future converged.
If that alone existed, then a summoning ritual could call forth Heroic Spirits.
I didn't have equipment like Chaldea's, the kind that stored Heroic Spirit data, but the possibility would still exist.
But without that foundation, there was no chance.
It was dead on arrival.
"Then what about the Servants with you? How did that happen?"
"They were with me from the start. I still don't know why."
"A phenomenon with no known cause... If Da Vinci were here, she might have analyzed it and reached a conclusion."
I thought the same thing.
If Da Vinci had been by my side, even if she couldn't solve it, she probably would've at least given me an answer.
"Everyone's incredible, but this situation was completely beyond anything we expected. Compared to a Servant like Da Vinci, they're lacking a bit in the analysis department."
"You asked because you thought I might have some kind of answer?"
"You popped out of space, so I figured maybe."
The Second Magic. Not on the grand scale of traversing parallel worlds, maybe...
But Fou also possessed a technique for moving through space.
And apparently, he had popped out of a hole that looked like something you'd see during a Rayshift.
So maybe he had some kind of answer.
"Sorry. Coming here was pure chance. The answer you want probably lies in the Second Magic, but I'm not a Magician."
Fou answered gently, but with absolute firmness.
It was disappointing, but it was also more or less what I'd expected, so I accepted it easily.
"Can't be helped. Still, I'm glad I got to see you alive. I'll come visit sometimes."
"Yeah. Take care. I'm glad we got to meet here."
I smiled, said goodbye, and left.
With no answer in sight, everything ahead of me felt pitch-black.
Kill Sukuna.
It wasn't the most urgent problem right this second, but it sat there in the back of my mind like a shred of greens wedged between your teeth.
Like if you didn't pull it out, it'd rot in there and ruin the tooth too.
For the sake of my mental health. For the sake of my dental health. The smart move was to yank it out as soon as possible.
'I guess I'll have to hope the other Servants can pull something off.'
All I could provide was an unlimited supply of Magical Energy.
The ones who would actually shape the technique were the Servants, so all I could do was wait.
Either that, or wait for some Jujutsu Sorcerer with a technique that could interfere with the heart or soul.
Or maybe some Cursed Spirit.
"Excuse me."
After Kadoc left, Fou turned his head toward Tengen.
His true name was Cath Palug, but he preferred Fou.
The humans of Chaldea had called him Fou too.
So Fou wanted to be called by that nickname rather than his real name.
"Hmm. What is it?"
Tengen asked from within the shifting space.
The all-white expanse had changed into something like the interior of an ordinary Japanese home.
"How has Kadoc been living?"
"Kadoc? Ah... that man. Since I do not call him by name, it took me a moment to understand."
Tengen reacted to Fou with surprising calm.
They were not startled by a talking beast, nor did they look down on him.
Life to life.
That was the only thing their tone centered on.
"To begin with, I first became aware of that man several years after his birth. More specifically, a little over ten years ago."
Tengen began from the moment they first took notice of Kadoc.
In other words, from the time Toji and Kadoc first met.
From that point on, the causality that should originally have unfolded was destroyed.
And things developed in a far better direction.
Toji had not become a butcher.
More lives had been saved.
And an evil that would have grown into a towering tree had been uprooted.
Tengen knew most of that process, and neither affirmed nor denied it.
Because they had regarded it as a matter of the secular world.
The only thing that had truly drawn their attention was Kenjaku's scheming...
But that was about it.
"Then they formed a cooperative relationship, and that eventually led to the present day."
"I see. So he was saving people here too."
Fou answered in an even tone, but inwardly he felt proud.
Even in an unfamiliar world, Kadoc had not changed.
That alone let Fou accept this chance reunion with genuine happiness.
Enough that he wanted to repay him somehow.
More than anything, if possible, Fou himself wanted to leave this world.
This was not his world.
Kadoc, on the other hand, had put down proper roots here and was living his life.
He was enjoying the peace Chaldea had once wished for.
Marisbury Animusphere, the Director who had laid the foundation for modern Chaldea.
The things he had built.
Even his victory had been fated to vanish as though it had never happened, but not here.
Kadoc had earned the right to enjoy peace within that world.
Just like those children had.
"Excuse me."
Seated on the tatami floor, Fou raised his head slightly.
Tengen, who had been watching television, looked at him and asked, "Hmm? What is it?"
"Can I contact Kadoc? Does he have something like a cellphone?"
"Of course. Why? Do you need to contact him now?"
"Not right now, but I think there may come a time when I need to. Sorry for the trouble."
"Think nothing of it. I have never encountered a rare life-form like you before, so it is only proper that I treat you accordingly."
Tengen nodded, recalling the conversation Kadoc and Fou had shared a little earlier.
They did not fully understand it, but one thing was certain.
Those two had unquestionably come from another world.
And from one whose scale was overwhelmingly different.
This world, too, had nearly faced a crisis bordering on destruction, but the level was different.
The method of ruin. The scale of it. All of it.
Tengen felt genuine respect for Kadoc and Fou, who had come through that hell.
It was also a decision made for the sake of safety.
"Thank you."
Fou nodded and sank into thought.
There was only one way to return to his original world.
He had to fully digest the experience of being flung away during spatial collapse.
And then move through space himself.
In other words, the Second Magic.
He would have to apply the principle of parallel-world travel.
To use Magic meant reaching the Root.
At a glance, it seemed impossible, but the possibility was there.
He did not understand the mechanism, but he had experienced the phenomenon physically, and he remembered it.
If the answer had already manifested once, then that meant the process leading to it could also be found.
For the sake of that answer, Fou calmly retraced the process.
Backward from the result.
After the sightseeing trip, Maki and Mai returned home for the first time in a long while.
A strange incident had thrown the mood off, but in the end, things wrapped up warmly enough.
"Coming back after all these years just pisses me off even more."
Walking beside Maki, Mai frowned.
It was her first visit since the day she had effectively been sent away like merchandise.
"Still, the clan head personally summoned us. It's not like we could just not come."
Maki let out a sigh as she crossed the grounds.
The place was tucked away, oppressively old-fashioned, all traditional buildings and forced closeness to nature.
This was no longer their home.
Nor was it their hometown.
The place where Kadoc was.
The apartment where they had lived with Kadoc for over ten years—that was their home.
They believed that sincerely, which was why they kept in contact with neither their birth mother nor their birth father.
They had never had a good relationship to begin with.
Kukuru and Hei, the Zenin Clan's jujutsu units.
The women who worked in the estate.
Countless eyes turned toward them, carrying all kinds of emotions.
Maki and Mai ignored them all and reached their destination.
Naobito's room.
"You're here? Did you greet your parents?"
Naobito, seated before a hanging scroll, asked as he drank.
Today it was canned beer.
Maki and Mai sat down in front of him and sighed.
There was no reason to hide how they felt.
"Greet them? It's not like we're that close. More importantly, what is this about?"
When Maki asked on behalf of both of them, Naobito grinned.
"Hmm. You're already old enough to marry, and the time's about right. I called you here so you could take your betrothal gifts in advance."
"Betrothal gifts? You mean marriage?"
Maki frowned in disbelief.
Mai, on the other hand, flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Marriage. Betrothal gifts.
Both were more than enough to make them imagine a future with Kadoc.
"That's right. You haven't forgotten why I sent you to that bastard's side in the first place, have you?"
"Not at all. If anything, I'm all for it."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Naobito's eyes flashed sharply.
There was not the slightest trace of drunkenness in them.
"Well, with the two of you, it makes sense he'd grow fond of you. But your feelings aren't what matter. These days, the real question is how he feels about you."
"He said if his feelings still haven't changed once we hit twenty, then we should get married."
"Oh?"
Smiling, Naobito turned his gaze toward Mai.
He was checking whether Maki might be bluffing.
"Mai. Is that true?"
"Yes. It's true."
Mai answered with embarrassment in her face and thorns in her voice.
Nothing good ever came out when speaking to people from the Zenin Clan.
Even so, she was holding back more than usual because this was Naobito.
His reasons had been impure, but in the end, he was still the benefactor who had given them their current lives.
"Good. Did he say there was anything he needed?"
"Needed? Hmm."
Mai straightened her posture and thought for a moment.
As she thought, the heat faded from her cheeks.
'Come to think of it, he seemed pretty worried because of that strange animal...'
Fou's image rose in Mai's mind.
Cute. Fluffy.
So charming she honestly wanted to keep him by her side and raise him herself.
A talking beast?
In a world crawling with Cursed Spirits, something like that wasn't unsettling at all.
If anything, it was a plus.
Still, she knew saying that out loud wouldn't help in the slightest.
It belonged to a realm separate from jujutsu.
Sukuna, maybe?
That was at least worth bringing up.
"You know Itadori Yuji, Sukuna's vessel, right?"
"Hmm? Ah, yes. I know. I've heard about him. Why him? Don't tell me you want him killed?"
"Please don't say things like that, even as a joke. He's my junior, and he's a kid my brother cares about enough to act as his guardian."
"Oh, my apologies. That was my mistake."
Naobito apologized with a surprisingly serious expression.
His tone was playful, but he meant it.
"Anyway, I was wondering if there's some way to kill only Sukuna's soul inside him. A Cursed Tool, a technique, anything."
"Sukuna, hm. Nothing comes to mind immediately. That thing is the worst monster in the history of the jujutsu world."
"Yeah, I know. I wasn't expecting much when I asked."
Mai sighed and blinked.
It was so exactly what she had expected that she wasn't even disappointed.
"Still, I'll make some inquiries. The prevailing theory says the fingers themselves cannot be destroyed, but techniques come in many forms. The possibility is not zero."
"I'd appreciate it."
"Mm. Any other requests?"
"No. What about you, Clan Head?"
"None on my end either. I'll have the gifts loaded onto the car taking you home, so ride that back. I had it prepared in advance."
Naobito waved his hand as if telling them to get going already.
Maki and Mai rose at once, as if they had been waiting for exactly that.
It had not been a particularly pleasant visit.
But it had been useful.
In more ways than one.