I carefully placed him down and went to work, two buttons on his uniform undone and the coat was off him.
Gotta say, the boy didn't look like it, but he was rather nicely built underneath.
Next were his pants, that was a bit harder to open, opening the waist button with great difficulty. I slowly opened the zipper and tugged down his pants.
Turns out taking someone's pants off when they ain't cooperating is really hard. I had to hold him up to tug down the pants sticking to his legs like a second skin.
Sighing, I looked at the unconscious boy's image one more time.
"Come on man, it's only fair I get your clothes after you lose that monster on me, even if that was unintentional," I grumbled.
Hurriedly putting on the stolen uniform. It almost fit me, almost.
Turns out that finding clothes in a mostly abandoned city was much harder than it looked, especially when you're butt-naked. And that's when my mind told me why not let the boy because of whom this all had happened pay for it.
So I rushed back to Megumi. Poor boy had barely survived Jogo's maximum meteor. If only a bit closer to the crash site, and he would have been toast.
Not that I personally have any friendship with him, if anything, I have lingering resentment over what I had to go through. But still, I'm happy that he isn't dead.
I hurriedly took his shoes, they were a bit on the bigger side but they will do.
And just like that, I was now a student in Jujutsu High, look-wise at least, and Megumi was the pervert going around naked.
He at least had underwear unlike me.
Now, what to do with him?
I crouched down and stuck my head to his chest, tuning out the environmental noise to hear his heartbeat.
For a second I thought he was a goner, but I heard it, very faint, almost non-existent heartbeat. It was there.
My lips curled up ever so slightly, "What do you know, even without Daddy Sukuna looking out for you, you pulled through yet, Potential-Man."
And just as the smile came, it was wiped off as well. Because Megumi's heartbeat was weak, very weak. If I don't do anything, he'll die.
Taking him to Shoko is the best option I have, but...
I don't know where those Jujutsu High staff are. This place is as barren as a desert.
Option two would be taking him to Maki, hopefully they are still there, and alive. She would know where Shoko is.
But... would Megumi survive until then?
'Tch...'
Seems like I have no other choice but to hope I pull off another miracle. "Pray I do, Fushiguro, for your own sake."
I reached down to the core of my curse energy, recalling that feeling and instantly, curse energy manifested into my arms, however, it wasn't normal cursed energy, the colour was white, it was calmer and it was brimming with life.
Reverse Cursed Energy.
Being able to heal others with reverse-cursed energy was an entirely different ball game than using RCT to heal oneself.
Unconfidently, I stared at the healing energy flickering on my hand and then at the half-naked boy. 'Here goes nothing I guess.'
I pressed on his gut and poured the energy into him. I could feel it pass easily enough, but whether it was healing, I had no idea.
I kept pouring my positive energy into the boy until I felt it was enough, and once again brought down my head near his chest to hear.
Dum..
Dum..
"What do you know, it worked?"
Even I was surprised I pulled it off, but then again, it might be something related to my technique. Trading away powers and energy, it's not new to me. So perhaps that experience helped me out...
"There, now we are even."
"Even if the entire fiasco with Mahoraga was not intended by you, saving your life should make us even for taking your clothes."
Of course, I had no idea how good or bad the boy's current condition was; I was no doctor. But this has to do for now.
"But taking him with me all the way until I find Shoko..."
Yeah, didn't sound very appealing, especially seeing he was naked and I undoubtedly was wearing his uniform.
Rumours have started for less in this internet era.
But I can't just leave him here either, can I? Sigh...
I picked up the boy, he was surprisingly light for his height and looks. But it could also be perhaps that I was stronger now.
Which I was, not physically but even unconsciously, I was reinforcing myself with CE, barely that I couldn't tell, however, the difference was apparent.
Those fights really did a number on me, didn't they...
Quickly finding a vacant alley while carrying the half-naked prince charming in a princess carry, before someone spotted me, I laid him down beside a trash can so he was less visible.
"Sorry for the spot, I promise I'll quickly find your friend and come back to get you, or send someone to fetch ya... so sit tight until then, okay." I patted the still unconscious boy's shoulder and got a move on.
I finally felt a bit of relief, no curse was breathing down my throat, but the tension was still there, mostly regarding Maki and others.
Gotta go back to them quick.
My instincts told me otherwise. Why bother with that when I could clearly just get the hell out of the city right now and never look back at this place again.
However, the image of Maki shoving me away to take the blade, intended for me, herself, kept flashing inside my mind.
The image of Naobito coming to rescue me when Dagon almost had me inside his domain or Nanami helping me out when Dagon flooded the station.
I am a lot of things, but I'm not ungrateful to those who helped me and showed me kindness. I'll take them and Megumi here to Shoko and we are done. I'm out.
I grinned, finally, it seemed things were not crashing down on me like earlier. With extra-long steps, I rushed toward the station to unite with Maki and others.
Crossing the intersection, I increased my speed a bit, all clear until now.
"Things are finally looking out for..."
My legs came to an extreme halt on my increasingly rising speed as all the enthusiasm came crashing down.
As soon as I turned around once again, I came face to face with a man with blue hair and a patched face. He seemed to be playing with a toy.
The patched face, him being here alone, or even the fact a grown-up man toying with a toy didn't startle me, what stopped me was where the toy came from. A man was lying nearby, and his head seemed to morph like clay and then be shaped by the patch-faced man to form a toy.
The long flesh still connected the toy to the man's body.
I just stood there, staring at him, and eventually the patch-face also turned towards me after a second or two.
Our eyes connected, we both blinked.
He seemed to light up upon seeing me, "Oh, new toy."
My lower lip quivered. Eyes started to sting as mist clouded them.
"No..." I shook my head in defiance.
"No...no...no...no...no. This ain't happening. This is not happening."
Patch blinked and knocked his head sideways. "What's happening?"
I though continued to shake my head, tears threatening to fall from my eyes.
"This is cheating..."
"Cheating, cheating, cheating, cheating... you're cheating," I shouted.
Patch face looked even more confused. For a curse born of humanity's distrust towards itself, Mahito, aka patch face, claims that he knew humans well.
This human might be the only one he couldn't figure out.
Why was the man kept on shouting that he was cheated? He hasn't even done anything yet. And why is he pointing up at the sky when saying that?
He kept on shaking his head fanatically... shouting....
"Its not fair, why me again..."
"NO... absolutely no."
"I don't like this game."
"I won't play this game."
"Nah, no... never. I'm out. I'm not playing this game."
The human shouted hysterically and then turned back, tears flying dramatically as he turned, light shining on them, and then he ran off the other way.
Mahito was left behind with a confused face and a cartoonish question mark bouncing near his head.
He really didn't get this human.
But then a smile appeared on his face...
"Meaning we are playing tag, correct! Okay....
You run, and I'll catch." He grinned and bolted right behind the human.
xXx
A/N : Fighting it out is not the only option you know, sometimes it's better to do a strategic retreat.
LOL.
And that dialogue, It sounded so funny in my head when I thought of MC doing that. So I added it in.
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