Chapter 46: Gentle Protection
Click.
The sound of the key turning in the lock rang out sharply through the quiet hallway.
Junpei Yoshino's hands trembled.
Terrifying images surged uncontrollably through his mind. His mother lying in a pool of blood. Cursed spirits tearing into her flesh. Her outstretched hand frozen in helplessness.
No. Please no.
"Mom!"
Junpei shoved the door open and stumbled inside without even taking off his shoes, rushing straight into the living room.
Then he froze.
The bloody nightmare he had imagined was nowhere to be seen.
There were no mangled limbs, no overturned furniture, no monstrous curses lurking in the shadows.
Instead, what greeted him was a scene so warm it almost felt unreal.
Yoshino Nagi was sitting on the sofa with a bright smile on her face, holding a plate of neatly sliced fruit.
Across from her, on the single seat by the coffee table, Yami sat calmly with a cup of tea in hand, gently blowing away the leaves floating on the surface. His posture was straight and proper, like an exceptionally well behaved student visiting an elder.
Only Junpei noticed one small detail.
While Yami's right hand held the teacup, his left rested casually on the guitar case beside him.
The zipper was slightly open.
A sliver of black red metal could be seen inside.
The hilt of a sword.
"Oh, Junpei, you're back?"
Nagi turned with a grin, completely unaware of the storm her son had just run through in his mind.
"Why are you rushing around like that? Honestly."
Then she pointed cheerfully at Yami.
"Isn't this your classmate? He's such a polite boy. He waited outside for me and even helped carry things in."
Junpei stared blankly.
His eyes moved from his mother to Yami and back again.
"Ya... Yami kun? When did you...?"
He had clearly entered the building with Yami just behind him.
How had this man somehow ended up calmly sitting in the living room drinking tea?
"A little earlier than you."
Yami lowered the teacup and offered Junpei a small reassuring smile.
Junpei did not miss the patch of carpet near Yami's feet.
There, hidden beneath the coffee table where Nagi could not see it, lay a tiny pile of black ash that had not yet fully scattered. It still twitched faintly, leaking a trace of nauseating cursed energy, yet it remained pinned in place by an invisible heat, unable to spread even an inch.
The remains of a curse.
A moment earlier, in the instant before Junpei opened the door, Yami had already moved.
Using Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance, he had slipped into the apartment ahead of him at a speed beyond the limits of ordinary sight. The level one cursed spirit lurking inside had been cut down instantly, its existence reduced to ash before it could even reach Nagi. The entire scene had been cleaned up in less than a heartbeat.
So fast that even Nagi herself never realized she had nearly died.
"Do not just stand there."
Nagi waved Junpei over impatiently.
"Come sit down. Yami, was it? Stay for dinner. Auntie will cook red wine braised beef tonight."
"Then I will trouble you."
Yami inclined his head politely, his manners impeccable.
Seeing the bright smile on his mother's face, Junpei could no longer hold back.
His eyes turned red.
He understood everything.
The ash. The lingering warmth in the room. The way Yami's hand had never left the guitar case.
He had saved her.
Before despair could descend, Yami had already cut it down.
If he had been even a second later...
Junpei did not dare imagine the result.
Fear crashed through him like a wave, but right behind it came something even stronger.
Relief.
Pure, overwhelming relief.
"What is it, Junpei?"
Nagi panicked when she saw his eyes fill with tears.
"Why are you crying?"
"N nothing..."
Junpei hurriedly wiped his face, but his voice still caught in his throat.
"I'm just... really happy."
And he was.
Meeting Yami was probably the greatest miracle that had ever happened in his life.
Dinner passed in a warm, peaceful atmosphere.
Nagi chatted happily the whole time. Junpei was quieter than usual, but the gloom that had once clung to him seemed lighter now. Yami remained as polite and composed as ever, answering naturally whenever Nagi spoke to him.
When the meal ended, Yami declined her offer to stay the night and stood to leave.
Junpei insisted on walking him downstairs.
The two of them stepped out into the dimly lit street below the apartment. A few tired street lamps cast long pale shadows across the pavement.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then Junpei lowered his head.
"Thank you."
His voice was soft, but the sincerity in it was unmistakable.
Yami glanced at him, then reached into his pocket and drew out an object wrapped in talismans.
Junpei's eyes widened.
Ryomen Sukuna's finger.
The finger that had been hidden among the clutter in their home, drawing curses like carrion draws flies.
"I found this inside," Yami said calmly. "This was what attracted the curse."
He put it away again.
"This thing is dangerous. I'll take it with me."
Junpei nodded numbly.
Yami turned to look at him beneath the pale glow of the streetlight.
"I told you before. Since you decided to become stronger, then I'll protect the people around you too."
He paused.
"This is not a favor. It's a promise."
Junpei looked up sharply.
Under the streetlight, Yami's red eyes seemed to glow with quiet warmth.
Junpei clenched his fists.
"Yes."
He nodded hard, his voice filled with determination.
"I will definitely become stronger. I won't let you down."
Yami smiled faintly, then turned to leave.
But the moment he stepped out through the apartment gate and rounded the corner, he stopped.
A tall man was standing there by the roadside utility pole, as if he had been waiting for some time.
He wore a clean beige suit. Goggles rested over his eyes. In one hand he held a short blunt blade wrapped in spotted cloth.
Kento Nanami.
A Grade 1 sorcerer, and the man assigned to investigate the incident at the cinema.
Nanami adjusted his goggles and looked at the boy emerging from the shadows. His gaze swept over the guitar case on Yami's back and the faint but dangerous aura surrounding him.
"Did you exorcise the curse in that apartment?"
His voice was low and steady.
He had tracked the lingering presence all the way here, only to discover that the curse's aura had vanished completely. Not weakened, not hidden. Erased.
"Just taking out some trash."
Yami's answer was as calm as ever.
Nanami's gaze shifted to the buttons of Yami's school uniform.
"A first year at Tokyo Jujutsu High?"
His brows lifted slightly.
"Are students this troublesome now?"
Not only had Yami instantly erased a level one curse, but he had done it without using any visible cursed energy. That much Nanami was certain of. And yet the subtle pressure coming from the boy was enough to make even him instinctively wary.
"Perhaps."
Yami shrugged lightly.
"Garbage sorting is getting harder these days. If the cleaners are not strong enough, people complain."
With that, he gave a small wave, walked past Nanami, and disappeared into the night.
Nanami remained where he was for a long moment, silent.
Then he let out a tired sigh and took out his phone.
"Gojo san."
He waited for the call to connect.
"I think I've just met that student you mentioned."
A pause.
"Yes. He is exactly the sort of person who causes headaches."
Another pause.
Then Nanami looked in the direction Yami had vanished and said quietly,
"But if it's him... perhaps he really can change something."
The night breeze passed softly through the street.
In this cursed world, something had already begun to shift.
And that change had started with a boy who carried a sword and protected others with terrifying gentleness.
.....
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