Chapter 173: Kento Nanami's Transformation
Night had completely fallen over Tokyo.
A black Jujutsu High vehicle raced up the mountain road at a speed that nearly tore its tires apart. It swung around the final corner and stopped in front of the infirmary with a shriek of rubber against stone.
The door was kicked open.
Masamichi Yaga rushed out, drenched in sweat.
Shoko Ieiri, who had already been warned, followed him with a grave expression.
"Quick, get them inside!"
Yaga hurried to the rear door and helped the Assistant Supervisors lift the three blood covered figures onto stretchers.
Inside the infirmary, the sharp smell of disinfectant mixed with the heavy scent of blood.
Even Shoko, who had long grown accustomed to injury and death, drew a sharp breath when she saw the three patients.
"This is insane."
Her brows tightened as she examined Yami's pale face.
"Large sections of his muscle fibers are torn. His internal organs show signs of severe heat damage, and his stamina…"
Shoko's expression darkened further.
"No. Whatever special energy he uses has been completely exhausted."
She looked toward Yaga.
"What did he do? An ordinary person would have died several times over from this level of strain."
Yaga stood beside the beds with his fists clenched.
Guilt and anger filled his eyes.
"He ran from Tokyo to a mountain two hundred kilometers away."
Shoko's hand froze above her instruments.
"In how long?"
"Half an hour."
Her eyes widened.
Half an hour.
Two hundred kilometers.
Was that something a human body could survive?
"Stop asking questions and treat them, Shoko."
"I know."
Shoko took a deep breath.
White light gathered around her hands.
"Reverse Cursed Technique: Output."
Positive energy flowed into the three injured bodies.
Broken bones shifted back into place. Torn flesh began closing. Damaged organs slowly repaired themselves beneath the steady circulation of Reverse Cursed Technique.
Time passed in tense silence.
Outside the infirmary, the corridor remained still.
It was not until early morning that the lights finally dimmed.
Shoko stepped out, exhaustion visible on her face, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"They're alive."
Yaga's shoulders loosened slightly.
"Haibara and Nanami were badly injured, but I repaired the fractures and stabilized their wounds. A few days of rest should be enough."
She paused before continuing.
"As for Yami…"
Yaga's expression tightened again.
"His body is unusual. Reverse Cursed Technique doesn't work on him as effectively as it does on a sorcerer."
Shoko sighed.
"Fortunately, his natural recovery is abnormal. He's out of danger, but he needs time and a lot of sleep."
The weight pressing on Yaga's chest finally eased.
"Thank you, Shoko."
Inside the ward, pale moonlight passed through the window and fell across the white bedsheets.
Yami slowly opened his eyes.
Pain spread through every part of his body, drawing a slight frown from him.
"I really overdid it this time."
His thoughts came slowly through the lingering exhaustion.
"The synchronization gives me incredible strength, but this body still has limits."
Then he turned his head.
On the nearby beds, Yu Haibara and Kento Nanami lay covered in bandages, their breathing steady.
Relief softened Yami's expression.
He had made it in time.
The cheerful young man who had died too early in the original future had survived.
The dependable adult who always called jujutsu work terrible had not been forced to carry the guilt of losing his closest friend.
"Yami sensei…"
A weak but energetic voice came from beside him.
"You're awake?"
Haibara had already opened his eyes.
Even after walking to the edge of death, the stubborn boy still managed to show Yami a bright smile.
"Thank you, Yami sensei."
He tried to sit up.
Yami stopped him with a look.
"Stay down."
His voice was still rough from dehydration.
Haibara obediently lowered himself back onto the pillow.
He stared at the ceiling for a moment before speaking softly.
"When those bone spurs surrounded us, I really thought I was going to die."
His smile faded slightly.
"But I couldn't die there."
A determination rarely seen on his cheerful face appeared in his eyes.
"I still have to stop my younger sister from becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer."
Yami remained silent.
"This world is too dangerous," Haibara continued. "And the people in the higher ups are even more frightening."
His fingers tightened around the blanket.
"I can't let my sister get dragged into a place where she could be thrown away as a pawn at any moment."
Haibara was optimistic, but he was not foolish.
The false intelligence surrounding their mission was too obvious.
Anyone with a clear mind could tell that the higher ups had deliberately sent them into danger.
"Haibara."
A low voice came from the other bed.
Nanami had been lying with his back toward them.
Now he slowly sat up and removed the bandages around his eyes.
He turned toward Yami.
The weary indifference that usually filled his gaze was gone.
In its place burned a fierce light, awakened through despair.
Nanami swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
The movement pulled at his recently healed wounds, causing cold sweat to gather across his forehead, but he forced himself upright.
Then, under Haibara's surprised gaze, Nanami bowed deeply toward Yami.
"Thank you."
The two words carried more weight than any speech.
"If you had not come, Haibara would have died."
His voice trembled faintly.
"And I would have survived like a coward, carrying guilt and disgust for the rest of my life."
Nanami remained bowed.
"I used to think being a Jujutsu Sorcerer was a terrible profession."
"Every day, we face disgusting Cursed Spirits. We earn almost nothing, risk our lives constantly, and still have to endure the schemes of those rotten old men."
He straightened.
"I thought that once I graduated, I would join an ordinary company, become a salaryman, and never involve myself in this world again."
Nanami adjusted the cracked goggles resting on the bridge of his nose.
"But then I saw you draw your sword."
His gaze fixed on Yami.
"I saw you push yourself to collapse just to save us."
His hand tightened into a fist.
"So I changed my mind."
Nanami's voice grew stronger.
"Running away will not change anything."
"If this world is rotten, and if the higher ups want to treat our lives as disposable…"
His nails dug into his palm.
"Then I will become stronger than them."
"Strong enough to crush those people beneath my feet."
Ambition burned in Nanami's eyes.
Not blind anger.
Not reckless hatred.
A clear and disciplined resolve.
"Yami sensei."
He bowed his head once more.
"Teach me how to become as strong as you."
"I never want to watch a companion fall in front of me again."
Yami studied him.
Overnight, Kento Nanami had changed.
The salaryman from the original future, who had tried to escape the Jujutsu World only to be dragged back by fate, had disappeared.
Standing before Yami now was a young sorcerer who had awakened the will to become a pillar.
A slow smile appeared on Yami's face.
"Fine."
He tapped the edge of his bed.
"Being a Jujutsu Sorcerer really is a terrible job."
His eyes sharpened.
"But if we become strong enough, we can shove all that filth, along with the people creating it, back into the sewer where it belongs."
The three exchanged glances.
One teacher.
Two students.
No further words were needed.
But while the bond inside the infirmary grew stronger, a storm capable of overturning the Jujutsu World was gathering elsewhere.
At the far end of the corridor, Suguru Geto stood alone against the wall.
Half of his face was hidden in shadow.
The other half was illuminated by cold moonlight.
He had already forced the full truth of the mission out of Kiyotaka Ijichi.
He had also seen Yami, Nanami, and Haibara carried into the infirmary, all three of them soaked in blood.
"They deliberately concealed the presence of a Semi Special Grade Cursed Spirit…"
His fingertips pressed into the wall.
"They used the lives of first year students to test our limits…"
The hard plaster cracked beneath his fingers.
Blood ran down his hand, but Geto did not notice.
Inside his narrow eyes, the madness and killing intent that Yami had suppressed through countless conversations, meals, and brutal training began rising once again.
This time, it erupted like a volcano.
"Is this really the fate of every Jujutsu Sorcerer?"
His voice was barely a whisper.
"To walk over the bodies of our companions until nothing remains?"
The higher ups who hid in darkness and treated lives as pieces.
The ordinary people who continued producing curses without ever knowing the cost paid by sorcerers.
Geto stood alone at the end of the corridor.
His eyes were impossible to read.
The balance in his heart, strained again and again, began to tilt toward danger once more.
....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03].