"Hahahaha..." Mahiru really was about to die laughing. "Damn, vintage wine really is the smoothest... hahahaha..."
Too messed up.
Seriously, way too messed up.
Amid the hurrying crowds of Tokyo, the girl trailed behind them laughing so hard tears came out, slapping Nobara Kugisaki on the shoulder as she howled.
Laughter is contagious.
Generally, if everyone can keep it together, they keep it together as a group; but the moment one person cracks, they all crack and laugh together.
So Yuji Itadori and Nobara were laughing too.
Only Fushiguro Maki, all alone, wore a thoroughly sour expression. Walking out in front, she paid no mind to the people laughing behind her, ceaselessly manipulating the Jade Dogs to track down Toji's scent.
Truth be told, the streets right now were still in quite a state of disorder.
Because the disaster had only just passed, repairs were going on everywhere, with people coming and going, most of them dealing with the aftermath... buildings being patched up, power lines being strung—everything in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt.
"...That girl over there looks like she might be..."
"...Really, she really does seem to be..."
Mahiru was laughing rather brazenly, which drew a great many gazes. And among these people, some had directly or indirectly witnessed Mahiru back when she fought against the black hole, or had seen Mahiru and Jogo and the others carrying out disaster relief on the news.
Now they were all casting their eyes toward her.
"So that's that Angel everyone's talking about..."
The other reason Tokyo was in such a frazzled, overwhelmed state was that jujutsu—this supernatural thing—had been exposed to the public eye.
Everyone now knew that something like superpowered people—jujutsu sorcerers—existed in this world, and society was bound to fall into turmoil.
The reason it hadn't yet descended into turmoil was that a single black hole plus several earthquakes had stunned the people of Nihon dumb, and they still hadn't quite recovered.
After some more time passed, glaring social conflicts would absolutely begin to surface.
The disaster, the social upheaval triggered by jujutsu going public, foreign nations fixing their gaze upon Nihon, and on top of that Kenjaku and other curse users operating in the shadows...
Yes—Nihon, from this point on, was officially beginning its slide—careening headlong toward what would be called an "age of chaos."
What the world would become after this, no one could say for sure.
For now, though, Mahiru and the others had no time to spare for grand social problems.
"Excuse me, have you seen this person?" Fushiguro Maki took out a photo.
"Yes, yes, yes! That's the one called Megumi Fushiguro!" A volunteer handing out free food to workers along the street because of the disaster saw the photo, his eyebrows shooting straight up. "Damn it, that shameless piece of trash Megumi Fushiguro... not only did he cut in line, he single-handedly grabbed several people's worth of food for free—a total lowlife."
"That's right!"
"So despicable..."
"That detestable Megumi Fushiguro..."
"I've already posted this name online!" the volunteer said through gritted teeth. "Don't ever think about getting any help from us here again!"
Fushiguro Maki's brow twitched: "Okay..."
Mahiru giggled away behind her.
They walked on for another stretch.
Beside an arcade, Fushiguro Maki questioned a mother with a child in tow.
"...Um, excuse me, have you seen this person?"
"This Megumi Fushiguro!!" The woman pointed at the photo and cursed up a storm. "He tricked my kid into a betting match on King of Fighters and won a whole thirteen lollipops off my kid—an absolutely rotten thing to do!"
"Hahahaha..." Mahiru slapped her thigh behind them.
Fushiguro's face turned even darker. She felt as if she could jump into the Yellow River and still never wash herself clean.
"Still want to keep asking?" Yuji Itadori patted Fushiguro's shoulder.
Fushiguro ground her teeth: "Ask."
There were places the Jade Dogs couldn't catch a scent, so they had to ask people on the street about the whereabouts of Megumi Fushiguro... bah, of Toji Fushiguro.
Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing there was no telling, but basically every passerby they questioned had a vivid, fresh memory of Toji Fushiguro.
They asked an old man.
"Aiyo, that little bastard Megumi Fushiguro..." The old man stamped his feet in fury.
They asked an old woman.
"Aiyo, isn't this little Megu..." Only on closer questioning did they learn that this old woman was the wife of the old man from just now.
They asked again—this time the owner of a roadside pachinko parlor.
"That son of a bitch Megumi Fushiguro played pachinko and secretly jiggled the machine! I caught him red-handed..." By now, Yuji Itadori and Fushiguro found it impossible to clear his name.
They asked still more—some street punk.
"Megumi Fushiguro... that guy, just from the way he stands you can tell he's incredibly strong..." This was one of the very few remarks Fushiguro Maki heard that was actually acceptable.
In any case, Fushiguro Maki felt that she probably could never change back into Megumi Fushiguro.
The name Megumi Fushiguro... heh, if it spread for a few more days, it felt like it might spawn a Cursed Spirit born from "the public's loathing of Megumi Fushiguro," cursed into being by the spite of ten thousand mouths.
And what would it be called then?
The Imaginary Cursed Spirit · Megumi Fushiguro?
Hahahaha... damn it!
"Just what the hell is that guy trying to do!" Fushiguro Maki seethed through clenched teeth as she pressed on. "Taking out loans for this much money—he's definitely got some ulterior motive!"
Five hundred million yen!!
Anyone sensitive to this figure would know that five hundred million yen was precisely the going price of the various special-grade cursed tools back when they were in circulation.
Playful Cloud, the Soul-Releasing Blade, the Ama-no-Sakahoko... all of them five hundred million.
So Toji fleecing this much money out of her—he surely meant to get his hands on some special-grade cursed tool again!.
And mind you, Toji already had one special-grade cursed tool on him right now.
—Playful Cloud!
That powerful special-grade cursed tool shaped like a three-section staff was still on Toji's person... add to that the five hundred million yen he'd scraped together by selling off all the future of the name "Megumi Fushiguro"—he was probably looking to buy another special-grade cursed tool!
Just what was that other cursed tool?!
What kind of cursed tool could possibly make Toji want it so badly that he wouldn't even balk at destroying his own son's entire life?!
"A scheme—he's definitely got a scheme!" Fushiguro Maki ground her teeth, then came to a halt.
"It's just up ahead!"
The scent was growing thicker and thicker, meaning the distance between them was shrinking, and Fushiguro Maki had a premonition that Toji must be inside the building up ahead!
Where was this place?
The building was huge, and inside it was abuzz with voices—was this the venue where he'd arranged a special-grade cursed tool deal with someone? Conducting a trade in the middle of a crowd—the best place to hide is in plain sight—it certainly made sense.
Damn it, she absolutely had to expose Toji's scheme, even if it meant making an enemy of him—it would be worth it!
Fushiguro Maki had long since stopped regarding Toji Fushiguro as her father.
Within the kind of intimate relationship that is [family ties], the only one Fushiguro Maki would acknowledge as family was Tsumiki Fushiguro, and her alone.
Only Tsumiki Fushiguro—this stepsister with whom she shared no blood relation, this gentle, lovely, kind person who supported and looked after her—could be called family.
And Toji Fushiguro had no such qualification!
"On your guard! Yuji! Nobara!" Battle intent surfaced in Fushiguro Maki's eyes. "Let's wreck his five-hundred-million-yen scheme together..."
Poke, poke.
Fushiguro Maki turned her head.
It was Mahiru poking her.
Mahiru was looking at her, her gaze so... pitying.
"Look over there." Mahiru pointed at a sign to one side, a sign that had already laid out the name of the establishment Toji Fushiguro had walked into.
And Mahiru, now that she knew the name of the place, already knew exactly what Toji Fushiguro had come to do with these five hundred million yen... and so the gaze she turned toward Fushiguro Maki was filled with pity, and with sorrow.
Fushiguro Maki saw the sign too, and her eyes quivered.
"...No way."
"Horse number six is now in the lead, having seized the front position..."
"Go! Go! Sprint!!—"
The cheers of the spectators, the chants of support...
The commentary blaring from the loudspeakers, the applause...
So unbearably noisy.
Amid all the clamor, Fushiguro Maki finally found Toji Fushiguro, and beside his grandstand seat... she came to a stop.
"You're telling me that the five hundred million yen," the girl stretched out a trembling hand, pointing at the racecourse in the distance, "you spent it all betting on the horses...?"
Just what in the world are you trying to do!!!!—
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Homelander: Founding the Hero Association
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!