Meanwhile, deep in the forest.
Megumi Fushiguro crouched beside the corpse of a Grade 1 curse. The black and white Divine Dogs rubbed against his calves, emitting low whimpers. He reached out to pat their heads, then looked at his companions.
"That's the third one." Nobara Kugisaki patted the dust off her clothes. "Including the one just now, we've exorcised two Grade 1 curses and three Grade 2 curses. According to the rules, we're in the lead."
"Yeah."
Megumi stood up, but his expression was worried.
At the same time, Panda emerged from the bushes on the other side. "Strange. Where are the Kyoto school people? We've been fighting for so long and haven't encountered a single one."
"I contacted Maki just now. She said she hasn't encountered any on her side either."
Megumi's frown deepened.
The group had clearly noticed the commotion from the battle between Yuji and Naoya Zenin. The cursed energy from both sides had fluctuated in intensity—but because Yuji's cursed energy had been suppressed by Naoya for so long, everyone felt worried.
"Could the Kyoto school people be trying to find a way to kill Itadori..."
Megumi's face darkened.
"?"
"Think about it. The missions the higher-ups arranged for Itadori are unreasonable—encountering Special Grade curses twice in a row. And the reason for sending Naoya Zenin for this exchange event is strange too. For exchange and learning? But that guy's terrible personality is known to everyone."
Panda paused. "You mean...? I understand."
"I can't say for sure, but I feel like the higher-ups are capable of doing such things. Maybe the Kyoto school people don't care about the exchange event at all. They targeted Itadori from the very beginning."
Megumi analyzed calmly.
If that were the case, Yuji would face a combined attack from two Grade 1 sorcerers, two Semi-Grade 1 sorcerers, and several Grade 2 sorcerers.
Even if he was a monster who'd displayed terrifying talent right after his debut—could Yuji really win...
Megumi felt his heartbeat quicken.
Both rationally and emotionally, he didn't want anything to happen to Yuji Itadori.
Even though that guy was annoying as hell—always teasing him alongside Satoru Gojo, playing games until the early hours of the morning, making it impossible to rest peacefully—but...
Megumi didn't hate him.
The life of a jujutsu sorcerer was truly too oppressive. The existence of a sunny, cheerful guy like Yuji added a different color to his otherwise plain and uneventful daily life.
That's right... Megumi Fushiguro considered Yuji a friend.
Megumi had few friends.
He had an older sister named Tsumiki Fushiguro.
Since childhood, his father had abandoned him, his mother passed away early, and his stepmother left shortly after. With no one to raise Megumi, Tsumiki had stayed by his side and taken care of him.
During middle school, Megumi frequently fought delinquents outside school. His sister would come to stop him. When he didn't listen, she'd throw an open carton of milk at him and warn him of his mistakes.
He'd thought his sister was just a hopelessly naive saint. But he quickly discovered that wasn't the case—just like Yuji...
Itadori, when you pushed me away back then, was it really because you were 100% confident in defeating that Special Grade curse? Or did you just not want the people around you to get hurt?
Megumi's principle in life was to "save people unequally." He wouldn't save scumbags—only those he considered good people.
The delinquent youths in the juvenile detention center were people Megumi viewed as completely unworthy of saving. One of them had even run over a poor girl while driving without a license. Megumi despised such people from the bottom of his heart. Whether they died or not made no difference to him, so he neither cared nor bothered to save them.
However, at that time, Yuji had said to him:
"Although the people trapped inside are probably not good people—might have done terrible things."
"But at least one of them... at least one of them has a mother who loves them just as much."
"At least I don't want to see such a gentle mother fall into the pain of losing her child. That would be too cruel."
"So we're doing this so that mother—and people like her—won't shed tears anymore. Not to save those scumbags, Fushiguro."
"..."
At that moment, Megumi realized that Yuji Itadori wasn't just purely kind-hearted. He genuinely cared for people who had nothing to do with him.
His compassion had moved Megumi. That was why he'd agreed back then—"Alright, we have to save everyone."
Because those delinquent youths about to be killed by cursed spirits also had parents and families.
Yuji was a guy who cared about everyone. Incredibly stupid... just like his sister.
He didn't want anything to happen to a kind person like Yuji.
"There's really no other way. If someone dies, winning or losing the exchange event is meaningless."
Panda agreed with Megumi's reasoning.
"Yeah, that's right." Nobara nodded.
"Let's go—to save Itadori!"
"Achoo!"
Yuji sneezed violently.
Strange. I feel like someone's cursing me?
Could Fushiguro still be holding a grudge about me playing games and disturbing him yesterday?
Yuji rubbed his nose, then raised his eyes to glance at the burly man standing over 1.9 meters tall before him.
Aoi Todo. A best bro he'd gone through life and death with.
In his past life, Aoi Todo and Yuji had beaten up Hanami together, fought Mahito, and even after his arm was severed by Mahito, he'd appeared to lend Yuji a hand when fighting Sukuna.
However, due to his weird personality, Aoi Todo only had him as a friend.
But this friend was truly loyal.
"..."
Aoi Todo had always been bored.
He was surrounded by boring guys with no interest in women, and their strength was weak—completely failing to catch his eye.
The work of a jujutsu sorcerer was already tiring. The only time he felt relaxed every day was when watching Little Takada-chan's livestream.
Sigh. If only I could have a friend, how great would that be...
Aoi Todo's life was wrapped in an emotion called boredom.
Only by fighting strong opponents and experiencing the thrill of combat could this boredom be slightly alleviated.
This guy—having just fought Naoya Zenin—his stamina must be nearing its limit, right?
Although fighting him at this time is a bit unfair... but he actually blocked my full-strength punch easily.
He's got some skills.
"..."
Aoi Todo was right. To find an opportunity for a one-hit kill, Yuji had been using the Reverse Cursed Technique—which he originally shouldn't have revealed. Even though Naoya's damage wasn't fatal, he'd taken over a hundred punches. The operation of the Reverse Cursed Technique had consumed a massive amount of his cursed energy.
Unless he continuously landed Black Flashes to recover his state, the current Yuji probably wouldn't be a match for Aoi Todo.
But... why would Yuji treat Aoi Todo as an opponent?
"You're Todo, right? I have a question I want to ask you!"
A sly smile appeared on Yuji's face.
"...?"
Hearing the familiar sentence structure, Todo froze.
"Aoi Todo—what kind of woman is your type?!"
Yuji's sonorous, forceful roar reached Aoi Todo's ears.
"..."
In that instant, Aoi Todo's eyes widened to their maximum.
His brain crashed.
N-Nani?!
Yuji Itadori, why do you...? No, that's impossible.
This question shot toward him like a high-speed bullet! Piercing his eardrums! Piercing his skull! Piercing his layers of mental defenses—and accurately hitting a previously untouched area deep within his brain.
This sentence—he'd asked people. Yuta Okkotsu had answered. Noritoshi Kamo had answered. Mechamaru had answered. Even Satoru Gojo had been asked.
But those people's answers were either perfunctory, hypocritical, completely off-topic, or made him feel "this guy's taste in women is really boring." Not a single answer had made him feel "this person understands me."
What people say online vs. reality. Who wouldn't want a best friend with the same tastes in reality?
But finding a soulmate is hard. Aoi Todo had felt he would probably never find a best friend with a compatible personality in his entire life.
But... what's with this question?! What's with this sense of presence?!
Yuji Itadori... you... you are my brother!
Why do you understand me so well?!
It's almost like a person from the future. Could it be—my brother Yuji Itadori—did you travel back from the future to save the boring me of the present?!
Two streams of hot tears rolled down Aoi Todo's cheeks.
"My good brother—are you from the future?"
"...Huh?!!!"
Yuji Itadori was shocked.
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