Why?
Fushiguro Megumi thought about it and came up with one possibility:
He needs a massive number of points. The sheer scale of the points required forced him to announce his presence to the world. He hopes to obtain a large number of points through continuous life-and-death battles and use them to fulfill his vision.
A Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer can earn about 2,000 points even in an ordinary battle. If it's a fight to the death, it's over 5,000. So, what about a Special Grade?
In Fushiguro Megumi's heart, that would be at least 20 million—at least! Because he was well aware of the gap between Special Grade and Grade 1.
If this self-proclaimed Special Grade guy's output efficiency reached the baseline of a Special Grade, he could earn 2,000 points in a single fight. By announcing himself to the world, he would be subjected to a gauntlet of battles, and in a short time, his points could reach hundreds of millions!
With so many points, what does he intend to do?
Fushiguro Megumi suddenly thought of the wish list proposed during the meeting:
[To maintain peace in a city for one year, approximately 3 billion points or more are required.]
Could his wish be such a massive one?
This wasn't abrupt; it was Fushiguro Megumi himself who had truly proposed that wish list. So, it was natural for him to wonder if someone else had thought of the same issues and submitted a similar wish.
"Very well, it's decided."
Fushiguro Megumi clenched his fists.
"Let me go meet this Special Grade... Kogane!"
"Yes!"
Kogane flew in front of Fushiguro Megumi's eyes.
"Please give your orders, Master."
"Where is that self-proclaimed Special Grade, Hiromi Higuruma?"
The answer was inside a screening room within a supermarket building.
Because Hiromi Higuruma had announced himself via a public bulletin, everyone inside the Tokyo Second Barrier should have heard the news.
One only needed to have Kogane search for the name Hiromi Higuruma to locate him at any time.
Considering his self-proclaimed Special Grade status and his feat of defeating a Key Holder, those wishing to obtain large amounts of points through death matches should have flocked to him.
But they didn't.
Not a single person.
When Fushiguro Megumi pushed open the door to the screening room, he saw a bathtub placed on the wide screen stage.
The tub was filled with water, and a man was lying inside.
However, he wasn't bathing naked. He was dressed in a suit and leather shoes, lying back in the water with his clothes soaked, even as water spilled over the edges of the tub.
The sound of Fushiguro Megumi pushing the door open didn't cause the man to waver.
He remained lying there, staring at the ceiling.
The man suddenly spoke:
"It's been about 20 minutes since I used the announcement, and you're the first to arrive."
"I learned through Kogane that Jujutsu Sorcerers are a bunch of lunatics with twisted souls, and this place is a gathering ground for lunatics from all over Japan."
"So, I thought that after I made the announcement, I would be subjected to a non-stop gauntlet until I collected enough points..."
"It seems my prediction was wrong."
"I was wrong again."
"Human nature is truly full of incredible unknowns; it's quite interesting."
In an instant, Fushiguro Megumi felt a sense of unease.
He was like a rabbit crouching in the grass, looking up to see a giant eagle soaring in the sky.
He wanted to hide, but his concealment was glaringly obvious in the eagle's eyes.
Locked on.
Fushiguro Megumi had this intuition.
His heart began to race, and his instincts were screaming.
This self-proclaimed Special Grade man's Cursed Energy clearly hadn't been released outward, yet just by coming into contact with the Cursed Energy residue he unconsciously emitted, Fushiguro Megumi suddenly felt as if some massive creature was glaring at him.
This man is strong.
Fushiguro Megumi realized.
But his steps remained composed as he walked toward the man.
His footsteps made crisp sounds in the empty space.
Since this was a screening room, the architectural design created echoes. At this moment, his footsteps mixed with the echoes, sounding like the breathing of some wild beast.
"Hiromi Higuruma?" Fushiguro Megumi asked.
"It's me."
The man—Hiromi Higuruma—maintained his position lying in the bathtub.
"Although I wanted to start fighting just like this..."
Fushiguro Megumi walked to Hiromi Higuruma's side with echoing footsteps, looking at him with a frown.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"I was wondering when you'd ask that."
Hiromi Higuruma was expressionless, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"Have you ever tried soaking in a bath with your clothes on?"
"No."
"It's more refreshing than one might imagine," Hiromi Higuruma said.
This guy is crazy, Fushiguro Megumi thought.
"Lately, I've stopped caring much about many things, so I'm letting myself go a bit, challenging some things I once thought were absolutely forbidden."
Hiromi Higuruma finally looked away from the ceiling and toward his body soaked in the tub.
He lifted one leg, still wearing black socks and black leather shoes.
"I'm over thirty-five and have gone astray."
"Isn't it funny?"
"No, it's not funny at all," Fushiguro Megumi said expressionlessly.
"In fact, it feels somewhat hair-raising."
Fushiguro Megumi wasn't lying.
Any Jujutsu Sorcerer sensitive to Cursed Energy residue would have the same feeling as him right now.
Just by looking at the man for a second, any professionally trained Jujutsu Sorcerer could conclude:
This man is not an ancient Sorcerer who has reincarnated, nor is he a modern Jujutsu Sorcerer.
He is a complete outsider to the Jujutsu World.
A naturally powerful outsider to the Jujutsu World!
In the original work, Gojo Satoru once said that a Jujutsu Sorcerer's strength is 80% talent and only 20% effort.
And Fushiguro Megumi could now clearly determine that the man over thirty-five before him was a bona fide monster with that 80% talent.
Fushiguro Megumi even had an illusion.
He seemed to see the moment Gojo Satoru had just stepped into the Jujutsu World.
The young Gojo Satoru of that time was like the Hiromi Higuruma of today.
This was a man whose talent rivaled Gojo Satoru's.
What made Fushiguro Megumi feel hair-raising wasn't Hiromi Higuruma's words, but the possibilities this man possessed.
"I'll get straight to the point," Fushiguro Megumi asked in a deep voice.
"The reason you publicized your identity and location was to fight other Sorcerers to the death to obtain a large number of points, right?"
"What do you plan to do with those points?"
The man finally looked directly at Fushiguro Megumi.
"You didn't attack immediately but instead asked for my reason for collecting points?"
"Are all Jujutsu Sorcerers as concerned about reasons as you?"
"I suppose I'm a bit special."
Fushiguro Megumi was self-aware.
Looking at the people around him, it seemed that besides him, they were all a bunch of people whose heads—
—were filled with nothing but muscles and a desire to start fighting.
Of course, Fushiguro Megumi himself seemed to have been that way before being corrected by Tsumiki Fushiguro.
But since Tsumiki fell into a coma, he no longer was.
"Special, huh?"
Hiromi Higuruma sighed.
"I thought Kogane lied to me, but it seems it didn't."
"What did Kogane tell you?" Fushiguro Megumi asked.
"Kogane said Jujutsu Sorcerers are a group of people whose souls have been twisted since birth."
"Precisely because their souls are twisted, they are more prone to extremes and more likely to come into contact with things like Cursed Energy."
Hiromi Higuruma said calmly:
"From my own experience, it seems Kogane wasn't wrong."
"I seem to have unknowingly drifted toward an extreme, to the point where I've ended up running here to look for a reason."
Fushiguro Megumi's mouth twitched.
What the hell is this about Sorcerers being a group of people with twisted souls?
This must be the prejudice of the King of Curses, right?
It definitely is!
This is 100% the King of Curses' own bias mixed in!
"What reason?" Fushiguro Megumi followed up.
"I am a lawyer, a lawyer who believes in justice."
Hiromi Higuruma first stated his identity before saying:
"Because of that, I have deeply felt that the law is sometimes powerless."
"No matter how much evidence I collect or how much I study the law, I will be defeated by the monster called reality."
"I am looking for a new possibility, and that possibility lies within the Dream Walk Migration."
What kind of lawyer says they believe in justice like that?
Fushiguro Megumi thought this while listening to Hiromi Higuruma's story.
The man lying in the bathtub sat up slightly but didn't completely get out.
He simply maintained a sitting posture and continued:
"If the law is sometimes powerless, then what about the wish list of the Dream Walk Migration?"
He put his hand to his chin and said thoughtfully:
"If the Cursed Technique I obtained is real, then the wish list set in the Dream Walk Migration must also be the real deal, right?"
"If there's no need for litigation or public prosecution."
"If there's no longer need to spend manpower and resources arguing over truth or falsehood, and all who violate the law will be punished, just as objects must follow the laws of physics..."
"What a wonderful thing that would be!"
Fushiguro Megumi quietly listened to Hiromi Higuruma's wish and let out a cold laugh.
"You're crazy."
"Half-crazy, perhaps."
Hiromi Higuruma didn't deny Fushiguro Megumi's contempt but simply said calmly:
"Because I clearly know how extreme and bizarre my idea is."
"But theoretically, it's not impossible."
"For example, by directly bringing the great barrier of the Dream Walk Migration into the real world and then using this barrier to write rules for those living within it, so that everyone must follow those rules—it's theoretically sound."
"The reason the law must be determined by people and requires lawyers is because only people can know how the rules should actually function," Fushiguro Megumi said coldly.
"A clever perpetrator will use methods not prohibited by the rules to harm others."
"A kind-hearted person seeing this wants to stop it, and they choose to use their fists because that kind-hearted person clearly knows words alone cannot stop the perpetrator's actions."
"If it were a fair law, it would naturally lean toward the kind-hearted person."
"But if it's a barrier that only knows how to follow rules, what do you think would happen?"
"It would punish the kind-hearted person," Hiromi Higuruma said gloomily.
Despite being mocked as naive, Hiromi Higuruma showed no anger upon hearing this example.
He merely said in his usual calm voice:
"That sounds like some kind of personal experience."
"Looking at your age, was it some kind of school bullying?"
"Were you the kind-hearted person in it?"
"No, I was a delinquent."
Fushiguro Megumi recalled the past and said calmly:
"When I got home, I was given a severe scolding by my sister."
"You have a good sister," Hiromi Higuruma said.
"You don't need to tell me that," Fushiguro Megumi replied.
Splash.
Hiromi Higuruma slowly stood up, supporting himself on the edge of the bathtub.
His soaking wet clothes should have been extremely uncomfortable, but there was no change in his expression.
Even in this drenched state, he naturally used his hand to straighten his tie.
"I know there are many details to be ironed out, but as I just said, at least the theory exists."
"Since the theory exists, the difficulties encountered during implementation can be resolved through various specifics."
"It may be a massive and desperate undertaking, but since there is such a possibility, I cannot help but hold onto hope."
Hiromi Higuruma straightened his soaked clothing as a black shikigami emerged behind him.
He said:
"To that end, I must first secure a large number of points... for trial and error."
Fushiguro Megumi fully understood the reason why the man before him needed so many points, and at the same time, he felt the man's madness from the bottom of his heart.
Fushiguro Megumi took a deep breath and formed a hand seal.
"Tokyo Jujutsu High second-year, Fushiguro Megumi."
"Nice to meet you!"
Hiromi Higuruma remained expressionless as he stepped out of the bathtub, the black shikigami floating behind him.
He said:
"Lawyer, Hiromi Higuruma."
"—Nice to meet you!"
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