Frieren: Himmel — Chapter 176 - Memories of Fatherly Love and Filial Piety

[The 'Ogre' Who Bursts into Battle]

No Cursed Energy at all.

Yet he radiated pressure.

Even Wan briefly shifted her attention to Fushiguro Toji.

"Fushiguro! Toji!"

Uraume, however, immediately showed an expression of pure loathing, shouting out the man's full name.

Back when he'd been summoned alongside the Itako Miko, he had stolen eight fingers, a real accomplishment. But the moment his consciousness awakened, he'd turned around and dealt Uraume a grievous wound.

A humiliation like that. He'd been waiting for the chance to repay it ever since.

And upon hearing that name, Fushiguro Megumi's entire body jolted.

(Fushiguro... Toji?)

Before his eyes, a face that should have been a stranger's suddenly overlapped with a distant, long-buried silhouette.

(Could it be...—, )

"Hey, spare me whatever incomprehensible, maudlin drama you're about to perform."

Wan had run out of patience.

"When all is said and done, it's just one more weird guy, I am not letting that brat Itadori get away!"

The wings of liquid metal on Wan's back spread wider.

"I'll go chase the brat! Hand over Sukuna's Finger!"

Uraume was silent for a moment, fiddled with something behind their back, then passed a box to Wan. Wan's face immediately lit up.

"Alright! Once Sukuna wakes up, I am absolutely making him reward me for this!~~~ Ah! A, a date, it has to be a date!~~~"

Humming a tuneless melody, Wan began climbing toward the sky. Fushiguro was frantic, but he knew his Shikigami would never match her speed.

To protect Itadori, his only option was,

"Hey! You! Gojo-sensei sent you here, right!" Fushiguro tried to negotiate with Toji. "Go protect Itadori, hurry!"

But,

"Ha? No way."

Toji picked at his ear, utterly indifferent.

"Why should some stranger's life matter to me? I never agreed to help Gojo Satoru."

"Then what the hell are you even here for!?!" Fushiguro snapped.

Toji said nothing.

But in the back of his mind, the words that damn blindfolded badminton-head had said flashed through.

[Megumi's side might be in danger, you know~]

[These are troubled times, after all. You've finally gotten another shot at life, so instead of wasting your precious Cursed Tools and your whole skillset on me, why not go fulfill the duties you left unfinished~ you scumbag~ Gojo Satoru-sensei's going to steal your spot, you know~]

Shut up.

"I'm not going," Toji said flatly.

(Ultimately, this wasn't really a 'resurrection' to begin with. Resisting this technique is a pain in the ass, I planned to die after helping him kill this sorcerer.)

(Unfulfilled duties and all that... I stopped caring about that a long time ago.)

(Just at the very end,)

"Please!"

Fushiguro gritted his teeth, his face locked in open conflict.

His fists clenched tight. His brow furrowed into a single hard line.

He struggled. Struggled again. Then the corner of his mouth pulled stiffly, and with visible effort, he forced the words out.

"Please... Father!"

"!"

Fushiguro Toji's entire body went rigid. He whipped his head around to stare, then, like he'd grabbed a live wire, snapped it back just as fast, pretending he hadn't looked.

(........................)

"The body Wan is using is Tsumiki's, you at least remember that, right! Please! Both she and Itadori matter to me. Please!"

Even if I die, at least let those two,

"Please!"

Fushiguro practically drove his head into the ground.

Toji:................

Uraume: Whatever those two are on about, not my problem. I'll use this opening to heal with Reverse Cursed Technique.

The bullets Fushiguro Toji used were a special material. Paired with a large-caliber handgun, they could punch clean through a sorcerer's body.

And just as Uraume's Reverse Cursed Technique finished, Fushiguro Toji finally spoke.

"Fine."

"You're not planning to fight this guy to the death either, right?"

"Ah, of course not." Fushiguro Megumi agreed. "Even if I can't win, I'll run."

"...Hmph."

Toji turned away.

"Just this once."

He didn't linger. He shot forward like a round fired from a gun, chasing after Wan.

The Heavenly Tyrant's speed was something else entirely. Even on the ground, he moved like a gale, swallowing hundreds of meters in an instant. He kicked off the earth, caught air, and used the sides of buildings as flat ground, sprinting straight up them without breaking stride.

A charging path that laughed at gravity. Beyond even what Wan had imagined.

Too fast.

Wan watched the Tyrant slam a foot into the ground.

Shockwaves rippled outward. The earth cracked and buckled, jagged shards of pavement twisting upward like the gaping maw of some enormous beast.

Then the Tyrant launched. One blink, and he was airborne, hundreds of meters up.

Under Wan's stunned gaze, he pressed one hand to her face and drove her straight toward the distant Tokyo Barrier.

"What?!"

Shock and fury hit her at the same time.

"You bastard, don't touch me! I am the woman who is going to be Sukuna's wife, ahhhh!"

"Sorry." Toji's expression didn't flicker. He pressed harder. "I'm a kept man."

Other men's wives are also my type.

"You should've led with that!"

Wan grew even more frantic.

Toji didn't care at all.

The gap in raw wrist strength at close range, that was all it took to hold her down, brief as it was.

But beyond that.

His mind, at this very moment, was in the eye of a storm.

Because...

Father?

That single word from Fushiguro Megumi had driven straight into the long-dormant depths of Fushiguro Toji's soul.

That's right.

[In that instant]

[Within Fushiguro Toji's mind, something was born...]

[Memories that had never existed]

.....................

..........

This one. That one.

All of them, trash.

From the time he was small, Zenin Toji had known he was different.

No Cursed Energy. That alone made him the target of ridicule and abuse within the Zenin clan.

He was not born strong.

Cursed Energy converts to physical power, but that conversion takes time to awaken, time to refine. He grew up surrounded by hostility on all sides, and in those years when he was still weak, Zenin Toji had considered giving up entirely.

Pain. Struggle. And finally, numbness.

By the time he genuinely had power, it was already too late for it to matter.

Even with the strength to slaughter the entire Zenin clan, he felt nothing. No satisfaction. No release.

He put away the killing intent. Took some Cursed Tools. And then Zenin Toji walked the path of an assassin, with a particular taste for hunting Jujutsu Sorcerers.

He knew what that was. Self-gratification.

A way to feed that inferior part of himself.

There was a piece missing from his soul.

Without some accident, something unpredictable, it would never be filled. Probably not ever.

Until...

[Hello? Ah, thank you very much for your help earlier.]

He couldn't remember how it started anymore.

But [her] face was still clear.

A man who believed he had no business with 'love' briefly turned over a new leaf. He even let himself imagine staying by her side, truly staying.

He changed his surname. Had a child.

Gave the child a name he himself didn't dare sit with too long.

[Megumi.]

Grace. Blessing.

He wanted the child to be different from himself. Wanted the child to actually receive what parents were supposed to give.

But... she died.

After that, nothing mattered.

The man who had lost her was nothing but a wreck, unfit to raise a child, unable to give anyone anything.

He had no grace to offer.

But.

If, if the man had held on to even a single thread of will to live, even a single trace of the courage to take responsibility, perhaps a completely different world line could have existed.

...

[Thud thud thud thud thud]

The ground was shaking, as if a great army bore down from somewhere close. A burning, fervent atmosphere seized every person there.

Gravel flew. People roared. The announcer screamed.

[On the outside! Daiwa Major is picking up speed early! There's the great Samson! Mississippi Rhapsody! Rock 'n' Roll has also accelerated!]

The entire racetrack had erupted, arms swinging in time with the thunder underfoot.

[Red cap, it's the red cap! Deep Impact is surging up from the outside!]

[Now! Will Deep Impact spread its wings here!]

As if the name itself held power, people shot to their feet all at once. Nothing could stop the tide of the crowd.

[Spreading! Catching up from the far outside in one breath! Deep Impact! Blows straight past Daiwa Major completely!]

The roar kept building.

[Deep Impact takes the lead! Deep Impact takes the lead!]

[An undeniable takeoff! The final charge! This is! Deep Impact!]

The moment the horse crossed the finish line, the entire racetrack lost its mind.

"Niceeeeee!"

And Fushiguro Toji swung his arm wide with the rest of them, eyes shut, face thrown open with sheer, uncomplicated joy.

"We... won?"

Fushiguro Toji stared up at the sky, dazed.

The sky was clean. Washed through. Pale blue bleeding gently toward the horizon. Where the wind moved, scattered clouds drifted, quiet, beautiful, almost too bright to look at.

That beauty reflected in the man's eyes.

I'm sorry, the boy's mother.

The man murmured, his voice barely a breath.

In his ears, something like church bells seemed to ring.

Sacred. Pure.

Right now, I am not sad that you are gone.

I just feel... this world is a pleasant place to be in.

There's the finest horse racing, and,

"Amazing! Father! I won! We won!"

Beside him, a head of spiky, sea-urchin hair.

The boy's face was flushed red, both arms thrown up.

"Tonight's ramen — we can add an extra serving of chashu!"

The beautiful boy who bore the name Fushiguro Megumi was wearing a grin just as money-hungry as Fushiguro Toji's own.

"Hahaha! You idiot!"

Fushiguro Toji let out a mocking laugh, voice warm, and pressed his hand down on his son's head.

"Add an extra soft-boiled egg too."

"Yes!"

Father and son looked at each other.

"As expected!"

They said it at the same time, both laughing,

"Horse betting really is the best!" x2

.

"So a world like that could actually exist?"

"What are you getting sentimental about all of a sudden!"

They'd fought and chased each other the entire way, finally crashing through the outer shell of the barrier together. Wan and Toji arrived inside the Tokyo Barrier.

Wan threw off Fushiguro Toji the moment her feet hit the ground.

She touched her face. The imprint was still there, she could feel the shape of it distinctly.

It had to look hideous.

Bastard bastard bastard! How am I supposed to face Sukuna looking like this!

That settled it.

"You bastard! I'm going to kill you!"

A powerhouse like her would not allow herself to be seen this way.

Toji landed. His expression was exactly as unruly as before.

"Is that so? Not like it matters — I'm already dead."

"Speaking of which —"

The man tilted his thumb back toward the barrier's edge behind him.

"My son is watching."

"Let me show off. Just a little~"

➤ Next: Whoa, It's Intel Toji! Everyone Fall Back!