Chapter 172 - The Verdict That Never Fell

Those two small hunks of metal were half-buried in the shattered concrete, the ground around them webbed with cracks radiating outward like a spider's web. What the hell?! Each one had to weigh over a thousand pounds! He'd been fighting with those things on this whole time?! The composure on Higuruma's face froze solid.

Yuji stood on the second-floor railing, bouncing lightly on both feet like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Whew. Way better. I feel like I could float away!"

He brought both fists together and crossed them over his chest. A violent burst of force detonated outward from him. This wasn't Cursed Energy. Higuruma stared hard at Yuji and felt it, pure, suffocating physical pressure. The kind that had nothing to do with curses. Green steam rose from Yuji's skin.

"Eight Gates — Third Gate: Gate of Life!"

"Open!"

BOOM!

The wooden staircase on the second floor exploded into splinters. Higuruma never saw Yuji move. A wall of wind hit Higuruma in the face. Yuji was already there. Less than ten centimeters away.

"Youth Straight Punch!"

Yuji drove a right straight into Higuruma's stomach. Higuruma didn't even get to scream. The impact launched Higuruma backward like a kite with a snapped string, and Higuruma slammed into the load-bearing wall hard enough to cave it in.

CRASH!

Before Higuruma could slide to the floor, a green afterimage flickered.

"Youthful Invincible Overhead Chop!"

Yuji materialized in midair and brought a whip kick down onto Higuruma's shoulder. Higuruma was hammered straight into the ground, punched through the wooden floorboards like a cannonball and dropped into the basement below. Mouth full of blood. Head ringing. The Reverse Cursed Technique was running at full tilt, barely knitting broken bones back together. Too fast. Was this even a human being?! Higuruma struggled to stand.

Yuji was already in front of Higuruma. Grabbed the collar. Swung Higuruma clean off the ground. Shoulder throw. BANG. A crater opened up in the basement floor. Higuruma felt like the organs were being shaken loose. Yuji leapt up, knee wreathed in green steam, and drove it into Higuruma's chest. Higuruma threw everything into holding the gavel crosswise in front of the chest to block.

CRACK!

The gavel, impossibly hard, split clean in two. Higuruma vomited blood and skidded across the ground for over ten meters before a concrete pillar stopped the slide. Five exchanges. Less than ten seconds. The lawyer who had been immaculate in a pressed suit, poised and composed just moments ago, was now slumped in the rubble, face battered and swollen, suit reduced to shreds, covered in blood.

Yuji released the Gate of Life. The green steam dissipated. He stood there, scratched the back of his head, and looked a little sheepish.

"Hey... you okay, mister? Did I go too hard on you?"

Higuruma leaned against the pillar, hauling in ragged breaths. Looking at this high school kid standing there with a face full of genuine concern, Higuruma felt the lungs about to burst with rage. Too hard? You practically knocked my bile out of me just now, you bastard! Have to use that.

Higuruma drew a deep breath, forced the searing pain down, and brought both hands together to form a seal.

"Domain Expansion!"

"Deadly Sentencing!"

The surroundings warped. The courtroom reappeared. Only this time, the Higuruma seated at the judge's bench had a battered, swollen face and a ruined suit. Not a shred of authority. Frankly pitiful. Yuji stood in the defendant's dock. The blindfolded Kogane behind Higuruma raised the scales.

"Defendant Yuji Itadori. Suspected of mass civilian slaughter in Shibuya, resulting in thousands of deaths."

Higuruma's voice echoed through the courtroom, carrying a thin edge of exhaustion. Higuruma looked at Yuji. The charge was intelligence obtained just now through the shikigami. The moment Higuruma had seen it, even Higuruma hadn't been able to believe it. This bright, guileless, almost airheaded high school kid, the perpetrator of the Shibuya massacre? But this was exactly what Higuruma needed.

As long as Yuji denied it, Higuruma could argue the evidence, sentence Yuji to death, and finish it with the Executioner's Sword in a single strike. The only chance to turn this around.

"The defendant may now make a statement." Higuruma brought the gavel down.

Yuji stood inside the wooden frame. The smile on his face was gone. He lowered his head. His bangs fell over his eyes. A long silence.

"I did it."

Yuji's voice was quiet. But utterly certain. "I won't deny it."

Higuruma went still. The raised gavel hung motionless in the air.

"You—" Higuruma's eyes went wide. "Are you insane? The moment you admit it, you're sentenced to death! I will take your life right here!"

Yuji lifted his head. There was no fear in his eyes. Only deep, grinding remorse and pain.

"I know. But people really did die because of me. That's my crime. I won't run from it."

Higuruma's jaw clenched. "Are you certain?"

Those eyes held no argument. No deflection. Nothing but pure, uncut accountability. Higuruma's hand was shaking. Of course Higuruma knew what had actually happened during the Shibuya Incident. It was a crime committed after Ryomen Sukuna seized control of the body. Yuji Itadori was nothing more than an innocent vessel.

If Higuruma exploited a loophole in the rules right now, out of wounded pride, to sentence a good person who bore the blame for someone else's actions to death... then what kind of lawyer was Higuruma? What kind of justice was Higuruma even chasing?

CLATTER!

The gavel dropped onto the table. Higuruma closed both eyes and let out a long, weary breath.

"Domain, dispel."

The courtroom shattered like glass. They were back in the wrecked basement of the theater.

Yuji blinked, looking at Higuruma. "Mister? No verdict?"

Higuruma leaned against the pillar and let out a bitter laugh.

"Verdict my ass. This judge met his match today."

A small golden Kogane drifted up into the air.

"Player Hiromi Higuruma transfers 100 points to Player Yuji Itadori."

The number on the back of Yuji's hand flickered.

Yuji stared at it, surprised and delighted. "Mister! You gave me your points?"

"Take them. I'm tired."

Higuruma waved a hand and stared up at the hole in the ceiling.

"You were right. There's no such thing as absolute fairness. At least you, kid, you understand responsibility better than I do."

Higuruma turned and looked at Yuji, eyes carrying a complexity that resisted easy words.

"Before you go — can I ask you something?"

"Hm? What?"

Higuruma pointed at the demolished basement around them, then at the face swollen to twice its normal size.

"That completely unreasonable body of yours. How exactly do you do that?"

Yuji grinned wide, flashing all his teeth. He stuck his thumb up.

"A smug gorilla who won't shut up about youth and sweat and wears a green spandex suit taught me!"

"A gorilla?"

Higuruma murmured.

➤ Next: Todo and Naoya