Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 10 - Lift the Skirt!

Looking down at the romance option Megumi had personally transmitted to his feet.

Caught in a crisis, Hajime Kashimo had no choice but to drop his voice as low as it could go, pouring every ounce of conviction into it.

As if he were funneling every trace of his masculinity into that single word, man.

He drew a deep breath, chest swelling high, and then —

A full-throated roar!

"I AM A MAN!"

The roar exploded across the street.

Such a heroic declaration. And yet it made Hajime Kashimo feel deeply, thoroughly embarrassed.

Waves of awkwardness crashed over him. He wanted to find a hole in the ground and disappear into it.

He wiped at the flush creeping up his cheeks, and then something caught him off guard.

"Wait. Why am I embarrassed at all?"

He furrowed his brow and gave it a genuine half-second of thought. A flicker of confusion crossed his eyes. Then realization hit:

"I've always been a man."

"A MAN!"

Hajime Kashimo threw his head back and cranked the volume up again, bellowing it out like he was announcing an irrefutable truth to the entire world.

"You... you're really a guy?!"

The wavering in Hana Kurusu's voice was unmistakable.

That waist, slender enough to wrap one hand around. Those long legs encased in white stockings.

And you're telling me this is a man?

Hana Kurusu had absolutely no information about Parallel Worlds. No idea that the "Kashimo I" standing right there wasn't the Kashimo I they knew at all.

All Hana Kurusu could do was connect the figure in front of them to what came after the battle against Sukuna.

The Kashimo I who, for over a month, had been constantly going in and out of women's restrooms, women's dormitories, using women's products without a second thought.

Kashimo I yawning in the women's dormitory hallway in pajamas. Kashimo I fixing hair at the women's restroom sink.

Those images flooded into Hana Kurusu's mind one by one.

"...You're a hentai!"

The gasp came out sharp, and Hana Kurusu's expression flipped in an instant.

Mouth turned down. Brows digging deep. A textbook look of pure disgust.

"So for the past month you've been disguising yourself as a woman to freely walk in and out of female spaces at Jujutsu High."

"You really should be eliminated, Kashimo I!"

"Jacob's Ladder!"

Light gathered at Hana Kurusu's philtrum once more, blazing brighter and more searing than before!

SCORCHING WHITE LIGHT FLOODED THE ENTIRE SPACE!

Hana Kurusu's output wasn't particularly high, and the raw lethal damage to a human body was limited.

But the problem was that Hajime Kashimo was an incarnated vessel too.

Take a couple of hits and it'd be straight to the soul corridor, waiting for Hei Hui to help with a revival!

"Megumi, that option of yours was completely wrong!"

"That's not how you play a galge!"

Swallowed by Jacob's Ladder, Hajime Kashimo could only shout toward Megumi in the shadow tide, begging him to use that freak brain of his and come up with a second plan, fast.

His shadow had already been compressed by the light into a tiny little dark blot, as if the white glow might swallow it whole at any moment.

Then the shadow tide surged, projecting a second answer.

Hajime Kashimo scrambled to read it. The moment the words burned into his eyes, his face twisted into an expression that said death would be a mercy:

Just give me a quick death.

Still, faced with Jacob's Ladder, he had to struggle.

With no other option, he followed Megumi's prompt and opened dialogue with Hana Kurusu once more:

"I... have a cognitive disorder!"

Tier-0 cognitive disorder patient Hajime Kashimo has entered the chat.

"It was Megumi who set me straight!"

The Jujutsu Doctor unleashed a thunderous torrent of words, blasting them all out at light speed before the Ladder could land a hit.

"You wouldn't want to ruin all of Megumi's hard work just by killing me, would you?!"

"And you wouldn't want Megumi to hate you, would you?!"

Hajime Kashimo went straight into a redirection sweep, swinging all the fire back onto the topic of Megumi hating them.

He knew it was Hana Kurusu's weak spot. Every bit of that madness came from an obsession with Megumi.

"Wha..."

Hana Kurusu was visibly swayed by the Jujutsu Doctor's well-reasoned argument.

Or rather, struck dead center in the weak spot by the possibility that Megumi would hate them.

The light of Jacob's Ladder began to dim. Blinding white-hot faded, degree by degree, into a warm orange glow.

"Hana!"

Megumi surfaced from the shadow tide at that exact moment, stepped forward, and took Hana Kurusu's hand.

His fingers threaded through the gaps between Hana Kurusu's fingers, ten fingers interlaced. The warmth in his palm passed completely into Hana Kurusu's hand.

"Kashimo I just wanted to repay me — that's all. That's why they asked me out for sweets."

"We absolutely did not do anything improper!"

"This is brotherhood. Not romance."

"My heart will always belong to you!"

Megumi's gaze was sincere and fervent, something like starlight flickering behind his eyes.

The hand-holding was gentle and tender, like soothing a startled kitten, steadily, carefully bringing Hana Kurusu back down.

Far away, Conqueror King Sukuna watched the whole scene unfold. What came through was equal parts admiration and a deep, gnawing sense of crisis at having such an opponent:

"You scoundrel! Playing with someone's feelings like that!"

"I am the one who stands for righteousness!"

But Conqueror King Sukuna's soul was still injured. The body couldn't be pushed fully through the spatial rift. All Sukuna could do was watch helplessly as Hana Kurusu, under Megumi's precise handling, gradually sank deeper into his verbal trap.

"Megumi Fushiguro..."

Hana Kurusu softened. Seemingly accepting the combined explanation from Megumi and Hajime Kashimo, Hana Kurusu began slowly adjusting to the unexpected situation.

Breathing steadied. The high-strung battle posture eased back down to something natural.

"Hana, I'll definitely make it up to you tomorrow!"

Megumi struck while the iron was hot and added a promise.

"To think you could go this far, Megumi Fushiguro!" Watching this, Conqueror King Sukuna ground their teeth even harder.

After receiving the promise of a date from Megumi, Hana Kurusu's anger seemed to bleed out considerably.

A faint blush rose to those cheeks. A smile came back.

Seeing the conflict had ended, Hana Kurusu also seemed to realize how out of hand things had gotten, and quickly said goodbye to Megumi.

The retreating figure shrank smaller and smaller in the afternoon sunlight, and finally vanished around the bend in the street.

"Make me wear something like this again and I'll kill you."

Watching Hana Kurusu disappear, Hajime Kashimo was nearly grinding his molars to powder.

Setting aside just how revealing this outfit was,

It felt like something might slip out at any moment.

Worse, this outfit was far tighter than even the idol costume.

The fabric clung to his body like a second skin, tracing every line and curve with absolutely nothing left to the imagination.

It had come dangerously close to suffocating Little Kashimo down there.

"If anything happens to me..."

Just as Hajime Kashimo was about to lay into Megumi, that retreating figure suddenly grew larger in his line of sight, charging straight back toward them.

Hana Kurusu was back, fury in tow, storming right up to Megumi.

"Didn't you say Kashimo I is a man?"

"Then let me check the elephant!"

Megumi:?

"Wasn't it you who just said so yourself? I have every right to inspect Kashimo I's elephant."

Full of aggressive momentum, Hana Kurusu stepped right up in front of Kashimo I.

One hand reached out, pointing at the hem of that skirt. The tone left absolutely no room for argument.

"Lift the skirt!"

"What, you little—"

The curse never made it out of Hajime Kashimo's mouth before Megumi clamped a hand over it.

"Did you hear what was said."

Hana Kurusu's tone hardened.

"I said lift the skirt!"

➤ Next: Doing Good