Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 11 - Doing Good

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"

Hajime Kashimo's mouth was clamped shut. Not a single curse could get out.

Megumi's palm was locked over the lower half of his face, stuffing every obscenity and enraged howl straight back down his throat.

And that small frame, the slender, feminine waist of someone who had become a crossdresser, was scooped up and pinned firmly in Megumi's one-armed grip.

The moment that sensitive waist was grabbed, Hajime Kashimo nearly screamed.

But his mouth was already completely sealed. There was no outlet for that overwhelming surge of sensation.

It nearly stripped him of every last shred of rational thought.

A flush blazed across his face, far more dangerous than anything that had come before.

"Little Deer, this is a critical moment. You have to hold it together."

"Don't lose it!"

"This is a trial!"

Hajime Kashimo was hoisted clean off the ground. His whole body dangled in midair like a cat grabbed by the scruff of its neck, legs kicking uselessly at nothing.

The ultra-short skirt, barely reaching the tops of his thighs, shifted in the wind, its hem swaying through the air.

The edges nearly flipped up to a dangerous point. Almost fully exposed to open daylight.

"No — that's the last shred of dignity I have as a man!"

Hajime Kashimo broke free for a split second and drove an elbow hard into Megumi's ribs.

The instant Megumi flinched and the grip loosened, Hajime Kashimo wrenched himself free.

Both hands slammed down onto the skirt hem. Like a startled cat with every hair on end, he bristled all over.

He cried out, desperately trying to protect the last remnant of dignity left to him after becoming a crossdresser.

"I am —"

"A MAN!"

"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear, and if you really are a man, that's all the more reason I need to check!"

Hana Kurusu went straight in with both hands, absolutely determined to see this final inspection through to the end.

"Megumi Fushiguro, make sure you hold him for me!"

Megumi responded immediately and tightened the grip.

"OK, duck-neck lock!"

A solid cross-lock clamped around Hajime Kashimo's neck, stripping him of any last chance to resist.

Megumi quickly leaned in close to Hajime Kashimo's ear and spoke low.

"For me."

"For Hana Kurusu."

"Show them."

A hard slap sent the wind flying.

Under that fierce force, every inch of Hajime Kashimo was laid bare.

Hana Kurusu saw exactly what they had wanted to see.

Even so, the scale of things left Hana Kurusu stunned.

The hands gripping the skirt hem froze in midair, uncertain, then finally settled gently back down, smoothing out the rumpled fabric.

"Mmm, it's fine. Small is cute too."

"Kashimo I — for Megumi's sake, let's be good friends from now on, okay?"

Having confirmed what needed confirming.

Hana Kurusu's expression went from storm to sunshine on the spot.

The bottomless rage from moments before melted away like butter on a warm pan, vanishing without a trace, as if it had never existed at all.

As if the unhinged person ready to obliterate a romantic rival with Jacob's Ladder had been someone else entirely.

The smile came back. Hana Kurusu beamed at Megumi and said goodbye.

With a light step, turned and walked away, this time for real, without doubling back for one last strike.

In this whole tense and chaotic struggle.

Only Hajime Kashimo had been hurt.

He had lost every last ounce of strength to stand back up.

All the words choked in his mouth throughout Megumi's forceful restraint had finally dissolved into a pool of saliva that dripped onto the ground.

And Hajime Kashimo, simultaneously drooling and rolling his eyes back, looked more terrifying than ever.

For the sake of victory in this struggle.

He had given everything.

Dignity and body alike.

Both thoroughly wrecked.

"It's okay, Little Deer."

Megumi patted him on the shoulder. Hajime Kashimo twitched twice in a conditioned reflex.

Megumi looked at that face, the face that said my life is over, and spoke softly.

"In the Parallel Worlds, there are infinite possibilities."

"Who knows, maybe there's an extremely benevolent Mahito out there, willing to use Idle Transfiguration to do good for humanity."

"When the time comes, we'll find a world like that and have it fix things for you."

"Do good for humanity?" Hajime Kashimo asked, voice soft and doughy.

There was hope in it. Like someone lost in the dark who had just glimpsed a flicker of light.

His eyes were still a little red at the rims, but the look in them was no longer quite so hopeless.

"Obviously I mean changing the size, you silly Little Deer."

Megumi said it gently, soothing Little Deer's wounded little heart.

He reached out and gave Hajime Kashimo a soft pat, the warmth of his palm passing through that thin layer of fabric.

"Yeah!"

Hajime Kashimo responded with excitement and buried himself in Megumi's arms.

The two of them savored this long-missed, tender moment together...

Until footsteps rang out from deeper in the alley, unsettling, and accompanied by an icy voice.

"Why are you wearing my clothes!"

"And hugging my Megumi Fushiguro!"

"You, where did you come from, you wild deer!"

That familiar voice carried from the mouth of the alley.

The figure in the white bikini, noticing Megumi had been gone for far too long, had come straight out of the dessert shop to find him.

Standing at the alley entrance with the afternoon sun outlining a silhouette behind, that gaze fell on the person in Megumi's arms, wearing the same clothes, holding the same man, and the light instantly vanished from those eyes.

A "DANGER" kanji surged up from the shadow tide, nearly spilling past the edges of the shadow surface, urgently alerting Megumi to brace himself.

The instant the voice reached him, Megumi had already recognized its owner.

His body went rigid.

"This..."

The worst possible outcome had come to pass.

Both Little Deers had met each other at the same time.

Megumi's eyes darted around, scrambling for some clever deflection, trying to buy time.

"It's..."

The devious brain kicked in.

"It's... a life-sized body pillow of Kashimo I!"

"A one-to-one scale custom body pillow, because I just can't stop thinking about you!"

Megumi delivered it with full commitment, holding the rigidly frozen Hajime Kashimo and launching into the performance.

"Enough."

Kashimo I cut him off. Voice cold. Voice calm. Like a sharp blade slicing clean through all the nonsense.

Looking at the other self held tightly in Megumi's arms, that face, identical in every way, Kashimo I said icily:

"It's the Parallel Worlds, isn't it."

The realization had landed.

Another breakthrough for the cursed technique scholar.

Just one glance, and it was enough to determine that two Little Deers could only mean Parallel Worlds?

Hajime Kashimo.

Is the base-level code actually destined to become a cursed technique scholar?

It was as if the world lines had fully converged at this very moment.

Every lie, every disguise, every excuse, all of it crumbled to dust in that single quiet declaration.

Megumi had still failed to stop the yandere Little Deer from the Parallel Worlds from learning of the Parallel Worlds' existence.

"In that case..."

One final struggle was all Megumi had left.

"There's nothing left to say!"

➤ Next: I Love Watching Women Fight More Than Anything