Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 13 - Three-Way Rooftop Battle
"Wrong!"
Walking alone down the street, Hana Kurusu suddenly stopped.
"I did check Kashimo I and confirmed the gender."
"But that was foolish thinking."
"What if... what if..."
Hana Kurusu's chest heaved rapidly, whole body trembling, as though unable to face the reality that such a possibility might exist.
"What if..."
"Megumi is..."
"A girl?"
Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl. Megumi is a girl.
Once that thought surfaced.
Hana Kurusu could no longer forget it, could no longer deceive herself.
She thought back to what the two of them had done inside the sweets shop.
Megumi, in order to wipe ice cream off Kashimo I, had crouched down between Kashimo I's legs...
"Megumi... ate it?!"
That was all it took. Hana Kurusu could no longer hold the thought back, and sprinted straight toward the alley from before.
......
......
Megumi Fushiguro and Hajime Kashimo stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the two figures clashing fiercely in the narrow alley.
"Come on, let's watch to the end before saying anything!"
"Fighting — hell yeah!"
Lightning and Insect Armor collided, erupting in blinding flashes and deafening roars.
Each impact crashed like a thunderclap. Sound waves bounced back and forth between the alley walls, making the ground beneath their feet tremble faintly.
Kashimo I's assault was sharp and relentless, thrusting with both hands in rapid succession, leaving afterimages trailing through the air. The tips of the feet barely grazed the ground, and the body flickered to another position as if by teleportation.
One moment kicking off the left wall for leverage. The next, materialized behind Tsumiki Fushiguro, five fingers straight as a blade, crackling lightning wrapped around the strike as it drove for the back of the heart.
SUPER-POWERED LIGHTNING-ENCHANTED HAND-BLADE!
Tsumiki Fushiguro took it head-on with Insect Armor, the deep-violet carapace scattering tiny sparks under the thunderous barrage. Fracture lines spread across the shell, yet in the very next instant, a fresh layer of chitin filled them in and sealed them shut.
Tsumiki kept counter-attacking even while defending.
Liquid metal poured from the palms. At times it shaped into rows of razor-sharp spikes, lunging like silver spears toward Kashimo I's vitals. At others it split into dozens of tiny pellets, scattering like buckshot to seal off every escape route.
Crossing. Colliding. Separating. Colliding again.
The two figures traded blow after blow through the alley, each exchange leaving fresh scars on the walls. Cracks branched outward in every direction, dense and countless, a record of just how brutal this fight had become.
"Can electric charge really not pierce through Insect Armor?"
"For now... let's say it can pierce it, but can't do any damage."
Megumi and Hajime Kashimo kept up their running commentary.
Both of their breathing had turned ragged and heavy, chests heaving. Each was showing signs of exhaustion. But their gazes stayed as sharp as blades, locked onto each other without yielding, as though competing to see whose will would crack first.
Their struggle.
Still without a victor.
"Megumi..."
A voice that didn't belong to any of the four cut in abruptly from outside the battlefield. Megumi looked around and found it was coming from between the rays of the skylight!
"Megumi!"
The voice called his name again, as though confirming something. And then, finally, it mustered its full force.
"Megumi Fushiguro, are you a girl or NOT?!"
Kashimo I heard that, let out a quiet laugh, and raised an eyebrow.
( )( ), ( )( )( )( )
In an instant,
A third beautiful figure appeared in the sky.
Golden hair shone like the sun, dazzling and brilliant in the light. Wings white as snow, feathers full and soft, shimmering with a pearl-like warmth.
"Another one!"
Tsumiki Fushiguro roared and struck. Silver pellets came down dense as rain.
Hana Kurusu dodged them lightly.
Hana Kurusu danced through the air, movements light and elegant, calm and unhurried.
"Take this!"
Seeing that familiar, infuriating opponent arrive on the battlefield once more, Kashimo I puffed out both cheeks, swelling up like an inflated pufferfish, and then let loose.
Lightning erupted from every part of the body, coalescing into one enormous sphere. It compressed. Condensed. And then it fired: a thick, churning beam of light aimed straight at Hana Kurusu.
"Pea Cannon!"
The shockwave engulfed every last escape route.
Yet with a single glance from Hana Kurusu, it shattered.
"Jacob's Ladder!"
Holy light pierced straight through the lightning.
An absolute, total domination of technique.
"You lot have been quite unruly while I was away."
Hana Kurusu swept pure-white wings and came to a hover in midair. The sky's light filtered down through that silhouette, draping it in something close to sacred.
The expression was calm. Composed. As though that beam of lightning, powerful enough to blast through an entire building, had been nothing more than a breeze.
It was a declaration. Hana Kurusu, who commanded the sky and held absolute technique superiority, had long since become the victor of this struggle.
"In other words..."
Watching the scene, Hajime Kashimo said weakly at Megumi's side:
"Is this... Mmph!"
Megumi covered Kashimo's mouth again, palm falling with practiced ease over the lower half of his face.
"Kashimo, that line doesn't fit here."
Megumi stared at the three facing off and quietly reflected that Kashimo's read on this fight still wasn't sharp enough. His gaze swept slowly across all three, taking in each one's positioning and stance.
"Three people. Rooftop battle."
"At a moment like this, what you're supposed to say is —"
"There's nothing left to say!"
All three yanderes cried out in unison.
Their voices carried the same absolute resolve. What followed was each one's own distinct opening stance and the enormous, rising pressure of cursed energy being called forth.
"That move — it's coming!"
Barrier fragments tore in from the void, assembling above everyone's heads into an irregularly shaped spherical barrier, swallowing the world into darkness.
"Megumi, we'll be caught inside the Domain's guaranteed-hit lock too!"
Watching barrier fragments sweep in around him, Hajime Kashimo felt an immediate sense of dread. It seemed he had also become one of the targets.
"Then let it come."
Megumi pressed his hands together and shouted toward Kashimo:
"Let's use our blood-pumping combination technique!"
On the field, all five completed their final charge.
Every last drop of cursed energy, at this moment, was unleashed entirely.
"Domain Expansion!"
"Domain Expansion!"
"Jacob's Ladder!"
"Hollow Wicker Basket!"
"Hollow Wicker Basket!"
➤ Next: The True Pebble