Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 16 - Holy Shit — Uraume!

"Kashimo!"

"No!"

Kashimo truly did need to be defeated. Megumi kept telling himself that, over and over, trying to use reason to quiet the inexplicable tightening in his chest.

But watching that face, the one that had been at his side day and night, about to vanish into the True Sphere, he couldn't shake the reluctance.

His fingers curled slightly at his side, then slowly opened. Curled again. Opened again. A restless rhythm that matched the wavering in his heart.

And then, in the middle of that daze,

Something changed.

The True Sphere had already pushed to the tip of Kashimo's nose. The pressure wave rolling off it had locked onto Kashimo's silhouette with iron certainty. That massive pitch-black sphere was no more than a hair's breadth from Kashimo's face, its surface nearly grazing the eyelashes.

The shadow of death had completely swallowed Kashimo, wrapping the figure in pure, total darkness.

And yet it couldn't push forward a single fraction more.

The True Sphere froze.

That enormous black sphere simply hung there, motionless, as though time itself had been pressed to pause. All that remained was a suffocating silence, one so complete that even the sound of heartbeats grew unnervingly distinct.

Only Tsumiki Fushiguro knew the truth.

The True Sphere had never slipped free of Tsumiki's control. Not once, from the very beginning. Even now, in its frozen state, that stillness was the product of Tsumiki continuously pouring in more cursed energy, continuously driving the output higher.

And yet the True Sphere refused to move.

There was only one explanation for that.

Kashimo had deployed some trick capable of holding the True Sphere in place.

Tsumiki's gaze swept back and forth between the sphere and Kashimo, searching for the source. Then, slowly, Tsumiki began reducing the output.

That single act shattered everything.

The sphere shot backward as though it had lost all control, rocketing straight into the edge of the domain, hurtling back at a speed greater than it had come, crashing into the pitch-black barrier with a thunderous impact. The entire domain shuddered from the collision. Even the people standing inside felt the ground lurch beneath their feet.

"Kashimo actually reversed control over my True Sphere?!"

Tsumiki stood frozen, struck with total disbelief. There was no way to explain it. Tsumiki could only stare wide-eyed, teeth pressing again and again into the lower lip until the skin bore the marks.

"Can't figure out what I did?"

"Of course you can't!"

Kashimo's tone lifted, the whole bearing proud and imperious, hands on hips, chin tilted upward, a victor's smile playing at the corners of the mouth.

"Because you're not from Jujutsu High. You have no jujutsu academic credentials!"

Every syllable of those last two words landed with deliberate, pointed mockery.

"It's magnetism!"

"I redirected magnetic force using electric charge!"

Kashimo pointed triumphantly toward the True Sphere, now pinned to the edge of the domain. That pool of silver liquid metal was flowing slowly along the inner wall, clinging to the vertical surface as though held there by some invisible force, defying gravity entirely.

Kashimo traced an arc through the air with one finger, and spoke with open pride:

"Metal conducts electricity!"

Only then did it click for Tsumiki.

"So the efficiency with which you could pump electric charge into me increased dramatically?!"

Tsumiki's mind raced back through the battle. There had been a question nagging, why, during those attacks, had Kashimo clearly been able to pierce the spots left unprotected by the Insect Armor, yet consistently chosen not to?

Instead, Kashimo had kept opening more and more wounds across Tsumiki's body.

The waist. The chest. The thigh.

Each strike shattered exactly one piece of Insect Armor, never going deep enough to reach the organs beneath.

At first, Tsumiki had assumed it was revenge. Revenge for possessing a figure that Kashimo could absolutely never have. Revenge for the condescending superiority of puffing out a chest in Kashimo's face.

Tsumiki had assumed Kashimo was simply consumed by envy of the chest.

But that wasn't it at all.

Kashimo had been attacking to cover more of the Insect Armor.

"After pumping all the positive charge into the liquid metal, that is, the material composing your True Sphere." Kashimo continued. "Then having the outer shell of my domain apply negative charge."

"And after that..."

Kashimo held up two knuckles, one to the left and one to the right, like the domain and the True Sphere, representing positive and negative. Representing attraction and being attracted.

The two knuckles moved toward each other, slowly, slower, deliberately drawing out the suspense, until they locked together, perfectly flush, without a single gap.

"All of your liquid metal has been drawn to the edge of my domain."

"Tech school is tech school, and undergrad is undergrad."

"I am Jujutsu High — but you..."

Kashimo let the final note stretch, leaving a charged pause, baiting Tsumiki with it. A smile of wicked amusement curled at the corners of the mouth.

"Undergrad, perhaps?"

Those two words landed like a pair of hard slaps across Tsumiki's face.

"You, you, you —"

Tsumiki was so furious that words nearly failed entirely, cheeks flushing scarlet in an instant.

But it was true. Tsumiki had lost all control over the liquid metal. No matter how much cursed energy was surged, no matter how hard the will pushed, none of it answered. All Tsumiki could do was watch it flow slowly along the inner wall of the domain, as though mocking the helplessness.

All Tsumiki could do was watch as Kashimo's fists crackled to life with lightning once more, and Kashimo began walking forward.

"Megumi cheers for me!"

STOMP!

A single thunderous step rang out across the domain, and Kashimo's triumphant atmosphere shattered on the spot.

A ring of dust erupted from the ground, pulling every eye toward it.

Kashimo's steps halted. The look of satisfaction on the face slowly went rigid.

"Oh. The next one?"

Kashimo's gaze turned toward the cloud of dust stirred up by that heavy step.

"Let me just make one thing clear — you're the challenger!"

Kashimo loved Megumi so deeply that even the catchphrases had been picked up along the way.

Lightning condensed into a blade. Kashimo turned, gaze sharp and focused, locking onto the silhouette of this new challenger.

Then, in the very instant of moving to strike, the arm paused.

"You're not Hana Kurusu?!"

The exclamation was genuine, caught completely off guard, the primed attack stance faltering for a brief moment.

Which was strange. On this battlefield, aside from Tsumiki and Kashimo, the only challenger left was supposed to be Hana Kurusu.

Megumi leaned forward, trying to make out the newcomer's face.

He saw it with his own eyes. In the settling dust, it was not Hana Kurusu's familiar golden curls. Not those pristine white wings, not that angelic, sacred face.

It was white hair.

White that stood out strikingly against the haze, like a cluster of white plum blossoms rising from the mud. Carrying a coolness and a solitary pride that had no place on this battlefield.

"White hair..."

Megumi stared, and the recognition hit him like a jolt.

"What the,"

"Uraume!"

➤ Next: That Conqueror King