Jujutsu Kaisen: Megumi — Chapter 24 - So I Really Am That Bad?
"So many people..."
The underground observation room, originally dead-silent and cramped, had taken on an extraordinarily peculiar atmosphere the moment visitors from another world came flooding in.
The Jujutsu High contingent had just watched the modern era's strongest, Satoru Gojo, die. Their faith had shattered. Their morale had hit rock bottom.
And they still felt that deep, gnawing anxiety about this world's future.
"So — if the moment comes when we have to step in, our strategy..." The Kashimo from Shumai's world still couldn't let go of that tactic. "Do we all go in together?"
The Jujutsu High contingent gave nothing back. Some stayed silent. Some shook their heads. No one offered any sign they thought it was workable.
Except Kashimo.
The two Jujutsu Doctors locked eyes, and instantly, their wavelengths synced.
Their gazes held nothing but pure, fanatical unity of tactical vision.
"Yes! When it's our turn, we charge in together and beat the hell out of Sukuna!"
SMACK!
A rough, unrefined hand, not the soft kind.
Meeting it mid-air, with tremendous force, was a slender palm belonging to Kashimo, small-framed, dressed in white stockings.
The highest consensus had been reached.
"By the way, does Emperor Hui really not need our help?"
With the decisive battle nearly at hand, Yuta Okkotsu still had both hands clamped around the sword's scabbard, unable to settle down even after a long while.
"Stay calm, Okkotsu. Don't forget what Emperor Hui told us." Atsuya Kusakabe placed a hand on Okkotsu's shoulder. "At least until he becomes weaker than you — don't make a move."
"Stay in the broadcast room for now. Wait for the results."
Ryu Ishigori and Hiromi Higuruma were busy repositioning the television. A sharp crackling of electricity cut through the room, and the screen, until now nothing but grey-white static, finally stabilized, projecting the outside world again: a ruin riddled with destruction.
"By the way, why hasn't Emperor Hui come out yet?"
Yuji Itadori stared hard at the screen, then turned to look back at the heavy iron door, still tightly shut.
"Time's almost up..."
"Isn't he still doing a final round of Reverse Cursed Technique training with Shoko Ieiri?"
Everyone exchanged glances. A flicker of worry passed through their eyes.
The sealed training room door, heavy as iron, showed not the slightest sign of opening.
......
......
"Still no good?"
As the person with the most experience using Reverse Cursed Technique, Shoko Ieiri had become Megumi Fushiguro's partner for the soul-swap Reverse Cursed Technique training sessions.
Right now, she leaned against the wall, exhausted.
She glanced up at the wall clock. The hands had nearly reached the operation time agreed upon with Meguna.
And yet, in this room where Ui Ui's technique had been used to perform a soul swap, forcing both of them to directly experience the flow of Reverse Cursed Technique from the inside,
Megumi Fushiguro... Emperor Hui had made absolutely no progress in the Reverse Cursed Technique training.
"Damn it. Am I really this bad?"
"Wasn't I the genius who effortlessly learned an incomplete Domain?"
Megumi slumped onto the floor. Cursed energy churned erratically in his palms, still unable to replicate the soft, healing light that Round Deer put out.
Why the last-minute push to learn Reverse Cursed Technique?
First: in battle, even with an incomplete manifestation, Megumi could only control two shikigami at a time. Mahoraga and the Two-Star Tyrant were essentially a locked-in lineup. Which meant that after taking damage in a fight, there was simply no possibility of switching to Round Deer for healing.
If it weren't for the fact that Toji Fushiguro couldn't fuse with other shikigami, Megumi would have long since had Toji pair with Round Deer.
Second: Megumi wanted to try, after mastering Reverse Cursed Technique, whether he could use that skill to push his Ten Shadows Technique into producing entirely new effects.
Of course, he hadn't learned it yet. So all of it was still wishful thinking.
"Should've just had Hei Hui throw me into a Parallel World where more Toji Fushiguros had reset, and farmed myself a four-star Toji first."
Megumi muttered helplessly. His self-deprecating laughter echoed through the empty room.
But complaining aside,
He pushed himself up off the floor again. Patted the dust from his trouser legs.
Those dark eyes, which had gone slightly unfocused from frustration, sharpened the instant they lifted, condensing into a keenness that felt almost physical.
The decisive battle had arrived. There was no waiting.
Somewhere in an unknown void dimension, Emperor Hu, the one who had entrusted every last hope to him, was still fighting to the final drop of blood, doing everything possible to stall the footsteps of Conqueror King Sukuna, footsteps that could swallow ten thousand worlds.
So he, Megumi Fushiguro, absolutely could not stop.
"Thank you for the hard work, Shoko Ieiri, for spending so much time training Reverse Cursed Technique with me."
Megumi kept his voice light and easy.
He didn't want the setbacks of their training to send her mind spiraling into dark thoughts about defeat on the eve of this battle.
He walked to the door. Reached for the handle, the door that opened onto the final battlefield.
"Hui... Emperor Hui, can you answer me one question?"
At the very moment he was about to step out, Shoko Ieiri, who had been leaning silently in the corner this whole time, smoking, called out to stop him.
Her eyes were veiled behind drifting smoke, her expression unreadable.
She slowly turned her head. Her gaze fell on the cold body lying in the center of the room, the one she had sewn back together with her own hands.
The body of Satoru Gojo. Still, and quietly sleeping.
"After putting Satoru Gojo's body back together... will he... really come back to life? Like you said?"
Her voice began to tremble. She couldn't stop it. The cigarette between her fingertips shook right along with it.
Over these years, she had already lived through so many deaths and farewells.
So when Megumi had appeared before her with that whole cross-dimensional resurrection theory, pulling someone back through a soul passage, Shoko Ieiri's inner defensive walls, already riddled with wounds, had instinctively filed it under well-meaning comfort and nothing more.
But even so. Deep in the very bottom of her heart, that tiny sliver of hope, long since withered, kept stirring, again and again, with a pang that ached.
Megumi stopped.
For a doctor who had been soaking in endless tragedy for ten years, hollow comfort wasn't going to cut it.
What it took was absolute, brazen arrogance, enough to shatter her despair clean through.
He spun around sharply. No grief on his face. No pity.
Instead, with full swagger, carrying something almost villainous in its untamed energy, he turned a grin on Shoko Ieiri.
"Don't worry."
"My comrade is reliable. He'll pull Gojo-sensei's soul back. Guaranteed."
Megumi tilted his chin up, spread his arms wide, and leaned into it.
"I'm going to create a world where every parallel universe has Gojo-sensei, a world that's nothing but happy endings!"
"Pfft—"
Watching him in that completely over-the-top, chuunibyou pose, Shoko Ieiri smiled. The first real smile in a long time.
"What?"
Megumi raised an eyebrow and dropped his arms, feigning offense.
"Nothing. Get out of here — everyone's still waiting for you."
Shoko Ieiri leaned against the doorframe, watching that bold, dark-haired silhouette walk away, and found herself murmuring to the body of Satoru Gojo, pale now, all the color gone:
"Satoru... he really does look like you."
She looked over one more time.
In that quiet, dazed moment, the lingering image on her retinas shifted into something strange. The white-robed silhouette still etched there, his silhouette, aligned perfectly with Megumi's spirited, departing figure.
Outside, the brewing storm had already pushed through the corridor.
Shoko Ieiri watched Megumi's silhouette fade into the light, and her gaze became utterly, completely resolute.
"This time... your student is going to win, isn't he?"
➤ Next: You're the Challenger