Jujutsushi 282.2
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Chapter 282: Head and Right Arm (1)
TL : Cnine
ED/PF :
R1[1-3], R2[4-6]
Part 4
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Half a day later, everyone woke up safely.
Kyouko was the first to wake. The instant her eyes opened, she shot upright and nearly fired off a spell. Clearly, she’d remembered the battle the moment consciousness returned. That reaction was so sharp it made her look like a seasoned soldier rather than a student.
Thanks to Ruinhilde-sama’s exceedingly generous blessing, I’d already woken up. I hurried to tell Kyouko that the fight was over and that everyone was sa———— But before I could finish, she pushed me flat onto my back.
Not in that way. Although my body was being deeply uncooperative at the time. Still, when she started crying, clinging to me and sobbing with relief that I was alive, any inappropriate thoughts vanished instantly.
We stayed like that for a while, stuck together in the quiet after the storm. My self-control was starting to wear thin when Hayama-kun finally woke up. Mate. Your timing was criminally good.
Then Kinako and Benio woke up too, and just like that, the whole team was back in action.
「So yeah———— That’s how we somehow beat Yokomichi.」
After we had taken our time celebrating victory, relief, and the simple miracle that none of us were dead, I told them everything. From the chaos of the battle to the devastating final moments against Yokomichi.
「I’m sorry, Kotaro… I was useless. I didn’t help at all.」
「No. You helped plenty. Surviving that breath attack without being burned to ash is already more than enough.」
「Yeah, Rando, chill out. You’ve gotta let me hog the glory sometimes, yeah?」
「Hayama-kun, there’s no argument. You were the MVP. If you hadn’t awakened your sacred-beast transformation, Yokomichi would’ve crushed us. The same goes for you too Kinako, and Beniwo… Thank you. Truly.」
「Pugaga!」
「Woof woof!」
「Wait, though. Kinako and Beniwo were the ones actually did the heavy lifting. Doesn’t that mean Hayama kind of just… stood there?」
「Momokawa, you’re really saying that out loud? Look, while it was active, my magical power was draining at an insane rate. All I could do was pour what little I had left into those two.」
「It’s alright. I understand. The Sacred beast transformation seems to come with a cruel limitation. It only lasts as long as your mana can endure.」
In short, he was a battery. A familiar setup. One supplies the power, another wields it in battle.
I used to think the one acting as the battery wasn’t really doing anything. But now… When I look at the connection between Hayama-kun, Kinako, and Beniwo, I realise that this was probably the only form that could have worked.
「Still… Yokomichi really is dead, right? He’s got that horrible vibe, like he’d resurrect even as a corpse.」
「Yeah, I get why that worries you.」
I mean, the guy kept attacking even after getting his head chopped off. Compared to every monster we’ve fought so far, he was just next-level nightmare.
「But yeah, once he’s down to just a skull, coming back seems impossible. This thing’s fully registered as an item now. My 『Pharmacy Intuition』 kicks in and just hands me the item description.」
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『Skull of Cannibalizer』: The skull of the kin of Cannibalizer. It was the severed head of an accursed man eating demon. A proof of having slain a flesh-devouring beast. The lingering remnant of gluttony and voracity residing this skull. Let yourself not be consumed by desire, for even now, this head remains bound by an insatiable hunger.
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I raised the skull of Yokomichi from the depths of the kettle. The hollow eye sockets seem to stare back at me.
「Blegh… that’s gross.」
「Yeah, that’s not even shaped like a human skull anymore.」
They both recoil instinctively, completely put off. And honestly, that reaction feels more than justified.
Just as Hayama-kun pointed out, this skull clearly doesn’t belong to a human. The strangest part was, undeniably, the mouth.
A grotesque, oversized jaw packed with razor-sharp fangs, yet behind that monstrosity the neat, unmistakably human row of teeth still remains. As if that weren’t enough, the outer edge bears those chattering chelicerae, dragging my thoughts straight back to Yokomichi’s side-opening maw.
One detail unsettles me more than the rest. There was a hole in the forehead. It was not something I made in my frenzy with a knife. The shape was too neat, as though an eye once existed there.
Yokomichi was a monster, yes, but I never saw a third eye open on his forehead.
Still… Maybe he was on the verge of doing so. If it had, would it have evolved into something even worse?
「This is revolting item, no doubt about it. But it’s also a rare material from a powerful monster. I’ll see that it’s used properly.」
「Yeah, well… figures.」
「Momokawa, you’re seriously way too chill about this stuff.」
「I’ve already used a bunch of other classmates’ skulls. What’s one more? Yokomichi or not, it’s still just a skull.」
At this point, everyone’s skulls are basically must-have gear for me. Hinagiku-san’s had been doing the heavy lifting for me. Higashi-kun’s was a solid runner-up.
「Anyway, after a fight like that, I’d like to think we got something out of it. Shame we couldn’t snag a core from the main body, though.」
「Oh yeah, that’s the one Rem-chin nuked with a bomb, right?」
「Yeah, yeah. It was my super-precious core bomb too, and still… man, what a waste. Both the bomb and Yokomichi’s body.」
「I have it.」
Rem muttered next to me, sitting all neat and polite.
「Right, you have i--- Wait, hold on. Are you serious?」
「Head escaped. So didn’t use bomb.」
In that moment, everything fell into place. After teleporting away, Rem had seen it. Yokomichi’s body, already abandoned. The creature had fled as a living head.
Detonating the bomb wouldn’t have finished it off. She saw that instantly, and chose not to waste the core bomb. That calm decision told me everything I needed to know.
「Good job, Rem! Alright, let’s grab it now! Everyone, come help!」
「Eh—can’t we chill for a bit first?」
「Also, I’m kinda injured here, you know?」
Woops, I got greedy.
Yokomichi. Alive, he was a pain in the neck. Dead, he was suddenly turned into a tempting material. Can’t help it, his body was basically a walking monster material store.
Even the bits flung around during the big showdown with the sacred beasts Kinako and Beniwo could be useful. And the main body? Well, obviously there was the core, but probably other handy parts too.
Still, what they said made sense.
The teleport destination was the Fairy Plaza, after all, and leaving it for a while wouldn’t attract any monsters.
「Yeah, fair enough. Let’s go get it tomorrow… But first, we need to do something about Hayama-kun’s injury.」
「Well… There’s not much we can do about this kind of injury, right?」
Even Hayama-kun was frowning as he looked at his missing right arm.
The section from the elbow down was gone. My makeshift patch-up is holding for now, and at least he wasn’t screaming in pain.
To be honest, no amount of medicine was going to make the arm grow back. At best, we could prepare a prosthetic.
「There’s just one thing I want to try.」
「Huh? What is it? Some kind of miraculous idea!?」
「I want to transplant my right arm to yours.」