[Prev] ~ [TOC] ~ [Next]



II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 123: A Few Feet Away
It's really hard to die well.

***

Her brother had a similar problem to Suguru, he liked to pile too many responsibilities on himself.

One person thought that the duty of a sorcerer was to save ordinary people, and the other thought that he must save people, save more people, constantly remove the curse, forget himself and help those harmed by the curse, for better or for worse.

Whether it was the container of the King of Curses or the gifted Curses Spirit Manipulator, after all, it was within the category of human beings. There was a limit to the weight that each person could bear, and he only needed to bear that part. If it was too much, it would be counterproductive.

Yayoi had imagined that if one day, Sukuna used Yuji's body to kill someone, Yuji would not hesitate to blame himself for the responsibility and the crime Sukuna had committed.

"I actually thought about why you should kill me like this."

One day during the two months when he faked his death, Yuji hugged the cursed bear and sat on the sofa with his legs crossed. The fluorescence emitted by the TV screen reflected on the young man's fresh and immature face.

Yayoi was cooking in the kitchen, and the boiling soup gurgling under the pot lid was mixed with the passionate conversation between the male and female protagonists on the TV.

"I don't want to die, sister." Yuji hugged the bear and stared at the TV screen, saying to himself, "Although I have already decided how to die."

"But—" the hand on Yuji's head unconsciously closed its fingers, Yuji lowered his head, his pink hair hanging down, "If one day someone dies because of me, I will curse myself."

Yuji deliberately turned on the TV very loudly and spoke very quietly. The volume of the TV was enough to cover Yuji's voice, and he thought Yayoi would not hear it.

But Yuji underestimated the extent of what her hearing could do.

She had always known that Yuji's mind was too sharp and he was quite aware of the emotional changes of the people around him. He almost never showed negative emotions in front of others. He would only do this kind of thing alone in a corner where no one could see it, hide the wound where no one else could see it, and heal it alone.

As if he had never said those words, after watching the movie, Yuji ran to the kitchen to eat secretly as if nothing had happened. His mouth was scalded by the boiling soup. While chewing the meat in his mouth, he said it was delicious and he was so happy. After finishing lunch, he helped her clean up the dishes on the table, and then sat on the sofa and hugged her.

"Yuji."

"Ah?"

The fluorescence was changing brightly and dimly on the young man's cheeks, and he looked a little dull when he was suddenly called.

Yayoi said, "You should spend your life happily."

Yuji was stunned for a moment, lowered his head, and scratched the hair on the back of his head, "It's so embarrassing, sister heard it."

"No shame, everyone has the right to live." Yayoi said, "I want to live too."

Yuji paused, and after watching the changing TV screen in a daze for a while, a soft smile appeared on his face, and then he slowly said, "I know."

The moon tonight was big and round, hanging far away in the sky, as cold as mercury solidified on the sky.

There were no lights on the mountain roads at night, and the only light source was the moon hanging overhead.

The howling mountain wind made an almost sharp scream, and the dark tunnel entrance was like a bottomless black hole. The silver-white moonlight poured down and reflected on the asphalt road in front of the black hole.

The vegetation under the road guardrail was filled with rich dark green in the night in the mountains, and the mottled tree shadows were reflected on the black road.

A freight truck slid silently onto the mountain road, the aperture of its headlights piercing the black curtain of the night.

The driver of the freight truck held the steering wheel and yawned. Not many people were still working at this time. The driver of the freight truck who stayed up late to drive was one of them.

Humans were social animals, but they were different from ordinary social animals. They spend a lot of energy and time to form a huge collection called "society" and build steel-like cities. Individual human beings in the huge collection relied on work to make a living.

The freight truck driver who stayed up all night worked for a logistics company. The goods in the truck had to be delivered to the owner before dawn before he could complete his work.

The roar of the engine mixed with the roar of the mountain wind, and the screams of night insects echoed in the deserted and desolate night sky.

The mountain road at night was silent and desolate, with a feeling of desolation that could not be dissipated. The cool breeze of the galloping played on the heartstrings, and the coolness that could not be dissipated filled the heart.

The bright car lights hit the smooth asphalt road, and the rustling wind lingered in the ears.

The middle-aged driver rubbed his eyes and couldn't help but yawn. Working late at night was very tiring, and sleepiness filled his eyelids like a tide.

The freight truck plunged into the dark entrance of the tunnel, and darkness swept around like a bottomless swamp. The car lights floated in the swamp, and the roar of the car engine echoed in the empty tunnel.

*tap* *tap* *tap*

The driver heard footsteps and saw vague figures.

He couldn't help but rub his eyes to make sure he saw it correctly. The bright lights cast a white curtain in the tunnel, and a black figure appeared in front of the freight truck, walking towards the freight truck unhurriedly, as naturally as walking on the sidewalk on the side of the road during the day.

Who would appear in a place like this at this time?

The truck driver was confused.

This place was a suburb, surrounded by deep mountains and old forests. Except for passing vehicles, no one would come here for a walk at night with nothing to do.

By the time the driver's thoughts came back to reality, the freight truck had already passed by the person walking in the tunnel on foot, and the whistling wind blew up the red hair.

The freight truck had already run a long way, and he realized that it was a woman, a red-haired woman, carrying a long black satchel, and her body covered in black clothes.

The huge freight truck roared past, and Yayoi slowly walked out of the tunnel with her bag on her back.

The sight widened, and the gentle night wind passed through the mountain forest, lifting the hair on the forehead.

The clear moonlight poured down along the entrance of the tunnel. Yayoi lowered her head and raised her hand. Her eyes fell on the things in her hand, the shriveled muscles, the paraffin covering the surface, and the sharp nails.

This was something she dug out from the body of a cursed spirit.

According to the information provided by "window", this mission should only be a first-grade cursed spirit, but it inexplicably turned into a special-grade cursed spirit with Sukuna's finger in its body.

Yayoi lowered her eyelashes.

It turned out that this was the temptation that Gojo was talking about.

The higher-ups didn't have any big ideas about human life, as long as the goal was achieved.

If Yayoi killed the cursed spirit, it meant that Yayoi had the strength of a grade one sorcerer or above, so they need to change their attitude towards her.

On the other hand, if Yayoi hadn't killed the cursed spirit, there would be no need to focus on her anymore, she was a dispensable woman. When an ordinary sorcerer encounters a special grade cursed spirit, the chance of death was basically 100%. The incident at the juvenile detention center was an unexpected incident. Although they didn't want to admit it, all three first-graders survived because of Sukuna's intervention.

It was very obvious that the latter result was more satisfactory to them than the previous result. Not only could they kill a potential danger, but they could also hit Satoru. Although the details were still unclear, she was his wife after all.

The phone in her pocket vibrated.

Yayoi stuffed the finger into another pocket, and the fluorescent light on the screen illuminated her face. After the mission was over, she sent a message to Satoru, which was considered a trip report.

Obviously she was the wife, but it felt a bit like a husband who was away from home reporting his wife's itinerary.

Her red eyelashes moved, and the caller ID on the screen was her cat.

The shadows of the trees reflected on the asphalt road swayed, and the ringing of the phone rose and fell in the rustling wind.

Yayoi paused and pressed the answer button as if nothing had happened.

"Moshi moshi, I am the cutest Mr. Cat."

The rustling wind stirred the shadows of the trees on the asphalt road, and a voice as sweet as syrup sounded in the lingering wind.

"Hey, Mr. Cat, the cutest cat." Hearing Satoru's voice, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up, and Yayoi's eyebrows softened, "I may have to work overtime."

"Huh?" The voice on the phone fell silent, and Yayoi could almost imagine a big white cat with droopy ears and tail.

"Maji?" The voice on the other end of the phone fell silent and turned to an angry voice, "Chikuso, did you encounter some nasty guy?"
Anyone, anyone who disturbed him from having fun with his wife was abominable!

"He is coming." Yayoi said, "I will go back later, it won't be too long."

Finally, she added, "Probably."

*clang—*

Yayoi tilted her head subconsciously, and the compressed attack almost grazed her cheek. The torn air let out a sharp scream, and blood-red flowers exploded on the phone. The phone in call status fell apart on the spot.

Yayoi didn't have time to end the call.

The blood-stained mobile phone was broken into parts, and the broken casing and parts were scattered on the asphalt road.

The hand holding the phone just now was still numb. If she hadn't pulled away in time, the blow would have been enough to penetrate her palm.

The blood splashed on the ground was so red that it was dazzling. The next moment, as if someone had forcibly implanted the ability of individual activities, it surged on the ground, compressed, and burst out. The red liquid was elongated into bright red arrows and splashed out.

The body leaned back subconsciously, and she took off with one hand on the ground. The speeding arrow hit the asphalt road, causing small cracks in the thick road surface.

Yayoi was half squatting on the ground, with the palm of one hand touching the ground and the other hand already resting on the handle of the sword behind her back.

The smell of rust filled the tip of her nose, and her eyes fell on the gap filled with blood on the road. The bright red blood was evaporating with white mist.

A technique that manipulated blood to attack.

Her eyes moved, and she suddenly thought of the ancestral technique of the Big Three Sorcerer Families that Satoru had mentioned to him.

The Gojo family's Limitless curse technique used in conjunction with the Six Eyes, the Zenin family's Ten Shadows Technique that were said to be comparable to the Limitless, and the Kamo family's Blood Manipulation.

It just so happened that she had seen all three of these techniques. The heir of the Six Eyes and Limitless techniques of this generation was her husband. The heir to the Ten Shadows Technique was not named Zenin but Fushiguro. The successor of the Blood Manipulation was Noritoshi Kamo, who had a head-to-head confrontation with Megumi at the Goodwill Event.

The ancient cursed techniques were powerful but also have quite obvious drawbacks, the information was easily leaked. Compared with the outside world, the jujutsu community was still hundreds of years old in terms of ideology and policies, so there was an increased risk in the leakage of the technique information.

On the surface, the Big Three Sorcerer Families seemed to be one and the same. On the surface, they love each other, but it was normal to stab each other behind their backs. The Gojo family's library contained not only information on the family's cursed techniques, but also information on other families' cursed techniques. It's information accumulated by a family over hundreds or even thousands of years, and there were also various notes, marked in red capital letters, with methods and processes for dealing with various techniques.

The relevant information was all seen with her own eyes, and she did not have a direct confrontation with the successor of these techniques. The battle with Satoru when he was young was only when he did not use the techniques. In other words, Satoru had been keeping her busy, and Yayoi's understanding of these techniques was only superficial.

If we really want to talk about the depth of understanding, what she knows best was Megumi's Ten Shadow Technqiue. After all, she was Satoru's assistant teacher, and the task of guiding students also feel on her.

—Blood Manipulation.

Her understanding of this technique was limited to Noritoshi at the exchange event, but the opponent was obviously much more powerful than Noritoshi.

"The finger on you, right?"

The tall man stood in the moonlight, and the asphalt road cast long shadows.

"On me." Yayoi answered honestly.

The finger of Sukuna on the left and right couldn't hide their own aura at all. This thing was just a stick to stir up chaos in the world. The seal that originally covered it had the greatest effect of covering up the aura that it emitted. Once the seal was removed, the aura was like a wild horse that had escaped the reins, attracting bees and butterflies to attract the cursed spirits. Otherwise, her brother would not swallow it.

If placed in the crowd, the man in front of her would definitely be an independent performance artist. His hair was divided into two strands and had an extremely childlike hairstyle.

The appearance was very similar to humans, but it exuded a cursed aura that was very similar to a cursed spirit.

"You are not human." Yayoi said, "Or not fully human."
It had the aura of human flesh and blood, mixed with an aura of curse that was almost like a cursed spirit.

A bit like Yuji after swallowing Sukuna's finger.

Yayoi paused.

At the exchange event, the cursed spirit that stole Sukuna's finger and the Death Painting Wombs at the Cursed Warehouse had been confirmed to be the cursed spirit with sutures on it body that had fought with Kento. The Death Painting Wombs and Sukuna's finger were both cursed objects, and both have the possibility of being infected. Sukuna's finger is highly poisonous, and ordinary people would die after eating it. Yuji was obviously a special case and was not included in the reference example.

Then only numbers 1 to 3 of the stolen Death Painting Wombs remain.

The man opposite had a slumped face, expressionless, and his eyes crossed the empty asphalt road and fell on Yayoi.

"Hand over the finger," the man's face was paralyzed, "or you will die here."

"I refuse." Yayoi slid the sword out of the sheath without expression, "I think you will kill me if I hand it over."
This person was the receiving body of one of the Death Painting Wombs, and he was in the same group with the sutured cursed spirit, so he needed to be beaten.

Those who target the fingers were targeting Sukuna, and it was difficult not to think of Yuji as the vessel of Sukuna.

It's really difficult to die well, especially for a sorcerer. It's even harder for Yuji, who was the "Sukuna's vesse" that everyone shouted to kill. There were all kinds of people who were interested in him, and there were all kinds of people who want him dead.

Yayoi raised her eyelashes and looked directly at the person standing opposite.

"What is your intention?"

Choso noticed that the look in the woman's eyes was as cold as her sword for a moment.

***

· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

Gojo the Cat: My wife will never hang up on me without saying hello. Who is it? Who interrupts my phone call with my wife?! [the cat is irritable.jpg]

#Someday:
Choso: I am an incompetent older brother. I actually beat my little brother before I recognized him as my brother. [frustration.jpg]
Little Tiger: Thank you, I only have one older sister.
Choso: ...what? I actually have a younger sister! Eso, Kechizu! Did you hear that? We have a younger sister!!! [excited.jpg]
Little Tiger: Listen to what people say!!!



[Prev] ~ [TOC] ~ [Next]