With unwavering conviction, Izuku declared, "I'm going… Nanami."
However, Nanami's resolute response was swift and firm, "I won't allow it. I told you the reason this morning. Now that they have put on the Veil, he's probably still alive and in Satozakura High School now."
Surrounded by a swarm of transfigured humans in the sewers, Nanami stood side by side with a fellow sorcerer donning black.
"I'll come right away. Please be on standby, Midoriya-kun," he spoke into the phone before the line abruptly went dead. 'I guess it's useless to say that,' he thought.
As he turned back to leave, Nanami spoke to his colleague, "That's all. I'll leave the rest to you, Ino-kun."
In response, Ino let out an exclamation of shock, "What?!"
Nanami calmly questioned, "Is there a problem?"
Ino hesitated for a moment, absently touching the beanie on his head before expressing his concern, "No, but their numbers… And they are all humans, right?"
Nanami didn't miss a beat, "I wouldn't mind taking on the recommendation to make you a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer."
Ino smirked and with a beaming grin and triumphant pose, he exclaimed, "I'll do my best! Let's go!"
Izuku's voice was sombre as he spoke, "Step aside, Ijichi-san."
"Our job is to save people. That includes you, the students," Ijichi stood firm, his memories of the detention center still fresh in his mind. 'I won't make the same mistake again."
"You can't go, Midoriya-kun," Ijichi repeated with determination.
'I'm sorry, Ijichi-san.' Izuku thought apologetically as he dashed past Ijichi.
Ijichi stood there, powerless as Izuku left.
"What the hell are you doing, Junpei?!" Izuku shouted as he saw the scene before him.
Yoshino stood in the middle of unconscious students, holding Ito suspended in mid-air. His voice was deep and cold as he uttered, "Step aside, Jujutsu Sorcerer."
Izuku's eyes narrowed as he went for his weapon...when he remembered he left it back at Yoshino's house.
'....well...guess it's back to just fist...Sukuna please don't hate me'
'Why would I....!! Oh YOU MOTHERFU-
Izuku simply stormed through the hallways of the school, running after Yoshino with determined strides. As he approached, he raised his fist for a punch.
Without hesitation, Yoshino yelled out, "Moon Dregs!" A jellyfish-like creature emerged, shielding him from Izuku's punch but still pushing him backwards with a powerful force.
Izuku quickly assessed, 'Jellyfish shikigami? My attacks don't work after he goes inside it!'
"I'll say it again. Step aside, Jujutsu Sorcerer," Yoshino growled, his eyes bulging as he prepared to command his Shikigami. "This has nothing to do with you!"
Izuku's voice boomed with anger as he yelled, "That's not for you to decide!" He clenched his fist.
"What's the point of randomly saving people?" Yoshino sneered, clenching his teeth in anger. "Don't mistake… the value of life!" he yelled, commanding his shikigami to attack Izuku once again, enveloping him in its entirety.
"The heart, the so-called compassion by human beings, is just the metabolism of the soul, and it's an illusion!" Yoshino continued, his voice full of contempt. "Don't use illusive rules to restrain me. Those who deserve to die shouldn't be spared. You have no right to stop me. Just sleep in there. I have work to do." With that, he turned his back on Izuku, leaving him trapped within the jellyfish Shikigami.
However, before he could walk away, he was suddenly jerked back.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Your cursed technique… is poison.," Mahito spoke calmly as his hand hovered over Yoshino's head, observing his own cursed technique. In front of him, the jellyfish Shikigami swam through the air.
Mahito continued, "The poison extracted from your cursed energy is secreted through the tentacles of Shikigami. The toxicity level, size, and strength of the Shikigami can be changed. Just take your time to learn."
Yoshino's eyes followed the movements of the jellyfish as Mahito continued explaining, "It usually takes years for Jujutsu Sorcerers to learn their skill, but I can teach you, so you'll be able to fight soon."
Finally, Mahito said, "Junpei, you're truly talented."
------------------------------------------------------------
Yoshino's eyes widened in disbelief as Izuku yanked his collar.
"Who are you making excuses for?" Izuku growled, his hand sticking out from within the jellyfish shikigami .
In a swift movement, Izuku freed himself from the shikigami by tearing off the flesh that held him captive.
Yoshino quickly recalled his shikigami, using it as a shield when Izuku hurled a barrage of punches and kicks at it.
Izuku then charged forward, delivering a powerful punch that the shikigami barely managed to block. Despite the protection offered by his shikigami, Yoshino was still hurled back from the impact, breaking through the window and tumbling down the building.
As Yoshino fell through the air, he couldn't help but wonder in disbelief, 'Why? Moon Dregs' poison is ineffective on him!'
At the last second, the shikigami managed to catch him, cushioning his fall. However, the impact was still enough to send Yoshino rolling on the roof of the shed.
As he struggled to get back up, Yoshino gritted his teeth in frustration. "Why must you hinder me?"
"Why…"
"Why…"
He saw a glimpse of his mother's smiling face. However, the image quickly filled with splotches of blood.
"Why?!" Yoshino roared, feeling a deep pang of anguish in his chest.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up from the ground and immediately made a hand gesture. The jellyfish shikigami produced a pair of spiked stingers on its tentacles.
Izuku swiftly leapt out of the window.
'He can't move in the air,' Yoshino thought. 'If I want to crush him, I need to strike him while he is in mid-air!'
The jellyfish attacked with its tentacles, but Izuku dodged them with his agile movement, sliding down on its tentacles.
As he landed, he coated his fists with cursed energy and fiercely pounded the stingers. The impact was so powerful that it caused their footing to shake, making Yoshino unstable.
"The best way to beat a shikigami is to go for the user," he recalled Gojo-sensei saying.
Izuku then sprinted towards Yoshino, his fist raised in anger. "You just want to think that you're right," he seethed as he delivered a powerful punch that sent the other flying inside the building.
As he jumped inside through the broken window, Izuku's face contorted with sadness. "I don't know your motives," he said, his voice quivering with emotion. "You must have had a reason. However..."
Memories of the dinner he'd shared with Yoshino and his mother flooded Izuku's mind. "Is it really worth giving up that kind of life?" he asked softly, his heart heavy with sorrow.
Yoshino's body hunched, trembling as he listened to Izuku's words. Soft sobs escaped from him.
With a voice that cracked with emotion, Izuku pressed on, "You said the human heart is a delusion," he managed to say before breaking down completely. Then, with a sudden burst of anger, he shouted, "But could you say that to your mother?"
Yoshino's fists clenched, his whole body trembling with emotion. "People don't have hearts," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You're still—" Izuku began to yell, but he was cut off by Yoshino's sudden outburst.
Tears streamed down Yoshino's face as he screamed, "They don't! Otherwise... otherwise, are you saying that my mother and I have been cursed by people with hearts?" His voice cracked with heart-wrenching pain. "That's too much," he whispered, his words barely audible over the sound of his tears.
With tears streaming down his face, Yoshino's voice trembled as he spoke. "I no longer know what's right and wrong," he confessed, his words heavy with despair.
Suddenly, the jellyfish shikigami materialized once more, and Yoshino raised two fingers, pointing it at Izuku.
Without warning, the shikigami's tentacles plunged directly into Izuku's shoulder, causing him to grit his teeth as he endured the searing pain.
Yoshino's face slacked in shock as he watched Izuku, the shikigami disappearing behind him. In a voice barely above a whisper, Yoshino asked, "Why... why didn't you evade it?" The weight of his regret and sadness was palpable in his words.
With pain etched into every crease of his face, Izuku approached Yoshino slowly, the sound of blood dripping from his wound echoing through the hallway. In a hoarse voice, he spoke, his words heavy with regret. "I'm sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I didn't know anything, but I said those things."
"Tell me what happened," he pleaded. "I'll never curse you, Junpei. So..." his voice trailed off.
Kneeling in front of Yoshino, Izuku grasped his trembling hands, his eyes brimming with grief. "How could this be? Your mother..."
Gazing directly into Yoshino's eyes, Izuku spoke with conviction, his voice laced with determination. "Junpei, come to Jujutsu High. We have very strong teachers and plenty of reliable comrades…"
"If we work together, we can find the culprit who cursed your mother. We will avenge her! Let's fight together!"
Suddenly Izuku heard footsteps from the stairs, "Huh?"
Mahito arrived at the stairs and spread his arms with a twisted grin.
"Who are you?" Izuku demanded, his senses on high alert as the stranger descended towards him.
As Mahito approached, Izuku couldn't shake the feeling that something was deeply wrong. 'What's with this guy?' he thought to himself, his body tensing with apprehension. "Is he human?"
"Nice to meet you," Mahito greeted.
'No, this sensation…'
"…Sukuna's vessel," Mahito finished with a sick smile.
"Wait, Mahito-san!" Yoshino tried to intervene, shouting out to Mahito, but it was too late.
Before Izuku could even process what was happening, Mahito's left arm ballooned in size, and he launched an attack on Izuku, slamming him against the windows.
Izuku gritted his teeth as Mahito's giant hand grasped onto him tightly. It was in that moment that he realized the truth—' Am I an idiot? A human-looking Cursed Spirit with a patchwork face… It's exactly the Cursed Spirit that Nanami described!'
"Run, Junpei!" Izuku's voice was laced with desperation as he pleaded with the boy to flee. "I don't know what your relationship is with him, but run away now! Please!"
"Midoriya-kun, calm down, Mahito is not..." Yoshino's tear-streaked face froze, images of Mahito's experiments flashed in his mind which caused his voice to die in his throat.
… A bad person…
Yoshino felt a hand on his shoulder sending chills down his spine.
"You know, you're smart, right, Junpei?" Mahito's ominous smile was laced with an impending horror.
Yoshino slowly turned his head towards the hand on his shoulders.
Izuku's voice coming out choked and desperate, "No... no... Stop..." He shook his head, his eyes wide with the knowledge of the horror to come.
Mahito continued, "But sometimes, deliberation can lead to more serious consequences than rash actions. You're the perfect example."
Izuku continued to struggle against Mahito's massive hand grasping him.
With a low, ominous voice and a twisted smile, Mahito whispered, "You're just as stupid as those you looked down on."
"No Stop it!!" Izuku yelled out with rage in his voice.
Yoshino's eyes shook with fear.
"And that's why you'll die," Mahito said, his voice low and menacing.
[Idle Transfiguration.]
Blue tinge spread out from Yoshino's chin as his face swelled, his whole body transforming into one of the abominations that Mahito creates.
Izuku stood frozen even when Mahito pulled back the hand that was tightly grasping him.
Mahito announced excitedly, "Come on, let's begin the second round!"
With that, Yoshino charged mindlessly towards Izuku.
"Junpei…" Izuku muttered his name under his breath as Yoshino punched him in the face.
Izuku took on the relentless blows upon his body, refusing to give up his friend. "Junpei!"
He reached out with both arms, circling Yoshino's head, immobilizing him. "Please, snap out of it," he pleaded, desperation creeping into his voice. "I'll treat you, I promise!"
Despite his efforts, Yoshino's attacks continued relentlessly. Izuku bore the pain as Yoshino's fist connected with his waist.
"Sukuna!" he shouted, his voice guttural with desperation. "SUKUNA!"
Suddenly, another eye opened under Izuku's own, accompanied by a menacing mouth.
"What is it?" Sukuna asked, amusement evident in his voice.
"Sukuna please, help me heal Junpei like you healed my heart!"
A few second was all it took for Izuku's eyes to widen at what Sukuna's answer was, "I refuse."
"What? What do the mean you refuse?!" Izuku yelled back with Sulina sighing.
'It's because you're not good with reverse cursed energy, brat'
'Then help me understand it!!'
'Even if I do...will you be able to help him?'
'...I have to try, Ryomen'
'...You need to figure out the fundamentals of the reverse cursed energy...and you don't know none of it...so I refuse'
Izuku clenched his teeth in anger.
'He rejected the Binding Vow?' Mahito thought, his mind running with different possibilities. 'Although souls can't use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal… Is he not good at treating others?'
Sukuna decided to act a bit as his jeers intensified, his voice layered with cruel amusement. "You're so miserable, brat!" he taunted, enjoying every moment of Izuku's agony for a bit.
Mahito watched the scene unfold with a sense of grotesque satisfaction. 'But this is just the first step towards my goal, anyway,' he mused, his grinning morphing into a full-blown laugh.
"HAHAHA, HAHAHA! HAHAHA, HAHAHA!" Sukuna and Mahito's laughter echoed through the air, filling every inch of the hall with its menacing sound.
Izuku knows that Sukuna was only acting to buy him some time...but he couldn't help be frozen in shock, completely overwhelmed by the weight of his situation.
'Oh, I see,' A cold realization dawned on Izuku as he listened to the two's cruel laughter. 'In the end, they are nothing… but evil curses.' he thought.
"Iz-Izuku…" Yoshino called out, his grasp weak and trembling. "W-why?" His voice was choked with emotion as tears streamed down his face.
Yoshino's grip on his clothes slipped away, his body falling back limply onto the hard ground.
A dream of what could have been flashed vividly through his mind. Yoshino, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him and their friends at Jujutsu High, laughing and joking like they used to. But that dream, that hope for the future, slipped away forever with Yoshino's last breath.
Mahito's uproarious laughter echoed. The cursed spirit clutched his stomach, wiping the tears from the corner of his eyes.
"He's dead already? I did transfigure him a little too violently, after all. No wonder he's dead." The words dripped with sadistic glee.
Suddenly, a punched hit him hard in the face.
He turned his body, landing skillfully up the stairs. 'That's some kind of strange attack. Interesting!' Mahito mused.
Mahito spoke with a sly grin, confident in his abilities. "Unfortunately for you, it doesn't work. As long as I maintain the shape of my soul..."
Suddenly, blood gushed out from his nose, his eyes widening in shock and confusion.
'What's happening?' Mahito thought, his hand instinctively reaching up to touch the wound on his face. 'Did he strike the shape of my soul as well?'
Realization dawned on him, 'Right! Izuku Midoriya is a vessel. There is another soul that dwells inside his body. So naturally…' He thought, wiping away the blood from his nose as his eyes gleamed. "Can you perceive it? The outline of your soul, that is!"
Izuku didn't say anything else...but held out his hand as it clenched as if it was hodolnog something....and suddenly an object was seen....a katana that held a faint glow which caused Mahito to be stunned as he saw that same katana before when he went to Junpei's home.
'I thought that was just an ordinary sword....so it's his?' Mahito thought.
As Izuku stared at Junpei with a sad look on his face.
"Junpei...I won't let you die....I won't!"
As he said that, Izuku's cursed energy skyrocketed as his face contorted with a ferocity that bordered on madness.
Izuku stared down at Junpei as his blood from his injury caused a puddle to be seen...and it made him wonder...while staring at his sword, his mind becoming hazy.
"Two reds make blue?" the boy asked himself confusedly, the liters of blood loss affecting his rational thinking, "Red?...Blue?..." he pondered his thoughts drifting back to earlier today. 'Reverse Curse Technique is the process of converting negative cursed energy to positive cursed energy'
Izuku's dim eyes widened in realization, "Two reds make blue.. Red x Red= Blue Negative x Negative= Positive!"
He said as he stabbed himself with his sword that alerted Mahito a bit as he heard the laughter that came from Izuku as his blood covered his sword as the sword itself glowed with intensity.
"Junpei...please hold on...and come back"
As that was said, Izuku felt himself losing evnem ore blood--but he didn't care, as he felt how the katana vibrated as if it felt pleased at the action Izuku did, he removed the katana from his person.
His eyes beicmibg even more hazy as he plunged his katana into Junpei, massive amounts of cursed energy surrounded the curse Junpei which peaked Mahito.
'Just what the hell is he trying go do?' Mahito thought warily, watching in morbid fascination and then it turned to shock and realization as the body of the mutated Junpei was peeling away as if he was being reborn, and then it showed, a completely healed, back to human version of Junpei, Mahito unable to believe what he was seeing as he watched Izuku check the body of Junpei.
'He's alive! He has a pulse! It worked! Thank goodness!' Izuku thought excitedly.
'...well I'll be damned....never thought you'd actually do it Brat'
'It's because of your jeering that it made me be able to do it....so thanks, Ryomen...and now it's time for me to take care of that bastard, Mahito!'
Izuku thought as he got up on his feet,
'The next words that spilled from my lips came from deep within my soul that it nearly made all the things I've ever said feel like a lie.'
Izuku's next words came from the depths of his being, as though they were torn out of him, his voice imbued with a raw intensity that dwarfed everything.
"I'll fucking kill you."