"Seriously? Mechamaru's real body is actually this handsome?!"
Momo and Mai were like two kids who had just discovered a new continent, looking at Kokichi from head to toe and commenting without the slightest restraint.
"Eh? Th… thank you!"
As if waking from a dream, Miwa hurriedly accepted the bubble tea the boy handed her. Her face flushed bright red as she stammered her thanks in a broken voice.
'What was I even thinking? Mechamaru is a semi-grade 1 sorcerer. Why would it be my place to worry about him!'
All the anxiety she had carried until now suddenly felt unnecessary, and the heavy stone that had been pressing on her chest finally dropped away.
Then a new problem appeared.
Those embarrassing things she blurted out yesterday in a moment of impulse… he didn't hear them, right? He didn't misunderstand, right?
She secretly glanced at Kokichi as he controlled the mechanical body and made it walk away. Only after confirming there was nothing strange on his face did she let out a quiet breath of relief.
In reality, feeling the gaze beside him that burned like a small furnace, Kokichi's heart was already beating so fast it felt like it would leap out of his chest.
"So sweet… it's so good!"
After inserting the straw and taking a small sip, Miwa's face bloomed into a radiant smile, her gem-like eyes sparkling.
A photo with Fushiguro-sensei and Satoru Gojo. Getting closer to her friends. Tasting the legendary bubble tea for the first time. And meeting Mechamaru's real body…
So many of her wishes had come true this year.
"Since this counts as our first proper meeting, tell me, Kokichi. What kind of woman do you like?!"
Todo was as consistent as ever.
"Don't mind him. It's good that you're back."
In contrast, Noritoshi spoke like an older brother, his tone calm and warm.
Everyone showed perfect tacit understanding. No one asked how he had regained a normal human body.
The small classroom was filled with the youthful energy of boys and girls.
Reading the atmosphere, Mukuro picked up two cups of bubble tea, and stepped outside with Utahime, leaving the time and space to the students.
"Yours."
He handed one to her and casually started drinking his own.
He was not particularly obsessed with sweets, but something mildly sweet was always pleasant. That brat Megumi had somehow learned to like coffee at such a young age, not like him or Toji, and definitely not like Onshin and Tsumiki, who loved sweet things.
"Hey… you didn't secretly drug mine, did you?"
Utahime, who had been imagining beating him up earlier, avoided his eyes after glancing at the cup in her hand. She looked like a guilty thief.
"Don't compare me to that idiot."
Mukuro shook his head helplessly. He was a law-abiding citizen.
"About Mechamaru… what are you planning to do with him?"
After taking a small sip, Utahime finally asked the question she cared about most.
A Heavenly Restriction couldn't be solved that easily. And not long ago, an intelligent special grade curse capable of reshaping human bodies had appeared in Tokyo. Combined with the suspicion that someone had been working with that curse, and the fact that Mechamaru had already been under doubt, the answer was obvious.
"How to deal with it? A student and his teacher worked together and successfully exorcised a special grade curse that had committed heinous crimes. What's the problem with that?"
With one casual sentence, everything was settled.
From the beginning, the deal between Mechamaru and Mahito had not caused any real damage. Neither Jogo nor Mahito had managed to ambush the sorcerers at the school. If anything, it raised the alert level of the entire jujutsu world.
As for Sukuna's finger being stolen, that was only because Kenjaku had already placed a talisman on it. Mechamaru's role in that had been almost negligible.
So Mukuro brushed the matter aside as if it were nothing.
"You really are…"
That was what special grade sorcerers were like, acting entirely as they pleased.
Utahime had always known that, but this was the first time she felt that having people like them, individuals who could not be controlled, was actually… not so bad.
"I still have something to do, so I'll be leaving. Stay and spend some quality time with your students."
Looking at the silly smile on her face, Mukuro took out the vibrating phone from his pocket, waved his hand, and walked away.
On the lit screen was a message with only two words:
[I'm here.]
* * *
A few minutes later, Mukuro walked out of the school gate.
An ultra-luxurious business car was parked there waiting.
"You're too slow. Making a lady waste her youth is a sin, you know. Time is money. How are you going to compensate me?"
The rear window rolled down, revealing Mei Mei resting her chin against one hand on the door. Her mature, elegant face appeared, and for once her hair did not cover her eyes.
Even when facing this special grade sorcerer, she teased him without any reservation.
"Buy the things I asked for, and I'll give you two hundred million as payment."
Mukuro opened the door, got in, and sat beside her, answering her joke just as casually.
For people at their level, money was little more than a number now. He didn't care much about it.
"Seriously?!"
Unlike him, the money-loving Mei Mei enjoyed saving and watching the balance in her bank account grow.
"When have I ever lied?"
Mukuro crossed his legs in the spacious back seat as the car pulled away.
* * *
The car drove on for a long time before finally stopping at the corner of a street, in front of a small, unremarkable snack shop.
"Welcome. What would the two guests like to buy?"
The owner inside was a thin, elderly woman.
The moment she saw them enter, a trace of surprise flashed through her eyes, but it disappeared in an instant. She narrowed her eyes slightly, doing her best to act like an ordinary old lady.
"Drop the act. Someone who dreams of standing at the peak of the jujutsu world with the New Shadow Style and rivaling the Big Three Families, even if you don't know me, there's no way you don't recognize him."
Mei Mei glanced around at the items in the shop and mercilessly exposed her disguise.
The old woman was the very person they had come for.
The current head of the New Shadow Style.
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