"Itadori, what are you talking about~? None of us are going to let you die. Not Gojo-sensei, not Fushiguro-san, and not me either."
Standing before the barrier of the Tokyo No. 2 Colony, Yuta forced what he believed was a gentle smile as he responded to Yuji's earlier words.
"I used to think the same way you do. That dying would be better than living. But they saved me, so please trust those two."
Last year, because of Rika, he himself had once wanted to commit suicide, yet no matter what he tried, he could not die. After finally meeting people capable of killing him, they instead gave him a new path and guided him toward a completely different future.
What he wanted to do now was pass on the hope for living that those two once gave him to the junior standing beside him.
"Okkotsu-senpai... everyone..." Yuji's eyes trembled slightly.
For some reason, his nose suddenly stung and he felt like crying.
Even though he always caused trouble, and even though Sukuna was a monster that teachers and seniors absolutely had to erase, they still refused to prioritize that over worrying about him.
* * *
"How boring. Friendship, family, love... all of it is unbearably dull. Those things only become stepping stones that shackle the strong."
Inside Yuji's body, Sukuna sat high atop a mountain of skulls and sneered after hearing those words.
Blood-red light flickered throughout the darkness around him. His figure remained hidden in the shadows, impossible to read.
* * *
Yuta patted Yuji on the shoulder, then with a smile, placed a hand against the barrier before them.
A small white bug instantly appeared out of nowhere.
"I am Kogane! Please confirm whether you wish to enter the Culling Game as a player."
"Confirmed."
Due to Sukuna's existence, Yuji did not need to reconfirm anything, and the two entered the barrier together.
However...
"Huh?"
When Yuji regained his senses, he found himself already high in the sky.
More accurately speaking, he was falling.
BOOM!
"Owowow..."
Still confused about what had happened, Yuji crashed onto the rooftop of a tall building.
"Okkotsu-senpai isn't nearby... Right! Nitta-san said first-time players get randomly teleported."
After glancing around, Yuji's slightly slow brain finally remembered the information they learned outside Tokyo No. 1 Colony earlier.
The barrier covered several kilometers. Unless major battles broke out nearby, finding each other would still take time. Still, Yuta was a special grade sorcerer. There was no need to worry about him.
The real reason Yuji came along was because he wanted to say those thoughts before the two of them became too familiar. After all, the only people capable of defeating Sukuna were probably the overwhelmingly powerful special grade sorcerers.
Of course, that request was merely preparation for some possible accident in the future. As Sukuna's vessel, Yuji would never willingly let him rampage again.
So the main reason he followed them here was much simpler.
He just wanted to help somehow.
Yesterday in Shibuya, he barely managed to help anyone at all. Instead, Sukuna came out and caused complete destruction.
Maybe this was his way of atoning.
So the first thing he needed to do right now...
Yuji's gaze shifted toward a nearby store below, where a group of terrified civilians were currently hiding.
He needed to get them out first.
After a few quick movements, Yuji arrived at the entrance of the shop and waved toward the people inside. "I'll help escort you all outside~"
"Itadori! Don't stand out there!"
Among the crowd, one of the assistant managers recognized Yuji and immediately tried pulling him into the store.
"So a sorcerer finally entered? I was getting bored to death."
A crisp female voice descended from above.
Yuji turned around and saw that, at some point, a pink-haired woman had appeared upside down in midair.
Her eyes were covered in blackness, with only a small patch of white remaining around the pupils, making her appearance strangely unsettling.
Even more shocking was the fact that her body seemed fused together with the blue sky itself.
Her shoulders, stomach, and long legs were fully exposed beneath the sunlight as though she wore nothing at all. Yet despite that, nothing inappropriate was visible.
The important parts of her body appeared connected directly to the sky, concealed beneath layers of blue, as if she had turned the sky itself into fabric and wrapped it around herself as an alluring swimsuit.
Still, the amount of "fabric" involved made the sight completely not suitable for children.
"An enemy?!"
Ignoring her beautiful face and seductive body entirely, Yuji immediately entered a fighting stance.
"She's one of the two strongest people in this colony!" The assistant manager behind him answered with a grim expression.
Takako Uro. A reincarnated ancient player with seventy points.
Within the Tokyo No. 2 Colony, she ranked second only to Kashimo. However, to the people trapped here, Uro was actually considered one of the less dangerous players because she had never harmed ordinary civilians inside the colony.
All seventy of her points came purely from killing sorcerers.
The only reason the assistant manager had not led everyone out yet was because he feared running into other players along the way.
But now, Yuji's arrival had changed things.
Because as a sorcerer himself, he counted as a player.
"Die, brat!"
High in the air, Uro finally showed a bit of interest.
With one foot forward and the other behind, she suddenly dove downward like a skier charging from a mountain slope and rushed straight toward Yuji.
"Everyone hurry and hide first!"
After shouting to the civilians behind him, Yuji gathered cursed energy into his fists and charged toward Uro as well.
But in the next moment, something unbelievable happened.
With only a casual wave of her hand, the arm Yuji had thrown toward her suddenly twisted unnaturally and veered completely off course.
Bang!
Uro's fist slammed directly into Yuji's face and blasted him away, sending him skidding across the ground.
"My arm..."
After getting back up, Yuji looked toward the arm that had been twisted moments ago and moved it around several times.
But now it had already returned to normal. He could not even feel pain from it.
Only the burning sensation on his face reminded him that what happened earlier was not an illusion.
Meanwhile, Uro had already landed on the ground and was slowly walking toward him with graceful steps.
Since she could not leave this place, she had already killed nearly every sorcerer she encountered within the colony.
Except Kashimo.
That man was strong. And with the situation still unclear, she did not want to waste energy fighting him, so she chose to avoid confronting him directly.
"Why kill people? Someone as strong as you should be able to get points whenever you want, right?"
Yuji wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth while staring directly at her.
If she truly avoided killing civilians, then maybe there was still room for discussion.
"Another one who loves lecturing people..."
But seeing that expression on his face only irritated Uro even more.
"Do modern sorcerers think reincarnation is some common thing? To us, this is rebirth!"
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