Damn it...
Mahiko clenched her teeth hard, eyes snapping toward the far end of the alley. She sucked in a sharp breath and lunged sideways into the shadow of the wall, flattening herself against it, making herself small.
Cursed Energy.
Someone was approaching from the other end of the alley.
And they were strong. Stronger than Megumi Fushiguro — an entire tier above him. A steady, weighty Cursed Energy that pressed against her like an invisible wall rolling slowly forward, dense with crushing authority.
Measured footsteps. Unhurried. The kind of pace that belonged to someone scanning every inch of their surroundings as they moved.
A figure appeared at the mouth of the alley.
Short golden hair, neatly combed without a strand out of place. Dark sunglasses. A crisply pressed suit. A powerfully built frame. At his hip hung a blunt blade wrapped in cloth — the whole picture read more like a meticulous office worker than a jujutsu sorcerer. But that wall of Cursed Energy pressure didn't lie.
Nanami Kento.
Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Mahiko's heart seized.
In the original story, this man had fought Mahito head-to-head — and it had been roughly even. But that was a grown Mahito, not the freshly-born creature she was right now. Later, Nanami had joined forces with Yuji and driven Mahito into a corner entirely. And the version of her standing here right now wasn't even at the level of mid-growth Mahito — she was practically a super-larval form. In terms of raw power, against Nanami, she was an absolute little sibling. A junior sibling.
Why was the timing so perfect?
Had Megumi sent a distress signal?
No time to overthink it — she had to run. Blocked from the front, chased from behind. If she got into a fight with Nanami Kento, she was done.
Mahiko turned soundlessly and bolted in the other direction. Nanami was advancing in a careful search pattern, scanning every trace of Cursed Energy with each slow step.
As long as she was fast enough, Nanami Kento wouldn't find her.
But then — the one outcome she'd been dreading happened anyway. At the far end of the alley, two dark shapes blocked her path.
Two enormous hounds, one black and one white, rumbling deep growls in their throats.
The pursuers had caught up.
Panic spiked through her chest like a needle. She was genuinely cornered — what do I do, what do I do, what do I do——
And then she saw Megumi Fushiguro step out from behind the dogs.
"...Pfft."
Okay. She knew the situation was extremely urgent and extremely dangerous. She knew that. But she genuinely could not hold it in.
Because right now, Megumi Fushiguro looked absolutely hilarious.
Both cheeks were swollen out like he'd stuffed two steamed buns in his mouth — left side bruised blue, right side purple, with a fresh red scratch at the corner of his lips from what had to be some well-meaning passerby's fingernail.
He looked exactly like a pig. A human-shaped pig.
Hahahahahaha.
She couldn't handle it. She hadn't expected it to be this funny when she finally saw the result up close.
The sound of her laughter made the look in Megumi Fushiguro's eyes go colder still.
A pig-swollen face apparently had no bearing whatsoever on the killing intent in those dark green eyes. They locked onto Mahiko without blinking.
"Cursed spirit. Don't even think about running."
The boy's voice was low and flat. His hands were already forming a seal.
Nanami ahead. Megumi behind.
Pincer formation.
The alley was narrow. Smooth concrete walls on both sides — no windows, no branches, no crowd to blend into. Nanami's footsteps pressed closer from behind; there was still some distance, but at his pace, he'd be here in a minute or two at most.
And Megumi was already right in front of her.
Mahiko quickly smothered her laughter and schooled her expression into something serious.
She hadn't wanted to fight him. She knew the risk of crossing Megumi Fushiguro. She knew the danger of Mahoraga. The optimal play had always been run — no contact, no engagement, don't give him any reason to feel cornered.
But she couldn't run now.
And besides——
She stared at those cold, flat eyes sitting above that spectacularly swollen pig-face, and something ignited without warning in her chest.
You little—! Fine, chase me all you want, but you chased me across half the city AND you're cutting off my escape? You really are relentless, aren't you?!
Alright then...
I'll give you a lesson. Something to remember me by.
Hit fast, get out faster. Don't give him a single second to summon Mahoraga.
I'm not someone you can just push around!!
Mahiko sucked in a deep breath — and then she exploded forward.
CLANG——!
She kicked over the trash can sitting in the corner of the alley. The lid went spinning through the air. Rotting garbage and scraps of paper detonated outward in every direction, debris raining down in a filthy cloud.
Megumi instinctively raised an arm to shield his eyes — and in that single instant, Mahiko's hand plunged into her pocket and came out with several rats.
She'd grabbed them while she'd been catching her breath in the alley a few minutes ago. The trash heap in the corner had been crawling with the things; at a cursed spirit's reaction speed, snatching a few small animals was nothing. She'd been keeping them tucked in her pocket as insurance — and right now, they were exactly what she needed.
In the span of a breath, she pushed *Idle Transfiguration* through all of them simultaneously, restructuring their souls. The soul energy inside each rat was compressed to the absolute breaking point — and under the influence of her technique, the creatures were transformed into living grenades.
She hurled them at Megumi.
Megumi caught a glimpse through the falling debris of the objects flying toward him. His brow furrowed.
Rats?
What is this supposed to——
He didn't have time to finish the thought.
BANG. BANG. BANG!!!
The rats detonated mid-air in rapid succession — like a string of small grenades, and absolutely disgusting ones at that. Blood mist, shredded flesh, viscera — and bone fragments with genuine lethal force — sprayed in every direction. The alley was instantly drenched in a nauseating, wet iron stench.
"Great Serpent!"
Megumi's reflexes were extraordinary. An enormous python surged out of his shadow and coiled around his torso, shielding his vitals. But his face — his face he couldn't cover in time.
Sticky, warm blood and gore splattered across his face and eyes. His entire field of vision became a smeared, dripping red.
The two Jade Dogs fared no better — both of them soaked from snout to ears in shredded flesh and blood, whining and shaking their heads furiously.
But Megumi didn't panic.
Can't see — there's still smell.
"Jade Dogs — track her!"
Both dogs immediately abandoned sight and dropped their noses to the ground, switching to scent mode. The black hound's nostrils flared violently, filtering through the overwhelming reek of blood to latch onto that familiar, distinctive thread of Cursed Energy — locked.
The black dog lunged. The white dog followed right behind. Two streaks of black and white launched down the narrow alley at full speed, surging toward the source of the strongest scent——
Got it.
The black hound's teeth sank into something soft. The white hound piled on, tearing at it.
But something was wrong.
The texture was wrong.
No bones. No struggling. No resistance. This wasn't the body of a living creature — this was a piece of flesh. A chunk of meat that had been separated from a body, radiating a dense cloud of Cursed Energy scent.
A decoy.
Megumi's mind went cold.
That cursed spirit — she severed a piece of her own flesh and left it as bait to throw off the Jade Dogs' scent tracking!!
Damn it. This is bad. What the hell is this thing's ability?! It can control people's bodies, it can alter its own appearance, and now it can freely detach pieces of its own flesh?!
He dragged his hand hard across his blood-soaked face and forced his eyes open——
A cold hand was already pressed against his face.
Right in front of him. Point-blank.
The blue-haired girl had slipped around to his front at some point he hadn't even registered, and she was grinning at him — wide, unrestrained, utterly at ease.
"A little something to remember me by!"
*Idle Transfiguration — absolute maximum output.*
It felt like lightning had been driven through every inch of Megumi's body. There was no pain — instead, a strange, electric numbness exploded from the point of contact on his face and flooded outward like warm water, spreading in an instant to his limbs, seeping into every bone, every muscle, every cell.
His strength drained away in a single instant.
His knees buckled. He crumpled straight to the ground.
He tried to raise his hands and form a seal — his fingers wouldn't obey.
He tried to summon a shikigami — his Cursed Energy scattered and dissolved, refusing to coalesce.
The blue-haired girl's silhouette was already retreating through his blurring vision. Only the sound of her footsteps remained, growing more and more distant — and her laughter, growing louder and more obnoxious with every step.
"That's what you get for chasing me! Let's see if you ever try that again, hahahaha——!!"
Her laughter bounced back and forth off the alley walls, and then faded entirely into the distant end.
She was gone. Completely gone.
......
He didn't know how much time passed.
The electric numbness finally began to recede, and strength returned to him in slow, grudging increments.
Megumi pressed his palm against the wall and hauled himself upright, his body still trembling faintly. The moment his mind restarted, his first instinct was to give chase — but she had long since vanished without a trace. He couldn't even sense a lingering remnant of her Cursed Energy.
Damn it...he'd failed.
Not only had he failed to exorcise her — he'd been dropped in a direct confrontation. From start to finish, he hadn't landed a single successful hit on her. She'd been toying with him the entire time.
From the moment she'd started making pedestrians slap him, all the way to the final point-blank discharge and casual walk-away — this thing had never once taken him seriously.
...Infuriating.
Something felt off about his body — he couldn't quite pin it down. Just a vague, pervasive wrongness, like wearing a shirt inside out. Probably a residual effect from whatever that cursed spirit had done to him. He'd have to go back and ask Shoko Ieiri to take a look——
Steady footsteps echoed from the other end of the alley.
"——Who's there?"
Nanami Kento's voice. He'd clearly heard the explosions and come running. He was moving in fast now, hand on his blunt blade, the eyes behind his sunglasses sweeping the alley in sharp, methodical arcs.
Megumi turned.
"It's me, Nanami-san." He opened his mouth to speak. "The cursed spirit fled in that direction. It's an extremely dangerous target — it can control people's bodies, alter its own appearance, and detach pieces of its own flesh to create decoys. Its power level is at minimum Grade 1——"
He stopped.
Because Nanami wasn't listening to him.
Nanami Kento was staring at him with a furrowed brow. Wary of him. The blunt blade in his hand had even tilted upward slightly, angled in his direction.
Like he was looking at a complete and total stranger.
"...You," Nanami said. "Who are you?"
Megumi froze.
What? Nanami-san doesn't recognize him?
He was about to protest — and then he noticed.
His own voice.
Something was wrong.
When he'd just spoken, the voice that came out wasn't his. That low, flat teenage boy's voice was gone. In its place was a bright, clear...female voice?
Megumi went very still.
He slowly looked down.
Black hair falling across both shoulders. He reached up to touch it — and his fingers found not the short, spiky hedgehog-cut he expected, but long hair. Smooth, flowing black hair that cascaded all the way down to his waist.
Megumi's breathing stopped for a full beat.
He reached up and pressed a hand against his chest.
A slight — rise.
His line of sight felt lower than it should be. His clothes were hanging loose, sleeves falling over his hands, trouser hems dragging on the ground.
Megumi rigidly pulled out his phone and opened the front camera.
The screen reflected a face back at him.
Refined features. Pale skin. A sharp, clean jawline. The dark green eyes were unchanged — but the face they sat in was unmistakably feminine. Cold. Beautiful. The kind of face that could only be described as a perfect, flawless pretty girl.
If he'd seen this face anywhere else, anyone would have said it was gorgeous.
The problem was that this face was his.
Megumi's eyes went wide.
Final confirmation.
He reached his hand down.
He felt around in his pants.
"...?"
Indeed.
Gone.
WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!
____
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