A quick note: after Jogo's fight with Satoru Gojo, Mahiko had quietly adjusted his face — only small tweaks here and there, but the cumulative effect was actually a significant transformation.
And at some point during one of their free days before all this, Mahiko had carved out a full day to reshape Dagon into a human form as well.
The small blue-haired girl on stage — slightly shorter than Mahiko herself — was Dagon.
Dagon was different from Hanami and Jogo.
She was still in her cursed womb state — in other words, a minor. Undeveloped, fragile, her Jujutsu Technique not yet fully matured. So when Mahiko had modified her body, she hadn't factored in any combat requirements.
The only goal had been to give Dagon a chance to see human society for herself — to break the information monopoly and blockade that Kenjaku had maintained over her.
...But what on earth was going on right now?
How had these three ended up here?!
She genuinely hadn't imagined that these three would ever have contact with humans — let alone that the contact would somehow snowball all the way into them becoming idols.
Mahiko glanced at the sign beside the stage. The name of the idol group printed on it read: "Natural Disaster Mwah Sisters."
Oh. No.
What brain-broken individual came up with that name?!
She looked back at the stage. Dagon was bouncing around happily, singing — the songs were simple, almost nursery-rhyme level — while Jogo and Hanami stood to either side of her, looking less like fellow idols and more like Dagon's legal guardians.
Though all three of them were indeed wearing the kind of cute little skirts that only idol performers would put on.
Hanami was smiling gently.
Jogo had his arms crossed, staring at the ceiling like nothing in the world could possibly concern him.
That is, until a moment ago — just now — when his gaze had crossed Mahiko's across the crowd.
Their eyes met through the sea of people. A long, stunned stare-down.
Jogo's face went red.
Then Jogo's expression flashed into panic.
In the very next second, Mahiko knew with complete certainty that she had just witnessed something she was absolutely not supposed to see. She jolted, spun on her heel, and tried to bolt.
But just as she was shoving her way through the crowd in a full-on fleeing sprint, something small drifted to her ear — a tiny dragonfly.
It was radiating Cursed Energy. One of Hanami's Shikigami.
"Little Mahiko," Hanami's voice came through it, "Jogo-chan says that if you dare run, she's going to start killing people, okay? She says she'll slaughter every last human in this building. You really want that on your hands?~"
Mahiko's feet froze.
Her face crumpled into an expression of absolute, tearless despair.
She regretted this so deeply.
She really, truly regretted it. If she'd known this was going to happen, she never would have come here chasing pretty girls. Pretty girls were genuinely a menace to her schedule.
With this many ordinary people around, if Jogo actually started a rampage, the consequences would be catastrophic.
So she had no choice but to raise both hands and surrender like a good little captive.
She found a corner near the edge of the stage, crouched down in it, and waited with absolutely nothing to do for half an hour. Jogo's gaze swept over her every so often, watching her the way you'd watch a prisoner.
About half an hour later. Around half past noon. A certain backstage area.
Mahiko trudged in, listless and deflated, mouth working like she'd just eaten something sour.
Jogo saw her walk in, let out a cold snort, and turned his head away.
Mahiko took stock of the three of them.
Of course, only Dagon had actually been singing and dancing on stage, so Dagon was drenched in sweat, her little cheeks flushed bright pink. Hanami was crouched beside her, gently dabbing at the blue-haired girl's face with a towel — the touch careful and tender.
Once Hanami finished, Dagon came bounding over.
"Big sis Mahiko!" Dagon spotted Mahiko and came sprinting over in a series of happy little hops, flinging herself straight into Mahiko's arms. "Did you see little Dagey dancing just now?!"
"I saw, I saw." Mahiko ruffled Dagon's hair with the gentle warmth of an older sister. "Little Dagey danced really well. Where did you learn that?"
That wasn't just empty flattery to placate a child — she genuinely had danced well.
In terms of vibe she came across more like a child star than an idol, but the moves themselves had been clean, precise, and clearly a lot of effort had gone into them.
Little Dagey lit up with pride: "I learned from the TV!"
...TV?
Huh?
"The TV at the mall!" she added.
Well. That was some impressive learning ability.
"That good?" Mahiko blinked, and kept on praising her.
"Big sis Mahiko, say something nice about me!"
"Yes yes yes, little Dagey is amazing." Mahiko continued patting her head. Little Dagey closed her eyes and basked in it contentedly.
It was exactly like coaxing a small child.
Technically, in terms of the order of development into a mature form as it went in the original story, Mahiko was actually the youngest of everyone present. But right now, she somehow ended up looking like the oldest one in the room.
While she kept patting, Mahiko shifted her gaze over to Jogo and Hanami.
"So," Mahiko said, "how did you two end up becoming idols here?" Even just saying it out loud felt surreal.
Jogo heard the question, curled his lip, and said: "Ask Hanami."
Hanami gave a soft laugh from nearby. "Well, Dagon wanted to be an idol, so we came along with her."
Mahiko pieced the story together. It turned out it had started with a talent scout.
Dagon watching the TV in the mall was part of it, but the more important factor was that a talent scout had approached them — which, honestly, was completely understandable, because the human-form looks of these three Cursed Spirits were simply on another level.
Even in a crowd, they stood out like cranes among chickens.
Mahiko had noticed how many people were gathered around that little stage earlier — and even though there was only one tiny child-star girl bouncing around up there, the audience size was easily one of the biggest of any of the small stages in the venue.
So naturally, a scout had found them.
Jogo and Hanami had refused. But Dagon wasn't having it — a child is always going to want to try things, and apparently they'd been told that trying it out meant they'd get paid, which gave Jogo and Hanami just enough of a reason to agree — because at that point, the two of them hadn't yet grasped quite how excruciating it is to get up on a stage and perform when you have absolutely no desire to be there.
To all of this, Mahiko could only express... pure, bewildered disbelief.
"So basically, a stage opened up and someone just grabbed you three to fill it as decoration?" Mahiko was at a loss for words.
The scout had already left — just abandoned these three on the stage to fend for themselves... Whether he was even a real scout was anybody's guess.
The two of you just got dragged here that easily by some random person?
And honestly, Dagon's mental state also left Mahiko somewhat speechless. In the original story, Dagon, who never properly grew into a complete form, had indeed been a delicate little thing — but not this energetic.
Was this a side effect of Mahiko reshaping her body toward a more human form — drawing out that intense curiosity and playfulness typical of a human child?
Ah well...
Mahiko cracked a wry smile.
She looked up and met Jogo's gaze.
"Just make sure you don't accidentally kill anyone." She said it with a hint of genuine worry.
Jogo's eyebrow twitched. "How could I possibly—"
"You didn't... breathe fire on stage, right?" Mahiko was still worried.
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Jogo's eyes went wide. "Why would I ever do something that stupid."
Okay, whether you're an idiot or not is genuinely debatable. But fine, if you kept your head about it, that's good enough.
Mahiko let out a small breath of relief.
Then she heard Jogo say: "Though since I don't know how to dance, I looked something else up on my phone and tried that instead. It was a bit... odd-looking, apparently."
Mahiko's heart lurched.
You performed too? And it was odd-looking?
"What did you do?" Mahiko felt her own heartbeat wobble.
"Fire, basically."
"Fire?"
Didn't you just say you didn't use your Jujutsu Technique?
"The human method of making fire." Jogo said, frowning.
Mahiko froze.
Mahiko went pale.
Mahiko lowered her head and searched the forums on her phone, and sure enough — there it was. A news post about the idol event held at this venue.
Front and center: a photo of Jogo on stage, biting down on a lighter and shooting sparks from his mouth.
"Oh my god, I give up." Mahiko buried her face in her hands. "I genuinely have no more words."
If you'd told her before she transmigrated that she would one day see a volcanic Cursed Spirit biting a lighter on an idol stage — she would never, not in a million years, have believed you.
____
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