#imo they’re better than similar things that the chocolate guy does but only because of specialisation

[yournewfriendshouse]

lmao he always looks super pleased with himself. I like watching his videos because not only does he keep making fucking awesome desserts that look like the fruit they are made from but he looks like such a fuck boy chef archetype, and for some reason that amuses me

it’s the type of magnetic that repels you instead of attracting you lmao

[the-starless-sky]

The Resurrection Puppet

Second chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen’s first light novel, featuring Nanami and Gojou.

The Resurrection Puppet

Nanami doesn’t hate going on business trips.

It’s not like you couldn’t call it going traveling on a budget, and it could also become a reason to go somewhere you normally wouldn’t.

Much less, somewhere like Hokkaido.

And above all else, even though one’s a sorcerer, for a working adult a chance to to be apart from your coworkers is an irreplaceable moment to cool down. In other words, it’s a ventilation for the soul.

If there are no change of airs, one will feel down.

Whether or not you can take enough time for a breather is the secret of being able to continue working for a long time.

For someone who thought so like Nanami, having a senior sorcerer following him on his business trip isn’t amusing at all――and if that senior’s Gojou Satoru, it’s even giving him a headache.

“Nanami, let’s do a Hokkaido quiz!”

“Please do it by yourself.”

“Okay, here’s the first question. Which famous sweet ‘Sanpouroku’[1] is my number one favorite Hokkaido sweets?”

“Please come back after looking up the definition of ‘quiz’ at least ten times.”

“Well then, let’s play the jaga-butter[2] game. The rules are easy. The one who likes jaga-butter the most wins. Okay, that’s my win―since I’m the guy who loves jaga-butter second in the whole country.”

“Who’s the first?”

“Matsuyama Chiharu.”[3]

“You lie more than you breathe, don’t you?”

“Reduces the carbon-dioxide, don’tcha think?”

“It becomes even with the carbon-dioxide produced by my sighs, is it not? Why do I even have to go somewhere as far as Hokkaido with a man, another sorcerer?”

“Isn’t it fine? It’s like a reality show.”

“Where in the world does this kind of a boring reality show exists?”

Nanami and Gojou walked through the lively main road with expressions polar opposite of each other.

Sapporo’s townscape is identical to Kyoto’s: like the intersections on a Go[4] board.

If you’d just walk as you look at the signs, you wouldn’t get lost.

It’s a bit of a pain to grasp the one-way roads, but it’s very easy to sight-see on foot in the central district. It is also very easy to compare it with a map.

“Well, it’s not as if everything’s on a grid, but it’s easy to set routes to tour around spots, huh.”

Gojou said, as he pulled out a pamphlet folded into two.

When opened, it was a simplified map of the central district, with some red circles written on it.

“What’s with that map?”

“Oi, oi, oi, Nanamiii. Oi, oi, oi, oi!”

“That’s irritating in a crude way.”

“Get a grip! There’s only one map I’d pull out in a place like this, right? What else is it if not the Gojou Satoru Sweets Map?”

“That’s why I told you, please go by yourself.”

“It’s really not worth it trying to be senior-like around you, isn’t it?”

“Since long ago, you are also a senior not worth idolizing, you know?”

Nanami sighed so many times he felt as if his lungs are flattened.

The things Gojou talk about in private is 90% of the time, nothing serious.

He fundamentally only talks in his own pace, so if you respond to him properly you’d just feel tired, but even if you gloss over him, you’d still feel irritated.

One wouldn’t be able to understand the stress of having such a person as your superior, senior, and someone absolutely above you in terms of abilities if one doesn’t deal with Gojou Satoru directly. Though, perhaps, Ijichi has it harder than him.

“...... But rather, seriously, why are you even following me? It’s not a case that requires two sorcerers. Much less――”

“Much less the strongest, super handsome sorcerer Gojou Satoru, right?”

He decided to ignore the remark out of exhaustion. Even so, Gojou continued to speak.

“Of course, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Even though it’s a one-man investigation, if it’s you, you’ll definitely be able to finish it without fail.”

“So, why did you come?”

“To turn a case that’s probably nothing to worry about, into a case that’s absolutely nothing to worry about. Even though you alone is sufficient, it’s a case that required a first grade sorcerer going, right? And I’d even heard it has something to do with an evil curse user or those ‘pseudo-users’.”

“...... So you’re saying that the enemy might be a first grade or a special grade curse user?”

“It’s only a hypothetical, though.”

“You’re not the kind of person who’d go out just because of such vague possibility, are you not?”

“The sympathizer act’s going to seep to your core, you know. Well, isn’t it fine to just leave it like that for now? Unexpectedly, it might be that I’m just tired of my busy days and want to go on a vacation in the North.”

“So you’re saying that that isn’t your actual reason?”

“Ah, Nanami. Look, look at that!”

“Please listen what other people are saying. It’s useless telling you that, though.”

On the other end of Gojou’s pointed hand was a small food stall.

On the bright yellow signboard, the words ‘jaga-butter’ was written with a huge, red font - anyone’s self-assertion has never been this strong.

“If you think about it, a jaga-butter stall’s kind of bold, isn’t it? It’s just roasted potato topped with butter they’re selling. They’re not hard to make at home.”

“They’re similar to stone-baked sweet potatoes[5], are they not?”

“Now that you said that, that’s kinda true. As expected of you, Nanami. Your focus’ deep in those sunglasses.” [6]

“That’s just the location of my eyes.”

“By the way, Nanami, what’s the jaga in jaga-imo?” [7]

“There’s a theory that said jaga-imo is imported to Japan from the Jakarta Harbor.”

“How could you answer instantly!? Scary.”

“Conversely, how could you not know? You’re the man who loves jaga-butter second in the whole nation, aren’t you?”

“After all, number two will always be number two. If you’re going to do something then you have to aim for number one, huh... that’s that, so Cap’n, I’ll have one jaga-butter!”

In the middle of the conversation, in a very natural way, Gojou had moved closer to the stall, so Nanami’s reaction was a bit slow.

“You’re going to eat?”

“Of course. After all, I’m the number two jaga-butter lover in the nation.”

“Even though we’re actually here for a job.”

“Then you don’t have to eat, I’ll just savour the taste of Hokkaido by myself.”

“I’m eating.”

“See, you’re eating too.”

Two men sat on the bench at the main street park. One wore casual, all-black clothes, and the other a neat suit. Both wore sunglasses. They sit side by side, eating jaga-butter.

Sapporo is a metropolis city in which you’d just pass off performers and cosplayers with ‘guess people like that exists’, but even taking that into account, the two still attracts attention.

“Uwah, delicious! It’s soft and flaky, y’know, fresh from the oven!”

“It wont turn out like this if you roast them at home.”

“Yeah, you’re seriously right. I underestimated jaga-butter... guess it is stall-worthy.”

“This makes me want to drink some beer. As I thought, it would’ve been better to have this at the end of the job.”

“Beer, huh? I don’t really understand the thought of eating something delicious by itself with sake. ...... Eh? Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Don’t your jaga-butter looks kinda different to mine?”

“It’s because I put shio-kara[8] on it. It’s delicious - but I’m not going to share.”

“Nah, don’t need it. It looks kinda like the cursed spirit I exorcised the other day.”

“............”

If everything goes well, Hokkaido was supposed to be the place Nanami could have a change of pace in.

Stress were piled up inside of Nanami just a little bit.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Because they are proper adults, after they enjoyed the soft and flaky jaga-butter, they tidied up neatly and headed to the east of the main street park, towards the television tower.

The main street park ended there, and near the bus center a large road crossed from the north to south.

It was a large road - a very important traffic route for the city, yet unexpectedly there were not that much people walking on it.

This has something to do with Sapporo’s city structure.

“So, what kind of cruel curse user are we going to investigate, again? Though, whether or not it involves a curse user is still vague.”

“Did you follow me despite your uncertainties?”

“You’re the one who’s going to deal with it, so.”

“I want to say ‘then please don’t come’, but... Rather, how could you eat soft cream after you ate something so filling?”

“Aren’t you also eating!?”

As he licked the cheese and milk twin soft cream skillfully as to not let it spill, Gojou naturally walked in front of Nanami.

Nobody knows where he’s heading to, still he moved in a way only someone who knew the details of the case would be able to do.

According to Gojou, he couldn’t believe Nanami’s choice of neither milk nor chocolate soft cream but cookies and cream soft cream despite being in Hokkaido, and that he doesn’t want to even see it[9]. Nanami wondered what he’s on about even though he’s wearing sunglasses.

Nanami wanted to tell Gojou to not walk around as he pleased, yet he thought that explaining the situation would be a faster choice.

Because if it were the usual Gojou, he wouldn’t even have to ask Nanami for the details.

So, the fact that he actually asked Nanami shows that Gojou didn’t have any information at all. In sum, Gojou knew that the case wasn’t one that needed his intervention.

Yet, Gojou still followed Nanami.

Nanami knew that Gojou wasn’t that free a man he could go to the northern part of the country just to kill time. Nanami wanted to know what Gojou’s true aim is.

In any case, in order to make Gojou talk about his true intention, Nanami had no choice but to to quickly explain about the ‘puppet uproar’.

Nanami thought about efficiency and decided to explain the case concisely.

“It seems that everything started with a website called ‘Yomotsu Hirasaka’.” [10]

“What an amazing naming sense.”

“It seems like it’s a website established with an independent server so no one could find it through search engines... Ijichi managed to find the website through some information.”

“He’s an excellent guy.”

Gojou remarked plainly, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Hearing that, Nanami inferred, “Ah, this guy must’ve forced Ijichi to spill out my destination.”

It was not as if Ijichi Kiyotaka was a super hacker.

Even so, if he’d only know what to look for, the man called Ijichi would be able to find out ‘the ways to search’ for it.

In this information-saturated society, the ability to search was, most of the time, more useful than technical knowledge.

In that sense, Ijichi is valued highly.

Well, even though he’s valued highly, whether one would reward kindly someone who had leaked out information is another thing altogether. Nanami decided to scold Ijichi later.

“So, that bad taste of a website... what’s it for? Don’t tell me you use it to watch amusing videos?”

“The website was a simple and plain one. Makes you feel nostalgic, even.”

“The ones with an access counter where you have to report back if you hit the kiriban?” [11]

“It does have that kind of feel to it.”

“I hate myself for feeling nostalgic.”

“That’s because we are already at that age, too.”

As his soft cream flattened, Nanami munched at the cone, paused a breathe, and continued.

“In the end, it was found that that website’s a teller window for contacting a curse user.”

“Teller window?”

“There’s a simple form, and if you write your request in the form and send it, the website will show you a registered mail to send your money to. You’ll be able to buy their products that way.”

“Ain’t that a mail order service with mailing payment? The analog one.”

“The address leads to a certain building in Hokkaido owned by a small real estate agent. It’s a two tatami, one ken wide share house.” [12]

“What are you even going to share?”

“It has twenty mailboxes. It seems that a shady lot is using the place as a simple post office box.”

“The modus operandi’s a yakuza front, huh. It’s not something a curse user would think of.”

“For good or worse, sorcerers from historical families wouldn’t even think of establishing such routes, would they.”

“...... So, in the end, what are they selling? If it’s a stray curse user, they’re probably selling some ripoff cursed object to repel cursed spirits the size of a fly head or just trying to make small earnings by cursing other people, but... Nanami wouldn’t get called out just to handle small fries like them, right?”

“What great comprehension you have.”

“Think well about who you’re talking to before you say that. Even though you got called out, I wasn’t told anything at all, so it must be something those higher-up old men wanted to hide from me, right?”

“If so, don’t you think there’s a possibility that I am ‘forbidden to talk about the details’ by them?”

“That’s unrelated. If I feel like it, I’d be able to make anyone talk, after all. The only thing they could do is to at least make it so that ‘the mission itself isn’t known’. So my being here is already their failure.”

“I always think about this, but if your head works that well then could you please look up the case yourself without having me to explain it?”

“Even if it’s not impossible for me to do it by myself, letting my juniors handle bothersome things is the fastest way.”

“... Sigh...”

Nanami’s sigh was a long one.

It wasn’t as if Nanami’s hesitating whether or not to talk about the details, it’s just that he wanted to sigh at the tyrannical senior sorcerer.

After he inhaled, Nanami finally touched upon the heart of the matter.

“――the resurrection of the dead.”

“...... Come again?”

Gojou, quite unusually, doubted his hearing.

That was how absurd Nanami’s words were. Nanami himself also realized this, which was why his tone was full of exhaustion.

“The thing that website is selling is a ‘new vessel’ to call back the soul of the dead... they are calling it the ‘Resurrection Puppet’[13], it seems.”

“... Another senseless joke, huh?”

“In all probability it’s bogus, is it not. However...”

“Nah, I understood already.”

Gojou waved his hand.

In the short exchange they had, he understood the situation so well he got fed up.

“In all probability, it’s 99% confirmed that it’s a bogus business... yet, if there’s even a one in a million chance it’s true, they can’t ignore it. Am I right?”

In this world, there are some truths that one doesn’t have to think to understand.

For example, things like after dawn breaks, morning will come. That ice is cold. That apples would fall off the tree.

Because there are laughably simple, yet definite rules, the world holds up.

Conversely, if these truths are overturned, the world will collapse.

If 1 + 1 isn’t 2, then every calculation will crumble. If the dawn breaks and morning doesn’t come, just because of that this planet will perish.

We wouldn’t be able to laugh if things that are laughably simple don’t stay the way they are.

The irreversible nature of time is one of those truths.

Spilt water wont go back to its tray. Regret don’t come first. Time wont go back to the past.

The most symbolic, easiest to understand example of this has to be the phenomenon of ‘death’.

“Of course they wouldn’t want me to know. As the lot who wanted to certainly erase Sukuna’s host.”

“It seems you understood.”

“They’re really looking down on me, aren’t they? Do they think I’d count on something like that?”

“Fearing even only 1% of chance, and destroying it. That’s the reason why people in power keep reigning in power, is it not?”

“It’s certainly 100% bogus, though.”

“Surely. If one could do something like that――”

“If one could do something like that, this world would’ve ended a long time ago.”

The dead will never come back. Because they don’t come back, people can give up on their past. Because they don’t come back, people could at least pursue the right death.

If bringing people back from the dead is possible, it is likely a curse too big for this world.

Truly, an absolute curse deserving of the name ‘King of the Curses’.

“Although the subject of this suspicious business seem to be limited to ‘resurrecting babies’... the chance of it being real is still zero.”

“Babies? What’s with that?”

“I’m not sure. The target customers are limited to those. To investigate everything including that fact is my job.”

“Even though resurrecting the dead itself is totally fake.”

“Even so, the investigation still has to be done. That’s what working is.”

Gojou lifted his head as he munched on the soft cream cone.

After he licked the cream dripping off his thumb, Gojou put on a very exhausted face, and he looked at Nanami from the depths of his sunglasses.

“Y’know, Nanami. Is being a salaryman shittier than being a sorcerer?”

“If you don’t put into account an individual’s suitability, then I’d say it’s fifty-fifty.”

“This society’s re~ally cursed, huh.”

“There’s no helping that expression, isn’t it.”

“So, Nanami. The guy who’s selling those puppets... let’s just call him the ‘Puppet Maker’. You’d at least already know his location, right? Where should we go?”

“We’ve walked past it, because a certain someone decided to move around as he pleased.”

“Eh, it’s my fault?”

“Please don’t make me think that being a salaryman is better because you’re not around.”

Nanami, just a little bit, looked back on his resignation.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

A city is not something that only expands vertically.

A city that has passed the limits of density above ground would mostly expand their space horizontally.

In other words, they either pile their building upwards, or expand their space underground.

“I see, an underground shopping center, huh?”

“It’s still alright because there are a lot of entrance to the underground in the above ground, but we did make quite a detour.”

The existence of underground space reflects the liveliness of the railroad network, thus it could be said that it is one of the indicators if a town is a metropolis or not.

Now then, the underground walking space in front of the Sapporo Station is a relatively new and vast road, and from there you can access almost every major establishments between the station and Susukino[14].

That’s the reason why, despite there being a large road above ground, the amount of walkers are not overly dense. One can truly call this vast underground space where traffic lights and the weather don’t matter the other city piled below the city.

“How fashionable. There are sky lights even though it’s underground.”

“There’s even convenience stores, book shops, terraces, library teller windows, and even beauticians as well as fortune-tellers. If all of those exist here, I guess it wouldn’t be a long shot for a ‘Puppet Maker’ to be here.”

“Anyways, why didn’t we just come down here in the first place?”

“That was my plan in the first place. It’s just that there’s someone who wouldn’t listen and started eating jaga-butter instead.”

“Seriously? I’ll make sure to scold them when I see ‘em.”

“If it’s a mirror you’re looking for, there’s one in the toilet.”

“But for real..... this place’s really fashionable. There’s an exhibition space with an event currently on going, and even performers. It’s like all the liveliness gathered here rather than the above ground. Though... that’s also bad in itself.”

There was a good reason behind Gojou’s frown.

Sapporo is a peculiar city.

Humans are all unique. There are as many personalities as there are humans.

If it were Tokyo, each area like Shibuya, Asakusa, Shinjuku, Akihabara, etcetera have their own characteristics - and people too, gather at those places depending on their personality. Perhaps it’s easier to understand with terms like Shibuya-type and Akiba-type.

On the contrary, Sapporo is chaotic.

In the shopping district where young people gather, there are also anime goods store for maniacs, old, longstanding shopping street, and red light district where the desires of adults jumble together.

All of these exists on the same street, intermingling in an extra close proximity.

Naturally, the ‘energy’ gathering there is also intermixed.

Resentment, jealousy, anger, partiality, attachment, envy, disgust, selfishness.

Negative energy should, by nature, disperse depending on the city’s disposition - yet, this city doesn’t differentiate between dispositions.

Furthermore, it’s an underground walking space.

A long and wide road, as well as a vast underground city.

The cylindrical structure passing through most of the city’s major establishment, calculated to have the maximum convenience, brought the diverse people riding on the train into the same space, complete with their negative energy.

From a sorcerer’s perspective, the underground city that looked brilliant and lively at a glance is truly people’s melting pot of energy.

“Though ‘cause of that, it’s easier to pick up on the fishy direction.”

“Yes. Because you can feel unpleasant feeling at a glance.”

The stagnant air is bad already in this underground city where a lot of people come and go.

However, even in the middle of that, there’s certainly a presence of gloom worth mentioning.

For a sorcerer capable of chasing cursed spirits through the remnants of curse techniques, one could say that it’s even easier than tracing the source of a gas leak.

As they weave their way through the crowd of people, Nanami and Gojo pursued the presence, walking south of the underground city.

As they walked for some tens of minutes, the smartly organized new area ended, and they stepped into the old area with rather different tastes.

Compared to the new area, there were a lot of places where the structure is complicated, like the side ways and the road to the subway.

Though that’s not to say that the amount of people there decreased, so as a result it becomes an even crowded place.

In the middle of the people coming and going.

In the middle of the stream of people, as if an overflowing river, there it was...... the ‘stagnation’.

“Nanami.”

“Yes――that must be a lead.”

On the other end of the two sorcerer’s line of sight was a pair of parent and child.

A mother holding a baby in her arms, and a boy around five, six years old.

Gojou and Nanami pricked up their ears as they carefully closed in on them.

“――Geez, Akito. Why won’t you understand?”

“No!! Mommy, don’t bring something like that with you!! I don’t wanna, don’t wanna!!”

“You’re the big brother, don’t say something strange so egoistically. Look...... Natsuki’s crying again.”

“No!! No!! I’m not a big brother!!”

The mother corrected her hold on the baby called Natsuki, her expression troubled.

Of course, the child called Akito was also important for her.

Yet, parents are just no match for young children. The swaying expression of the mother holding the small body in her arms held an almost maddening amount of love.

At a loss with her crying child as she comforted her baby, the everyday figure of a mother.

If normal people were to look at it, it must’ve been a usual, pleasant scene.

A small child getting irritated because he felt his mother being taken away by the younger child. If it was an adult, they would’ve concluded that it’s a normal thing and go on.

However, the state of the boy, Akito, looked too desperate to call it mere irritation.

It was certain that what he felt are feelings of not wanting his parents to be taken away.

Yet, that hostility was too sharp for something you’d point at your blood-related brother.

The mother most probably realized it also, as her expression - at first a just a bitter laugh, gradually turned into that of discomfort, into exhaustion, and finally anger.

“Why do you say that!?”

“’Cause, ‘cause...!”

“He’s your little brother, you know? Don’t you feel bad for him?”

“That thing’s not my little brother!”

“Akito!”

The enraged mother followed her emotions and raised her hand.

However, even though she’d swung down her hand, there wasn’t a painful sound of it hitting her child’s cheek.

All because Nanami had held her wrist.

“Wha... wh-what’s with you!?”

Of course, the mother was flustered.

From her point of view, Nanami and Gojou were suspicious people who broke into her family’s everyday.

Even though she knew violence was something to reproach, she has to scold her child who’d made harsh remarks towards her baby. A stranger’s intervention was something she couldn’t accept.

However, there was a reason for Nanami and Gojou’s reproach of her.

As a sorcerer before an adult.

“Please let me go! This is a problem between parent and child!”

“I cannot do that. Do you understand what it is you’re holding in your arms?”

“What do you mean ‘what’...?”

“I see, so this is what they meant by puppet.”

“Ahh!”

Gojou closed his head in from the opposite side of Nanami, looking into the baby in the mother’s arms.

“Just as I wondered what’s going to come... so it’s something like that. To sell something like this and call it resurrection, what a huge scam.”

“P-please stop! Don’t touch Natsuki!”

“Hee... ‘that thing’s’ that important to you? Even more than the child crying and screaming at your feet?”

“Of course! I also gave birth to this child――”

“You bought it, didn’t you?”

Hearing Nanami’s words, the mother froze.

It was as if a hand was shoved into one’s guts, as if one’s spine was gripped tightly, that kind of despair-causing chill.

It was clearly words one couldn’t utter unless they know of the situation.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“――Cursed corpse?”

The mother repeated after Nanami’s words, as if ruminating it.

Perhaps because it was an unfamiliar word, the mother’s intonation was a bit awkward.

“Yes. To explain it simply...... Ah. Perhaps calling it a cursed doll would be easier to understand.”

One could feel Nanami’s consideration towards non-sorcerers through his explanation.

If you’ve experienced being a working adult, you’d be reliable in this kinds of things - Gojou quietly acknowledged.

“Doll, you said... but... this child is so...”

“It’s very well made to the point of surprise. If a normal person were to look at it, they wouldn’t be able to differentiate it with real babies.”

“...... This child is, my real...”

“You, as the one who made the transaction, knows best that it’s not, right?”

“......”

“Usually, there aren’t many sorcerers that could make such a human-like cursed corpse. ...This is just my guess, but in order for it to be made, they asked you of something other than money, didn’t they?”

“Uh...”

The baby in her arms was truly well made.

Swaying its arms and legs as if grasping for the sky, the cherry blossom colored cheeks itched. It was a textbook way to appeal to a woman’s motherly instincts. 

Even so, that was only about the looks.

From a sorcerer’s perspective, there was only repulsiveness. 

It was a matter of course. After all――

“Perhaps it was――”

“You were asked to give them your baby’s remains, weren’t you?”

“......Gojou-san.”

“Of course they’d limit their service to just a babies. ‘Cause there’s no way to drag an adult’s dead body around.”

Nanami, who had tried to get information out of the mother with ambiguous words dropped his shoulders at Gojou’s frank remarks.

From the mother’s discomposure, it seems that Gojou’s words hit the nail on the head.

Using a dead body as material to make a cursed corpse that moves as if it’s alive.

If one has an understanding of curse techniques, one would know how twisted, blasphemous, and depraving this technique is.

However, that was enough to show ordinary people the sweet nightmare of having “resurrected the death”.

Indeed, the cold, harsh truth uttered by Gojou was needed to wake her up from the nightmare. It sounds good if one were to say he purposefully took the role, yet it nobody’s sure if Gojou actually did that while thinking of Nanami’s position.

Whatever his true intention is, Gojou’s words continue.

“It looks alive, but actually it’s no different than a programmed pet robot, y’know? That thing.”

“That’s a lie! After all, I heard about it! ......I heard that Natsuki will come back, so I paid money...”

“If one’s a parent, shouldn’t one know? Of their children’s smallest habits, how they express their feelings...... and the fact that no presence of a living soul could be felt from that baby.”

“............”

“Further more――”

For a moment, Nanami moved his gaze under the sunglasses towards Akito.

The boy, looking about five years in age, clung on to his mother’s legs and looked up at her with a worried, yet determined expression on his face.

“――It seems that that child understands. That his mother’s heart is about to be snatched away by something unknown.”

“That’s......”

“The shape of truth is different for each person. If the truth that you chose was the one in which ‘you have not lost any children’, then I have no right to say anything, but......”

He pushed his sunglasses up with his middle finger, and breathed once before continuing.

There are times when children prepared themselves much more determined and firmer than adults thought they could.

The boy named Akito surely knows that ‘he has to hold on to his mother no matter what’. It’s commendable, yet the cruel reality that forced such a small boy to take on that role felt more painful.

That’s why, Nanami put in quiet prayers into his next remark.

“It is also true that you are turning your eyes away from ‘the present in which your living child is worrying about you’.”

“......I......”

That mother too, deep down in her heart understood.

That Nanami’s words are right, that what she’s done is nothing but escapism.

Even so, Nanami also understood that it wasn’t something one could easily reply ‘yes, I understand’ to.

To regain the person once lost, only to lose them again.

Nanami understood the cruelty, yet he has to keep pressing for her to choose, no matter what.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“It’s really harder to cut down people’s attachment than to exorcise curses, huh?”

What made Gojou mutter such a thing was that so much tears and weeping were involved until they finally managed to collect the cursed corpse.

From underground one wouldn’t know, but outside the sun has already set considerably. If they were to use force to retrieve the cursed corpse, then the wound in the mother’s heart wont ever heal. They had to wait until the mother let it go by herself.

You didn’t work at all, so you could at least carry the luggage, he was told, and though he was unwilling and declined at least three times, in the end he was made to carry Nanami’s bag.

Inside was the cursed corpse they retrieved from the mother.

“Nanami, this is a bit too heavy to be put inside a hand bag!”

“We can’t just throw it away, can we? Moreover, it’s an important lead. If we compare the curse power inside the puppet, we could pursue the creator through even the smallest remnants.”

“Yea, I guess. The ‘Puppet Maker’ who sold it looks like he had the intention to hide the traces of his curse power, but... as expected, the guy’s unqualified. There’s a limit to being sloppy.”

“Yes, indeed.”

In the end, they managed to find the ringleader’s stronghold very easily, a little bit too fast.

It was an especially old area even in the underground city.

Branching off of the wide area, a road connecting to a certain building’s underground floor. On the back of the stairs leading to the floors above, a complicated zig-zagging road.

Perhaps it was formerly rented by an izakaya[15].

Judging from how nasty the place look like, it certainly doesn’t fit to be a place for respectable businesses. Yet, it is a perfect location to run fishy businesses in.

Using a technique of the same principle as a ‘curtain’, at the very least the place was hidden from the people.

Even so, for a concealment it was nothing but crude.

For Nanami and Gojou who are following the remnants of the curse technique, it was as if there were footsteps continuing non-stop towards the place.

“Makes you really feel the fact that we’re short of sorcerers. To let a third-rate like this boldly create a base like this...”

“Strong curses are concentrated in the metropolitan areas. It is proportionate to the sorcerers’ activities as well. No matter what we do, our guard tend to be duller on other regions.”

“Though, usually it would’ve been fine to just let this level of evil curse user do as they please.”

It wasn’t only one of them.

However, it wasn’t as if they gave each other signals, yet the two of them stepped one leg forward,

“Now that they have made such a damage,”

“As expected, we have to crush them, huh?”

At practically the same time, the two sorcerers kicked down the door.

The sound of wood and latch creaking echoed flashily, as dust danced in the air. The two sorcerers appeared in a boorish way as if they’re from a yakuza movie, it made the owner of the room――the ‘Puppet Maker’ to reflexively rise on his feet.

“......Wh-what the fuck are you bastards...?”

“If you think we look like customers, then have your eyes checked in the hospital, you small fry.”

“We’re sorcerers, you see. Proper ones.”

“Different from you.”

Especially strong contempt filled Gojou’s voice.

The inside of the room they forced into could only be described as shabby.

The look of the interior was inconsistent, it wasn’t clear if the owner wanted it to look Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, as if they only cared about the ambiance.

From a lion decoration to a synthetic-looking mummy. A pit viper in formalin. A mask covered in paint, one you’d see being sold in souvenir shops.

And to complete the look, the master of the room, ‘Puppet Maker’s’ clothes.

The fabric of his clothes - that’s even unclear if it is an onmyouji’s[16] or a Shinto priest’s - look cheap as if it was borrowed from a rental shop.

And on top of that, he had talismans - that barely works as as a good luck charm - all over his body, tied around it as if bandages.

From the eyes of a sorcerer, it looks like nothing but a costume.

Even if the other party’s an ordinary person, it’s impertinent to think they’d get deceived by such looks.

No - in reality, there are people who are deceived and damages have emerged, so it’s really hopeless.

One could say that from head to toe, this person is nothing but an insult to sorcerers.

“Sorcerers...? I-I-I, I-I see, so you guys, y-you guys are also sorcerers...!”

“What the hell’s with that ‘also’? Don’t tell me you count yourself as a sorcerer?”

“Please, don’t put up unskillful resistance against us. It’s exhausting having to hold back.”

The feelings Nanami held are most likely the same.

The creases between his eyebrows behind the sunglasses he wore was deep.

In there, Nanami’s instinctive disgust towards the existence of the ‘Puppet Maker’ as well as his inhumane acts showed.

Right now he wields no weapon, but he’s in a stance where he could go into his battle mode in a moment’s notice.

Even though the Puppet Maker was a sham sorcerer, the strong, intimidating air the first grade sorcerer, Nanami let out could even be felt by an ordinary person’s senses.

Conversely, if one could still be relaxed in this situation, they are either an idiot... or they’ve lost their consciousness already.

“Ah, a-a-aaaah... wha-what are you, here for?”

“If you still don’t understand what we’re here for even now, just don’t talk, wont you? Stupidity stops being lovable when it’s too much.”

“I, I-I, I have no time left, no time!!”

“That’s our line. Soon it’d be four. Even if it’s on a business trip, I don’t want to work on off-hours.”

Nanami and Gojou, whilst keeping their side-by-side position, stepped towards the Puppet Maker.

In this small room, if the two of them were to block the way in, there’d be nowhere to escape.

It was a checkmate.

Now that it had turned this way, the action the Puppet Maker could take is limited.

To prepare himself to be rash and thrust through Nanami and Gojou to run away, or try to put up an unsightly fight by waving around a blunt weapon or something of the sort. Another one is to resign to his fate.

――in the end.

The action that the Puppet Maker took was neither.

“H-h-he, he――help mee!!”

“Huh?”

“I-I-I, I’m g-gla-glad. I was going to look for you guys! Real sorcerers! He-help me, if it’s money you want I have it! That’s why, that’s why...”

The Puppet Maker clung on to Nanami’s legs――and begged the latter to save him.

In that moment, both Nanami and Gojou felt a sense of wrongness.

Indeed, this man - this Puppet Maker couldn’t even be called a sorcerer.

It doesn’t have to be Nanami - even the high school’s first years would be able to control the situation. That was how weak this Puppet Maker is as a sorcerer and curse user.

However――he’s too weak.

The curse power inside the cursed corpse certainly wasn’t strong at all.

The technique used was also a simple one - to mechanically respond to a human’s calls, nothing but deceit.

Even so, he was too weak.

The person clinging on to Nanami’s legs was too weak, so weak he couldn’t have possibly used even that level of curse technique.

However, certainly the same curse power leaked out from the man.

In other words, they’ve finally reached the one truth.

“――Nanami.”

“Yes. We thought he’s cursing people just for fun――it seems that he’s the cursed one.”

As if the short exchange was a signal, the mutation started.

Ripping off the talismans binding the Puppet Maker’s clothes――countless ‘arms’ flew out from under the clothes, just like a whip.

“Tch,”

Nanami tried to dodge with the littlest possible movement, yet changed his judgment in a moment’s notice.

It was because on the tips of the ‘arms’ swinging around, jumped out some insect-like creatures. As he dodged the arms’ direct hit, Nanami took off his suit’s outer garment and brushed off the insect-like creatures.

The Puppet Maker’s body has truly become that of a puppet’s.

Human flesh and puppet colluded in a warped way to form a disarrayed contour. His neck and left arm still barely holds their flesh and blood, but there was nothing more tragic than his left chest below.

The puppet head distorted in hatred bit at his heart.

Sharp, wooden skeleton akin to a bamboo spear penetrated through his flesh, joining with his body. That body was already over 70% turned into a puppet, drawing a spider-like silhouette.

“Ah, aaaaaaaaaaaahh, help, he-help! Money, I-I have money, I’ll pay, so please exorcise this!! This thing, this thing this thing this thing this thing, get it away from me, away away away away AWAY AWAY!!!”

The Puppet Maker struggling from pain and fear waved about his countless arms as if whips.

That power by itself was just like a storm - if you were to take a hit with your body, your bones will definitely get crushed into pieces, yet that wasn’t its real threat.

The most repulsive thing is the countless small insects that came out of the puppet’s stomach, squirming over its skin.

No...... if you were to look closer, you’d realize that it was actually a swarm of small cursed corpses.

They were eating the Puppet Maker’s body, as well as the ‘babies’ corpses’ hidden below his clothes, as they propagate and grow.

“......A cursed corpse that’s also a production factory that propagates itself, is it.”

Knitting flesh and hair, even now some cursed corpses are being produced in a slow pace.

The man’s body had been too corroded that there’s no longer any need to tell of it.

And then, the last question was finally answered.

“I’ve been thinking... ‘If the baby’s skin is used in the creation of the cursed corpse given to the parents, then what did the culprit do to the rest of the flesh?’, but... I see, so he’s supplying the flesh for it to eat.”

“Even though he’d used dead bodies, I was still unsure how this kind of man could create such an elaborate cursed corpse, but...”

“It wasn’t something a modern day sorcerer could just make. If not a shadow of an old sorcerer family member’s former self, then it’s a cursed tool dug out from the depths of a warehouse... or rather, a cursed object on a rampage, ain’t it?”

“Considering how he’d prepared such a complicated transaction route, at first it must have been simply a way to make money. It is certain that there are evil intentions. There is no room for taking extenuating circumstances into consideration in the first place, but...”

Nanami sighed, completely exhausted.

“It’s something that devours not only dead bodies but also living things. We can’t take it slowly, can we.”

Gojou dropped his shoulders listlessly.

A puppet that eats human flesh and gives birth to other puppets.

Even though he’d collected flesh to provide meals for it, the Puppet Maker couldn’t feed it on time, and he’s now possessed by the puppet itself.

Whichever one of them shouldn’t exist in this world.

Nanami and Gojou has the same kind of expression on their faces.

The feelings held was resignation.

The face of a human who has accepted the situation.

And the Puppet Maker, who’d sought their help doesn’t take to it kindly.

“Eh, ah, aAh, aren’t you guys, go-going to he-help-heElp me......?”

“Naw, that’s impossible. You understood yourself, don’t you?”

“Although if it hadn’t progressed to this stage, perhaps Ieiri-san could have cut it off.”

Nanami reached his arm to his back.

On his back, he has a large blade befitting to be described as a nata[17].

Nanami carries it.

As someone who had quit being a salaryman and chose to become a sorcerer instead. He carries the blade that he must swing down.

Nanami thrusted the sword towards the Puppet Maker.

“Wa, wait, what is thAt?”

“7:3.”

Nanami swung his blade to cut the air.

“My technique allows me to cut my target into 7:3 segments... and by doing so, will forcefully create a weak point in them. It doesn’t matter if the target is an living being or an inanimate object. Even someone like you, who are a fusion of both, will be counted as one being.”

“......whA, whAt are you talking about......”

Disclosing your technique.

The amplification of the effects of a technique by means of binding. Under the condition of explaining your technique - a demerit - you could increase your attack power.

In other words, for Nanami it was like a a declaration of intention to absolutely annihilate the enemy.

“It’s not as if I don’t pity you because of your appearance, but it’s clear that in the first place, you’re the one that started it all by making money with a dangerous curse technique.”

“...O, oO, oI? You’re joking, right? I-I-I, I’m a human, you know? What’s a sorcerer like you try-trying to do to a-A-a a human with that blade?”

“It’s already too late for that body.”

“No, no, nonononono, ah, what’s with thAt treatment!? I, I, I resurrected the dead! And I saved them! The people’s hearts! I saved them! Yet, I’m the onLy one who su-su-suffers...! S-suffer... th-the he-hearts... hearts! Hearts!! He-he...”

“Your words and your consciousness is already unsteady. More importantly――”

Nanami skillfully swung his sword in the narrow space.

It was clear even to the Puppet Maker that Nanami’s movement was filled with a certain intent to kill. When you are cornered into an absolute predicament, there are only so little actions you can take.

Fear and impatience controlled the Puppet Maker.

And then...... the one who broke the tension was Nanami.

“――You who had scattered curses to other people are already a curse yourself.”

“I’ll KILL yOUuUuuuuUuuuuUUuuU!!!”

Thus, the Puppet Maker jumped towards Nanami.

Nanami did not move.

He only used his body’s recoil, and slashed the wind with his brandished blade.

“If you are an adult, then bear your responsibilities.”

A single stroke.

“――――Ah,”

The Puppet Maker couldn’t even let out a sound of agony in his death.

The technique power-upped by disclosure of information accurately cut the Puppet Maker’s body to a 7:3 ratio.

The body was cut diagonally from the shoulders, cleanly dividing the puppet part and the flesh and blood, and it fell to the ground.

The separated puppet body that had probably used the Puppet Master’s soul as nutrient to move made robotic clattering sounds before it finally stopped moving.

And then.

“......Ah..... Ah...... A, ah... Ah...... Aah......”

 The Puppet Master muttered feebly in a voice that didn’t even form words, and finally stopped moving as if a puppet whose strings were cut. A few moments after, as if a child whose umbilical cords are cut down, the cursed corpses that looked like small insects also stopped moving one after another.

Ironically, even though only for a moment before his death, the flesh and blood of the Puppet Master that had been cut off from the puppet died as a human.

Even if that truth couldn’t clear one’s heart..... it was also true that Nanami’s single stroke was able to turn him back to a human.

“Good work there, Nanami.”

After Gojou patted his shoulder, Nanami swung his arms in a circular motion to ease its stiffness.

“It would’ve been way easier if you were the one to do it, though.”

“Even though he’s this kinda guy, if we still want to bury him as a human, then your technique is better suited than mine, y’know.”

“I really don’t want to be suited to this kind of job.”

“In any case, let’s take down just the curtain and let the others deal with the rest. As expected, disposing dead bodies are beyond my capacity.”

“This time you didn’t do anything at all, though, did you?”

With Nanami’s deep, long sigh as the last thing uttered by the two of them, the room turned silent.

The lion decoration, the synthetic-looking mummy, the pit viper in formalin was, as ever, enshrined in the room that has lost its master.

Was the owner of the room a human? Or a puppet?

At the point in time during which the two sorcerers arrived, the answer’s already vague.

However, the traces of blood spread out on the floor looked fresh and vibrant, as if proving his humanity.

Before long, those traces too, got wiped clean as if it was never there.

In the end, only silence remained in the depths of the underground.

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

“There’s a saying that goes like, ‘heal thyself’, right?”

Gojou suddenly muttered, as he swayed his glass on the bar counter.

Gojou started the conversation without any preface, so it took Nanami a moment to realize that he’s being talked to.

“......Are you talking about the Puppet Maker?”

“About the entirety of sorcerers. To deal with a curse ultimately means to deal with people’s negative energy. Jobs that make you feel bad will increase.”

“So you’re talking about the dangers of accumulating curses within yourself.”

“Even if you’re used to it, it doesn’t really feel good, right? Makes you want to get drunk.”

“The drink you ordered was ‘Florida’, wasn’t it? That’s non-alcoholic.”

“I didn’t do anything, so I don’t have to get drunk.”

“Please don’t say that so confidently.”

As he looked at Nanami, who’s currently gulping down ‘Gimlet’, Gojou laughed.

“Nanami’s actually a compassionate person, right?”

“What’s up with you, suddenly?”

“You could divide your feelings, but it’s not like you’re okay. An adult more or less have a way to handle the frictions born from such a situation, right? That’s exactly why sake is a wonder drug for the heart.”

“That’s quite an uninteresting talk, but are you going to continue?”

“I’m really not teasing you at all,”

Nanami had a suspicious eye behind his sunglasses, yet when he made sure that Gojou doesn’t have his usual frivolous smile on, Nanami quietly returned to a listening stance.

Realizing that, Gojou continued.

“Seeing that the ones giving birth to curses are humans, then the students I’m in charge of, too, will one day have to face the evil intentions of shitty humans.”

“......That’s because they’re sorcerers.”

The world is full of irrational things.

People’s evil intentions, and the curses it gave birth to.

Not only sorcerers, every person has to bite into such bitterness, know what it means to give up, and pile up despairs to become an adult.

Nanami knows that.

And Gojou knew that Nanami became an adult by going through all of it.

That’s why, he made this speech to him.

“People like us knows how to release out such poisons that runs through the heart. However, youngsters that are on their sensitive period are different. There are cases where one poison could destroy their hearts.”

“To deal with the poison left inside children is the role of an adult. Shouldn’t someone in a teaching profession like you know that better than I do?”

“I know. That’s why I came to talk to you.”

Gojou gulped down the contents of his glass and ordered to the bartender.

“‘Cinderella’ for two, ‘kay?”

“You must be joking.”

Nanami narrowed his eyes at the fact that a cocktail even sweeter than the one Gojou ordered before was prepared for him, too.

Of course it was non-alcoholic. It’s a type of mixed juice.

Gojou ignored Nanami who seemed to want to complain as he turned his gaze towards the shelf behind the back bar and continued his words.

“There’s a child I want to try to leave in your care for once.”

“It’s not Fushiguro-kun, is it?”

“Itadori Yuuji. You know him, don’t you?”

“.........I heard he died.”

“He’s keeping the King of Curses inside of him. He’s on a different level than the bogus ‘puppet that could resurrect the dead’.”

The bartender slowly put down two glasses on top of the counter.

Golden colored liquid that looked like the setting sun.

Considering its name, perhaps it was the color of full moon. Or, possibly, the hair color of the young man whose name was mentioned in the conversation.

That cocktail was sweet, as if a happily-ever-after fairy tale overflowing with romanticism.

As he held up his glass and swayed it, Gojou continued.

“I’m also really busy, so a chance to talk to you without anyone bothering is somewhat valuable, y’know?”

“I understand that you hate the current sorcery world, but even so I am a person of regulation. I don’t know what kind of expectations you hold for Sukuna’s vessel , but......”

“Not Sukuna’s vessel. This is, to the bitter end, a talk about an individual by the name of Itadori Yuuji.”

“Surely he’s not in such a light situation that one is permitted to talk whilst separating the two?”

“You know, Yuuji is a really honest child.”

Gojou’s fingertips caressed the rim of the glass.

The sound that seem like the high note of a stringed instrument quietly rang.

“He has resolution and courage, as well as the decisiveness needed in battle. Even so, there are parts of him that are just too straightforward. It’s really worrying when a child like that gets his heart broken even once.”

“What do you want me to do now that you’ve said that to me?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m really busy. I can’t say I could get around to caring for his mental growth too. It’d help me a lot if there was a chance to leave him in your care even once.”

“You think I’m going to listen to your favor?”

“That’s why I’m making a request to you. Whether he’s a sorcerer or Sukuna’s vessel...... as an adult who wishes for one young man’s healthy growth.”

It was usual for Gojou to speak frivolously, irresponsibly, to line up words that you couldn’t ascertain whether he’s serious or joking. That’s why, you’d know when he’s talking earnestly.

“Because I want to leave him in the care of an adult who understands other people’s pain. Someone like you.”

“...You came here just to say such sugary-sweet[18] words?”

“You know that I have a sweet-tooth, don’t you?”

As he laughed, Gojou passed the other glass to Nanami.

A sweet yet sour golden cocktail.

For a short while, Nanami quietly stared at the cocktail that look almost as if it’s filled with youth’s awkwardness.

“I’m not good with sweets, though.”

Without particularly signaling each other, the two of them gulped down the contents of the glass at the same time.

“Sweet,”

“Delicious, isn’t it?”

In the quiet bar, two contrasting voices echoed.

The two sorcerer’s night wears on,

As it embraced the multitude of whirling hardships and the sweetness that remains in their tongues.

Notes

[1] 三方六 (Sanpouroku) is the name of a Hokkaido local sweet (kind of like baumkuchen). So yeah, it's not... really a question.

[2] じゃがバター (jagabata―)Literally potatoes with butter on top. I heard they're really tasty.

[3] Matsuyama Chiharu is a Japanese folk singer and songwriter. He was born in Hokkaido.

[4] Go is a Japanese board game.

[5] 石焼き芋 (ishiyaki imo). Some people make it at home.

[6] 目の付け所がサングラスの奥 - this phrase is usually not about sunglasses, but rather how one notices things that other people dont (目の付け所が違う） - because he changed the last word, it just became him pointing out where Nanami's eyes are.

[7] じゃが芋 (jaga-imo) means potato - though you'd probably be able to infer that anyways, lol.

[8] 塩辛 (shio-kara) is salted fish entrails.

[9] Hokkaido is very popular for its dairy farms, so it's strange for Nanami not to try the local delicacy, but cookies and cream flavor instead. Also, Nanami's questioning why Gojou cared that much, after all he wears sunglasses so he most probably couldn't tell the difference just by looking at the color.

[10] 黄泉比良坂 (yomotsu hirasaka), according to Japanese mythology, is a hill that's also the border between the world of the living and the dead.

[11] Old Japanese websites usually have access counters. When you hit the kiriban (good numbers like 10.000, 15.000, etc.), you report back to the owner and sometimes they'll give you presents.

[12] Two tatami, one ken is approximately 3,65 x 1,80m. Super small, so Gojou asked what's there to share (since it's a share house).

[13] 反魂人形 (hankon ningyou), literally Anti-Soul Puppet, I think.

[14] Susukino is a shopping district located in the center of Sapporo.

[15] 居酒屋 (izakaya) means a bar, pub or tavern. You usually drink alcohol while eating snacks.

[16] 陰陽師 (onmyouji) is a kind of exorcist.

[17] 鉈 (nata) is like a hatchet? It's a traditional tool that has a wide blade and short handle, exactly like Nanami's.

[18] 甘ったるい (amattarui) also means sentimental.

I am super happy and excited that I managed to finish translating this chapter! The hardest part was definitely the fight with the bad guy...! Can’t wait for the second light novel to come out!! This one only has two stories left, the one with the curse group and the one about Ijichi. I reaaaaaaaaaaally want to read Nobara and Toge’s story TT.