Fading Memories - Chapter 233
Ssshh…
The water swirled down the drain as Ren turned off the shower and stepped out of the bathroom. He began drying his hair with a towel, a dull ache throbbing in the centre of his face.
'Ugh, why does my nose hurt so much?' he wondered. 'Did Todo's Black Flash really do that much damage? I guess that was my first time getting hit by one point-blank, huh? …'
Ren pulled on a t-shirt and some sweatpants before falling back onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, his brow furrowing. 'Wait, I feel like I'm forgetting something… uh …'
He sat up abruptly, his eyes catching something dark on his skin. He looked down at his inner forearm. Written in bold, permanent marker were the words: {Think about the white thing and the ritual. Don't overthink.}
Ren blinked, his fingers tracing the ink.
"Holy shit," he muttered, the weight of the realisation hitting him. "I actually almost forgot about this… so there is something making me forget, huh? The ritual… what really happened there?"
He began to pace the room in circles, eyes closed, letting his mind drift back to the chaos.
'Ok, the ritual started normally. I rushed it… I had to; otherwise, it was honestly impossible for me to complete. But while I was in the middle of it, Red Stitch started to act wildly. Why? Simple… the binding vows I made contradicted each other. I was using my maximum technique to force the ritual to happen as fast as possible, but while doing that, the vows and the technique clashed.'
Ren's pace slowed as the memory became clearer. 'I didn't think about using my other techniques; I just wanted to finish in under five minutes. The pain at the start was manageable, so I thought I could push through, but I was wrong. With every new binding vow, the pain intensified. The "Spider" part of Red Stitch and the "Sword" part started to clash against each other. It was total chaos—like I was fighting myself. It was like having cancer for five minutes; my own cursed technique was cannibalising itself while my maximum technique fought for control.'
He stopped and opened his eyes, his voice a low whisper. "But that's when it all went away. I started to lose consciousness because the pain was too much. My brain shut down. I thought it was over… that I'd die in a grinder of my own making. But while I was unconscious… something came to me. Or did I go to it? Whatever it was… it said something. It asked me something. …"
Ren gripped his hair, frustration boiling over. "Ugh, it's getting harder and harder to remember. The more I try to focus, the more my head hurts."
He shook his head, abandoning his circles. He walked over to the window and pushed it open, needing the fresh air.
'It asked me something for sure… no, I asked it something, and then it responded… ugh, why can't I remember?!'
Ren shoved the window open with a bit too much force. As the glass slid back, a face appeared directly in front of him. Gojo Satoru was hanging upside down, his face inches away from Ren's.
There was a second of dead silence.
"Boo!" Gojo chirped.
Ren stumbled back, his heart jumping into his throat. "WHAT the hell are you doing here?!"
Gojo laughed, swinging himself inside and landing gracefully on the floor. "Well, I wanted to say congratulations to my Ren-kun for winning the Tokyo Goodwill Event! Not only that, but you also scored the highest! Even with both of your opponents being disqualified at the end, you were so strong you fought them until the very finish!"
Ren took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. 'I need to find a way to sense this fool. Calm down, calm down… he's just being himself. There's no point in being angry; he'll just laugh at me. '
Ren shook his head. "Next time, try using the door. Also, wait—what do you mean both of my opponents were disqualified?"
Ren tilted his head, confused. Gojo flashed a classic, shit-eating grin.
"Well, you see, Hakari actually belongs to your team, but he went against you and tried to defect! So he was disqualified for that. And Todo was disqualified because he teamed up with a member of the opposing team against you. So, technically, you won the event way early. You didn't actually need to fight until you knocked them both out," Gojo explained, his tone sounding far too amused.
Ren blinked, his eyebrows twitching in annoyance. "What? Wait. Why the hell didn't you stop the event if I'd already won and they were disqualified?"
Gojo's smile widened. "Oh, well, you see… I forgot to announce it because I was so captivated by your fight! You really were strong. Your red threads were tougher than ever… and not only that, you did something completely new. Something even I had no clue about."
Gojo stepped closer, his face closing the distance until he was inches away from Ren. A sharp, fox-like smile played on his lips.
"You know it's not a good thing to hide things from your teacher, right?"