In a flash, several more days passed.
Both Suguru, who was supposed to return to Tokyo Jujutsu High within three days after the mission, and Mukuro, who had only planned to drop his nephew back home, were still lingering in Kyoto.
Even though they were still students, the freedom that came with being special grade sorcerers was far beyond what others could imagine.
* * *
Ding… dong…
The Fushiguro family was having breakfast when someone arrived and rang the doorbell.
"I'll get it!"
Tsumiki put her bowl and chopsticks down and ran to the door on her short legs.
A dozen seconds later, she came back in. Behind her stood an old man holding a sake gourd, sporting two sharp tufts of mustache.
"You old guy. Why aren't you sitting in the Zenin clan enjoying life as the great clan head? What'd you come to our Fushiguro house for?"
Toji snorted at the visitor, reminding him that their family no longer had anything to do with the name "Zenin."
Mukuro didn't speak. He simply set down his chopsticks and rested his cheek on one hand, watching the old man.
"What do you mean? No matter what, I'm still your uncle, aren't I?"
Naobito clearly understood Toji's message, but he ignored it and casually shook his sake gourd before sitting in the empty seat at the table.
"Um… Uncle, have you eaten? If not, I'll bring you a bowl."
Onshin also recognized him. He was the only Zenin the two brothers had ever acknowledged as a senior, even if only slightly. She quickly got up and hurried into the kitchen to prepare another serving.
"Oh, if I can have some, that's even better. Toji, you lucky bastard. Marrying Onshin is a blessing."
Naobito flashed a wide grin, showering her with praise until her cheeks turned red.
"So? Why are you here? You didn't come all the way just to chat, right?"
Seeing his shameless behavior, the two brothers shared the same exasperated expression.
"Today is my sixtieth birthday."
Popping open the gourd and taking a long drink straight from it, Naobito spoke in a bitter tone.
The Zenin clan might have turned into his personal playground by accident, but it didn't give him any warmth. Aside from his son, who spent all day thinking of ways to chase women, the only ones who treated him like family were the two twins everyone else despised.
The rigid hierarchy made him a lonely man.
Today was a special day. The Zenin clan had been preparing a banquet for him, yet he couldn't stand the emptiness, so he ran off.
The only place he could think to go was the Fushiguro house.
These two brothers weren't like the fake people in the Zenin clan and didn't treat him as an enemy.
And of course, they never treated him like a normal person either.
"With your strength, changing the Zenin clan should be easy."
Mukuro grew up there and easily heard the loneliness hiding behind Naobito's words, so he asked.
"The Zenin clan is rotten to the core. It can't take that kind of shock right now."
Naobito took the bowl Onshin brought and started eating without restraint, like he was at his own house.
The older generation's thinking was too outdated. That mess wasn't something he could fix with a few words. His only hope lay in the next generation.
"I heard Megumi awakened the clan's inherited technique. Want to bring him back? If you two support him, he'll become clan head for sure."
His tone shifted as he turned toward the kid eating quietly at the table.
The Zenin clan needed new blood and change. The best candidate he could think of was the son of the brothers who once terrified the entire family.
He supported Megumi as the next clan head.
"Sorry, Uncle, but there's no way we're letting Megumi return to that place!"
Before Toji could speak, Onshin stated her answer firmly.
After remembering what almost happened to her at the Zenin house, and thinking about what Toji and Mukuro suffered as children, she could never let her son step into such a heartless family.
"You heard her. Our Fushiguro family isn't like the Zenin clan. The lady of the house makes the decisions."
Toji wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders with a grin.
He had once considered letting Megumi change that rotten clan that rejected him and Mukuro. But after the slaughter years ago, he no longer cared.
Even if the clan burned down, it had nothing to do with him.
"I see… hahahahaha!"
Naobito murmured to himself, then burst into loud laughter, pouring more sake down his throat.
As if alcohol was the only thing that could drown his helplessness.
"I met Ogi Zenin's two daughters a few days ago. If you want to change the clan, leaving it to them isn't a bad idea."
Mukuro spoke after seeing how old and tired he suddenly looked.
To him, those were the only three in the entire Zenin clan who could be called human. The rest were just monkeys.
"Hm?!"
Naobito froze, as if a thought struck him. His eyes sharpened. He stroked his mustache while looking Mukuro up and down.
They were girls, still young, and had yet to be poisoned by the clan's twisted thinking.
If it were them, it might work. But the "twin curse" meant they could never go far in jujutsu. In the clan, people like them were never valued. If he openly protected them, the others would protest.
Unless…
Unless they had a "backer" so overwhelming that no one dared object, it would be a different story.
A special grade sorcerer. Mukuro Fushiguro.
Their blood-related cousin, and the pinnacle of the current jujutsu world.
If Naobito used Mukuro's name, he could raise the twins as future clan heads. No one would dare oppose it. No one would dare question Mukuro's decision.
Not after the massacre that still haunted the clan.
"You really have no shame… using my name like that. But do as you want."
Mukuro rubbed his face, speechless, but he didn't refuse.
"Hahahahaha! Even if I can't trick you two into coming back, this is the best birthday gift I could ask for!"
Naobito drained the last of his sake and laughed again.
"Hey, old man, can you quiet down? It's annoying."
Megumi, who had been eating without a word, finally spoke up.
"Ah, sorry sorry. But I'm not an old man. You should call me Great-Uncle."
Naobito stood up and ruffled Megumi's hair, showing a warm smile rarely seen in the Zenin household.
"…It's a little late to say this, but sorry. And thank you."
Naobito reached the doorway, then turned back. Seriousness filled his voice.
"Alright, alright. Stop talking like some sentimental grandpa. Go home and celebrate your birthday already."
Toji and Mukuro waved him off with the same annoyed tone.
"Goodbye, Great-Uncle."
Megumi waved politely under Onshin's guidance.
Naobito smiled.
At sixty years old, he suddenly looked much younger, almost like a bright, energetic man again.
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