Chapter 58: What's Wrong with the King of Curses Taking a Bite of Noodles?
Why, why did things turn out this way?
Yuji Itadori's mind couldn't fully comprehend it in such a short time.
Just moments ago, he and Gojo Satoru were a harmonious and affectionate pair of teacher and student, even engaging in playful banter that went beyond a typical student-teacher relationship.
How wonderful was that life?
The cold indifference on Gojo Satoru's face right now was so unfamiliar; he hadn't been this cold even when Yuji first met him a few days ago, always greeting him with a smile.
What was that idiom... His smile and voice still present?
"You wouldn't understand, Itadori-kun.
As 'The Strongest' in the Jujutsu world, I must exorcise Cursed Spirits with high intensity every day. This is the only proper meal I get. For the rest of the time, I can only rely on donuts and pastries to barely fill my stomach. I must protect my food."
If one was very familiar with Gojo Satoru, they would realize something. It's not surprising at all that this guy can say such things with a straight face.
Although, they were all indeed the truth.
"Ah?! Gojo-sensei, you... you live such a miserable life?!"
Should one say that this child had great chemistry with Gojo Satoru or that he was just good at playing along?
In any case, Yuji Itadori continued the conversation with a very shocked and exaggerated demeanor.
"Exactly, exactly! Itadori-kun, you can certainly understand me, right?"
"Mhm, I understand you the most, Gojo-sensei, you work so hard!"
Yuji Itadori nodded his head frantically.
"Then, Itadori-kun will surely uphold the virtue of respecting his teacher and give this delicious food to me, right?"
Whether it was through playing the pity card or whatever else, Gojo Satoru seemed to be trying to coax this statement out of Yuji Itadori.
But the other party didn't seem to buy it at all—
"No."
"Eh?"
"Because it's the favorite food of Gojo-sensei, 'The Strongest,' this food must also be 'The Strongest.' I can't pass up such an opportunity."
The logic was sound and the words were sharp. It was hard to believe that Gojo Satoru could teach such a clever student.
"That's wonderful thinking, Itadori-kun.
Then, as a reward, I'll begrudgingly share one portion of today's food with you."
Gojo Satoru thought that it was only half a day's rations at most, and he was capable of that much sacrifice. As a teacher, how could he lack even that much generosity?
"Oh, right, I almost forgot something important."
Gojo Satoru suddenly slapped his head and fixed his gaze on Emiya.
"Emiya-kun, after thinking it over, I've decided it's best to let you teach the students how to fight. After all, your combat mindset is quite remarkable, and my fighting style isn't very helpful for them."
Besides Gojo Satoru, the only other people who knew how well Emiya utilized information asymmetry and the environment in combat were the now-gone Mahito and a certain anonymous Cursed User who was permanently disabled.
As for Gojo Satoru's fighting style?
How should one put it? His current fighting style against Cursed Spirits is generally only of two types: one is the type he can casually kill with a sneeze, and the other is the type he needs to apply a little force with his fingertip to kill.
In fact, both in the past and present, Gojo Satoru's cognitive ability is super high.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to constantly maintain Limitless, a Cursed Technique that demands extremely high computational power.
However, even though the past him would seriously analyze the combat and the situation, after so many years of high-intensity exorcism of low-grade Cursed Spirits, no matter how fresh a brain is, it can't withstand years of fixed thinking patterns, can it?
It's probably like a Superman who possesses both a super brain and super strength.
When Superman tries to solve a problem with his super brain, his super brain tells him to hurry up and use his super strength.
Over time, anyone would lose some of the mindset for utilizing the environment and advantages in combat.
The last time Gojo Satoru actually used his brain was after his fight with Emiya. He still hasn't figured out how his Limitless Cursed Technique could be countered by that sword, the Fragarach: Gouging Sword of the War God which struck later but landed first.
His fresh brain has literally been 'burnt out' by several pounds worth of calculation.
At least Gojo Satoru still had some self-awareness and did not force his combat formula onto his students.
However, before Emiya appeared, his usual method of teaching students to fight was to grab a Cursed Spirit and have them engage in real combat.
"So, do you understand, Itadori-kun? This is Emiya Shirou, a specially appointed professor at Jujutsu High, and he will be your combat teacher from now on."
At this point, Gojo Satoru suddenly leaned his head close to Yuji Itadori's ear and quietly added, "By the way, even I have taken a big loss at Emiya-kun's hands, you know."
"Oh, wow!"
According to Yuji Itadori's simple mind, since Gojo Satoru is "The Strongest" in the Jujutsu world, then Emiya, who can make him suffer, must be the second strongest, right?
Alright, he must learn some things very well!
"Emiya-sensei, hello! I'm Yuji Itadori, please take care of me!"
Very good, very loud. Emiya's ears were almost deafened.
Therefore, Emiya had no intention of participating in the double act with these two clowns; he simply pointed silently to the food he had already set out on the table.
"Hello, Itadori-kun.
But if you don't eat now, the ramen will get cold... or do the two of you prefer to eat sticky, clumped-up noodles?"
"!!!!!!" x2
The fragile teacher-student bond was indeed fragile, not even worth a single bowl of ramen.
"Itadakimasu!" x2
A moment later, the two sat at the dining table and declared their respect for the ingredients and the chef.
The smart Gojo Satoru put his hands together and then immediately began to violently slurp the ramen into his mouth, not stopping even though he knew it was very hot. After all, a burnt tongue can always be replaced with a fresh one, but once ramen cools down, there won't be fresh ramen anymore.
However, the slightly younger Yuji Itadori clearly didn't realize this.
He was still staring intently at the delicious ramen in front of him, a dish he had never encountered before, and subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
In fact, he had never found ramen to be particularly delicious before, because the ramen sold in shops these days were either assembly-line industrial products or various blends of science and artificial flavor.
The occasional chef who made it personally would also have to serve hundreds or thousands of customers every day, so whatever special technique or feeling they originally had would have long been diluted.
But the ramen in front of him was beautiful in appearance, aroma, and flavor, and completely lacked that sense of perfunctoriness from outside. It was a completely different delicacy.
Just imagine, can the food prepared painstakingly every day by a beautiful wife at home be the same as the assembly-line industrial product made by some large, unsavory man outside?
Of course not!
Yuji Itadori suddenly started to understand why Gojo Satoru was so unwilling to share this delicious food with him in the beginning.
No good, I can't hold back any longer...
He had to start tasting it right now!
Having made up his mind, Yuji Itadori immediately reached out and picked up a cluster of slender noodles, blew on them slightly to cool them down a bit, and was about to put them into his mouth.
But it was at this moment that the unexpected happened.
Crunch!
A crisp snapping sound rang out, and the source was the center of Yuji Itadori's palm. The chopsticks seemed to have been snapped by himself.
"W-Whoa-ah-ah?!"
Yuji Itadori himself seemed completely unaware, and startled by the sound, he immediately raised his hand, but the pair of chopsticks was still in his hand. Or, to be more accurate, they were in the 'mouth' in the center of his palm.
Crunch—Crunch—Crunch—
The mouth bit off and swallowed the chopsticks piece by piece at an extremely fast speed, then successfully clamped down on the entangled noodles and took a big bite!
Slurp!
Fortunately, the quality of the noodles was extremely good, and half a bowl of ramen was swallowed in one go.
And after all of that was done, this mouth even licked the area around the palm with an expression of dissatisfaction and then spoke:
"I was planning to sleep a bit longer, but I was suddenly awakened by this wonderful smell.
The taste is indeed good, much better than those gluttons a thousand years ago... When I get out and kill all the annoying Jujutsu Sorcerers, I might consider keeping you alive.
Rejoice, after all, there aren't many times when I feel this entertained. It might also be because I haven't eaten human food for too long."
"...?"
"!!!!!"
Emiya hadn't even spoken yet, but Yuji Itadori was the first to get angry.
With his other hand, he inserted two fingers into the mouth in the center of his right palm with lightning speed, his voice filled with anger.
"Hey! Sukuna, you bastard! Spit it out, hurry up and spit it out!!!
I haven't even had a bite yet, what's your rush, hey!!"
What made Yuji Itadori most frustrated wasn't that the ramen was eaten by the mouth on his palm, but that he couldn't feel any taste from the mouth on his palm.
Ryomen Sukuna, he truly deserves to die!
"Hey, hey, are you crazy, brat? Do you believe I'll just bite your fingers off, huh??!?"
To be honest, Emiya had seen people arguing a lot, but he had never seen someone arguing with their own hand.
But upon seeing this scene, Gojo Satoru slowly finished his noodle soup, burped, then slumped back in his chair, rubbing his stomach, and waved his hand towards Emiya.
"It's alright, it's alright. Although Yuji Itadori usually has the dominant control over the body, Sukuna sometimes takes over a small, unimportant part. It's normal."
Emiya: "..."
Normal?
Has the current generation of Japanese High School students mutated to the point where having a mouth on their palm is considered normal?
"In other words, Gojo-sensei. This... mouth, is the Ryomen Sukuna you mentioned?"
Emiya could understand that this was just one manifestation of this bizarre entity, but for a creature that only fights its Vessel for food, it seemed a bit too... ridiculous?
"Of course. Don't let the fact that he's just a mouth fool you. A thousand years ago, Ryomen Sukuna was the existence known as the King of Curses, a supposed Demon God with four arms and two faces.
Even when the Jujutsu Sorcerers of the golden age gathered their strength to challenge him, the result was a failure.
Ryomen Sukuna... that's the title he was given after that."
While narrating Sukuna's past deeds, Gojo Satoru very smoothly scraped the viscous residue from the bowl with his finger and popped it into his mouth.
"After Ryomen Sukuna died, his twenty severed fingers became Special Grade Cursed Objects, sealed and scattered across Japan.
Yuji Itadori swallowed one of those fingers, thus achieving a bizarre symbiotic state with Ryomen Sukuna.
By the way, each of these fingers meets the Special Grade standard, and there have been cases of fingers being swallowed before, but those individuals all died without exception.
Yuji Itadori is the only case so far who not only survived after swallowing the finger but can also suppress Ryomen Sukuna's consciousness.
In short, he is a natural vessel."
Gojo Satoru quickly explained all of this in relatively concise language, allowing Emiya to understand.
Meanwhile, Yuji Itadori successfully made Lord Sukuna retreat back into his body by sticking his fingers down his throat out of disgust. Having just heard the explanation, he turned his head and gave a very proud smile.
Emiya still felt that the act of using a living person as a vessel was too cruel, but Yuji Itadori himself seemed proud of it?
"Because the Headquarters feared that Itadori-kun, as the vessel, would lose control and cause the King of Curses from a thousand years ago to resurrect, they sentenced him to death.
However, due to my best efforts, the death sentence was successfully commuted to a suspended sentence.
As long as Itadori-kun is willing to try to swallow as many fingers as possible, the execution can be postponed until he can no longer swallow more fingers, or until he swallows all of them, and then he will be destroyed along with the fingers inside him...
The Headquarters' compromise is quite humane, isn't it?"
Ultimately, the decision of whether to kill Yuji Itadori still rests with Gojo Satoru. If he wants to be a little clever, the Jujutsu Headquarters can't stop him.
Of course, whether they will use some tricks on Yuji Itadori, just as they did on Emiya before, is uncertain.
"In any case, because there is no technique to safely remove the fingers, Itadori-kun will have to embark on missions to exorcise Cursed Spirits and continuously become stronger.
You must teach him diligently, Emiya-kun.
Oh, and the other students as well."
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