"You're here for your younger sibling's parent-teacher conference? But those wounds on your face... what happened?"
I couldn't exactly tell her I'd been trading blows with a curse user, so I offered a vague, half-baked excuse.
"Oh, this? I just took a tumble on the stairs earlier. That's all."
"Eh? Do people usually get hurt that badly just from falling down the stairs?"
'Can't you just take it at face value and move on? More importantly, seeing Riko in person like this... it's making me feel strangely uneasy.'
I felt a pang of pity for Riko Amanai. Since shortly after her birth, she had been designated as the Star Religious Vessel for Master Tengen—destined to spend her entire life walking on eggshells for the sake of that fusion. As I was lost in these thoughts, Riko spoke up again.
"You said you came for your sibling's meeting, right? Since you're already here, you should get treated. Oh, by the way, I'm Riko Amanai. I'm a first-year in the middle school division."
'Now that I think about it, is she being so normal because she doesn't realize I'm a sorcerer? Her tone is surprisingly polite. Seeing Riko speak like this is a first.'
"I'm Touya Zenin. Fifteen years old. Don't worry about the treatment; I can just head to a hospital once I leave. I appreciate the thought, though. Someone is waiting for me outside, so I'd better get going."
I gave her a faint smile and waved. Riko stood there dazed for a moment before she hurriedly grabbed my arm.
"Did you say Zenin? I've heard that name before. They're supposed to be the most prestigious among the sorcerer clans, right?"
'Damn. So she does know about the jujutsu world? That's odd, she didn't seem to recognize Satoru's lineage at first in the original timeline.'
As I stood there momentarily flustered, Riko pressed on.
"I knew it... I thought I saw some strange traces over there earlier. Those were the marks of jujutsu, weren't they?"
Realizing there was no point in hiding it any longer, I nodded slowly.
"You're right. I'm a jujutsu sorcerer, and what you saw are called 'residuals.' They're traces of cursed energy. Sorry for lying to you. I didn't realize you knew about our world."
'Actually, I knew perfectly well... I just figured since her cursed energy was so faint, she wouldn't notice. I tried to make a clean break, but she caught me.'
"A sorcerer... could we talk for a moment?"
Riko looked up at me with eyes full of desperate longing. I found it impossible to turn her down.
"Alright. But I can't stay for long. Someone's waiting."
"It's okay. I only came up here for a bit after finishing my lunch."
She pulled on my arm, leading me to lean against the rooftop railing. Riko gazed blankly at the sky for a moment before turning her attention back to me.
"So... if you're a sorcerer, I assume you know about Master Tengen?"
"You can speak casually. You can call me Zenin, or just Touya. And yes, of course I know about Lord Tengen."
"Okay... Touya-san. In that case, Master Tengen is... an indispensable existence, right?"
Her voice trembled. The look in her eyes was profoundly sad. It must be agonizing for such a young girl to accept the fate of being consumed by a fusion with Tengen.
"Naturally. Lord Tengen is vital to the jujutsu world. He maintains the barriers and defensive techniques that protect our entire society."
'Even so, I can never respect a reality where a child has to throw away her life to be a mere sacrifice for those barriers.'
Riko couldn't hide her gloom and let out a heavy sigh. Then, she opened up.
"Touya-san... truth is... they say I'm the Star Religious Vessel for Master Tengen. Before long, I'm supposed to merge with him... and live the rest of my life as Master Tengen."
'...! She's revealing this to me? Is the pressure of being the Vessel really that suffocating for her?'
Though startled, I focused intently on her words.
"They told me I'll become part of Master Tengen and be with him for eternity... but honestly, I'm scared. Once that happens, I won't be able to go to school with my friends anymore... I won't be able to eat the meals Kuroi cooks for me... I just wanted to live a normal life..."
My chest tightened as I listened to her.
'So she was already thinking about all this. It's suffocating to think about how she's been rotting away inside while acting so boisterous on the outside.'
"Tengen is indeed indispensable to the jujutsu world. That's a fact."
Riko looked at me with a face full of disappointment. I held her gaze and continued.
"But Riko, that doesn't mean it has to be you."
Riko's eyes widened. I gave her a small, reassuring smile.
"Of course you're scared. Look at you—you're only in the seventh grade. It's the age where you should be playing with friends, eating delicious food, and enjoying ordinary days. To be saddled with these thoughts at your age... fear is the only logical reaction. You aren't strange for feeling this way."
I leaned my elbows on the railing, looking up at the clouds as I spoke softly.
"I've learned that destiny doesn't always flow exactly where it's supposed to. I do what I want to do, regardless of what anyone says. I fight to protect what I want to protect, however I can. I figured if I keep doing that, maybe I can change this damn fate of mine."
I turned back to meet her silent, staring eyes.
"You're allowed to feel the same way. It's natural to be afraid. You're allowed to cry. What you can do right now is cherish every single day. And think hard about your own future. There's still time before you have to merge as the Vessel. No matter what choice you make when that time comes, I will respect it."
Riko was crying before she even realized it. I wiped away her tears and placed a hand gently on her head.
"Live how you want to live starting now, so you don't have regrets in that final moment a year from now, or even further in the future. Live so you can think to yourself, 'Hey, I didn't have such a bad run.'"
When I finished, Riko stood frozen against the railing, her head bowed and her shoulders beginning to tremble. Then, she suddenly dove into my chest.
"....Sob..."
A small whimper escaped her, and she tightened her grip around my waist as if desperate for warmth. Her arms were thin and fragile like a child's, but her grip was filled with desperate strength. I could only hold her back.
'How hard has this been for her? She never showed it... but this burden is far too heavy for a child to bear.'
My school uniform was quickly soaked with her tears. After crying for a long time, she buried her face deeper into me and mumbled into my chest.
"Thank you... for saying those things... for making me feel like I'm not alone..."
A gust of wind caught Riko's braided hair, but she didn't budge, keeping her face hidden while she wept silently. After a long while of me patting her back, she finally pulled away. Her head stayed down as she covered her face and slumped to the ground in embarrassment.
"Aah... what am I doing... I'll never be able to get married now."
"Pfft... Well, if you grab a stranger and cry like that, I suppose I wouldn't take you as a bride either. What are you going to do, Riko?"
"Be quiet! I don't know what came over me, doing that to a stranger..."
I let out a soft chuckle.
"I really have to go now. I told you, someone is waiting. Think carefully about what I said."
I gave her head one last pat, then stepped back and summoned Nue.
'I wasn't planning on flying out to avoid drawing attention... but I've kept Yuri waiting far too long. I need to move fast.'
"Whoa... it's huge. Wait, that's not it... Touya-san... I mean, Big Brother Touya. We'll see each other again, right? Today isn't... the last time, is it?"
Riko looked at me with eyes even more desperate than before. I nodded with a smile.
"Of course. We'll meet again. So until then, live happily. Make sure you have plenty of stories to tell me next time. See ya."
I waved and took off into the sky on Nue's back. Looking down, I could see Riko still watching me.
'Please, just be happy. You were the child I pitied the most... I hope you can live well this time around.'
Pushing those thoughts aside, I steered Nue toward where the Assistant Manager was waiting. Yuri-san, who had parked in a secluded area, looked startled when I descended from the heavens.
"My, Touya-kun. Did you just drop out of the sky? You gave me quite a fright."
"Haha... I'm a bit late, aren't I? My apologies."
"It's fine. What about the curse user?"
"Stored in my shadow. Where should I deliver him?"
"Handing him over to the police will suffice. The jujutsu world maintains a very close relationship with the state authorities, after all."
"Ah, I see."
"By the way... is it safe to store him in your shadow? Can he even breathe in there?"
"Yes. My shadow is a bit unique. It'll be fine. Honestly, with a guy like that, if he dies, he dies. It's no great loss."
Unlike the Ten Shadows users of the past, my shadow had no weight limit, and there was a separate supply of air inside, allowing things to survive within its depths.
"Then let us depart immediately."
After turning the curse user over to the police, we headed back toward Jujutsu High.
"How was this mission? It was your first time fighting a curse user, wasn't it?"
"It... wasn't easy. His innate technique was incredibly troublesome."
'A technique that destroys the balance of anyone he touches... if he'd used it better, it would have been truly broken. If I'd let my guard down for even a second, I would have been in real danger.'
"Still, I'm glad to see you aren't seriously injured. Are you intentionally leaving those facial wounds unhealed?"
"Ah, yes. I figured I'd ask Shoko to do it. It's a good excuse to have a chat while she treats me."
"I see. On another note... Touya-kun, where is my hat?"
"Eh...?"
'I tossed it aside before the fight and forgot to pick it up... That was Yuri-san's hat?'
-------
On the rooftop of Renchoku Women's Academy, after Touya's departure.
Riko had spent a long time staring at the sky alone. Just as the lunch break was ending and she was about to head down...
"Huh...? What's this hat doing here?"
Riko picked up the hat from the floor and brushed off the dust.
"Could this belong to Big Brother Touya?"
She caught a familiar scent—the same one she had noticed earlier—and her face flushed red despite herself.
"It's the same smell as when he held me... Hehe... I'll keep it and give it back when we meet again."
Riko tucked the hat into her arms like a precious treasure and returned to her classroom.
According to later rumors at Renchoku Women's Academy, whenever Riko was going through a hard time, she would pull out that hat and bury her face in it.
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