"Other than rarely seeing sunlight, barely exercising, and suffering from malnutrition, your body is basically fine now."
Gojo sat on a chair beside the examination table with Betty in his arms, speaking casually.
"Ah?"
Sumire froze when she heard his words.
Rentaro and Enju were equally stunned.
"What's so strange about that? Didn't I already say that I know a little about treatment?"
"You call this knowing a little?"
Sumire had no idea what device she had grabbed and placed against her stomach. After moving it around twice, she immediately turned back toward the computer with a serious expression.
She only stared at the screen for a moment before suddenly standing up and moving toward Gojo.
The room was already small, and with Sumire suddenly closing the distance between them, the two of them were almost face to face.
As she approached, Gojo caught the faint scent of her.
Mixed into that fragrance was a strong coffee aroma. Clearly, this woman drank quite a lot of coffee on a daily basis.
Faced with Sumire suddenly getting so close, Gojo did not move at all. He only looked at her curiously, wondering what she was trying to do.
"How did you do that?"
"I know my own body very well. With current medical technology, something like this is impossible."
"This level of recovery is no longer something surgery or medicine can achieve. The only possibility would be an Initiator."
"But I'm obviously not one, and there are no traces of the Gastrea Virus in my body."
Sumire stared intensely at Gojo, as if trying to uncover some kind of secret hidden within him.
"How should I put it? Just think of it as a superpower."
"If you don't understand, you can ask Rentaro."
Gojo smiled and said it casually.
"Superpower?"
Sumire's interest immediately grew. She turned toward Rentaro.
Seeing her expression, Rentaro could only briefly explain Gojo's origins.
It was the same explanation he had given at the research institute.
After hearing it, Sumire looked at Gojo and Betty with a burning, almost fanatical excitement in her eyes.
"Please. You have to let me study you."
"I'll agree to anything, no matter what the condition is."
The way Sumire looked at him was almost identical to those old researchers who had become obsessed with their field of study.
She had the kind of determination that made it seem like discovering the truth was worth dying for.
Gojo scratched his head when he saw her reaction.
"Sorry, but I don't have any plans to become a test subject..."
"Please."
The gloomy researcher-type beauty immediately dropped into a full dogeza position in front of Gojo.
"Even if it's only a little blood, or a single strand of hair. Even some saliva would be fine..."
Her desperate tone made her sound like some kind of strange pervert to anyone who did not know the situation.
Gojo was speechless.
He had finally experienced firsthand the attitude of a truly obsessed researcher.
"Please. If we can discover something from your body, maybe we can turn Gastrea back into humans. Even if we can't achieve that, perhaps we could help Initiators like Enju reduce their Corrosion Rate."
Rentaro had not cared much about the first half of Sumire's words.
But the moment he heard that it might be possible to reduce the Corrosion Rate, his breathing became heavier.
Suppressant could only treat the symptoms, not the cause.
After a battle, taking Suppressant could lower the Corrosion Rate that had increased during combat back to approximately its previous level.
However, that was all it did.
It only suppressed the increase.
Every battle would still cause the Corrosion Rate to rise.
The amount of increase varied depending on each person's constitution.
Some Initiators could control their Corrosion Rate well and keep it as low as possible within a safe range.
But Enju, with her impulsive and energetic personality, was clearly not one of them.
The last time Sumire examined her, Enju's normal Corrosion Rate had already exceeded 40%.
With 50% being the point where someone transformed into a Gastrea, a 40% Corrosion Rate meant she was already close to the edge of death, with her remaining lifespan counting down.
This was no longer something Suppressant could solve.
No matter how much Suppressant she took, it could not lower a Corrosion Rate that had already stabilized.
If someone could truly reduce it, then it would be almost no different from a complete cure.
"Gojo-kun..."
Rentaro opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But when he looked at Gojo, the words refused to come out.
They had only known each other for a short time, yet Gojo had already helped them so much.
Asking him for something like this now felt impossible.
What right did he have to ask Gojo to allow himself to be studied?
Anyone would refuse something like that.
"Corrosion Rate?"
Gojo thought for a moment before looking toward Enju.
"Come here for a second."
"What are you doing?"
Enju looked at him suspiciously, but still walked over.
"Let me see if I can solve your problem."
Gojo smiled.
"Eh?"
Enju's eyes widened.
She knew something like this should be almost impossible.
But the man standing in front of her possessed countless powers beyond imagination.
Maybe...
Maybe he really could save her.
Maybe he could finally free her from being a Cursed Child.
With nervous anticipation, Enju stood in front of Gojo.
Just like when he treated Sumire, Gojo lightly placed a finger against her forehead.
Reverse Cursed Technique activated.
However...
As Cursed Energy quickly spread throughout her body, Gojo's brows slowly furrowed.
Under the hopeful gazes of Enju and Rentaro, Gojo shook his head.
"The Gastrea Virus inside your body has completely merged with you. I can't remove it."
A deep disappointment flashed across Rentaro and the others' faces.
But they had already prepared themselves for this possibility.
After all, Cursed Children had existed for so long, and countless studies had already been conducted on them.
Unlike people who were injected with Gastrea body fluids later in life, Cursed Children were infected while they were still developing as embryos.
In some ways, Cursed Children were already fundamentally different from ordinary humans.
Removing the Gastrea Virus from such a body would be no different from taking Enju's life.
However.
Being unable to remove the Gastrea Virus did not mean he could do nothing about the Corrosion Rate.
Simply put, the Corrosion Rate represented the proportion of Gastrea Virus within the body.
Once that proportion exceeded 50%, the person would transform into a Gastrea.
Although Gojo could not remove the root of the Gastrea Virus, lowering the Corrosion Rate was much easier.
"But I might be able to reduce your Corrosion Rate."
"It might hurt a little, so bear with it."
The disappointment had barely appeared before Gojo's words reignited Enju and Rentaro's hope.
Gojo grabbed Enju by the collar with one hand.
Before anyone could react, his other hand moved.
The speed was so fast that even afterimages were difficult to see.
Even Rentaro, without activating his mechanical eye's calculations, could barely follow Gojo's movements.
Then.
Several muffled sounds rang out.
The hopeful expression on Rentaro's face froze.
Deep fear appeared in his eyes.
What had he seen?
In the blink of an eye, Enju's four limbs had separated from her body like disconnected pieces of a toy.
They fell to the floor with heavy thuds.
Bright red blood flowed from the severed wounds.
"You..."
Rentaro instinctively shouted and stepped forward.
Before he could move any further, Betty raised her hand.
Invisible gravity instantly pressed against Rentaro's body and stopped him.
With a heavy crash, he fell to the floor and could not get back up.
"Just watch from the side. Don't interfere."
Betty calmly lowered her hand.
At that moment, Enju, who was still held by Gojo, finally regained her senses.
Gojo's movements had been too fast.
Fast enough that she had not even realized what happened.
Even the pain had not reached her immediately.
Only after seeing her hands and feet lying on the ground did Enju finally understand.
She had already become a human stump and could not move.
Fortunately, this terrifying sensation only lasted for an instant.
Before she could even feel the pain, Reverse Cursed Technique activated.
Enju's face turned pale as she prepared to scream.
But then she saw the places where her limbs had been severed begin moving.
A strange sensation spread through her body.
Her severed limbs were still lying on the ground, but from the wounds on her body, countless strands of flesh began writhing outward.
The sight was horrifying, especially for anyone with a fear of clustered patterns.
But the effect those strands produced was astonishing.
They continuously grew and fused together.
Enju's arms, which had been severed from her shoulders, began growing back at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Not only flesh.
Even her bones regenerated.
Although the scene looked disturbing, everyone present had experienced far bloodier sights before, so none of them were truly frightened.
Instead, they were simply overwhelmed by the impossible sight before them.
It looked almost like a miracle.
A minute or two later.
Enju's bare limbs had completely regenerated.
Aside from the lack of scars, they were exactly the same as before. There was no visible difference at all.
"Alright. A large amount of the virus should have been removed. We can test it now."
After finishing, Gojo placed Enju down and smiled at her.
At the same time, Betty removed her magic, allowing Rentaro to finally stand.
"What... what exactly did you do?"
"Did you activate the Regeneration Gene inside the Gastrea Virus?"
"Or did you..."
Sumire looked like someone dying of thirst in the desert who had suddenly found a spring.
Without caring about her appearance, she rushed over and began firing off a stream of scientific terms that Gojo could not understand.
Watching her excited expression, Gojo simply smiled.
"It's a superpower. A superpower."
"No matter how much more you say, I won't understand."
"Why don't we check Enju first?"
At that moment, Rentaro was carefully examining Enju, while Enju herself had already calmed down after the initial shock.
She was not afraid.
She was not panicking.
She was simply curious.
She stared at her own hands, repeatedly examining them as if trying to discover something unusual.
The feeling of having her limbs cut off and then growing back was simply too strange.
"Are you okay, Enju?"
"I'm fine. I didn't even feel any pain. It was already over before I realized it."
Seeing how worried Rentaro was about her, Enju happily hugged his arm.
She did not care much about whether her Corrosion Rate had decreased.
Compared to that, what mattered more to her was Rentaro's feelings toward her.
Although Sumire desperately wanted to study Gojo, perhaps even cut him apart and analyze every organ and tissue from head to toe, she still walked over to Enju to perform the test.
The previous scene had been incredible, but they still needed to see the actual results.
The test was simple and only took two minutes.
But when Sumire saw the number displayed on the screen, she immediately returned to Gojo's side.
"How did you do this?"
"Based on my observations, this regeneration speed is already comparable to a Stage 5 Gastrea."
"Even a complete Gastrea couldn't possibly regenerate at this speed."
Sumire stared at Gojo.
Her desire for knowledge had completely taken over.
Meanwhile, Rentaro and Enju stared blankly at the number on the computer screen.
Their mouths were open, but neither could say anything.
23.5%.
Enju's Corrosion Rate had dropped from over 40% to 23.5%.
There was no exaggeration in saying that Enju had completely escaped the danger zone.
She had become an Initiator whose Corrosion Rate was safely below the limit.
"10%?"
"Oh my god, that's way too incredible..."
It took Enju a long time to react. She muttered to herself in disbelief.
Rentaro looked at her silently.
Previously, because he wanted to reassure her, he had only told Enju that her Corrosion Rate was in the thirty-percent range.
He had never told her the truth about it being over 40%.
In reality, this was not a reduction of merely 10%.
It had dropped by a full 16.5%.
Gojo had completely overturned the belief that the Corrosion Rate could never be reversed.