Chương 15: I Don’t Want to Be a Heroic Spirit [15]
The phone rang, but the few people in the shop were too engrossed in watching an old TV to notice.
A burly man, dressed in a black shirt, black pants, and black slippers, picked up a bottle of soy sauce, pouring it generously over freshly grilled takoyaki, the sauce drenching the dish to an almost wasteful degree.
"What's this? They didn't return to the Academy?"
The voice was rough and booming. The man was solidly built, with black hair, his only distinguishing feature a scar at the corner of his mouth. Otherwise, he wore the kind of forgettable attire that would blend into any crowd.
Yet, his sheer presence was anything but forgettable, an aura powerful enough to make even the bravest shiver. It was the kind of strength without a single weak spot.
"Just looking at him, you'd think he was some kind of monster."
Nothing could describe him more fittingly.
"Well, lucky us." Holding the phone with his neck, he stretched for a pair of disposable chopsticks. "The bounty hunters after that prize should go from morons to maybe competent morons now."
Half-lidded eyes, disinterested in nearly everything, he picked up a hot takoyaki, popping it into his mouth without bothering to blow on it.
"With Gojo Satoru there, that's a Six Eyes—one of a kind in centuries. Paired with his Limitless Technique, no one can touch the Star Plasma Vessel with him around."
The person on the other end of the phone went quiet, while the man continued to toy with the takoyaki in front of him with his chopsticks.
"…But what if 'Tristan' took up this mission too?"
The takoyaki's crispy outer layer split, letting a white sauce ooze from within.
The man's eyes narrowed, silent for a moment.
"…Well, if she's in the mix, things get trickier. Seems this bounty's harder to snag than I thought."
"I thought you'd have abandoned this job by now. After all, she's slaughtered most of the cursed sorcerers in just half a year."
"Hah, what nonsense. This is thirty million—enough for me to live it up for quite a while."
"With the way you gamble, it'll be gone in no time anyway."
The man didn't deny it, swallowing down the now-split takoyaki with a thoughtful chew.
The voice on the phone spoke again.
"You've met her at least once, right? What was she like?"
The man's gaze grew unfocused, memories from years ago resurfacing.
"Dangerous… I felt like I could die at any moment." He tilted his head, reaching for another takoyaki, only to find he'd finished them all.
"Maybe Gojo Satoru will reach that level someday. For now, though, he's just an arrogant kid, not worth my full attention."
"Still, I suppose I can't afford to laze around any longer…"
Suddenly, everyone in the shop burst into cheers as the match on TV ended. Most of them were betting on the results.
The man glanced at the TV screen, then at the ticket in his hand, before tearing it up with a bored expression as he stood.
"That woman… she's like a snake. If she finds interesting prey, she won't kill it right away. She'll play with it for a while. And Gojo Satoru is no simple opponent either. Their fight won't end quickly. But stealing the Star Plasma Vessel out from under their noses? That won't be easy."
He walked over to the tea dispenser, pressing the button as a pale green stream poured into his cup.
"I'll be there. For now, I'll let them tear each other apart."
Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a warm glow over the man.
"Beautiful weather, isn't it?"
---
Location: Okinawa.
The bounty on the Star Plasma Vessel—a high school girl named Riko Amanai—had been live since yesterday, drawing cursed sorcerers and ordinary bounty hunters alike like ants to honey.
But none had succeeded in taking her down, thanks only to her two bodyguards.
Second-year students of Jujutsu High—Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru.
Eventually, realizing it was hopeless to kill Riko Amanai under their protection, some had tried to kidnap her friend, Kuroi Misato.
In their mission to rescue her, Gojo and Geto, along with Riko Amanai, had flown to Okinawa and freed Kuroi from the clutches of the Star Religious Group.
After that, the group decided to enjoy the rest of their time in Okinawa—the ultimate vacation destination—until the bounty deadline was over.
"So naive… or maybe they're just overly confident?"
As an Archer, keen eyesight was a given.
Even from the top floor of the beachside hotel, Baobhan Sith could make out the faces of the people playing on the sand below.
"That one—is she the target for this mission?"
Jasmine, lacking Baobhan's level of vision, had to rely on a pair of binoculars to get a glimpse of the figures on the beach.
"The Star Plasma Vessel, Riko Amanai."
On the way there, Baobhan had already explained the concept of the Star Plasma Vessel to Jasmine.
In Japan's jujutsu world, there was an influential figure known as Master Tengen, revered for reinforcing the country's barriers, contributing greatly to national harmony and order.
Though Master Tengen possessed an immortal technique, it didn't prevent him from aging. Once the aging process reached a certain point, his immortality technique would begin transforming his body, pushing him beyond the boundaries of human nature.
At that point, Master Tengen would lose his human consciousness and could even become a threat to humanity.
To prevent this, every so often, his body's information had to be "refreshed"—by merging with a new vessel.
Since Master Tengen was a Star Plasma Vessel himself, only another Star Plasma Vessel could serve as his new host.
Watching Riko Amanai splash water at her friends on the beach, Jasmine pursed her lips.
"Sister Baobhan, if she merges with Master Tengen… what happens to her?"
"She'll be gone, in a way. Her consciousness will be replaced, her body becoming a vessel for Master Tengen."
Though not as grotesque as Kenjaku taking over Geto Suguru's corpse, it was still unsettling, this notion of living merely to be absorbed by someone else…
Perhaps to ease this inevitable fate, Master Tengen had allowed Gojo and Geto to delay delivering Riko to him, granting her a few days to bid farewell to her friends and fulfill any last requests.
Kindness and compassion… yet for that very reason…
"They've given people like us the perfect opening."
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