章節 2: chapter 2

Marching away from the crowds, a brave soul managed to grab my shoulder.

Looking towards the brave soul with a blank expression, I started to observe them.

Tall relative to me, an estimated 180 centimeters, and reasonably athletic looking. White skinned and black haired, he would normally be able to hold back a 15 year old very easily.

But I wasn't a normal 15-year-old.

Infusing a slight bit of cursed energy into my arm, I ripped it away with ease. Much to his shock.

Next up on the list of brave souls was a girl around my age, also black-haired and white-skinned. Observing her more closely than the man, I noticed that her hair was styled into two tails that hung around her shoulders.

She also put a hand on my shoulder, not thinking much of it, I attempted to tear my arm away without even infusing cursed energy.

But to my shock I was met by a taste of my own medicine, her grip was infused with cursed energy.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I tilted my head to the side, "Walking away from the crime scene?"

The frown on her face deepened, "You are being humorous in this situation? I could charge you with Jujutsu terrorism. But I am reasonable so explain your actions and I might be able to lighten your punishment."

Jujutsu Terrorism? I had no clue about what it meant, but it sounded serious.

If an organization could charge me with 'Jujutsu Terrorism', they could probably kill me as easy as wiping their ass. A minor inconvenience, yet still easily doable.

That was a weird analogy wasn't it?

"Binding vows are pretty neat aren't they?"

Her eyes narrowed, "What sort of binding vows force you to throw babies off buildings?"

I motioned for us to go to some place different, she obliged. Both of us started to run in sync until we eventually reached a secluded alleyway.

"For your previous question, it would be better to show you. If you look behind me you should see a sign with your face on it."

Tilting her body to see behind me reluctantly, her mouth hung wide open in surprise.

"Stay put. And don't turn around, or you are minced meat."

My plan worked it seems.

Walking behind me, a couple of minutes passed while I tapped my foot in impatience. Hearing the distant sound of conversation confused me even more. But I didn't break my promise and kept staring forward.

I asked what she saw, "What did you see?"

A sucker punch to my face conveyed her message clearly.

"Your cursed technique isn't to create illusions based of the target's memory, right?"

I shook my head, still confused on why I had just gotten punched.

"Is it time travel?"

"No- what?! How did you guess that? And it isn't exactly time travel."

The interest in her eyes grew more, probably considering the implications of my time traveling ability.

Probably, who knew what women were thinking? Certainly not me.

I could be of tremendous use to whoever was capable of charging me with 'Jujutsu Terrorism'. Capable of altering fate and changing destiny.

Perhaps even saving casualties in the field.

*Sigh*…

WHAT THE HELL WAS BEHIND ME?

God dammit, what the hell had future me done?

Oh yeah, in case you couldn't piece it together, I trusted that my future self would come in and do something to save my ass, or rather save me from being the toilet paper that had been used.

Another weird analogy relating to the wiping of thy ass, quite odd wasn't it. If I had a nickel every time I made a wiping of thy ass analogy today, I would have two nickels. Not a lot but odd it happened twice right?

Clearly, I had done it right, judging by her decreased aggression. But did future me really have to blue-ball me like this?

He went through this exact same thing as me, so he should know how I feel and is probably enjoying it very much right now.

Fuck, I hate my sadistic streak.

Noticing my increasing angst, the girl merely smiled a little. Deciding to ease the atmosphere between us, she asked a simple question.

"What's your name?"

"My name is-"

"Ryoko Jikan."

The piece's of what had transpired behind me started to come together. Damn, did I really just get dupped by my future self?

"Was it my future self?"

"Nope."

"Then what else?"

"Not telling."

I scratched my head in visible confusion, not understanding in the slightest what else it could be then.

Another laugh echoed.

What had caused her to be so friendly?

Also, I should probably return the kindness.

"Um… what is your name then?"

"Utahime Iori, 15, first year student at Kyoto Metropolitan Curse Technical College."

What the hell was that name? Not her's, but the school's. Seriously, who would name something so damm long?

Was the 'Metropolitan' and 'Technical' even needed? Also it wasn't even a college, it was a high school.

"Since you told me your age and school I should-"

"I already know, I was given a crash course on everything about you. Also 15, goes to Kinla High School, average student but great with all physical activities due to your immense cursed energy."

Who…? Who had told her so much about me? It wasn't me, so who, or what, else?

"So I assume I don't need to tell you anything? About me, nor my binding vow and cursed technique? Not even about my future baby attacker?"

"Nope! I got it all. I probably even understand your cursed technique better than you."

"All?"

"I know about that time you pooped your pants in second grade."

My face flushed red and I looked down to the floor, coincidentally seeing my reflection in the water.

I looked the same as I did before I 'reemerged' in this timeframe. My hair, a light red, with my bangs shoved to the side to form a sort of curl.

My white eyes also stood out in the midst of my red hair. Perfectly displaying my two favorite colors.

Looking back up, I saw the walking figure of Utahime in the distance.

Confused and befuddled for a moment, I began to follow after her. Taking large strides, I managed to catch up to Utahime in an instant.

"Where are you going?"

"Kyoto Metropolitan blah blah."

"Are you still planning on charging me with Jujutsu Terrorism?"

"Nope, just regular plain ol' terrorism. You did drop a baby off a roof. And you even picked up one of its intestines, seriously that was a bit psychotic."

"That- did whatever told you about me also tell you that?"

Utahime stopped walking for a moment, her head turning around to gaze at me with a questioning stare.

"And what would that be?"

I stopped in my tracks, my thoughts running rampant. Did I really want to tell her about my past? And even if I did, would it be enough to save me from my crimes?

Seconds passed seemingly in an instant before I managed to formulate a few, barely understandable words.

"I-…I'd rather not."

The interest still lingering in her eyes grew even more, while the disgust that had previously decreased almost vanished into nothingness.

"Well, I guess I can put off reporting you for say… 6 days."

——————

And thus, 6 days went by.

Every single one of the days was like a crawl to me, considering my actions and if I really had done the right thing.

Although it seemed like I had no remorse for dropping the baby off the roof, I did in fact regret it slightly, ever so slightly.

The faces from the nightmare had goaded me into making a rash decision, one that would prove them right. That I am in fact a monster.

A freak.

Although I hadn't seen those faces in reality in many years, I saw them every other week in my dreams.

But one thing made my time in this timeframe just that little bit more bearable. Utahime had decided to vist my hiding place every day for a hour or two, to quote 'make sure I didn't throw another baby off a roof.'

And now that my time in 2001 had come to an end.

Oh, maybe I should have warned the Americans about 9/11. Ah, who cares. Maybe I should fix it next time? To gather good karma to counteract my act of throwing a baby off a building.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.