Rika's Farewell

Yuta Okkotsu moved along his assigned route.

A school collapsed not far ahead.

He did not dare waste time. His legs pushed off the ground, and his body shot forward like an arrow.

Afterimages appeared behind him.

"What is going on?"

Yuta stood inside the campus and found no trace of ordinary activity. It looked more like an abandoned school.

The sky suddenly darkened.

A dim barrier covered the entire campus.

"Hahaha. Look what I caught."

An elderly voice reached Yuta.

He followed the sound and saw an elderly man in white standing nearby. The man stared at him with a smile, his cloudy eyes filled with an emotion Yuta disliked.

Greed.

The man looked at him as if he were an expensive antique.

Yuta felt uncomfortable under that gaze. He sensed that the man was not a cursed spirit, so he frowned and asked, "Did you put up this barrier? Let me out."

"I will let you out," the man said. "Just not now."

Several scrolls flew out.

Three large cursed spirits appeared in the campus.

One resembled a huge centipede, but its body was covered with black feelers that swayed as its mouth opened and closed.

Another was a humanoid cursed spirit over four meters tall. Its body was covered with slime, and the drops that fell to the ground gave off white smoke.

The last looked like a giant eagle. Its body was filled with an ominous black color, and its feathers resembled blades under the light.

All three were at least Grade 2 by feeling alone.

They did not attack Yuta immediately. Instead, they stared at the man beside them with hatred. They clearly wanted to tear him apart.

The three cursed spirits attacked together.

Hayato was unhurried. He took a small container from his clothes and sprinkled something on himself twice.

The attacks landed.

The ground exploded into a pit several meters wide.

Then the cursed spirits ignored Hayato and rushed at Yuta from above, below, and the front, leaving him almost no space to survive.

"Young man," Hayato called from a nearby school building, "do your best."

He was completely unharmed. Even his white clothes looked clean.

Yuta frowned.

He still could not control the energy inside him well. Taking three attacks at once would be difficult.

If he could not handle the cursed spirits first, then he would handle the person controlling them.

Yuta became a blur and charged toward Hayato. His hand pressed against the back of his sword, ready to kill with one strike.

A roar came from below.

The centipede cursed spirit burst out of the ground. Its huge mouth opened beneath Yuta, and a disgusting stench rushed toward him before it reached him.

Yuta covered his nose and moved away at once, making the centipede miss.

It did not give up. The other two cursed spirits returned at the same time.

They gathered again and repeated the same attack.

As if sensing Yuta's danger, two huge arms appeared behind him.

Soon, an ugly head surfaced as well.

Rika had not even revealed her full body, but the three cursed spirits ran backward like frightened animals and hid in a corner.

Hayato's good mood disappeared.

He had not expected the cursed spirit attached to Yuta to be so terrifying.

Special Grade.

A dark glimmer flickered at his chest, as if urging him.

Hayato no longer hesitated. Cursed energy poured from his body into the three cursed spirits.

Their frightened auras strengthened. Their expressions became fiercer, and even their bodies swelled.

The moment the transfer ended, all three cursed spirits charged at Yuta.

A fist, a palm, and a heavy strike fell.

Rika fully appeared inside the barrier.

Her rough, monstrous shape made even Hayato feel a flicker of fear.

As if sensing Rika's threat, the dark light at his chest shone through his clothes and spilled outside.

Under that light, the three cursed spirits began to merge.

"The curse on you is quite impressive," Hayato said. "But you have no chance left."

He looked at Yuta mockingly.

Even if Rika was strong, she was only a problem.

Yuta ignored the threat in front of him. He looked at Rika and spoke softly.

"Rika, thank you for staying with me all these years. I will give everything to you. Let us die together."

His voice was gentle, but his resolve was firm.

Rika trembled.

The eyes on her head stared at Yuta in disbelief.

Then her body swelled again.

The cursed energy that had already been terrifying became even deeper.

A powerful blast gathered in her mouth.

"Kid," Hayato said, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hayato Godo. I am a very rare sealing sorcerer."

As he spoke, seven or eight opened scrolls appeared around Yuta and Rika.

There was nothing written on them.

Hayato formed a seal in the air. A strange purple light spread from him into the empty scrolls, wrapping Yuta and Rika.

"Submit to the seal."

His fingers changed from a seal into a fist. The purple energy shrank like a huge net.

"Explode," Yuta said.

The scrolls shattered.

Hayato stared blankly at the scene.

Rika's attack was ready.

A violent beam of light poured forward. The three cursed spirits, still merging slowly, could not resist at all. They turned to ash and vanished from the world.

Hayato was also caught in the blast.

Half of his body was gone.

When the caster died, the barrier automatically dispersed.

"Rika."

Rika returned to her original appearance and became a cute little girl. She floated to Yuta's side and gently hugged him.

"The years I spent with you were the happiest time of my life."

She smiled.

"Goodbye, Yuta."

Rika disappeared.

Yuta stood still and watched her fade away.

Tears silently slid down his cheeks.

Memories appeared before his eyes. Many things finally made sense in that moment.

He had been so stupid.

The root of everything had been him.

If he had not said those words, Rika would not have become like this.

He had even questioned why she refused to let him go after death.

After a long time, Yuta returned to himself.

The city was still being attacked by cursed spirits.

He could not sink into grief here.

He raised his head and rubbed his sore eyes.

Then he instinctively looked toward Hayato's body.

"Where is he?"

Yuta's pupils tightened.

The corpse that had been lying on the ground was gone.

Someone had taken it while he was grieving.

He would have to report this to Gojo.

A roar pulled him back to reality.

Yuta no longer delayed. He gripped his sword, and his gaze sharpened.

At that moment, the young hawk broke free from the earth and truly took to the sky.

The ground cracked beneath his feet.

His figure vanished.

The situation in the city had finally drawn the attention of the government.

Officials pressured Jujutsu Headquarters to clear the cursed spirits quickly while contacting news outlets and preparing public announcements. Citizens were urged not to go outside on Christmas Eve.

The media exploded.

Headlines flooded phones and televisions.

Some warned of terrifying scenes in the streets. Some spoke of mysterious deaths. Others tried to explain it through ancient prophecies.

Whether people were watching phones, television, or outdoor screens, the warnings reached them.

After wave after wave of warnings, the streets of Tokyo were much emptier.

Some people still refused to believe it and wandered outside.

Those people could only be left to their own fate.

Adults had to pay for their own stubbornness.

Sorcerers who were close to the area arrived in waves and joined the cleanup.

Some recognized old colleagues.

"I did not expect that after so many years, we would fight together again."

"Ten years passed in a blink. We are middle-aged now."

"After this ends, I hope I can rest for a while. Facing cursed spirits every day is disgusting."

"I am fine. I like the therapist assigned to me."

Then someone shouted.

A baboon-like cursed spirit fell from the sky.

They reacted quickly. Otherwise, they might have been crushed.

Before anyone could finish speaking, a blade fell from above and cut the cursed spirit in two.

A shadow flashed past.

The blade on the ground disappeared with it.

"Was that Satoru Gojo?"

"No way. Gojo would not be that quiet, right?"

The shadow was not Gojo.

It was Yuta passing through.

He was heading toward the city center, where a large number of cursed spirits had gathered.

Ten kilometers from the city center, two figures stood beside a machine in the street.

"Are you really doing this?" Geto asked.

"Of course. Why else would I be here?"

Yashima Taiga looked determined.

Geto remembered the cursed spirit in the laboratory and felt a chill.

"If the boss blames you, do not expect me to speak for you."

Yashima's eyes flickered.

He had done this without Ren's permission, so he was nervous too.

But now that it was done, regret would be useless.

"Let us do it. Maybe the boss will not care about a small thing like this."

He took out three tubes of liquid and poured them into the machine.

The time was set to midnight.

There was no turning back.

At the city center, Yuta arrived late and joined the exorcism line.

"How is the situation?"

There were many cursed spirits, but most were low grade. They were dangerous to civilians, not to the sorcerers present.

Toge Inumaki saw Yuta arrive and flipped out of the battle area.

He gestured.

The others understood and immediately withdrew from the center.

Toge prepared a speaker.

"Explode."

Terrifying cursed energy spread through the speaker as sound. The cursed spirits caught in it exploded in turn.

Soon, the area was clean.

Toge nodded at the result and drank throat medicine.

That one word had consumed too much cursed energy, and his throat felt dry and raw.

"Where is Gojo-sensei?" Yuta asked.

"No time to worry about him," Maki said. "He is not someone we need to protect. Rest for a moment, then move to the next area."

The streets were covered in pits. It should have been a happy holiday, but it had become a battlefield.

Three hours passed.

It was almost eleven at night.

The fighting in the city still had not ended. Roars sounded from every direction.

Residents hid in their homes, afraid of the noises outside.

Officials claimed it was a terrorist attack and that fighting was underway. Whether the explanation was true or false, the danger outside was real.

Aside from those who had refused to listen, no one at home dared even lean out to watch.

Near the machine, Geto and Yashima waited.

During these few hours, Geto had already collected more than ten cursed spirits. Normally, he would have rested, but now all his attention was on the machine.

Yashima was even more nervous. His white coat was soaked with sweat.

"How long?"

"Almost there. Ten minutes until midnight."

Neither of them spoke again.

The last ten minutes felt painfully slow.

Then the machine beeped.

"Midnight."

x

x

x

If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader