"It's over... Yuji," Reinhard said.
The words were simple, but they carried enormous weight.
Yuji took a deep breath and slowly lowered his arm. The adrenaline was still pumping, and his body remained prepared for more combat, but Reinhard's intervention made it clear that the limit had been reached. Julius was already defeated. More than that wouldn't be victory; it would be excessive.
Yuji stared at Reinhard for a moment, still with a hard expression.
Deep down, his presence reminded Yuji of something unsettling: "Reinhard really was strong." Strong enough to block the final blow without haste, without effort, without seeming impressed by the violence that still lingered in the air. It was the kind of power Yuji had wanted to see before and hadn't.
Still, there was no room to continue now.
The fight was over.
And, in that short silence after the impact, it was clear that Yuji had defeated Julius, but he hadn't yet overcome the irritation he had carried since the beginning of it all. After all that, Yuji finally met with Emilia.
The reunion was anything but light. There was no easy relief, no spontaneous smile, no sense that the weight of the last few hours had lessened. The two entered a silent room, and the atmosphere between them fell into that kind of uncomfortable stillness that makes any word seem too big even before it's spoken.
Yuji entered first, but he didn't seem comfortable anywhere. He ran a hand through his hair, looked away a few times, and took a little too long to find the courage to speak. What he had been trying to organize in his head since the fight with Julius simply became jumbled when he truly looked at Emilia.
"I…" he began, then stopped. "I'm not a bad person."
The sentence came out awkwardly, almost desperately. Yuji swallowed hard and tried to continue before shame silenced him completely.
"And I have no involvement with Ryomen. With any of this."
Emilia listened to everything without interrupting. Her face maintained that calm and delicate expression, but her eyes conveyed genuine attention. Then she spoke softly, without judgment.
"I believe you."
That should have calmed Yuji.
But it didn't.
Because it came with something else, a silent boundary that Emilia made clear immediately afterward.
"But I don't want to talk about it now."
The answer was gentle, yet firm. And precisely because of that, it weighed even more heavily on the air. Yuji realized immediately that insisting would be wrong, but the silence that followed only made everything more tense.
The room felt strange. Not hostile, but uncomfortable. As if both knew there was a matter too important to be discussed, but neither was ready to address it naturally.
It was Emilia who broke the silence again, with a serious look that Yuji hadn't expected to see so soon.
"We need to talk properly."
Yuji looked up at her, attentive. "W-What about?"
She observed him for a moment before asking directly:
"Why did you want to fight Julius?"
The question landed like a stone in the middle of the room.
Yuji blinked, caught off guard. Her tone wasn't accusatory, but there was a clear need to understand. And that made him suddenly realize that perhaps he had overreacted more than he imagined. It wasn't just the fight itself. It was the way he let himself be carried away by anger, the way he continued even after winning.
Yuji opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally exhaled.
"My head was full..." he admitted, visibly confused by his own answer as he spoke. "I was on edge."
He ran a hand over his face, trying to find the right words.
"After what happened, after everything they said about you… I just… lost it."
The confession came somewhat awkwardly, but honestly. Yuji wasn't trying to justify himself nicely. He was just trying to explain that, at that moment, control had slipped because the sum of everything had been too much. The insults, the tension, the humiliation, the pressure of fighting without revealing too much—it had all accumulated until he acted impulsively.
Emilia kept her gaze on him, serious.
Yuji realized that this would still lead to a conversation. And, for the first time since the arena, he felt that the true weight of that day wasn't the fight against Julius.
It was facing Emilia after having lost control in front of her.
Emilia took a deep breath before speaking, as if she already knew that what was coming next wouldn't be easy to say.
"I... I'm going back to Roswaal's mansion."
The sentence fell on the room with a strange, almost cold weight. Yuji looked at her silently, trying to understand what that meant at that moment. He still had minor injuries from the fight, his body was tired, and his breathing was finally slowing down, but because his clothes were dirty and marked from the battle, Emilia ended up thinking he had been hurt much more than he actually had.
Her gaze drifted for a moment to the bruises and tears.
"You should stay here..." she said, visibly worried. "So Felix can heal you."
Yuji shook his head immediately.
"But i'm fine."
But Emilia didn't seem convinced. To her, his condition was still worrying, but Yuji knew it wasn't anything serious. He saw her concern mixed with a certain sadness, as if she were trying to take care of him while dealing with the weight of the decision she had just made.
Yuji insisted once more, in a softer tone.
"I just wanted to help you."
The answer should have been simple, obvious even. But Emilia didn't accept it immediately. Instead, she looked at him with a delicate seriousness, as if she needed to pierce the surface of those words and see what was really behind them.
"But... all this that you're doing..." she asked carefully, "Isn't it, in fact, for yourself?"
The question hit him hard.
Yuji fell silent.
It wasn't the pause of someone thinking of a convincing answer. It was the silence of someone caught in the exact spot he wanted to avoid. Emilia wasn't just talking about that fight. She was talking about how he reacted, insisted, placed himself at the center of the problem as if he needed to prove something all the time. Perhaps she had noticed more than he would have liked.
He looked away.
He couldn't answer.
Emilia then asked an even more difficult question.
"Do you remember the promise I made to you?"
Yuji remained silent.
The memory came, but with it came the weight of not knowing what to say. He knew he remembered. He knew exactly what she was talking about. But, at that moment, admitting it aloud seemed to open a door he wasn't sure he was ready to walk through.
Emilia waited a few seconds.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked, and there was a discreet pain there, forcibly controlled.
Yuji opened his mouth, but couldn't form a sentence.
It wasn't a lack of will. It was as if any word would be insufficient, wrong, or too late. He wanted to say he remembered. He wanted to say he understood. He wanted to say he wasn't trying to push her away on purpose. But nothing came out of him.
And that nothing spoke louder than any explanation.
Emilia's face closed up slightly. Not with anger, but with disappointment, and that seemed to hurt even more because she was clearly trying to remain strong.
Finally, she emotionally took a step back.
"Well... I'm going back to the mansion..." she said, now visibly shaken.
Her voice was still gentle, but it no longer had the same warmth as before. Emilia seemed to have reached a painful conclusion, even without fully expressing it. She gave Yuji one last look, as if expecting some reaction, anything to break the silence between them. But nothing came.
Yuji remained still, unable to reach her with words.
And that was precisely what made the moment so difficult.
There was no open fight.
There was no direct accusation.
Only the feeling that something important had broken inside, and neither of them yet knew how to fix it.
Yuji was alone in the room for a few seconds that seemed much longer than they actually were.
The silence now had weight. It wasn't just the absence of voices; it was a strange, thick, almost uncomfortable emptiness, as if the entire place had absorbed the conversation that had just taken place and refused to return it. Yuji remained standing in the middle of the room, without sitting, without walking, without doing anything but breathing slowly and trying to organize what he was feeling.
It was then that, in a low murmur, almost swallowed by his own shame, he said:
"It seems I'm really not good at keeping promises, am I, Grandpa..."
Yuji lowered his gaze to his own hand.
In his mind, a symbolic image began to take shape: a jammed gear. Something made to turn, to participate in a larger mechanism, but which had been blocked by some invisible force. Not broken. Just stopped. Stuck. Resisting movement while simultaneously feeling it should be working.
He stared at his hand as if expecting to find the answer to everything there.
"What am I doing?"
The question came without warning, but hit the mark with precision.
"What have I been doing all this time?"
"What am I doing here?"
Yuji thought about everything that had happened since he arrived. The fights. The titles. The attempts to protect someone. The situations in which he seemed to be playing roles that other people had already defined before he even opened his mouth. Butler. Knight. Hero. Words that others placed on him, or pushed upon him, as if they were clothes he had to wear to fit into that world.
But none of them seemed right.
"I am not a butler..."
That jammed cog.
"I am not a knight..."
Who insisted on delaying the inevitable.
"I am not a hero..."
The gears finally started turning again.
"I am a Jujutsu Sorcerer."
This truth surged within him with the force of something that had been there all along, just waiting for the right moment to breathe again. It wasn't a new discovery. It was more like remembering something essential that had been stifled by chaos, obligations, and the attempt to be useful in the way others expected.
Yuji clenched his fingers slowly.
An internal snap ran through his own perception, as if a gear that had been stopped was finally starting to move again. First slowly. Then more firmly. Then with the kind of impulse that no longer depends on permission.
The image of the jammed mechanism unraveling was almost painfully clear: something inside him was returning to its place, resuming the flow, finding its axis again.
He didn't need to become perfect to continue.
He didn't need to keep all his promises.
He didn't need to fit into roles that didn't belong to him.
What he needed to do was follow his own nature. Fight like a sorcerer.
Act like someone who doesn't give up when the world becomes strange, hostile, or unjust.
Protect when you could.
Advance when necessary.
And accept that, even failing, you could still keep turning.
Yuji slowly raised his face, and his expression was no longer the same as before. The guilt was still there, of course. The confusion too. But now there was something more: direction.
The gears were no longer stopped.
They had started working again.
Not because everything had been resolved, but because he finally stopped trying to be what he wasn't.
Some time later...
Yuji was at Karsten Castle because of Emilia's request. She had insisted that Felix take care of his "wounds," even though, in practice, Yuji knew that it was more her concern than a real need. Still, he didn't argue. After everything that had happened, accepting to stay there seemed the least complicated thing to do.
He remained quiet, sitting for a time that seemed to lengthen each bad thought that came to mind. Beside him was Rem, also silent, offering a tranquil presence without needing to say anything. Further on, Wilhelm sharpened a sword with the same methodical calm of someone who had already endured enough pain not to waste words. The sound of the metal being prepared filled the space in an almost hypnotic way, and Yuji, for the first time in a long time, didn't feel like he was at the center of anything.
But his mind wouldn't stop.
He thought about everything he still needed to do.
He wanted to settle his debts with Emilia. Not only the practical debts, of favors, support, or trust, but also the emotional ones, the things he knew he had left unresolved, the failures, the silences, the wrong reactions. He wanted to kill Mahito once and for all. He wanted to end it all, to tear that shadow from his own life, and then return to his world. Return to where things still made some kind of sense. Where his problems had names, faces, and clearer boundaries.
Here, everything seemed bigger, more confusing, and heavier.
He was just caught up in these thoughts when he noticed movement at the castle entrance.
Yuji looked up.
There was someone at the door.
It was Reinhard.
In that same instant, Yuji stood up and went there quickly. There was something about the knight's presence that made people move, even without him making any effort. Maybe it was just his posture. Maybe it was the way Reinhard always seemed to know what to do. Or maybe it was the combination of all that with that uncomfortable feeling that he was too strong for his own environment.
Yuji stopped before him before Reinhard could say anything.
His expression wasn't one of hostility. It was one of urgency.
"Before you say anything..." Yuji said directly, without beating around the bush, "I wanted to apologize."
Reinhard observed him with silent attention.
Yuji took a deep breath and continued, now with the true weight of what he wanted to say.
"I made all that fuss. And I even hurt Julius."
The sentence came out with raw honesty. There was no pride in it, nor any attempt to justify his actions. Yuji knew he had gone too far at times. He knew that anger had driven him further than reason. And, even believing in what he felt, that didn't erase the fact that he had caused confusion and hurt a knight who, deep down, was only fulfilling his role in that contest.
Reinhard listened to everything without interrupting.
And then, with his usual calmness, he replied in a way that dismantled any expectation of harsh judgment. "It's alright, Yuji."
He understood.
There was no reprimand. There was no condemnation. Only understanding.
Yuji felt some of the tension lift from his shoulders as he realized Reinhard wasn't there to demand perfect posture from him. There was a clarity in his gaze that seemed to see beyond the confusion of the fight, the wounded pride, and appearances. As if Reinhard understood that Yuji had acted driven by something beyond a simple desire to win.
That didn't solve everything.
But it offered some relief.
At least a little.
Reinhard remained silent for a brief moment after Yuji's response, as if assessing not its sincerity, which already seemed evident, but the weight of what was to come.
Then he said he also wanted to apologize.
Yuji blinked, surprised.
"I... I should have interrupted this disagreement between my two friends... None of this should have escalated like that, this duel... It made no sense at all, Yuji." His voice carried no dramatic guilt, but rather a quiet, almost disarming frankness, as if he were speaking of a responsibility he truly assumed without hiding behind formalities.
Yuji listened in silence for a few seconds.
Then he nodded.
"I agree..." he said. "And I also want to apologize to Julius personally."
The answer seemed to genuinely relieve Reinhard. Not in an exaggerated way, but enough to make it clear that he was pleased that Yuji hadn't become defensive.
"I'm glad you didn't form a negative image of Julius, he's a good person, I promise." It was as if Reinhard had expected just that: someone who understood that, however emotional the fight had been, there were still concrete consequences.
"Well... I have a lot to take care of, my work here is done. See you later, friend."
"See you..." With that settled, Reinhard said goodbye and left.
The castle returned to its quiet state, but now the silence didn't seem as harsh as before. There was still tension in the air, still unresolved issues, but at least Yuji was no longer caught in that immediate whirlwind of combat, pride, and resentment.
He remained on the castle grounds longer than he intended.
His tired body finally succumbed to the strange comfort of the moment, and without realizing it, Yuji let his head fall into Rem's lap.
Her reaction was gentle. Natural. As if it wasn't a strange event, but just another moment when he needed rest and she was there to offer what she could.
Yuji looked up at Rem for a while, in silence.
#01
His thoughts began to move more slowly, less aggressively. Her calm expression, her constant presence, the way she simply remained there without demanding anything in return… all of this made him think. How was she still by his side?
He wasn't easy to keep up with.
He had outbursts of anger, guilt, wrong impulses, hesitations, broken promises, and an absurd amount of unresolved issues. At many moments, he himself didn't understand how he managed to continue being accepted by someone, even more so by someone like Rem, who always seemed to see him with a patience he didn't feel he deserved.
The question lingered in his mind for a while until, finally, he decided to speak.
"Am I scary to you, Rem?"
His voice came out low, almost hesitant.
It was a sincere question. Perhaps even more sincere than he intended. Yuji wasn't trying to be dramatic. He really wanted to know. He wanted to understand if, from the outside, he seemed like someone difficult to trust. Someone who scared people when he lost control. Someone who became too heavy to be around.
Rem looked at him for a moment and then let out a soft laugh.
It wasn't mockery. Nor embarrassment. It was a small, warm, almost affectionate laugh.
"No, definitely not," she replied.
The simplicity of the answer struck Yuji with unexpected force.
She didn't elaborate. She didn't turn it into a long explanation. She didn't try to convince him with arguments. She just said no, as if the idea of him being frightening to her had never even made sense.
Yuji remained silent.
The answer was so direct that, for a moment, he didn't know how to react. There was something deeply comforting about it. Not because it erased his mistakes, but because it showed that, even with all his flaws, he could still occupy a space beside someone without being seen as a threat.
The weight on his chest didn't disappear completely, but it lessened.
And, as the wind passed through the castle and the afternoon continued on, Yuji remained there, lying in Rem's lap, thinking that perhaps he wasn't as alone as he imagined.
Yuji remained silent for a few seconds after Rem's laughter.
There was something about the way she treated him that always disarmed him little by little, almost without him realizing it. Still lying with his head in her lap, he turned his face slightly and, after a while, ended up asking what had been on his mind for a moment:
"You're here because of Emilia's orders, aren't you?" Yuji knew that Rem was close to Emilia, but he also knew that she might be there out of duty, loyalty, or simply because someone had ordered her to.
Rem observed him for a moment and replied with her usual naturalness:
"No, I'm here because I wanted to."
That made him move.
Yuji slowly got up from her lap and sat facing Rem, looking directly into her eyes. The gesture was small, but it carried a clear change in the atmosphere. Now it was no longer a moment of casual rest. There was a silent need to understand what this really meant.
He opened his mouth.
He wanted to say something.
Perhaps to thank her. Perhaps he should ask why.
Perhaps he should confess that he didn't understand how she could be so direct with him all the time.
But nothing came out.
The words became jumbled before they could even form. Yuji stood still, his gaze locked on hers, feeling that familiar frustration of when your head wants to race and your voice simply freezes.
Rem noticed this.
Without saying anything immediately, she leaned a little closer to him. It was a calm, deliberate movement, until she was very close to Yuji's face. Close enough to make the space between them completely silent. Yuji felt his heart race for a moment, not from fear, but from the unexpected intensity of that gesture.
Rem then smiled slightly and said, with quiet confidence:
#02
"A demon shouldn't be afraid of another demon."
She winked at him right after.
The phrase, said that way, had something of a provocation and comfort at the same time. It didn't seem like a joke, nor a test. It was more as if Rem was trying to remind Yuji that he could let his guard down a little around her. That he didn't need to hide. That he didn't need to be so afraid of who he was or what others thought.
Yuji blinked back, still unable to find an immediate answer.
Then Rem changed the subject with the same ease with which she had brought everything together.
"Yuji-kun, I'd like to know if you'd like to go out with me tomorrow."
Yuji frowned, paying closer attention.
"Hm... Why?"
"Yuji-kun, you haven't left the castle for two days, and I think this would be good for you." There was no tone of obligation in the suggestion. It was just an invitation. A way to get him out of that enclosed space and allow him to breathe a little away from the tensions of the mansion, the disputes, and the heavy thoughts that had been accumulating. "What do you think?"
Yuji looked at her for a moment, processing the idea.
It was strange to think about going out for something so simple. Buying things. Walking around the city. Doing something ordinary. After so many arguments, fights, and misunderstandings, normality seemed almost unbelievable.
But perhaps that was exactly what he needed.
So he nodded.
"Okay," he finally said. "I'll go."
The answer was short, but not cold. There was a sincere, almost tranquil acceptance in it. As if, for a few moments, Yuji had allowed himself to believe that perhaps there could be a day not defined by conflict.
Rem seemed satisfied with the answer.
The next day...
Yuji and Rem went shopping together.
The morning was relatively calm, but Yuji couldn't completely relax. The news that he might be a descendant of Ryomen had already begun to spread through the capital, and he felt it in the air, even without anyone saying it directly. There was a kind of uncomfortable attention hanging over him, as if any longer look could turn into suspicion. That's why, while walking down the street, Yuji ended up mentioning to Rem that he wanted to buy some clothes to disguise himself.
"I think it's best if I try to be less conspicuous..." he said, looking ahead. "The way things are going, the less people recognize me, the better."
Rem listened attentively, without making a fuss.
"I understand," she replied naturally.
They entered a shop, and the atmosphere immediately changed. Outside, there was the typical bustle of the capital, but inside there was that organized silence of a place where everything was separated by function, color, and fabric. Rem calmly scanned the clothes, without haste, as if she already knew exactly what she was looking for or as if she were willing to test various possibilities until she found something that suited the situation.
Yuji stayed a few steps behind, observing.
He was still thinking about why he needed to hide like that. It wasn't exactly a fear of being seen, but rather a way to avoid further problems before they escalated. If people were starting to connect his name to Sukuna, then drawing attention would only make it worse.
It was Rem who first found an option that seemed to satisfy her.
She picked up a neatly folded piece of light clothing and held it up for Yuji to see.
It was a white kimono, accompanied by a cloak to cover his head, something that looked almost like a cap or light covering, enough to better hide his appearance without seeming too exaggerated.
Rem looked at him, then at the outfit, and then back at him with that calm, practical, slightly satisfied expression.
This seemed to have been chosen precisely to fulfill two objectives at the same time: to hide Yuji enough to make unwanted recognition difficult and, at the same time, to leave him with a discreet, clean look that was difficult to immediately associate with the news circulating around the city.
Yuji took the clothes and analyzed them for a moment.
"Hm... It's good."
The white made everything look almost solemn, but the robe gave just the right tone of anonymity. It was simple, functional and much less flashy than anything that might attract more curiosity.
He looked at Rem and nodded slightly.
The idea seemed good.
And, at that moment, something as common as choosing an outfit ended up taking on unexpected weight: it was a way of trying to regain a little control in a world in which people were already beginning to define who he was before he even opened his mouth.
Yuji changed his clothes right there, without much ceremony, and when he finished, he turned to Rem with a somewhat uncertain expression, as if he was still getting used to his own image.
"So... how was it?"
Rem watched for a few seconds, from head to toe, with genuine attention. The white kimono suited him well, and the cloak that covered his head gave him exactly the discreet look he wanted. Still, there was something about the way the outfit looked on Yuji that made him look a little more elegant than he even imagined.
"It looks good on you." said Rem, sincerely.
Yuji blinked, surprised for a moment, and scratched his cheek with a little embarrassment.
"Serious?"
Rem nodded, and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Serious."
Yuji looked away for a second, not quite knowing what to do with that simple and direct compliment. Then he ended up letting out a crooked smile, more relieved than anything else.
"So I guess it's not that bad."
The answer made Rem laugh softly. It wasn't a loud laugh, but it had a small, pleasant warmth, the kind that makes the moment effortlessly lighter. For a few seconds, the two remained like that, with a rare naturalness, as if buying an outfit had almost become a small victory in the midst of so many strange things that had been happening.
Afterwards, Rem said she was going to pay for the clothes and asked Yuji to wait there.
He agreed and stood near the store's entrance, watching the street as she sorted out the payment. He still felt a little out of place in that body covered by the new disguise, but not enough to stop paying attention to what was happening around him.
It was then that he saw a familiar figure approaching.
Elegant. Serena. Very well dressed in a way that immediately attracted attention, without appearing to make any effort to do so.
The woman stopped for a moment and looked directly at him.
"Long time, boy~"
Yuji's eyes widened slightly when he recognized the voice and presence before he even fully organized his thoughts.
#03
It was Mei Mei.
She was wearing clothes from that time, and this only further reinforced the impression of sophistication that always came with her. Her impeccable posture, her calm gaze and the way she spoke as if she were completely at ease anywhere made her presence stand out in an almost inevitable way.
Yuji stared at her for a moment, still processing the surprise.
Yuji stopped for a moment to stare at the woman in front of him. The surprise came so strong that it took him half a second to organize his voice.
"Mei Mei…?"
She lifted her chin slightly, elegant as always, as if this unexpected encounter was just another inconvenient coincidence of the day.
But Yuji already had too many questions accumulated for too long. As soon as he managed to react, he went straight, unable to hide his urgency.
"What are you doing here? What happened in Shinjuku?" he asked, his voice coming out more tense than he wanted. "We Sukuna killed? Was Megumi saved?"
Mei Mei observed him calmly, as if she was choosing the right way to respond without increasing his tension even more.
"First, calm down..." she said, in a controlled tone. "And, to your disappointment, I don't know exactly what happened either."
Yuji blinked, clearly frustrated.
"After you were taken, we were sucked in one by one."
The answer hit him like a bucket of cold water. He had hoped that someone there knew something concrete, any detail that would help him understand what had happened to the others. But Mei Mei continued, unhurriedly, explaining that she had been transmitting through crows during the final battle in Shinjuku and that, in the midst of the chaos, she ended up being pulled into that world.
Yuji lowered his gaze slightly.
That truly disappointed him.
If she didn't know either, then the uncertainty remained. Megumi, Yuta, Nobara, Maki, the others… no name came with a sure answer. Everything was still shrouded in the same emptiness.
"So you don't know where the others are either…" Yuji murmured, more to himself than to her.
Mei Mei let out a short sigh and, for the first time, seemed a little less comfortable with her own lack of information.
"Unfortunately, no..." he admitted. "I'm looking for Ui Ui, and other sorcerers too. So far, I haven't found any of them."
Yuji listened in silence.
It was strange to realize that, despite all of Mei Mei's confidence and control, even she was lost there. This made everything more real, more difficult. Nobody had the complete map. Nobody seemed to know where the others had gone.
After a brief pause, Mei Mei elegantly crossed her arms and asked:
"And you? Did you find anyone else besides me?"
Yuji thought for a second before answering.
"I only found one player from the Culling Game..." he said. "She's with me now."
Mei Mei tilted her head slightly, interested.
Yuji didn't go into much detail, but the mere mention that he wasn't completely alone seemed to ease the conversation a little. At least there was someone beside him, someone he could consider a reliable presence in that strange and fragmented world.
Still, the main feeling remained the same: uncertainty.
And, at that moment, being left without answers seemed almost as bad as the answers he most feared hearing.
Mei Mei observed him for a moment with her usual calm and calculating expression, as if she were assessing not only his situation but also how he had survived until then.
"Honestly, I didn't expect to find you in this condition," she said bluntly. "So… what exactly are you doing to survive in this world?"
Yuji scratched the back of his neck, still a little awkward with the conversation. The question seemed simple, but the answer sounded absurd even to him.
"I'm working as a butler…" he replied, almost as if admitting something ridiculous.
Mei Mei blinked slowly, and for a second her expression seemed to waver slightly, as if she were considering the strangeness of the information before accepting that it was, in fact, the reality.
Then she let out a small sigh and commented calmly:
"I understand. I ended up working as a receptionist at a hotel."
Yuji looked at her, surprised.
The way Mei Mei said it without the slightest trace of discomfort made everything even stranger. It didn't seem like she was belittling herself, nor trying to hide what she did. It was almost the opposite: she had simply adapted in the most efficient way possible.
"But, until we find a way out of this world..." she continued, crossing her arms elegantly, "I'll do my best to thrive here."
Yuji was silent for a moment.
He didn't say it aloud, but he admired her. Mei Mei seemed to have a natural ability to look at an impossible situation and decide, without hesitation, that she would still take advantage of it. No matter how hostile the environment was, she was already thinking about the best way to survive, grow, and maintain control. There was something almost enviable about that.
The conversation continued for a second in comfortable silence until Mei Mei looked in Rem's direction, who was still nearby.
She tilted her head slightly and asked, in her usual casual tone:
"And that girl who's with you? Is she your girlfriend from another world?"
The question hit Yuji hard.
He blushed instantly.
His face flushed noticeably, and the reaction was so quick that it served as a better answer than any words. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and for a moment seemed unable to form a coherent sentence.
"N-no, that's not it!" he managed to say, visibly embarrassed.
But the redness on his face betrayed much more than denial. There was a mixture of shame, surprise, and nervousness that made the answer far less convincing than he probably wanted.
Mei Mei looked at him with silent interest, as if she had already understood more than she needed to without Yuji saying anything.
Yuji, still frozen, realized that that simple question had managed to unsettle him more than any question about Shinjuku.
Mei Mei let out a small smile, one of those almost imperceptible ones, but which carried a very particular kind of amusement.
"Honestly… I never imagined seeing you acting like this," she commented, still looking at Yuji with the same calm elegance as always. "You turned completely red."
Yuji looked away immediately, scratching the back of his neck, clearly unsure where to hide his embarrassment. This was the worst kind of situation for him: being closely observed by someone as direct as Mei Mei, especially after already being caught off guard by the previous question.
"Ah… I-I…"
He was still trying to compose himself when he heard footsteps approaching.
Rem arrived beside him naturally, but as soon as she noticed the strange woman's presence before Yuji, her eyes turned to Mei Mei with immediate curiosity. There was no hostility in her expression, only attention. She looked first at Yuji, then at Mei Mei, realizing immediately that she was someone important to him, or at least someone who already had a history with him.
"Yuji-kun, who is this woman?" Rem asked politely, without raising her voice.
Yuji opened his mouth to answer, but Mei Mei was quicker. She slightly inclined her head and introduced herself with her usual refined composure.
"Ah... My name is Mei Mei. A long-time friend of his and..." she said naturally. "And, his former teacher."
The word "former teacher" made Yuji feel even more awkward for a second, but he didn't have time to react because Rem immediately showed her courtesy.
She inclined her head delicately and greeted her respectfully, without any trace of discomfort.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
Rem's politeness seemed genuine, effortless. She didn't try to gauge the situation, nor did she compete for attention, nor did she show jealousy. She simply behaved with kindness, like someone who understood the basics of coexistence and saw no reason to turn a casual encounter into a problem.
Mei Mei observed the exchange between the two for a few seconds, clearly interested in how Rem was behaving. Perhaps she was assessing the dynamic between them. Perhaps she just found the scene amusing. In any case, her expression softened slightly before returning to her usual calm and perceptive tone.
"Well..." she said, already taking a small step to the side, as if preparing to end the conversation unceremoniously. "I'll leave the lovebirds alone."
Yuji froze again.
"N-no, that's not it!" she tried to say, but the sentence came out too weak to have any real effect.
Mei Mei smiled slightly, clearly pleased to have caused that exact level of embarrassment. Then she continued with the same composure:
"If you need me, just go to the hotel near the district."
The information hung in the air for a moment, practical and objective, like everything she said when she wanted to seem helpful without losing her composure. It was the kind of offer that came without drama, but with the certainty that Mei Mei expected them to know where to find her if they needed anything.
Rem nodded gently.
"Understood."
Yuji was still trying to catch his breath when Mei Mei already seemed ready to leave. Her presence had been brief, but enough to leave the atmosphere with a strange mix of relief, tension, and amused discomfort.
Before leaving, she gave Yuji one last look, almost as if remembering that he had grown up, but still reacted exactly as before in certain situations.
Then, with her usual elegance, Mei Mei left.
Rem continued looking at Yuji for a few seconds, as if trying to process the information she had just received. Mei Mei's presence still seemed to linger between them, but now what mattered was how Rem was processing it, with a calmness that effectively concealed any immediate judgment.
Yuji noticed her gaze and, somewhat awkwardly, decided to explain further.
"She was like one of my senseis… so to speak…" he said, scratching the back of his neck. "She's taught me many things."
Rem didn't seem angry. There was no coldness, no open jealousy, no abrupt mood swings. What appeared on her face was something harder to read: a thoughtful, almost concentrated expression, as if she were considering what this meant to him and to their relationship.
The two continued walking together through the streets of the capital, but Yuji soon noticed that Rem was closer to him than usual. It wasn't exactly intrusive, but it was clear she had closed the distance a little, walking beside him with almost silent attention.
Yuji, noticing this, raised an eyebrow and let out a joke with the corner of his mouth:
"You're very close to me, aren't you? I'm not going to run away from you."
The phrase came out lightly, almost playfully, as if trying to lighten the mood and elicit a smile.
But the effect was almost immediate.
Rem blushed.
"I just need to be careful."
Her reaction was small, but evident enough for Yuji to notice immediately. The thoughtful expression gave way to sudden embarrassment, and for a moment she looked away, clearly caught off guard by the comment.
Yuji blinked, surprised by his own luck.
"I was just kidding," he said, a little faster than he intended, as if trying to undo the wrong impression before it grew.
But the damage was already done, albeit in a light and almost cute way. Rem continued walking, now with a touch of color on her cheeks, trying to maintain her composure. Yuji looked at her with a discreet smile, finding her reaction genuinely adorable, though he didn't say it aloud.
When they arrived at the shopping area, the city's activity seemed even more vibrant. There were vendors, signs, voices, people coming and going, and the kind of hustle and bustle that always made Yuji pay attention to everything around him. It was then that he suddenly stopped in front of a large sign displaying the candidates for the Royal Selection.
The image captured his attention instantly.
Among the names and portraits presented there was Emilia.
Yuji stared for a while, saying nothing.
The sight of her there wasn't exactly a surprise, but it touched a sensitive spot that was still open within him. The disaster he had caused continued to weigh on him. The argument, the way he lost control, the tension he left behind… it all came rushing back at once when he saw her name and image among the candidates.
He took a deep breath.
He still wanted to apologize.
Truly.
Not out of obligation, nor formality, but because the memory of her expression in the room continued to bother him. There was something there that he hadn't been able to resolve, something that still seemed to leave him indebted. Yuji knew he needed to talk to Emilia again, but now, standing before the plaque, he felt the weight of having let things get out of hand.
That was her candidacy, the place she needed to occupy with dignity and firmness.
"I can't disappoint her again."
And he had transformed part of that journey into tension, noise, and embarrassment.
Yuji remained silent for another moment, looking at the plaque as if it could give some kind of answer. But all that came was the same feeling of guilt mixed with a desire to set things right.
Rem, beside him, noticed the pause and followed Yuji's gaze to the image of Emilia. She didn't comment immediately. She just stayed there with him, allowing that silence without pressuring him, as if she understood that there were too many issues within him to be resolved in a single conversation.
It was already night when Yuji climbed the stairs and stopped upon seeing Miss Crusch.
This time, she wasn't wearing her usual formal uniform. Her appearance was much more casual, and that alone was striking. Without the usual rigidity of her public persona, Crusch seemed to convey a different presence: still firm, still elegant, but with a more human, less distant air. Yuji observed for a second before realizing she had noticed him as well.
Crusch looked at him calmly and asked, as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"Would you like to accompany me?"
Yuji blinked, slightly surprised by the direct approach. Despite having been there for a few days, he realized he had never really had a real conversation with her, at least not in a direct and relaxed way. There was always context, ceremony, tension, or some reason that made contact between them more distant than it could be.
He was still processing the question when Crusch continued, explaining that the conditions that night were perfect for a walk under the night sky.
The way she spoke made it clear that it wasn't just a casual invitation out of politeness. There was intention there, a desire to enjoy the night calmly, perhaps even to converse without the pressure of the salons, the applications, or the stares of others. To Yuji, that sounded almost unusual.
He looked at her for another moment, considering the proposal.
In recent days, everything he had experienced had been marked by tension, guilt, struggles, and situations difficult to understand. An invitation to walk under the sky seemed too simple for the weight he had been carrying. And precisely for that reason, perhaps, it seemed necessary.
"Alright..." Still a little awkward with her natural formality, but also curious about the chance to hear what Crusch had to say away from everything else.
Crusch walked with her usual serene posture, but now there was something a little more relaxed about her. In one hand, she held a small glass of alcohol, taking occasional sips naturally. Yuji, beside her, preferred to stick with water. It didn't seem like the kind of night where he wanted to lighten his head even more than it already was.
For a few moments, the two walked in silence, observing the night sky and the calmer movement of the surrounding area. Then Crusch was the first to comment:
"You recovered faster than I expected."
#04
Yuji looked at his own water for a second before replying.
"Actually, I didn't even suffer any real damage in the fight against Julius."
Crusch slightly raised her eyes to him, interested.
"So, even so, you're not proud of the result?"
Yuji let out a short sigh, almost resigned.
"Not at all."
The answer seemed sincere enough for Crusch to accept without insistence. There was something in his tone that said that victory, for him, wasn't a simple matter of numbers or display. He had won, yes, but that didn't erase the fact that the fight started wrong, ended the way it did, and left a series of unresolved issues in its wake.
Yuji then decided to change the subject before the conversation sank too far into that territory.
"You seem like a very busy woman, huh?"
Crusch held his gaze for a moment before calmly replying:
"Indeed, I am! My family is busy gathering artifacts at the moment."
The way she said it sounded practical, without any unnecessary drama. It was the kind of answer that came from someone accustomed to dealing with great responsibilities and very little time for sentimentality. Yuji nodded slowly, understanding the message without needing further explanation. Crusch really seemed to always be in the midst of some greater concern than the simple night ahead of her.
That's when she changed the subject just as easily.
Her eyes turned to Yuji with almost clinical attention, as if she were assessing something that made him more transparent than he would like.
"You seem pensive..." Crusch said. "And it doesn't seem to be because of the fight with Lady Anastasia's knight."
Yuji blinked, clearly caught off guard. He hadn't expected her to notice it so quickly, much less to point it out so directly.
Crusch continued, without altering her tone.
"Actually, it seems to be related to Lady Emilia."
Yuji stood still for a moment.
The observation hit the nail on the head. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and took a second longer than he would have liked to regain his composure. It wasn't exactly that he wanted to hide it efficiently. He just hadn't expected to be read so easily by someone he'd barely really spoken to until that night.
"...How did you notice that?" he asked, still surprised.
Crusch took another sip of her drink before answering.
"Because your silence changed when her name came up in conversation," she said calmly. "And because you don't look down out of shame for a fight you won. You look down when something is left unresolved."
Yuji looked away for a moment, impressed by the accuracy of the analysis.
Crusch had hit not only the nail on the head, but also the kind of weight that was carrying him. And that left him a little speechless, because she had understood something he himself had been trying to avoid saying aloud.
The fact that Emilia was still occupying a good part of his mind was evident. The problem was that Yuji still didn't know the right way to organize all that into words.
"Damn..."
Yuji lowered his shoulders slightly before answering, as if admitting it aloud made everything more real.
"I ended up fighting with Emilia," he said. "And it's been bothering me ever since."
Crusch observed him silently for a moment, unhurried to respond. The night breeze blew gently, and her calmness seemed to make the surrounding space appear more organized than Yuji's own head.
Then she spoke, firmly and without harshness:
"In situations like this, never lower your head."
Yuji looked up at her, surprised by the confidence in her words.
"Even so..." Crusch continued, "Apologizing when necessary isn't a sign of weakness. The mistake lies in avoiding what needs to be said."
Yuji hesitated a moment before asking what had truly bothered him from the beginning.
"Why are you helping me?" he said directly. "I might have some connection to Ryomen."
The question came out sincere, not accusatory. It was the kind of doubt that came from someone who didn't yet fully understand the weight of that possibility. Yuji didn't know, at that moment, that there was in fact a real familial connection between him and Sukuna, something that was still beyond what he imagined about himself. Crusch stared at him intently, as if measuring not only what he said, but how he said it.
Crusch looked at him carefully, as if measuring not just what he said, but how he said it.
There was conviction in Yuji's eyes. Not arrogance, not empty defense. Conviction. The certainty of someone who spoke the truth the way he could, even without having all the answers.
That's what Crusch realized.
And that's what made her trust him.
"Because I can see that you believe what you're saying." she replied, calmly. "And right now, that's enough."
Yuji was silent for a moment, absorbing those words. Her confidence wasn't blind, but it wasn't tainted by fear of what others might think. She was choosing to believe his posture, his gaze, the way he supported his response without trying to hide behind excuses.
It touched him more than he let on.
Then he let out a discreet sigh, and the tense expression from before eased a little.
"Thanks for the chat, Ms. Crusch." Yuji said. "I'll apologize to Emilia."
Crusch nodded, pleased to see he had gotten something useful out of the encounter.
Yuji then asked another question, still with the practical mind of someone trying to fix what they could before returning to the center of everything.
"Could you lend us a drake for us to use?"
Crusch thought for a moment before responding.
"We only have one at the moment." she said. "But I can lend it to you tomorrow."
The answer was simple but useful. Yuji accepted without insisting.
Still, leaving that conversation with a clearer direction was enough to make the night seem less heavy.
The next day...
Yuji was woken up by Rem.
She looked very serious, too serious for that time of the morning. There was neither the usual lightness nor any trace of playfulness on her face. It took Yuji a few seconds to realize that this wasn't just urgency, it was real concern.
"Yuji, wake up." Rem said, her voice low but firm. "We have a meeting."
He blinked a few times, still trying to shake off his drowsiness, and sat up slowly. Her expression made him let go of any trace of laziness.
"What happened?" he asked, already standing up.
Rem hesitated for a moment before answering.
"I felt a presence through my sister's shared sense." She frowned slightly. "She probably used her clairvoyance. When that happens, it usually means she noticed something important."
Yuji frowned, now much more attentive.
"Clairvoyance… so does that mean someone saw something?"
"In my sister's case, it could go both ways."
He nodded and followed her to the meeting, still feeling like something bigger was starting to move.
When he arrived, Crusch was already present and the atmosphere was tense. Not the explosive kind, but the warning kind. That calm before bad news. Crusch was direct, as always:
"Dangerous movement has been spotted near Marquis Roswaal's mansion."
Yuji looked up immediately.
Crusch continued:
"Parts of that domain are under alert."
The silence that followed was short but heavy. Yuji looked from Crusch to Rem, trying to put the pieces together quickly. If there was something dangerous moving near the mansion, then the situation was already getting serious enough to directly affect Emilia and everyone around her.
He didn't take long to ask what bothered him most at that time.
"Does this have to do with the prejudice that Emilia and I are suffering?" Yuji asked. "You mean… this started after all that?"
Crusch watched him carefully before responding. She didn't seem surprised by the question; perhaps he even expected her to come.
"That's probably the case." she said. "When someone becomes the target of excessive hostility, there are always those who try to turn it into concrete action."
Rem crossed her arms, her face still tense.
"So you think it's not just an isolated reaction?"
Crusch shook his head slightly.
"No. If there was movement near the mansion, then there could be intent behind it. And intent, in this type of situation, rarely appears alone."
Yuji squeezed his fingers lightly, feeling the discomfort grow.
"Does that mean they might be going after Emilia?"
Crusch held his gaze.
"It's a possibility."
Rem spoke then, in a more restrained voice than usual:
"If so, we need to act before it gets worse."
Yuji nodded without hesitation. He was still getting used to understanding how political relations in that world worked, but one thing was simple: if something was threatening Emilia, then he had no intention of standing still.
Crusch maintained her firm stance.
"We are still gathering more details. But I want you to be ready. If this movement really is linked to what you two are facing, then this could become bigger than a simple local threat."
Yuji was silent for a moment, taking it all in.
That morning had started with Rem waking him up urgently, and now it seemed clear that the conflict around Emilia was about to cross a dangerous line.
Crusch took a deep breath before speaking, and her tone made it clear that this was not a refusal due to lack of will, but a real limit.
"The most I can do is lend you a drake." she said. "If you leave this castle, we will be enemies again."
Yuji understood right away.
There was no cruelty there, just the harsh logic of that world. Crusch was one of the candidates for the Royal Selection, and any gesture of more open help could be read as political favoritism. He knew she wasn't wrong. In fact, that only made her offer more valuable, because it came from someone who was still willing to help as much as she could.
Yuji exhaled slowly and nodded.
"I understand." he said. "And I accept."
There wasn't much to discuss. If that was the condition, then that was how it had to be. He wasn't there to force anyone to break their own limits because of him. What mattered was being able to get to the mansion and check the situation before something worse happened.
Felix then entered the conversation with that sharp ease that seemed natural to him.
"It will take you a few days to get to the mansion." Felix warned. "The road to Lifaus is shrouded in mist."
Yuji turned his gaze to him, trying to gauge the impact of the information.
A few days.
That didn't cheer him up one bit. On the contrary, the idea of taking so long on a journey while something potentially dangerous moved near the mansion only increased his uneasiness. He didn't like the feeling of delay, especially when Emilia could be at risk or when there was something even bigger happening without him being able to see it.
But that was the way.
There were no shortcuts, there was no instant solution, and there was certainly no room to complain about a problem that already came with its own rules.
Yuji ran a hand over his face, then looked at Rem, and it was clear that he was also mentally preparing himself for the journey. He didn't look excited, nor comfortable, but he was ready to accept the inevitable.
"Well... Let's go."
Sometimes, the only possible path was precisely the longest one.
___________________________________
How could I forget that Malaysia is a good place?
I know so well how much time has passed, it won't come back
I didn't even notice...
They say that the mind projects what it asks for, would it be a wonder of what I deserve? What really stops me?
Hair in the wind and look at that sun... I can almost feel it on my skin, I can even hear the tide calling my name... I wanted it so much
How could I forget that Malaysia is a good place?
Vacation for the soul and body to rest... What did I trade this paradise for? One moment, let me remember
Oh...
Maybe working too many hours...
Maybe I gave up everything with this hope of peace!...
Wanting time even when it slips away...
The books I haven't read I will never read...
But I saw it!
I swear I saw
The image is so beautiful and serene
Of so many students
Who are rooting for me!
I remembered the house on the beach that I thought about so much, one day I will try to build... I feel tired, but so good
I hope it was useful in the end.
Well...
How could I forget that Malaysia is a good place?
End of Chapter 17