Staring at Yoruzu, I wondered how Megumi didn't spot the deceit. This early into her deception, at least. There had to be tells he must've ignored and turned a blind eye to.
I shifted focus from the incarnated sorcerer who wore Tsumiki's skin like a flesh puppet and moved it back to Megumi, and, to my greatest surprise, he was staring at Yoruzu with a frown.
Was he already suspicious of her? How?
It clicked a moment later. I had butterflyed away the original heartwarming reunion scene with my presence. It should've been obvious, even with all of Tsumiki's memories available to her, Yoruzu was no expert spy or infiltrationist. Puppeting Tsumiki's body this early, there had to be multiple instances of her acting out of character, but Megumi, blinded by his desire to see his sister once more, would've ignored it.
That was before I became a factor; now my presence was forcing her to show her character in a way that she could not hide or disguise easily. She stared at me with little fear. Yoruzu was a sorcerer from the golden age of sorcery, one with a technique and a domain that would most likely one-shot me like Fuga if I were careless.
No, Yoruzu was not scared or worried, but she was as wary as someone who had just found a seven-foot-tall shikigami, built like a tank, armed with a blade that screamed death, bearing wings for eyes, a tail for hair, and a heavy floating wheel that hummed to the tension that filled the room.
I could see her muscles tense beneath her skin, her nerves coming to life, transmitting signals as long atrophied instincts and battle reflexes came to life as she catalogued the threat that was my presence. Her brown eyes narrowed, brows furrowing, and cursed energy slowly came to life beneath her skin.
The purple blood that had stained my pale flesh gradually continued to break, flake, and drift off at an unhurried pace, revealing the ornaments on my chest and my black hakama. I was tempted to speak her name, to call her out on her scheme, but a single glimpse at Megumi beside her ended that idea before it fully blossomed.
Like she knew where my attention had drifted to, she glanced at Megumi as well, a split-second glance, and I knew she had already figured I was a shikigami. Most likely, his shikigami, and the best way to kill a shikigami was to kill its summoner.
A Heian-era sorcerer would know that.
She could kill Megumi before he even blinked at that distance, and if Megumi somehow made enough distance between them to be a factor, then today would end with a fight, a fight I would be handicapped in because killing Tsumiki would result in Megumi falling into despair, and Yoruzu was not the kind of sorcerer I could fight while holding back.
I had the vaguest idea of a solution to my dilemma. I simply needed to kill Yoruzu without killing Tsumiki.
The word impossible would've echoed if I had said the words. But I was Mahoraga, and that was enough reason to know my plan could work.
My solution was deceptively simple. I needed a way to separate two souls from a single body, and what other way than to rehearse, and adapt with the over a thousand practice dummies roaming about Tokyo at this moment, thanks to Kenjaku. All I needed, like every other character with the scary ability to adapt, was time.
I finally allowed Mahoraga's characteristic grin to touch my lips, then, with a flex of my wrist, the Blade of Extermination finally shot back beneath the wraps. A simple act that diffused the tension in the room like water poured over a campfire. Yoruzu instantly acted her part; her body immediately went from tense to relaxed in a heartbeat as she immediately leaned into Megumi, the worry on her face not fake in the slightest, even if the tremor that ran through her voice was as fake as a three-dollar bill.
"M-Megumi-kun. W-what is that?"
Megumi blinked in confusion at the sudden and rapid change in character and behaviour, and I idly noted the way Yoruzu draped her arm around his neck.
At this moment, Yoruzu was not aware of Sukuna and Itadori's complicated relationship, but part of her deal with Kenjaku was to be reunited in the same Era as Sukuna's return, so for now, she had no reason to reveal her hand.
The only reason she was playing naive was just for the fun of it, a chance to entertain herself till she found Sukuna. This entire facade was the amusement of a sorcerer at her second chance at life. If Megumi realized there was something wrong, if he called out the fact that she was not Tsumiki, then that would be the end of the game she was playing, and he would die; it was as simple as that, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I was fast. But I was not that fast.
"That's Mahoraga, a shikigami and..." He turned back to me with his brows furrowed into a complicated emotion before he continued. "Part of the Family, I guess."
Those words twisted my guts in a way I had not expected. It hit harder than the left hook from Sukuna, and cut deeper than any dismantle the King of Curses had hit me with.
"Oh," Yoruzu exclaimed softly, and despite her question, she kept her predatory eyes on him, brown eyes searching his face while he was turned to me, searching for any sign of deceit, any lie, any hint that he knew she was not the Tsumiki he knew. Megumi remained seemingly oblivious, then he turned away from me to face her, and her features melted back into something soft.
"A shikigami?"
"It's a long story, Tsumiki."
"I see, I was so scared and worried. He is so frightening, I didn't know what to say or do."
"I understand," Megumi replied with a nod, as he gently pushed her back to lie down. "He has that effect on people."
Yoruzu allowed herself to be gently guided onto her back, then she stretched out her hand to cup Megumi's face.
"I'm sorry for not being there for so long. I promise to make it up to you as soon as I'm better rested."
Megumi gave her a soft, fond smile, hair lowerd and eyes red-rimmed as he stared at her.
"Sure, take your ti-"
There was a brief explosion of cursed energy, miniature in its output, and that was the only reason I didn't cross the distance and shove my fist into the cloud that had appeared right beside Megumi a split second later.
Instead, I simply tensed, muscles filling with both power and cursed energy, before I forced myself to still as my wings twitched, and my vision slipped past the cursed energy residue and the cloud of smoke to see the figure inside.
A fellow shikigami like me.
It was small, segmented like a worm, with a cartoonish devil tail, small angel wings from its back, and a head that looked very much like a baby skull. It was a mixture of features that could only have been brought forth from Kenjaku's twisted mind.
A Kogane. The first indication that somebody was a player in the Culling Games.
The Kogane floated in place.
It did not do anything else for a moment, just floated in the space between Megumi and Yoruzu, comfortable in the silence that filled the room. I focused on Yoruzu, and she didn't seem surprised. The cursed energy residue from its arrival settled, thinning into nothing, and the small skull face tilted toward Tsumiki, and it lit up with something like joy, something childlike.
Megumi had half risen from the bed's edge. His hand was already moving to summon something, but a quick glance at my still form led him to abort his movement a second later.
"Player confirmed," the Kogane said.
Its voice was childlike, just like its features, and carried a warbling tone that was indistinguishable between a baby drowning and a baby gurgling.
Megumi went still in surprise that the shikigami could speak.
"Player Fushiguro Tsumiki has been registered in the Culling Game."
There was silence for a moment, as everybody present tried to interpret the sudden appearance and statement the shikigami had just made.
"What the hell are you?"
"I'm a Kogane,"
Megumi frowned. "What is a Kogane?"
"A Kogane is a shikigami that acts as the interface and liaison between players and the game."
"What do you mean by the Culling Game?"
The Kogane hummed, like a machine that was booting up as it floated between them. That was the moment I remembered some of the details I had skipped due to the way Shibuya ended without a proper confrontation with Kenjaku. A lot of people weren't actually aware that the Culling Games had started. They were aware of the sudden barriers erupting and the formation of the colonies, but most people remained oblivious to Kenjaku's grand ritual.
"The Culling Game is a ritual held in the colonies scattered across Tokyo. The following rules apply. Players must remain within colony barriers to participate in the games. Players receive points by ending the lives of other players. Any player whose score remains unchanged for 19 days will have their cursed technique removed. Removal of a cursed technique results in death."
The Kogane was Chattier than I remembered. More... alive than the simple Shikigami it had been in canon, considering the extra detail it added in the end there. The question was why? What changed? What had my presence affected?
I watched Megumi's face as he digested the words. The boy was smart enough to interpret what the Culling Game was. If the name wasn't clear enough, the Culling Game was simply a grand battle royale. A battle royale, his seemingly poor, defenseless sister was supposed to fight in. By the time the Kogane reached the rule about points and the penalty for not increasing them, something had gone very tight around his eyes.
"Tsumiki can't play." He spat out in a harsh tone that brooked no argument.
The words were wasted on the Kogane as it only halted its bobbing as if to say, whatever, then continued floating midair without any care.
Megumi took in a deep breath, discarding his instinctive follow-up reply to actually think.
"What if I want to remove her from the game?" Megumi started, this time his voice was controlled, even. "How?"
"By changing the rules." The Kogane replied, and if I wasn't certain of the change in the Shikigami as opposed to canon. I was now. Kogane's were never this chatty, not enough to reveal something like this. This Kogane was being helpful. The question was why. "Players may expend 100 points to add a new rule to the game." The Kogane's voice had changed. It was slight, but enough for my perception to note.
Megumi's eyes brightened, then dimmed back. He didn't need any further explanation. Say whatever you wanted, but the boy wasn't stupid. He could see the loophole. The ability to change the rules meant the ability to save her; all he needed was a hundred points. A hundred points, he didn't think Tsumiki could gather.
Behind him, Yoruzu made a small sound. Soft, frightened, it was not exactly the right pitch and texture, but with her hand finding the back of Megumi's sleeve, fingers curling around the fabric with the grip of someone who was scared and trying not to show how scared they were, it was enough to fool him.
Megumi's eyes hardened, and I knew the choice he was going to make.
"How does one become a player?"
"Simple. Enter a colony where the game is being held," the Kogane replied in that gurgling childish voice, amusement in its tone. The sound irritated my ears, and if I didn't know the damned shikigami couldn't be killed, I would've buried the Sword of Extermination into its chest. This was a trap. Kenjaku must know that Sukuna is interested in Megumi. Is he doing this to push Megumi to participate? If he is, how? He's not supposed to be the game master... Unless that is another thing my presence butterflied away.
"Megumi-kun," Yoruzu said quietly. "What does it mean? What is the Culling Game? What's the S-shikigami talking about?" Her acting was nearly flawless this time. She was learning quickly. Absorbing Tsumiki's mannerisms like a sponge.
He turned to her, and I watched a switch flip in his head. This was what Yoruzu had already calculated and was currently using. Unlike how he seemed sometimes, Megumi was not soft. He was not warm in the way that Itadori was warm, open, and readable. However, there were specific people for whom something in him shifted, who his guard let down completely around, and Tsumiki was one of them, the first one in fact, and whatever Yoruzu saw in his face when he turned to look at her caused her to continue her manipulation because her grip on his sleeve tightened.
"It's nothing you need to understand right now," he said.
"But-"
"Tsumiki." He cut her off; his voice was flat, but not harsh. The kind of voice that told you its owner had already made a decision and the decision was not going to change. "I'll take care of it. I'm going to get you out. That's all you need to know."
Yoruzu looked at him for a moment with Tsumiki's brown eyes, and whatever she found there was enough for her, so she nodded in understanding, settling back against the pillow with the careful movements of someone tired and frightened.
"Okay," she said softly. "I trust you."
Megumi turned back to the Kogane.
"I don't have any more questions."
The Kogane dipped once in what might have been acknowledgment, or a shrug. It was hard to interpret, then it drifted and stayed beside Tsumiki. An ever-present reminder of the Culling Games.
Megumi sat there for a moment, just staring at Tsumiki as she tried to get comfortable under the covers.
Then he stood up.
"You should rest," he finally said to Tsumiki. "I'll be back."
"Promise?"
He glanced back at her once.
"I promise."
He walked to the door. Stopped with his hand on the frame and looked at me.
I had not moved from the corner. The last of the purple blood had finished flaking off, and the wheel above my head was simply still and humming while my attention remained on the girl on the bed, and the monster beneath her skin pretending to be asleep. Then I turned around and followed him.
Behind us, I observed as Tsumiki watched us go, and the softness on her face held until the door closed. I did not need to be in the room to know the exact moment it stopped. I saw it as her features twisted into a smirk of satisfaction, I didn't hear the chuckle and laughter, but with the way her lips moved... I knew.
We walked in silence through the hallway. The sight of me did not cause as much panic as I expected; instead, people simply froze. Their fight or flight response picking the third and least spoken about response. Their bodies simply stilled, only their eyes followed in shocked horror, before a sense of relief as I ignored them and simply walked away.
We got to the door of the hospital, where a waiting Ijichi sat inside the car parked in front of the hospital, while we simply stood in place in silence, a silence that was broken shortly after.
"There is something wrong with Tsumiki."
I would've raised a brow if I had one to raise. So he spotted it after all; he was a bit far from the truth, but he was in the right direction, and I contemplated telling him the truth once again. The Tsumiki he knew was suppressed, and the person controlling her body was Yoruzu, an incarnated Heian era sorcerer, but I looked at his features, at the tilt of his brow, the focus in his gaze.
Megumi's weakness had not been skill or talent. He had plenty of both. His sole weakness had been his mindset. He was a sane man in a mad world. In a world where every sorcerer tried to grow stronger, Megumi... lacked that drive. But that had changed.
Megumi Fushiguro had never been this motivated in his life.
I remembered what he did when he got into the Culling Games. How laser-focused and uncompromising he was in his hunt for points. That was the Fushiguro I needed. Coupled with more training, Megumi could actually qualify for that special grade rank without my presence. I made my decision.
I was not going to tell him. Not yet, at least, and not like telling him was going to change anything. I already had a plan to fix her after all.
He glanced at me, like he was expecting me to say something, but I didn't, so he simply shook his head. Then, Ijichi called out.
"Megumi-san, I have some news."
"What?"
"Naobito Zenin is dead, and you've been invited for the reading of the will."
Oh, I grinned once more. Another butterfly. Naobito was always going to die, but Megumi had not been invited when his will was being read. Oh, this was going to be fun.