Without wasting any time, I immediately moved to where the old man's remaining hand lay, then once again summoned purple flames into the palm of my hand.
The fire bloomed without a sound, pulsing softly like a living creature. Its heat did not sting my skin, nor did it distort the air around it.
Instead, it felt familiar—intimate, as if the flames were an extension of my own will. Within seconds, that remaining hand vanished without a trace, consumed down to the most fundamental level of existence, just like his body before it.
There was no smell of burning, no splatter of blood, no remnants of any kind. Perfect. Clean. Leaving not even the smallest gap behind.
After making sure there was no evidence left behind, no suspicious residue of Cursed Energy lingering in the area, I immediately moved toward the two girls who were still lying unconscious.
My body dropped lightly from the rooftop, landing without a sound. The moment my feet touched the ground, I noticed a small movement ahead—faint, but enough to catch my attention. One of them was starting to wake up.
"Hey, are you two okay?" I asked as I stepped closer. I deliberately lowered my voice, keeping it calm so as not to startle them as they regained consciousness.
Both girls slowly pushed themselves up. Their movements were stiff, their heads swaying slightly, faces filled with confusion mixed with the lingering haze of having fainted. Their breathing hadn't fully steadied yet, as if their bodies were still struggling to sync with their returning awareness.
The girl on the right had long, blonde hair that flowed down to her waist, faintly shimmering beneath the streetlight. A few strands of bangs fell softly over part of her face, with two side locks neatly framing her cheeks.
Her brown eyes looked empty for a moment, drifting left and right as she tried to grasp her surroundings and understand the situation. There was a gentle quality to her expression, yet an instinctive caution slowly surfaced beneath it.
Meanwhile, the girl on the left had long purple hair tied into a high ponytail. The tie was slightly loose, allowing several strands to slip free and fall messily around her face. Her bangs were disheveled, most likely from the fall earlier.
Her skin was a warm tan, standing in sharp contrast to her red eyes, which were now narrowed in confusion. Despite having just woken up and clearly not being fully conscious yet, there was a natural sharpness in her gaze, as if vigilance was second nature to her—even in her weakest state.
"Uh… what happened?" the purple-haired girl asked. Her voice sounded uncertain, faintly hoarse, as if her throat hadn't fully awakened after losing consciousness.
Her hand reflexively moved to her temple, trying to ease the lingering dizziness.
"Where are we?" the blonde-haired girl followed up. She turned her head, eyes quickly scanning the narrow alley—the dull concrete walls, the pile of trash in the corner, and the weak, flickering streetlight overhead.
Only after that did her gaze settle on me, her expression dazed, like someone who had woken up in a strange place with no clear memory of how they got there.
"Hm?" The purple-haired girl suddenly tensed. Her posture shifted in an instant—her back stiffened slightly, and her gaze hardened. Her sense of alertness rose faster than her consciousness. "Who are you?"
I let out a short breath. Not out of annoyance, but from the fatigue of having to explain everything from the beginning. "It's me."
My hand lifted toward my face. My fingers brushed against the cold surface of the Deceptive Phantom Mask that had been covering my face all this time.
With a slow, deliberate motion, I removed it. The mask lifted away, then lowered to my side. The moment my face was fully revealed, their reaction came almost instantly—without the slightest delay.
"Kenji!"
They both cried out at the same time. Their voices overlapped, colliding with each other, clearly filled with shock and an unrecognized sense of relief. Their eyes widened, and the tension in their bodies slowly eased.
"How are you? Are you two really okay?" I asked again. This time my tone was much gentler, unforced. The worry was real—I had been concerned, even before they woke up.
"We're fine," replied the purple-haired girl. She let out a breath, then frowned slightly. "But… what actually happened? Why are we in an alley like this?"
The purple-haired girl fell silent for a moment, as if a new detail had finally registered in her mind. Slowly, she tilted her head up, staring at the narrow strip of sky cut off by the surrounding buildings. "Wait… is it already night?"
The sky above the alley was pitch-black, with no stars in sight. Only the dim glow of a streetlamp illuminated our faces, casting long shadows across the cracked concrete floor.
"It's past six o'clock," I answered calmly.
"Six o'clock?" The blonde-haired girl looked even more confused. Her brows knitted together, her lips parting slightly. "So… what happened?"
That question struck my mind squarely.
Uh… should I tell them everything?
If I didn't tell the truth, what excuse would even sound reasonable? That they were just taking a normal walk and suddenly passed out? That sounded ridiculous. Too contrived. Far too fragile if examined even a little deeper. But if I told them the truth… was that really the right choice?
Damn it. An old memory surfaced in my mind. If I remembered correctly, ordinary people who accidentally brushed against the Jujutsu World tended to get dragged into strange incidents more frequently afterward. As if a door that should have remained tightly shut had been opened just a crack—just enough to let things on the other side peer through.
Being in places dense with Cursed Energy could unconsciously attract the attention of Cursed Spirits, or even cause them to start seeing things they were never meant to see. Shadows, whispers, an unexplainable sense of discomfort that crept in without any clear reason.
If that was true, then what happened tonight might not be the last incident they experienced.
I looked back and forth between the two girls. Their faces still held confusion, but there was also trust there. Should I let them get involved any further?
Should I make them stronger—strong enough to survive, perhaps even strong enough to help me someday? Or should I distance them from all of this as much as possible and continue protecting them from the shadows?
But the Jujutsu World was not a kind place. It was dangerous. Cruel. A single small mistake could easily end in death. And this wasn't just an ordinary Jujutsu World—this was a crossover world, a place where countless insane elements from different worlds could collide, without clear rules and without mercy.
If they got involved even once, it was entirely possible they would be dragged in deeper. If not by Jujutsu, then by some other supernatural phenomenon that was even harder to predict.
My chest felt heavy, as if a weight were slowly pressing in from the inside.
Haaah… In that case, maybe the best decision was… to let them choose for themselves.
I took a deep breath, calming my thoughts, then looked at them with a serious expression. No joking. No dodging. No hiding anything anymore.
"If I tell you the truth," I said quietly but firmly, deliberately keeping my voice from sounding intimidating, "are you prepared to get involved with dangerous things?"
The sentence left my lips slowly, yet its weight lingered heavily in the air. As though that single, simple question alone was enough to change the course of anyone's life who heard it.
The two girls fell silent at once.
There was no answer. No movement. Even their breathing seemed to pause.
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