A so-called name was the first “wish” bestowed onto someone when they were born.

Even though Muta Kokichi did not know what kind of expectations were harboured in his own name “Kokichi”.

(T/N:The kanji used in the name Kokichi幸吉 can mean luck and prosperity)

He only knew that it was definitely a luxury out of his reach.

There was no such thing as a perfect person.

He was born with cursed energy.

He was born without freedom.

If a strong power could bring happiness, who knew how great that would be.

At least to him, this sort of power was not happiness, it could only be called a curse.

–Heavenly Restriction

The price for Kokichi’s power was losing a healthy and complete body.

His skin was so fragile that it burnt under the moonlight and he was missing his right arm and both legs, making it impossible for him to leave this dark room that was full of life support machines.

In exchange, he had acquired an immense amount of cursed energy as well as a large radius in which he could use his skills.

A deal that he did not wish for and which he had no memory of was set the instant he came to this world.

Kokichi who had no freedom could only find salvation in this dark room through the variety of television programmes. If he did not have a television, perhaps he would have had lost his mind already.

A particular mecha anime left a deep impression on Kokichi.

Even though that was a work meant for younger children, the scenes of a dark cockpit that was full of machinery was almost like his own situation.

He was also a mechanical hero depicted in a fictional plot—to Kokichi, that fantasy provided him some comfort.

The anime was about a mecha hero who refused to bow down to anything。

The power of the missiles crossing each other burned hotter than the flames of hell and the rocket punches rode the wind。

With the grinding of the mechanical parts, the robot fought it out with its enemies in the midst of crossfire.

It did not matter if he was faced with sharp blades or bullets, the protagonist never cowered. Even with injuries upon him and even if he carried a tough fate, he never lowered his head.

Even though the battles raged on like a fierce tornado, no matter how many times he fell over, the protagonist would stand up again.

And in the end, he would definitely return to his companions’ side.

And that robot’s name was—

*

“Mechamaru, why do you look so shiny today? Did you get a fresh coat of paint?”

“Do you think I would do that? Because I got trashed by that Panda earlier, I just went to change everything from top to bottom.”

“When the two of you say it like that, the entire thing sounds heartwarming.”

This place was the second-year classroom of the Kyoto Jujutsu technical college.

After Mai asked in an outspoken manner, Mechamaru replied her and responded to Miwa’s opinion while checking the joints in his right hand.

“Speaking of which, don’t you think that Panda isn’t that likable? His actions and way of speaking is like that of an old man.”

“That Panda is not a panda, he’s a gorilla.”

“I kinda don’t get what you are saying.”

“During the exchange battle, only you got Ueno Zoo as your opponent?”

“Alright, enough chit chat–”

A male auxiliary manager by the name of Tanabe clapped and then interrupted the conversation between the three using a manner of speaking that was tinged with a local accent.

Tanabe dimmed the lights in the room and projected the image of the scene of a traffic accident on the white wall using a projector.

Using a piece of modern technology in a Japanese style room, even though this scene was outstanding, it was no longer something that was new to them.

However, as Mai and Mechamaru were listening to Tanabe talk and seeing a delighted expression form on his face, they realised “Ah, this person just wanted to use the projector”.

“Lately, there has been an increase of traffic accidents in Kyoto but we have already confirmed that this is the deed of a Jujutsu Sorcerer.”

“Jujutsu Sorcerer? Not a cursed spirit?”

According to the witnesses at the scene of the accident, what they saw was not a naturally born cursed spirit but a shikigami. Deducing from this fact, we suspect that some Jujutsu Sorcerer used a certain technique to intentionally cause cars to go out of control. We found after some investigation….”

As Tanabe replied to Miwa’s question, he operated the  computer that was next to him and with a “clap”, the image on the wall changed.

It was a vector image of the map of Kyoto.

The places that were marked out on the image were the places where the accidents have occurred,

“From the places where the accidents have occurred and backtracking the relative positions of the remnants of cursed energy, we can deduce that the Jujutsu Sorcerer is most likely using this place as his base of operations.”

“—Mt Hiei?”

At the same time Mai said the location’s name, she knitted her brows tightly.

But it was reasonable to come up with this conclusion.

After all, it was a place that was well known throughout history, so sometimes, it would gather negative emotions.

When one mentioned Mt Hiei, the most well-known incident would be the burning of the temple called Enryakuji. At that time, Oda Nobunga cruelly murdered everyone in sight regardless of their gender and age, killing monks and even children. Because of this horrific historical fact, this place became famous for being a ghost haunting spot.

But it was because of this, Mai got confused.

“You’re telling me that this Jujutsu Sorcerer blatantly parked himself at Mt Hiei?”

“So you’re doubtful~ That’s expected.”

Tanabe nodded his head and continued to talk.

“Of course, usually, Jujutsu Sorcerers will never think of hiding themselves in places marked as secure zones such as Mt Hiei. After all, people related to our Technical colleges will frequently go to the current Enryukuji, so if there were suspicious people or signs, there’s no way no one would find out.

“But right now, this guy has slipped under our radar, right?”

“It’s because of some physical factor.”

“Are you talking about that incident that was reported on the news about a month back?”

“Ultimate-kun, you are correct.”

“My surname is not Ultimate….”

After Mechamaru heard faint sniggering from around him, he turned around while making the sound of metal grinding metal. He found that Miwa was still laughing while Mai had frantically continued the topic of discussion, seemingly afraid that she would get found out.

“Could it be that place which suddenly started giving out poisonous gas?”

“That’s right. That place was originally the repair factory for some car distributor in Shiga prefecture, after that it became a place for scrapped cars but now it’s just full of some waste gas that can’t be combusted completely. I also heard that the place has a curtain around it.”

“So Jujutsu Sorcerers and experts who handle the gas leak can’t go in. The former are impeded by the physical factor known as poison gas while the latter assumed that it’s impossible to go in from their expert judgement.”

“They say that gas is leaking but usually it should not be dragged out for such a long time. Perhaps the curtain slowed the dissipation of the gas. But if the gas remained there for longer, shouldn’t it get relatively easier to get in?”

“Can’t we just wear gas masks or send some Shikigami that can check the area to find out what’s going on inside?”

“I suppose the Technical college got too confident, thinking that since humans can’t go in, Jujustsu Sorcerers can’t hide inside either so the investigation process slowed down because of that, right? After that, it’s probably because they realised that the gas leak accident hasn’t resolved after a long while, so after checking the place out again, they found a curtain had been placed.”

“….Right, it happened just as you said.”

After Tanabe heard the conversation between Miwa and Mai, it felt like his complexion had become dull.

“Are there any related reports on that Jujutsu Sorcerer at the moment? Like how strong they are or what kind of skills they use.”

“Their skill is probably the use of Shikigami to control objects. And they most likely limited their control to “car functions” and from there, expended the area and strength of their control….however, from how large the affected area is, the opponent most likely is at least a semi-grade one.”

“The information is so limited.”

“The investigation of this entire incident only started from the traces of accidents that happened in the city…also the gas leak area was too wide so even if we sent out shikigami, it’s difficult to investigate the place thoroughly. Also, if we spend too much time trying to do a full investigation, the culprit might just run away. So, now we need to go in and directly annihilate or capture them.”

“But, the biggest problem right now is the poison gas. No matter how high the sorcerer’s ranking is, they can’t do anything right? And we’re just students of the Technical College, how can we—”

When Miwa spoke to this point, she looked at Mechamaru.

“Well, it’s just that the idea you are having right now, in this Kyoto branch, there is a certain Jujutsu Sorcerer who is extremely suited for this mission. Even when thrown in an environment toxic to humans, he can use skills over a broad area through remote methods.”

“So you want Mechamaru to handle this mission alone?”

“Basically yes. As for Zenin-kun and Miwa-kun, I would like the two of you to handle guarding the city area with me.”

“You mean you just want us to do the work of small fries.”

Mai complained but she still stole a glance at Mechamaru.

His expression did not change. He does not have the function of changing expressions anyway.

In comparison, Mai’s feelings of annoyance were written all over her face while Miwa did not look like she accepted the arrangement either.

However, no one was going to dig deeper into how Mechamaru felt right now.

Besides—

He had already given his answer in a mild manner.

“No problem. The most suitable person for this mission is indeed myself.”

*

Though it was considered deary for maple trees, the ends of the branches of the trees in the school yard have slowly been dyed the colour of autumn.

Kukichi was now controlling “Mechamaru” which had the height of an average human, rather than the small puppet that he used to go around at home. He likes using the viewpoint of “Mechamaru” to look at the scenery in the school.

Yet, there was still a sense of distance when looking at the scenery through a puppet, just like peering at the world through a glass window. It felt regrettable but he knew there was no other way right now so he could only endure.

But it was only now that he needed to endure.

“….This time the operation is about controlling that person’s base of operations.”

After thinking carefully, Mechamaru thought that if he did not only depend on Mechamaru and just went all out and used all the puppets he could use, he could probably easily settle the problem with just sheer quantity.

But other than the puppets that were registered with the technical college, all the other back up puppets that he had were working “undercover” so he did not want to let others know of their existence. Also, he wanted to keep the combat ability of his “trump card” under wraps as much as possible so he could take on the special grade cursed spirits in future.

Kukichi knew within his heart, working within the shadows would only be painful on himself….but he would only get taught a practical lesson in life later.

(T/N: very weird sentence but I think it just means that Kukichi assumes that he’ll only get a light punishment for being caught working with Fake-Geto)

“Mechamaru.”

Mechamaru seemed to have focused all his attention on the scenery before him so he did not notice the sound of footsteps.

He only turned around to check when he heard the voice of another person calling him.

“….Oh, it’s you, Kamo.”

“It seems like the battles of the exchange events did not cause you too serious damages.”

“It’s not like my real body is the one getting hurt.”

“True.”

Kamo did not appear very much guilty but Mechamaru was more bothered by the bandages on Kamo’s face.

“I’m the one who wants to ask….are your injuries serious?”

“Don’t worry, it’s minor, it doesn’t affect my day-to-day tasks.”

Still, Mechamaru was unable to easily say “That’s great, they’re just minor.”

Do not lay a hand on the Kyoto branch people—the special grade spirits who barged into exchange event, broke the binding contract between Kokichi, and the cursed spirit who was covered in stitches attacked everyone they saw, regardless of which school they were from.

Though this was an incident was not within expectations, part of it had to do with Kokichi.

The reason why Kamo got injured was definitely one of the negative effects that resulted from Kokichi’s undercover mission. Mechamaru had yet to have the function to show emotions so that helped with Kokichi’s secret activities.

However, Mechamaru was unable to hide his silence but fortunately, Kamo just thought that Mechamaru was merely worried about him.

“You don’t have to give such an overboard reaction. I was able to play baseball so you really don’t have to worry.”

“….Speaking of which, the battle in the second day became a baseball match.”

“I think the baseball match is just a big joke.”

“Gojou Satoru is really just doing whatever he wants.”

“Yeah.”

There was no obvious expression on Kamo’s face but in Mechamaru’s eyes, the former clearly seemed happier than usual, like something good happened.

So Mechamaru mentioned something he wanted to ask casually.

“Like using a baseball machine in my place to pitch the balls?”

“……”

Even though Mechamaru pretended that he heard about this incident from someone else, in actual fact, Kokichi had seen the entire event from start to end clearly through a puppet that was used for surveillance.

He clearly understood the entire incident like the back of his hand but he still brought up this topic. It was because he was not unable to attend the competition himself so he felt somewhat lonely.

He just wanted to feel what it was like to attend a lively activity….however Kamo who held his tongue seemed unexpectedly awkward.

“Um, I’m not blaming you or anything.”

“Iori-sensei said since it’s a competition, each group should be made up of five people and everyone must give their best to win.”

“….Don’t you also think that that person would become a bit strange when it comes to sports or Gojou Satoru?”

“Sensei is indeed like that.”

Kamo stood next to Mechamaru and looked at the same tree as he did.

The two let the occasional autumn wind that blew by caress their cheeks. After a short period of silence, Kamo spoke up first.

“I heard that you were going to do some investigative work at Mt Hiei.”

“Your information network is pretty accurate huh?”

“As long as it isn’t anything classified, given the size of the college, it’ll reach ears quickly.”

“It’s not anything much. It’s just that the targeted Jujutsu Sorcerer is hiding within poison gas so someone impervious to poisons like me can finish it quickly.”

“Don’t assume that what really happens would be exactly the same as what’s planned out, it’s dangerous.”

“Even if something out of expectations happens, this body of mine can take a beating several times—”

“Mechamaru.”

Kamo interrupted Mechamaru as though he wanted to get a statement in first.

“This time, what got attacked was the traffic network. Just like natural water sources and electricity, those who would target basic facilities are usually those Jujutsu sorcerers who have taken assassination missions before. If you do not quickly finish up this investigation, many others might lose their lives afterwards. It’s praiseworthy that you accepted this mission readily.”

“What’s up? Why are you showering me with praises all of a sudden.”

“But, from another point of view, you believe that “Mechamaru” is just a disposable resource, so that’s why you quickly agreed to the mission.”

“It is a disposable.”

“Indeed. Even if that body gets damaged, the real you is not going to be in any danger so you can use all your ultimate skills to duke it out with the opponent. And because you have the talent, you can accept such a mission without hesitation. However….once someone is used to not worrying about life and death battles, after losing the sense of anxiety they should have, they may develop certain careless habits and even mess things up at critical moments.”

“…..”

Kokichi thought, most of the times, Kamo’s warnings were right.

Furthermore, just a while back during the exchange event, he was soundly defeated by Panda.

During that time, Mechamaru used his Ultimate Canon and was overly confident that he had secured his victory. In the end, he left an opening and was subjected to Panda’s close-range attacks. So he, who had such a tragic defeat, had no right to talk back to Kamo.

“Putting the issue about Mai aside…”

“What about Mai?”

Mechamaru tilted his head, puzzled, not knowing why the topic had turned to be about Mai but the conversation that followed cleared his doubts.

“When Miwa saw the damaged “Mechamaru”, she actually got a huge shock.”

“…That’s because she wasn’t born in a Jujutsu Sorcerer family. Even so, if someone sees a damaged substitute body, most people won’t be able to accept it at once, right?”

“But as a fellow classmate, you usually use this body known as “Mechamaru” to interact with them.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“I wanted you to be a bit more considerate to them. You must keep in mind, in this time when you are going to an unusual environment to carry out the mission alone, if you get into danger, “Mechamaru” might end up getting scrapped.”

After Kamo said this, he went back to the corridor he just walked down from.

“This body is no longer a lone wolf after all.”

Because Kamo had turned around, Mechamaru was unable to see his expression.

Kokichi had a strong feeling that he ought to stop the other party and say something….however the emotions that welled up in his heart were unable to become words, they just kept twisting and tangling up with each other and finally settled down like sediments.

*

As Mechamaru walked on the corridor that led to the dormitories, he unintentionally and leisurely gazed at the scenery.

Sometimes, Kokichi would feel that this action of controlling a body remotely was abnormal.

When he first received this body known as Mechamaru, he was jubilant because he could control a robot just like what he saw in the anime but after living this sort of life, he felt something was not right.

After all, the body that carried out its activities in the school was Mechamaru and not the Jujutsu Sorcerer in the control seat. “Kokichi” had never took half a step out of the room that was full of life support machines.

Even so, Mechamaru was still given a dormitory room, but it could just be simply because a room was just the right place to keep a human sized object.

Kokichi knew very well when Mechamaru returned to the room to rest, it was just like parking a remote-controlled toy car back in its garage rather than imitating the way a human lived.

However, he still put much thought into decorating the room, creating a comfortable space where he could watch television happily despite being alone. From a normal person’s viewpoint, Kokichi was like someone watching through a television screen, and letting his game character have a break.

He could definitely relax like this so he was no different from the other students, returning to his room once there was free time.

However, this day, Mechamaru did not make it back to his room with smooth success.

Because he encountered Toudou Aoi

In the eyes of Mechamaru who was considered an “abnormality”, this man who was even more “abnormal” than him was looking outside through a window in the corridor.

His burly frame seemed even more enormous indoors and for an instant, Mechamaru thought he encountered a bear.

That body possessed a unique and steely thinking mode and a strong sense of self-awareness so the amount of charisma that oozed out of it was amazing.

If Toudou was an enemy, he would be a threat that was difficult to handle. As a companion, he was relatively dependable but still equally difficult to deal with.

When he was struck by a fly away ball during the baseball match at the exchange event, all the other players, regardless of the side they were on, praised the pitcher for throwing a nice ball.

Kokichi wanted to turn around and walk away from that strong sense of ego that Toudou was exuding, but he did feel some pity for Toudou to have received such treatment on the baseball field despite having chased away the special grade curse spirits that invaded the Technical College. However, if he pitied him in Mechamaru’s body, the situation might get even more complicated.

Yet it seemed….the matter that has cause Toudou to be unhappy was not baseball.

“What’s with you? You have a desolate look.”

“I didn’t record the television show.”

“What television show?”

“The travel program that aired on the day of the exchange event. Takada-chan was the special guest for that episode.”

“You seemed to have mentioned it before.”

Earlier, Toudou had ignored Principal Gakuganji’s warning and left the school on his own accord.

Kokichi felt that Toudou was always like that, disregarding everything others did.

“Who knows whether it’s because the blu-ray recording system at the Tokyo branch is too lousy or it’s because of the influence of those cursed spirits barging in, I already set it to record but it still didn’t do it.”

“Didn’t you record the program from here?”

“Do you think I will fail in recording the program from my dorm? Of course I did record it.”

“Then what’s the problem….?”

If he had replied with “Isn’t it good that you recorded it?” Toudou might get angry so Kokichi still made an effort to choose his words. But after Toudou heard him, a vein still popped out on his forehead.

“You can already shoot beams from your arms, so you should know what a Taka-tan beam is right?”

“That’s the first I heard of this?!”

“Why have you heard of it before? Are you looking down on stuff like beams and rays?”

“….I will check it out later.”

If Mechamaru had a soft and malleable face, perhaps he would puff up his cheeks and complain why he was getting rebuked for no rhyme or reason, so sometimes Kokichi was relatively grateful that Mechamaru was unable to show his expressions.

“Taka-tan beam can be said to be Takada-chan’s signature move. She will be on this puzzle show the night after tomorrow. She’ll probably use the Taka-tan beam them so go have a look for yourself.”

“So what does this Taka-tan beam have to do with the show you didn’t manage to record a few days ago?”

“Only the broadcasts limited to Kyoto have the subtitles about a traffic report during the section of the show when Takada-chan was performing her Taka-tan beam. And from the timing, it’s likely a traffic accident that has to do with a certain Jujutsu Sorcerer.”

“…….”

Kokichi was having absolute difficulty figuring out if the person before him did not care about trivial details or if he carefully thought through everything.

However, there was a strangely obvious vein popping out on Toudou’s forehead. From there, one could tell his was burning with rage. In fact, calling it rage that could not be contained was not sufficient to quantitate his fury.

“I heard you were going to handle that Jujutsu Sorcerer.”

“Everyone is sure aware of this matter, aren’t they?”

“You must exterminate this fella. Not only did they continue to hurt others, they also soiled one of Takada-chan’s important performances.”

Toudou seemed to be talking about something of great importance but Kokichi was still unable to comprehend the importance of this Takada-chan. In the end, Mechamaru revealed what Kokichi was thinking within his heart causing Toudou to frown.

“Are you serious about completing this mission?”
“I am.”

“Then you should be able to answer my next question. Mechamaru, what kind of girls are your type?”

“How did the topic come to this?”

“I feel that the responsibility of this mission is far too heavy on your shoulders.”

Toudou let out a gentle sigh.

Kokichi knew that Toudou was capable but compared to Kamo who excelled both in skills and personality, Toudou’s manner of speaking and actions were just too strange and difficult to understand.

Because of that, when he started talking, not only were there times he made Mechamaru unhappy, he also, for some reason, rebuked Mechamaru.

“What do you mean by that?”

“A person’s taste in girls reflects everything about them but till now, you have not answered my question. It seems like you have no preference or you just don’t want me to know. Someone who can’t even reply without hesitation about his preference in girls have no way of being a Jujutsu Sorcerer who can work alone.”

“Do you really think that your hypothesis makes sense?”

“Of course it does. How can a man with no confidence in himself grasp victory?”

After Toudou said that, with the sound of heavy footsteps, he walked further and further away from the corridor.

If I were in my own body, I can naturally, without holding back—

After thinking to this point, Kokichi calmed down. He thought that even if he did use his own flesh and bone body to walk around outside, it would not mean he was going to declare his type of girl. Though Toudou’s hypothesis sounded logical when one heard it, after thinking about it carefully, he was just arguing his point with no basis.

Even so, Kokichi’s heart was half filled with guilt, feeling that Toudou seemed to have seen through some of his matters and he felt shameful about it. The other half of him a slight tinge of pity. If he answered Toudou’s question, perhaps the conversation atmosphere would be an unexpected enthusiastic one.

*

Putting aside the many hurdles encountered earlier, the day when Mechamaru was to go carry out his investigation at Mt Hiei arrived.

The skies were grey today with a bit of a drizzle.

Mechamaru could not feel the steadily growing chill in the air due to the rain but the movements of his metal fingers became dull. When he moved, it felt inconvenient but this brought about an unexpected sense of fun.

He had planned to leave in the afternoon. Now he was at the area in the college where the vending machines were, waiting for a chartered car to send him to the mountain.

Of course, he was unable to drink juice or coffee.

He just had a deep impression of the students who come here to drink and rest when they were free, so he wanted to try imitating them.

“So you’re here, Mechamaru.”

“Miwa? What’s up?”

He lifted his head to realise that Mai and Nishimiya were also here.

The three of them from the Kyoto school were pretty close and got along as though there was no difference in them being second and third year. They also stuck with each other pretty often. However what confused Kokichi was why the three of them were here, together, to look for Mechamaru?

At the same time, he thought back to the time when Miwa listened to the crappy idea that Mai and Nishimiya came up with. She gave him triple A batteries as a gift for Valentine’s day. Miwa seemed to have thought for very long about what Mechamaru ate for sustenance. In the end, they told Miwa that Mechamaru’s favourite was dry alkali batteries.

However, these sorts of incidents did not only happen once and these three carried the name of mischief.

Kokichi heard that people from the other cities were scared of these girls from Kyoto. Even though he himself was not on the receiving hand, he was still sympathetic of them.

Today, they were treating others the way they always did and the things they said were normal so it was not to the point when Mechamaru needed to be tensed up, wary of their pranks.

“Mechamaru, hold your hand out.”

“……”

Since his senpai, Nishimiya had said so, he simply could not refuse.

After Mechamaru hesitated for a bit, he still stuck out his right arm.

Miwa took out something from her pocket and after that, she found a spot that would not interfere with Mechamaru’s weapon initialisation and tied something to a connection on his arm at a place that was equivalent to his wrist.

“This is…”

Mechamaru was not installed with the function to change expressions.

So, the one whose eyes widened was Kokichi who was controlling remotely from another place.

It was a cheap hair tie.

However, there was nothing strange about the hair ties itself….More importantly, there was a small shaking keychain ornament hanging from it.

That should be an item that people called a capsule toy, it was a super deformed character, a character who had been shrunk in an exaggerated manner such that they were only two heads tall. It was even tied to a small chain.

Even though the exterior of this character was in a deformed state, Mechamaru could tell that this was a toy made from a coloured soft plastic which tried to use the paint job to show that metallic armour of this character.

In other words, this was a keychain of a robot.

Mai might have thought the sight of a robotic looking Mechamaru having an accessory that looked like a small robot was amusing, so she kept giggling.

“Yesterday, the three of us went shopping then we went to the sixth floor of Avanti. We don’t usually go there.”

“Avanti? What kind of place is that?”

Mechamaru was unable to go shopping whenever he wanted so he tilted his head, puzzled and Nishimiya answered him.

“That’s a shopping center that you can reach if you take the exit on the Hachiko-dori side. It’s because Mai kept making noise about wanting to play the shooting game in the arcade so we went there.”

“I did not make noise.”

“That place was unexpectedly interesting. This was the first time I found a place with so many capsule machines outside of Akihabara.”

“But those capsule toys are more expensive than expected. We’re gonna go broke if we get hooked onto it. I wanted to get this ugly but adorable cat key chain but after spinning the machine until I got hooked, the money in my wallet got sucked away.”

“Mai, can you please stop saying such uncute things?”

Mai kept smirking while Nishimiya complained with her cheeks puffed out.

Kokichi could not help but think that “their relationship is good.”

“After that, we found out of the blue in that arcade the capsule machine with that keychain. We got shocked that there’s actually a “Mechamaru” keychain.

“….I see but I got shocked as well.”

Of course, it was not because that character on the keychain looked like “Ultimate Mechamaru”..

After all, that was a robot that showed up in an anime and was even more heroic than Mechamaru was.

That robot was Mechamaru—the hero of that anime he, Muta Kokichi, was controlling now, the hero he was a huge fan of, the robot that gave him his dreams.

Someone he initially looked up to.

“When we saw this keychain, Mai said we must put it on you.”

After said that, Mai laughed, covering her mouth.

“This is excellent, Mechamaru “on” Mechamaru, so fitting….hehehe.”

“Mai, why are you making yourself laugh. Besides, is it correct to use the preposition “on” this way?”

(T/N: Mai says ‘on’ in english rather than Japanese)

Mechamaru raised his right arm and the “Mechamaru” on his hand, starting from the short chain, started to shake.

The sky might have changed its appearance because of the wind that blew.

Small drops of rain rained down from the clouds but now, light shot through those clouds, illuminating the land slightly, shining on Mechamaru’s body.

Kokichi found the scene reflected in his artificial eyes too blinding, so he narrowed them.

“Mechamaru-kun, it’s time to go.”

Auxiliary manager Tanabe shouted from the other end of the tunnel.

Mechamaru pulled down his right sleeve as though he was exercising great care and covered the key chain.

“Have a safe trip.”

As he already turned around, so he did not see the expression when that was spoken.

But the tone and the feelings within the voice all went through Mechamaru and got transmitted to Kokichi’s heart.

“Thank you. I’ll be back soon.”

He and his schoolmates made a short good bye and at the same time, he realised –

Saying “I’ll be back soon”, just these four words, was perhaps a guarantee to the other party that he will return safely.

*

The sight of the trees moving by continuously outside the window seemed to represent the car driving through destiny.

The accident site was originally considered a civilian facility so one could get pretty close by car. However, the skill of that Jujutsu Sorcerer was controlling cars.

If they entered within the area of detection of the Sorcerer, Tanabe would be in danger.

Mechamaru decided to get off mid-journey and then walk the rest of the way, which was a fair amount of distance. Tanabe felt rather guilty about that even though Mechamaru told him not to mind that much. He seemed to be still blaming himself.

Mechamaru was unable to relax and appreciate the scenery around him, but the colourful natural landscape in this mountain region still attracted his attention.

The branches within the forest blocked the rain.

He could see a bird that had a pattern on its breast that looked like a tie under the trees’ shade and was walking around the carpet created by fallen leaves.
When Mechamaru left, Tanabe told him that it was a Japanese tit. Afterwards, that name kept repeating itself in his head.

A gentle wind blew from around him and rain came down. Birds stopped under the trees’ shade and insects crawled on the fallen leaves.

Kokichi, who was controlling Mechamaru, was not able to take a step out of his room, but watching the scene around him through the screen was the only connection he was allowed to have in this world.

Suddenly a thought flashed through his mind—

When his body was fixed, could he use his own body to feel the great nature before him that was teeming with life?

Speaking of which, that gorilla panda said he was going to visit me in Kyoto.

But he should not be able to walk around wherever he wanted to in that body so how was he going to come to Kyoto?

Besides, that Panda’s appearance was exactly like a pro bono panda. He did not wear clothes like Mechamaru.

Kokichi randomly imagined Panda taking the Shinkansen while wearing a jersey and a cap then let slip a laugh thinking that if Panda dared to do it with guts, the people around him might not notice.

However—the path that he himself had chosen would definitely not lead to such a joyful future.

Kokichi did not know how to describe the feelings that rose up in his heart at the moment and he fell into a short but deep thought.

–But from another angle, thinking too much would cause him to get somewhat distracted.

When he came near a fork in the path, suddenly there was the sound of an engine.

A red sedan with a crooked license plate was heading straight for Mechamaru.

As a box made of metal, if the car was positioned slightly down slope, just a press of the gas and it would keep accelerating with the force of gravity. The driving path was straightforward but the size and mass of the car should not be underestimated.

Mechamaru had to take action to make a huge evasion. Fortunately he was not in the mountains so he just had to rush into the forest to avoid the car from hitting him head on.

The sedan took its original path and headed for Mechamaru then stopped after crashing into a tree. Birds squawked and flew off from the branches of the tree that got knocked into.

“Seems like I’m getting a grand welcome.”

Mechamaru abandoned the road and went towards his target through the forest.

The enemy relied on attacking within his area of effect so Mechamaru should be safe as long as he was under an obstruction. However, as he got closer to the base where the Jujutsu Sorcerer was, the harder it would be to rely on obstructions to defend himself from attacks.
As he was running, he realised that some changes were happening to the branches of the trees.

The scene of the forest went from the colour of lush greenery that had just turned red to a spread of wilting pitch black. The drizzle that blurred his field of vision with a faint while also became full of poison gas.

Not long after, the trees started to become more shriveled up and his field of vision grew wider—finally he came to a space that was wide and spacious.

The image that entered his eyes was a cemetery for cars.

Some of the cars had pristine exteriors while some could only be described as battered and riddled with holes.

As though it was a malicious tumour that was the remnants of a society driven by consumerism, the wasted products were piled up to form a small hill of scrap metal. At the other end of the scrap hill, which was at the end of his field of vision that was obscured by the dense poison gas, he could see what looked like a factory.

“That Jujutsu Sorcerer’s hiding place should be in that factory….?”

All around him were piles of scrap cars which was a place that was the most advantageous for that Jujutsu Sorcerer to use his techniques. Mechamaru was aware that he faced a tough opponent but during the time he took to come up with a strategy against his opponent, the other party could have detected his invasion and fled.

In the end, once cannot catch a tiger cub unless one entered the tiger’s den.

Mechamaru became cautious and slowly entered the scrapyard, one step at a time.

Before him was a jungle of steel, full of rust.

A metal humanoid puppet was walking in a maze made of scrapped cars under dark plumes of poison gas which felt like death.

Other than the sound of heavy footsteps, the rest was just an eerie silence.

It was really too quiet.

Since he was attacked near the entrance with a car, logically speaking, the Jujutsu Sorcerer should know that someone had invaded the place. Mechamaru had mentally prepared himself to have to go into battle once he entered the scrapyard but not there was not a sign of movement. Which could mean the Jujutsu Sorcerer was preparing to flee.

Just as Kokichi was about to enter a deep thought—

Some small object dashed out from the shadows of the scrapped cars.

“—Why is there a remote-control car here?”

The remote-control car was tiny and when it drove, it was silent.

He could see an obvious modification on the back of the car, which was some box. As well as the figure of a Shikigami.

Kokichi understood at that instant that he was under attack.

He assumed that the enemy’s technique was the control of cars and in addition to the car nearly hitting him at the entrance, till now, he thought that the principle behind the other party’s attack would be to “use the weight of the car to crush his opponents”—He never thought that this Jujustu Sorcerer was the kind who would know how to use weapons of the modern civilization.

However, Mechamaru did not have the time to regret his own folly so in order to make up for the time wasted from his carelessness, he quickly aimed his left arm at the remote-control car.

“Even though the target is small….”

Ultra Cannon.

He positioned his left hand into a shooting form and a turret extended from his palm.

Then he controlled his fire power, aimed at the target and fired, the remote-control car that was shot through caught fire. At the same instant, the car gave off a blinding light. A battery that was suitable for a remote-control car had no way of causing such a large explosion.

“They rigged explosives in it…!”

Mechamaru let the heat dissipate from his left arm while steadying both his legs to hold against the strong winds caused by the explosion.

However the Jujutsu Sorcerer could have been waiting for this instant and numerous other remote-control cars rushed up the scrap cars and using those scrap cars as a launch pad, attacked Mechamaru from various directions.

Seems like lowering the fire power of Ultra Cannon fortunately allowed his arm to cool down in the nick of time.

Once Mechamaru was able to fire, he immediately launched a second Ultra Cannon. However, even though he had adjusted the fire power, this kind of weapon was not suitable for continuous firing. So after he fired a shot, he used the recoil to move his arm and with a sweeping motion , he finished off the remote-control cars.

“….Seems like the other person has made all the preparations to welcome a fight.”

In no time, Kokichi had started to understand that he was at a disadvantage.

Sword option or Ultra Shield were close range options and were both unable to defend against the exploding remote-control cars.

If this continued, he would be forced to fire with his cannon, but if he continued to fire continuous shots in a short period of time, the arm that heated up will accumulate a lot of burden in no time at all. Even if he successfully destroyed the remote-control car, the shockwaves caused from the explosion would continue to limit the space that Mechamaru could move in.

Mechamaru had withheld the resource he could use for battle for “Battles that would occur next time” but in the face of enemies who are throwing out everything he could, all the aspects that were problematic to him would show up.

However, if the other party was not controlling puppets like Mechamaru and was controlling machines with Shikagami as media then the number of cars that could be controlled was limited by the number of Shikigami he had.

If that was the case, the person activating these techniques would need to “take a breather” somewhere.

If Kokichi managed to grasp the time the Jujutsu Sorcerer took a break and went in the direction in which the Shikigami returned, he was sure to be able to capture the other party. Kokichi decided to do as such and focused on taking note of the enemy’s way of attacking—

“They actually did this!”

The enemy was able to use Shikigami to control cars.

With regards to the size of the car that could be controlled, as of now, Kokichi had experienced that the other party was not limited to large cars and he could also see that they were not limited to small cars either.

On the other side of the ball of fire caused by the remote-control car.

There was a giant shadow—a tank truck was rolling down from the top of a small hill towards where Mechamaru was.

The technique could control anything as long as it was a car—the crux of the enemy’s battle ability was used flexibly within these loose restrictions and instigated a strategy making use of the vast differences in car sizes. Mechamaru was skillfully led to a particular spot using the explosions, making it impossible for him to completely dodge the tank truck that was coming down. Even if he could dodge, he was sure to lose an arm or a leg.

Since the enemy was a Shikigami user, then the best strategy was to attack the user.

Ultra Cannon was already on the brink of overheating and Mechamaru absolutely could not lose the few long-range weapons that he had. One of the factors that could lead to victory was to secure his left arm the best he could.

After Mechamaru came to this decision, he immediately dodged, ready to sacrifice his right arm.

However, he hesitated.

“—-”

In the next second, a shockwave many times stronger that the ones produced by the remote-controlled cars rose up.

Mechamaru was sent flying by the aftershock, his clothes were burnt and he tumbled across the ground.

In the end, the part he sacrificed in order to hold against the strong shock wave was his “left arm”.

Subconsciously, he had chosen to protect his “right arm”.

“….tch.”

Mechamaru looked at his exposed right arm that had its sleeve charred off and understood even more why he made such an irrational move.

Because the keychain tied to his right hand was bobbing around making a clattering sound.

“Seems like you know that you messed up.”

“…Is that the voice of the Jujutsu Sorcerer.”

This voice came from the audio system of a scrapped car nearby.

Even though the other party’s voice sounded muffled, they sounded younger than expected.  They seemed experienced but in the eyes of that Jujutsu Sorcerer, Mechamaru looked like he made the wrong move.

Kokichi bit his dry lips.

He did make a mistake. And in this critical moment, he was having a feeling of nostalgia, something he should not be having on the battlefield. How stupid.

The curse known as “daily life” tied Mechamaru down.

Even so—Kokichi was extremely angry that someone said he made the wrong move.

“I was initially surprised how a cursed corpse made its way here but it seems like you were controlling it differently, like me. However, you made a wrong judgement about the effects of my skills. Actually I am only able to control  a shikigami the size of a bug…but within the range I can see, as long as it’s a vehicle that my shikigami can possess, I can control everything on the dashboard. I can even mess with the travelling data recorder and the GPS.”

“….So you are using the voice function of the GPS system to talk to me in order to nonchalantly expose the effects of your skills?”

“Excellent. People who are well versed in the principles will naturally realise what kind of situation they are in. This saves me a lot of time.”

Kokichi gritted his teeth and tensed up his body that was feeling pain.

But he himself was indeed forced to a perilous position so it was extremely normal for his enemy to be full of himself.

The problem was why that Jujutsu Sorcerer chose to reveal his technique at this time; And he even said “within the range I can see” – a clue that would reveal his location.

The words spoken by this Jujutsu Sorcerer indicated that he had no intention of running away – he was prepared to finish off Mechamaru here and now.

He should be planning to make Mechamaru completely lose his mobility then escape with all the time in his hands. But this was also proof that Mechamaru was the only intruder.

Kokichi started to think.

The Jujutsu sorcerer should be positioned at a place that allowed him to survey the entire scrap yard.

From this, he could deduce the relative position of that Jujutsu Sorcerer to himself. Mechamaru raised his head and scanned the abandoned factories, focusing on the roofs atop the buildings.

As expected, the enemy was there.

A figure that had a gas mask on his face and an oxygen tank upon his back appeared before his eyes. This man, who dressed more like a mad scientist than a Jujutsu Sorcerer was looking down at Mechamaru.

“Hm, our eyes met. You are indeed looking at my main body.”

“But…you don’t seem to be nervous at all.”

“What do I have to be nervous about? You’re not even making any preparations to attack me after finding me. I suppose you’re not able to do any long-distance attacks, are you?”

“An astute observation.”

“The skill of observation is something a person who drives requires. They have to look left, look right and then left once more, ensuring that there’s no one behind too before they can move. Jujutsu Sorcerer, you have to obey the traffic rules too.”

“What a pity. My main body is immobile. Also this body that I’m controlling from a distance does not have many chances to go out either.”

Even though Mechamaru was talking to the enemy now, he had no means of attacking.

His left arm together with his Ultra Cannon was destroyed and even if the enemy was right before his eyes, he could not attack from a distance. He was like a sitting duck in front of an enemy who was ready to attack.

–No, there was a skill he could use.

He had to place his bets on Mode Albatross.

He could use the turret cannon in his head – Ultimate Cannon to attack.

Of course he needed to have both his arms intact to actually call it the Ultimate Cannon.

(T/N: The Japanese name for Ultimate Cannon is Three Fold Cannon)

Furthermore, Mechamaru’s body was damaged so he could probably only be able to barely scrape past one shot. After that one shot, Mechamaru was sure to overheat.

However, judging from this Shikigami user’s get-up that involved wearing an oxygen tank, he probably had abandoned his ability to adapt quickly and was more inclined towards acting like a commander so Mechamaru had a pretty decent chance of being able to beat the Jujutsu Sorcerer in front of him.

Kokichi had high hopes of being able to hit his target with a cannon shot. His puppet was dispensable after all so he had no need to hold back so as long as he was resolved to have to wreck Mechamaru, he could use it to launch his remote attack.

Kokichi understood that this was the most intelligent decision.

But despite all this understanding—Mechamaru swung his right arm and brought out the blade that was installed within it.

Sword Option.

Bringing out a melee weapon at this point of time was akin to telling the Jujutsu Sorcerer that “I am about to struggle meaninglessly”.

“What can you do with a sword from that position?”

“I’m going to cut you.”

“Wait, how are you supposed to do that? You can’t be so dumb to be incapable of comprehending why I’m using my own two eyes to look at you in this situation?”

“Of course I know your intention. I just felt like doing meaningless things.”

Mechamaru swept his vision across his surroundings briefly.

The small Shikigami burrowed into the small hills of scraps like flies.

“Your destruction is inevitable, soon you will be part of this scrap metal pile.”

After the Jujtusu Sorcerer finished taking, Mechamaru swung his right arm that had the blade harder.

But in the next second, areas within the piles of scraps started to “explode”.

It should be the Jujutsu Sorcerer controlling his Shikigami and setting off large amounts of explosives that have been installed within the hills themselves. Various types of scrap metal few out and attacked Mechamaru from all directions as though to surround him.

From the front, behind, the left and the right, there was no escape.

However—it was not as though there was no place he could break through.

From the start, Mechamaru’s blade was aimed at one place.

“…That’s–!!”

The Jujutsu Sorcerer realised Mechamaru’s intention and let out a yell.

It was said that the force released when a large tyre ruptured was even more than that of a grenade exploding.

That force was enough to lift Mechamaru’s body.

Muto Kokichi himself, who controlled Mechamaru, had no right arm or both legs.

It sounded foolish but Mechamaru would actually protect the right arm that the original body did not possess. Even so, this right arm that should not exist—was especially useful because it was a mechanical arm that had a blade.

The tank truck that the Jujutsu Sorcerer had used earlier to attack had a detached wheel and Mechamaru swung his blade, planning from the beginning to aim at that wheel.

At the same time the wheel ruptured, Mechamaru leapt and with the force of the wind that came from the wheel, his body was lifted into the air.

“Boost Maximum!”

After that, he activated the boosters that extended out of his right elbow and continued to climb higher.

Mechamaru relied solely on the force from his right arm and the ruptured tire which resulted in a forward thrust that disregarded everything around it, causing his body to rise. In the end, the burden on his right arm was too great and it malfunctioned in a blink of an eye.

“But this is enough.”

Mechamaru had already flown to a place higher than the factory and with his mouth that did not have its Ultimate Cannon brought out, he ripped off the key chain that was attached to his right arm.

With this trajectory, his right arm was damaged more seriously.

After Mechamaru was in the air, for an instant, he was in a state of weightlessness.

After that, he twisted his body and raised his right arm that was about to be fragmented to pieces up high.

“Kuh…..!”

The Jujutsu Sorcerer finally noticed Mechamaru’s intentions and was about to run but it was too late.

The scene of Mechamaru having his back to Panda because he got careless during the exchange event flashed past Kokichi’s mind. When he was aware that victory was within his grasp and activated a powerful move, it instead resulted in an opening instead.

Choosing to fight using this kind of tactic was perhaps rather unreasonable. Until now, the him who had joined forces with cursed spirits was perhaps just out of his own shameless wishful thinking that he would get a good ending out of it—

But if it was possible—He still wished to fight to be able to “return back safely”.

This feeling only started to blossom in Kokichi now but when he looked at that small keychain, this feeling filled his heart more.

He took this unreasonable feeling and pushed all his cursed energy into it.

“Do you have a defensive Shikigami left with you?”

Nostalgia was a kind of curse and the ability to change these curses to strength was the ability of a Jujutsu Sorcerer.

When Kokichi raised the arm, he immediately injected the cursed energy within his body to activate the thruster in his right arm.

A certain scene from that mecha anime that he watched before played out in his mind.

It was a scene where the character used his ultimate skill.

As long as a person was a fan of robots, it was a move that they would definitely know.

That was – a flying metal fist.

“—Rocket Punch!”

An iron gray shooting star cut through the poison gas that was drifting around.

The fist that flew out at high speed had a force comparable to an artillery shell.

Cannon shots and ballistic projectiles were long distance attacks that Mechamaru was well practiced in so he was definitely not going to be off the mark.

Putting aside melee style sorcerers with exceptional physical abilities, a Shikigami user with heavy equipment to protect against poison definitely could not dodge instantly.

Even frantically sending out his Shikigami was to no avail.

Because the fist moved faster than a gale.

“Damnnnnnnitttttttttt, Guh—-!”

The muffled scream that was blocked by the gas mask was transmitted out of the receivers of several scrap cars.

But as the fist struck its target, explosions masked his shouts.

The Shikigami that were flying around like bugs lost control and fell to the ground at the same time.

Mechamaru carefully made sure that the Jujutsu Sorcerer had lost consciousness while trying to let his armless body land on the ground.

“……Ugh.”

After Kokichi calmed down, he said to himself “Why in the world am I working so hard for this disposable body.”…It was just that the thing that was driving this steel puppet was “To go back safely”—the wish to see his friends at school.

As the curtain vanished, the light drizzle washed away the poison gas that lingered around completely.

The scenery around changed gradually and after the curtain was completely lifted and the entire incident quietly reached its conclusion.

He steadily stood in the place where the scrap cars were left and brought an end to everything.

*

The next morning after completely the mission.

A refreshing blue sky hung above his head.

Mechamaru sat on a bench in the courtyard of the college and raised his head to look at the high and endless azure. He absently mindedly thought about what shapes the clouds that drifted past were taking.

At that moment, the sound of light footsteps came from the direction of the school dormitories and they were steadily coming closer.

Mechamaru lowered his head and looked in the direction of the footsteps. Reflected in his eyes was Miwa.

“Mechamaru~”

“….Oh, so it’s you, Miwa.”

“What do you mean “Oh, so it’s you, Miwa.” After you took on that mission about that Jujustsu Sorcerer, you never came to class for lessons. I was even worried if something happened to you.”

“………”

“What? Why did you go all quiet?”

“You’ll get worried about me?”

“Of course I will.”

Miwa had an expression that said, “What silly things are you saying”. If Kokichi was in Miwa’s position today, he would probably worry about his companion just like she did.

However, Mechamaru was just a substitute puppet after all and his battles, at most, happened in places far away from him.

Even so, Mechamaru felt that “the obvious normal action” of showing concern to one’s companion made him especially awkward…after a short amount of time, he looked at Miwa again.

“Miwa.”

“What?”

“I’m back.”

“……Yeap, it’s good that you are.”

Just these few short sentences were enough to make Mechamaru feel that time was endless.

A feel of satisfaction and a tinge of loneliness filled Kokichi’s heart but Miwa was unable to peer into the complexity of his inner world so she just smiled like she always did.

“But, you could have told me earlier.”

“I was a bit too ashamed to look for you.”

“Huh, why?”

“The hair tie you gave me snapped.”

“This kind of thing would happen huh.”

Miwa blinked her round eyes as though she believed what he said.

“So you’re actually bothered by such things.”

“…Is it surprising?”

“I just feel that I still don’t understand you that well.”

“So you’re actually bothered by such a thing.”

“Is it surprising?”

“Not at all.”

Miwa could not stifle her laughter.

Mechamaru did not laugh because he was not installed with a function to do so.

Kokichi moved away from Mechamaru’s view for a while and turned his gaze to the clothing that was folded and placed in the dimly lit room.

A charred keychain was kept in the pocket of the clothing. If he told Miwa “I brought the keychain back though, who knows what kind of expression she would have.

It was such a pity that he could only observe her expression through Mechamaru.

But Kokichi really did imagine it.

At this time, at this moment, he understood what a heartwarming phrase “I’m back” was.

He did not know what kind of feelings he would have when he was able to say “Hello, nice to meet you” to other people. When his classmates knew what he had done, what kind of expressions would they have.

It did not matter if they were troubled or if they started to treat him as an enemy. Kokichi just wanted to look at them with his own two eyes.

“Miwa.”

“What is it? Mechamaru.”

I’ll be seeing you soon—

However Kokichi still could not say those words.

“Nothing.”

Mechamaru could not laugh.

Mechamaru could not cry.

But this was just because he did not install the function to express emotions.

However, at this point, no one understood Mechamaru, so this trivial matter was still unknown to the rest.