Chapter 350
Title: Interlude — Kimi's Perfect Run (4)
—
"Hey, what are you reading?"
It was just another day in Kimi's life as his maid. Inside this large mansion that once felt like a glorified prison, Kimi was passing her days happily.
"...Stop giving me that cheeky smile. You are supposed to work; you know?"
Sat behind the kitchen block, she was sneakily reading a manga. She enjoyed this hobby of hers aside from the hobby of messing and loving this sweet young master of hers.
"Only bad maids skip work and read manga, sitting behind the kitchen like you are right now."
Her young master stared at her dryly with his blue eyes. Her own blue eyes stared back, her lips forming a smirk.
"What happens if I don't stop reading?"
"Are you teasing me right now?"
She usually got offended when he came interrupting her while reading manga. He usually made more fun of her when she got offended.
This time it was a little different.
The manga was a little special. In that, it reminded Kimi of him while reading it.
Instead of making a smart comeback, Kimi spread her arms at him. It was a gesture asking for him to come read it with her.
"Sit on my lap. We can read it together. I think you'll like it quite a bit."
"...Hmmm."
Back then, her young master gave her a perplexed look.
Kimi usually acted very obediently or deliberately acted out to get on his nerves. It was rare for her to act so gently and treat him like a big sister as she did before everything went downhills (uphills?) on a trip two years ago.
Now that he was 14 years old, their relationship was quite mixed and frankly weird. Not that either of them was complaining.
Saying, "Well, it doesn't hurt.", the white-haired boy dug himself into her arms. He sat on her lap, his back against her soft chest, as her chin fell over his head.
Kimi smiled and brought up the manga before both of their faces. Then, they began reading it.
Kimi started from the first chapter again, since a new reader just joined. It was at the end of the chapter that 'he' was introduced. He was why Kimi had asked her young master to join her in this read.
Surprisingly, the boy recognized who that was.
"Ah. I remember now. I was wondering where I saw this before… This is JJK? Jujutsu Kaisen? I only recalled when I saw Gojo."
Kimi was shocked. How did he know this? Thinking back, he knew most of the pre-quirk-era manga she read. She even had a theory that he was secretly an old-gen manga enthusiast just like her.
Kimi nodded. "Yes, yes! This Gojo guy looks just like you, right? It's uncanny. I think you even have a few sunglasses similar to him."
"Yeah?"
"If the multiverse theory is real, it will be wild when you two meet. Ah, you are kinda really weak though. He has the Six Eyes and whatnot, so he will beat you up easily. But don't you worry, I will protect you!"
"But you're weaker than me…"
"What? No. I am faster than you. That means I am stronger."
"Your coping mechanism is acting up."
"You're just too full of yourself."
"You're a disrespectful maid."
At one point, the two of them forgot about the manga and started arguing. Kimi should have seen the outcome coming, as she was dragged to his room and was dealt unspeakable things to herself.
….Thinking again, why's she recalling that incident? Even though it's been so long.
As the wind blew by her face, fluttering her long blonde hair behind her, Kimi stood in the air opposite the manga character that she was reading back then.
Gojo Satoru, the Limitless, stood before her in the air. With her hands in his pockets, he stood smiling, while wearing a blindfold over his eyes.
'Haaah, I miss him so much.'
* * *
The sun was bright above their heads. Large puffs of clouds moved past them as they stood in the sky, the sea beneath their feet and the distant edge of Tokyo city also visible.
"I believe you knocked on the wrong door,"
The albino man whose handsome features were clear even with a blindfold on said smoothly.
"Can you please leave this world?"
"...."
It had been eight months since she last saw the man she loved.
Now, she stood before this man. This lookalike who was uncannily similar to him.
The [Dimension Lost] had failed her expectations. It brought her somewhere entirely undesired.
Kimi felt rather annoyed by this whole development. Why must she go through this torture? Why couldn't she just have an easier time? She wanted to see him already…
Slapping her face with her hands, she released a deep sigh in her hand.
"Are you not feeling all right?"
Contrary to his initial words, the man asked as if he was worried. The man whom Kimi easily recognized as the one Satoru Gojo.
Truthfully, Kimi was a fan. Due to how similar he looked to Neji, Kimi was an instant fan. It was he who made her read the old manga called JJK, released more than 200 years before her era.
Looking at his face properly in person, and also recalling his characteristics, Kimi could see why the Sacred Gear would mistake him for Neji.
However, she could also see the minute details that were quite different.
Neji's hair was silver, purely so, while Gojo's was a mixture between white and slightly purple. That and, using an X-ray spell to look beneath his blindfold, she noted Gojo's eyes were also a little more beautiful than Neji's own.
At least, more beautiful than what he had eight months ago. Kimi wasn't sure how long it had been for him, and how much he had changed.
Was he searching for her? Or did he forget about her? He loved her, for sure, but in the end, she was just a random maid who was the clone of a villain who killed his parents. She was worthless.
In any case, it was quite undeniable that Neji and Gojo looked very similar. And that wasn't good for Kimi's current mental health.
"...I'm fine,"
Kimi sighed as she pulled her hands back from her face.
"I apologize. I… am just searching for someone. I hadn't come here to threaten anyone. I will leave."
"I see. Forgive my unwelcoming self, then. The world simply considers you a threat and wants you to be gone."
Gojo explained as Kimi nodded at him. Sighing once again, she channeled her mana to utilize Dimensional Lost.
"Find me a hot white-haired and blue-eyed young man named Neji Hado. He has magical eyes. He can release shockwaves from his palms. He is popular with ladies and handsome. Note, he is not Gojo Satoru."
Kimi told the Sacred Gear and wished for it to activate.
Sadly, she was baffled by the message it sent to her mind.
[The Dimensional Lost is under a cool down. Please wait 24 hours before trying again.]
"This fucking…"
What the fuck did that mean?
Why now?
She didn't want to be here.
Kimi couldn't help a groan from rumbling out of her throat.
"Is something wrong?"
Kimi looked up with a frown. Gojo was staring at her with a raised eyebrow, surely questioning her words just now, more than the curse she uttered.
…In truth, if she were to tell him about the problem, he would think that she was lying. A fight will break out for sure if that were to happen.
A fight against… that.
[Gojo Satoru – Tier 33]
So he was Tier 33. That shouldn't be the case, he shouldn't be that strong. So unless he got stronger in this timeline, it was the World's Will that was buffing him. To match her own Tier 33 powers.
Worse, Gojo was a space-ability-based character. Space and Time were in the end the same thing, so he could nullify most of Kimi's time attacks.
Gojo was a character who ignored Tier differences. As long as he had Limitless activated, he was unbeatable.
Unfortunately, Satoru Gojo had already activated that since the start.
A fight with him would be annoying. It wasn't entirely out of her league, even with their Tier being the same since in the original timeline Gojo was beaten by a pretty hefty time-based technique.
However, she should be prepared for an [Restart] in the worst-case scenario.
Gojo noted her silence. "From the way your expression has distorted, it seems something indeed is wrong. Hmm."
The white-haired man rubbed his chin as he thought. Then, he smiled.
"Despite what I said earlier, would you mind some coffee? You said you were in search of someone. I don't actually mind lending a helping hand to a pretty lady. I can keep the Orders of the World even with a coffee, instead of a battle."
Hearing Gojo's new offer, Kimi was suddenly delighted. Was the Will of this World making an exception?
She was about to accept his offer, but a voice rang in her head. The voice of the Red Dragon Emperor, Draig.
["...Kimi, think about it carefully before deciding."]
Kimi stopped her lips from moving.
Should she really go drink coffee with the lookalike of her young master?
If he ever found out, somehow, what would he think? Neji had all sorts of weird powers. What if one allowed him to look into where his girls were? If he uses the technique on her, worried that she might be in danger, worried why she hadn't gone to him yet, worried that she was dead… only for him to learn that she was sipping coffee with another man who looks like him.
That would be heartbreaking. Kimi actually didn't like such meaningless misunderstandings.
No, beyond that, was she fine with it? To go drinking with another man, who just so happened to remind her of her most loved person…?
Was she so pathetic that she needed consolation from a lookalike? Wasn't it just a coffee, basically cheating?
Kimi frowned. No, she wasn't that low. She was a pervert, a woman who was sick in her head. But she was all that and more, but her young master alone.
Kimi shook her head. "I am sorry, I refuse. I can't yet leave this universe, but I can just leave this planet. I will leave earth and go wait on the moon or something until I am able to teleport. You can rest assured."
"...Ah, I am afraid that can't happen." The Curse Mage rubbed the back of his head. "I'd either have to keep a watch on you until you leave, or eliminate you."
Kimi didn't like the idea of him lurking near her. He was naturally a flirty guy, and talkative too. He'd try things on her and she would get mad.
The outcome then would be a fight. So since there was no choice….
"Sure,"
Kimi released the hold in her mana.
"Let's get into it."
Gojo Satoru sighed, and then dashed at her at a speed unrestricted by this entire universe that wanted her eliminated.
* * *
Kimi had Mana nearly in the billion number. Precisely, she had accumulated 980,778,006 mana points.
While that was huge, Gojo had the 'Limitless'. Contrary to general belief, it didn't grant him infinite mana, or in this case, Cursed Energy, but it lowered the cost of each technique enough that it appeared he had Limitless energy. Now that he was Tier 33, that cost had lowered more and his energy reserves have also increased.
In a dragged-out battle, Kimi would lose for sure.
However, there was no chance that the fight would be dragged out.
After all…
Gojo could finish any enemy at once. His Domain Expansion was a one-shot ability that anyone who didn't have a thing like the Gamer's Mind would be instantly dealt with.
Kimi's only chance to outclass that was to not allow him to launch that attack in the first place. The only way to do that was to keep him busy and make an artifact that can take him out.
An artifact similar to the one that took him out in the canon timeline. It only managed to seal him, in truth, but that was enough.
Sadly, Kimi didn't have such an artifact. Since this was an ongoing battle, she couldn't just make an artifact either. She was doomed.
After three minutes, Gojo launched his Domain Expansion.
Surprisingly, the world line didn't just [Restart]. Kimi was alone, staring at Gojo, inside his domain, Infinity.
"Oh my…"
With his finger making a sign, Gojo was pulling his blindfold down as he had activated his Infinity.
In this realm, within this space-time singularity, all information of the universe traveled into the head of the target. It caused them to pause in their spot. It made them freeze in time, due to the overload of their brain from the information.
So why didn't Kimi go out?
"...Draig?"
When Kimi asked and didn't receive an answer… she realized why.
…Draig had taken the blow of the domain in her stead.
"No… Draig? Answer me if you are still there."
This wasn't good. Since Draig was a soul, if she got destroyed, there was no way to bring her back. It would be the end for that dragon.
"..."
Gojo stood in the far, still in his pose.
"..."
Kimi will remember the sacrifice of her friend who had been together with her for the last eight months.
Taking a deep breath, Kimi decided it was time to end things.
* * *
The battle lasted quite a… long? Kimi didn't remember. Inside the domain, there was no sun, so telling the time was a little hard. It may have been years for all she knew.
But finally,
The battle had ended.
The domain vanished and Kimi was back in the sky, with only Gojo's head left in the vicinity.
It was a strange battle. Their powers were quite similar and counter to one another.
Kimi could heal endlessly thanks to the Apocalyptic Dragon, the Great Red whom she had absorbed. But so could Gojo, thanks to his Reverse Curse Technique.
Their technique affinity was very close too. Gojo was focused on space-related abilities, while Kimi was mostly on time-related ones–though she too had a few spatial tactics in her pockets.
"Haaah…."
The sky was as blue and bright as back then. The clouds were just as gentle too. The only change was that, while Kimi was floating in her spot, Gojo only had his head remaining.
Kimi grabbed Gojo's severed head. She stared at his open eyes that were staring back at her still. The blue eyes had lost most of their color and were nearly white. It looked creepy.
Gojo was dealt with. That was the difference from back when she came to this world, to now.
But… There was another difference.
The voice that had helped Kimi for the last eight months was… gone. Now that the battle had ended, Kimi understood how lonely it was.
Draig, the Red Dragon Emperor, was-
["Aughh. Bff- Ak, it tastes weird in my head. Huh? Kimi? Oh, when did you kill this guy?"]
Kimi blinked. She worried if she was hearing things or not, but scanning her own existence, she found another soul near her. She wasn't hearing things.
A smile bloomed on her face.
"Draig! What happened?! Where did you go?!"
["Oh… Ah, well. Do you know the Great Red is the God of Dreams? He has a strong power called Dream Manipulation. When this guy launched his Domain thingy, I utilized that Dream Manipulation to counter it. Since both are powers related to information, it worked out well. Though it seems I was stuck in a trance for as long as the technique was active. Did I worry you?"]
"Of course you did! I'm… so glad that you're all right."
["Hoho, that's great to know. In any case, I think we should leave now. There are other strong people here, they might come after us if we stay here any longer."]
"Huh? Ah, right. I should change before I go, though."
Her clothes were nearly gone in the battle. She needed to wear something else. Looking down at the city of Tokyo beneath her feet, Kimi got an idea.
She quickly rushed down and entered a floor within a skyscraper. An old man and a young woman were inside one of those fancy balcony pools, making out, as Kimi entered the apartment.
"Ak!"
"Angel?!"
The two couples screeched and froze in their spot. The word 'angel' twisted into 'devil' when they saw Gojo's head that Kimi was holding.
Kimi ignored them, waving a hand that turned them into statues stuck in time. They'd be free in half an hour, and Kimi should be done by then.
"I need a mirror…"
Kimi walked around the apartment to find a mirror. When she finally found it, she stopped before it and stared into her eyes.
Kimi had created a spell that can take powers. It was inspired by All-for-One. She used it to steal the Power of Destruction from Rias and Sirzechs. She also used it to assimilate Great Red's powers into herself.
Now, she put her hands over Gojo's eyes—and activated the spell. Her hand shone, and then Gojo's eyes turned entirely white.
Then Kimi used the power of destruction to blast Gojo's head into splinters. She felt a little tinge in her heart since the face looked so much like Neji's. Snapping her fingers, she cleaned herself off the mess and looked in the mirror.
Her eyes were blue. Brighter than ever. She looked at herself in the mirror, and the world seemed more colorful than ever. She could see her own energy and even her own blood vessels.
Six Eyes. Kimi had it now.
"…Good. Now it's time to pick clothes."
Kimi went to the wardrobe nearby and started to scavenge through it. When she finally found something she liked, a blue qipao dress, she wore it and came before the mirror, grabbing the mirror and using her eyes to take a careful look at herself.
Turning her blonde hair into white, activating her White Tiger powers, Kimi looked at her reflection. Even her new eyes could see through everything, even those two pupils were considered perfect.
[Image Here]
….
After changing into the new outfit, Kimi ran out of time. Having defeated the champion of this world, or even the universe perhaps, the world was on high alert. It chose a new champion and sent him to her.
Kimi didn't want to continue fighting though. So she clicked her fingers and activated her [Dimension Lost], using the same search tags as before.
"Find me a hot white-haired and blue-eyed young man named Neji Hado. He has magical eyes. He can release shockwaves from his palms. He is popular with ladies and handsome. Note, he is not Gojo Satoru."
The world whirled around her, and her existence spun in and out of itself, as Kimi was devoured by a fog of mystery, fading out of this universe and into another one.
For a moment… Kimi felt a pull in her existence. Something felt… wrong.
As if something was calling her towards itself. It couldn't be a false feeling given the situation, but Kimi strongly resisted it.
It had an ominous feel to it.
"...Nah, this doesn't feel good."
For all she knew, it may be an eldritch horror lurking between the gap of universes. Like the Great Red, but a bigger threat.
So Kimi forced her will against it, and allowed her Sacred Gear to bring her to a designated spot.
Kimi appeared in a Japanese room.
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Master4thWall Note: I kinda lost control of time and pumped up 8.4k words. That's why I divided it into two parts after debating with myself.
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