What does it mean that the group members have given me back the light?

Yuuji Itadori was a little dizzy from being shaken: "Huh? These are all lines from the Ultraman series..."

"Ultraman series?"

Just as Yoshino Junpei was about to ask further questions, the sound of a key turning suddenly came from the entrance hall, accompanied by the rustling of a plastic bag. A lazy female voice came from the doorway: "I'm back~~ I bought a lot of fried chicken nuggets on sale at the supermarket today... Oh dear, is there a guest?"

……

……

"Huh? You've only known my Shunping for half a day?"

"Although we've only known each other for half a day, we're sure to become friends."

"Really? Hahahaha, then you must spend more time with him! Come on, cheers!"

"Hey, Auntie, I'm still a minor and can't drink alcohol..."

"..."

An hour later, the table was piled high with empty beer cans. Yoshino Nagi, her cheeks flushed, slumped drunkenly on the table, still clutching a half-empty can of beer in her hand, mumbling incoherently, "Junpei...you should make more friends..."

Yoshino Junpei sighed, rubbing his forehead: "Mom... you've had too much to drink again..."

"Auntie has a really high alcohol tolerance!" Hisahito Itadori exclaimed sincerely as he tidied up the empty cans on the table. "Although she only drank three cans before passing out."

"Is that the point?!" Yoshino Junpei couldn't help but complain, momentarily forgetting about Ultraman: "How come you guys became so familiar with each other so quickly?! We've only known each other for a little over an hour, but we're already like old friends of ten years!"

Yuji Itadori tossed the last empty can into the trash can, flashing his signature hearty smile: "Isn't this wonderful? The connections between people are truly amazing."

“Where is it good…” Yoshino Junpei muttered to himself, but saw Itadori Yujin already expertly bringing a blanket from the kitchen and carefully covering Yoshino’s mother’s shoulders.

"Auntie will catch a cold sleeping here. Should we help her to the bedroom?" Hisahito Itadori asked in a low voice.

Yoshino Junpei paused for a moment, watching this overly familiar guy skillfully taking care of his mother, and suddenly felt both annoyed and amused: "You... why are you able to run around in my house so naturally?"

"Ah, well..." Yuji Itadori scratched his head, "Because my grandfather often gets drunk, and I'm used to taking care of drunk adults!"

Yoshino Junpei opened his mouth, but in the end he just sighed: "Never mind... help me help my mom to the sofa."

After the two carefully settled Yoshino's mother, Itadori Yuujin suddenly seemed to remember something and lowered his voice: "By the way, Junpei, does your mother... know about the cursed spirits?"

Yoshino Junpei's expression instantly became complicated: "No... she doesn't know anything. I don't want her to know either."

"Well, it's a good thing we don't know." Hisahito Itadori smiled.

"Itadori-kun, you're a sorcerer, right?" Yoshino Junpei suddenly asked.

“Eh, that’s right…” Hisahito Itadori paused, taken aback.

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

"……No."

"But one day, you'll have to fight bad sorcerers, won't you?"

"But even so, I don't want to kill anyone."

"Why? Because they're bad people."

“Killing…can change a person.” Yuji Itadori’s voice lowered as he looked at his palm. “Using ‘the other person is a bad guy’ to justify killing, if you continue down this path…in the end, a part of yourself will die along with him. I don’t want to become like that.”

Yoshino Junpei stared at Itadori Yuujin's profile and noticed that the usually sunny boy had an unusually serious expression at this moment.

The kitchen faucet dripped, and the room was so quiet that Yoshino Nagi's even breathing could be heard.

"Even if... the other party is truly an utterly wicked person?" Yoshino Junpei pressed, his voice trembling slightly.

Yuji Itadori raised his head and looked directly into Junpei Yoshino's eyes: "Bad people should be stopped, they should be locked up... but it's not the same as me killing them."

He clenched his fist. "I will fight, I will make sure they can no longer hurt others... but I will not easily decide the life or death of others."

……

……

Yuji Itadori left.

Lying in bed, Yoshino Junpei raised his arm, the light from the ceiling chandelier, a gift from Itadori Hisahito before his departure, obscuring his face as well.

This is a CD, which is said to contain a tokusatsu series called "Ultraman Seven". Yuji Itadori said that there is only one copy in the world. He obtained permission from some group members and spent some points to remake it.

Is a passionate heart... something that can never be extinguished...?

Yoshino Junpei recalled the first line of Ultraman's dialogue that Itadori Yuujin had just recited.

Humans have no heart—he once firmly believed this statement from the True Man who gave him power, and that those bastards who bullied him truly did not deserve to have a heart.

but……

Are people like Urajimaru and his mother... heartless?

As drowsiness crept in, Yoshino Junpei's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Even in the final moments before drifting off to sleep, he still couldn't figure out the answer to that question.

In the darkness, a figure appeared silently beside the bed.

But what Yoshino Junpei didn't notice was that while he was fast asleep, a figure appeared beside his bed at some unknown time.

"Oh no, this is really bad."

The real person looked down at the sleeping boy, a troubled expression on its face covered with stitches. It reached out and gently stroked Shunping's face, its voice like a sigh: "Is it so happy to be friends with Su Nuo's vessel? The negative energy that was almost overflowing is now almost completely depleted."

It scratched its chin in distress, pondering how to "help" the boy who was about to emerge from despair kick him back into the abyss of despair.

Then, its movements stopped.

"this is……?"

The real person's gaze fell on the disc that Shunping was clutching tightly, a hint of curiosity in their eyes. They slowly reached out and probed towards the disc that was reflecting a faint light...

……

……

That evening, Level 1 sorcerer Nanami Kento encountered a powerful enemy on the street and was seriously injured; more than ten passersby who were also caught in the battle died on the spot.

According to the victim, the attacker was a strange man in a tight-fitting suit with crimson and silver markings all over his body, hexagonal glowing eyes, a beam of light on his forehead, and a signature head crest. It appears that the attacker concealed his identity.

However, the other party's identity was quickly revealed.

"It really is that boy named Yoshino Junpei."

After being healed by the talisman, Nanami Kento's lost arms were reattached. He looked at Itadori Yuujin, who was now looking down, and at the seemingly ordinary stone in the other's hand with some surprise, but quickly regained his composure as always.

"Before the battle began, he transformed using his glasses."

……

……

Yuji Itadori remained silent, but sent a few messages in the chat group.

[The ultimate elbow striker: Nono, I want to ask you something.]

[The Ultimate Elbow Strike Master: What would you do if one day the person you saved ended up hurting even more people?]

-----------------

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Chapter Twenty-Three: Delusional Seven (3k3)

Time returns to the present.

Gu Nuo sighed helplessly. Although he felt like he was being chased and killed, after thinking it over carefully, he quickly replied to Itadori Yuuhito.

Noah is still chasing me: Stop him before he hurts more people—that's the most standard answer I can think of.

[Noah is still pursuing me: But I don't know the actual situation... What happened? Is there a special reason why you're asking me this privately?]

[The strongest elbow master: ...Sorry, something happened, and I'd like to ask for your opinion as Ultraman.]

[The Ultimate Elbow Master: Here's what happened...]

Hisahito Itadori sent him a detailed account of everything that had happened in the past two days.

then……

[Noah is still chasing me: (old man's cell phone on the subway).jpg]

[Noah is still chasing me: You mean, your friend transformed into Ultraman Seven in the middle of the night, not only attacking your boss? But also killing many people?]

[The strongest elbow striker: Simply put, that's exactly right.]

[The strongest elbow striker: But, I still can't believe that Shunpei would do such a thing...]

Hisahito Itadori's words were almost overflowing with disappointment—this boy, who was always sunny and cheerful in the group, seemed so lost at this moment.

[Noah is still chasing me: (sighs).jpg]

Gu Nuo didn't know what to say. He wasn't good with words. If he weren't, he wouldn't have been able to do such a trivial thing as healing the superpowered person's legs with a horse talisman when he encountered that person today.

But since unexpected events like 'Ultraman Seven' injuring people have already occurred in the world of magic... now is not the time to be sentimental.

[Noah is still chasing me and has sent you a 'world teleportation' request.]

Noah is still chasing me: I'm going over there to get my application approved.

……

……

The static from the television was faintly coming from the living room, as if it were coming through frosted glass.

Yoshino Junpei opened his sore eyes in the darkness and groped to prop up his heavy body.

The feeling of the sheets being soaked with sweat made him momentarily dazed—the dream was too real.

In his dream, he became Ultraman Seven—the red giant from the disc that Itadori gave him, as if he were truly living inside his body.

A voice, as if rising from the depths of his memory, guided him to find those familiar faces. He remembered the blazing light bursting from his forehead, the sharp sound of the headdress cutting through the air, and the terrified expressions on the faces of those bullies.

"What a wonderful dream."

Yoshino Junpei moved his aching shoulders, feeling a sharp pain in his muscle fibers, but there was no pain on his face; instead, he felt somewhat comfortable.

The pain was strange; it didn't feel like an injury, but rather like the satisfying exhaustion after a vigorous workout.

A long dream seemed to dissipate most of the pent-up frustration that had been weighing on his chest for days, but it didn't completely resolve the monster, leaving a thorn still stuck in his heart.

...How long ago was it that you used to frequently dream of transforming into Kamen Rider or controlling giant robots to fight evil?

Thinking of this, Yoshino Junpei suddenly fell silent.

The answer is obvious...it must have happened after experiencing bullying, right?

From that time on, no matter how he called out in his heart, he received no response; the teachers ignored his situation; after he fought back only to be bullied even more severely... he no longer believed in so-called heroes.

Good morning, Shunping. Did you sleep well?

The familiar voice made Yoshino Junpei look up abruptly.

When he finally saw the face covered in stitches, which he could only make out with the light from the television, his pupils contracted sharply: "Mr. Real Person? Why are you here... wait a minute?"

Only then did he belatedly look around—damp walls dripping water, dim light casting distorted shadows on the cement floor… This was no bedroom; it was clearly a sewer where a real person lived.

"This is so interesting!"

Seemingly oblivious to Yoshino Junpei's stiff expression, the Curse of the Real Person, like a happy child, pointed at the red giant fighting a monster on the television screen in front of him and said with a hearty laugh:

"Giants from outer space helping Earthlings? That's amazing!"

The real person exaggeratedly spread their arms wide: "This guy could destroy an entire city with just a flick of his finger, right? Even we cursed spirits can't do that. Where did such an interesting video come from?"

"Uh, this... was a gift from my friend..."

Yoshino Junpei subconsciously concealed Itadori Yuujin's existence.

In his eyes, both of them were important figures who helped him when he was desperate. He did not want a conflict between them, even though the Master Zhenren had said that for sorcerers and spirits, the other was always an irreconcilable enemy.

Moreover, there are some more important things to do right now.

Why am I here with Mr. Real Person?

Yoshino Junpei said somewhat anxiously, "If I'm not home so early in the morning, my mother will definitely..."