"Oek! Oek!"
The shrill crying suddenly pierced through my awareness.
Damn it! I snapped out of my thoughts. Only then did I realize that I had left the two babies lying there for far too long beside their mother's lifeless body.
The woman's body had already begun to grow cold. Dried blood clung to the ground around her, forming dark stains among the grass. A faint metallic scent lingered in the damp forest air, mixed with the earthy smell of wet soil.
The babies' cries grew louder.
I quickly stepped closer.
Carefully, I lifted them one by one from the ground. Their tiny bodies felt warm in my hands, a stark contrast to their mother's body, which had already lost every trace of life's warmth.
The moment my skin touched them, I felt something immediately—Cursed Energy.
Faint, but unmistakable. It trembled lightly across the surface of their skin like a subtle current moving slowly beneath it.
As I looked closer at the babies' faces, I finally realized who they were.
Even though the two baby girls were twins, small differences could still be noticed if one looked carefully.
Mimiko had a few strands of brown hair mixed among her black hair. The color looked soft, slightly lighter than her natural hair. Mimiko's pair of brown eyes were still filled with tears, glistening faintly beneath the dim light that slipped through the gaps in the trees.
Meanwhile, Nanako had several strands of brighter caramel-colored hair that stood out against the surrounding black strands. Nanako's brown eyes appeared slightly brighter, and even though she was still crying, there was something subtly different about her gaze.
The difference between the two of them was extremely slight.
But it was enough to tell them apart.
Mimiko had inherited her mother's hair color.
Nanako, on the other hand, had inherited her father's.
I stared at their small faces for a few seconds longer. The babies were still sniffling quietly, their breathing uneven after crying for so long.
Their reddened eyes blinked weakly, as if they could not yet understand what had happened around them. I finally let out a quiet sigh, allowing the silence of the forest to settle back into my mind.
Without saying much, I began burying their parents properly.
The forest soil was soft enough that it was not too difficult to dig. Using a shovel and hoe created from my Innate Technique, while placing Mimiko and Nanako into a baby seat I also formed with my Innate Technique, I dug a simple grave beneath the shadows of the trees.
There were no long prayers. No special ceremony.
Only the sound of soil falling slowly, covering their bodies layer by layer.
Everything ended in silence.
A few minutes later, two simple mounds of earth had formed. There were no markers, no gravestones—only freshly flattened soil. I stood there for a moment, staring at them before finally shifting my gaze to the two babies in my arms.
After that, I brought Mimiko and Nanako back to our temporary base in Akiruno City.
The journey back was fairly quiet. The babies occasionally made small sounds, but their cries were no longer as loud as before. The blanket wrapped around their tiny bodies moved slightly each time their little hands twitched.
When I finally arrived at the base and opened the door, the atmosphere inside changed instantly.
The moment I stepped in with two babies in my arms, Shizuka and Rika, who were inside the room, froze.
Shizuka, who had been standing near the table, stared at me with widened eyes.
"Kenji! What are you doing?!" Shizuka shouted in panic. "Whose babies did you kidnap?!"
I immediately clicked my tongue in annoyance.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you? I didn't kidnap them!"
I stepped further inside before quickly explaining, "I found them while I was heading to the location I'd been waiting for. Their parents were killed by a Cursed Spirit. They were lying there wrapped in a blanket beside their mother's body."
I lifted the two babies slightly. "That's why I brought them here."
Shizuka still looked doubtful, as if she didn't completely believe my explanation. Meanwhile, Rika simply stood there, staring at the two babies without blinking.
Hm? Why is Rika just standing there silently?
"Hey, Rika," I said, glancing at her. "What do you think? Do you think I'm wrong?"
Shizuka immediately turned toward Rika, as if hoping to get her support.
Rika finally opened her mouth.
But not to answer the question.
"…Are you going to send them to an orphanage?" Rika asked softly.
The question made me pause for a moment.
An orphanage. A reasonable choice for ordinary people. But these two babies weren't ordinary.
Even now, I could feel their Cursed Energy. It was still weak, but it was clearly there—a faint vibration flowing from their tiny bodies.
They possessed quite a large amount of Cursed Energy even from birth.
Sooner or later, the world of Jujutsu would drag them in, whether they wanted it or not.
"No," I finally replied firmly. "We'll adopt them."
Shizuka immediately stared at me sharply. "What?!"
"No matter what happens, they'll eventually come into contact with the Jujutsu world," I explained. "If we take them to an orphanage, there's a high chance they'll end up distancing themselves from others—or even be avoided by people—once they realize they can see Cursed Spirits."
I paused for a moment before continuing in a more serious tone. "That's not a good option."
"At least if they stay with us, we can teach them how to control the Cursed Energy they have." Then the corner of my lips lifted slightly.
"Think of it as practice for you two," I said casually. "So when you have children of your own someday, you'll already have some experience."
"What?! Kenji, you idiot! You're so annoying!" Shizuka shouted. Her face instantly turned red all the way to her ears, clearly caught between embarrassment and irritation. She even stomped the floor in frustration, as if trying to vent her annoyance.
Rika remained standing with her usual calm expression.
"Mm… In that case, let's do it," Rika said briefly. Even though her voice sounded calm, a faint blush could be seen at the tips of her ears.
I looked at the two of them for a moment before turning my gaze back to the two small babies in my arms.
Mimiko and Nanako's crying had begun to fade. They only made soft little sounds now, as if they were slowly calming down.
A fate that should have been filled with tragedy was now beginning to change direction.
...
...
...
A full month had passed since Mimiko and Nanako arrived at our temporary base in Akiruno City.
During that time, quite a lot had happened. Our days weren't always filled with major events, but life at the base had become much busier than before. The presence of the two babies alone was enough to change our daily rhythm.
Their cries sometimes echoed through the night, hurried footsteps could occasionally be heard in the corridors, and various small preparations needed to take care of them slowly became part of our routine.
But aside from that matter, my mind had also begun to fill with other plans related to the world of Jujutsu.
One of the things I did during that month was ask Mei Mei to find a way for us to obtain two children from the Zenin Clan—Maki and Mai.
That request immediately caused a rather strange reaction from them.
I still remembered very clearly the moment when I first said it to Mei Mei. At that time, we were sitting in the main room of our temporary base, a simple room with a long wooden table that had several scratches on its surface, along with a few chairs placed rather randomly around it.
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