The Strongest Sorcerer of Tomorrow (Megumi x Arknights)

Chapter 25: Idol

It was times like this that Fushiguro Megumi was starting to wonder if his own body was running on fumes. Like a machine pushing out energy constantly, the steel structure and metal casings within it would eventually start to heat up and reach a breaking point. From the inside out, the orange heat of self-evisceration would be prominently seen from a machine working to its limit. Eventually, it would tire itself so much that it would stop functioning altogether.

Burnout was a common thing amongst Jujutsu Sorcerers, not in the Cursed Technique sense, but burning out from taking too many missions. Megumi wasn't a professional Sorcerer, but he knew damn well what it was like to burn out from constant events flooding one's life. Although it was just fine when he first entered Jujutsu Tech, it certainly didn't help when Itadori Yuji entered his life. Not that he disliked the man, just that it was the mark before everything started downhill.

If anybody were to tell Fushiguro Megumi if he disliked or cursed Yuji in any way, the black haired man would most likely shoot them a deathly glare. It was his duty to make sure nobody talked of the bundle of joy and purity in a bad light. Only him, Gojo, Nobara, and a select few other people could do such a thing. Well, maybe not Gojo Satoru.

Yes, he was indeed taking that scenario seriously, it was only natural for a friend to look out for each other. Mutual respect goes a long way in relationships, and Megumi knew he could respect Yuji in every way possible. Did the Ten Shadows user himself deserve to get the respect reciprocated? He would say it was unlikely.

...Where was he again? Right, his thoughts were lingering on for far too long. Megumi attributed it to the rush of adrenaline that had been pervading his body ever since he ran into that white haired Lupo named Lappland. The insane woman was a complete piece of work, one that he felt like could never be incomplete.

"You seem troubled," Lin asked from the wheel, the car swerving across the street of Lungmen with great skill. She had been driving for a good while now, knowing practically every nook and cranny that resided on Lungmen's streets. If it were a small and rundown restaurant that existed, the mouse lady would know it like the back of her hand.

"I'm not," Megumi replied with the best neutral voice he could. It was practiced, stoically crafted from the times he had to deal with Gojo Satoru's endless banter and Yuji's... Yuji's math. How does the pink haired man require his fingers for simple addition? He feared what would happen if he were to be presented with an addition problem that required more than ten fingers.

"First idol show, then?" Lin honestly didn't know what to say to the man. He had always held this air of resignation around him, as if expecting to give up at any moment. Recently, he was starting to seem straying away from a moving corpse, but instead was one boiling with a sense of unease and anger. Anger, that was something the mouse lady was starting to feel worried over. "Or is it in relation to Ch'en?"

That LGD Superintendent would be a pain for anybody to deal with, the headstrong and iron-willed woman that would never back down from a goal. If a criminal needed to be caught, she would go to hell and back to get them put behind bars. In regards to Fushiguro Megumi, it seemed he was lucky enough for Swire and Hoshiguma to advocate for his situation.

Also the fact that he was practically a broken body walking around an unfamiliar environment, the recesses of the world working against him. Even somebody such as Ch'en could hold some sort of sympathy for him. Whether it be the Blood Hounds who have a big bounty placed on his head (Lin discovered it being circulated through goddamned Siracusa of all places), or two insane women, he had the absolute worst going for him.

That was excluding his destroyed home.

"Nothing, I already told you," Megumi continued pressing his index finger against his cheek, while his palm covered his mouth. It was a habit he found himself doing while in cars, waiting for the time of arrival to pass him by. Now that he thought about it, it would be nice if it could easily pass him by as easily as the landscape outside a car's window.