Chapter 26

Four months since the incident.

Rook was lying in the communal kitchen, holding on to a bottle like a drunk.

It was rather concerning for Todo. 'Yua Tooru's son has been like this often, perhaps I should see if he is okay…" he thought to himself.

Todo then took a seat. "Hey friend, are you good?"

Rook gave him a deprived sideway glance. "Do I look okay?" he asked. "UGH! I thought Oji was going to train me, I was expecting to get beaten up six way from Sunday, but… THIS?!" he protested as he showed him the bottle he was drinking out of.

Come to think of it, Todo could smell that from entering the kitchen...

"What… IS that?" he asked offhandedly.

"Liver juice" he muttered and sighed. "I have been told to drink this with every meal, but before a meal… UGH!" he rolled his head forward and sighed.

"Were you only suppose to do that for a month?" Todo asked.

Rook sighed. "I thought so too, but nope. Apparently I have to drink this until I know WHY I am drinking it, and you know Oji, he won't flat out tell you." He said. Rook sighed once more as he chugged the rest of the bottle. "UGH!" he protested once more. "I've been nursing that for over an hour… damn jujutsu…"

"Jujutsu?" Todo then realized there was curse energy at work, in fact, Rook found himself stuck to his seat. "Let me guess…"

"Yeah, to make sure I drank it all…" with the drink done, Rook finally got up.

Todo then paused oddly. "Huh, you look stronger already…"

Peering over himself, Rook hadn't noticed he was appearing stronger. His arms have grown out a little as have his legs. He got a small belly on him but he also grew two inches since drinking the liver juice.

"Worst part is, tonight, Oji told me we are working on solid supplements… it was bad enough that when he took care of my mom, he had Calypso pick these herbs for me to brew into a tea and drink it… it tasted just like liver juice!"

Rook left then and there to prepare himself for the night. Todo sighed aloud and shook his head. "I don't envy him the least bit…"

#

Rook endured two months of eating liver, drinking liver juice and other herbal remedies. At the same time, Sukuna increased his portion for food and made certain he ate specific things to ensure his growth. As this was all happening, Rook continued to spar with the Fushiguros. It was then he started to notice a difference.

He has never been able to get Toji off his feet when they play wrestle, yet today he found himself feeling oddly stronger. Rook began to plant his feet more and was taking harder hits. Even his former sensei nodded to this. "You can take a hit!" he decreed. "Me coming at you, that's the same as a car hit!"

Rook paused. "Really?"

"ROOK!" he turned and suddenly caught Hoshi! He kept his feet planted and was only pushed back two feet.

However the strike was painful. "OW! Dude, what the hell!" he protested.

"That… should have shattered you." Toji sensei said.

Rook paused and stared at him. "What?"

"That strike, should have broken your spine in two, cleanly… you are merely winded…"

He stepped back to take it in. He really was getting stronger? Just from liver juice and liver meat?! How is that possible? Then again, Rook was remembering. Pops even said something about him putting on weight. The odd thing was, the weight gain wasn't even felt! Rook didn't think he looked that different, but…

"Either way kid, you have some great gains! Keep it up" Toji called.

Rook felt inspired, at the same time dread. If this is working, what's Oji going to plan to have him eat next?

#

He dreaded dinner.

And ever since his training was taken over by Oji, Rook has found himself having a lot of family meals with his aunt and uncle. His siblings of course were dragged along. He refused to suffer alone. The only problem is, he still suffered alone. Everyone got a different meal than him!

But today, he was rather concerned.

There were all sorts of cuts of meat place before him. Rook does admit the taste has improved greatly in the past few weeks, but he has yet to be told WHAT he is eating!

Tonight was no different.

Before Rook was a large plate of meat, perfectly cut, trimmed, cooked and seasoned. If one were to look at it, it appears just like regular meat, but… Rook knew otherwise. In fact his nose could pick up on what contained this meat originally when alive. "Orc, minotaur… is that ogre!?" he demanded.

"Some part of it" Oji replied. "I do admit the divine taste rather… extravagant…"

Despite the gross food before him, Rook took solace in one fact. Despite the fact he was eating this, he wasn't the only one. Oji made of one thing, just to prove this wasn't a torture or harassment to Rook, he ate the same meal as him. As dinner was served, Rook sighed as he took a bit of meat and stuck it into his mouth.

Tender?!

"It's tender? Not chewy?" he said as he shoved the meat to one side of his cheek.

"Ryomen has been taking lessons" auntie explained. "Naoya has been improving his cooking talents. Ryomen has been learning from him a little too. He has gotten slightly rusty over the years he hasn't cooked for himself…" she said offhandedly.

"Ahem…" Oji coughed awkwardly.

Rook smirked and continued to eat. The meats were tender, still had an odd smell, and some remained to be chewy, but it was a lot easier to eat than before. He cleared his plate and pounded back the liver juice just as Oji did.

It was the first time he finished his juice at the end of a meal.

"AAAHHHH!" Rook said with a sigh.

Oji on the other hand was snickering. "I didn't think you had it in you boy, honestly, I thought you would have dropped out day one!"

Rook peered at him oddly. "Huh?"

His aunt giggled. "He hasn't met a human who has been able to eat what he has eaten." She explained. "This method was used by one of my uncles back in the day, he ate and drank this diligently for three years to improve his body…"

A part of him died.

"THREE YEARS?!" he demanded. "Like hell I am drinking this for three years!"

Once more, they snickered at him. "You are not. Why do you think I hunted those divine beasts? To be blunt, boy. What I am doing is what I went through during my madness. It what they gave me to make me stronger, but… needless to say what was used instead to do so…" Oji said bluntly.

The table froze to this.

"You're telling me I am eating nearly the same thing you did after you went mad? But, you ate people…" Rook said.

Oji nodded. "Knowing that fact, how many livers do you think I devoured in that time frame? This method is cutting the process down to a mere third. Divine beasts have livers far stronger, denser and better nutrition than that of a human. The juice itself has done well, eating the actual organ is working its way into your body, you just haven't noticed yet"

Rook took a moment to process this, but, then froze to see his aunt drinking the liver juice as well!

"Auntie?!" he demanded.

She winced at the taste. "Ugh, not good flavor but good for both mom and baby" she explained.

Auntie was really starting to show. In fact, she appeared to be ready to pop soon. She is getting rather excited.

"So, do I have to keep drinking this?" Rook asked.

"No, we have reached as far as we can with the liver juice. The livers themselves we are also reaching an impasse for too. We now change our focus, we have detoxified the body of impurities, and it's now time to grow it!"

"Still not looking forward to what you are going to go through…" muttered Mochi as she for some reason smirked at all of this!

"You find it funny?" he demanded.

She shrugged her shoulders but kept a smile on her lips.

"Be warned child, you are going to eat your words later…" Oji warned.

She was about to speak, but even Auntie refused to back her, she shook her head to it all and didn't say a word…

Mochi stopped smiling and went back to her dinner.

"Next, we are working on your protein intake, then we are going to find some of the old vegetation I use to eat. It's a lot tougher to chew, but rest assured, it will do a body good!"

"Great…" Rook said with a forced smile. It was bad enough he was able to eat nearly five pounds of food in a single sitting, but now, more?! He didn't quite understand this, but, at the same time, Rook trusts his Oji.

"SUKUNA!"

The table jumped. Pops had rushed to the house and barged in. He was quick to apologize but turned to Oji and said. "Yua… she's talking… but only saying one sentence."

He said nothing but left the table.

Rook stood up but, his aunt took hold of his hand and gently shook her head. "You won't want to see her in that condition."

"It can't be worst than what we have seen!" Rook protested.

Auntie however was silent, and didn't say otherwise. Rook turned to his siblings, but it appears that they all silently agree not to go see their mother.