Only two people remained in what had been a lively corner. Yuji ignored the fleeing delinquents and turned his attention to Junpei Yoshino, still slumped on the ground.
"You okay, kid?"
"...Why?"
Junpei buried his head in his knees. His hoarse voice barely reached Yuji's ears.
"?"
"You don't even know me. Why did you help?"
"Do I need a reason to help someone?" Yuji raised an eyebrow like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I couldn't just pretend I didn't see what was happening."
Besides...
Junpei Yoshino. You're one of my regrets from my past life.
When Yuji was still young and weak, he'd befriended this boy. But Junpei had been targeted by Mahito from the very beginning—used as a tool to draw out Sukuna. In the end, Mahito killed him right in front of Yuji using Idle Transfiguration.
Everything he couldn't do in his past life, he would make up for now.
"Because of that?"
Junpei looked up, eyes red. He stared at Yuji in disbelief.
"Because of that."
"...You should go. The commotion just now—the teachers probably heard. That guy who burned me with the cigarette... I heard his father's rich. Nobody dares cross him. You'll get in trouble too—"
"Let them come. I'll beat them up every time I see them."
Yuji extended his hand.
"I'm Yuji Itadori. And you?"
"..."
Junpei stared at the outstretched hand, stunned.
Other than his mother, this was the first time anyone had cared about his feelings...
"I'm Junpei Yoshino."
He hesitated, but eventually took Yuji's hand and let himself be pulled to his feet.
"Come on. I'll take you to get patched up."
One hour earlier.
Inside a hotel in Kanagawa Prefecture.
The wall behind Kento Nanami was covered with photos and key intelligence regarding the mission.
"Because Gojo-san has frequent business trips, I'll be accompanying you on this one, Itadori-kun."
"Got it." Yuji nodded.
"You're aware of the murders at Kinema Cinema, correct? Three delinquent youths were carried out of the theater with their bodies severely distorted—certain areas grotesquely swollen, each suffering varying degrees of deformity."
"I went to the scene with the auxiliary team to investigate. We found traces of a curse."
"At the cinema, we identified a boy named Junpei Yoshino. He hurriedly left after witnessing the victims' deaths. His expression and behavior suggested he'd seen something terrifying. Very suspicious."
Kento Nanami took a photo from the wall and handed it to Yuji.
"I want you to investigate him."
Yuji and Junpei walked along the sidewalk until they reached the riverbank across the street.
"Alright. No one will bother us here."
"Sorry about this. I just arrived in Sugisawa today, and the situation's a bit urgent, so I had to bring you along. Mind if we talk?"
Yuji sat down on the stone steps by the grass and waved Junpei over.
"That's fine." Junpei sat beside him, looking confused. "Um... weren't you going to take me to a hospital?"
The situation was a bit strange, but considering Yuji had just saved him, Junpei followed without protest.
For some reason, Yuji's presence gave him a unique feeling. Clearly strong, but without any arrogance.
The afternoon sun illuminated Yuji's profile. A breeze drifted past. His features weren't particularly refined, but together they were pleasant to look at. Especially those amber eyes—they gave off a strong sense of approachability.
He's pretty good-looking.
I'm jealous...
Junpei lowered his gaze. Unlike himself—no social skills, no friends, a weak body, and certainly not handsome.
"We don't need a hospital. I've got a better method." Yuji smiled and reached toward Junpei. "Hold still for a second. This'll be quick."
"...Okay."
Yuji lifted the hair covering half of Junpei's face and found his forehead covered in cigarette burn scars. His expression darkened for a moment, but he quickly recovered.
He placed his palm over the wounds. A warm white light enveloped Junpei's forehead.
Reverse Cursed Technique.
This high-level healing skill could easily regenerate severed limbs. Yuji couldn't use it freely yet, but healing minor burns posed no problem.
Strange...
It feels so warm...
Junpei was stunned. When Yuji pulled his hand away, the stinging pain was gone. He quickly touched his forehead. The burn scars had vanished.
"...What? How did you do that?"
Shock and joy flooded the boy's face.
"As you can see, I'm a jujutsu sorcerer." Yuji answered. "I came here to investigate you."
"...?"
"Think of us as a team that handles supernatural cases. Yesterday afternoon, you watched a movie at Kinema Cinema, right?"
"Ah..."
"Three male high school students were brutally murdered by a curse there. We spotted you on the security cameras. Judging from your expression and behavior, we suspect you saw something."
Yuji gave him a slight nod. "Yoshino-kun, please tell me the truth. The curse responsible might be Special Grade. That's very serious."
In truth, based on his past-life memories, Yuji had already guessed Mahito was responsible the moment he saw those deformed corpses. Given the timeline, Mahito should have already made contact with Junpei.
Unfortunately, he was a step too late. Otherwise, he could have intercepted him.
Yuji had considered knocking Junpei out and taking him directly to Jujutsu High. But doing so would likely alert Kenjaku and Mahito, who were watching from the shadows. Gojo-sensei was constantly away on business trips—he had no time to deal with this. If Yuji provoked Kenjaku now, no one at Jujutsu High could handle him.
So he decided to take it step by step.
"..."
Junpei was clearly stunned.
This boy... is looking for Mahito-san?
"I... I'm sorry. I didn't see anything. As for curses—I've only recently been able to see them."
Mahito had been keeping an eye on Junpei for a while now.
To force Sukuna out of Yuji's body and thereby gain more control over the vessel, Mahito was playing the long game. He'd approached Junpei by killing the delinquents, taught him about curses, and deceived him.
"Is that so?" Yuji studied Junpei with suspicion. "You'd better not be lying."
"It's... it's true."
Under Yuji's gaze, Junpei turned away nervously. But just as his heartbeat quickened, Yuji dropped the questioning.
"Alright then. Nothing else to ask."
He waved it off. Junpei blinked, clearly not expecting him to give up so easily.
"You're not going to press further?"
"Nope. But just in case—there's something I want you to understand, Yoshino-kun."
"?"
"Since this is your first time encountering curses, you probably don't know where they come from, right?"
Junpei shook his head.
Yuji spoke seriously. "Curses are born from human negative emotions. Fear, sorrow, anger, resentment... When these feelings accumulate, they give birth to curses."
"Therefore, all curses are inherently evil—fundamentally opposed to humans. Low-level curses have no intelligence. They only have the instinct to devour humans etched into their beings, like beasts hunting when hungry."
"A small portion of Special Grade curses possess intelligence." Yuji's voice deepened. "They're even more terrifying than the mindless ones."
"Why? If they have intelligence, shouldn't they..."
Junpei immediately thought of "Mahito-san," who had taught him so many things, and tried to argue.
"Shouldn't they be able to communicate? Be reasonable?" Yuji shook his head. "It's the opposite. I encountered a case involving a curse a few months back."
"That curse possessed human-level intelligence and raised an orphaned little girl. But don't think it developed compassion."
"It first crippled the girl, then made her go out and beg. Seeing such a lonely, helpless child, compassionate adults would approach to ask what was wrong. The girl would lure them home, and then the curse would catch them all in one sweep."
Yuji let out a long sigh. "By the time I arrived, the girl hadn't escaped its clutches either."
"...?!"
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Junpei's forehead.
Impossible... But Mahito-san is clearly a good person...
"Just like how a cat catches a mouse but doesn't eat it right away—playing with it first, letting it run far before catching it again, over and over until it gets bored and finally takes a bite. Intelligent curses treat humans the same way."
"Be careful, Yoshino-kun. If you ever see a curse, run immediately and call for help."
"I... I understand. Thank you."
"..."
Seeing the hesitation in Junpei's eyes, Yuji knew his goal was achieved. Now he just had to wait.
Besides, Nanami should be encountering Mahito right about now.
Yuji knew his turn would come soon.
Currently, some of Sukuna's twenty fingers were still missing. Some were in Jujutsu High's storehouse. Yuji guessed others were probably in Kenjaku's hands.
Who knew—maybe this time he could seize the opportunity to consume the fourth finger.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Kento Nanami followed the curse's trail into the city's sewers. His leather shoes echoed through the narrow passage. He gripped a short blade in one hand, surrounded by the corpses of deformed monsters.
The Special Grade curse Mahito's Innate Technique was called Idle Transfiguration. Through touch, it could directly alter the shape of a person's soul.
These corpses were all transfigured humans—modified by Idle Transfiguration.
"If you're going to show yourself, hurry up, you freak. Even if they're no longer human in form, this kind of killing makes me sick."
Kento Nanami flicked blood from his blade. At that moment, a figure appeared in the passage ahead.
"Oh my, that's great. If Satoru Gojo had come, that would've been troublesome. But someone too weak wouldn't be useful for experiments either."
Mahito approached the blonde man with a grin, several compressed souls of transfigured humans clutched in his hands.
Kento Nanami said coldly: "I hate overtime. Let's get this over with."
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~ Evey 150 PS = Bonus Chapter
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