Ren stared at the glowing words, his mind completely blanking. System initialization? He blinked hard, but the translucent blue panel stayed locked in the center of his vision, hovering just above the coffee table.
Before he could even begin to process the floating text, the fridge door clicked shut.
"Actually," Maki's voice drifted over from the kitchen, breaking through the unnatural, static pressure in the room.
She stepped back into the living room, brushing past the island and heading toward the short hallway that led to his bedroom. "I'm going to change first. Then I'll make something."
Ren forcefully dragged his focus away from the floating text. He swallowed the sudden dryness in his throat and forced his posture to remain relaxed, leaning back into the sofa cushions.
He had to play it cool. If she noticed him freaking out over something invisible, her sorcerer instincts would instantly kick into high gear.
"You brought clothes?" Ren asked, his voice miraculously steady. He cast a pointed look toward the front hallway. "Unless you've got a hoodie stuffed inside that heavy 'track case' of yours, you came in empty-handed."
Maki stopped right at his bedroom door. She leaned against the frame and looked back at him, her amber eyes completely flat.
"No," she said simply.
Ren raised an eyebrow. "Then what are you planning on wearing?"
Maki let out a soft scoff, looking at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "What do you think your clothes are here for?"
With that, she disappeared into his bedroom, the door clicking shut behind her.
Ren was left alone in the quiet living room, the faint sounds of Maki rummaging through his dresser echoing through the wall.
He slowly let out the breath he had been holding. His gaze drifted back to the dead center of the room, right where the cold, artificial light continued to hum.
The screen was still there, waiting for him.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
Ren stared at the floating blue panel, half-expecting it to vanish the second he blinked. It didn't. Instead, the words [SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE] dissolved into a shower of digital sparks, immediately replaced by a cascading list of neatly organized data.
It looked exactly like a status screen from a roleplaying game.
[USER STATUS]
Name: Ren
Age: 17
Cursed Energy Level: Civilian
Cursed Technique: None
Heavenly Restriction: None
Unique Trait: Preternaturally Handsome
Ren let out a silent, bewildered breath. He read the last line twice. Preternaturally Handsome? Really? That's my unique trait? Not hyper-intelligence or a secret hidden power?
Just... a good face? It certainly explained the daily proposals at school, but it wasn't exactly going to help him survive a Special Grade curse.
Before he could dwell on the absolute absurdity of his "Unique Trait," the blue panel flashed. A sharp, distinct ping echoed in his mind, and a new window materialized over his status screen.
[CORE ABILITY UNLOCKED: INHERITANCE VIA INTIMACY]
Description: The User possesses the unique ability to permanently copy and assimilate the innate Cursed Techniques, Cursed Energy traits, or Heavenly Restrictions of others.
Condition for Activation: The User must engage in the deepest act of physical intimacy (sexual intercourse) with the target.
Note: This process does not steal or weaken the partner's abilities in any way. It is a perfect, harmless replication.
Ren froze. He read the glowing text once, twice, and then a third time just to make sure his brain hadn't completely short-circuited.
Wait. Hold on. He blinked hard, his eyes wide. To get stronger... I just have to sleep with them? That's the condition?
It was completely insane. He had spent months agonizing over how he was going to survive the impending disaster of the Jujutsu world, how he could protect Maki without letting her know he possessed meta-knowledge of her universe. And the universe's solution was a literal cheat code tied to his sex life.
The system wasn't done. Another smaller notification popped up, its light reflecting faintly in Ren's dark eyes.
[NEARBY ENTITY DETECTED: MAKI ZEN'IN]
Affection Level: Maximum / Devoted
Potential Acquisition: Heavenly Restriction (Physical Gift)
Current Status: Incomplete (Half)
System Notice: Because the target's Heavenly Restriction is currently incomplete, the User will only inherit the "Half" version of the physical enhancement upon fulfilling the intimacy condition. To acquire a fully realized Heavenly Restriction, the target's own restriction must first be completed.
Ren leaned back against the sofa, his mind racing as the glowing text hung in the air.
He knew exactly why Maki's Heavenly Restriction was incomplete. It was because of her twin sister, Mai. Until that tragic knot was untangled, Maki was capped at superhuman—but not Toji Fushiguro levels of superhuman.
Inheriting a "half" Heavenly Restriction wouldn't make him a god, but it would instantly elevate him from a fragile civilian to someone capable of throwing a car, don't know about seeing curses without glasses though, and actually fighting back.
A sudden, sharp thud from the bedroom snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Ren!" Maki called out through the wall, her voice muffled but distinctly annoyed. "Why do you own four identical black shirts? Which one is the clean one?!"
"They're all clean!" Ren called back automatically, waving his hand.
Surprisingly, the blue screens instantly minimized and vanished at the gesture, leaving the living room looking entirely normal again.
Ren rubbed his temples, a slow, disbelieving laugh escaping his lips.
The bedroom door clicked open, saving Ren from his spiraling thoughts.
He looked up—and immediately forgot how to breathe. A sharp, cold breath hitched in his throat, his brain momentarily short-circuiting all over again, this time entirely without the system's help.
Maki stepped into the hallway, casually adjusting the collar of her new outfit. She had selected one of his black t-shirts, but on her, it looked entirely different.
The dark fabric draped loosely over her athletic shoulders and clung subtly to her chest, the oversized hem falling down past her hips.
Beneath it, she had thrown on a pair of impossibly tiny black athletic shorts—presumably the only casual clothing she had actually managed to stash in her heavy weapons case.
The combination was devastatingly simple. The oversized shirt swallowed her upper half, but the shorts left her long, powerfully toned legs completely bare.
Her dark green hair was slightly tousled from pulling the shirt over her head, framing her sharp, beautiful features perfectly.
She looked relaxed. She looked effortlessly dominant. And she looked incredibly, unfairly sexy.
Maki caught him staring. She paused in the center of the living room, resting a hand on her hip. Her amber eyes locked onto his, and a slow, knowing smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.
"What?" she asked, her voice dropping a fraction of an octave, thick with a lazy sort of amusement. "Didn't think I could pull off your incredibly boring wardrobe?"
Ren swallowed hard, acutely aware of the faint scent of his own laundry detergent mixing with her warm, natural scent as she stepped closer.
Ren forced his brain to reboot. Maki was standing there, radiating an effortless, dangerous kind of confidence, waiting for him to crumble. And normally, he would.
"Actually," Ren said, his voice dropping a fraction of an octave to match hers. He pushed himself up from the sofa and slowly closed the distance between them.