Stepping out into the cool evening air of Harajuku, Ren immediately pulled his black surgical mask up over his nose.
The neon lights of the district were flickering to life, painting the crowded sidewalks in vibrant shades of pink and blue.
He didn't head straight for the train station. Instead, he took a sharp right, purposely weaving away from the main thoroughfare and diving into the labyrinth of narrow, dimly lit back alleys that spiderwebbed behind the high-end boutiques and crepe stands.
The misery of retail workers, the jealousy of window shoppers, and the general exhaustion of the city pooled heavily in these dark, neglected spaces.
Over the next hour and a half, Ren spent his all energy hunting curses, he found a cluster of three dog-like Grade 4 curses gnawing on a leaking trash bag behind a karaoke bar.
He dropped from a fire escape, the matte-black blade of the tantō flashing in the dim light. Three clean, horizontal slashes. Three piles of dissolving ash. Total time: four seconds.
He moved on. He caught a bloated, centipede-like Grade 3 trying to drop on him from an awning. He didn't even look up; he just sidestepped, pivoted on his heel, and drove the blade straight up through its segmented underbelly.
By the time he reached an abandoned construction site near the edge of Shibuya, he wiped the dark blade clean on his denim jacket and let out a steady breath. He wasn't even sweating. The physical stamina granted by the Heavenly Restriction was almost comical.
Right as he sheathed the Wraith's Fang against his lower back, a sharp, familiar ping echoed in his skull. The alleyway was suddenly bathed in the crisp, translucent blue light of the system interface.
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Exorcist Initiate]
[Milestone Met: 10 Cursed Spirits Eliminated]
[REWARD ACQUIRED: 1,000 System Points]
Ren's eyebrows shot up. A thousand points. He let out a low whistle, the sound muffled by his black mask. The system really did reward milestones heavily to cut down on the grind.
But before he could celebrate, the blue panel flickered, typing out a new line of text in stark, urgent white font.
[SYSTEM NOTICE: Next Milestone - 100 Eliminations]
[Condition Updated: Only Cursed Spirits of Grade 3 or higher will count toward this milestone. Trash mobs (Grade 4 and below) will no longer yield milestone progress.]
"Of course," Ren muttered, crossing his arms. "Can't just farm the easy ones forever."
Ren swiped his hand through the air, dismissing the blue interface.
Before the glow could even fully fade from his retinas, his phone vibrated violently against his thigh.
BZZZ. BZZZ.
The blue panel had barely vanished when Ren's phone buzzed aggressively against his thigh. He pulled it out, squinting at the bright screen in the dark alley.
Caller ID: Maki.
He stared at her name for a long second. The system, the cursed tool taped to his spine, the pile of dissolving ash at his feet—he couldn't hide all of this forever.
If he suddenly started dodging Special Grade curses or accidentally ripping doors off their hinges, Maki's sorcerer instincts would immediately figure it out.
It was better to give her a half-truth now to explain the physical changes, while keeping the System and his new ability to see curses a complete secret. He tapped the green button and lifted the phone to his ear.
"Hey," Ren said, keeping his voice steady.
"Did you just get off work?" Maki asked. Her tone was completely normal, maybe expecting him to tease her about the photo she sent last night. "I actually have five minutes to breathe before Coach makes us run night drills."
"Yeah, just left the store," Ren replied. He leaned back against the cool brick wall of the alley, letting out a heavy breath. "Listen, Maki... I need to ask you something. It's kind of serious."
The line went dead silent. The casual warmth in her voice vanished instantly, replaced by the sharp, guarded tone she used when expecting bad news.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice dropping lower. "Did something happen?"
Ren ran his free hand through his hair. He needed to play this perfectly—like a confused, slightly panicked civilian who didn't know the first thing about fighting.
"I don't know," Ren started, forcing a slight waver into his voice. "I've been feeling... really weird since yesterday morning. Since after we... you know."
Another stretch of silence. When Maki finally spoke, she sounded incredibly tense. "Weird how? Are you sick? Ren, if you're hurt—"
"No, not hurt," he cut in quickly. "It's the opposite. I feel... way too good. Like my body is completely weightless." He paused, looking down at his free hand in the shadows. "At work today, I went to grab a wooden hanger, and it just snapped into splinters. I didn't even squeeze it. I had to spend the whole shift moving in slow motion so I didn't break the cash register."
He heard a sharp intake of breath through the phone.
"Maki," Ren continued, pressing the advantage while she was off-balance. "I feel ridiculously strong. Like, impossibly strong. Did I... catch something from you? Is this some weird side effect of your 'track practice' conditioning?"
He deliberately kept his words naive, actively avoiding terms like cursed energy or Heavenly Restriction.
Maki didn't answer immediately. Ren could hear the faint rustle of fabric as she likely paced her dorm room, trying to process what he just said.
She knew her body was a literal weapon due to her incomplete Heavenly Restriction. She also knew that the Jujutsu world was full of bizarre, impossible anomalies. But transferring physical power through intimacy?
"Ren," Maki finally said. Her voice was barely a whisper, completely stripped of its usual bossy affection. "Are you sure? You aren't just messing with me?"
"I'm literally holding three pieces of a pulverized hanger in my jacket pocket right now," Ren lied smoothly, though the event had actually happened. "I'm not joking. I feel completely different. What is going on with me?"
"I... I don't know," she stammered. The fierce, uncompromising sorcerer sounded genuinely lost. "That shouldn't be possible. I didn't think I could... pass anything to you."
"Well, something happened," Ren said gently, softening his tone to sound more reassuring than scared.
"Look, I'm not freaking out. It actually feels pretty great not having a sore back after trying to keep up with you. But I just wanted to tell you. I didn't want to hide it."
"I'm coming over."