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"Some gifts come wrapped in nightmares."
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The sky was painted red.
Ryu stood in what might have been Tokyo, if Tokyo had been carved with pencils and black pen.
The architecture bore the elegance of an old era, but everything was twisted, pagodas that scraped a blood-red sky, bridges that spanned rivers of darkness, gardens where nothing grew.
Screams echoed from everywhere and nowhere, a constant symphony of suffering without visible sources. The air has a fraignance of ash.
In the distance, a massive structure lay in ruins what might have been a palace or temple, now reduced to broken stones.
And there, standing among the devastation like a monument to destruction itself, was a figure.
Tall. Imposing. Made of shadows so deep they seemed to devour light itself. When it turned toward Ryu, he couldn't make out features only the suggestion of dread and infinite hunger.
"Entertain.... me."
The voice came from everywhere at once. It didn't sound like a request.
Suddenly, the shadows began to move. Not the figure, the shadows themselves, peeling away from buildings and stones like living things. They reached for Ryu with etherial hands, and he realized with growing horror that they weren't shadows at all.
They were souls. Countless shadowy souls, all reaching, all grasping, all strangling..... HIM!
*Pant *pant
Ryu jolted awake, hands flying to his throat. His apartment was dark, dawn light barely filtering through old windows. But the sensation of phantom fingers around his neck still lingered.
'Just a nightmare. Just.....'
*Thud*
A soft noise coming from outside his door made him freeze.
Ryu approached his apartment door with careful steps, cursed technique ready despite his grogginess.
*Creak*
He looked outside stunningly fast but found no one in sight. No one on left, no one on right. No sereal killer stuck at the cealing.
But below...
In the dim hallway light, a small wooden box sat against his doorframe.
It was beautifully crafted, polished wood inlaid with intricate patterns that seemed to shift a little in the lighting. It looked antique, perhaps pawnable as some ancient heritage.
But the cursed energy radiating from it made his skin crawl.
'This is a terrible idea,'
He thought, even as curiosity overrode caution.
His fingers traced the lid's edge, finding a simple catch mechanism. The box opened with a click.
First came a terrible smell but then he saw the thing. In silk padding lay a human finger.
Not just any finger. Even without touching it, Ryu could feel the power coiled within the desiccated flesh. This was old, ancient and terrible, but somehow familiar.
The moment he laid eyes on it, something stirred in his chest. Not hunger but recognition. But of what he just couldn't put the finger on it.
'Beautiful,'
'Powerful.'
'Take it. Taste it.' It felt like something or someone was whispering to him.
Ryu slammed the box shut, breathing hard. The alien thoughts faded, leaving him shaken and confused.
'What the hell was that thing? And who left it?'
He wrapped the box in a towel, grabbed his school bag, and headed for Tokyo Jujutsu High at a near run.
Yaga-sensei was enjoying what appeared to be his first quiet moment of the day, sitting on a bench in one of the school's smaller courtyards with a cup of tea. The morning sun cast pleasant shadows through the trees and he seemed to be enjoying it with closed eyes.
"Sensei!"
Ryu called out, approaching with urgency.
The teacher nearly spilled his tea.
"Ryu?!"
"You young bloods are going to give me a heart attack someday... What's wrong?"
"Someone left this outside my apartment." Ryu unwrapped the box, holding it at arm's length.
"I can sense the cursed energy from here, but I don't know what it is."
Yaga's expression shifted from annoyance to alarm as he felt the power emanating from the container.
"Don't open it. In fact, don't even touch it directly."
He stood, his usual morning tea being forgotten.
"Come with me. Now."
--
The council chamber was a place Ryu had never seen. It was deep beneath the school's main building, carved from stone and lined with protective wards that made the air seem heavy. Twelve figures sat in shadow, their faces obscured but their presence undeniable.
Yaga placed the unopened box on a central pedestal while the elders examined it from a safe distance.
"Ryomen Sukuna's finger,"
one elder confirmed.
"The question,"
said another,
"is why someone would deliver it to a student?"
"Perhaps,"
a third voice suggested,
"The question is why this particular student was chosen as recipient."
Ryu felt their attention focus on him like spotlights, and suddenly understood that he wasn't here as a victim seeking help. He was here as a suspect.
"I've never seen it before," he said quickly.
"I just found it outside my door this morning."
"Of course you did," the first elder replied. "But the finger is not something that just walks now is it?"
'what?'
"We will increase surveillance,"
Yaga announced.
"Surveillance may not be sufficient," another elder warned.
"If this is a recruitment attempt...."
"Then we respond when there's evidence of actual recruitment,"
Yaga cut him off firmly.
"We don't condemn students based on speculation."
The debate continued, but Ryu found himself studying the box that contained the finger. Even sealed, he could feel it calling to him.
---
After the council dismissed them, Ryu found Haibara and Nanami in their usual study spot. His friends looked up expectantly as he approached.
"So?" Haibara asked.
"What made you miss the first lecture?"
Ryu hesitated,
"Someone left a cursed object outside my apartment... A finger."
"Perhaps you really flip someone off?"
Said Nanami quietly.
"No! And that finger belonged to Ryomen Sukuna."
Both his friends went very still.
"That's..." Haibara struggled for words. "That's impossible. All of Sukuna's fingers are accounted for."
"Apparently not all of them,"
Ryu replied grimly.
Nanami closed his textbook with a snap.
"Walk with me,"
he said to Ryu.
"We need to discuss something."
---
The school's playground was empty at this hour, swings moving gently in the afternoon breeze. Nanami selected a bench away from any possible eavesdroppers.
"Your absorption technique,"
He said with conviction.
"Tell me how it really works."
Ryu's blood went cold.
"I already explained....."
"You explained a load of shit.
Random absorption, lottery mechanics, unpredictable results."
Nanami's voice became like a robot.
"None of which explains the consistent pattern of acquiring exactly the abilities you need, when you need them."
'He knows.'
"I don't know what you're implying."
"I'm not implying anything.
I'm stating a hypothesis based on observation."
Nanami pulled out his notepad.
"You don't randomly absorb cursed techniques. You consume cursed spirits, metabolizing their energy and abilities through some form of predatory technique."
The silence stretched between them. Finally, Ryu found his voice.
"And if that were true?"
"Then you'd be the most efficient exorcist in the school. Like a vacuum cleaner for cursed spirits, assuming such a thing were possible."
Ryu stared at his friend, searching for disgust or fear. Instead, he found curiosity?
"You're not... disturbed by the possibility?"
"Disturbed by effectiveness? By results?"
Nanami shrugged.
"I'm disturbed by inefficiency. Your method, whatever it actually is, may produce better outcomes. That's better than most traditional ways of exorcising techniques."
After Namami was done writing everything, Ryu looked at the notepad.
"Can I read your notes?"
Ryu asked
"About my techniques?"
"Perhaps I could gain an insight on my techniques?"
Nanami held out the notepad without hesitation.
---
They rejoined Haibara, who immediately noticed Ryu's expression.
"What were you two doing?"
he asked with a grin.
"Having a secret romantic consultation?"
"Consultation is inefficient,"
Nanami replied with a completely straight face.
"I prefer direct analysis."
"Okay, now you sound like a corporate man in love"
Haibara laughed.
Ryu opened Nanami's notepad and began reading.
His expression grew increasingly thunderous as he flipped through page after page of...
'nothing.'
Blank pages. Empty lines. Not a single note about techniques or observations or anything else.
A vein began to bulge on his forehead.
"Hey, Nanami," he said with dangerous calm.
"So all this time you weren't writing anything?"
"Writing is shit,"
Nanami replied matter-of-factly.
"Jujutsu sorcerers use their thoughts and brain. Physical documentation is an inefficient process."
"You've been carrying around a blank notebook for WEEKS!"
"Correct. It encourages others to believe I'm taking detailed notes, which makes them more willing to demonstrate techniques and discuss information."
Ryu lunged forward, hands reaching for Nanami's throat, but Haibara caught him around the waist.
"Easy there, tiger!" Haibara laughed.
"Save some for the actual marriage!"
Nanami observed the struggle with mild interest, as if watching an educational demonstration.
"Your emotional regulation could use improvement,"
Nanami noted this on his blank notebook with an empty pen.
---
After classes, Ryu was walking toward the school gates when a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows between buildings.
"Makoto,"
Ryu said, surprised.
"I thought you were still in recovery training."
"I was. I am." Makoto's expression was unreadable.
"But I wanted to ask you something."
"What?"
"Spar with me."
Ryu blinked. "That's... unexpected. Are you sure you're ready for....."
"I'm ready. And I want to test something. There's an abandoned building in the warehouse district. Tomorrow after classes."
On the opposite side of the street a child could be seen walking with his mom while holding hands .
"Mama, why is that boy talking to himself?"
"Hush, sweetie,"
the mother said gently.
"We should be kind to all types of people, even when they're different.
Ryu meanwhile tried to ask more from Makoto but he just went around a corner and disappeared.
'What.... Is this his cursed technique?'
Ryu stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty space where his former classmate had been.
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