Utaha remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly weighing her words.
Then, she looked up, her eyes calmly meeting Satoru's. "I can suppress him, but there's no need to do so all the time."
She answered honestly, "As long as Sukuna-san doesn't do anything to harm others, especially anything that endangers my friends around me, I won't forcibly stop most of his actions."
She tilted her head slightly, looking at the bright sunlight outside the window, her voice lowering a bit. "Perhaps this seems incredible or even dangerous to you. But for me, I've already grown accustomed to his existence. Sukuna-san saved my life once, and I am very grateful to him. Although I can't quite understand his way of doing things, I can still accept it."
She paused, her tone carrying a faint hint of mockery and resignation. "I'm just an ordinary high school girl who was inexplicably dragged into this world. What good does it do me to offend the King of Curses inside me who wants to destroy everything at the drop of a hat? If he were to fully resurrect one day and, in a fit of displeasure, turn a weak and beautiful girl like me into his plaything to toy with at will, wouldn't that be worse than death?"
Sukuna protested in her mind.
(Hey, little girl, I don't like the sound of that.)
(Slave? You think you're worthy? I'll turn you into monkey brain soup later.)
Utaha rolled her eyes internally, ignoring Sukuna's retort.
These half-true, half-false words were both her real thoughts and a rhetoric meant for Satoru, intended to blur the complexity of her relationship with Sukuna while implying her own "harmlessness" and "victimhood."
Satoru rubbed his chin, studying Utaha carefully, trying to judge the truth from her subtle expressions and emotional fluctuations.
He could sense the helplessness and a trace of undetectable cunning in the girl's words. But what caught his attention more was that when she mentioned "suppression," the massive Cursed Energy of Sukuna within her showed no obvious resistance or fluctuation, seemingly acquiescing to her statement.
There were two possibilities.
One, Sukuna was truly restricted by some means.
Two... the relationship between them was far more subtle than "suppressing" and "being suppressed," perhaps even involving some kind of "cooperation" or "tacit understanding."
The latter possibility made Satoru find things even more interesting.
"I see." Satoru didn't press the matter further.
He stood up instead. "In that case, could you please come with me somewhere? There are some things that need to be confirmed in a more quiet environment."
Utaha nodded.
...
Satoru used teleportation several times to take Utaha, finally arriving at a hidden underground facility.
Passing through layer after layer of barriers, they entered a secret room constructed entirely of special materials, with complex incantations carved into the walls and floor.
The moment Sukuna entered, he felt an invisible pressure. The air was thick with a suppressive force aimed at spiritual bodies and consciousness. The power of these talismans would likely have a powerful restraining effect on ordinary evil spirits or the spiritual bodies of Jujutsu Sorcerers.
"How does it feel?" Satoru asked casually.
"A bit stuffy." Utaha answered truthfully.
She could feel a tiny ripple of thought coming from Sukuna, but it wasn't discomfort or fear. It was more like the annoyance and disdain one felt after being bitten by a mosquito.
"Hmph, mere parlor tricks." Sukuna's voice was full of contempt.
"This rubbish is only good for locking up small fry. It's useless against me."
Satoru's Six Eyes clearly captured everything. The power of the secret room indeed surrounded Utaha and Sukuna, but it was like a stream hitting a giant rock—unable to move it even slightly.
This further confirmed his suspicion.
Then, Satoru made a move that caused Utaha's pupils to contract sharply. He produced a black box, ancient in design and tightly sealed, from seemingly nowhere.
The moment the lid opened, a pure, violent wave of Cursed Energy, originating from the same source as Sukuna, spread out. The box was lined with talismans, and lying silently in the center was a dried, twisted, dark-colored finger that nonetheless radiated an ominous lure—a Sukuna finger.
"This is..." Utaha's heart tightened abruptly.
"As you can see, it is a special grade cursed object, Sukuna's finger." Satoru's tone was calm but carried an undeniable authority.
"Kasumigaoka-san, eat it."
Utaha's face instantly went pale.
Even from a distance, the evil aura emanating from the finger made her instinctively feel repulsion and nausea.
Make her swallow that thing? What kind of joke was this?
Suppressing her discomfort, she didn't reach for it, but instead stared intently at Satoru. "Why? Give me a reason."
"This is Jujutsu High's decision, and it is part of the test." Satoru's tone was flat.
"We need to confirm exactly how much control you have over the tenant inside you. Or, conversely, how much influence he has over you."
Utaha fell silent.
She looked at the finger, which seemed to pulse faintly as if alive, and her stomach churned.
It was absolutely impossible for her to willingly eat this thing.
But outright refusal would likely trigger the worst possible outcome immediately.
Just then, a flash of inspiration struck her, and a bold idea surfaced.
She took a deep breath, as if having made a decision, and reached into the box to pick up the finger. The cold, slippery sensation on her fingertips gave her goosebumps.
She did not bring the finger to her own mouth. Instead, she held it up beside her cheek, speaking softly into the air with a tone of slight helplessness and familiarity, "Sukuna-san, your own stuff, please deal with it yourself."
The scene was extremely bizarre: a girl holding a dried finger and speaking to the empty space beside her.
Dead silence fell over the secret room.
Satoru's eyebrows rose slightly beneath his blindfold, his Six Eyes operating at full power to capture the slightest change in Cursed Energy.
One second, two seconds...
Suddenly, the two faint scars on Utaha's left cheek silently split open. Scarlet lips and teeth surfaced, forming a tiny mouth.
Immediately afterward, a long, thin tongue shot out, wrapping around the finger in Utaha's hand like a frog catching an insect. It retracted at a speed impossible to catch with the naked eye, swallowing the finger.
The entire process happened in a flash of lightning, incredibly fast.
The mouth on Utaha's cheek vanished as well, as if it had never appeared.
[Congratulations, Host, on collecting the special grade cursed object, Sukuna's finger. You have gained one finger's worth of Sukuna's Cursed Energy, and your Domain range has expanded.]
Sukuna currently possesses nine fingers' worth of Cursed Energy, and coupled with the Soul Devouring Talent, he calculated that he now had the Cursed Energy level of 11 or 12 fingers.