"Yuji…
You're strong. When you go out to save people, just do what you can—that's enough.
Save whoever you're able to save.
It's okay to feel lost. And don't worry if no one thanks you.
Above all, keep trying to save as many people as you can.
And when your time comes… you should die surrounded by others."
His grandfather, who had always been so full of energy, passed away just like that.
Yuji Itadori held back his tears as he cleaned up the hospital room, watching the medical staff wheel his grandfather's body away.
After signing the death certificate, the nurse studied his face, clearly worried.
"Are you… really okay?"
Yuji Itadori gave her a smile, though his voice trembled faintly.
"Yeah. It's my first time going through something like this. It hasn't really sunk in yet…
But if I keep walking around with a gloomy face, Grandpa would get mad."
He forced the corners of his mouth up.
"I'll make sure to smile when I send him off in flames."
The nurse let out a helpless laugh.
"That's a strange way to put it…"
A calm, steady voice cut in.
"You're Yuji Itadori, right? I'm Fushiguro from Tokyo Jujutsu High. I need to speak with you."
Yuji Itadori scratched his head.
"I'm still in mourning, you know…"
"Sorry. We really don't have time.
I'll get straight to the point. The Cursed Object you're holding is extremely dangerous. Please hand it over immediately."
"Cursed Object?"
Megumi Fushiguro took out his phone and showed him a photo for confirmation.
Yuji Itadori stared at the long, strip-like item in the picture. He didn't sense anything dangerous about it. It wasn't like it was a grenade or anything.
"I picked it up. I don't really care about it either way, but my senior's pretty interested in it.
What's the problem?"
Seeing how unconcerned he was, Megumi Fushiguro let out a quiet sigh and began explaining some basic knowledge about Cursed Techniques.
"If it's for exorcism, doesn't that make it a good thing?"
"Exorcism is just the surface explanation. In reality, a Cursed Object claims its own territory.
By sealing even more malevolent things inside it, it keeps other curses from coming near."
Megumi Fushiguro suddenly stopped speaking. He fixed Yuji Itadori with a hard stare, his expression turning deadly serious.
"That thing you picked up is in an extremely dangerous state right now. Its seal has started to loosen after being left for too long. At this point, it's become bait that draws in curses!"
Yuji Itadori clearly didn't buy Megumi Fushiguro's one-sided explanation. He took out the box that had originally contained the Cursed Object and tossed it over, still sounding unconcerned.
"I told you, I don't care. Go ask my seniors…"
Megumi Fushiguro immediately opened the box, and a sudden sense of dread washed over him.
[It's empty! Was I only tracking the Residuals left on it?]
One unexpected turn after another finally shattered his composure. His voice grew sharp and urgent.
The longer that thing remained out there, the more victims there would be.
"Where's what was inside?!"
Yuji Itadori frowned as well, irritated by the sudden outburst.
His grandfather had just passed away. He was already in a bad mood. And now some stranger had shown up, rambling about things he couldn't even confirm were real.
"I've told you over and over—it's with my senpais! They even said they were going to peel off that talisman tonight…"
Megumi Fushiguro snapped out of his anger in an instant. Shocked, he took several steps back without realizing it.
Yuji Itadori wasn't someone who lost his temper easily. He was just completely lost about what was going on.
"Huh? Is something really that serious?"
"Serious? It's more than that.
They…
They'll die!"
...
Megumi Fushiguro moved along the direction where the Residuals were growing heavier, following the trail down a narrow path.
Yuji Itadori, who knew the area better, kept pointing out shortcuts along the way.
Lives were on the line. Compared to that, everything that had just happened didn't matter. If the thing he'd picked up had really put his seniors in danger, Yuji Itadori would never forgive himself.
They reached the school's back gate. A suffocating pressure, as if pressing down from the sky itself, suddenly made both of them stop in their tracks.
Unlike Yuji, who looked confused, Megumi Fushiguro immediately understood what it meant.
The seal had been removed.
Megumi Fushiguro stepped forward, patted Yuji Itadori on the shoulder, then walked past him toward the classroom building.
"Stay here…"
Facing the iron gate ahead, he silently called out in his mind.
[Nue]
Once he felt the electric current respond to his control, Megumi Fushiguro first reinforced his body with Cursed Energy, then made the electricity coil rapidly across the surface of his skin.
He walked straight through the iron bars. The metal melted on contact, as though exposed to extreme heat, offering no resistance at all.
"Amazing~"
Seeing that, Yuji Itadori finally believed that Cursed Techniques were real.
"Though this might not be the best timing, you could've just climbed over it, right?
Ah… he's already gone…"
After the initial shock wore off, Yuji Itadori suddenly realized something.
If Cursed Techniques were real, then the Cursed Spirits that sea urchin-head had mentioned had to be real too.
[That means the senpais are really in danger!]
...
While Yuji Itadori was still thinking, Megumi Fushiguro had already reached the corridor inside the school.
To be honest, he'd already started regretting going through the iron fence like that. He'd been influenced by someone's "the shortest distance between two points is a straight line" way of thinking.
[But now's not the time to think about that…]
As he ran, Megumi Fushiguro formed the Rabbit Escape hand sign with both hands. The sign held for an unusually long moment, yet no rabbits appeared.
Instead, the shadow beneath his feet began to churn violently.
Something within it seemed to be gathering, converging toward the center.
"Everyone, I'm counting on you.
Composite Shikigami—[Overlord Rabbit]!"
A pure white giant rabbit over four meters tall leapt out of Megumi Fushiguro's shadow. It wore a pair of crimson gauntlet-like Cursed Tools on its fists. When it landed, the entire floor trembled.
The moment it appeared, the rabbit smashed a Cursed Spirit covered in eyes—shaped like a standing earthworm—flat into the ground. With a backhand swing, it sent a centipede-like Cursed Spirit flying.
These Cursed Spirits weren't even close to Grade 2. They were hardly worth mentioning. It was hard to see why Megumi Fushiguro had even summoned it…
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
The giant rabbit lifted its head proudly, only to smack it against the ceiling because of its height. It hunched down in grievance, rubbing its ears and head.
Megumi Fushiguro had no time to comment. He turned to the rabbit.
"The ones ahead are yours!"
The rabbit sensed the situation briefly, then revealed a confident expression. It bumped its gauntlets together and nodded firmly.
"Clack! Clack!"