Spring, 2018.
Itadori Yuji visited his grandfather Wasuke's hospital room.
Those hospital visits had gone on almost every day for years now.
"I keep telling you to stop coming to the hospital all the time and go enjoy yourself. Join a club or something. What, you got no friends?"
"I'm good. It's a pain. And I do have friends."
Short hair tinged with pink.
Itadori, a boy with a solid, grounded air about him, let out a sigh.
He'd heard the same lecture more times than he could count.
He was sick of it, sure, but part of him was relieved too.
If his grandfather still had the energy to nag him, that meant he still had strength left.
In other words, he was still hanging on.
'Back then, this would've just felt suffocating.'
Wasuke looked at Itadori sitting beside him and sighed.
In the past, all he would have felt was worry.
Not anymore.
A man had told him he would come for the boy.
That was why Kadoc's face kept surfacing in his mind, strangely trustworthy despite everything.
Wasuke exhaled and pushed himself upright.
He was sick of lying down all the time.
More than that, there was something he needed to say seriously.
Words he had to leave behind.
His final will.
"Yuji."
"Yeah? What is it?"
Itadori turned to look at Wasuke.
His tone was flat, almost absent-minded.
"You're strong, so help people. And when it's your time to die, make sure you're surrounded by lots of people."
A Jujutsu Sorcerer's last words become a curse.
Sometimes a curse strong enough to twist the fate of someone even stronger than the speaker.
Even so, Wasuke gave Itadori that advice.
Loaded with hope.
Loaded with fear.
"Got it. Just get some rest. I'm heading out."
Itadori sighed and rose from his seat.
Or rather, he tried to.
Wasuke collapsed as if to say that was enough.
If not for the faint thread of breath still in him, it would have looked like he had simply fallen asleep, painless and all at once.
Death came in an instant.
Itadori realized that while arranging his grandfather's funeral.
At least he had gone peacefully.
The expression on Wasuke's face, strangely unburdened, was the only comfort he had.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm fine. Thank you for everything."
Whether that was fortunate or unfortunate, he couldn't say.
Since Wasuke had died in the hospital, the death procedures were simple enough.
Even death bound people to society and paperwork.
Human beings were slaves to the system to the very end.
It almost made the old saying feel true.
That life was painful from the moment you were born.
That babies cried because they were afraid.
"Ah, Itadori-kun."
Death registration.
The funeral omitted, cremation arranged immediately after.
The nurse who had been helping him through every step called out to stop him.
She had remembered a request someone had left in the paperwork at Wasuke's insistence.
"Yes? What is it?"
"This. Your grandfather asked for it before he passed. He said that once he closed his eyes, we should call this number."
"Ah, thank you."
Itadori accepted the slip of paper the nurse held out.
It had Kadoc's cell phone number written on it.
Cremation. Enshrinement.
After all the necessary procedures were finished, Itadori made the call.
"Hello?"
A young man's voice came through the speaker, youthful and clear.
It was Kadoc.
"Ah, excuse me. My name is Itadori Yuji, and my grandfather..."
"Ah. I've been waiting for your call. Wasuke asked you to contact me, didn't he?"
"Yes. But... what exactly was your relationship with my grandfather?"
"We met by chance, more or less. He could be a little sharp around the edges, but he was a good man. That's how we ended up connected."
Kadoc wasn't lying.
It was the truth.
"I had circumstances of my own, so I couldn't attend the funeral. I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. He passed away suddenly a few days ago, and we didn't hold a funeral."
"Ah... I see."
Kadoc murmured it like he genuinely regretted hearing that.
Because he did.
"Oh, right. Come to think of it, the hospital bill and the cremation costs had already been paid. Was that maybe...?"
"Yes. When I visited him, I asked the hospital to put those expenses through on my end."
"Thank you. Really."
The columbarium was quiet.
In that empty place, Itadori bowed deeply even though no one was there to see it.
Kadoc couldn't see him, but the sincerity still came through.
His voice was trembling.
"It's nothing. I wanted to do at least that much, so don't worry about it."
Then—
Kadoc paused for a moment.
He let the silence hang before getting to the real point.
Itadori straightened up while he waited.
He found himself wondering what the man was about to say.
"There's something important I want to discuss. Could you make some time for me?"
"Yeah. That's fine. Where should I go?"
"I'll head over your way before the day's out. Even if it's late, I'd like to meet. The place... the convenience store near your hospital."
"Understood. Call me when you arrive. I'll come right away."
"Good. I'll see you soon."
Kadoc said what he needed to say and ended the call.
In the silence that followed, Itadori stared at the black phone screen for a moment before slipping it back into his pocket.
After getting in touch with him, I immediately called Choso.
"Hello?"
Choso answered in a fairly neat, composed voice.
He'd really gotten used to modern civilization.
"Yes. Is now a good time to talk?"
"No problem. It's my day off, and the person I'm guarding is resting at home. Her family is watching over her."
"That's good. Even if you had plans, I was going to make you change them."
Maybe not on any other day.
But today was different.
I intended to make this meeting happen in a way completely different from the original story of Jujutsu Kaisen.
Itadori was a child born from Kenjaku's manipulation.
Choso was the same.
Which meant that, in the story, the two of them were half-brothers.
Choso's nonexistent memories were proof enough of that.
Eso and Kechizu were handling nighttime patrol and perimeter watch in the nearby area.
Choso was serving as the bodyguard for Toji's Wife, Zenin Sae.
The Death Painting brothers had adapted well to the modern age, and they were living diligently enough.
That was a relief in more ways than one.
"Hm? Sounds like something happened."
"Our investigation confirmed that the Death Painting brothers have a half-brother. We're going to meet him today, so get ready."
"What?!"
The scream that exploded from the speaker was loud enough to blow it out.
It was so sharp it felt like the floor vibrated.
I could hear it through the phone and almost as raw noise in the air.
He really let that one rip.
"I'm heading out now, so meet me downstairs."
I gave him the bare minimum and hung up.
Sae was at home, so she probably wouldn't need separate protection.
And if Toji called because she did?
I'd just send one of the spare Servants.
I got ready to head out and stepped out of my room.
Five Servants were waiting for me.
'Raiko's missing.'
Was she on backup duty for Maki and Mai this month?
If so, there was nothing to worry about.
"We're going back to Sendai. We're going to meet Itadori Yuji. Shuten, Ibuki. Get ready."
"Got it."
"Mm. Just leave it to big sis."
Shuten-douji and Ibuki-douji rose at once, eyes gleaming.
Those two were on rotation this month.
"Right. How many of Sukuna's fingers do we have now? Ten, right?"
"Yes. Ten, excluding the one Itadori Yuji swallowed. In practical terms, we've gathered eleven."
Koyanskaya of Light, the Assassin, reported from her seat in the living room.
That was enough.
'This has to go differently from the story too.'
In the original, they hesitated and missed the timing to make him swallow the fingers sooner.
That delay led straight to the Shibuya catastrophe.
Of course, that whole mess had snowballed because Megumi kept rolling things in the worst possible direction.
Still, if he'd eaten them earlier, none of that would have happened.
No question.
So I intended to feed the fingers to Itadori.
One a day. Two, if possible.
"Master. We can go just like this."
"My lord. Same here."
The two inhuman beauties came over and linked arms with me.
Ibuki was soft and heavy; Shuten was supple, but firm.
A dizzying fragrance. Naked sensuality.
Both of them were undeniably alluring, but the feel of them was different.
'Nothing to be done about that.'
Part of it was a difference in abundance, part of it a difference in charm.
Not superiority. Not inferiority.
I checked my phone and wallet in my pocket, then left the house.
Choso was waiting below.
"That thing you said about a younger brother... was it true?"
The moment he saw me, Choso brought up his brother.
He still looked visibly worked up.
"Yes. A child Kamo Noritoshi—Kenjaku—created in secret. The same one who made you."
"That bastard..."
Murderous intent flashed through Choso's eyes.
Fair enough. I'd just named the man he considered his mortal enemy.
As we walked, I finished explaining the rest to Choso.
It didn't take long.
The situation wasn't that complicated, and it was easy enough to summarize.
Thanks to that, I was done before we even reached the station.
Then we quietly set out for our destination.
This time, without an Assistant Director's help. Just us.
We took the train, then caught a taxi.
When I'd gone to see Wasuke, I'd been acting on impulse, my mind in a rush...
But not now.
"This is the place?"
Night had fallen. Choso looked at the convenience store as he asked.
I'd called Itadori from inside the taxi, so he should be here soon.
"Yes. We agreed to meet here. He'll be here any minute."
"I see. So this is where..."
"But Choso, please stay quiet for a bit. I need to talk to him about the jujutsu world first."
"Won't that be too much for the boy? From what I heard, he has nothing to do with the jujutsu world at all."
Choso made no effort to hide his unease.
He was already using an intimate way of referring to a child he'd never even met.
Someone might have wondered what was wrong with him.
But for Choso, it was perfectly natural.
"He'll adapt quickly. I've heard he's strong at heart."
"If that's true, then good..."
While we were making small talk, the phone in my pocket vibrated.
Itadori was calling.
"Hello?"
"This is Itadori. I just got to the convenience store you mentioned, and... maybe..."
"You can see a pretty conspicuous group, right?"
"Ah... figures. I thought so. Got it. I'm hanging up."
Itadori ended the call immediately and came running from the distance.
From far away.
Fast.
Fast enough to leave even the world's top sprinters in the dust.
Then again, high-level Jujutsu Sorcerers were all superhuman to begin with.
If they ever stepped into the public eye on athletic ability alone, they'd rewrite every record there was.
So it wasn't shocking in theory, but seeing it in person was something else.
That was pure physical ability.
'Ah. Maki's the same, isn't she?'
The moment I thought of Maki, the surprise faded.
It was special, but not uniquely so.
"Sorry!"
The boy who had been sprinting toward us from the distance stopped right in front of me.
Clean braking after that savage burst of speed.
Short hair mixed with pink.
A solid, grounded presence.
Seeing Itadori Yuji in the flesh felt different from seeing him in a manga.
Something about him was hard to pin down, but a protagonist was still a protagonist.
He carried a weight the supporting cast simply didn't.
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