Shibuya, Tokyo.
Inside an underground pachinko parlor, the air was thick with smoke. The clamor of machines mixed with the curses of frustrated gamblers.
In front of a machine in the corner sat an unusually well-built man.
He wore a tight black short-sleeved shirt and loose training pants.
The scar at the corner of his mouth, twisting like a centipede, gave him a feral, beast-like presence.
Toji Fushiguro.
He stared at the flashing numbers on the pachinko machine with clear boredom, his eyes devoid of interest.
"Lost it all again."
Toji sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair.
He had just returned from Renkoku Girls' Junior High.
Originally, he had accepted the Star Religious Group's commission, planning to find a chance to kill the Star Plasma Vessel.
But then an unexpected variable had appeared. Someone who could ignore Gojo Satoru's Limitless, and even had the nerve to turn back and give him the middle finger.
That strange spatial ability had set off every instinct in Toji's body.
He was an assassin, not a lunatic who gambled with his life.
Before figuring out the other party's identity, he chose to withdraw without hesitation. He came here to play a few rounds of pachinko, both to clear his mind and to think about how to deal with that black-haired youth.
Beep, beep, beep.
The spare phone in his pocket suddenly started ringing.
Toji picked up the call.
"Yo, Kong, what is it? Any progress on the intel?" he asked casually.
On the other end, Shiu Kong, his broker, spoke with rare urgency and unease.
"Toji, something big just happened. The Star Religious Group's bounty… was withdrawn unilaterally."
"What?" Toji paused, caught off guard. "They're giving up on killing the Star Plasma Vessel?"
"It's not that they're giving up. It's that the higher-ups who issued the bounty… are all dead," Shiu Kong said, his voice trembling slightly. "Half an hour ago, the Star Religious Group's headquarters in Gunma Prefecture was suddenly set ablaze and burned to the ground. And according to the black market, a black-haired youth with no cursed energy spread a message at the underground exchange tonight. Anyone who dares take the Star Plasma Vessel job will die."
"A black-haired youth with no cursed energy…"
The arrogant figure who had flipped him off on the playground of Renkoku Girls' Junior High immediately surfaced in Toji's mind.
The corner of his mouth slowly stretched into a wide grin, revealing a row of white teeth.
"Hah. Interesting. Now this is interesting."
Toji hung up and rose to his feet. His imposing presence made several nearby gamblers instinctively step back.
"He wiped out the Star Religious Group's headquarters alone? And even issued a warning in the black market? This guy's even crazier than I thought."
Toji brushed a hand over the invisible cursed spirit weapon storage at his shoulder. The emptiness in his eyes had been replaced by a long-lost hunger for the hunt.
Just as he turned to leave the pachinko parlor—
A lazy, almost teasing voice sounded from behind him.
"Looking for me?"
Toji's muscles tensed instantly.
He snapped his head around.
Behind a row of flashing pachinko machines, Rin had appeared at some point without a sound, still dressed in that black trench coat.
In his hand was a cup of iced cola from a nearby vending machine.
"I heard you've been hanging around here, so I came to take a look."
Rin took a sip of his drink, his dark eyes quietly observing Toji Fushiguro.
Flickering neon lights painted the air in shifting, kaleidoscopic colors.
Toji stared fixedly at Rin, who stood five paces away.
His vision far surpassed that of ordinary people. He could even clearly track the bubbles rising from the melting ice in Rin's cup.
Yet just now, he had completely failed to perceive when or how this man had crossed the distance to appear behind him.
There had been no trace of Cursed Energy, no sound of footsteps, not even the slightest disturbance in the airflow.
"Heavenly Restriction monster. Since you're so interested in the Star Plasma Vessel, why don't we have a little match first?"
"How interesting. The employers from the Star Religious Group were wiped out in one move, and now the one who smashed my livelihood has delivered himself right to me."
Toji ran a hand over the scar at the corner of his mouth. The surprise in his expression faded, replaced by the excitement and brutality of a hunter spotting top-tier prey.
The muscles across his body tensed slightly, like a dormant beast awakening.
As the only existence in the Jujutsu world whose Cursed Energy had truly been reduced to absolute zero, his Heavenly Restriction exchanged all cursed energy for physical ability pushed to the absolute limit of human possibility.
Speed, strength, and all five senses had reached a transcendent level.
"Since you've come to me, don't blame me for using you to make a little extra cash. I bet there's already a massive bounty on your head in the black market, right?"
Toji grinned, then suddenly kicked off the cheap carpeted floor with his right foot.
Boom!
The concrete beneath him exploded, spiderweb cracks spreading in all directions.
His massive frame tore across the five-pace distance in an instant.
The sheer speed even ripped a sharp sonic boom through the air.
He did not draw a Cursed Tool from his weapon-storing Cursed Spirit.
Against an opponent who also had no Cursed Energy, the Heavenly Restriction monster chose the most primitive and direct form of violence.
His fist.
His right fist, as large as a clay pot and carrying devastating force, smashed straight toward Rin's temple.
If that blow landed, forget a human skull. Even a bulletproof armored vehicle would be punched clean through.
Rin remained where he stood, not even lowering the cup of iced cola in his hand.
At the instant, less than 0.01 seconds before Toji's fist brushed his hair..
He moved.
With his left hand still tucked in his trench coat pocket, his body tilted back by half an inch at an angle that defied human limits.
Swish!
Toji's heavy punch, powerful enough to split stone, brushed past the tip of Rin's nose. The force of it alone blasted a shallow crater into the wall behind him, sending the entire row of pachinko machines into a frenzy of flashing lights and alarms.
He dodged it?!
A flicker of astonishment crossed Toji's eyes, but his instincts as a top-tier assassin took over instantly.
The moment the first strike missed, he twisted his waist and unleashed a sweeping kick with his thick left leg, whipping toward Rin's lower body like steel.
This time, Rin did not evade.
He simply raised his right leg, the leather boot meeting Toji's sweep with perfect precision.
Bang!
Flesh collided with flesh, producing a dull, thunderous impact. A violent shockwave burst outward from the clash, flipping over more than a dozen nearby machines along with the gamblers seated at them.
The entire basement trembled as if struck by a minor earthquake, dust pattering down from the ceiling.
"What a hard leg!"
Toji felt as though he had kicked a solid steel pillar. The powerful rebound sent numbness through his bones.
Only now did he truly grasp the terrifying strength hidden beneath the seemingly slender, almost lazy frame of the young man before him.
"Not bad strength. But your movements are too straightforward."
Rin let out a faint chuckle and casually tossed aside the iced cola in his hand.
"Since you're so proud of your physical body, I won't bully you with anything flashy."
He pulled his left hand from his trench coat pocket and rolled his wrist.
"Let's keep it simple. I'll spar with you using taijutsu alone."
___
Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon.com/slept01