Moonlight spilled over the abandoned park once more.
The Tiger Sovereign.
It really was the Tiger Sovereign.
Itadori Yuji, 68 years in the future.
"Where... is this?"
More importantly -
Yuji took a moment to assess the state of his own existence.
A Heroic Spirit.
He had never encountered a form of being like this before. Not a cursed spirit, not a human, but a pure spiritual body. One that could still materialize physically, with only one real weakness:
Its spiritual core.
That meant...
He raised one hand, palm up.
His half-cursed constitution was still there. For Yuji, whose nature now leaned even further toward that of a cursed spirit, cursed energy had become the root of life itself. There was no blood flowing through him anymore, but cursed energy could be converted in its place.
A sphere of blood shot through the air.
A hole appeared in the stone.
Not shattered apart by brute force, but cleanly pierced through. The edges were smooth, as if seared by extreme heat.
Akira knew that when the Tiger Sovereign said "weak," it was not the same thing he meant by "weak."
With the same cursed energy cost, Akira could not even break a brick.
This monster of a man could produce penetration like that.
"The output's weak," Yuji said, staring at the hole with a slight frown. "Limited by the summoner's cursed energy?"
Akira: "..."
There was no good response to that.
Someone at that level was far beyond anything a beginner like him had the right to evaluate.
Yuji let the technique dissipate and turned to look at him.
"I believe what you told me, kid."
His tone was calm.
He did not care why Akira knew the future.
He did not care about the tangled mess of causality behind it.
There was only one thing he cared about -
That he could return to the past.
That tragedy might be changed.
That alone was enough.
Akira nodded quickly. "Good, good! Then let's make the contract first!"
"I'll do everything I can to involve myself in the major events ahead," Akira said. "That includes the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons that Geto Suguru will launch soon. In return, you need to protect me with everything you've got. From the shadows, out in the open, whatever works."
Yuji looked at him.
He looked so much like himself once had.
As Akira finished speaking, Yuji thought of Gojo Satoru.
The strongest.
The least reliable.
The teacher who somehow made you feel safest.
His voice caught.
"I kept thinking... if I ever got the chance to do it over..."
He paused.
"But I knew that was impossible. Time doesn't run backward. The dead don't come back."
Yuji lowered his head.
Moonlight fell over his young face, but behind those eyes was more than eighty years of weathering.
"Only now do I realize... I really do have a chance to change the past."
"Nanami. Sensei. Junpei..."
"I've spent my whole life regretting it. Regretting how weak I was back then. My hands are covered in blood, and under my feet are the bodies of my comrades. Grandpa wanted me to die surrounded by people... so why, in the end, did everyone disappear while I was the one left behind, alone and still waiting?"
Akira watched him in silence.
This man, more than eighty years old, still looked like a boy.
He opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.
In the end, he only said softly, "You'll see Gojo Satoru again soon."
Yuji looked up at him.
Then he smiled.
Akira had not expected Tokyo Jujutsu High to move this fast.
Early the next morning.
He had just finished washing up when the doorbell rang.
He still had not figured out how to approach them first, and Jujutsu High had already come to collect him.
The only lucky part was that he had summoned Yuji last night, not this morning.
Akira put on a puzzled expression. "Uh... sorry, who are you? Who are you here for?"
"Akira, who is it?" his sister called from upstairs.
Nanami glanced up toward the second floor and said in a low voice, "Two weeks ago, at night, you ran into something. Didn't you?"
He looked upstairs again, then lowered his voice. "This isn't the place to talk. Come outside first. I'll explain on the way."
Then Akira shouted upstairs, "Sis, it's someone I know! I've gotta head out for a bit! Don't make lunch for me!"
After that, he changed his shoes and stepped outside.
Nanami was already waiting beyond the door.
The sun was bright.
But Akira was not nervous in the slightest.
Because he knew Yuji was still beside him, hidden in spiritual form.
Ordinary people could not sense souls at all.
Even in the jujutsu world, very few could perceive or touch the soul directly. In spiritual form, it was one of the best concealment methods there was.
If necessary, Yuji could materialize in an instant and erase any threat that came too close.
So Akira had plenty of confidence.
He was not afraid at all.
Besides...
Following Nanami was not a bad deal.
"You awakened cursed energy," Nanami said. It was not a question. It was a statement.
"...Yeah."
"So that kind of negative emotion people feel is the source of cursed energy, huh?"
Nanami looked at the boy in front of him with a flicker of surprise.
He had talent.
"How did you survive that night?"
Akira thought for a moment, then said, "Right before I blacked out, a bunch of things suddenly appeared in my head. After that I could control that power. I threw one punch on instinct, and it ran."
Nanami's steps slowed for a second.
He turned slightly and looked at him.
There was something in those tired eyes Akira could not quite read.
"A wild awakening," Nanami said. "And you even fought it off."
"You were lucky."
Nanami said nothing more.
The two of them walked in silence for a stretch.
"Tokyo Jujutsu High," Nanami said suddenly. "Do you want to go?"
Akira looked at his profile.
"Will it let me protect the people I want to protect?"
Nanami was silent for two seconds.
"It can let your death mean something."
Akira smiled.
"Then I'll go."