The name "Kenjaku" was, in this world, a genuinely mysterious one.
After all, he was the shadow puppeteer behind nearly every conspiracy in Jujutsu Kaisen. Aside from a select handful of people, almost no one even knew the name existed.
But as a transmigrator, she absolutely knew it.
"Kenjaku" — the ultimate behind-the-scenes villain of the series. Readers had taken to calling him "Brain Flower," because his true form was, in fact, a lump of brain. By transplanting his own brain into other people's bodies, he could hijack their corpses, seize their abilities, and through this method he had drifted between countless shells across a thousand years.
And so he just kept living.
Compared to him, a thousand-year-old tortoise was practically a junior.
Being a shadow puppeteer naturally implied having a mysterious and grandiose plan.
This thousand-year-old monster's ultimate goal was the assimilation of all humanity with Tengen — an evolution into what he called the "New Humanity." Countless people had died for the sake of his warped ideal.
He had been laying the groundwork since a thousand years ago, playing a millennium-spanning game of chess.
And within that game, the technique of "Mahito" — *Idle Transfiguration*, the ability to touch and reshape souls — was an indispensable, irreplaceable puzzle piece in making the plan a reality. For that reason, Kenjaku had had his eye on Mahito for a very long time.
In the original story, after the Shibuya Incident — once Mahito had been beaten to the brink of death by Yuji Itadori — Kenjaku would absorb Mahito using his technique, stealing both his life and his power.
And she had now transmigrated into Mahito.
So —
This man was the single last person she wanted to meet in this entire world.
Bar none.
The girl stood frozen before the mirror. The faint smile on her face held steady. Her back was already drenched in cold sweat.
...Calm down. First, calm down.
She forced her brain to engage.
Set aside the fear for now — why?
Why was Kenjaku here?
According to the original plot, was this hotel room really where Mahito and Kenjaku first met? The source material never specified that. By all logic, she was a cursed spirit born naturally from humanity's negative emotions — the time and place of her birth should have been random.
But a coincidental encounter? Impossible.
Because this guy had very obviously been staking the place out.
Hss… oh.
The girl's heart sank.
She thought she understood now.
In the lore of Jujutsu Kaisen, after a cursed spirit was destroyed, a cursed spirit of the same origin would eventually re-emerge after a century or two — perhaps inheriting the memories of its predecessor, perhaps not, but fundamentally the same in nature. It would congeal once more from human fear.
A hundred years ago, there might have been a "Mahito."
Two hundred years ago, another "Mahito" might have appeared.
Three hundred years, five hundred years, a thousand years ago — there could have been more, any number of times.
And Kenjaku had been alive for over a thousand years.
A thousand years — more than enough time to observe the birth patterns of the cursed spirit called "Mahito" over and over again. Where it appeared. When it appeared. What signs preceded its emergence.
He had likely mapped all of it out completely.
Which was why he could arrive here with pinpoint precision, timed like he'd been counting down on a stopwatch.
Oh god, damn it all...
She shouldn't have stopped to look in the mirror!
She should have just run the moment she was born!
This was a catastrophic intelligence failure!
One moment of carelessness, and she'd missed the optimal window to escape — and ended up getting caught red-handed by the main villain boss himself!
She looked up.
Kenjaku had already stepped casually over the corpses on the floor. He walked into the room, his gaze sweeping over the ritual implements in the corner, over the bloodstains on the carpet, and finally — landing on her.
"Hello there."
He smiled as he spoke, his voice as warm and mild as a neighbor dropping by for a visit.
The girl felt a chill crawl down her spine.
..................
Well. For now, at least… just for now… she was temporarily safe.
"The old humanity is obsolete. You cursed spirits are exactly what the New Humanity should look like."
On the sofa, the girl sat cross-legged, clutching a bloodstained throw pillow to her chest, while the man across from her laid out his grand vision in a tone that was gentle and evangelist-smooth.
There was a suture line across his forehead.
Kenjaku's one unmistakable feature.
He extended his hand toward her.
"So — Miss Mahiko, would you be willing to join me in creating a world where only the New Humanity exists?"
Mahiko.
That name had been something she'd made up on the spot when he'd asked what to call her.
The name wasn't the point.
The point was what this man standing before her was actually saying.
He was. Stringing. Her. Along.
Cursed spirits as the New Humanity? Wanting to create a world ruled by cursed spirits?
A con. Pure, unadulterated con artistry.
She knew the plot. She could see straight through him.
Kenjaku's idea of the New Humanity was all of mankind post-assimilation — calling cursed spirits the New Humanity was merely the sales pitch he'd used to rope the Special Grade cursed spirits into doing his bidding.
And even setting aside her foreknowledge, she could have guessed Kenjaku wasn't cooking anything good in that brain of his.
Nine years of compulsory education had given her a fraud-detection instinct that was absolutely no joke.
The original story was the same — the original Mahito had never believed Kenjaku for a single second from the very beginning. But the original Mahito had still chosen to follow him anyway.
So. What was she going to do?
Mahito… no, Mahiko quietly deliberated within her own mind.
"Many of your fellow cursed spirits have already joined forces with me, you know," Kenjaku continued smiling. "Would you like to come meet them? I won't pressure you… but please, trust me — I will lead all of you to build a brand new world."
The girl pulled the throw pillow tighter against herself.
Concéaling the way her fingers were trembling ever so slightly.
But the expression on her face was one of pure, guileless innocence. "Oh? Fellow cursed spirits? Who do you mean?"
The girl's acting skills erupted in a full-scale explosion in that moment.
Whatever happened, she could not let him see that she was a transmigrator. She could not let him sense anything out of the ordinary.
She could not make an enemy of him right now!
This man's combat power in the original story was no joke — he could kill her in her current state, freshly born, without breaking a sweat.
His eyes were sharper than anyone's. His instincts keener than anyone's. If her identity as a transmigrator were exposed — or if he sensed that she knew his true objective — she didn't dare imagine what would follow.
He would probably kill her on the spot without a second thought.
Right now, there was only one option.
Stall!!
Stall his ass first!
Keep herself alive!
Get out of this room breathing!
Channel every last drop of acting ability she'd ever possessed, and fool this thousand-year-old fox!
At the very minimum — she had to buy herself time to grow stronger, and time to prepare her own plan!
"Your fellow cursed spirits are all Special Grade as well, you know? They were born from humanity's negative emotions toward the earth, the oceans, the forests — just like you, they are the New Humanity..."
"Ohhh——" The girl tilted her head, her tone soft and malleable, like a child brimming with wonder at everything in the world.
She turned the throw pillow over and over in her arms, completely unbothered by the bloodstains smearing onto her.
"A plan to create a new world... that sounds so interesting!" She smiled, her eyes bright and shining. "Can I just run loose and do whatever I want? If so, then I'm in!"
"Well now, since it is a plan, there are naturally certain things that must be done, and certain things that absolutely cannot be done." Kenjaku tilted his head slightly, his tone like someone coaxing a child. "But — if you want to play, I'll do my best to make sure you have your fill of fun."
Have her fill of fun?
As if she didn't know exactly what he was going to do to her in the end.
The girl smiled and clapped her hands together — clap, clap — bright and crisp.
"Thank you, big brother~"
Her palms were soaked in sweat.
"When does the plan start?" She blinked, feigning eager anticipation. "I'm already a little impatient."
"The plan has been underway for quite some time, actually." Kenjaku's smile was serene and unhurried. "But it's not your turn to step onto the stage just yet — you'll need to hold back for now."
"Okay, okay~"
The girl stood up and stretched lazily.
"Then I'll go out and play on my own for a bit first?" She smiled as she made her way toward the door, took two steps, then glanced back at him. "Big brother can find me if he needs to, right?"
"If you run too far——" Kenjaku's tone was light, "I might not be able to find you."
"Don't worry I won't run too far"
The girl turned around and walked lightly out of the room.
Down the corridor.
Into the elevator.
Through the hotel lobby.
Out the front doors, and a clean breeze hit her in the face.
And then —
The girl took off sprinting, running like the wind itself was at her heels.
Won't run too far?
Ha! HA!
Are you KIDDING me?!
I'm running straight to the ends of the earth!! ——
____
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