"Since you're here," Ren said, reaching into the canvas bag at his feet. "Do me a favor."
He pulled out a matte, charcoal-gray scabbard. Resting it across his knees, the dark veins in the metal seemed to pulse under the harsh clinic lights.
Gojo stopped chewing. He hooked a finger under his black blindfold, pulling it down just enough to expose one bright blue eye. "I'm not paying for another broken window."
"Neither am I," Shoko muttered without looking up. "Take that thing outside."
"It won't blow up this time," Ren said. He popped the guard with his thumb, sliding the blade out an inch. The abyssal black spine and silver edge caught the light. "I tweaked it. It should eat energy on impact now instead of repelling it. But since I'm running on empty, I can't test it."
He held the hilt out. "Just give it a spark."
Gojo smirked, easily taking the bait. He didn't grab the hilt. He just stepped forward, held out a single finger, and pressed it flat against the exposed silver steel.
The air pressure in the room instantly dropped. Gojo didn't give it a spark; he dumped a heavy, dense stream of raw cursed energy straight into the metal.
The dark veins on the blade flared a bright, volatile purple.
A blue interface snapped into Ren's vision, the numbers blurring as they climbed:
[DIMENSIONAL INVENTORY]
Cursed Energy Retention: Active
Current Storage: 5,000 / 50,000 Units
Current Storage: 22,000 / 50,000 Units
Current Storage: 50,000 / 50,000 Units [MAX CAPACITY REACHED]
Three seconds. The sword vibrated violently in Ren's hands, absolutely gorged.
Gojo blinked. He pulled his finger back, staring at the blade with genuine surprise. "Huh. It actually swallowed it." He let out a short laugh. "Scary little toy. Hit a curse with that, and you'll suck them dry."
"Yeah," Ren said. He kept his voice completely flat, hiding the massive rush of relief.
Ren clicked the sword back into its scabbard. The volatile purple glow died instantly, swallowed back into the matte gray metal. He tossed the weapon into his canvas duffel bag and stood up, slinging the strap over his shoulder.
"Thanks for the juice box, Satoru," Ren said, picking up his half-empty caramel latte. He looked over at the desk. "Shoko, don't work too hard. I'll bring you actual coffee next time."
"Just lock the door on your way out," she muttered, not looking up from her autopsy notes.
Ren gave a lazy two-finger salute and walked out. The heavy metal door of the clinic clicked shut behind him, sealing the quiet hum of the morgue back in.
...
Inside the clinic, the silence stretched for a few long seconds. Gojo didn't move. He stood perfectly still...
His single exposed blue eye staring blankly at the space where Ren had just been. The goofy, energetic aura he had walked in with was completely gone.
Shoko let out a slow breath. She set her pen down on the stainless steel desk and reached for her pack of cigarettes.
"Are you going to say it, or do I have to?" she asked, sparking her lighter.
Gojo tilted his head. He finally hooked a finger under his blindfold and pulled it back into place, snapping the black fabric over his eyes. "Say what?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Satoru," Shoko muttered. She exhaled a thin stream of gray smoke. "I can feel your output. You just dumped enough raw energy into that metal to level a city block. A cursed tool is just a cup. When you pour water in, the cup fills up. I should be choking on the residual pressure in this room right now."
She looked straight at him, her dark circles making her glare look even sharper. "But the sword didn't fill up. So where did it go?"
A slow, genuine smile crept onto Gojo's face. He reached over and took a massive bite of his strawberry crepe, chewing thoughtfully before he answered.
"That's the best part, Shoko," Gojo said, his voice dropping its usual playful pitch. "It went nowhere."
Shoko frowned, snapping her lighter shut. "Satoru, energy doesn't just cease to exist. Even if the blade ate it, you should be able to track your own signature."
"I should," Gojo agreed, holding up his bandaged finger. "My eyes see the flow of the world. I watch energy shift, convert to heat, or settle into an object. But the second mine touched that steel..."
He paused, a rare look of absolute fascination crossing his face.
"...it dropped completely off the map. No compression, no conversion. It's like pouring water into a bottomless hole. It was just erased."
Shoko stared at him. She knew exactly what the Six Eyes were capable of. For Gojo to completely lose track of his own energy meant....
^_____^
"You're telling me," Shoko started, her voice completely flat, "that a high school kid is walking around with a special grade tool that just casually deletes matter from existence?"
"Looks like it!" Gojo chirped, instantly snapping back into his obnoxious, upbeat self. He grabbed his iced latte and took a loud, slurping sip. "Our boy Ren is full of fun little secrets. I can't wait to see what he does next."
Shoko stared at him for a long, silent moment. She rubbed her temples, the beginnings of a severe migraine already pulsing behind her eyes.
"What a draggg..," she muttered, crushing her cigarette into the glass tray. "Get out of my morgue."
...
Ren adjusted the canvas strap on his shoulder, a quiet, upbeat tune humming in his throat as he walked down the cobblestone path.
He mentally pulled up the blue screen one more time, just to look at it.
[Current Storage: 50,000 / 50,000 Units]
He swiped it away, a satisfied smirk on his face. He knew Gojo was a monster, but maxing out a Level 2 inventory in three seconds? The guy hadn't even broken a sweat. He was literally holding a strawberry crepe in his other hand.
Sure, Gojo was definitely suspicious now. You don't just erase that much cursed energy from reality without the Six Eyes noticing something is off.
Ren didn't care. As long as the System stayed completely hidden, it didn't matter. But as he rounded the corner....
"I'm telling you, it's the foundation that matters!" Yuji's voice echoed across the training field, full of burning conviction. "Tall girls with a big ass! It's like Jennifer Lawrence! You can't beat that level of structural integrity!"
"Wrong! Absolutely wrong!" Panda's deep voice boomed back. The massive cursed corpse was standing with his arms crossed, shaking his heavy head. "You are ignoring the sheer, undeniable power of upper-body aerodynamics! A generous chest is the pinnacle of human evolution. It's comforting! It's soft!"
"Bonito flakes," Toge Inumaki chimed in, nodding solemnly with the collar of his uniform pulled up over his mouth.
Standing a few feet away, Megumi Fushiguro was aggressively rubbing his temples, looking like he wanted to summon his Divine Dogs just to put himself out of his misery. Beside him, Nobara Kugisaki was white-knuckling her hammer, a deeply terrifying vein popping out on her forehead.
"If either of you disgusting animals say one more word about female anatomy," Nobara threatened, her voice dropping to a lethal whisper, "I am going to use Resonance on your actual brains."
Ren let out a quiet sigh, adjusting the strap of his bag. He tried to smoothly alter his trajectory to bypass the courtyard entirely, but his "Preternaturally Handsome" trait practically made him a walking beacon.
"Ren!" Yuji spotted him instantly, waving his arms frantically. "Hey, Ren! Get over here!"
Damn it, Ren thought, plastering on a relaxed, easygoing smile as he strolled over to the group. "Afternoon. Sounded like a highly tactical debate from over there. Are we mapping out curse weak points?"