[A once-in-a-lifetime event!!]
[Everyone who managed to log into the livestream right on the dot, raise your hand!]
[Thank goodness we survived to the holographic era, so we get to watch this kind of immersive anime livestream.]
[The official preview only said “brand new project” and “full of unknowns regarding the if-line,” without giving a single spoiler, sigh.]
[Is it only my screen that’s still black?]
[Wait, there’s sound ]
The screen remained dark, but a line of subtitles appeared, followed by a voice:
“Regardless of whether one is human or not, once you attain love, once you give love, it is equivalent to voluntarily falling into a prison woven from thorns, never to break free again.”
“Looking up at the moon from the abyss will only lead you to sink into the mire.”
[Is this the introductory monologue?]
[It sounds amazing!]
[My life is utterly ruined by youth voices… soft and clean, with a lingering, affectionate tail-end and just a hint of flirtatiousness. I’m completely infatuated.]
[Carry on, upstairs, I’ll hand you the pen.]
[I’m already starting to look forward to the owner of that voice showing their face, my friends.]
Puchi—
It was the sound of something stabbing into a body, followed immediately by a muffled groan.
Then came an uncontrollable cry of pain.
[?! Don’t die!]
[Oh my god, I fell in love at first sight.]
[Even though I was already mentally prepared that “Jujutsu Kaisen is a high-risk and unreasonable world where anyone can die,” getting shanked right out of the gate who can relate?]
[I checked beforehand, this time JJXX is just serving as a credited supervisor, production crew, don’t go making trouble!]
[Huh? JJXX is still alive?]
[Alive.]
[This really is a sad piece of useless trivia…]
Then, the dark screen lit up.
It was a recording studio.
“Recording complete, thank you for your hard work, Yuuki-kun. ‘Koji’ has wrapped up!”
The recording director in the control room opened the microphone and said to the people inside the booth.
Through the soundproof glass, the person inside raised his eyes and nodded toward the few people outside.
Ieiri Yuuki.
A voice actor who voiced “Koji Ogasawara” in an anime.
Upon seeing him raise his eyes, the assistant in the control room couldn’t help marveling: “Ieiri-kun’s appearance is at a level where he could directly go star in a romance film.”
Yet the recording director suddenly said to his nephew: “Do not get too close to him.”
Assistant: “Huh?”
[Turns out it was just a recording session… false alarm.]
[!!]*
[Blond hair and blue eyes, rocking a wolf-tail haircut, with a purely innocent look, yet he has a red mole beneath his lower lip that inexplicably radiates a strong allure. I declare, this is my new waifu!]
[A new character? I’m fawning over him.]
[What does ‘do not get too close’ mean?]
[My first reaction is that, set in the world of JJK, this must be establishing the victim’s background…]
[Reminds me of my Junpei, wuwu!]
[We’re already on an IF line, can we spare him from the death flag?]
In the time it took for the recording director and his assistant to exchange those two sentences, Ieiri Yuuki had already stepped out of the recording booth and casually picked up his phone lying on the table.
A text message popped up directly.
[Student Ieiri Yuuki, To whom it may concern:
You have passed the preliminary selection for Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School. Please report to Jujutsu High before 9:00 PM on April 1st, carrying your determination to die.
I represent the Jujutsu side in welcoming you to join the “Subjugate Ryomen Sukuna” team, and I guarantee
Your name will definitely appear on a hero’s tombstone.
P.S.: Remember to write your will in advance.]
Ieiri Yuuki: “?”
April 1st, an April Fools’ joke, right?
Moreover, judging by the content “determination to die,” “will definitely appear on a tombstone,” “write your will,” and so on it was a blatant implication that this was a suicide mission.
Recording director: “What’s wrong?”
Ieiri Yuuki snapped back to his senses and said, “It’s nothing, just some spam text…”
Yet just as he lifted his head, semi-translucent streams of text scrolled past his eyes.
Ieiri Yuuki: “…”
[This livestream even comes with subtitles, nice.]
[The new character’s full name is out, it’s Ieiri Yuuki!]
[The reading for ‘Yuuki’ is ‘yuki’.]
[Meaning ‘snow’.]
[Is this hinting that he’ll die on a snowy day? (Mendes nasai, I’ve already been marinated in JJXX’s style, always thinking about how to torture the characters.)]
Ieiri Yuuki: “…?”
Those comments didn’t seem to notice that text message, simply discussing him as a person.
Ieiri Yuuki thought of something, then turned his head to look at the others in the control room.
Sure enough, they had no reaction whatsoever.
Aside from himself, no one else could see those constantly refreshing comments.
[Alright, let’s call you Snow Waifu!!]
[I’m fawning over him so hard.]
[Placing my bets on how he dies]
[What’s wrong with upstairs? Do you hate the new character?]
[It’s not hate; JJK characters are all like that. The sooner they die, the more they stay true to their character designs (words of blood and tears from a Gojo/Megumi fan).]
[Getting killed off by the plot is actually a blessing for the waifu! Hahaha! (Deranged)]
[Got PTSD from JJXX]
Jujutsu…
Ieiri Yuuki thought of that text message from earlier, which also contained keywords related to sorcery.
Did he get hit by a hallucinatory curse?
Ieiri Yuuki was well accustomed to it.
His original surname was Sakuragawa.
The Sakuragawa family was an ancient, conservative, and immensely superstitious clan.
They sought to predict the future without restriction, relying on those prophecies to move forward.
And quite coincidentally, this world possessed a touch of the mystical; the clan head had managed to acquire the corpse of a prophetic yōkai.
That yōkai was called a “Jinchū” (or “Kudan”).
Just like eating mermaid flesh granted immortality, consuming the flesh of a Kudan granted the ability of prophecy.
However, this prophecy had a restriction: it could only prophesy the future right before death.
As a result, each person could only make a single prophecy.
After all, a person only dies once.
Unreconciled, the Sakuragawa family searched out a mermaid.
Those who ate mermaid flesh became ageless and immortal thus canceling out the curse of the Kudan.
However, mermaid flesh was a deadly poison to the vast majority of human beings.
The family head summoned all clan members aged six to eighteen, making them consume mermaid flesh without their knowledge.
As a screening process only those who survived would be allowed to eat the Kudan’s flesh.
Twelve people were present, and only a single one survived.
It wasn’t Sakuragawa Yuuki.
He had vomited blood and been pronounced dead; later on, he crawled right back out of his coffin.
Perhaps fate favored him, allowing him to experience a delayed resurrection from death.
From then on, he attained an ageless and immortal body, remaining forever frozen at eighteen years of age.
Therefore—
Even being cursed would not kill him.
To be precise, even if he died, he would resurrect.
Inevitably, Ieiri Yuuki’s attitude toward his own life had grown indifferent.
…
After the recording session ended, Ieiri Yuuki was free to clock out.
The sky was overcast, looking as though a rainstorm would soon break out.
Ieiri Yuuki walked on his way home, putting on his earphones along the way.
He silently observed those comments, occasionally letting out a soft chuckle.
[To step back ten thousand reasons, why can’t Yuuki laugh right next to my ear!?]
[Come to my bed and pant for me to hear, and by the way hand me 100,000 yen, toss in a Jade Hound as a gift either black or white is fine and throw in an adult Megumi Fushiguro]
[Upstairs wants to eat and take it all to go]
[Adult Megumi Fushiguro…]
[Complying with the law and guarding the statutes]
[Haha!]
The style had originally been full of such flirtatious banter, when it abruptly changed—
[Damn, is it not my imagination? Is the black mist behind Yuuki getting more and more obvious?]
[The camera pans over, so many Curses…]
[Are we finally starting to push the plot?!]
[The Curses all around look so restless, I’ve never seen this kind of formation before]
[Getting goosebumps]
[This clearly isn’t a small scene…]
Curses?
Ieiri Yuuki stopped in his tracks.
Wait, the surrounding environment wasn’t right…
Was this a different space, or had he transmigrated?
At the same time, in an abandoned building near Ieiri Yuuki.
Itadori Yuji wielded the Slaughter Demon, cleanly and decisively chopping off a Curse’s arm.
Having entered Jujutsu High not long ago, Itadori had just rescued a child held hostage by a Curse.
Before he could even let out a breath of relief, suddenly, the fine slits beneath Itadori Yuji’s eyes snapped open.
“——”
His scarlet pupils rolled a full circle, locking onto a single direction.
Simultaneously, the one-armed Curse also grew restless.
Along its spine, a row of pustule-like lumps sprouted, piercing through the skin the next instant to form barbs, while its purplish-black blood emitted a pungent, foul stench.
Nobara’s brow furrowed tightly.
The aura of the curse has grown stronger… It’s evolving?!
How is that possible?!
On the other side, a ferocious mouth appeared on Itadori Yuji’s cheek.
Sukuna’s low yet manic tone rang out: “What a delightful surprise—”
“Slap!”
Itadori struck his own face hard.
“Straw Doll Technique Resonance!”
Nobara seized the moment to finish off the rapidly evolving Curse, turned around, and cursed:
“Can you focus for a second? Idiot… Hey!”
She saw that pitch-black markings were beginning to surface intermittently across Itadori Yuji’s face.
Countless mouths filled with sharp teeth kept emerging from Itadori Yuji’s cheeks, the back of his hand, and his neck, shouting the exact same phrase as if in a frenzy:
“Eat him!”
“Eat him! Eat him—”
Nobara immediately realized something was wrong.
Itadori Yuji tried to cover them with his hands, but there were simply too many; they were completely out of control.
He reassured his companion, “It’s fine, Nobara, give me a moment, I can suppress his restlessness.”
“It’s not just you, idiot Itadori, there are other Curses too!” Nobara shouted.
She looked out the window.
Whether crawling on the ground, clinging to walls, or crowding together as flying Curses piled several layers deep, they were letting out ear-piercing shrieks.
Purplish-black cursed energy continuously leaked out from their bodies.
Dark clouds pressed low over the city, practically obscuring the sky and light.
The piled-up Curses resembled evil ghosts.
They had already formed a scene straight out of a living hell.
And their target was the blonde youth at the other end of the street.
Grotesque, non-human bizarre Curses crawled not far from him, their muddy, shifting eyes and thousands of gazes concentrated entirely on a single person.
An overwhelming, visible infatuation; a frantically surging cursed energy; And the calm expression of the blonde young man.
Nobara Kugisaki couldn’t believe her eyes, murmuring, “What on earth is going on…”
Downstairs.
Fushiguro Megumi abruptly stood up, his entire body tensed, and summoned his Divine Dogs: “Teacher!”
Gojo Satoru, wearing his blindfold, was already standing; the Six Eyes saw everything.
“My, this really is a scene that even a battle-hardened teacher finds somewhat surprising…”
Fushiguro Megumi: “Teacher!”
The white-haired teacher chuckled lightly: “Don’t worry, Teacher is the strongest, after all.”
[ (Screaming) (Crawling) (Kicking away a Curse) (Clinging tightly to Gojo Satoru) ]
[A grand spectacle…]
[An alternative Night Parade of a Hundred Demons]
[We want to know what’s going on too? Is there something wrong with Yuuki’s constitution?]
[How did it suddenly turn into this?!]
[Such a gloomy and eerie scene, the livestream perspective even shifted to overhead, capturing everything completely. It’s so shocking…]
[More like… ten thousand ghosts paying homage]
[Mainly Yuuki’s expression]
The blonde, blue-eyed boy witnessed this scene of “hell,” yet showed no fear.
He merely looked curious and raised his hand
A black-and-gold butterfly Curse flapped its wings, hovering right at his fingertips.
This acted as a signal
Before him, the temporarily stagnant swarm of Curses instantly transformed into a torrent.
Swarming one after another toward Ieiri Yuuki’s direction, rushing forward like madmen!
“…”
That very instant!
Something seemed to be tugged within his body.
Ieiri Yuuki thought.
That subtle sensation within his body, as though something had connected.
Several thick, black-and-red barbed whips abruptly burst out from behind Ieiri Yuuki.
Countless sharp teeth grew along the whips, stirring up a brutal vortex
Space warped.
Overbearing, ferocious, and blindingly fast, the barbed whips were both bloody and violent.
Like alien entities, the whips slithered through the swarm of Curses surging fiercely toward Ieiri Yuuki.
Without a shred of mercy, they reaped every single Curse in their path.
To an onlooker, this was an extremely tyrannical and unceremonious fighting style.
Some Curses were even blasted into fragments before they could let out a single wail.
In the blink of an eye, a bloody mist filled the air.
Among the foul-smelling rain and fog formed by the Curse fragments, a single droplet of purplish-black blood landed on Ieiri Yuuki’s cheek.
He couldn’t help taking a step back.
“——”
He collided with an ice-cold torso.
A pale, veiny, giant hand reached out from behind him.
The next moment, dark, sharp fingernails pinched his cheek.
Forcing him to lift his chin.
Simultaneously, the figure behind Ieiri Yuuki stepped out of the darkness.
Because of the distance, Ieiri Yuuki felt the other’s icy breath.
The barbed whips from just a moment ago had belonged to the person behind him.
In the wide-angle mirror by the roadside, a fraction of that person’s reflection was captured
Gorgeous, dazzling, and pitch-black; At the same time damp, bone-chilling, and pale; Brimming with dead silence, utterly devoid of life. Ghastly pale yet strikingly handsome, silent yet ice-cold.
Resembling a black-and-red mandorla nurtured by flesh, blood, and white bones, surviving right in the depths of hell.
The comment section instantly exploded.
[?!]
[Muzan? For real?!]
[As expected of the classified brand-new project, even the Demon King came to make a cameo?!]
[The production crew really knows how to please me!]
[Is there any other surprise we viewers don’t know about?]
[Gentlemen, this posture between the two of them right now… I’m madly screenshotting!!]
[Female Ghost Type 1 makes a grand appearance!]