Cursed Speech, huh…
Ieiri Yuuki tilted his head to look, meeting the gaze of Toge, who was a Cursed Speech user.
Though the white-haired youth didn’t speak, he gave Ieiri Yuuki a playful wink.
[Cursed Speech colliding with a Cursed Speech user]
[No wonder Gojo arranged for Toge to tag along; this wave is a professional match!]
Officer Sudo spoke in a deep voice about the wishes the five victims had realized using Cursed Speech before they died
The elderly person living alone won the lottery;
The office worker’s competitor fell ill and was hospitalized, giving the office worker the chance for a promotion;
The unemployed youth acquired a wealthy sugar mama;
The previously unremarkable host maintained the number-one sales ranking in the nightlife district for a continuous period;
And an impoverished painter who became an overnight sensation across the entire internet, gaining immense fame.
They had all obtained what they desired.
After listening to Officer Sudo’s narration, Ieiri Yuuki said softly, “Yet the price paid was indeed their lives.”
“How pitiful…”
Officer Sudo, in his forties, wore a somewhat surprised and complex expression. “Kid, you’re the first person to say that.”
Whether it was the nearby residents or his colleagues, their rhetoric was basically unanimous
It was those tenants’ inherent greed that had brought such a calamity upon themselves.
“Greed?”
The blonde youth profoundly disagreed, shaking his head. “If we put it that way, I feel it’s pretty much the same as victim-blaming.”
“Fame and fortune, fine clothing and gourmet food aside from saints, who would hate these things?”
The blonde youth smiled and said, “Anyway, I’m quite worldly myself, and I love them a super lot.”
[Wuhu]
[Wife is right!!]
[A person having desires and yearning for wealth and prosperity means that person is a normal human being! There’s nothing shameful about that!]
[Indeed, don’t put the cart before the horse; the true mastermind behind the case is the Curse!]
Toge started, then broke into a smile.
Ieiri Yuuki beside him caught that barely audible, feather-light chuckle, feeling somewhat curious as he asked, “Senior Toge?”
“Kelp.” Don’t worry about it.
Hearing the blonde youth’s reply, Officer Sudo fell into a brief daze before letting out a helpless smile.
With a thoughtful sigh, he remarked “Young people really see things more clearly…”
Officer Sudo stopped in his tracks. According to regulations, he could only guide them up to this point and was not allowed to enter further.
Officer Sudo: “Right, these are the keys to the victims’ rooms.”
“You guys be careful, I’m heading back out.”
……
The two took the keys and proceeded one after another up the stairwell at the edge of the apartment building.
Recalling the briefing he had read in the car, Ieiri Yuuki murmured, “On the second floor, that surviving tenant is named Arihisa Riku.”
He had once been an impoverished painter, but thanks to “Cursed Speech,” he had already become famous online.
Attached to the dossier was a painting by Arihisa Riku, rendered primarily in black and red tones
A black-haired young girl with pale shoulders gazed straight “out” at the person looking at the picture, looking even more flamboyant and withered than flowers in full bloom.
Beside her were stark-white skeletons, rotting red flesh, decayed and gloomy.
The two intertwined: beauties and bleached skeletons.
It was the grotesque aestheticism of ukiyo-e, carrying exceptionally strong visual impact.
The second floor was reached in no time.
Following the corridor, the two located the room with [Arihisa] written on the doorway nameplate.
Since only those living within the apartment building had been cursed by “Cursed Speech,” the preliminary conclusion in the files was the nature of this Curse was similar to a bound spirit (jibakurei).
And Toge also discovered that the lingering residue here had grown thicker… The Curse was likely inside.
“Okaka.”
Signaling that there was danger and they needed to be careful.
Ieiri Yuuki nodded briskly. Both of them unconsciously entered battle mode
Ieiri Yuuki reached out, brushed his waist, and pinched a yellow cursed talisman between his fingertips.
Toge inserted the key into the keyhole with his left hand while placing his other hand on the zipper of his uniform.
The zipper pulled down a bit, exposing his lips and standing ready to unleash Cursed Speech at any moment.
[Tense……]
Amidst everyone holding their breath in suspense, the door was pulled open.
“…”
Nothing happened.
At a single glance, the floor was covered entirely with the painter’s discarded drafts, bread crumbs, dried paint, and shattered mirror fragments a complete mess.
One could practically picture the panic when the tenant fled.
Looking at it, Toge felt something was slightly amiss.
Hm, hard to put into finger on.
[Eh? No one’s inside?]
[Did you forget the one in front of us? The painter living here fled to the shrine, and right now he’s probably chanting scriptures]
[Here it comes!]
Faster than the comments was a shadow; it possessed no physical form, merely a mass of black fog roaring “Go die!” “Go die!”, charging straight at them!
Its speed was blindingly fast!
And being a mass of black fog, locating its shifting core proved extremely difficult!
Ieiri Yuuki made his move instantly. With the backs of his hands facing each other and his fingers slightly curled, his hands drew close and then apart, causing the cursed talisman to dissolve between his palms before rapidly condensing into a ring. Ieiri Yuuki pushed it forward in a rapid motion, forming a circle on the ground.
[Area Attack].
Boom—
Cursed energy erupted upward from the ground, completely covering everything within the ring and burning fiercely.
That mass of black fog was struck, letting out a hoarse, grating howl.
Before the cursed talisman’s technique could even finish playing out, it had already vanished into nothingness amidst the burning cursed energy.
[It’s over?]
[So simple]
[After all, it’s just a Grade 2 Curse…]
Beside him, Toge turned swiftly, pulling down the zipper of his uniform to reveal the black snake-eye curse markings on his lips and tongue.
His voice seemed to carry a mystical rhythm as he spoke: “Get crushed to pieces!”
Another mass of black fog rushing out from behind them was gripped as if by an invisible hand in the air, squeezed out of shape, and shattered with a “puchi” sound.
This was… The technique of language.
“Senior, on the left!”
Ieiri Yuuki formed hand-seals with blinding speed, a cursed talisman floating in his palm as the orb of light flared violently.
[Heavy Strike].
At that very instant, Toge swiftly dodged a mass of black fog charging directly at his face while simultaneously spotting another mass of black fog hanging from the ceiling.
“Go die!”
There was another one next to Ieiri.
“Explode!”
[Slash].
The two manipulated cursed energy simultaneously, tacitly splitting these black fog Curses between themselves.
For a moment, scraps of paper fluttered indoors, and half of the wall was blasted through.
Ieiri Yuuki stopped, still pinching a yellow cursed talisman between his fingertips.
“……Is that all of them?”
Toge sensed the surroundings for a moment and nodded.
Ieiri Yuuki also nodded, putting the unused cursed talisman back into the small pouch at his waist.
Suddenly, his movements paused. “Senior, how many masses of black fog did we exorcise in total?”
Toge didn’t understand why, but he recalled the exorcism process just now.
Two for Ieiri, two for him, and one they exorcised together making five Curses in total.
Ieiri’s brow furrowed: “Five, exactly the number of victims…”
“…”
The slight sense of dissonance that had lingered in Toge’s mind moments ago was instantly triggered.
Realizing what was happening, he grabbed Ieiri and ran toward downstairs: “Cod roe!!”
Downstairs.
Once the Curses were exorcised, the [Veil] automatically lifted.
Ijichi Kiyotaka let out a breath of relief and said to the person beside him, “Officer Sudo, it’s over.”
“Let’s head out first; we’ll leave the cleanup work to Officer Sudo…”
Before he could finish his sentence, footsteps sounded.
Looking over, Ijichi was greeted by the frowning face of the Cursed Speech user.
He couldn’t help freezing in place. What’s wrong?
Did something happen?
“Mr. Ijichi, please drive us to the Aomidori Shrine as fast as possible!” Student Ieiri said.
Ijichi’s brain hadn’t processed it yet, but his body was already seated in the driver’s seat.
By the time he snapped out of it, the car had already sped far away. Aomidori Shrine?
Isn’t that where that painter, Arihisa Riku, is located?
Ijichi panicked slightly: “Student Ieiri, weren’t the Curses exorcised?”
Ieiri Yuuki stated concisely: “The Curses in that apartment building were the resentment transformed after the victims died.”
“The true Cursed Speech user is still with that painter, Arihisa Riku!”
[?!]
[No wonder Yuuki asked how many there were]
[I was still wondering, they said it was a Cursed Speech-type Curse, but it never used it once]
Cold sweat poured down Ijichi’s face, his lower lip trembling: “Not a bound spirit?”
“This needs to be reported… If the technique wasn’t a balancing result, but something it possessed inherently, this reaches the standard for a quasi-Grade 1 Curse judgment.”
Ijichi’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
As everyone knew, jujutsu emphasized balance.
Bound spirits could not move freely, and for the sake of balance, the rules allowed them to use technique-like skills within their own territory.
Bound spirits were generally not strong, and the Headquarters habitually assigned them a Grade 2 mission rating.
[Quasi-Grade 1——!]
[The Headquarters again… I honestly don’t even know what to say]
[The Headquarters only knows how to play politics, eliminate dissidents, arrogant and incompetent, and never does a single proper thing]
[Wasn’t Haibara… also because the higher-ups misjudged the mission difficulty? Grade 2 turned Grade 1]
[When the battle against the land deity ended that time, Nanami even carried Haibara’s… remains back. I don’t even dare to think about what he was feeling at the time]
[A knife straight to the heart]
[You might as well just kill me]
[It’s been almost ten years, and the Headquarters really hasn’t changed its初心 (initial intentions) at all (laughs) (draws knife)]
[I’m done, I really want to level the Headquarters early on. Without those old oranges, the Shibuya Incident at least wouldn’t have been so tragic!!]
A hand landed on top of his head, pulling Ieiri Yuuki out from the scrolling comments.
Looking up in a daze, he saw the white-haired, purple-eyed senior sitting beside him open his palm toward him.
Lying inside was a throat lozenge.
Immediately afterward, his phone vibrated.
Taking it out to look, Ieiri Yuuki saw a message sent by Toge: “Don’t worry, I’m a quasi-Grade 1 sorcerer; exorcising that Curse is a walk in the park.”
“Right, the candy is lemon flavor. Recommended.”
Seeing that Ieiri had zoned out the moment he got in the car, Toge had assumed he was worrying about the mission.
After all, the danger level of a quasi-Grade 1 Curse was more than several times greater than a Grade 2 Curse.
As a senior, of course he had to comfort his junior!
He was very reliable.
“…”
Ieiri Yuuki picked that throat lozenge up from the senior’s palm, unwrapped the packaging, and popped it into his mouth.
A sweet-and-sour interwoven flavor burst across the tip of his tongue.
“Delicious,” he said, his eyes curving into smiles as he offered praise.
Upon hearing this, Toge felt rather pleased and zipped up his uniform collar.
Through a layer of fabric came a muffled: “Bonito flakes!” Meaning, yay!
[Melted from cuteness]
[Whenever Toge and Yuuki get together, there’s this visceral illusion of fluffy animals rolling around together]
[I want to ship them!!]
[Aren’t you guys abandoning the blessed Trash Boss anymore? Female Ghost Type 1 is crying]
[Let’s wait until he gets out of the dark room before shipping him again! Anyway, I’m a fence-sitter; I’ll ship whichever pairing has good interactions, and as a mixed-diet shipper I fear nothing]
The comments vanished for two hours.
During this period, Ijichi managed to get in touch with Gojo Satoru: “Teacher Gojo, this…”
Ijichi explained the whole sequence of events, waiting for Gojo Satoru’s response.
On the other end of the line, the white-haired teacher was watching Itadori and the others engage in a group battle against a dense swarm of Curses, a smile hooking the corner of his lips.
“Since my cute students don’t want to give up, let’s just let them do it.”
Ijichi: “I, I understand.”
“Don’t worry, Toge that guy is very strong. Oh right, I’ll drop by the Headquarters later; I think their skin is feeling loose again, haha.”
Ijichi shivered: “…”
……
[Eh? The perspective is shifting again]
[Deep mountains, torii gates it’s probably transitioning to the Aomidori Shrine where that painter is. After all, they can’t broadcast two hours of driving time to pad out the episode duration]
By the time the group arrived at the shrine, the comments reappeared.
Aomidori Shrine.
Ijichi Kiyotaka’s assistant work was done exceptionally well; he had already contacted the people at the shrine beforehand.
Toge and Ieiri proceeded all the way through, arriving outside Arihisa Riku’s room within a few minutes.
The shrine was small, with only a few staff members.
The government-assigned Shinto priest was advanced in age and possessed a kindhearted disposition.
He grabbed Ijichi’s hand, his voice trembling as he said, “Actually…”
“Actually, Mr. Arihisa has been chanting scriptures inside his room these past few days. He hasn’t harmed anyone and is doing his utmost to suppress the curse; please be sure to help him.”
Ijichi reassured him, “Don’t worry, we are here precisely because of the curse!”
The elderly priest nodded, turning to knock on the door and say, “Mr. Arihisa, someone is here to see you; they are sorcerers capable of resolving the curse…”
“…”
Silence reigned inside.
The elderly priest was already used to it, saying, “The curse causes him to experience hallucinations; for safety’s sake, Arihisa never responds.”
They could just walk straight in.
Ijichi and the elderly priest remained outside.
The two entered the room.
The floor was littered everywhere with copied scriptures or to be exact, exorcism incantations (harae-kotoba).
A young man sat cross-legged in the very center, his skin covered entirely in written exorcism incantations.
His eyes were lowered, fixed intently on the paper before him, his lips continuously moving in silent recitation.
From the moment he stepped into the room, the Cursed Speech user, who had fallen into combat readiness, perceived the lingering residue here.
It matched what ordinary humans radiated completely normal.
Yet this in itself was abnormal.
Had the Cursed Speech not come looking for him?
Illogical.
Toge motioned for Ieiri, his mouthpiece, to speak: “Mr. Arihisa, nice to meet you.”
“We are sorcerers from Jujutsu High, here specifically for the curse upon you.”
“…”
The other party turned a deaf ear.
“Mr. Arihisa, can you see that curse?”
“…”
“Can you hear us? Are you simply doubting whether we are figments of your imagination, hallucinations created by the curse?”
“…”
The young man’s eyelids twitched imperceptibly, though he still refused to lift his gaze.
[This attitude of refusing to cooperate with anyone is actually quite smart……]
[Saving your life is top priority]
[If it were me, and two high school students suddenly appeared claiming they could save my life, I wouldn’t believe it either!]
[Yet there’s no lingering residue… residue is something even Grade Curses cannot control or eliminate]
[The only person who knew the truth can’t provide information; damn it, we’ve hit a dead end again]
“…”
Toge intended to use Cursed Speech to force the other to speak, but he had never performed an operation like interrogating for information before and was planning to brew his phrasing.
“Senior, let me try first?” Ieiri spoke up.
Toge: “?” Is there a way?
“Senior, make him raise his head.”
[Raise his head?]
“Raise your head.” The Cursed Speech user spoke once more, his slightly hoarse voice carrying a strange rhythm.
The moment those words fell, Arihisa Riku watched in horror as his body slipped out of his own control.
He was so frightened he hurriedly closed his eyes, not daring to look.
“Open your eyes.”
Although Arihisa Riku tried his utmost to fight against his own body, it was of no use.
He saw it!
He was going to die!
Amidst this extreme terror, Arihisa Riku finally saw a blonde, blue-eyed beautiful youth.
And standing right behind him was someone else.
Pale, flamboyant, gloomy, almost describable with the word grotesque.
Just a single glance made one’s entire body turn cold and tremble uncontrollably.
Standing behind the blonde youth, his figure practically threatened to envelop everything.
The youth softly called out the monster’s name, sounding very gentle: “Muzan, can you transform into a non-human creature?”
The two stood opposite each other.
Gloomy yet aesthetic, beautiful in a bizarre way, decay and vitality, enslavement and submission, contradictory yet harmonious.
The two figures before his eyes resembled the ukiyo-e painting Arihisa Riku had seen in his dreams.
Grotesqueness and flamboyance coexisting, gloom and death dancing together.
Beneath Arihisa Riku’s infatuated and dazed gaze, the pale man with cascading black hair and slightly wavy ends saw his body elongate, rapidly shedding its human form.
He, or rather, it, transformed into an ink-black snake
The snake’s body was at least a palm’s width across, its scales pure black as though absorbing light, reflecting only a few faint glints.
It, or rather, it tightly coiled itself around the youth
Neck, waist, thighs; the ink-jade-like serpent’s body coiled around him, save for its eyes snake pupils of a brilliant, ominous yet breathtakingly gorgeous rose-red.
And the blonde youth was smiling, gazing down at the ink snake as though he had been thoroughly amused, laughing brightly and pleasantly.
Arihisa Riku stared in infatuation, momentarily dropping all his defenses and forgetting to chant his exorcism incantations.
“Too tight, Muzan.”
Ieiri Yuuki said.
The ink snake turned a deaf ear.
Being able to comply with the other’s request to transform into such a form was already an allowance born of a good mood.
Naturally, he would do as he pleased now.
That protruding, slippery, slender scarlet snake’s tongue accidentally brushed past the human’s cheek.
The ink snake Curse seemed to sense something, abruptly pausing
Its snake pupils shrank to pinpricks.
[It licked him?!]
[To the person above, my mind is genuinely wandering into the gutter right now. Actually, it probably just caught the scent of Tamayo’s residue, right?!]