The painter immediately snapped back to his senses, his face full of panic: “No, I… I misexpressed myself!”
“My ‘love’ isn’t romantic love; it’s inspiration,” he explained in a fluster.
“The moment I see Student Ieiri, inspiration just wells up endlessly without a stop! I want to paint it down, I want to capture that fleeting moment…”
As Arihisa Riku spoke, he happened to lock eyes with a pair of cold, crimson snake eyes.
The sensation of being targeted made him shiver, before he blanked out for a moment: “Oh, oh…”
The sickly, frail young painter was simultaneously terrified and captivated by it, his eyes glazing over.
He whispered: “…Fresh snow and an ink snake? A wonderful pairing.”
“The snake is wonderful too.”
“Gorgeous fangs, gorgeous body! A cold-blooded animal that is both cruel and beautiful…”
The painter’s praises spilled out unbidden.
“…” The scarlet snake tongue flicked out.
[Haha, an unprovoked compliment that even leaves the Trash Boss speechless]
[Trash Boss: Say more, I love hearing it]
[Muzan’s self-opinionated personality absolutely refuses to tolerate anyone defying him—for instance, the Lower Moon meeting in Demon Slayer almost resulted in the annihilation of the entire group]
[Why almost?]
[A total of five Lower Moons, and one survived]
[Lower Moon One, Enmu, survived entirely through submission and praise born from a perverted mindset, hitting all the right notes in Muzan’s heart. Not only did Muzan spare him, but he also bestowed his blood upon him]
[Wuhu]
[So did this painter widen his path or what?!]
Yet, before this comment even scrolled past, the painter spoke up again: “Skulls are nice too; wreathed in the decaying aura of death upon stark-white bones…”
“And crimson organ cross-sections, with eyeballs growing along intertwined root systems.”
As he spoke, his face flushed red. “It’s just that the ink snake is too monotonous.”
“If the ‘creature’ entwined with Student Ieiri could be swapped out at any time, that would be even better.”
Arihisa Riku raised a blissful smile. “After all, I only have one muse…”
As for…
The one entwined with the fresh snow?
Arihisa Riku laughed neurotically: “Anyone is fine.” Not restricted to the same person.
“If one day in the future, Student Ieiri grows weary of the ink snake and wishes to swap people, please be sure to notify me!”
This speech was entirely sincere.
[This painter, I had just finished praising you, and in the very next second you courted a massive death]
[What is this guy’s mental state… is he alright?]
[Probably not doing too great either. Painters are naturally more sensitive than ordinary people, right? Plus, a large amount of residual cursed energy remained inside his body, and you have to remember that the essence of cursed energy is negative emotion]
[He’s quite thoroughly out of his mind, but this bro’s “love” for Little Snow is genuinely pure]
[Pure to the point of being wicked……]
[Everyone, the focus is Muzan he’s raising his head again!]
[I’m literally dying of laughter…… Muzan, are you doing sit-ups over here?]
[The painter is the first person brave enough to directly poach someone right in front of Muzan?! Can I use that word? Hahaha! It feels quite fitting!]
[His subtext: Hurry up and grow tired of him, hurry up and kick this snake out]
[So, is he Little Snow’s toxic solo stans?]
[Hm?!]
One after another, Muzan’s last shred of patience was completely exhausted, leaving him filled with surging hostility.
A base, inferior human dared to incite the shikigami master to betray him.
Muzan thought he ought to bestow upon the other the most agonizing death imaginable.
Making him consciously taste his own death countdown amidst shattering bones.
The ink snake flicked its tongue, slowly untwisting itself from the youth’s body and raising its upper half.
They hadn’t separated, allowing Ieiri Yuuki to perceive the subtle, tactile sensation of the serpentine abdominal muscles contracting right where their bodies pressed together.
Moist, viscous, and freezing cold.
“Mhn…”
To a blonde youth like him who tolerated the cold well but struggled slightly with heat, feeling a snake’s body slithering past during the sweltering height of summer made him want to let out a sigh of comfort.
In fact, he did leak a fraction of that sound.
Hearing that barely audible, soft moan, the ink-jade python’s body paused, instinctively looking over.
The two were far too close.
And Muzan happened to raise his upper half at that exact moment—his slender scarlet snake tongue brushed past the blonde youth’s jawline, almost grazing the corner of his pale-pink lips.
It was a narrow, harrowing near-miss, missing by a hair’s breadth.
…
He paused.
Curses possessed no sense of smell. The “scents” they perceived were all residues of cursed energy.
Whether sorcerers or ordinary humans, they all left behind completely distinct residues in the eyes of Curses.
To draw an analogy…
It resembled pheromones.
The tip of his tongue touched the youth’s cheek, automatically taking in the other’s pheromones, which triggered the Curse’s recognition of “scent.”
A rich sweetness, which was also the flavor contained within the youth’s flesh and blood.
He had tasted it more than once.
Yet among it… was mixed other lingering residue.
The human from moments before had stood far too close to the blonde youth, and the residual cursed energy dissipating from him had naturally stained Ieiri’s body.
Utterly repulsive.
The next instant, the black-haired beauty materialized in human form. His hair ends were slightly wavy, his complexion abnormally pale, and his long, straight eyelashes dropped softly as he stared down at the shikigami master.
While crimson-and-black lingering residue escaped, shrouding the blonde youth before him,
A monstrous fleshy limb also darted out from beneath his sleeve, surging ferociously toward the black-haired youth on the hospital bed.
Muzan still found that painter displeasing to the eye.
However
Just as he struck, high above the Gojo estate’s buildings, a circular dome of cursed energy seemed to materialize in midair.
A pair of azure eyes, bright as the sky and materialized entirely from solid cursed energy, hung suspended in the air.
Possessing an aura resembling a soul, it instantly locked onto Kibutsuji Muzan’s location.
Cursed energy coiled in the sky, unleashing a devastatingly powerful crimson Cursed Technique attack.
“Boom——!”
Instantly, the two collided with a deafening crash, the earth trembling violently as the surrounding area was momentarily blinded of all vision.
Following that, a shrill, piercing alarm siren rang out across the entire Gojo estate, drilling straight into everyone’s cochleas.
“What happened?!”
“The alarm is ringing!”
“Is it another curse user ambush?!”
Following this strike, virtually the entire Gojo household had been alerted!
Members of the Gojo clan all laid eyes on the cursed-shaped Six Eyes suspended in the sky.
As everyone knew, this was the protective barrier passed down by the Gojo family’s ancestors.
The core of the barrier was precisely the cursed object left behind after the deaths of previous generations of Six Eyes.
[Sorcerers have a probability of turning into cursed tools after death, I know that, but a cursed object…]
[Could that actually be the Six Eyes?!]
[!!]
The moment unfamiliar and dangerous cursed energy erupted within the zone covered by the barrier, it would automatically be recognized as an enemy by the barrier, launching a Cursed Technique attack.
The ancient courtyard not far away.
The head of the Gojo family looked up, his expression composed and refined, bearing a three-tenths resemblance to Gojo Satoru. “The last time I saw this pair of eyes was twenty years ago!”
Back then, Gojo Satoru had not yet fully matured, and a sky-high bounty had been placed on him on the dark web.
For the sake of the bounty, and also to purge Gojo Satoru as a sinner who “shattered the balance between Curses and sorcerers,” curse users had cooperated in an unprecedented move.
First they drew the fire away, then launched a feint, while actually infiltrating for a sneak attack.
The plan was remarkably complete, but alas…
The protective formation’s single strike obliterated nine-tenths of the curse users present.
The scent of blood hanging over the skies of the Gojo estate didn’t disperse entirely until a week later.
Ever since then, Gojo Satoru’s sky-high bounty remained posted on the dark web, yet no one dared to accept it.
A kimono-clad attendant with lowered brows walked over from the corner at the end of the corridor. His pace was unhurried, devoid of any panicked franticness.
Reaching the family head, he spoke softly, “Head, the guard squad is in position, on full alert as a united front. We will certainly not give the enemy an opportunity to make a feint in the east while attacking in the west.”
The Gojo family head nodded.
This was a lesson learned from past experience.
The Gojo family head: “Judging by the Six Eyes’ attack trajectory, is it the area where the Jujutsu High students are temporarily staying?”
“Yes. The moment the commotion broke out, Masanobu-sama led a team of Grade 1 sorcerers rushing in that direction; they should have arrived by now.”
At the ruined scene.
“…You’re saying this is an accident?!”
Gojo Masanobu stared wide-eyed.
Standing before him was the very culprit who had caused this earth-shattering “accident.”
The freshman of Jujutsu High, Ieiri Yuuki.
The blonde youth pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“…” Gojo Masanobu.
He first cast a wary, cautious glance toward Muzan.
Then surveyed his surroundings left and right, discovering that aside from the building collapsed into ruins, there were indeed no casualties no, there was one.
The painter, whose condition hadn’t even recovered yet, suffered the impact of the cursed energy and passed out cold.
While the brown-haired woman from Gojo ‘s same year at Jujutsu High the one who could use Reverse Cursed Technique was currently treating him.
As long as he hadn’t breathed his last, presumably he could be patched back together.
Suddenly, he felt a wave of regret
Satoru-sama merely treated this woman as a classmate, entirely devoid of any romantic sentiment! Otherwise, if this Reverse Cursed Technique user married into the Gojo family, she would undoubtedly be a tremendous asset!
His internal monologue turned into voiced lines, leaving the watching audience collectively speechless and choking on words:
[Is that really the only thing on his mind…]
[The Three Great Families, huh. They’re all cut from the same cloth in this regard]
[They definitely must have schemed in private to get Yuki Tsukumo married off into the Three Great Families; after all, she possessed a strong technique, a high grade, and no background as a female sorcerer]
[So that’s why the sister always wanders around abroad!]
[Didn’t the sister school exchange event mention it too? The predicament female sorcerers face is far more complex; they can’t be too strong, nor too weak (general gist)]
[Too weak and you get trampled, too strong and you get targeted]
[A bunch of old oranges]
[…Wait?!]
[Those two in the background, what are they doing?]
Ieiri Yuuki lowered his gaze.
Muzan stood right beside him, his wide sleeve concealing his arm, which had taken a direct hit from “Red” head-on earlier and was now cratered and charred by cursed energy.
Curses could heal themselves, especially Special Grade Curses, counting recovery in seconds.
Yet, a flaw in jade remained a flaw. It was an inherent regret in itself.
Moreover, Muzan had been struck forcefully and without warning by the terrifying, intimidating power packed within the Six Eyes’ Limitless-derived cursed energy.
His entire body had stiffened.
He stared fixedly at the gradually dissipating “Six Eyes” in midair, murderous intent instantly welling up.
Yet constrained by something, he didn’t make a move.
In the world Muzan had previously inhabited, he both feared death and loathed entities stronger than him, because the latter brought him inescapable death.
The comments also described him as:
Insane, greedy, yet cowardly.
Yet in Ieiri Yuuki’s eyes
He resembled a cat with its fur puffed up. So pitiful, yet so adorable. Making one instinctively want to shield him.
So he reached out, sliding his hand in from beneath the black-haired man’s wide sleeve hanging by his side.
His fair fingertips brushed against the cratered, unevenly scorched back of the other’s hand.
The other flinched as though scalded, immediately shaking him off.
The blonde youth pursued, hooking his index finger around the still-unhealed, flesh-adhered pinky finger.
“…”
On the other side.
Gojo Masanobu’s gaze landed on the female-appearing black-haired Curse, then drifted back to the blonde youth’s face, suppressing his urge to interrogate him after a long moment.
He breathed a sigh of relief as well. At least it wasn’t a curse user surprise attack.
Those guard units stationed across various parts of the Gojo estate to prevent anyone from feinting an attack while slipping through loopholes could now be stood down.
“Since that’s the case, then I—”
A flurry of hurried footsteps approached.
Gojo Masanobu turned to look; it was a Second Squad sorcerer, who reported rapidly: “Leader, suspicious individuals were discovered outside the elders’ quarters! The family head summons you immediately!”
Before he could reply, the Six Eyes hung suspended in the sky once more, and the crimson “Red” was unleashed anew!
It was directed toward the direction of the Elders’ Council.
“Boom——!”
Gojo Masanobu started, roaring at the top of his lungs: “Enemy attack!”