Japan, Sendai Third High School.
It was now early summer.
A warm breeze, mixed with the last traces of coolness, swept past the greenery and streets, blowing toward the bustling city.
The cherry trees on campus had long since passed their blooming season, leaving only greenery and shade.
Tall zelkova and maple trees stood between the playground and the school buildings, casting deep green shadows.
Sendai was not as bustling as Tokyo or Osaka, and naturally, it did not have such a fast-paced lifestyle.
Whether it was the students or the passersby on the adjacent streets, everyone wore an expression of considerable leisure and contentment.
Watching the spiky-haired boy chasing a pink-haired athlete on the playground, and the high school girls cooling off and playing in the shade, revealing a hint of spring…
Ryuichi, leaning against the corridor railing to catch the breeze, couldn’t help but sigh:
“How wonderful, youth.”
Three months had passed since he transmigrated into this world.
Perhaps heaven took pity on him, a skilled worker replaced by artificial intelligence in his past life, and allowed him to come to this parallel world of 2018 in Sendai, Japan, after his death.
Furthermore, he had the perfect setup: a car, a house, and deceased parents.
Counting the inheritance, insurance payouts, relief funds…
and all sorts of other things added together, as long as he didn’t encounter any accidents, he would never have to worry about making a living in this lifetime.
“I should just enjoy this life properly, living like a normal person.”
He would just get into any university, then do work he was interested in based on his mood, or simply live the life of a landlord…
Ryuichi turned around, shouldered his bag, and walked toward the stairwell.
Club activities and the like, compared to the ‘go-home club,’ had absolutely no appeal to him.
“Um… Tokiwa-kun!”
A girl’s voice came from behind, calling out to Ryuichi just as he was about to go downstairs.
“Ah, is something the matter?” Ryuichi asked, turning back.
The experience of living two lives, combined with cultural barriers, left Ryuichi with a faint sense of detachment from his surroundings; he hadn’t even remembered the names of many of his classmates.
Before him stood a girl with quite a delicate appearance.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, as if she had mustered up great courage:
“Tokiwa-kun, um… could you come behind the school building later? I have something important to tell you!”
Ryuichi looked at the girl’s face and tried hard to recall: “Oh, sure. Your name is… Hoshino, right?”
“Yes, Hoshino Riko.”
After saying this, the girl didn’t even dare to look at Ryuichi’s face and ran off in a flash, disappearing from sight.
“Ah…”
Watching the girl run away, Ryuichi was a bit bewildered:
“A prank? A fight? Or a stairway scheme?”
“Wait, it wouldn’t be a confession, would it…”
Having lived two lives, this was a first.
“Sigh, I’m fantasizing again…”
Ryuichi shook his head and walked down the stairs.
In all fairness, Ryuichi was 1.83 meters tall, quite handsome, and carried the rugged temperament of an old-school Japanese drama actor.
Coupled with a maturity that didn’t match his age, and his substantial family fortune, it wasn’t strange that girls would like him.
Changing into sneakers at the first-floor shoe locker, Ryuichi headed toward the back of the school building.
“Thank you for your feelings, but we don’t know each other well enough yet. Let’s start as friends.”
“I understand. Thank you for your honesty…”
It was very simple and very cliché; Ryuichi rejected Riko’s confession.
He was not a casual person, let alone the fact that the soul inside his body was no longer that of a high school student.
Watching the girl run away with red eyes, Ryuichi felt a bit of emotion inside.
“How wonderful, youth.”
He relaxed, threw his backpack over his shoulder, and walked toward the school gate at sunset.
“Let’s go eat ramen.”
The ramen stall that Ryuichi often visited was not far outside the school; he could see it after walking down one street.
Because he wasn’t used to eating raw or cold high-end Japanese cuisine, Ryuichi preferred this kind of strong-flavored, commoner food.
“Master Uesugi, Tonkotsu ramen with an egg!” Ryuichi put down his school bag and called out to the stall owner.
“Oh, it’s Ryuichi.”
The ramen master turned around with a smile.
He had a black bandana wrapped around his head and deep features; clearly, he had been a handsome man in his youth.
“Is there any good news today? You look so relaxed.”
“Actually, it’s nothing much. I just experienced the feeling of youth.”
“Youth, huh…”
The two chatted about daily life, and soon, Master Uesugi served a large, steaming bowl of ramen.
“Please, enjoy.”
Green onions, chashu pork, a soft-boiled egg, and nori were neatly arranged atop the milky, thick broth, making one’s mouth water.
He slurped a mouthful of noodles, scooped up a spoonful of broth, and popped half of the soft-boiled egg into his mouth; the combined flavor of the three exploded instantly.
The noodles were chewy, the broth was rich and delicious, and the soft-boiled egg had an excellent texture.
“Master, your skills are as good as ever!” Ryuichi gave a thumbs up.
Master Uesugi smiled: “I’ve been at this craft for over a dozen years, after all.”
In front of the ramen stall, guests were sparse.
Ryuichi finished the entire bowl of ramen unhurriedly.
“Keep the change.”
Placing a 1,000 yen note on the table, Ryuichi walked out of the ramen stall.
“Come back again next time.”
The evening breeze at dusk blew past, dispersing the greasiness and heat left over from the meal.
“I thought a flamboyantly dressed old foreigner might visit, but it seems I was overthinking it.”
“How should I kill time when I get back? Maybe watch a couple of movies…”
Ryuichi carried his bag, walking aimlessly.
“Help…”
Suddenly, a short cry for help came from an alley nearby.
‘A robbery?’ Ryuichi braced himself.
‘I can’t just stand by.
I might as well help.’
But upon reaching the alley entrance, Ryuichi realized he was completely wrong.
In the shadows of dusk, the girl who had confessed to him earlier, Hoshino Riko, was floating in mid-air in the alley for no reason, as if gripped by an invisible giant hand.
Her limbs were twisted, her body covered in indentations, and she had already lost consciousness.
“What is going on…”
Ryuichi was at a loss for a moment, but the space beside Riko began to distort, and a malice that seemed to come from the deepest part of the human heart slowly surged up.
[Cursed Spirit detected…]
[Flame Sorcerer System activated…]
[Awakening Cursed Energy… Imprinting Innate Cursed Technique: Flame…]
With no time to pay attention to the mechanical voice that suddenly sounded in his mind, a gecko-like creature covered in pustules slowly emerged in front of Ryuichi.
Cursed Spirit, an evil thing born from the malice of human hearts.
“Hu… Human…”
“Lick… Lick…”
Riko was held in the arms of the gecko Cursed Spirit, a small half of her body already stuffed into its mouth, with foul and disgusting pus spreading around.
Unfounded anger washed away the fear in Ryuichi’s heart.
Around his right fist, crimson energy slowly gathered, turning into raging flames.
“A curse… is it?”
The Cursed Spirit’s eyeballs rolled, locking onto Ryuichi not far away.
“More… more…”
“Human… danger…”
Ryuichi put down his backpack and strode forward in silence.
He knew this might not be the best way, but if he delayed any longer, the girl would very likely be digested by this Cursed Spirit.
“Chee chee chee——”
The gecko Cursed Spirit let out a sharp screech, dropped the girl in its hands, and pounced toward Ryuichi.
Ryuichi dodged to the side, and his right fist, enveloped in flames, followed through with a rising dragon punch.
Pfft——
A large hole opened in the gecko Cursed Spirit’s abdomen, disgusting pus and blood sprayed out, and the corpse fell to the ground, broken in two.
A faint hissing sound came, and the Cursed Spirit’s corpse, along with its blood and pus, slowly evaporated and disappeared into the air.
[Eliminated Grade 3 Cursed Spirit, points +10]
The mechanical voice in his mind appeared again.
In the large alley, only Ryuichi, who was still maintaining his punching posture, and the girl who had fainted on the ground remained.
The original work of Jujutsu Kaisen has limited length, so some original plot points will be added, but it will not affect the main storyline and key settings before Shibuya.
If there are any errors or omissions in the book, I thank all my readers for pointing them out.
The One-Eyed Cat has left a bunch of plot holes unfilled, and there are some ambiguous plot points in the original work as well.
Therefore, if my understanding conflicts with yours, you can rotate the Dharma wheel above your heads.