Bzzzzzzzzzz.
An endless vibration came from beneath the pillow.
Jin, who was sleeping soundly in bed, instinctively frowned and muttered,
“That idiot is calling me to harass me again…”
He rolled over, reached beneath the pillow for his phone, and blindly moved his finger toward the decline button.
“Wait!”
Through his sleep-blurred eyes, he caught a glimpse of the caller name on the screen—”Jailbird Megumi.”
Jin’s eyes snapped open.
Why would Megumi call at this hour?
There was no need to think about it.
He was definitely asking for help.
Jin answered, his voice still slightly hoarse from sleep.
“Fushiguro, what’s wrong?”
“Jin, the cursed object is missing.”
Megumi’s anxious voice came through the phone.
Wind and hurried footsteps could be heard in the background.
“I can’t reach Gojo-sensei right now.”
After pausing, he continued somewhat awkwardly.
“If you have time, could I trouble you to come over?”
Jin sat up in bed, grabbed the shirt beside him, and pulled it over his head.
“Got it.
Sugisawa Third High School in Miyagi Prefecture, right?”
Megumi clearly let out a breath of relief on the other end.
“Yes.
I’m heading there now.
I’m counting on you.”
Beep.
The call ended.
Jin sat on the bed for a moment, staring blankly out the window.
CPU rebooting…
A thin strip of dark-golden light leaked through the gap in the curtains and landed directly across his cheek.
Jin narrowed his eyes slightly and let out a huge yawn.
“Seriously…
can’t get a moment of peace.”
…………
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Unrestrained laughter exploded through the air.
A pink-haired boy wearing a hoodie, black markings spread across his face, raised his head toward the sky.
Light as dazzling as the sun poured down from overhead, the scorching rays making his skin feel faintly hot.
Ryomen Sukuna laughed wildly and grabbed the collar of his shirt with both hands, violently tearing it apart.
RIP!
The sound of ripping fabric was crisp and brutal.
Scraps flew through the air, exposing the defined muscles beneath.
“As expected, light feels best when you experience it directly!”
Nearby, Megumi was half-kneeling on the ground with blood covering his face.
Seeing this, his pupils contracted and his expression suddenly became extremely ugly.
“At this point, even if Jin comes, it won’t matter!”
He gritted his teeth, regret surging through him.
‘Damn it.
What was I thinking?
I actually dragged him into this…’
Megumi took a long breath and forcibly cut the string called regret.
This wasn’t the time to think about that.
His slightly trembling hands clenched into fists, palms facing one another as he formed a strange hand sign.
At the same time, Megumi’s gaze suddenly became resolute.
There was still one method.
If he activated that technique, everything would end.
He would drag the King of Curses down with him and die together!
But at that exact moment, Sukuna suddenly stopped laughing.
He turned his head from side to side.
In the distance lay a residential district soaked in the night, its endless lights already glowing.
It created a bizarre contrast with the illuminated sky overhead.
Sukuna froze slightly as he realized something was wrong.
“Wait.
Isn’t it nighttime?
Why am I seeing sunlight instead of moonlight?”
Megumi’s thoughts were also interrupted.
He instinctively looked up.
“That’s…
fire!”
The thing overhead wasn’t a “sun” at all.
It was clearly a gigantic fireball growing larger and larger!
The moment he realized this, Megumi immediately stood and prepared to retreat.
“Don’t run.”
Three casual words fell through the air, yet they were like nails pinning Megumi firmly in place.
Cold sweat slowly ran down his temple.
He didn’t even dare move a finger.
At some point, Sukuna had already appeared instantly beside him.
One hand rested in his pocket, his posture relaxed as though he were taking a casual walk.
Sukuna raised his head toward the descending fireball, an excited grin slowly spreading across his face.
“Hahaha!
Someone interesting is here!”
Just as Sukuna was growing excited, the hand inside his pocket suddenly raised against his will and violently grabbed his own chin.
“What the hell are you doing?!
Give me my body back!”
A completely different voice came from the same mouth.
It sounded angry, urgent, and carried the stubbornness unique to a teenage boy.
“Huh?”
Surprise flashed across Sukuna’s face.
The pair of smaller eyes beneath his main eyes began involuntarily closing.
“Brat, if you don’t want to die, behave yourself.”
Sukuna’s eyes slowly shifted toward Megumi beside him.
“Or…
does this guy’s life mean nothing to you either?”
Hearing that, Yuji, who had been regaining control of the body, fell silent for an instant.
“Ha.”
A laugh mixed with contempt and triumph sounded.
Having regained control of the body, Sukuna raised one hand and casually swept it upward toward the enormous fireball already close overhead.
An invisible slash tore through the air and flew upward.
The next second—WHOOSH!
The gigantic fireball of astonishing diameter was split cleanly in half in an instant.
The two halves dragged long flaming tails behind them as they slowly fell.
Intense firelight dyed the sky orange-red.
Sukuna narrowed his eyes slightly and looked upward.
“Where’s the sorcerer?”
The exploded flames twisted beneath the wind, and a figure slowly formed within them.
Jin violently stomped the ground.
The next second, his figure transformed into an afterimage and disappeared.
“Hm?”
An extremely subtle cursed energy fluctuation appeared.
Sukuna slightly turned toward the left.
The violently burning flames suddenly all bent in the same direction.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Deafening explosions rang out as Jin abruptly burst from within them.
Both hands were held behind him.
Two long, narrow pillars of fire erupted from his palms, launching him forward in a posture almost parallel to the ground.
He was so fast that the scenery behind him stretched into blurry lines.
In an instant, he arrived directly in front of Sukuna.
“What?”
Sukuna’s pupils contracted sharply, his hand instinctively rising to defend.
Jin adjusted his posture in midair and raised his right foot toward Sukuna’s face.
A crimson meteor flashed by, followed by a cloud of thick smoke.
BAM!
A dull impact rang out.
Sukuna’s body looked as though it had been struck by a massive hammer.
It instantly became an afterimage and flew backward.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Only after smashing through three school buildings in succession did Sukuna finally come to a stop.
Deep inside the wreckage, Sukuna’s body hung limply embedded in a wall, blood slowly running down his forehead.
Jin slowly lowered his raised left leg, smoke curling from the cigarette between his lips.
He turned toward Megumi, who stood frozen in place with a completely confused expression.
“Am I late, Megumi?”
Megumi stared blankly at the row of school buildings that had been punched through in the distance.
His lips moved several times before he finally managed to force out a complete sentence.
“The King of Curses—Ryomen Sukuna—got kicked away with one hit?!”
The sound of rubble falling came from deep inside the distant wreckage.
Ryomen Sukuna pulled himself out of the wall, his expression ugly and his eyes overflowing with violence and killing intent.
Aside from the line of blood on his face, most of one cheek now bore a black, messy shoe print roughly size forty-three.
The print stretched from his cheekbone all the way to his jaw.
Its edges were neat and the center was perfectly clear, like someone had pressed the sole of a shoe against his face and stamped it with full force.
Sukuna slowly raised a hand and wiped his fingers across the dirty mark, then looked down at the dust on his fingertip.
“Damn it.
You fucking sorcerer!
I’ll kill you!”
He instantly flew into a rage.
An enormous, suffocating amount of cursed energy exploded from his body.
Rubble was blasted away, broken steel bars hummed beneath the air pressure, and unstable buildings groaned as though they could collapse at any moment.
WHOOSH!
A roaring gust swept across the area.
Sukuna crossed dozens of meters instantly and arrived in front of Jin.
He raised his right hand, purple claws slashing toward the silver-haired boy’s face.
Jin stood calmly with both hands in his pockets.
The claws split the air—then suddenly stopped directly in front of Jin.
The black markings on Sukuna’s body slowly faded away, and his body involuntarily took a step backward.
He raised his head again, let out a long breath of relief, then asked with concern,
“Phew.
That was close.
Are you okay?”
Jin chuckled, pulled a packet of wet wipes from his pocket, and tossed it toward Yuji in front of him.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”
Yuji Itadori caught the wet wipes and looked down at his battered appearance.
Then he looked back up at Jin standing there calmly, not even having lost the cigarette in his mouth, and helplessly pulled at the corner of his lips.
“Fair point.”
[You have successfully humiliated the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna.
You are now ranked #1 on Ryomen Sukuna’s Kill List.]
[Reward Obtained—Low-Interest Loan Opportunity x1]