Chapter 37

"Here." Yuji Itadori pointed to the three names on the page.

Satoru Gojo took the file and looked it over. After a moment, he said, "So there's only one person left from the Kamiki Clan. Were they this blatant thirty years ago? No, that's not right. However you look at it, they were trying to kill every last survivor of the Kamiki Clan."

"Just how did the Kamiki Clan offend them?"

"Right? I thought it was strange. Relationships between people shouldn't be so cold." Yuji Itadori rested his chin in his hand. "Did the Cursed Spirit that could make prophecies come from the Kamiki Clan too?"

"That's right." Satoru Gojo tucked the paper into his pocket. "Ijichi, change course. We're going to Sendai."

Kiyotaka Ijichi was startled. "But it's almost time for your appointment with the principal."

"It's not the first time I've stood him up. It's fine, it's fine. Hurry up and change direction."

Masamichi Yaga, sitting in the Jujutsu High principal's office, sneezed. He checked the time, then went back to carving the puppet in his hands.

Ishii Ryū, originally named Shinoki Ryū, lived in a slum in the Sendai area. Because he was blind, he had never married. He had no family and lived on the welfare money he received each month.

In truth, however, he had once been a Jujutsu Sorcerer. He had even gone onto the battlefield and fought those twisted, terrifying Cursed Spirits.

Even now, though he could no longer see, he could still hear the strange sounds Cursed Spirits made, so different from human voices.

This was a slum, after all, and negative emotions were especially likely to fester in a place like this. Those emotions turned into Cursed Spirits. They were all low-grade, not even worth sending a Jujutsu Sorcerer to exorcise, but when he got up early that morning, he unexpectedly found that he couldn't hear any Cursed Spirits.

Something was wrong. No matter what, there shouldn't have been no Cursed Spirits at all.

He felt his way to a spot where he had previously located a Cursed Spirit. Ishii Ryū heard the Cursed Spirit, but he also heard strangers talking.

"Wow, there are so many little Cursed Spirits gathered here."

"Different regions and environments give rise to different Cursed Spirits. It's the same principle as a child growing up in a warm environment versus a dark one."

...Jujutsu Sorcerers?!

Ishii Ryū hurried over, leaning on his white cane, and grabbed one of them by the sleeve.

"Huh?" Yuji Itadori was startled. He looked at the middle-aged man in front of him. "Um, hello? Can I help you?"

"Are you Jujutsu Sorcerers?" Ishii Ryū asked excitedly. "That's wonderful. I've finally met a Jujutsu Sorcerer."

Yuji Itadori and Satoru Gojo exchanged a glance. After a moment, Gojo spoke. "Have you been waiting for a Jujutsu Sorcerer?"

"I moved to a place like this, where Cursed Spirits are especially likely to appear, so that I could meet a Jujutsu Sorcerer someday," Ishii Ryū cried excitedly. "I used to be a Jujutsu Sorcerer too. But I lost my sight and couldn't see Cursed Spirits anymore, so I was made to retire."

"Calm down," Satoru Gojo said. "What did you want to find a Jujutsu Sorcerer for?"

"Could I ask you about someone?" Ishii Ryū gripped Yuji Itadori's hand tightly. "Is there someone named Kamiki Yūhaku in Jujutsu Society now?"

"He's very powerful, and he has a very special Cursed Technique. And, and he must be able to save a lot of people!"

"Please," Ishii Ryū said, his voice full of grief. "Tell me, is he still alive?"

Chapter 37

"We were all orphans of the Kamiki Clan. We weren't really official clan members; we just had the surname, that was all. Our Cursed Techniques weren't strong either."

Leaning on his white cane, Ishii Ryū continued as he walked, "So we didn't really get along with the main family. The four of us lived together and went on missions together. Then Yukimi told us he'd found a child about our age in the forbidden area."

"Yukimi?" Yuji Itadori recalled the list of survivors from earlier and was sure there hadn't been anyone named Yukimi on it.

"Yes. Yukimi was our leader. He was a little braver than us and more talented. He was already Grade 3 when we were still Grade 4 Sorcerers. He got along well with the people in the clan, and he'd occasionally run off to all sorts of places. That was how we came to know Yūhaku."

"Wait. You mean this person named Yūhaku was in the forbidden area the whole time?"

"Should I call it a forbidden area? I suppose it would be more accurate to say he was imprisoned," Ishii Ryū murmured. "He was being held there."

Even though more than thirty years had passed, he still couldn't forget the first time he saw Kamiki Yūhaku.

The forbidden area was covered in cursed talismans. Yukimi, who was more capable and less inhibited than any of them, quickly recognized them as the kind used in confinement cells. But there weren't many talismans in a confinement cell, while here they were packed densely everywhere, with quite a few sealed Cursed Objects placed around the area to suppress it.

Using curses to stop curses, employing stronger Cursed Objects to suppress the gathering of nearby Cursed Spirits, was a common tactic in Jujutsu Society.

But for that method to be used within the clan could only mean they considered the person in the forbidden area more terrifying than a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.

Their hearts pounded with fear at their surroundings, and they wondered what kind of terrifying figure they would meet. Then they saw a boy.

The boy wore simple clothes. With nowhere to groom himself, his hair had grown long and lay on the ground. He looked quiet and innocent. When they arrived, he was crouching on the ground, arranging pebbles into a pattern. It looked like a bird spreading its wings in flight.

What kind of bird is that?

"It's a crow, Ryū," the boy suddenly said.

"Huh?" He froze and asked, puzzled, "How do you know my name?"

"You just told me." The boy didn't even look up, continuing to arrange his crow on the ground.

Yukimi, who had found him first, looked at him curiously. "Why are you here all alone?"

"I don't know." Kamiki Yūhaku raised his head, red symbols glimmering in his green eyes.

He said, "If you're going to leave, hurry up. Any later and you'll be discovered. Then you'll be punished by having to copy out ten books of precepts."

They didn't know why, but they believed him and ran out. As they left the forbidden area, they saw someone from the main family entering. If they had been any later, they really would have been caught on the spot, and punishment would have been unavoidable.

Yukimi later told them that the boy had a Cursed Technique called Prophecy, which allowed him to see everyone's future.

Once they were sure he posed no threat, they often went to see Kamiki Yūhaku, as though they had gained another playmate. Occasionally, they also received prophecies from him and could use them to avoid bad outcomes.

In short, Kamiki Yūhaku had really helped the three Grade 4 Sorcerers a great deal.

Though none of them understood why the main family kept him locked up in the forbidden area.

"Do you know now?"

"Of course." Ishii Ryū sighed. "It was a secret of the Kamiki Clan. I should have taken it to my grave, but the clan is gone, and my friends have died one after another. It doesn't matter whether the secret is kept anymore."

"Do you know about the Kudan?"

Yuji Itadori struck his palm with his fist. "I know that one!"

"Back when I was in the Occult Research Club, I read some material my seniors had collected. It mentioned a yokai called the Kudan. Legend says it's a monster with a human face and a cow's body, born once every hundred years. It makes prophecies as soon as it's born, and every prophecy is about a major event that's certain to happen. So in ancient times, people regarded it as an evil spirit."

"Because whenever it appears, it's certain to foretell a great disaster."

Ishii Ryū nodded. "Yes, that's the yokai."

"People's negative emotions gather together. Even fear of imaginary things can form real Cursed Spirits, which are called imaginary cursed spirits. The Kudan is a special grade imaginary cursed spirit."

"Is the origin of the Kamiki Clan connected to that Special Grade Cursed Spirit?"

"That's right." Ishii Ryū sighed. "The Kamiki Clan's ancestor had a very unusual Cursed Technique. He could take other people's Cursed Techniques for his own use. His sense of morality kept him from taking Jujutsu Sorcerers' techniques, so he set his sights on Curse Users and Special Grade Cursed Spirits instead."

Satoru Gojo was somewhat surprised to hear that.

"He went after a Special Grade Cursed Spirit's technique and actually succeeded?!"

"Yes, you're right. He did succeed, but he also incurred a Binding Vow." Ishii Ryū's voice was low. "This Binding Vow has always been a stone hanging over the Kamiki Clan's head. No one knew when it would fall."

"What were the terms of the Binding Vow?"

"When a child possessing the Prophecy Cursed Technique is born into the Kamiki Clan, everything the clan has taken will be returned in full."

So Kamiki Yūhaku's birth itself was the original sin.

His existence meant the clan would soon perish. Everything, from its inherited Cursed Techniques to all else it possessed, would be taken away. The stronger Kamiki Yūhaku's prophecies and foresight became, the closer the clan's destruction drew.

The Kamiki Clan imprisoned Kamiki Yūhaku in the forbidden area, trying to conceal his existence and evade the Binding Vow.

Even though everyone understood it was futile.

But human ingenuity was boundless. They were greedy and selfish, so they would strive for their own sake. To keep the Kamiki Clan alive, they bore boundless malice toward Kamiki Yūhaku. Bit by bit, they discovered that his foresight extended only ten minutes and learned that he couldn't actually foresee his own future. So they began looking for a weakness in that.

"Under those circumstances, Yūhaku could hardly be considered anyone's child, anyone's family member, or even a person. He was merely a sign."

"A sign that a clan was about to perish."

Ishii Ryū returned to his dilapidated home and tapped his knee. Because of the severe injuries he had suffered thirty years ago, he had not only gone blind but also lost mobility in his legs. They ached whenever he walked a little too far.

"We were all still children then and didn't know anything. On Yūhaku's birthday, we decided to give him a present. So the four of us split into two groups: two stood watch outside to keep the main family from coming in, while the other two helped Yūhaku escape."