One-Day Sendai Sightseeing Tour

Sendai City.

It was about a three-hour ride on the Shinkansen from Tokyo, situated in a relatively inland region.

The local specialties were...

Snap.

—I'm not interested.

He closed the travel brochure in front of him. Listening to the announcement chime as it echoed from afar, Kana Shizumi let out a soft breath and stood up.

He was almost at his destination. Before that, he needed to check his luggage; he couldn't afford to leave anything on the train. Of course, the more important task was to re-examine and review the purpose of this trip.

To be frank.

He was here specifically for Itadori.

Yuji Itadori, the vessel for Sukuna, the youngest of the Death Paintings, the progenitor of the Gear Theory, the ultimate murderer of Shibuya (?), and the man who would later become the Heavenly Emperor of Tigers.

In the sequel story set sixty-eight years after the original, he was famous for landing Black Flashes at will, using a Piercing Blood that featured automatic target locking, and simultaneously unleashing a Dismantle with a range of about seven thousand meters.

Yet, such a formidable character was currently just an ordinary high school...

No.

Wait, wait, wait.

It didn't seem all that ordinary, did it?

In the original story, even without eating Sukuna's Fingers, this kid could display physical capabilities that far exceeded human limits. He was practically a buffed-up version of a dark-skinned athlete.

Considering that Itadori was personally birthed by Kenjaku and had been tampered with, his physical strength likely had some underlying reasons.

As for why Kana Shizumi had come here specifically, it was mainly to verify a hypothesis.

—Before Itadori actively came into contact with Sukuna's Fingers, Kenjaku should have been in a wait-and-see mode regarding him.

Not provoking Itadori proactively was likely, on one hand, to continue observing the situation, and on the other, perhaps to avoid alerting the enemy.

After all, Itadori's grandfather was still alive.

Wasuke Itadori!

Surely, a daughter-in-law meeting her father-in-law would be a bit awkward, wouldn't it?

That old man was an even more significant figure. Although he didn't display any cursed energy talent in the original story, the post-series content provided by the author added a "Sukuna's brother" patch to him.

This directly led to the later Cursed Continent arc, where the conflict shifted from the original battle between good and evil to the younger generation bringing people along to beat up their resurrected great-grandfather...

Wasuke Itadori could not only see through Kenjaku's tricks but also delivered the heavy-hitting declaration: "You will die surrounded by others."

In the sequel, Itadori mentioned he could live for several hundred more years, and we have reason to believe this was a type of "Binding Vow" that Grandpa Wasuke Itadori had set with his life...

You aren't allowed to die unless you're surrounded by people!

Of course, all of the above was just a joke. From the current situation, it seemed Wasuke Itadori did indeed have some extraordinary qualities...

Although he was tempted to take advantage of the situation, any action had to be carefully considered and measured.

If he accidentally touched a nerve with Kenjaku and made that guy feel "unhappy"... what mother-son bond? He'd just perform an energy reclamation on you right then and there!

So, after a simple assessment, Kana Shizumi dismissed the idea of making contact with Wasuke Itadori.

It was better to focus on Yuji.

So, how were they supposed to find this dragon among men? It was worth noting that Kana Shizumi didn't have any system assistance, and finding someone in a place like this wasn't exactly convenient.

Kana Shizumi calmly pulled out his phone and opened Google Maps.

Sugisawa Third High School, Miyagi Prefecture.

This was the benefit of remembering the original story... You have to go to school, right? If I camp out, how could I not find you?!

Following the map's directions, Kana Shizumi soon began to move. He reached the vicinity of the destination around eleven o'clock at night.

Of course, because it was this late, the school's club activities had basically all ended.

If he wanted to see the person, theoretically, he would have to wait until the next day.

However... Kana Shizumi had other plans. He stood at the entrance, peered inside for a moment, and then wore a subtle expression.

The school itself had points worth noting.

For instance...

"This finger hidden in the weather station."

Standing where Fushiguro had stood in the original story, looking at the old setup in front of him, Kana Shizumi tried to open it and took a peek inside.

"..."

A wooden box sat there.

Kana Shizumi took it out and examined it in his hand.

In terms of texture, it was almost identical to the ones in the Kamo Lineage's Cursed Vault. He opened it and glanced inside.

Hmm~ it was that scent of something rotting but not quite.

The item was actually here.

Rustle, rustle, rustle~

Hearing the strange, skittering noises coming from not far away, Kana Shizumi turned his head slightly and glanced toward the distance.

On the school roof and in the bushes nearby, he could see several silhouettes wriggling about...

They were Cursed Spirits.

Just by sensing them slightly, he could roughly understand their strength.

"Some guys who can barely touch Grade 2 intensity..."

Their positioning was slightly stronger than mere fodder; if they showed hostility, they could easily kill ordinary people.

They belonged to the level that had already touched upon the "extraordinary."

"Unlike the collection in the Cursed Vault, the weather station itself doesn't have the function to isolate aura... so it has more or less become a source of curses, a beacon that attracts these guys, right?"

That explained it. Plus, a place like a school was inherently rich in emotions. If there happened to be some young person suffering from heartbreak or something similar, those negative emotions would only appear more "delicious."

As for the grading...

As everyone knew, in the grading system, the positioning of sorcerers and Cursed Spirits was different.

For example, under normal circumstances, a Grade 2 sorcerer should be able to crush a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.

In this regard, cross-grade combat wasn't just a protagonist's privilege... but exceptions did occasionally appear.

For instance, the mantis that fought Itadori in the Shibuya arc of the original story. Because the opponent didn't have a Cursed Technique, it was only classified as Grade 2 based on the criteria.

But this guy's physical strength wasn't low, and it showed some combat intelligence; its actual strength was probably around Semi-Grade 1...

"So, blindly trusting the grading system is not advisable."

After all, Sukuna and the early finger-based Cursed Spirits were both classified as "Special Grade." Could you really say those two were on the same level?

Ahem, back to the main point.

—Kana Shizumi didn't have a mission to eliminate Cursed Spirits, and currently, he had no reason to come into conflict with them.

His focus was on this finger.

As a link to changing the plot, if he were to take it away directly, it would inevitably cause the trajectory to deviate significantly!

So, what should he do? Should he take it?