For seven straight days, Fushiguro and the others endured hellish torment.
Every time they trained in close combat, they could almost see their deceased relatives waving from the horizon.
The physical suffering was bad enough, but the psychological damage was worse.
"At the pinnacle of sorcery, Hao reigns supreme. Before heaven existed, there was Jiahao."
"When yin and yang descend into chaos, I shall stain the heavens with my mighty blood."
They had no choice but to listen to an endless stream of Jiahao quotes so cringeworthy they made their scalps crawl.
Fushiguro seriously suspected that helping them train was only Jiahao's secondary objective.
His real goal was to beat them until they were too weak to crawl away, leaving them obediently sprawled on the ground while he delivered his grand declarations.
He couldn't understand it. He simply couldn't comprehend Jiahao's exquisite mental state.
But there was one thing he had to admit...
After seven days of Jiahao-style hell training, all of them had made visible improvements in close combat.
"It's already afternoon! Why isn't that guy here yet?"
Standing on the training grounds with two cursed tools in hand, Maki looked around.
"Look what Jiahao's conditioning has done to Maki."
Lying faceup on the green lawn, Panda patted Fushiguro and teased quietly, "Maybe Maki's secretly a masochist. She feels off if she goes a day without getting beaten up."
Fushiguro shook his head, his expression stiff. "I think Maki just wants to get stronger."
Unlike the others, Maki had no talent for becoming a sorcerer, despite being born into a prominent family in Jujutsu Society.
Without her specially made glasses, which had been infused with cursed energy beforehand, she couldn't even see cursed spirits.
That left Maki with only one way to grow stronger: strengthen her body and hone her close-combat skills.
Among the humans and their one beastly companion, Maki was probably the only one who looked forward to their daily dose of Hao's hell training.
An hour later, an irritable Maki kicked the sleeping Panda awake on the lawn.
"Damn it! That king of show-offs stood us up!"
"Get up, Panda! We're training by ourselves!"
Meanwhile, Kaneki Hao was enjoying the air-conditioning at McDonald's while talking to Ijichi on the Brick Phone.
Jiahao had been keeping track of the transfigured human mission.
A few days earlier, after a difficult battle in the sewers, Nanami had returned with information about the culprit.
It was a special grade cursed spirit with a stitched face and a dangerous cursed technique that could touch souls and alter the shape of bodies.
An unregistered special grade curse, it was one of the rare cursed spirits capable of conversation, just like the volcano-headed one Satoru Gojo had encountered a few days earlier.
Ordinary cursed techniques did no damage to the stitched-face cursed spirit, so Nanami had promptly requested backup from Jujutsu High.
The ever-busy Satoru Gojo was still abroad on business, while the school's other Grade 1 sorcerers were occupied with their own missions.
And so,
Yaga had no choice but to dispatch Jujutsu Society's strongest Grade 4 Sorcerer, Kaneki Hao.
After gulping down some ice-cold cola, Jiahao smiled into the phone. "Tell Nanami and Itadori not to worry."
"When the critical moment comes, the King will act."
Ijichi: "..."
After hanging up, Jiahao ignored the startled looks from the other customers and laughed louder and louder.
"Ha ha! Hahahaha!"
"A new era is upon us! There's no time left to play house with those brats!"
The customers had no idea what he meant, but they were deeply impressed. They took out their phones to snap pictures and share them.
Seeing this, Jiahao obligingly struck a series of outrageously dramatic poses.
"Everyone, remember to use a beauty filter."
Early the next morning, at Satozakura High School.
Clear daylight slanted through the auditorium windows, casting long golden stripes across the pale floor.
A graduation ceremony was underway inside, with students cheering, laughing, and applauding.
Soon after the sky abruptly darkened, those youthful, smiling faces were stained with bloody despair.
Classmates they had spent every day with transformed into hideous monsters right before their eyes.
Crash!
A figure suddenly burst through the hallway windows, shattering glass all over the floor!
It was Yuji Itadori, who had been deliberately lured there by traces of a cursed spirit's cursed residue.
"Junpei..."
Itadori stared in disbelief at Junpei Yoshino, whose entire demeanor had changed.
He couldn't understand why Junpei, an ordinary person just yesterday, had suddenly awakened as a sorcerer.
He couldn't understand why Junpei, who had been enthusiastically discussing movie details with him yesterday, would attack his nonsorcerer classmates.
Before following the cursed residue to the classroom building, Itadori had first visited the blood-soaked auditorium, where screams rang out without pause.
What baffled him most was... why was the stitched-face cursed spirit Nanami had mentioned standing beside Junpei?
Staring fixedly at Mahito's amused smile, Itadori said gravely, "Junpei, I don't know why you attacked the students in the auditorium, but..."
"Get lost, jujutsu sorcerer!"
The radically changed Junpei cut him off coldly, lifting his bangs to reveal the cigarette burns on his forehead.
"I'm just paying them back for what they did to me! What's wrong with that?"
"Listen to me, Junpei!"
Itadori's voice suddenly sharpened. "We can talk about that later! Right now, you need to get away from the guy beside you!"
"He isn't human! He's an extremely dangerous curse!"
"Well, well!"
Mahito spread his hands, looking utterly innocent. "We've only just met, Itadori. Don't go making baseless accusations against an innocent man!"
"Do you think I'm an idiot?"
Itadori lowered his stance, ready to attack at any moment.
"Mahito isn't a bad person!"
Junpei stepped forward, putting himself between Mahito and Itadori. "Mahito helped me awaken as a jujutsu sorcerer. He gave me the power to take revenge."
"Leave, Itadori. I don't want to hurt you!"
As he spoke, Junpei looked back over his shoulder. "Mahito, Itadori's innocent. Let him go."
"Oh dear, Junpei. Aren't you a little too kind?"
"You've only spent a few days with Sukuna's vessel, and you're already friends? You won't attack him even when he stands in your way?"
"Tsk, tsk. Kind people don't live long in today's world."
Still smiling as he spoke, Mahito lightly rested his right hand on Junpei's shoulder.
"Run, Junpei!"
Itadori's expression changed drastically. He charged forward, only for Mahito's left hand to suddenly swell into a giant palm and viciously slam him into the wall.
Mahito leaned close to Junpei's face and smiled gently. "Since you can't bring yourself to attack, Junpei, let me give you a hand."
"Idle Transfiguration."
Watching Junpei transform from a human into a grotesque cursed spirit right before his eyes, Itadori froze as though struck by lightning.
Even when Junpei charged at him with newly grown fangs, Itadori only defended himself on instinct.
Snapping out of it, Itadori glared murderously at Mahito, then wrapped his arms around the transfigured Junpei's protruding neck with all his strength.
"Hang in there, Junpei! I have an incredibly powerful friend who can save you!"
Itadori still remembered what Jiahao had said on the movie theater rooftop: ordinary people couldn't be saved after being transfigured, but there was still hope of healing a jujutsu sorcerer.
But he had no idea where Jiahao was, and he couldn't spare a moment to contact him.
Time ticked away as Itadori kept Junpei's neck locked tightly in his arms, helplessly enduring the blows.
Mahito, whom Itadori remained wary of, merely watched with a smile from across the hallway, showing no intention of attacking.
This is bad. If this drags on, Junpei won't ever turn back into a human.
Left with no choice, Itadori had to seek someone else's help.
"Sukuna!"
"Please heal Junpei! I'll agree to any conditions you want!"
Mahito's eyes suddenly lit up. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
He had set up a barrier around the school that allowed entry but no exit, then arranged for transfigured humans to leave cursed residue that would lure Itadori in from the street.
He had deliberately waited for Itadori to arrive before transfiguring Junpei in front of him.
All of it had been designed to force Itadori to surrender control of his body to Sukuna.
So far, the plan was proceeding quite smoothly.
Even if Sukuna couldn't use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the damage to Junpei's soul, Mahito could simply undo the cursed technique on Junpei himself, as long as Sukuna demanded a binding vow from Itadori.
But then, unexpectedly...
"I refuse!"
A mouth split open on Itadori's cheek, spilling Sukuna's mocking laughter.
"How delightful! How delightful!"
"You abandon your pride and your future, offering everything you have as you beg me... yet you still can't save a thing!"
"Hahaha! Brat, that miserable look on your face really is delightful!"
"Hahahaha!"
Mahito was stunned. He had never expected Sukuna to refuse.
Had Sukuna already found an opportunity to forge a binding vow with Itadori before this?
Or did Sukuna have plans of his own that required him to lie low inside Itadori for now?
Sukuna's unexpected move had rendered all of Mahito's preparations over the past few days useless.
But looking at the exquisite, utterly despairing expression on Itadori's face, Mahito felt genuine delight as well.
And so, the original story's infamous scene played out once again.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Haha! Hahaha!"
With Itadori standing dazed between them, Sukuna and Mahito's piercing laughter echoed endlessly through the hallway.
Only then did Itadori truly understand what a curse was.
Though they looked similar to humans and could hold normal conversations, at their core... these creatures were curses that toyed with other people's lives as they pleased!
Mahito: "Hahahahaha!"
Sukuna: "Haha! Hahaha!"
Suddenly,
A third person's laughter echoed through the dim hallway.
"Haha! Hahahahaha!"
Mahito: "Haha..."
Sukuna: "Ha..."
"Hahahahaha!"
Mahito's laughter cut short. He abruptly turned to stare at a figure who had appeared without anyone noticing.
Sukuna's laughter faltered, and the grinning mouth vanished outright.
Itadori followed Mahito's gaze, and his blank eyes suddenly lit up.
"Haha! Hahahaha!"
Leaning against the shattered windowsill with his legs crossed and one hand resting on his forehead, Kaneki Hao was still laughing wildly.
Itadori's face filled with delighted surprise. "Jiahao!"
Jiahao: "Haha! Hahahaha!"
"Hahahaha!"
Itadori: "Um..."
Jiahao: "Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
Mahito: "..."
Before you continue