Little sister

Uraume was furious at having such baseless rumors spread about him.

But even after searching for a long time, he still couldn't find whoever had started them. He had reason to suspect Kenjaku had spread them before fleeing just to spite him.

After seeing Kaori's body, Jin Itadori broke down and cried for days. He blamed himself, wondering whether this had happened because he had brought his wife home from the hospital early. After languishing for a few days, he passed away.

Only Kenjaku himself knew how much truth there was to that supposed death.

Wasuke Itadori was an old man, and his health began to suffer after his son's death. He had long noticed that something was off about his daughter-in-law Kaori, so her death came as no surprise. What he hadn't expected was for his son to be such an utterly hopeless romantic.

After holding two funerals in succession, he fell ill.

His daughter-in-law was gone, but her younger sister Uraume still lived in his house. Wasuke Itadori wasn't particularly fond of Uraume, but he was getting on in years and didn't have the energy to care for two little children who needed feeding. Seeing how attentive Uraume was with the children, and that he seemed to harbor no ill intentions, Wasuke said nothing more.

A considerate nanny who asked for no pay and mixed formula and changed diapers on schedule, day and night, was hard to find! As for Uraume never preparing meals for him, so be it. It wasn't as though he paid him a salary.

Deep down, Uraume actually had very little patience for the old man. Apart from Lord Sukuna, he had no patience to spare for an ordinary person.

But Jin Itadori was already dead. If Wasuke Itadori died too, the children would be sent to an orphanage. Uraume had no legal identity and couldn't adopt them himself. Besides, both Alluka's identity and the identity of Lord Sukuna's vessel needed to stay hidden. After considering all that, he endured it.

Before his death, Jin Itadori had earned a high salary, and Wasuke Itadori ran his own martial arts dojo. The family was reasonably well-off and had bought a detached house years ago.

Over the past few years, Uraume had discovered that Alluka didn't seem to have reincarnated with her memories intact. He wasn't sure whether it had something to do with the vessel's body itself, but Yuji Itadori's body was far stronger than Alluka's. At three years old, he was already racing around like a monkey.

Alluka hadn't shown anything unusual over those years, and Nanika hadn't appeared either, so Uraume relaxed for the time being.

Ordinary jujutsu sorcerers awakened their Cursed Techniques between the ages of four and six. He assumed Nanika would be the same, so he often set aside a day or two, leaving the children with Wasuke Itadori while he traveled around collecting Lord Sukuna's fingers.

Uraume mysteriously disappeared for a few days every month, and Wasuke Itadori had grown used to it. Treating this as just another ordinary day, he brought the two children to a nearby park and watched from a short distance away in case anything happened.

"Brother, I want that block~"

The black-haired child sat in the sand, her eyes sparkling as she called to Yuji beside her.

Compared with Alluka, Yuji was clearly much more energetic. After finishing his own stack of blocks, he started making faces at several other children nearby, sending them into fits of giggles.

"Sure."

Hearing his little sister speak, Yuji Itadori answered and handed her the blue block beside him.

Alluka happily took it and placed it on top of the toy she had built.

"Brother, does mine look nice?"

She looked at the pink-haired child, an innocent, tender smile blooming across her little face.

Uraume had bought all these blocks. Apparently, a sales assistant had told him they could help develop young children's intelligence. He had voiced his disdain, but his actions had been honest enough: he bought them and brought them home.

The set they had brought out this time was meant to form an elephant, but in Alluka's hands, the blocks had become a strange thing with a massive body, a tiny head, and two black circles for eyes.

Yuji Itadori had grown up alongside his little sister. He thought the thing she had built looked a little strange, but rather than discourage her, he patted her head like a little grown-up and flashed a brilliant smile. "It looks really nice!"

How could anything my little sister made look bad? If I think it looks bad, there must be something wrong with the way I'm thinking.

As an older brother, Yuji had a firm sense of duty.

"Brother, give me a hug~"

Hearing her brother praise her like that, Alluka smiled and held out both arms to him.

"Huh?"

Yuji blinked, unsure why Alluka had suddenly asked for that, but he still reached out and hugged her.

With her wish granted, Alluka let out a clear, ringing laugh.

The warm breeze carried her laughter to Wasuke Itadori, who sat nearby. Watching the children get along so well filled him with comfort.

Although his son and daughter-in-law were gone, they had left him these two little grandchildren. He could still spend his remaining years in peace.

While he was quietly moved by the sight, Alluka rubbed against Yuji's clothes with a satisfied smile, transferring onto him a leaf that the wind had just blown into her hair.

Grinning, she threw herself into her brother's arms and wheedled, "Brother, will you praise me?"

Three-year-old Yuji, who considered himself a mature older brother, naturally couldn't disappoint his little sister. But after racking his brains for ages without finding a good description, he could only say stiffly, "Alluka is such a good girl."

Yes, he had learned that line from Uraume.

In Yuji's eyes, Auntie Uraume seemed to see Alluka through a special filter. Whatever Alluka did, his aunt always found a new way to praise her.

His aunt didn't shower him with praise all day, but he was the older brother, after all. Older brothers were bigger than their little sisters, so he had to give way to her.

"Brother, can you lift me up high?"

Delighted by the praise, Alluka tilted her head up slightly and looked at Yuji with anticipation written all over her face.

But...

"Alluka, I don't think I can lift you..."

Although Yuji was much stronger than other children his age, lifting Alluka, who was the same size as him, was still difficult.

He lowered his head to look at his hands, utterly unwilling to admit defeat in front of his little sister.

I'm her older brother. How can I disappoint her?

Despite what he had said, he still tried his best, placing his hands beneath Alluka's arms. But he only managed to lift her halfway before both children toppled backward onto the soft sand.

"..."

Yuji's face landed straight in the sand. He wasn't hurt, but the thought that he couldn't even fulfill such a tiny request from his little sister brought tears to his eyes. He sat up and was just about to say something when he realized that his sister looked completely different.

Her soft cheeks had turned deathly white, and her bright blue eyes had become bottomless black holes. She looked a little like the thing Alluka had built, staring fixedly at him.

Yuji Itadori was remarkably unflappable. He noticed the air around him had suddenly grown much colder, and rubbed the sand off his hands, wondering how the weather had changed so quickly.

But the two little girls behind him were so frightened by Alluka's appearance that they burst into tears.

"Monster! Mommy... waaaah..."

The two little girls clung to each other, trembling and sobbing, while Yuji Itadori planted his hands on his hips in indignation.

"How can you say that about my little sister? She's, she's just... um..."

Yuji Itadori's little head simply couldn't work out what had happened to his sister.

"Brother Yuji, do you have a wish?"

While he was trying to think of a way to turn his sister back to normal, his transformed sister spoke somewhat stiffly. Her voice was shrill and indistinct, like the grating noise of a jammed clockwork mechanism, enough to make someone physically uncomfortable.

"Grandpa! My little sister's transformed!"

Alarmed, Yuji Itadori grabbed Alluka and ran toward Wasuke Itadori.

Wasuke Itadori had been feeling rather drowsy, but his grandson's shout jolted him wide awake.

Alluka had turned deathly white all over, with pitch-black features like a crude line drawing. An eerie, sinister feeling seemed to seep from her entire body.

An uncontrollable tremor traveled from his stiff spine to his fingertips. Wasuke Itadori clutched the hem of his shirt with one hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the other.

What's happened to my granddaughter? Has the dead Kaori come back for revenge?

But Uraume didn't anger her to death!