Binding Vow

After stuffing the corpse into the Inventory Curse Worm, Toji Fushiguro turned to leave.

A few whispers came from behind him. He listened briefly, decided they had nothing to do with him, and ignored them. But halfway out, a clear, childish voice rang out behind him.

"Hey, Toji Fushiguro, will you play toss-me-up with me?"

A bone-chilling cold spread through the entire space.

In the empty subway station, the departing footsteps stopped abruptly.

Toji Fushiguro turned around just in time to see the black-haired child open her soft palms and reveal a hollow, artificial smile.

Under the lights, the child's face had returned to normal. But in Toji Fushiguro's eyes, an ominous black aura coiled around her, and an invisible sense of restraint had settled over him ever since that childish voice spoke.

Toji Fushiguro's expression darkened slightly.

A [binding vow] was one of the most common pledges of exchange in the Jujutsu Society. But his Heavenly Restriction, which left him with zero cursed energy, had always kept Toji Fushiguro outside their reach.

Ever since the child spoke, he had felt some sort of invisible binding vow form between them. The sensation left Toji Fushiguro, who had always been nonexistent in others' eyes, uncomfortable all over.

"..."

Toji Fushiguro wanted to say something, but before he could speak, he noticed something curious.

The Curse User he had fought had undergone an abrupt change of expression upon hearing those words.

In Uraume's expectations, Toji Fushiguro was supposed to pay the price for Yuji Itadori's wish. Alluka's demands of him should never have been as simple as playing toss-me-up.

Toji Fushiguro should have been on par with a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer. How could the price for escaping his clutches be nothing more than the most basic demands?

In an instant, the scene of Yuji Itadori making his wish flashed before Uraume's eyes again.

Nanika had appeared immediately after Yuji Itadori called, without even going through the three most common, ordinary demands. Was there something special about Lord Sukuna's vessel?

A doubtful gaze fell on the rather dim-looking pink-haired child. Uraume buried those thoughts for further investigation back home. The immediate problem had now become Toji Fushiguro, the man receiving Alluka's initial demands.

Toji's expression shifted before his gaze finally settled on the black-clad figure who had approached without him noticing.

"Are you sick in the head?"

With his back to the subway platform's incandescent lights, Toji Fushiguro looked down at the black-haired child, whose head was tilted slightly upward.

The lights traced his black hair with a somewhat metallic, silvery-white edge. His entire face was shrouded in shadow, making him look exceptionally cold.

"Toji Fushiguro, will you play toss-me-up with me?"

It was the opposite of what he had expected.

Even after he intimidated her, the child kept her palms held out and upward, maintaining that hazy, artificial smile as she repeated her earlier words.

Toji Fushiguro knitted his brows and refused outright. "I don't have time to play house with you lot."

If that inexplicable sense of restraint hadn't made him uncomfortable, Toji Fushiguro would never have turned around just because someone called his name.

"Okay."

After Toji Fushiguro refused, Alluka merely gave a quiet acknowledgment, then smiled and spoke again.

"Toji Fushiguro, will you pat my head?"

Her requests were simple. They all seemed easy to fulfill.

But Toji Fushiguro found it inexplicably eerie. His instinct for danger alerted him to the sudden chill in the surrounding air.

After Toji Fushiguro refused, a trace of delight unconsciously appeared around Uraume's brows.

Uraume had known it. Why would a blood-soaked Curse User like the Sorcerer Killer casually agree to play with a child?

He had refused even the most basic demand. Uraume could already picture this man being twisted into a rope, all his muscles and bones torn apart, his entire body collapsing before them like a wad of cotton.

That sight would be fine for Uraume and Alluka, but would Wasuke Itadori and Lord Sukuna's vessel be scared witless? That would be fine, too. They could just leave the old man lying in bed afterward. But Lord Sukuna's vessel couldn't stay bedridden forever. Wouldn't his muscles have atrophied by the time Lord Sukuna took over his body...?

While Uraume was lost in that whirlwind of thoughts, Toji Fushiguro noticed the unpredictable shifts in Uraume's expression.

He reached out with his large hand and planted it directly on the doll-like child's head.

He had never even soothed his own son like this, yet a single job had brought him face-to-face with a child who seemed like a little ghost.

Toji Fushiguro clicked his tongue. This really felt awful.

When he placed his hand on Alluka's head, the child's eyes curved, her smile becoming much more sincere. The Curse User's expression, on the other hand, took a turn for the worse.

Uraume's brows drew tightly together, blazing anger lurking in those eyes.

Toji Fushiguro found that even more entertaining.

He had spent many years in the Jujutsu Society and learned a great deal about the various cursed techniques of Jujutsu Sorcerers and cursed spirits.

Some cursed techniques could be activated directly with cursed energy, while others had lengthy prerequisites.

For example, there was a Curse User named Ogami whose Séance Technique took a long time to prepare. She had to pray for ages before she could use it. Having witnessed it once, Toji Fushiguro had thought he could have killed her many times over in that time.

If his guess was right, the child before him was exchanging some specific kind of binding vow with him.

Binding vows usually placed restrictions on both parties. He didn't believe that binding him would leave the child herself unaffected. He guessed that refusing or agreeing to those questions would lead to two different outcomes.

The Curse User's reaction made it clear that the result of his agreement was outside Uraume's expectations.

Intrigued, Toji Fushiguro decided to play along with the child. Once he got rid of that inexplicable sense of restraint, there would still be plenty of time to decide whether to deal with them afterward.

"Toji Fushiguro, will you praise me?"

After Toji Fushiguro patted the child's head, she made another simple request.

Having decided to play along, Toji Fushiguro agreed to Alluka's request while keeping an eye on Uraume's expression.

And every time he fulfilled a request, the Curse User's face darkened a little more.

Perhaps Uraume hadn't noticed, but Toji Fushiguro, who had grown up surrounded by ridicule, was exceptionally sensitive to other people's emotions.

By the time he completed the third request, Toji Fushiguro was thinking that this ability was complete trash. It had far too many prerequisites.

Just as he was inwardly scoffing at it, that deathly pale monster appeared again.

An inorganic black swallowed the whites of the eyes. Those eyes, like black holes filled with thick black sludge, gazed eerily at him.

"Toji Fushiguro, do you have a wish?"

The shrill voice reached him somewhat indistinctly.

"Huh? That's it?"

As though he had heard the greatest joke in the world, Toji Fushiguro slowly narrowed his eyes and gave a soft, mocking chuckle.