Lifting the Curtain

9:55 p.m., beside Exit 2 of Meiji-jingumae Station on the Tokyo Metro.

"Between the first and second levels, there's one cursed spirit and three curse users." Chiyo Shin walked over to the underground map and examined it as he spoke.

"Let's split up. I'll head straight down from here and lift the curtain.

"You three go down through Exit 7 and rescue the civilians. Once you're done, we'll meet on the fourth level." After checking the station map against his vibration scan, Chiyo Shin addressed the other three.

Ui Ui was very unhappy to hear Chiyo Shin ordering his sister around. "Hey, you..."

"Ui Ui, be good," Mei Mei immediately said gently.

Ui Ui melted at once, blushing. "Big Sister~"

"That works for me. What about you, Itadori?" After soothing Ui Ui, Mei Mei agreed to Chiyo Shin's proposal.

"No objections here." Yuji Itadori agreed too.

With all four in agreement, Chiyo Shin headed down the stairs.

The moment he reached the underground corridor, the sight before him made his blood boil.

A grasshopper-like cursed spirit was gnawing on an arm.

Beside it, three jujutsu sorcerers were chopping up a corpse to feed it.

No wonder the readings from his vibration scan had felt strange.

Those three curse-user bastards were cutting up a dead person and feeding the pieces to the grasshopper cursed spirit, which thanked them as it ate.

"Hahaha! Look at it gobble that down like a pig." The blond among the three curse users watched the grasshopper cursed spirit wolf down its food and mocked it with his companions.

The grasshopper cursed spirit raised its head and protested, "I'm not a pig. I'm a cursed spirit born from the most terrifying of grasshoppers."

"Right, right, you're not a pig. Ah, hahahaha!" The man with the pompadour beside the blond laughed so hard he could barely stand straight.

"How would you like to die?" Chiyo Shin's voice startled them all.

All three men and the cursed spirit jumped, especially the three curse users, who had only one thought in their minds. What the fuck is going on?

A jujutsu sorcerer? When did he get here? How did we not sense a thing? And that presence!

"He's just bluffing." The blond wiped away his cold sweat and put on a tough front, reaching for his weapon to attack Chiyo Shin.

The grasshopper cursed spirit waved a hand at the three curse users. "Wait, let me go first. Thanks for the meal."

The blond swallowed and hurriedly nodded. "Sure, you go fir-"

Before he could finish, the grasshopper cursed spirit exploded, scattering fragments of its body evenly across every part of the corridor.

Chiyo Shin turned to the remaining trio, who had already wet themselves in terror. "You..."

"We're guilty! We admit it!" All three dropped to their knees.

"You aren't the ones who set up the curtain." Chiyo Shin took a step forward and instantly appeared before them.

White light flared in his hand, erasing both arms from each man. "Where's the person who actually cast the curtain, or the medium they used?!"

The way their arms had vanished in an instant terrified the three so badly they could barely speak. Pain flooded their brains, but they had no choice but to answer Chiyo Shin's question. "It's... it's... just a little farther ahead... you'll... you'll see a formation."

Chiyo Shin restored their arms, then erased them again. "Are you hiding anything? An ambush, for instance?"

One of the three could no longer bear it and sprang up to flee. Chiyo Shin raised a hand and obliterated him without leaving even a speck of ash.

"Being honest is your best option. Talk!" Chiyo Shin turned back to the two men writhing on the floor.

"N-no... nothing... else." Frightened and in agony, the two could barely get the words out.

"Good." Chiyo Shin grabbed their heads and activated his Vibration Cursed Technique. Blood instantly poured from all seven facial orifices, and their heads turned limp and soft. He casually tossed them to the ground.

Following their directions, Chiyo Shin walked a little farther ahead and found a formation, just as they had said. It was small, only about the size of a basketball.

To be safe, Chiyo Shin kept his distance. He formed a ball of destructive white light considerably larger than a human head and hurled it over.

The formation offered no resistance and was erased outright.

Chiyo Shin took out his phone. His signal was back.

He still couldn't deactivate Stillness. He didn't know whether the eye cursed spirit outside had been eliminated.

He hurried outside. Without the curtain to support it, the eye cursed spirit was slowly sinking from the sky, and its cursed energy had weakened to the level of a mere grade one.

Chiyo Shin raised his hand and released destructive white light to test it first.

As the white light approached the eye cursed spirit, a mass of black shadow swallowed it again.

Chiyo Shin launched himself into the air, ready for close combat. As he drew closer, he puzzled over the same question. What is that black shadow?

I think the first time I saw it was at the Juvenile Detention Center. The second was at Yasohachi Bridge, and this is the third.

Is it some cursed spirit's cursed technique? But close combat didn't trigger it.

Still thinking, Chiyo Shin closed in on the eye cursed spirit and threw a punch. This time, you don't have a curtain to absorb the force.

The mass of black shadow appeared again. Half of Chiyo Shin's fist had already entered it before he quickly pulled it back.

Now it can even swallow my fist!

Then the vibrations last time... there's a threshold.

Chiyo Shin understood instantly. No sooner had he pulled his fist back than he punched again, but this time it was wrapped in overwhelming vibrational energy.

Sure enough, his fist punched clean through the eye cursed spirit.

Exorcism complete.

"Shin, that was quick. He's already lifted the curtain." Mei Mei was clearing out transfigured humans with Ui Ui and Yuji Itadori when she felt the curtain's presence disappear.

"Then we'd better hurry too." Yuji Itadori was full of enthusiasm.

The station on the fifth level.

Mahito ran merrily through the station, leaving one transfigured human after another in his wake.

Mahito made two passes each time: on the first, he turned people into transfigured humans; on the second, he stuffed them into the train.

After many rounds, the station was completely empty. "Still need a few more."

Mahito looked through the transfigured humans packed inside the train from one end to the other and felt he could squeeze in a few more.

"Heehee, time for my favorite part. Hide-and-seek!" Mahito began searching the station, his voice chilling.

Some people had realized something was wrong and hidden away as soon as Mahito began transfiguring humans.

Hearing Mahito's voice, they curled up even tighter in their corners, clamping their hands over their mouths and noses. They didn't even dare tremble, terrified he would discover them.

But it was all futile. Mahito used Idle Transfiguration to alter his own sensory organs and dragged the hidden people out one by one.

Just as Mahito was having the time of his life, he suddenly sensed the curtain being lifted.

"Oh, come on. I could've played a little longer. Never mind, this was my job anyway." Mahito picked up the pace, finding and transfiguring people faster.

"Finally full. But there's still one left here. What should I do?" Mahito looked at the man on the floor, who was already somewhat delirious.

He paced back and forth, thinking of a solution. "Got it. I'll plant a cursed energy bomb inside you, and in five minutes, you'll be transfigured too. Yeah, let's do that."

He reached out and touched the man's face, injecting cursed energy into him.

The man no longer resisted his touch, letting Mahito toy with him as he pleased.

"Perfect." Finished, Mahito skipped into the train's cab, started the train, and headed for the battlefield where Satoru Gojo was being surrounded.