A flash of light swept past.
Kinoshita rubbed his eyes, then drew a breath of chilly air through his nose.
"Whoa... I've never been to Japan before. I guess this counts as a vacation?"
Kinoshita looked up at the Curtain overhead, marveling to himself.
Who would have thought that he, Kinoshita, would get a place of his own in Jujutsu Society...
"Furube Yurayura..."
"Hey..."
"You bastard!"
The moment Kinoshita heard those words, his hair stood on end.
He whipped around and saw none other than the man in Jujutsu Society who cared least about pressure-Megumi Fushiguro.
"Are you kidding me?!"
He had actually teleported straight into the middle of Megumi Fushiguro's suicide attack. Could there possibly be a worse place to land?!
Haruta took a step back, staring at Megumi Fushiguro in disbelief.
"Shit! He played me!"
Kinoshita didn't hesitate. Four Winged Frogs appeared in an instant, followed by something resembling a silkworm cocoon behind Megumi Fushiguro. He immediately bolted in the opposite direction.
Haruta was only as strong as a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer. He had never seen anything like this.
"Eight-Handled Sword."
"Divergent Sila Divine General."
"Mahoraga."
Megumi Fushiguro felt warm blood running over his head. A smile tugged at his lips as he sneered at Haruta. "I'll be dying first."
The true form of Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga fully manifested.
He was tall and powerfully built, his entire body grayish white and hard as bone armor. His eyeless face sported vicious fangs, four enormous sword-shaped horns jutted from the sides of his head, and a wheel-shaped magic circle hovered above him.
Black chains coiled around his neck. His right arm formed a massive, heavy, pure-white sword, while his left ended in a sharp claw. A slender bony tail hung behind him, and circular curse markings floated over his back.
The next second, a thunderous bang rang out, and Megumi Fushiguro went flying.
Mahoraga hadn't even spared Megumi Fushiguro a proper glance.
Kinoshita's scalp prickled. If the plot stayed on track, Sukuna would arrive any second!
"You pressure-proof lunatic, could you stop launching suicide attacks whenever and wherever you feel like it?!"
"You're a total madlad!!!"
Panting hard, Kinoshita ran clear of one street and looked back.
All he saw was a pink-haired boy lifting Haruta. What happened next was practically impossible to follow with the naked eye; he could only hear tremendous crashes.
Kinoshita's heart sank. That earthquake-like rumbling was proof enough that Sukuna and Mahoraga had started fighting!
"Dismantle!"
Kinoshita poured every last ounce of strength into running, pushing himself for all he was worth.
But then he heard a crisp cry of "Dismantle."
A towering building instantly split apart, crumbling into countless chunks of rubble that fell straight toward Kinoshita's head.
"Fuck, I'm about to become two-dimensional...!"
[Cause of death: Crushed by a heavy object] [Experience: After teleporting, you sprinted down two streets like a clown to escape Mahoraga, only to be squashed like some roadside stray by Sukuna's "slash." Sukuna didn't even notice you existed.] [Evaluation: You crossed into another world just to become a passerby crushed to death? Haki-Kino, you little...] [Reward: Slight increase in innate talent, slight increase in cursed energy] [Kinoshita] [Cursed energy: Faint] [Cursed technique: None (0/3)] [Abilities: None] [Evaluation: At full strength, you qualify as human stock for Mahito.] [Rewinds remaining: 8]
"System, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
Kinoshita sat in the Rest Area, staring at the evaluation with a dark expression.
[This system is fair and objective. Its persona is modeled on the host's personality.]
Remembering how he had been crushed to death, Kinoshita couldn't decide whether to cry out in pain or embarrassment.
"How is that my fault?" Kinoshita spread his hands. "In that situation, was I supposed to fight Mahoraga or Sukuna?"
"Or both of them?"
"Tch!"
Kinoshita lay back helplessly.
"If I'd known, I'd have punched Mahoraga first. Maybe I could've even snagged an assist for Sukuna."
Kinoshita refused to accept it.
He'd been unlucky once. Surely he couldn't be unlucky every single time?
"Just wait till I get a cursed technique!"
"Then I'll make sure the heavens can never block my sight again!"
"I'll make this earth..."
[Teleporting...]
Before Kinoshita could finish running his mouth, he was teleported again.
"So bright!!"
Although the sudden light stabbed at Kinoshita's eyes so badly he couldn't open them, he also felt relieved.
The lights meant he was underground.
At least that madlad's suicide attack wouldn't blow him up again.
"This should be the station." Kinoshita looked around, trying to find the time.
After all, as long as he knew roughly what time it was, he should be able to avoid getting killed by Sukuna like some roadside stray...
Right?
"22:04."
"Perfect!"
Kinoshita carefully recalled the events. At this point, Itadori hadn't even started fighting Choso. He had probably just broken the Curtain that barred sorcerers from entering.
Still muttering to himself, Kinoshita turned his head, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
"Huh-?"
"Why is there still a civilian on the upper level?"
A pink-haired boy scratched his head, looking at Kinoshita in puzzlement.
Kinoshita swallowed. Having just been killed by Sukuna, seeing that face again was enough to trigger him a little.
There's not much time... Kinoshita immediately came up with a plan.
"Yuji Itadori, fifteen years old, born on March twentieth. A second-year student at Sugisawa Third High School in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, who later became a first-year at Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High School."
"After you ate Sukuna's Finger and were found to be compatible with it, the higher-ups of Jujutsu Society secretly sentenced you to death. In the end, you survived thanks to Satoru Gojo's guarantee."
"You just broke the barrier, and your current objective..." Kinoshita raised his hand and pointed at Itadori. "Should be to rescue the sealed Satoru Gojo!"
"That's craaaazy!!"
Itadori clapped his hands together, staring in disbelief at this stranger who knew so much about him.
He scratched his head. Information about his past could conceivably be dug up, but this guy even knew exactly what had just happened and what he planned to do next.
"Are you an enemy?" Itadori propped his chin in his hand, looking puzzled. "But your cursed energy is as weak as an ordinary person's..."
Kinoshita shook his head and checked the time.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is my information." Kinoshita looked toward the lower level of the station. "Next, you'll encounter a special grade cursed spirit-Choso, the eldest brother of the Death Painting Wombs."
"Cursed Womb: Death Paintings?" Itadori searched his memory.
He was no stranger to those things. He and Kugisaki had killed both Eso and Kechizu.
"In that case, you need to get even farther away from here!" Itadori's expression immediately turned serious.
He knew all too well how powerful special grade cursed spirits were. If a civilian was present, he wouldn't have any strength to spare protecting them.
Although Kinoshita knew Itadori's personality well, he was still a little surprised.
After all, despite how much information Kinoshita knew, Itadori's first instinct was still to protect him.
"No need, no need, little Yuji." Kinoshita waved a hand. "I've got a way to clear this without taking any damage!!"
Before you continue