Ryomen Sukuna: Want to Make a Binding Vow with Me?

When Aikawa Kaze first left, the Fushiguro siblings really hadn't noticed.

Tsumiki Fushiguro was actually a very strong person. Especially as an older sister, she never showed her weakness.

Back then, even when their irresponsible dad and Megumi's mother suddenly vanished without a word, abandoning them, Tsumiki hadn't shed a single tear.

At the time, Tsumiki, who wasn't much older than her brother, had even forced herself to smile, comforting and caring for the younger Megumi as she did everything she could to keep their family afloat.

Yet now, Tsumiki couldn't hold back her tears.

Not because of those classmates, but because she had finally come to a profound realization.

Just as she'd sobbed-although all she wanted was to protect her brother, and she did her best to guide and teach Megumi Fushiguro, when faced with the other side of this world...

She. Could. Do. Nothing.

Tsumiki Fushiguro truly couldn't abandon those friends, but she had neither the ability to dissuade her classmates nor the power to resolve the danger there.

When Aikawa Kaze proposed knocking them unconscious, she'd instinctively snapped back in anger. But after calming down, she really couldn't think of any other solution.

Perhaps the very method she rejected and despised was actually the best choice.

She hated her own helplessness. She wanted her brother to take the "right path," yet couldn't find a way to make it happen. In the end, she could only turn it all inward, blaming herself for her powerlessness and suffering deeply because of it.

That was why she'd said things like "I'm a useless sister" and "I can't do anything."

All this time, that pressure had been piling up in Tsumiki's heart.

Once she learned that Megumi would enroll at Jujutsu High next year and officially enter that dangerous world, the weight only made her more anxious as the date drew closer.

This incident was merely the breaking point. Tsumiki's accumulated pressure and anxiety had already reached their limit.

Aikawa Kaze had mercilessly thrown the cruel reality in Tsumiki's face, hoping to make her less naive. He'd torn away the thin veil concealing the truth, which had led to the current situation.

Only when his sister began sobbing aloud did Megumi Fushiguro realize how much burden and self-blame she'd been carrying all along.

He held Tsumiki, wanting to comfort her. But he had never been good at expressing himself, and faced with the tears of someone precious to him, he was completely at a loss, unable to find the words.

He found Tsumiki's "lectures" nagging, and even felt a little rebellious about them, but deep down, he loved and respected his sister enormously.

Although Tsumiki had no cursed energy, that didn't matter at all to Megumi Fushiguro-protecting her so she could live happily and safely was his greatest motivation to work hard.

So all he could do was hold Tsumiki tighter, expressing his feelings that way.

Before anything happened to Tsumiki, his philosophy of "saving people unequally" hadn't fully formed, but the vague idea was already there.

Megumi Fushiguro preferred to save those he cared about and valued, as well as those he recognized as kind and upright.

He himself came last, someone he could discard at any moment. The most important person was, of course, Tsumiki Fushiguro, followed by the younger brother he'd only recently accepted but already considered his responsibility to protect...

Huh?

After Tsumiki gradually calmed down, the two belatedly realized that someone seemed to be missing from the house.

They didn't even have time to feel embarrassed about their earlier display before they began anxiously searching for him. In the end, all they found was a note.

The message was exceptionally simple, just two sentences.

The first was an apology. The second said that Aikawa Kaze had a way to resolve the matter and told them not to get involved.

"You two... really are brothers."

Tsumiki wiped the corners of her eyes. A little embarrassed, she nevertheless forced herself to assume the authority of the head of the family.

"When something happens, you never think to ask anyone for help! You just charge in on your own, no matter how dangerous it is!"

"I only act when I'm confident."

Megumi Fushiguro disagreed with Tsumiki's assessment. The few times he'd beaten up those punks, he'd naturally been confident they couldn't turn the tables on him.

But if he was facing a cursed spirit...

Damn it! Mr. Gojo told me Kaze was just a beginner, only a Grade 4 Sorcerer!

Megumi Fushiguro was worried inside, but he forced himself to look calm and composed.

"Tsumiki, stay home! I'll go find him."

"...Okay. Be careful! I'll keep trying to call Mr. Gojo."

Tsumiki couldn't stop him, nor could she stubbornly insist on going along. She clearly understood that if she insisted on following him, she'd only become a burden.

All she could do was keep calling Satoru Gojo without pause, hoping he could do something.

Neither sibling doubted Aikawa Kaze's assessment of the danger. It was just that...

Because of Satoru Gojo's mischievous streak, although he'd told Megumi Fushiguro about Aikawa Kaze's cursed technique, he hadn't mentioned his capabilities, saying only that Kaze was a Grade 4 Sorcerer.

Megumi Fushiguro had the impression that Jujutsu Society was severely short-staffed. If Kaze had the ability to advance, he'd surely receive a higher grade and then be saddled with plenty of missions.

Unless it was a special situation like Maki's, there was no reason to keep someone's grade down for nothing. Combined with that earlier explanation about an intuition akin to "divination," did that mean Aikawa Kaze was a support type?

From this, Megumi Fushiguro concluded that Grade 4 Kaze couldn't be very strong.

Realizing something was wrong, Megumi Fushiguro formed the Dog Hand Sign without hesitation, summoning one black and one white Divine Dog. Then he held the note beneath their noses.

"Divine Dogs! Please, I need to find him as soon as possible!"

"Woof, woof!"

Sensing the seriousness in their master's voice, the two dogs grew solemn as well. Following the scent, they ran to the next street, only to start circling in place.

"The scent stops here? It just disappeared?"

Megumi Fushiguro frowned slightly and looked around. There wasn't a station or anything nearby. Had Kaze hailed a taxi here?

At that thought, he immediately raised his hand and hailed a taxi himself.

"Yasohachi Bridge."

Whether Kaze planned to lie in wait and knock out the people heading there to explore, or intended to confront that cursed spirit, he would have to go to Yasohachi Bridge first.

Once Megumi reached the area, having the Divine Dogs search again should turn up a lead.

Meanwhile, Aikawa Kaze had arrived at Yasohachi Bridge much earlier thanks to Suguru Geto's flying "Rainbow Dragon" taxi. Although he could vaguely sense the presence of a domain, he couldn't find any way inside.

He tried various methods, probing from every direction, but nothing worked.

"So it really is a matter of timing? Looks like we'll have to wait until night." Aikawa Kaze sighed. "I wanted to settle this as soon as possible... Sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Geto."

"Not at all. I'm quite interested in this cursed spirit. It has a domain, after all."

Suguru Geto didn't mind wasting a day in the slightest.

Just as he'd said, as a Cursed Spirit Manipulator who could capture cursed spirits, he currently felt as though he'd encountered a Shiny Rare Pokémon. He had every reason to be delighted.

Only then did Aikawa Kaze remember that Suguru Geto probably couldn't use a domain himself. Otherwise, there was no reason he wouldn't have used it at the most critical moment in the original story. Yet he could use his cursed spirits' domains.

From that perspective, a Cursed Spirit Manipulator really was powerful. No wonder Brain had been so obsessed, practically drooling over Suguru Geto's body!

With that, Aikawa Kaze felt no guilt whatsoever.

To draw a comparison, this was a Shiny Pokémon with top-tier talent, base stats, and even a hidden ability (?). If not for him, when would Suguru Geto have had the chance to capture such a rare cursed spirit?

Whether the domain was useful or not, having one made all the difference!

With that thought, Aikawa Kaze could only sit helplessly on a bridge pillar nearby, idly killing time.

If he'd known, he would have asked Tsumiki exactly when her friends planned to come exploring. Now all he could do was wait like an idiot.

After all, he wasn't sure whether the domain became accessible in the afternoon, at dusk, or at night. It would be troublesome if some reckless fool happened to wander in while he was gone.

Especially since he'd promised Tsumiki he'd resolve this incident. If her classmates still ended up cursed, wouldn't that be embarrassing?

Aikawa Kaze had already privately decided that resolving this incident would be his apology for making her cry. Naturally, he wouldn't let a minor inconvenience ruin the whole thing.

"The sun's pretty strong... And if we're waiting until night, Mr. Geto, why don't you buy some water and food? I'm not picky. Anything's fine."

"Oh? You actually dare send me on errands? You really are bold!"

Suguru Geto couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Apart from Satoru Gojo and Shoko Ieiri, no one had ever ordered him to run errands with such confidence.

Sure, he did run errands for his family, but they asked, pleaded, and adored him, all right?

"Acting so fearlessly... Could it be that because I said I wanted to recruit you, you've started 'taking advantage of my favor'?"

"Are you sure your Japanese is okay? With that level of proficiency, Principal Yaga would definitely have given you a scolding back then!"

Aikawa Kaze was exasperated. Where were all these bizarre expressions coming from?

"I'm just worried that if I don't keep watch here, you'll stand by and let those 'monkeys' you talk about die."

"Hmph. They're just a bunch of monkeys. They aren't even the same species as us jujutsu sorcerers. Why should I save them?"

"So, have you read... No, even a basic understanding will do-do you know Darwin's theory of evolution?"

"..."

Suguru Geto fell silent, quietly turned around, and left him with a single sentence.

"I'll go buy water and food."

"???"

So has he read it or not?

Aikawa Kaze couldn't tell whether he hadn't read the work and left out of shame at his ignorance, or had read it and left in embarrassment after realizing that all humans had evolved from monkeys.

The result was pretty much the same anyway. In short, Suguru Geto had fled in defeat, trying to change the subject!

"But why would a cursed spirit with a domain appear here? Someone should be coming here regularly to clear them out."

Aikawa Kaze frowned as he pondered the cause. Even though he knew he couldn't fully trust the information from the anime he'd watched in his previous life, so far, wherever he hadn't interfered, the general course of events had remained consistent (?).

Finding the reason for the change would help him keep a better grasp of the overall situation.

"Normally, the cursed spirits shouldn't get stronger until Yuji swallows Sukuna's Finger, causing all the fingers to resonate and awaken. Then the finger sealed here would strengthen the local cursed spirit..."

But there was still quite some time before Yuji would swallow the finger.

As Aikawa Kaze considered what might have changed, a sudden chill ran down his back. An ominous possibility occurred to him.

The next second, the scenery before him shifted. The bright, sunny surroundings instantly turned sinister, filled with blood-red chunks of flesh and strangely stitched-together space.

Aikawa Kaze: "..."

He had just realized something.

When Yuji ate the finger and became a vessel, the big guy's soul awoke. Only then did the other fingers resonate and activate their power, strengthening the cursed spirits that had absorbed them and causing them to begin hunting early.

But hadn't he... previously seen what appeared to be one of the big guy's fingers revive for a short time?

Even if Sukuna hadn't awakened then, and the cursed spirit had merely been influenced by him, afterward, at Hope Elementary School, he'd used the Holy Sword to blast one-twentieth of Sukuna's fingers out of existence!

What that meant was self-evident.

Even if Sukuna returned to life, he could never collect all twenty fingers or recover the full power he'd possessed at his peak.

In other words, he'd directly cut Sukuna's maximum possible power by one-twentieth!

Would Ryomen Sukuna really feel nothing and keep playing dead?

If that agonizing reduction in his maximum power had caused Sukuna's fingers to sense something and awaken early, that was entirely possible!

The moment after he realized this, Aikawa Kaze was dragged into the domain.

Then he came face-to-face with a distorted, four-handed monster.

Is this guy Ryomen Sukuna? But something feels off.

After getting used to the handsome, pink-haired Ryomen Sukuna possessing Yuji, this blue-green, four-handed monster looked even more bizarre than a hulking Machamp-hideously ugly.

Disgust appeared on Aikawa Kaze's face, but his movements didn't slow in the slightest. He drew his sword and spoke.

"This is a battle for the world!"

In a sense, an ordinary special grade cursed spirit was actually more troublesome for Aikawa Kaze than one possessing Sukuna's Finger.

After all, without outside help, Aikawa Kaze wasn't confident he could exorcise a special grade cursed spirit. But if he was facing Ryomen Sukuna, the monster known as the Calamity of the World, things became easier instead.

Having met the strict requirement of "fighting for the world," Aikawa Kaze once again took on his blond-haired, green-eyed appearance.

"Looks like I can shave off another twentieth of you today. Lucky me."

"Don't be so hasty, brat-want to make a binding vow with me?"

The blue-green-faced monster grinned maliciously.

"Don't refuse so quickly. Won't you take a look at my bargaining chip?"

"Heh. I'm not interested in making a deal with a calam... ity..."

Aikawa Kaze stopped halfway through his sentence, his pupils contracting sharply.

Before him, behind the monster, lay two unconscious dogs, one black and one white, along with Megumi Fushiguro, whose sea-urchin hair had even gone limp.

From the looks of it, they'd simply been knocked unconscious and taken hostage.

Megumi, why are you here?!

Mr. Geto, where are you?! Hurry up and show yourself!!!