2018, Sugisawa Third High School, Miyagi Prefecture.
A pale-faced young man with hair like a hedgehog walked up to a Stevenson screen on the school grounds.
He stared impassively at the box in front of him and couldn't help muttering, "Leaving a Special Grade Cursed Object somewhere like this? How stupid can you get?"
He stepped forward and opened the screen, but there was nothing inside.
"What... how is that possible?!"
The young man stared in disbelief at the empty space, then hurriedly stuck his head inside, hoping it was simply tucked away at the back... The stark emptiness told him the Cursed Object wasn't there.
He searched the surrounding area for a while, but still found no sign of the Cursed Object.
"No other choice." He reluctantly took out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello..."
"Megumi? What's wrong? Is Sukuna's Finger missing?"
Megumi Fushiguro froze for a moment, then sighed. "Mr. Zenin, if you knew, why did you send me here...?"
"It's actually still near the school. Go check that school's Occult Research Club. I remember it should be there."
"Beep, beep, beep..."
Megumi Fushiguro stared at the disconnected call, his expression suddenly turning serious. He rubbed his chin as he walked, thinking.
"It looks like a student from this school already took it. I need to hurry before that guy incarnates!"
"If someone's already taken it, it'll definitely attract low-level cursed spirits..."
Megumi Fushiguro formed hand seals, and two Divine Dogs, one black and one white, appeared beside him. He crouched down, stroked their heads, and said:
"Divine Dogs, help me track the scent of cursed spirits in this school."
At his command, the black and white Divine Dogs immediately ran off in one direction.
Megumi Fushiguro looked over. They were heading toward the school's athletic field.
On the school field, students had gathered in a circle. In their midst stood a muscular man in a tank top and a pink-haired boy.
The muscular man, Takagi, raised the shot in his hand and hurled it forward, achieving a distance of 18.85 meters and breaking Japan's record of fourteen meters.
"Your turn, Itadori!"
Takagi confidently handed the shot to Yuji Itadori. He thought the boy in front of him didn't look particularly strong. Even if he had a talent for sports-
He surely couldn't beat someone as seasoned as Takagi.
"Can I throw it however I want?"
Yuji Itadori looked back at Takagi behind him and raised the shot.
Megumi Fushiguro arrived at the field just then and heard the chatter around him. "I heard the Sports Club's adviser is competing against Itadori from West Middle School. Let's go watch!"
Never one to pass up a spectacle, Megumi Fushiguro made his way into the crowd.
As he looked at Yuji Itadori and Takagi, something stirred within him. It was the presence of a Cursed Object...
"That's right. We're not enforcing any rules, so throw it however you like!"
Takagi stood with his hands on his hips and grinned, then put on an apologetic look. "Sorry for picking an event outside your specialty, but I wanted to show you how serious I am!"
"Oh..." Yuji Itadori didn't seem bothered. He simply hurled the shot forward, smashing the distant soccer goal out of shape.
As everyone stared in astonishment, someone holding measuring equipment froze briefly. "Uh, about thirty meters..."
"All right, I win!"
Yuji Itadori cheered, completely oblivious to Takagi behind him, who stood wide-eyed as his entire worldview crumbled.
"He's no tiger... He's a gorilla, isn't he?!" remarked a girl with a short bob and glasses.
"That was a pitcher's stance just now, wasn't it?" said the tall boy beside her.
The girl looked at Itadori as he approached. "Itadori, you really would be better off in the Sports Club...
You don't have to force yourself to stay in the Occult Research Club."
"Huh?" Yuji Itadori looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled. "But you two love horror stories, and you don't even dare visit haunted places without me, do you?"
"We're scared precisely because we like them!" The girl pouted, blushing.
Yuji Itadori smiled. "Our school makes joining a club mandatory, right? That kind of thing isn't really for me."
"I actually really like the atmosphere in the Occult Research Club. If you don't mind, let me stay."
"In that case, we don't mind," the short-haired girl, Setsuko Sasaki, said quietly.
Megumi Fushiguro approached Yuji Itadori. Looking at him, he was just about to ask about the Cursed Object-
Only for the boy to take a phone call and run straight out of the school.
"Huh?" Megumi Fushiguro watched Yuji Itadori race past him and exclaimed, "Isn't he way too fast?"
"I heard he can run fifty meters in three seconds!"
Two students began talking nearby. "Isn't that about the same as the world record?"
Megumi Fushiguro: "..."
Reaching that level through physical strength alone, without cursed energy... Is this guy the same type as Maki?
Some time later.
Meanwhile, Yuji Itadori bought a bouquet from a shop outside and slowly made his way to a hospital.
He pushed open the door to Wasuke Itadori's room, Room 301, and smiled at the old man in the hospital bed. "Grandpa, I'm here!"
"I told you not to come," the old man grumbled from his bed. "And stop buying flowers all the time!"
"Isn't this what I always do?"
Yuji Itadori ignored the old man's complaints and kept tidying things up, murmuring as he worked:
"Isn't it only natural for a grandson to visit his grandpa?"
"Besides... you're the only family I have left."
The old man looked at his grandson. "Worrying over nothing, you idiot."
"About your parents, do you still want to..."
"I've told you plenty of times, I don't want to hear it!" Yuji Itadori walked over to the window. "Don't try to act cool before you die, old man."
"A man ought to die in style. What do you know, you brat?!" the old man grumbled loudly.
"Don't get worked up."
Without looking at the old man, Yuji Itadori calmly brought a cup over to the window and placed the flowers he'd bought inside it.
"Tch. The yutori generation is hopeless." The old man snorted, turned onto his side, and closed his eyes. Then he spoke as though delivering his last wishes:
"Yuji..."
"You're strong. Go save others. Just do what you can. Save as many people as you can manage. It's all right if you feel lost, and don't let it bother you if they don't thank you..."
Yuji Itadori turned and stared blankly at his grandpa. His words felt strange, but he couldn't quite say why.
"Anyway, do everything you can to save others..."
"When you die, make sure you're surrounded by people..."
"Don't end up like me..."
His grandpa's voice grew quieter and quieter, until it finally fell silent...
Yuji Itadori looked at his motionless grandpa in the hospital bed and called tentatively, "Grandpa?"
But the old man didn't answer Itadori's call. He simply lay there in silence.
As Yuji Itadori looked at the thin figure in the hospital bed, an emptiness suddenly opened in his heart. He had lost the family member closest to him...