After a Thousand Years

Itadori looked at his grandfather lying motionless in the hospital bed. Holding back his tears, he dialed the hospital's front desk. His voice shook with sobs, yet his face was calm. "My grandfather... has passed away."

Evening soon arrived.

Yuji Itadori looked at the nurse and forced a smile. "Grandpa would get mad if I kept moping around. I'll smile when I have him cremated!"

"What a way to put it!" the nurse chided.

As though he suddenly sensed someone behind him, Yuji Itadori turned around and found Megumi Fushiguro standing there.

At some point, Megumi Fushiguro had changed into his Jujutsu High uniform. His expression was cold as he said, "I'm Megumi Fushiguro from Jujutsu High. I need to talk to you."

The two walked together to an empty lobby in the hospital.

"I'm in mourning, you know!"

Yuji Itadori looked at the stranger before him, confusion written all over his face.

"I'm sorry, but the cursed object you have is dangerous." Megumi Fushiguro sighed. He wasn't even sure whether the thing really was dangerous. With his teacher and that other guy holding the line, whether the King of Curses could cause any trouble remained to be seen.

As he spoke, Megumi Fushiguro took out his phone and showed Yuji Itadori a picture. It was unmistakably a finger wrapped in bandages.

Recognition suddenly dawned on Yuji Itadori as he looked at the picture. "Yeah, that's it! I think that's the thing I picked up!"

Yuji Itadori leaned back against the sofa and gave Megumi Fushiguro a puzzled look. "How could something like that be dangerous?"

Megumi Fushiguro didn't lose his patience. He simply explained, "In this country, unexplained deaths and disappearances average more than ten thousand a year..."

"Most of them are caused by [curses]."

"Curses?"

"Whether you believe it or not, that's reality." Megumi Fushiguro's expression grew grave. "Schools and hospitals are especially prone to accumulating resentment. Negative human emotions are the source of curses, so many schools keep cursed objects to [ward off evil]. The one you found is one of them."

"If it wards off evil, shouldn't that be a good thing?" Yuji Itadori raised his hand to ask.

"Let me finish." Megumi Fushiguro's face darkened as he continued, "Keeping an evil cursed object around stops other cursed spirits from approaching. It's fighting poison with poison, but we have to reinforce the seal."

"And the cursed object you found is classified as [special grade]. Hand it over now, before anyone gets killed."

"But my upperclassmen have it." Yuji Itadori stood up and tossed him a box. "They're planning to take the talisman paper off tonight."

"..."

Megumi Fushiguro stared blankly at the empty box in his hands and staggered back a few steps.

Then he looked at Yuji Itadori. "They... are going to die!"

Elsewhere, two people were walking down the road.

A white-haired man, 190 centimeters tall and wearing a blindfold, carried a bag in one hand. "Seriously, Ze? You're saying the King of Curses is going to show up tonight?"

The man beside him, whose black hair stood in spikes, answered coolly, "If I remember right, it should be somewhere around here. Megumi called me this morning. The finger's already gone missing."

The two were Satoru Gojo and Ze Zenin. Aside from their height, time had left no trace on either of their faces. Ze Zenin still had... that same face. (Kano)

"That sea-urchin-haired kid who just enrolled this year..." Thinking of Megumi Fushiguro reminded Satoru Gojo of Toji. "Every time I see his face, I remember that guy!"

"Oh, give it a rest." Ze Zenin kept his hands in his pockets. "Would you have learned Reverse Cursed Technique without him?"

"Ze-chan, you're not cute at all anymore. Boo-hoo..." Satoru Gojo put on a tearful face. "You were so adorable when you were little!"

"Keep acting like an annoying little shit, and I'll get Geto to beat you up with me when we get back. Try me." Ze Zenin shot Satoru Gojo a glare. "It's been what, more than ten years since we last beat you up?"

"Hey, talking like that hurts our friendship!" Satoru Gojo hurriedly laughed it off, remembering the terror of being at their mercy back in his school days. "Let my adorable little Yuta fight your Megumi Fushiguro instead. We're almost thirty. Let's leave all the fighting behind..."

Ze Zenin: "..."

Ze Zenin had realized that Satoru Gojo was growing more shameless by the day. He'd been so aloof as a kid. What had he taken to turn himself into such a clown?

"Come on... we're almost there." Ze Zenin looked toward a rooftop in the distance and formed a hand sign. "Nue!"

"Get on, Gojo. Forget that damn teleportation of yours."

"Does Ze want to fly alone with me? How romantic~"

Ze Zenin: "..."

Ze Zenin swore he genuinely wanted to kill Satoru Gojo right then.

Sensing the murderous intent in the air, Satoru Gojo hurriedly climbed onto Nue's back, and the two took flight.

Looking down at the bustling night market below, Ze Zenin narrowed his eyes.

King of Curses... you're finally coming.

Megumi Fushiguro currently thought this was complete bullshit.

What should have been a simple job of finding a cursed object and reinforcing its seal had somehow turned into exorcising cursed spirits!

He looked at the cursed spirit before him, its body densely covered in eyes, and felt sick. Forming a hand sign, he called, "Chimera-Radiant Beast!"

His cursed energy surged, signaling that he was beginning to use his technique.

A shikigami with a masked face, wolf claws, orange wings, and a snake's lower body emerged from Fushiguro's shadow, then swiftly slithered toward the cursed spirit.

The cursed spirit thrust out its tentacles, but Radiant Beast easily twisted out of their way. It seized the spirit with both hands and tore it in half. Fushiguro then looked at the unconscious Setsuko Sasaki beside him and sighed inwardly in resignation.

"What a mess..."

Outside, Yuji Itadori gripped the railing in front of him with both hands and murmured, "Help others whenever you can..."

"[Don't end up like me...] Grandpa, should I really back down now?"

Determination filled Yuji Itadori's eyes. He vaulted over the wall and ran into the school, his grandfather's dying words echoing through his mind.

"I understand now..." Yuji Itadori smashed through a window and entered the hallway where Megumi Fushiguro was. Just then, he saw a massive cursed spirit fling someone through the wall, blood spilling from his mouth.

"Sea urchin!"

Yuji Itadori watched in confusion as a snake-like monster dissolved into shadow. Then, without a second thought, he rushed onto the rooftop outside and began dodging around the crawling cursed spirit.

"Hey, Itadori, don't you get it? You should be taking those civilians and running!" With blood on his face, Megumi Fushiguro struggled to form another hand sign. "Max Elephant!"

An elephant emerged from Megumi Fushiguro's shadow, then unleashed a torrent of water from its trunk toward the cursed spirit.

"Damn it, that used too much cursed energy!" Megumi Fushiguro's hands trembled as he tried to form the hand sign for the Toad shikigami to pull Itadori over, but his hands were clearly fractured.

Under the deluge, the cursed spirit began to tilt off balance. At that moment, the withered finger slipped from Itadori's tightly clenched hand.

"The finger!" Seeing it fall, Megumi Fushiguro immediately broke into a run, trying to reach it before the cursed spirit.

As though it possessed intelligence, the cursed spirit moved with incredible speed and snatched the finger before Megumi Fushiguro could reach it. It flicked its tail, sending him flying, then grabbed Yuji Itadori and forced the finger into his mouth.

It's over... Megumi Fushiguro lay on the ground, puzzled by the cursed spirit's actions. Why didn't it eat the finger itself? Why feed it to Itadori...?

A figure in the distance watched the finger being forced down Yuji Itadori's throat and gave a faint smile.

"It looks like planting this cursed spirit as a pawn ahead of time and using that guy's cursed technique to conceal its cursed energy residue was the right decision."

The figure murmured, "Temporarily sealing that person's memories just for this moment wasn't a wasted effort, either."

"They're here..."

As though sensing something, the figure hurriedly left.

"Heh heh heh..."

A sinister surge of cursed energy erupted from Yuji Itadori's body, and the cursed spirit before him was instantly sliced into chunks of flesh.

"After a thousand years..."