Your name is...

With the strength of a standard Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, a Domain Expansion that swept away weaker enemies, and decent combat skills, Xia Xia had enjoyed a smooth journey so far.

Though he had no idea why, cursed spirits seemed to spawn absolutely everywhere in this shithole.

They were as plentiful as stray dogs on the roadside.

Jujutsu Society had its very own Pokémon.

Strength aside, the sight of all these monsters running rampant was a genuine panorama of hell. If his initial spawn point had been here, he probably would have been devoured down to the bones in an instant.

Not that spawning beside an utterly deranged rogue jujutsu sorcerer had been much better.

Time to find somewhere safe to rest.

At dusk, he watched a pitch-black thing, tall and thin as a utility pole and resembling a stick insect, walk into a gathering place for survivors. Screams and wails of utter despair rose from within.

In the end, something with wings flew out of the nearby Old School Building, clutching red chunks of meat that looked suspiciously like human remains. As far as Xia Xia could sense, there wasn't a single living soul left in that settlement.

Apparently, jujutsu sorcerers in the Culling Game not only had to guard against other sorcerers killing them for points; wild cursed spirits were another major obstacle to survival.

The greater the suffering, the more negative emotions there were, and the more negative emotions there were, the easier it was for cursed spirits to be born... a vicious cycle.

Nevertheless, Xia Xia slept soundly that night.

He used Domain Expansion, precisely shrinking its range to a single room, then flopped down and went straight to sleep. Whether people or cursed spirits barged in, they could all stay rooted to the spot as punishment and become sword-forging materials once he woke up.

The sounds around him were a cacophony, but to his ears, this hellish world was as sweet as a symphony.

Morning.

After a full night's sleep, Xia Xia got out of the large bed in his room at the Five-Star Hotel. He ignored the few maggots still struggling inside his domain-they were actually cursed spirits, but these sanity-draining things made him uncomfortable if he went a day without looking at them, and uncomfortable all day if he did. He might as well melt them down. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Sword Guard."

A few reasonably decent-looking blades lay quietly on the floor, keeping Xia Xia company in another form.

"Shame there's no internet here, and I didn't bring my phone. Otherwise, this would basically be a vacation."

He climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up, ready to greet a new day.

A good night's sleep in the soft bed had greatly soothed Xia Xia's strained nerves. He felt much better, and the thoughts that had become somewhat warped by the torment of repeated deaths were gradually returning to normal.

The world inside the Culling Game was certainly hell, but as long as he was strong enough to deal with the cursed spirits spawning everywhere, it was an apocalyptic paradise of free shopping.

Whatever he wanted, he could simply take.

The deserted city had plenty of supplies for the taking, and kicking open a hotel room door gave him somewhere to rest. What was there to complain about?

There was something.

Smiling, Xia Xia strangled a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit that had crawled out of the mirror.

You little shit, showing off like that. You even made a mirror maze for me. I was wondering why my reflection's expression looked wrong. Turns out you were playing along.

Pretty cautious, too. You didn't come into the bedroom to get slaughtered. You waited all night to ambush me here. If I hadn't gotten somewhere by now, you really might have caught me out...

Even so, Xia Xia turned to look at the clean, spacious bed in the room. The surroundings here were still pretty nice.

[Spawn point set.]

Who would have thought the spawn point recognized by the simulator really was a bed, in the literal, physical sense? When he arrived here last night, a pop-up he couldn't close had suddenly appeared before his eyes. He'd thought he was seeing things.

Even more absurdly...

[You cannot sleep yet because monsters are wandering nearby.]

[Your room lacks background walls. Monsters will be able to spawn inside your room.]

He was so angry he laughed.

"Domain Expansion!"

Anything that disturbed his sleep, human or cursed spirit, had to die. If they wanted to blame something, they could blame his commitment to going to bed early and getting up early.

That was how he'd managed a peaceful night's sleep.

As he walked out through the hotel's stairwell, Xia Xia sensed something on the ceiling.

He should have regretted looking up.

The thing was still holding a half-eaten half of...

A spider? A house centipede? A centipede?

It was a combination of all three, bristling with menace. Its cursed energy far surpassed that snake-fish and the monsters on the roadside.

A Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.

Oh, the king of the hotel is here.

His blade rose and fell, killing it in one slash. Under normal circumstances, a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit couldn't hold out against a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer anyway. His own Grade 1 status might have been a bit inflated, but cutting down trash like this took only a few seconds.

Hajime Kashimo had been very useful, and the sword forged from him was useful too-even more useful. This arthropod ought to have felt honored to die by a Special Grade Cursed Tool.

Also, now he knew where the receptionist from the lobby had gone. He'd thought the smell of blood last night had been very close. Originally, he'd assumed something had happened next door, but it turned out to have been here.

No wonder hotels feature in so many horror movies. These tangled building layouts are perfect for hiding filthy things.

Naturally, he couldn't waste the cursed spirit's remaining body, either.

One, two, three, transform.

One finely crafted nail clipper, baby!

He hadn't trimmed the hangnails on his fingers yet. He could use this fine blade forged from a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit to tidy them up.

What effect did it have?

Never mind that. This cursed spirit was the brute-force type, with no intelligence or special cursed technique. Turning it into a nail clipper was hardly an insult.

Wait, there was movement downstairs.

Xia Xia poked his head out of the stairwell and caught a fleeting glimpse of someone in a flashy hoodie, his face hidden from view. As the person walked down the street, he disturbed a relatively weak cursed spirit in an alley, and a fight broke out.

A taller fellow was beside him, without a hood on. Something about his aura was off.

It felt very familiar.

"Hey, need a hand?"

Xia Xia called down from above, then jumped down of his own accord and landed in front of the two.

"Leaving aside who you are and where you came from, isn't bungee jumping from that high up dangerous?"

Beneath the hood, the young man's voice sounded startled.

"No big deal. Who hasn't jumped off a building before?"

Casually refining the cursed spirits behind him into metal ingots, Xia Xia turned to greet them.

It wasn't his fault for meddling. There was a Grade 1 among those cursed spirits, too. If it demolished his hotel, where would he sleep tonight? He was just keeping his own doorstep clear. Nothing more to say about it.

"You seem like a pretty nice person."

The boy beneath the hood seemed to think highly of his intervention and lowered his guard a little.

"Yuji, don't always act like that with strangers. Be a little more cautious, would you?"

His companion remained wary, studying this strange character who had suddenly popped out of nowhere.

Just then, the hooded boy's stomach growled with hunger, leaving him feeling a little embarrassed.

Xia Xia handed him an unopened bag of bread.

"Ah, sorry. You look hungry, and I happen to have a bag of bread here. Help yourself."

The hooded boy accepted it, checked that nothing was wrong, opened it, and gave his companion a slice.

"Oh, right. My name's Xia Xia. I live right here. Everyone calls me Bro Xia, but you can call me Xia, too."

"Hi, Bro Xia."

"Hey, hello. My place is pretty big. You're welcome to come over and have some fun. If you get tired, you can just go straight to sleep. No problem."

The hooded boy looked at his companion.

"Big brother, what do you think?"

"I think it's kind of weird. Let's not."

"Yeah, it does seem pretty weird. Let's not?"

Xia Xia wasn't annoyed. He continued:

"I often help out runaways. It's fine if you don't want to come. But if you do, I can take you downstairs for some free shopping at the convenience store."

Hearing that, the hooded boy quietly discussed it with his companion as they shared the bread.

"There's food to eat. Should we go?"

"All right, we'll just drop by."

"Let's just drop by, then."

"Then... Bro Xia, my friend and I will stay at your place today."

At that moment, the young Yuji Itadori still had no idea what he was about to face. Driven by hunger and the lure of food, he made a decision he would regret for the rest of his life.

"Sure, no problem. Come on, let's go grab something to eat at the convenience store first."

Xia Xia led them to the open supermarket beside the hotel and let them choose whatever they wanted.

"There's instant noodles, little cream puffs, tons of drinks-and booze!"

"Take whatever you want! It's all fair game!"

"Thanks, Bro Xia!"

"Come on, drink some more! More! Ah!"

"Look at Choso. What a lightweight! He's drunk after just a few cans."

"Such a lightweight."

"Big brother Choso really is a lightweight."

"The way you talk, you must be pretty bold!"

"Are you kidding? I'm super bold, okay? I'm a super drinker!"

"A super drinker, huh? Pretty bold... Nice build. You're pretty solid..."

"Bro Xia, what are you doing?!"

"How old are you? Still so shy. You clearly don't get it."

"Get... get what?"

"If you want to find out, I've got some good stuff in my room."

"Good stuff? A new game?"

"What new game? It's even more exciting than games. I can teach you how to become a real man, too."

"Become a real man?"

"That's right. Come take a look. You'll understand once you see!"

"Hey, Bro Xia, don't pull me. My drink..."

"Bring it. Come on, come on..."

The two entered Xia Xia's bedroom, and then...

[Domain Expansion • Death-Bound Curse]

"Bro Xia, what's this?"

"Oh, you're blushing. Come on, let me see."

"No, Bro Xia, don't! Bro Xia, what are you doing?!"

"Let me see if you're developing normally, huh??? Let me see!"

"Bro Xia, don't!"

Xia Xia tactically removed his glasses and set them on the bedside table.

"Be good and let me see!!!"

"No!"

"Let me see!" (Elbow strike!)

"Bro Xia, don't! Bro Xia, no! Bro Xia~ Bro Xia, don't! Bro Xia!"

Morning.

"This is a secret between the two of us. You'd better not tell anyone."

"If you tell anyone, you'd better watch yourself. I know where your school is, and I know which class you're in. You'd better remember that. Understand?"