End

The days passed, one after another.

Xia Xia learned more and more about his mother and Kenjaku, piecing together stories and insane plans in his mind.

From the lost young lady of a thousand years ago and Tengen, to making a pact with Sukuna and one ancient jujutsu sorcerer after another, promising to stage an unprecedented feast of madness in the future-to bring those who did not want to die and those who still wanted to fight into the next era, to bridge humans and cursed spirits, to unite jujutsu sorcerers and ordinary people, to create a world-destroying cursed spirit unlike any other, and to unleash cursed energy upon this world.

Truth and falsehood, deception and concealment, loyalty and betrayal-all were woven in Kenjaku's hands into a blueprint for hell. Once he completed the final stage, no one would be able to stop him.

On December 7, 1989, Satoru Gojo, the new bearer of the Six Eyes and Limitless, was born.

On February 3, 1990, Suguru Geto, the bearer of the special cursed technique Cursed Spirit Manipulation, was born.

On March 20, 2003, Sukuna's vessel, Yuji Itadori, and his twin, Itadori Xia Xia, were born.

In 2006, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto escorted the Star Plasma Vessel, Riko Amanai. Following Toji Fushiguro's assassination attempt, Riko Amanai died, Satoru Gojo returned from the brink of death, and Suguru Geto suffered a mental breakdown. Suguru Geto called this period the Midsummer of Sorrow.

Unable to merge with the Star Plasma Vessel, Tengen underwent changes in his cursed technique, and his body gradually began an irreversible transformation into a cursed spirit. From then on, he possessed the ability to assimilate everyone-every human individual, including both jujutsu sorcerers and ordinary people.

In August 2007, Satoru Gojo, a student at Jujutsu High, fully mastered healing himself through Reverse Cursed Technique, allowing him to keep Limitless active indefinitely. From then on, he became the truly "strongest" jujutsu sorcerer of this era.

In 2007, Suguru Geto massacred 112 villagers, defected from Jujutsu High, and became a curse user. Afterward, he seized control of the Time Vessel Association and became known as "the most evil curse user," intent on eliminating all non-sorcerers and creating a world inhabited only by jujutsu sorcerers.

With that, all of Kenjaku's preparations were complete.

Once Suguru Geto died, Kenjaku could take over his corpse and obtain Cursed Spirit Manipulation. There would no longer be any way to stop him.

Xia Xia had already obtained this information through contact with his mother. Once he connected the pieces, he understood every preparation for the plan.

It was now 2012.

Xia Xia was nine years old.

There was still a year before Kenjaku planned to leave, but Xia Xia no longer had the patience or willpower to wait. He had reached the limit of what he could endure.

Pressure, dreams-none of that mattered. He was on the verge of driving himself insane. In the three years since his cursed technique had awakened, he had accumulated considerable power, and the fractures in his psyche had reached their limit.

There was almost no time left, was there?

If he assumed the worst and everything continued as before, perhaps it was already too late, even if he did something now.

To be honest, that translucent carving knife was only half-filled with "knowledge." Kenjaku's life had been too long. Even though Xia Xia had clung to his mother for the past three years, the knowledge and information he had obtained through his cursed technique were still far from enough.

Releasing his cursed technique in this incomplete state would never be enough to kill Kenjaku. On top of that, Xia Xia seriously doubted whether he could steel himself to make that decision when the moment came-to kill Kenjaku with his own hands, to kill Kaori Itadori with his own hands, to kill his own birth mother with his own hands.

Could he do it?

He couldn't, really, could he?

Anxiety.

Confusion.

Pain.

In the end, he was only an ordinary person.

A child who had yet to grow up.

2012 was a very special year.

Because of the Maya prophecy and various other things, many people believed this might be the year the world ended.

The apocalypse might come on December 21, 2012. That date was special.

The Maya divided time into great cycles of 5,125 years, and December 21, 2012, marked the end of one such cycle. Whether the future held destruction or rebirth, no one knew.

Some wrote their wills in fear. Some babbled prophecies of the apocalypse. Some hoarded goods and proclaimed that they would build the Noah's Ark of this era. Others chose to end their lives early. Of course, far more people simply continued their numb, hollow lives without taking a stance.

Whatever happened on December 21, work would continue, school would continue, and life would continue-who had time to worry about any of that nonsense? Had inflation been fixed? Had the bubble economy been resolved? The mess left behind by the Showa era still hadn't been cleaned up. Did people have nothing better to do?

Today was March 5, fifteen days before Xia Xia and Yuji's ninth birthday. Their mother had already asked them well in advance what they wanted as birthday presents.

Yuji said he wanted the newest Rider toy. He seemed very interested in tokusatsu shows lately. Boys could never resist technology and tales of heroes.

Xia Xia had yet to give an answer.

His usual gentle smile remained, but a faint shadow seemed to linger between his brows. He showed little interest in all sorts of things, as though melancholy and confusion had eroded the innocence a child ought to have.

"What's wrong, little Xia Xia? Are you having trouble with your schoolwork?"

His father asked him curiously.

He wasn't. Although Xia Xia's grades weren't outstanding, he still ranked near the top of his class. In any case, he did far better than Yuji. Always fond of reading and thinking, he hardly seemed like someone who would worry about schoolwork.

"Then are you being bullied at school?"

His mother was a little worried too.

School bullying in Japan had already become part of its social culture. This harmful practice seriously endangered young people's mental health. At school, children being ostracized and bullied for all sorts of reasons was an all-too-common occurrence.

Someone like Xia Xia, who disliked socializing, would be highly likely to face further pressure from social isolation if he also lacked the ability to "read the room."

Unfortunately, Xia Xia, like Yuji, was good at solving problems with violence-the two brothers truly lived up to being twins, each exceptionally gifted at fighting. They were natural-born rulers of the schoolyard. Not bullying others already showed considerable morals and decency on their part. Who could possibly bully them?

Besides, how old were they? They weren't even in middle school yet. How much complicated social maneuvering could there be at their school? Children their age barely understood anything. Their bullying probably amounted to saying, "We won't play with you anymore," or pulling a few pranks.

Then what was Xia Xia worrying about?

No one knew.

Perhaps through the bond between twins, Yuji also sensed the unease surrounding his older brother. He vaguely perceived that, though his brother remained gentle, his whole being was like a tank filled with gas, liable to break down at any moment.

There was little he could do. He could just about manage to act like a clingy little brother, begging his brother to spend more time with him, or take his brother outside more often, if only to clear his head.

He wanted to help Xia Xia, but not knowing how left him at a loss. So he simply made himself into a child who needed looking after, fully exercising his right to be childish.

"Maybe he's thinking about what birthday present he wants, or maybe he's thinking about the upcoming tests?"

The boy discovered that his brother no longer kept a diary. In its place were heaps of writing he couldn't understand at all. His brother said they were Chinese characters, along with writing from the old Heian period, used to decipher some very ancient texts.

He didn't know what any of that was.

But Yuji could faintly see a kind of light he didn't understand winding around his brother, drifting slowly like fireflies before merging into his body.

When his brother approached their mother, he would also take a small portion of the particles of light on her body. Whenever this happened, his expression would relax a little.

"Why do you like reading so much?"

Yuji finally asked the question.

"I don't know either. Maybe it's simply because I like those stories. Whenever I read, I can use those stories to understand the author's life."

"Most of it is actually useless trivia. But just watching from a distance makes me feel as though I've lived a whole lifetime too."

Xia Xia's answer was vague, and Yuji couldn't understand it at all. He only knew that his brother understood far more than he did, ranked above him on every exam, and that if he copied his brother's homework answers, he wouldn't have to make any corrections.

He might as well forget those boring stories in their language textbooks. Probably only someone as amazing as his brother could get through them. Yuji felt restless after just a few glances. Reciting passages and writing vocabulary from memory were trials straight out of hell. He couldn't make sense of them at all.

"Do you know about the end of the world?"

Yuji pointed at the newspaper their father had brought home that day. A sensational headline was printed on it.

"The end of the world?"

"If something like that has to happen, then it's probably completely beyond human power to stop."

Xia Xia offered a very objective opinion, but an inexplicable trace of sadness had crept into his words.

"Then what would you want to do on the day the world ended?"

Seemingly affected by the oppressive emotions emanating from Xia Xia, Yuji asked him timidly.

"If I really had to face that day..."

"I'd probably try every possible way to keep you alive, Yuji. Noah's Ark, a spaceship-I would never give up before trying everything."

Xia Xia's voice was as calm and gentle as ever, but those seemingly childish words carried a deeper meaning, a weight that could not be expressed in words.

At any cost.

He repeated it silently to himself.

Because, little Yuji...

You might not know this, but in this world, I'm destined to have nothing except you.

Before the apocalypse that is destined to come, I have nothing.

My life has already been ruined. As the price of reaching a better future, I've sacrificed every bit of happiness I had. All I want is for you, my little brother, to never end up like me.

"Yuji, you have to live."

Please step over my corpse, pass beyond the end of the world, and walk toward tomorrow, toward the new life that belongs to you.