You are [human]

One of Itadori's feet was caught in a grip, and a searing pain shot through the back of his head after it made intimate contact with the ground.

The pink-haired boy clutched his head and howled in pain on the ground, but Megumi Fushiguro's heart leaped into his throat...

"Wait, Mr. Kamo, he's just an ordinary student..."

"Shh..."

Kamo Xu held up Sukuna's Finger, using it instead of his own finger to make a shushing gesture. The moonlight missed his face, leaving half his body shrouded in shadow instead.

All Megumi Fushiguro could make out was an eye patch.

"There are three questions."

Kamo Xu lowered his head and slowly addressed Yuji Itadori. "First: would you stake your life on protecting someone important to you?"

Huh?

Itadori clutched his head, the pain leaving him dizzy. For a moment, Kamo Xu's question failed to register.

You idiot, answer him! You're going to die!

Megumi Fushiguro was frantic. He could already feel Kamo Xu's cursed energy surging again. There was no doubt about it-the man intended to kill.

So he really does see Yuji Itadori as an enemy!

"Isn't that obvious? Of course you have to give it everything you've got to protect someone important to you."

Itadori rubbed the back of his head and spoke casually from the ground. Aside from his bizarre position, they could have been having an ordinary heart-to-heart.

"Hey, could you let go of me first? This position's really uncomfortable..."

Kamo Xu ignored him, leaning partly out of the shadows to reveal his dark eye, its gaze appraising.

"Second: do you harbor any ill will toward cursed spirits?"

"Cursed spirits? What are those? Never seen one."

Yuji Itadori looked at Kamo Xu in confusion, his eyes carrying a hint of clear, innocent stupidity.

Has he still not looked around him?

Still gripping Itadori's foot, Kamo Xu twisted it, his enormous strength forcing the boy's body through half a turn.

Itadori went from lying on his back to half sprawling on his side. Bracing both hands against the ground, he propped up his torso and complained to Kamo Xu, "What are you doing? The ground's filthy! Dust stains are hard to wash out..."

He abruptly fell silent. Before him lay a head, crushed by something and dropped to the ground. Its two mouths, one above the other, opened and closed, while its grotesquely wide eyes shed bloody tears.

"Whoa! That's disgusting! What the hell is that thing?"

A cursed spirit... one of the low-level cursed spirits Kamo Xu had just killed in an instant. It seemed to have survived.

"Third..."

Kamo Xu ignored Yuji Itadori's surprise. Having received his answer that cursed spirits were "disgusting," he released his grip. Itadori's foot was freed on the spot, and the boy immediately rolled to his feet and retreated to Megumi Fushiguro's side.

At the same time, Kamo Xu's final question emerged.

[Do you bear a curse?]

This question was simple. All he needed to do was say he had no curse.

Megumi Fushiguro finally breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like Yuji Itadori had escaped disaster and would not have to face a brutal death at Kamo Xu's hands.

But things refused to go his way...

"A curse? Yeah, I do."

Megumi Fushiguro: !???

Where would a student like you get a curse?

You're an ordinary person, and you've been cursed!?

"You have a curse?"

Kamo Xu tilted his head and asked Yuji Itadori again to confirm. His voice was calm, without a ripple of emotion, but the heart Megumi Fushiguro had only just settled was thrown into turmoil again!

This idiot!

"Mr. Kamo, he doesn't have a curse. It's probably just something his classmates joked about at school..."

Whoosh!

A crimson streak of blood flashed past Megumi Fushiguro's ear as he tried to explain on Itadori's behalf. The whistle of air sounded like the Grim Reaper flicking the edge of his blade.

An itch spread over his ear. Before he could process what had happened, Megumi Fushiguro instinctively reached up...

And pulled away a small tuft of hair...

"Keep silent. Do it again, and you die."

His attacker did not look at him, keeping his gaze fixed on Itadori's clear eyes.

Yet at some point, he had raised a finger and aimed it at Fushiguro. That was where the attack had come from. A drop of blood was forming on his fingertip, spreading into a thin layer around it.

Piercing Blood. Piercing Blood without any warning whatsoever.

Its initial velocity was terrifyingly fast. As he was now, he had no way to counter it...

A bead of cold sweat ran down Megumi Fushiguro's face. He clenched his teeth and kept his mouth firmly shut. In the end, all he could do was give Yuji Itadori a conflicted look.

"You're really annoying, you know. I didn't say anything wrong. Before my grandpa died, he told me I was strong and should help other people. He also told me to die surrounded by others."

The moment those words left his mouth, even Megumi Fushiguro could sense the faint, flame-like cursed energy inside Yuji Itadori flicker. It was the natural reaction to a curse being spoken aloud.

He really does have a [curse]!

Megumi Fushiguro closed his eyes, unable to bear watching any longer, and quietly clenched the fists hanging at his sides.

If... we're both going to die today, then I'll try to take this lunatic down with us!

I'll blow us all up! Fuck it, I'm taking you with me!

I'm sorry, Yuji Itadori... but that thing will avenge us.

"I see..." A smile appeared on Kamo Xu's face as he listened to Yuji Itadori. "Maybe we'll become friends."

The moonlight finally pierced the oppressive clouds, casting its radiance over the three of them. It also illuminated the cursed spirits' blood covering the ground, which reflected an eerie, dazzling light.

Like the last glow of sunset at midnight, Kamo Xu stood before the two of them. He asked no further questions, removing his eye patch to reveal his crimson Cursed Eye.

"You... are [human]."

The oppressive, complex cursed energy abruptly withdrew. It felt unreal, as though they had been at the bottom of the sea one second and back beneath the sun the next.

The sudden lightness made Megumi Fushiguro gasp instinctively, but his heavy breathing still brought no answers to his confusion.

He did not understand why Kamo Xu had suddenly withdrawn his cursed energy. According to Satoru Gojo, the instant he learned Itadori bore a curse, he should have killed him on the spot...

Recalling the attack that had just grazed his ear, Megumi Fushiguro was certain he could do it!

A single instant was all he needed to kill them both while they were defenseless!

That sudden attack had no windup whatsoever. There was no predicting it; they could only react on instinct.

But how could instinct alone possibly keep them alive against him?

Now that the man had withdrawn his killing intent, Megumi Fushiguro understood even less of what this lunatic was trying to do.

At the same time, Satoru Gojo's words kept running through his mind. Curses, hostility, nonsense...

Damn it, why is all of it useless...?

I don't know a thing about him!

Wait, [saying one thing and meaning another]?

Megumi Fushiguro suddenly recalled Satoru Gojo's words. Kamo Xu was someone who said one thing and meant another. Whenever he lied, he would stare into the other person's eyes...

But he wasn't looking at me just now!

With that realization, his hands naturally unclenched...

Certain that Kamo Xu would not turn against them, he abandoned the idea of blowing himself up as well.

Unlike Megumi Fushiguro, whose mind had been racing, the straightforward, simple-minded Yuji Itadori could not make sense of it. The man had been vicious a second ago, and now, for no apparent reason, he was smiling and no longer wanted to fight.

He lightly nudged Fushiguro in the side with his elbow and asked, "Is this old guy nuts or something?"

"Just shut up already. You nearly got me killed back there..."

"Huh? Me?" Yuji Itadori pointed at himself in disbelief. When had he ever tried to get Megumi Fushiguro killed?