Culling Game

"Since I got hurt..."

Kaneki slowly sat up and looked at everyone. "How much time has passed?"

"Almost an hour, I think..."

Shoko answered with a cigarette between her lips.

"I see..."

As he spoke, Kaneki looked at Arata Nitta and thanked him sincerely. "Thank you..."

Thanks to Arata Nitta using his cursed technique to keep him hanging on to life, he hadn't died.

A Half-Baked Jujutsu Sorcerer like him.

Had only gotten enough time to learn Reverse Cursed Technique because of that.

"I didn't really do much." Arata Nitta scratched his head.

"Without you..."

"I wouldn't have had a chance to figure out Reverse Cursed Technique."

As he spoke, Kaneki instinctively reached for a business card, only to touch his firm eight-pack abs.

His clothes.

Had been cut off so his injured torso could be bandaged.

Fortunately.

His phone was still in his pocket. He exchanged numbers with Arata Nitta and told him to get in touch if he ever needed anything.

After that.

Not seeing Yuki Tsukumo around, Kaneki asked, "Did Yuki Tsukumo leave?"

"She went to where Itadori was."

Yaga spoke up.

Kaneki immediately understood what they had gone to do. "Could you ask her to come over? I need to talk to her."

He added one more thing.

If she had already found Itadori and the others, they should all come back together. If not, she could come back alone.

Before long.

The whole group returned.

Itadori ran at the front and was also the fastest of them.

Kaneki hurriedly raised a hand to stop him, not daring to let Itadori get close.

After all.

Sukuna was inside him.

If Sukuna took over his body, an already difficult situation would become even harder to handle.

Itadori didn't mind at all.

Instead.

He cried tears of joy.

There were still traces of grease at the corners of his mouth from the tonkatsu rice bowl he had eaten.

Kaneki exchanged a few words with him.

He handed him a tissue to wipe his mouth, then looked at Yuki Tsukumo, who stood at the front of the group.

"Kaneki."

"What kind of woman do you like?"

"Me?"

After thinking briefly, Kaneki said, "As for me... I like girls with a more assertive personality."

"Oh, right."

"Have you found Takaba?"

Kento Nanami said, "We've already sent people to look for him."

At that.

Kaneki nodded, understanding that they still wanted to try to protect Fumihiko Takaba.

That man.

Could still play a significant role at a crucial moment.

He also knew...

They had already read what he had left behind.

Kaneki looked at Yuki Tsukumo. "Let's talk..."

Yuki Tsukumo nodded in agreement.

The two left the pedestrian bridge side by side.

With Kaneki leading the way, they arrived at Bunkamura Street and found somewhere to sit.

Along the way.

He had also found a shirt in a nearby building and put it on.

"What are we doing here?"

Yuki Tsukumo asked.

"Retrieving something." As he spoke, Kaneki formed a hand sign that resembled a dog's head.

Two Divine Dogs, one black and one white, emerged from the shadows and immediately rushed into a nearby building.

Watching the two dogs leave.

Kaneki asked, "If you allow people to freely enter and leave the domain, can you deploy an Open-Barriers Domain?"

"No."

Yuki Tsukumo shook her head. "Even knowing that binding vow condition, I still can't deploy an Open-Barriers Domain."

"So..."

Kaneki said gravely, "At its core, you still need to be able to paint without a canvas."

"Exactly!"

Hearing that description, Yuki Tsukumo's eyes brightened.

The core of an Open-Barriers Domain lay in painting without a canvas.

Or, to put it another way...

Holding water without a container.

The binding vow allowing people to freely enter and leave the domain could grant a larger sure-hit range.

But it wasn't the foundation of an Open-Barriers Domain.

"Then..." Kaneki asked, "What about reversing the conditions inside and outside the domain?"

As they spoke.

The two Divine Dogs returned.

The white Divine Dog carried a book in its mouth.

Yuki Tsukumo recognized at a glance that it was the same book as the "Jujutsu Kaisen" she had read.

She also understood that Ken Kaneki had prepared a backup.

Then.

The two Divine Dogs sank into the shadows along with the book.

"It's theoretically possible," Yuki Tsukumo said. "But I'd need a few more attempts before I could do it."

She wasn't like Satoru Gojo.

Her control over cursed energy wasn't that precise.

She would need more practice to accomplish it.

"Then keep practicing..." Kaneki said. "We don't have much time left."

"If nothing major changes, the decisive battle will begin on December 24."

"All right."

Yuki Tsukumo nodded.

Understanding how serious the situation was, she decided to devote more effort to mastering this skill.

"By the way."

Yuki Tsukumo asked, "What's the Culling Game?"

The book had mentioned the [Culling Game] many times, but never explained what it was for.

At that.

Kaneki looked shocked. "Kenjaku didn't tell you?"

"No."

Yuki Tsukumo replied.

"Then did he remotely activate Idle Transfiguration in front of you?"

Then...

Kaneki asked several more questions in succession.

He confirmed that Kenjaku hadn't revealed any information about the Culling Game.

And...

He still hadn't activated Idle Transfiguration remotely.

Kaneki's expression gradually grew grave.

He wasn't afraid of an opponent who showed his hand. What scared him most was an underhanded bastard like that secretly pulling tricks behind the scenes.

He also guessed that Fumihiko Takaba probably wouldn't escape unscathed.

Then.

He explained the Culling Game to Yuki Tsukumo.

Put simply.

The Culling Game was a reality-show death game.

It forced humans to participate and kill one another, with the goal of merging all of humanity with Tengen.

In theory...

Kenjaku's plan had plenty of flaws.

Even though he had spent a thousand years planning it, a single deviation could cause the whole thing to fail, preventing him from completing the Culling Game.

Yet, unexpectedly.

Fate had favored him immensely.

He had actually succeeded in starting the Culling Game.

This philosophy was completely different from Yuki Tsukumo's. In fact, it could be called its exact opposite.

Yuki Tsukumo wanted to eliminate cursed energy and create a peaceful world without cursed spirits.

Meanwhile...

Kenjaku wanted to optimize cursed energy, creating a chaotic new species through assimilation with Tengen.

So.

Yuki Tsukumo was furious after hearing the explanation.

Kaneki, on the other hand, remained calm.

He thought differently from the others.

Having dreamed of becoming a jujutsu sorcerer, he would rather cursed energy continued to exist.

At that moment.

Both of them realized that Kenjaku remaining in hiding put them at an even greater disadvantage.

Most likely.

They wouldn't be able to save Fumihiko Takaba!

"Could you give me an arm?"

Kaneki asked gravely.

Seeing her confusion, Kaneki added, "My innate cursed technique lets me acquire a sorcerer's cursed technique by eating one of their limbs."

Yuki Tsukumo turned to look at him. "You want my cursed technique?"

"Yes."

Kaneki admitted it outright. "You've read the information about the future, too. Things aren't looking good for us."

"I need power."

Whether Satoru Gojo got out or not, their situation was far from promising.

Kenjaku was lurking in the shadows.

And Sukuna could switch bodies at any moment.

What was true and what was false.

Yuki Tsukumo had a good grasp of that.

After working through the information herself, she had found all of it plausible. None of it was false.

Moreover.

On the way back.

She had also spoken with Nanami and the others.

From them, she had learned that Kaneki's predictions had saved all their lives.

Because of that.

Yuki Tsukumo trusted him quite a lot.