Tokyo

It was still dark when the car pulled onto the highway.

Suguru Geto leaned back in the rear seat, his eyes closed. Yuka Matsumoto had not come along. The passenger seat was empty; it was just him and a silent driver. The heater was turned up high, making his face feel hot. He tugged his scarf down, exposing his chin.

The egg, the size of two fists, pulsed quietly deep within his core. After the treatment, its light was no longer as dazzling as before. It had become softer, more subdued.

He remembered Shoko saying it would not shrink any further. This was the limit.

Two fists. That was probably the smallest size the egg could tolerate. If they compressed it any further, it might resist.

That was enough. At least my cursed energy core wasn't being squeezed anymore. At least I wouldn't suddenly die from my core collapsing.

By the time the car entered Tokyo, daylight had fully broken. High-rises swept past on either side of the windows, blocking out the sky. Suguru Geto had not been to Tokyo in a long time. In this timeline, his last visit had been during the Star Plasma Vessel Incident, when Riko Amanai was still alive.

He withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.

The Jujutsu Association's headquarters was an unremarkable gray building in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. There was no sign, no identifying mark, only two men in black suits standing at the entrance. As Suguru Geto got out of the car, both men turned their scrutinizing gazes on him.

"Mr. Geto, please follow me," one of them said.

Suguru Geto followed him into the building. Every few steps, he passed another closed door. None had windows, leaving him no way to know what was inside. A faint smell of disinfectant hung in the air, much like the infirmary at Jujutsu High, but colder.

He was led to a room on the third floor. It was small, with a table, two chairs, and a mirror hanging on the wall. It looked like a one-way mirror, with someone watching him from behind it.

"Please wait here." The man turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Suguru Geto sat down in a chair. He looked at the mirror. He could not see the people behind it, but he knew they could see him.

About twenty minutes later, the door opened.

Three people entered. Two men and a woman, all wearing black suits with Jujutsu Association badges on their chests. In the lead was a man in his fifties with graying hair, small eyes, and deep wrinkles.

"Mr. Geto, my name is Yamamoto. I'm the deputy director of the Association's investigation department." He sat down across from Suguru Geto, while the other two stood behind him. "Thank you for cooperating with our assessment."

Suguru Geto said nothing.

Yamamoto took a file from his briefcase and opened it. An ID photo of Suguru Geto was attached to the first page, probably taken a year ago. He looked younger in the picture, with something in his eyes he had never realized he once possessed.

"Mr. Geto, according to our data, your cursed energy fluctuations have shown twenty-three abnormal peaks since last August. The most recent occurred on December twenty-eighth, during your mission at the Mount Asama mine in Gunma Prefecture. That peak reached four times your normal cursed energy output."

Yamamoto raised his head and looked at Suguru Geto.

"Can you explain that?"

"I expanded my domain," Suguru Geto said.

"Domain Expansion causes a temporary increase in cursed energy output, but not a fourfold increase. Besides, your cursed energy fluctuations had already become abnormal before you expanded your domain."

Suguru Geto was silent for a few seconds.

"There's something inside my body," he said. "It absorbs my cursed energy, and it releases cursed energy too."

Yamamoto's finger paused on the file. "What is it?"

"I don't know."

Yamamoto stared at him for a few seconds, then lowered his head and continued leafing through the file.

"Next, we'll conduct a physical examination and a cursed energy test. Please cooperate."

The physical examination took place in a room on the fourth floor. It contained far more equipment than Jujutsu High's infirmary, and all of it was more advanced. Suguru Geto lay on a bed while dozens of sensors were attached to him. An enormous machine emitted a low hum, its screen flickering with densely packed data.

The machine was operated by a young woman wearing thick glasses, her expression as focused as if she were performing surgery. After about half an hour, her hands stopped. She stared at the screen, her brow furrowing.

Yamamoto stood beside her. "How does it look?"

The woman did not answer immediately. She tapped the screen several times, brought up a few charts, closed them, and opened new ones.

"His cursed energy core," she finally said, "was compressed by something. It has recovered now, but traces remain. Like a balloon that was stretched out and then shrank back."

"Is that thing still there?"

"Yes." The woman pointed to a spot of light on the screen. "Right here. It's the size of two fists. Its cursed energy fluctuations don't match any known type of cursed energy. They don't belong to a cursed spirit, a jujutsu sorcerer, or a curse."

"Then what is it?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't know."

Yamamoto turned to look at Suguru Geto.

"Mr. Geto, you said you don't know what that thing inside your body is."

"That's right."

"When did you first become aware of its existence?"

"Last September. After the Zama mission."

Yamamoto jotted a few notes in his notebook, then closed it.

"The cursed energy test is next. Please follow me."

The cursed energy test took place in a large room on the second basement level. Its walls, ceiling, and floor were all white. There were no windows, only a heavy iron door. A black ring roughly two meters in diameter sat in the center of the room, made of what looked like some kind of metal.

"Please stand in the center of the ring and release your cursed energy. You don't need to control or compress it. Just let it flow naturally."

Suguru Geto stood in the center of the ring, closed his eyes, and released his cursed energy.

Cursed energy poured from his body, spreading in every direction like water. The instruments in the room began to beep, each sound coming faster than the last. Suguru Geto kept his eyes closed and continued releasing it. After about a minute, he stopped.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Yamamoto standing beside the instruments, his expression changed. It was neither surprise nor fear, but something more complicated: the sort of calm that came after confirming something terrible.

"Mr. Geto," Yamamoto said, "your total cursed energy has increased by one hundred and fifty percent compared with last August's records."

Suguru Geto said nothing.

"The nature of your cursed energy has changed as well," Yamamoto continued. "It used to be dispersed. Now it's concentrated, but more unstable."

Suguru Geto stepped out of the ring.

"Mr. Yamamoto, when will the assessment be over?"

Yamamoto looked at him. "There's one final test. A domain demonstration."

The domain demonstration was arranged in an even larger room on the third basement level. The walls here were black rather than white, as though something had scorched them. An intricate formation of cursed inscriptions covered the floor, with an empty circular area at its center.

"Please expand your domain within the circular area. You don't need to attack. Just demonstrate the domain's form and basic effects."

Suguru Geto walked into the circular area and stood at its center.

He closed his eyes and sank his awareness into his cursed energy core. The egg pulsed there, the size of two fists, light seeping through its cracks. He did not draw on the egg's power. He expanded his domain using only his own cursed energy.

Domain Expansion: [Myriad Spirits' Homage · Cursed Spirit Great Prison].

A black wasteland spread across the floor. Engraved outlines of cursed spirits emerged beneath his feet, dense cursed energy mist churned along the ground, and floating afterimages of cursed spirits rose from the fog.

Yamamoto and the other two stood in a corner of the room, keeping a safe distance. Yamamoto held a device, data flickering across its screen. His expression was even graver than before.

"This domain," he said quietly, "is an open domain. There's no barrier."

Suguru Geto withdrew his domain. He stood in the black circular area, the formation of cursed inscriptions still glowing beneath his feet.

"Is that enough?" he asked.

Yamamoto was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Yes."

Suguru Geto stepped out of the circular area. Yamamoto closed the device, put his notebook into his briefcase, and looked at him.

"Mr. Geto, you'll be notified of the assessment results within two weeks. In the meantime, please stay at Jujutsu High and do not accept any missions."

"What if the Association asks me to take a mission?"

"It won't."

Suguru Geto looked at him. "Mr. Yamamoto, do you trust me?"

Yamamoto did not answer. He turned and left the room. The other two followed him, and the door closed behind them.

Suguru Geto stood alone in the black room, staring at the closed door.

He stayed there for a while, then walked out.

By the time he left the building, it was nearly dark. Night fell early in winter; the sun began sinking not long after four in the afternoon. Suguru Geto stood at the entrance, watching people hurry along the street. No one looked at him. No one knew who he was. No one knew he had just come out of the Jujutsu Association's headquarters after being examined from head to toe.

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

After two rings, the call connected.

"Geto?" Satoru Gojo's voice came through the receiver, carrying a hint of tension.

"The assessment's over. I'm coming back now."

"Did they give you a hard time?"

"No. They just ran some tests," he said. "They said my total cursed energy has increased by one hundred and fifty percent since last August."

Satoru Gojo did not answer immediately. Suguru Geto heard him take a deep breath on the other end.

"Geto, we'll talk when you're back."

"Okay."

He hung up and stood at the entrance, waiting for the car to pick him up.

The thing inside him pulsed deep within his core, neither fast nor slow.