Metamorphosis

Rampaging cursed energy dispersed through the darkness.

The Cursed Spirit Queen's form fully manifested here, her mere presence exuding overwhelming pressure.

Akutagawa Shang lay sprawled on the ground. The wound where a tentacle had pierced his chest had actually long since healed under his Reverse Cursed Technique, without leaving even a scar.

But he still had no intention of getting up.

After all, the big guy had already stepped in. All he needed to do was lie there and leave the rest to Yuta.

"Yuta-I've burned myself out. The rest is up to you." He lay on the cold ground, pretending to be utterly exhausted, every word feeble beyond measure. As his final word faded, he closed his eyes and passed out right in front of Yuta Okkotsu, the hand Yuta held falling limply.

"Akutagawa-senpai!!!"

Yuta Okkotsu let out a heart-wrenching cry.

From his perspective, a senior who had looked after him ever since he enrolled had been forced by his cowardice and avoidance to fight a powerful cursed spirit alone, shouldering everything himself and even fighting to protect him until he was gravely injured and lost consciousness.

"How could this happen... It's all my fault." Yuta Okkotsu kept pounding the ground, tears dripping onto it. Akutagawa Shang's loss of consciousness had shaken him deeply, and self-reproach and guilt nearly overwhelmed him.

"Don't cry, Yuta~" Rika came to Yuta Okkotsu's side and stroked his head, her eerie voice offering constant comfort.

"Rika-chan." Yuta Okkotsu called to Rika.

"I'm here, Yuta~"

"Destroy everything here!!!" Yuta Okkotsu shouted the command with all his strength.

"Rika understands~~" Upon receiving his command, the cursed spirit Rika immediately charged toward the lump of flesh.

"Don't... come... closer." Fear actually appeared on the cursed spirit's face.

Countless tentacles extended again, attempting to block Rika's advance, but it was futile.

With nothing more than a casual swipe of her claws, Rika tore great swaths of tentacles to pieces.

Rika extended a giant claw and seized the twisted lump of flesh.

"No..." the cursed spirit begged, but unfortunately, no one would listen.

Rika applied a little force and crushed it into pulp on the spot.

The destruction continued. Yuta Okkotsu's order had been to destroy everything.

The cursed spirit Rika slammed a fist into the ceiling.

Fragments and dust rained down as Rika punched straight through the hospital ceiling, and long-absent light spilled through the opening.

At that moment, the entire building began screaming. Once the hospital was destroyed, the cursed spirit would cease to exist.

Rika kept swinging her giant claws, and the entire hospital crumbled into fragments under her fierce attacks. Every act of resistance the cursed spirit directed at Rika inflicted no more damage than a mosquito bite.

Happy laughter escaped the cursed spirit Rika's mouth. Clearly, she was enjoying the fight.

"So this is the destructive power of the Cursed Spirit Queen? Truly terrifying."

Leaning against the car, Satoru Gojo watched Rika emerge through the hole in the hospital ceiling and destroy everything in the hospital at will.

"Oh? They're out."

Yuta Okkotsu escaped through the opening Rika had torn, dragging the supposedly unconscious Akutagawa Shang as he inched outside.

"Huh, Yuta, where are we? Did we escape? Is that what Rika looks like in full?" Since they had escaped, Akutagawa Shang felt it was time for him to wake up.

"Akutagawa-senpai, thank goodness you're all right." Seeing Akutagawa Shang wake up, Yuta Okkotsu was overjoyed.

"Looks like you've taken care of that thing. I owe you my thanks. Without you and Rika, I might've ended up hanging from the ceiling too." Akutagawa Shang pointed at the cursed spirit Rika was dangling and beating over there.

The cursed spirit's core, mingled with the resentment of countless dead, rapidly disintegrated under the power of Rika, a Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit. The densely packed sutured wounds and writhing human faces were all torn to shreds before turning into black ash.

"Aaaagh-!!"

With one final scream, Rika crushed the ball of flesh into pulp once again.

The twisted lumps of flesh that had regenerated so many times vanished completely. As the cursed spirit's main body was utterly destroyed, the hospital space that had been warped and altered began reverting to its original state.

From a ruin of rotten flesh, it became an ordinary ruin.

"Yeah." This time, Yuta Okkotsu did not avoid Akutagawa Shang's gaze, but smiled and nodded instead.

This was his first time experiencing what it felt like to save someone, and the first time he felt that the cursed spirit Rika was not so frightening after all.

Having finished beating the cursed spirit, Rika drew her body in slightly and floated to Yuta Okkotsu's side, saying very obediently,

"Yuta, I broke everything."

"Great work, Rika-chan. Go back and rest." Yuta Okkotsu gently stroked Rika's head, and she turned into a mass of shadow and slipped back inside his body.

"Hey, over here." Leaning against the car, Satoru Gojo waved at them, beckoning them over.

"Put me down. Gojo-sensei's calling us back."

"Huh? Akutagawa-senpai, can you manage on your own? You looked badly hurt earlier," Yuta Okkotsu asked with concern.

"Uh, I just spent a little more time healing myself with Reverse Cursed Technique. I'm fine." Akutagawa Shang had Yuta Okkotsu put him down, sat on the ground to recover for a moment, then followed him toward the car.

"Well done, students. Mission accomplished. Akutagawa-kun, I'll ask about getting you promoted to Grade 2." Satoru Gojo applauded the two of them.

"Let's put that aside for now. Gojo-sensei, are you sure that was only a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit? Its regeneration and how difficult it was to deal with certainly didn't look like it. Jujutsu High's files had nothing on it. If Yuta hadn't had Rika flatten the hospital, we probably would've both died in there," Akutagawa Shang said, exasperated.

"Tch, the information was wrong? Looks like certain people still can't stand having Yuta-kun alive. Don't worry, leave this to me. I'll go have a word with them. You two just focus on your classes." Satoru Gojo's expression shifted, and he seemed somewhat displeased.

"Ijichi, take Akutagawa-kun and Yuta-kun back first. I have something to deal with." After speaking to Ijichi, Satoru Gojo left on his own. Akutagawa Shang's sharp eyes noticed that his fists were clenched as he left. It looked like certain people would be having a bad time shortly.

"Ah-this feels good." Lying across the car's back seat, Akutagawa Shang felt his whole body relax.

He glanced at Yuta Okkotsu sitting beside him. Yuta was staring blankly at the ring on his hand, and there was no telling what he was thinking.

"Oi, Yuta, what's on your mind? You're really lost in thought." He snapped his fingers in front of Yuta Okkotsu, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh? Nothing. I just remembered some things about Rika."

"Oh? Want to tell me? I love a good pure-love story." Akutagawa Shang grew interested. Although he had no chance to experience pure love himself, that did not stop him from enjoying watching others experience it.

"Rika and I knew each other since we were little..." Perhaps because he lacked opportunities to talk, he poured out his entire story with Rika, from how they met to her death, all the way to his joining Jujutsu High not long ago. Akutagawa Shang listened, nodding frequently and offering repeated murmurs of agreement.

"So I think maybe I wasn't the one who was cursed. Maybe I cursed Rika and made her stay by my side. It wasn't Rika after all. Everything was because of me..."

"Ah, love is the most twisted curse. Our dear teacher's famous saying really was right." Akutagawa Shang shook his head and chuckled.

"Then what... are you planning to do next?" Akutagawa Shang asked.

"I don't want to run away anymore. Since all of this happened because of me, I'm going to resolve it all. I'll find a way to break the curse at Jujutsu High." Yuta Okkotsu clenched his fists, seemingly having made some sort of resolution.

"Oh? Then I wish you luck." Akutagawa Shang slung an arm around Yuta Okkotsu's shoulders, and the two laughed together.

Yet in a corner no one noticed, a narrow-eyed man in monk's robes silently watched everything.

He slowly picked up the student ID Yuta Okkotsu had left behind, his tone carrying undisguised greed.

"Such a powerful cursed spirit. It really makes me... want her so badly."