April 11, 2006, Madrid, Spain. Twenty-nine days remained until the Star Plasma Vessel Incident.
On one of Madrid's main roads, a black Ferrari FXXX with the character "青" on its license plate shot into the distance like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Strangely, however, no one stopped it despite its extraordinary speed. A light that had turned red just a second earlier turned green again the next, while the vehicles ahead orderly made way for it, as though the entire city were serving this one car.
Ten kilometers up ahead, several police officers were frantically flashing their warning lights, getting the vehicles behind them to clear a lane.
"Everyone, move faster!"
"If that car stops, our lives will stop with it! If you don't want to die, move faster!"
A Spanish police commander was shouting himself hoarse as he ordered his subordinates around.
Soon, a lane opened through the previously congested road. The black Ferrari sped past without slowing in the slightest, and the officers all breathed sighs of relief.
A young officer walked up to his commander, panting, and asked in confusion, "Sir, who's in that car? How does he have so much authority? Even our president doesn't have that kind of power, does he?"
The old officer took a drag of his cigarette. Watching the Ferrari, now no more than a tiny dot, he said flatly, "The president only has a certain amount of say among this country's ordinary people. This man holds absolute power among both ordinary people and those beyond the ordinary. Remember, I'm not just talking about Spain. I'm talking about all of Southern Europe."
The person inside the Ferrari was none other than Igarashi Amaha. Wearing sunglasses and a loose black short-sleeved shirt, he was speeding along without restraint.
Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!
Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated. Igarashi Amaha took it out, checked the caller ID, then pulled over and slowly stopped the car before answering.
"Moshi moshi. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Igarashi Amaha took out a cigarette, put it between his lips, and spoke lazily.
"Igarashi Amaha! Where have you run off to this time?! Didn't we agree you were going on a mission today?!" Masamichi Yaga's furious roar came through the phone.
Entirely unbothered, Igarashi Amaha held the phone a little farther away and put on an act. "I'm killing Cursed Spirits, Mr. Yaga. You'll hurt my feelings, accusing me like that."
"Bullshit! Don't think I don't know! The person carrying out your mission right now is a Curse User you paid to hire! Are you even a fucking Jujutsu Sorcerer anymore?! Paying a Curse User to do your missions for you! What were you thinking?! Huh?!"
"Oh dear, you found out." A trace of embarrassment crossed Igarashi Amaha's face.
"You bastard! Either don't do it, or be more discreet! Now even that dumbass Satoru Gojo knows! He's clamoring to copy you, saying he can take down the Curse Users while he's at it! Look what you've done! Get your ass back here, now!!"
"Yes, yes, I'll be right back." Igarashi Amaha tossed his cigarette butt out and answered listlessly.
"Hurry! There's something important- Beep... beep..."
"How can there be that many important things? No matter how important they are, they're not as important as picking up cigarettes." Igarashi Amaha hung up outright, tossed his phone onto the passenger seat, and floored the accelerator, driving off into the distance.
Ten minutes later, outside the Aoki Building, Igarashi Amaha lounged with his feet propped on the passenger-side door, playing Snake. Behind him, several burly men in black suits carried luxury gift boxes decorated with cigarette designs, loading them box by box into a small trailer hitched to the Ferrari.
Within a few minutes, the little trailer was packed to the brim.
"Lord Igarashi, we're finished loading, but there are still some left over," the leader of the men in black said respectfully, bowing to Igarashi Amaha.
"Okay, thanks for the hard work. Split the rest among the guys." Without giving them a chance to thank him, he swung the car around in a drift and headed for the private airport. The inertia of the drift sent several more packs of cigarettes tumbling out of the trailer.
At the private airport, Igarashi Amaha drove his car smoothly into the plane, went to the lounge, opened a bottle of champagne, and started watching Tom and Jerry. All he needed to do now was wait quietly. After all, Spain was quite a distance from Japan.
His reason for returning to Spain this time was already obvious: he had come to pick up cigarettes. Since his cigarettes were all custom-made, he could only collect them in person. As for why he didn't have someone deliver them, the reason was simple. Every time, he only realized he had no stock left when he reached his final pack. To keep his supply from running out, he had to reach Spain and replenish it before finishing that last pack.
Igarashi Amaha took a sip of his champagne and looked at the white clouds outside, a feeling stirring within him.
"Looks like the interesting part is about to begin."
May 3, 2006, Tokyo, Japan. Eight days remained until the Star Plasma Vessel Incident.
The sky was overcast, and a fine drizzle drifted down. The threads of rain intertwined into a hazy, ethereal curtain of mist.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
"Word about supernatural incidents always spreads especially fast."
"Especially lately. With the internet becoming widespread, reports like these have been spreading at an unbelievable speed, which has been giving us Jujutsu Sorcerers more and more work."
"Besides that, three elementary school students went missing on their way home from school. Their relatives, friends, the police officers, and those officers' colleagues may very well have already been killed while searching for them."
"We have to cut it off at the source as soon as possible."
"Well, Jujutsu Headquarters reached the same conclusion, which is why they commissioned me to investigate this incident. They offered quite a sizable appearance fee, too. Heh."
"You fleeced them again?"
"You'll hurt my feelings, saying that. Please call it 'the outcome of negotiations.'"
"We're here."
"Let's go."
Jujutsu Kaisen, Hidden Inventory, begins!