Itadori examined the finger closely. A wave of nausea hit him late, his stomach churning.
On second thought, he averted his eyes. Better not to dwell on it.
Without hesitation, he tossed it into his mouth.
"Ah—"
Sōjun Minamoto opened his eyes, locking onto Itadori Yuji. Beside him, Satoru Gojo sat with his eyes concealed behind his blindfold, his expression unreadable—but the corners of his mouth curled up subtly. Riko Amanai stood nearby, watching closely.
For a moment, everything fell silent.
All eyes focused on Itadori. Suddenly, the fingers resting on his lap twitched violently. Veins bulged across his face, black energy swirling around him as immense Cursed Energy burst forth.
Black markings spread across his face.
The glow of the Star Eyes flared. Sōjun Minamoto knew Itadori could handle it, but still wanted to observe the finer details up close.
Kenjaku had claimed Itadori's father was the reincarnation of Sukuna's brother. Sōjun didn't fully buy it. Was reincarnation even real in this world? And after a thousand years?
How had Kenjaku even found the reincarnation? Could a bond with Sukuna really last that long?
Blaming it all on cause and effect was both convenient and suspicious.
It probably wasn't just fate—Kenjaku must've done something.
Either way, the fusion now occurring between Itadori and Sukuna's flesh might offer Sōjun some insight.
The surge of Cursed Energy quickly faded. Itadori remained still.
Everyone kept their eyes on him.
"Ugh, tastes awful."
Itadori looked up, hand at his throat, grimacing.
Looks like he really could control it.
Gojo's smirk deepened. He glanced at Sōjun, who gave a slight shake of the head—no issues.
"Alrighty~" Gojo stood up, laughing. "Let's go. I'll take that as your answer."
"Where to?" Itadori instinctively stood.
"Jujutsu High," came a voice from behind. Itadori turned to see Megumi Fushiguro.
A smile spread across Itadori's face. "You're okay?"
Megumi nodded and gave a polite nod to Sōjun, who smiled back.
Then Megumi noticed Riko Amanai standing beside Sōjun. His expression stiffened, and he instinctively stepped back, putting some distance between them.
A debt from the father, paid by the son—Riko had tormented him more than a few times, leaving him with lasting psychological trauma.
This time, though, she didn't do anything—just gave him a sweet smile and a sidelong glance.
Megumi retreated another step and pulled Itadori along with him.
Gojo chuckled. "Time to head back, or the old geezers will start complaining."
"This is for you." Sōjun held out three fingers to Riko, then pointed toward Gojo.
"Give him one every other week."
"Huh?" Riko looked at him, puzzled.
"You all go back first. I'll return to the school in a few days," Sōjun said.
"Then I'll—" she began.
"You too. Go back. Keep those fingers safe. Don't give them all to Gojo at once," Sōjun interrupted, deliberately emphasizing his point.
"Ehh~~?" Gojo let out a weird noise.
"Alright, alright."
Sōjun waved them off.
If he handed them all to Gojo, he'd probably feed them to Itadori the same day. While nothing serious was likely to happen, Sōjun still wanted to slow things down a bit.
He needed time to prepare.
As he watched them walk away, Sōjun turned and headed in the opposite direction. His next task was to reclaim his non-sorcerer clone.
The clone had long since graduated and joined a biological research institute. Leveraging that position, it had achieved impressive progress by standing at the forefront of human knowledge.
From here on, he had to rely on himself. Staying in the lab brought no immediate benefits, so he needed to retrieve the clone to avoid unnecessary losses.
It hadn't surprised him that Kenjaku had found the clone.
Just as he could use the Binding Vow to identify Kenjaku's soul, Kenjaku could do the same to locate his clone.
That much was expected.
But the clone had undergone modifications. Though technically an ordinary person, it had developed danger perception—triggered by Kenjaku. That had been a warning sign. There were too many strange powers out there; some might even threaten his true self.
Since the clone shared his soul, damage to one meant damage to both.
He had ways to escape danger, but they were troublesome. That was also why he left the non-physical world to confront Kenjaku in person right away.
With that thought, he figured—might as well drop in on Yuta Okkotsu too.
...
On his way home, he stopped by the Okkotsu house, which made the siblings visibly happy.
His sister immediately suggested,
"Why don't you stay for dinner?"
Sōjun Minamoto agreed.
When he saw Rika, it was clear she had regained her full form—her Special Grade power unmistakable.
Rika also saw Sōjun Minamoto and instantly tried to attack.
"Rika."
Yuta Okkotsu stopped her with a firm call.
Still holding a grudge, huh?
Sōjun Minamoto shook his head.
After dinner, he had a brief chat with the siblings. Seeing they were doing fine, he got ready to leave.
"Sensei,"
Yuta Okkotsu followed him downstairs. Just before Sōjun left, he called out, his expression conflicted.
"What is it?"
"Actually… wasn't it me who cursed Rika?"
He lowered his head.
"I think I've pretty much realized that by now."
"The curse was mutual. It was because I couldn't bear to lose Rika that she ended up like this."
"…Sensei, please tell me how to lift the curse."
Sōjun Minamoto glanced at the downcast Yuta Okkotsu, then at Rika standing quietly beside him.
A few people had passed by in the hallway earlier, and she hadn't reacted at all.
That alone showed major progress. She no longer attacked without provocation.
It meant Yuta Okkotsu had been trying to lift the curse. There were two ways to do it—exorcise Rika, which he clearly wouldn't choose, or attempt to release the curse voluntarily.
Unfortunately, as Yuta Okkotsu himself said, the curse was mutual.
He hadn't fully accepted Rika, and she didn't fully understand him either.
You could tell just by how she still clung to him so closely.
Yuta Okkotsu, on the other hand, had once again sunk into deep self-blame, which only made the gap between them harder to close.
"Why don't you ask Rika if she resents you for turning her into a monster?"
"But…"
Yuta Okkotsu turned his head.
Rika simply couldn't express her feelings.
Or maybe she was so overwhelmed by possessiveness that nothing he said could reach her.
Sōjun Minamoto could see what he was thinking right away and didn't say much more.
What he could say was already written in books. Yuta Okkotsu knew the answer.
If he couldn't let it go, then he simply couldn't.
"You haven't told her how you feel either."
"…"
...
Back home, his clones had returned.
Normally, only one non-sorcerer clone remained active, while the special clones—Fly Head, White Bone Tree, and Garuda—had already been replaced by Shichizai and no longer needed to merge.
Still, he'd need to find time to transfer them to the non-physical realm...
With the special clone situation settled, Sōjun Minamoto turned his attention to the normal clone.
Though not a sorcerer, it possessed enough strength to rival a Grade 1 sorcerer.
It carried the best traits of various creatures—hawk, fly, snake, dog, bat, frog, bee...
Even without Cursed Energy, it had near-complete sensory coverage, seeing all directions and hearing everything around.
Combined with the deceptive nature of a non-sorcerer, it could unleash a short burst of power strong enough to take down a Grade 1.
Of course, if that burst failed, the fight could go either way—and he might even lose.
But this was only the first step.
When the two Sōjun Minamoto bodies overlapped and merged, his perfect physical control allowed him to fully adapt to and utilize these abilities.
That part was simple.
The hard part came next—linking them not to Cursed Energy, but to emotions.
For instance, infrared perception originally tracked heat.
He now aimed to modify it to track emotions instead.
The rest followed a similar logic.
Heat can be shielded, but emotions can't.
As long as there's a thinking, conscious mind, emotional fluctuations will exist.
Even creatures without intelligence have instincts.
To sustain life, they need to eat, hunt, survive—that alone creates primal drives.
In short, unless something is entirely without thought, desire, or need, it can't escape being sensed through emotion.
Sōjun Minamoto settled into deep thought.
There were also things like electric conduits and poison organs that could be integrated with techniques...