Chapter 184: Broken Mirror, Red Thread
The ceiling above me was just a blur of shadows, my eyes refusing to rest. My head ached faintly, not from any wound Shoko hadn't already patched, but from the gnawing weight of thought.
"Why? Is it that I already know everything about the people I've met in this world, so I can't properly form connections with them? Or is it that I still feel far away from this world because I don't belong here? This isn't the Earth I grew up in…"
The words echoed in my skull, bouncing back against themselves.
"What is it? Why am I like this? I'm human too, right? So why is it…"
I clenched my fists, pulling the blanket tighter around me on the floor. My body was warm, but my mind felt frigid, detached.
No… that's not even the right question. The question is, why am I even thinking like this? Ugh. It has to be Project (Rebirth). My soul and body are still not stable. These intrusive, wandering thoughts must be a side effect…
Or… is the broken mirror reflecting something real?
My hand shook for a moment before I pressed it against my forehead. I took a slow breath, shaking my head violently until the weight scattered.
"Red Stitch," I muttered under my breath. "Focus. Think about this for now."
I emptied my head for a few seconds, drawing in silence until only one thread of thought remained.
'Red Stitch.'
The cursed technique that had been mine since the beginning.
"Theories, right. Simple theories… But after creating the Perfected Cursed Red Circuit, I know I can push further."
I dragged myself upright, sitting cross-legged on the blanket.
"Before, I only used Red Stitch like some weak Spider-Man—swinging around. At first, it was useful. But after I got Rika, swinging was worthless. I could just hold on to her and fly through the air. And then, after copying a cursed flight technique for myself… swinging became even more irrelevant."
My lips pressed tight.
"So… how do I make Red Stitch more than obsolete? How do I improve it?"
I dug into memory, combing through every fight, every moment I'd relied on those red threads.
"First strength… mobility. Swinging, moving, repositioning. Second… it was serviceable in hand-to-hand combat. Fast, but too weak to do real damage. Those are the two core strengths."
My fingers twitched, mimicking the motion of weaving.
"Wait—there was a third. Running cursed energy through the threads, using them as conduits. Linking them to weaker curses and controlling them like puppets. That too. I'll need to test more with that later. Still… the truth remains: Red Stitch isn't bad, but it's not out of this world either."
I let out a shaky laugh.
"Then fine. I'll make it out of this world. I'll bind it. Enhance it. Limit it. Define it. I'll use binding vows to reinforce the two core strengths until they're absolute."
Ren looked fast, making sure Maki was not awake before quickly grabbing a book and pen, and then Ren started… scribbling phrases with rough strokes. His handwriting was jagged from fatigue, but it didn't matter.
"Mobility and hand-to-hand combat. Those are my anchors. If I sharpen both, Red Stitch won't just be a gimmick anymore—it'll be a weapon."
I tapped the pen against the paper, thinking harder.
"Swinging, right. Seems useless now, but only because I have Rika and Overdrive. Rika lets me fly; Overdrive lets me blitz fast enough that threads are pointless. But… what if I don't have Rika? What if I'm drained, cursed energy almost gone? Then swinging is still effective. So… how do I improve it?"
My jaw clenched. The thoughts came slow, dragging through mud, but they came.
"Why not fully copy the spider? If I built this on Spider-Man in the first place, then let's go all the way. Why was Spider-Man's web movement faster, smoother, and crazier than mine? Because his webs were versatile. Strong. They weren't flimsy threads. They could catch anything."
I scrawled across the notebook page in messy red ink.
"Red Stitch is weak. My threads are threads, nothing more. Spider-Man's webs are stronger than iron chains. How do I turn one into the other? Binding vows. Always binding vows. If I make a vow that my threads can't harm directly… maybe they could become as strong as webs. Indestructible mobility. But then… that cripples the second strength. I can't afford that."
I groaned, dragging a hand down my face.
"I need both. I can't sacrifice one for the other. How do I… how do I evolve Red Stitch into something that balances both?"
I leaned back, staring at the ceiling again, until my lips twitched into a bitter smile.
"Someone else… who has a cursed technique that can do two things but is the same at the core? Ha. Of course. How could I forget him?"
"Ryomen Sukuna."
For the first time that night, my mind felt sharp again.