~???~
The man drags his feet forward. More than half of his body is burned, and part of his skull is exposed. Every time his consciousness threatens to fade, his remaining eye rolls back...
"Huff… huff…"
Yet, he clings to awareness, descending into the depths of Shibuya in a half-conscious daze.
But there, he encounters a wall– no, not a wall... A living human... Or rather, what was once human. Twisted by a malevolent curse, it no longer bore any resemblance to a human.
The grotesque creature's gaze locks onto him, and the man knows it will attack at any moment.
Despite the situation, a sudden thought crosses his mind: if he were to live in a country with a low cost of living, where would he choose?
"Malaysia… yeah… Malaysia… Kuantan would be nice."
'I'll build a house by some ordinary beach. I've got piles of books I bought but never touched. I'll flip through them, page by page, as if reclaiming all the time I've lost...'
His mind grew hazy, drifting to thoughts wildly out of place.
'No. Right now, I need to save Fushiguro-kun… What about Maki-san? And Naobito-san? What happened to them?'
Somehow, he forces himself forward for the mission.
'I'm tired… so tired. I've done enough.'
Slash and kill...
Strike and pulverize...
By the time he unconsciously annihilates every last transfigured human, he feels a hand touch his chest.
When he focuses his fading awareness, he sees the one who created these grotesque beings... a cursed spirit named Mahito.
"...You were here?"
"Yep, I've been here the whole time. Wanna chat? You've humored me a few times already."
The man, Nanami Kento, says nothing in response to Mahito's flippant tone, his mind growing foggy.
Mahito can manipulate the soul of anyone he touches, molding them as he pleases. Naturally, he could make a body explode like a bomb. For Nanami, in his current state, there's no strength left to resist. His death is certain.
'Haibara… what was it I really wanted to do in the end? I ran away– no, I wanted to run. But I came back, using some vague sense of purpose as an excuse…' As if watching his life flash before his eyes, he sends a silent question to his dead friend.
Then, he sees it... an illusion of Haibara, who is long gone, pointing towards something–
"NANAMIN!!"
The voice belongs to Itadori Yuji, a boy burdened with a cruel fate. They fought side by side, and through him, Nanami learned what it meant to live.
That's why...
'No. Haibara, that's wrong. Don't say it. For him, those words would become a curse...'
No matter how this battle ends, that cursed sentiment would weigh on Yuji forever. Nanami doesn't want that.
"Itadori-kun..."
The words slip out.
"The rest… is up to you."
With that cursed utterance, Nanami's body explodes.
And so, Nanami Kento dies. His body and soul obliterated, leaving only a curse behind…
~~~
Or so it should have been.
'…Where is this?'
The narrow alley makes it obvious, he's in a backstreet.
"I don't believe in heaven, but this doesn't seem like it either."
He checks at himself next. Without a mirror, he can only check his hands, feet, and body. He is completely intact, even clothed.
"A dream…? No, that's not it."
He stands and heads toward the alley's exit. The noise of people and activity grows louder. Glancing around, he realizes where he is, and it only deepens his confusion.
"Shibuya?"
Shibuya had been devastated in the battle between jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits. There's no way it could recover this fast in just a few days.
He steps into a nearby convenience store and catches his reflection in a mirror.
"...I'm young."
The wrinkles are gone. He guesses he's between 18 and 20. Steadying himself, he enters the store. He considers buying a newspaper but has no wallet. Reluctantly, he skims one on the rack, which is bad manners, but he has no choice.
There's no mention of Shibuya's destruction. Instead...
"2012."
He doesn't want to believe it, but the evidence is undeniable.
Exhausted, he heads to a police box to borrow a phone, hoping to contact Jujutsu High. But no one answers. In fact, the number doesn't even exist.
A sinking feeling creeps in. He asks the police to look up the address of the school, only to be told no such school exists there.
"Sorry, my mistake."
His voice is calm, but inside, turmoil rages. Then, he notices something else...
Cursed spirits are born from human negativity. The more people, the stronger the curses. Yet, no matter where he goes, he senses nothing.
He visits supposed haunted spots, places where negative energy should gather, but finds nothing. Eventually, he reaches a conclusion.
"...This isn't the Earth I know?"
Once that thought settles, he realizes he has no way to investigate further.
"What should I do?"
After some thought, Nanami takes on shady day labor jobs to scrape together cash. (Incidentally, the organization behind these jobs would later be dismantled by him, reforming into a legitimate, if still underground, operation.)
With forged documents, he registers as a resident.
From there, Life goes on. Finding a place to live is a struggle, as is confirming whether this is truly a different Earth. But Nanami's greatest concern is what he wants to do.
Nanami had once condemned the life of a jujutsu sorcerer, a life where comrades were forced to risk their lives. He quit and became a salaryman, only to despise that hollow, money-driven existence too. A certain trigger led him back to sorcery for a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Yet, in this world, there are no curses.
"I still have cursed energy, though."
He retained his cursed energy and can still use his cursed technique, but with no curses to fight, they're useless.
"Still, going back to being a salaryman sounds worse."
Rebuilding his old life would take time, and wasting effort on something he hates feels pointless.
"...What should I do, Haibara? Itadori-kun?"
Again, he asks those who can't answer. This time, he isn't dying, yet his past replays like a final vision: "Nanami-sensei… be careful."
"Sensei, huh?"
He'd only been called that once, and has no real experience. But...
"I'd like to be an adult he wouldn't be ashamed of."
For that simple reason, he decides to become a teacher.
Of course, it's not something one can do just because they decide to do so. So he prepares money, gets a computer and phone, attends a correspondence university while working part-time to survive, studies for a teaching license, and undergoes training.
By the time he finally becomes a teacher, he's 25...
More time passes, and before he knows it, he's 27... the age he was when he died. It took over six years, having entered university as a 19-year-old.
And recently, Nanami has come to a realization: 'Teaching might also be sh*t... maybe.'
"Nanami-sensei, the principal is calling for you."
"I'll be right there..."