On the tatami mats, the air still held a lingering warmth and a faint, sweet fragrance.
Gaio carefully lifted the exhausted, sweat-drenched Kitagawa from his embrace, gently placing her on the thin blanket beside him.
As soon as she left the warmth of his arms, Kitagawa's eyes fluttered open, still hazy with sleep.
Her wine-red hair clung to her sweat-dampened neck, and her large eyes, accentuated by red contact lenses, shimmered with a dreamy mist.
Lazily, she reached out, wrapping her arms around Gaio's neck again, pulling him closer.
Leaning toward his ear, her warm breath carried a succubus-like allure, her voice soft and seductive. "So… you want to go again?"
Gaio lowered his head, pressing a gentle kiss to her slightly pouting, glossy lips.
"No," he said, his voice low and hoarse from their earlier intimacy, yet clear and alert. "I'm heading to Shibuya."
"Huh?" Kitagawa blinked, following his gaze to the simple clock on the wall.
The hands pointed clearly to 10:10 PM.
The haze in her eyes cleared in an instant as memories flooded back—the shocking encounter in the alley, the portal, the strange sky over Shibuya, and her "superhero" boyfriend's mission.
Gaio took her wrist, gently untangling her slender arms from his neck.
He stood up smoothly, their scattered clothes lying in a heap beside the tatami.
Bending down, he picked up his dark jeans and a plain black hoodie, slipping them on with practiced ease.
The simple outfit instantly concealed his toned physique, transforming him from an intimate lover back into a young man with a hint of reckless charisma.
Kitagawa propped herself up on the tatami, the thin blanket slipping to her waist, leaving her pale skin exposed under the warm indoor light. She didn't seem to care.
She watched as Gaio dressed, then strode toward the empty wall in the living room.
With a flicker of his will, the air silently tore apart!
A glowing blue cross-shaped rift appeared out of nowhere, its edges sparking with familiar electric arcs, revealing a swirling vortex of starry darkness within—the portal to Shibuya, open once more.
"Gaio-kun!" Kitagawa's voice rang out, tinged with a trace of nervousness but brimming with pure excitement and trust.
Clenching her small fists, she waved them vigorously at his back. "Go get 'em! Kick those bad guys' butts!"
Gaio paused briefly, then turned his head. The living room's light illuminated half his face, his white, tousled hair falling over his forehead, a warm smile tugging at his lips.
"Yeah," he replied clearly. "Wait for me."
With that, he stepped forward, crossing into the shimmering, starlit rift.
His figure was instantly swallowed by the starlight.
Buzz…
A faint tremor in the air followed, and the rift smoothed over as if it had never been there, the blue electric glow vanishing in a flash. The living room wall returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.
Only a faint ozone-like scent lingered, proof of the spatial tear that had just occurred.
On the tatami, Marin Kitagawa sat alone.
Her cheeks were still flushed, her body still heavy with exhaustion, leaving her limbs weak. But her eyes, sparkling with those red contact lenses, burned with a strange mix of excitement, pride, and a hidden trace of worry.
She glanced down at herself, her body fully exposed, but she didn't care one bit.
"Hah!" she suddenly cheered, as if hyping herself up.
With a burst of energy, she leaped up from the tatami, her bare feet pattering across the floor as she dashed toward the kitchen, completely unbothered by her state of undress.
Her target: the fridge!
She yanked open the door, revealing a stash of ingredients from their weekend grocery run. The cold air hit her, making her shiver slightly, but her excitement didn't waver.
"Gaio-kun's gonna be starving when he gets back from fighting!" she muttered to herself, staring at the packed fridge with a grin, her small fists clenched in anticipation.
"What should I make? Ramen? Curry? Or maybe gyoza?" She tilted her head, her wine-red hair swaying, the little devil horns on her headband bobbing along as she seriously considered her options.
In the heart of Shibuya, the once-vibrant Halloween festival had turned into a hellscape.
Piercing sirens mixed with screams and cries, punctuated by the deafening crashes of collapsing buildings. The air was thick with the stench of burning, blood, and a suffocating curse energy.
In the center of this chaos, on a patch of relatively open scorched earth, lay a smoldering pile of rapidly charring flesh, vaguely resembling the twisted tentacles of an octopus—the remains of the special-grade cursed spirit, Dogen, freshly defeated.
A figure crouched beside the pile.
He was muscular, his head resembling a miniature volcano crater. Where eyes should have been, a single, massive, cold, and inhuman eye stared emotionlessly at his fallen comrade's remains.
Jogo.
He reached out, grabbing a handful of Dogen's rapidly carbonizing flesh. The warm mass lost its color in his palm, turning black and brittle before crumbling into ash and slipping through his fingers.
"Dead, huh, Dogen," he said, his voice like two rough stones grinding together, cold and devoid of emotion, as if stating a trivial fact.
He stood, casually flicking the remaining ash from his hand, letting it scatter in the curse-laden wind.
"Our souls," he said, his massive eye turning toward three figures standing silently nearby, his words firm and resolute, "don't need humans to reincarnate."
"A hundred years from now, in the wilderness, we'll meet again."
With that, his enormous eye suddenly snapped to the side!
His icy gaze locked onto the blond, middle-aged man among the three—Kento Nanami!
Murderous intent!
A violent, searing, soul-scorching killing intent erupted without warning! Centered on Jogo, the scorched earth beneath him cracked and melted instantly!
No warning, no afterimage!
Kento Nanami's pupils contracted as his technique barely began to activate. In his vision, Jogo's palm was already pressed against his abdomen!
"First."
The cold declaration was like the whisper of death itself.
BOOM!
An explosion, like a volcano suppressed for millennia erupting in Nanami's gut!
Unimaginable heat and shockwaves poured from Jogo's palm!
Kento Nanami, along with the space around him, was instantly consumed by raging crimson flames!
The flames were a concentrated torrent of molten lava!
The blond figure didn't even have time to scream before being vaporized into nothing, leaving only a deep, molten-edged crater in his place!
"Nanami—!!!"
The woman nearby—Zenin Maki—only managed to shout a single word!
Jogo's figure vanished like a phantom!
0.1 seconds!
He reappeared at Maki's side. The same rocky palm that had ignited Nanami now casually brushed her shoulder, as if dusting it off.
Buzz!
A tiny, hyper-compressed molten fireball formed and detonated at the point of contact!
BOOM!
Even fiercer than before! A crimson pillar of fire shot into the sky, engulfing Maki and the ground beneath her in a raging molten tornado! Her figure twisted, carbonized, and vanished in the red glow!
The last one was the white-haired elder with a missing right arm—Zenin Naobito!
His experience kicked in instantly. The moment Jogo targeted Nanami, his frail body shot toward Jogo with unbelievable speed, aiming for his back!
But as his feet hit the ground, his pupils shrank to pinpricks!
On either side of him, two small volcanoes had silently risen from the ground! Their craters faced him, filled with viscous, destruction-reeking lava!
"Hah!" Naobito only managed a short gasp.
The next moment!
Two molten torrents, like furious crimson dragons, erupted from the volcanoes! They struck his position with pinpoint precision, leaving no escape!
BOOM!
Terrifying heat and shockwaves swept outward! Naobito's figure was completely swallowed by the golden-red molten flood, leaving no trace of resistance!
The lava raged, the scorched earth melting into bubbling pools.
Jogo stood motionless, not even glancing at the three molten wastelands.
His massive eye remained cold, as if he'd merely crushed three insignificant insects.
His icy voice cut through the crackling flames and distant chaos: "Third."
The edges of the molten craters still sizzled, the air thick with the acrid smell of scorched earth and lingering curse energy.
Jogo's enormous eye coldly scanned the three ravaged areas, confirming the total annihilation of his foes.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A malicious, suffocating wave of curse energy surged like a tsunami!
Jogo's massive eye widened, a flicker of what could be called "panic" flashing in its depths!
"Sukuna's finger…" His gravelly voice paused in disbelief.
Without hesitation, his muscular form blurred into an afterimage, shooting toward the source of the terrifying energy, leaving only distorted, heated air and three molten craters behind.
The moment Jogo vanished around a corner—
Rip!
Beside the spot where Zenin Naobito had been consumed, the air tore open without warning!
A glowing blue rift appeared, its edges sparking with familiar arcs, a swirling starry vortex within.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three figures were roughly thrown out, crashing onto the scorched, no-longer-molten earth.
It was Kento Nanami, Zenin Maki, and Zenin Naobito!
They landed in a heap, their faces still etched with the shock and confusion of facing death moments ago.
They stared at their hands and feet—aside from the wounds and fatigue from their battle with Dogen, there wasn't a trace of the expected carbonization or vaporization! Not even a burn mark!
What was going on?!
Tap.
A foot, clad in classic red-and-black Air Jordan 1s, stepped firmly out of the blue rift, landing on the blackened ground.
Gaio emerged from the starry vortex.
Dressed in a simple black hoodie and dark jeans, his white, tousled hair swayed in the curse-laden heat. His expression was blank, cold as Shibuya's steel jungle at night. He glanced casually at the three stunned figures on the ground.
"You guys okay?" His voice was calm, almost detached.
Kento Nanami reacted first, suppressing his shock and wariness of the unknown. He pushed himself up, his sharp gaze locking onto Gaio. "Who are you?"
Before Gaio could respond, Zenin Maki let out a short gasp, pointing at him. "Nanami-senpai! You don't know him?! He's that super famous celebrity, Nero!"
Her face was full of shock, but her eyes quickly sparkled with the excitement and disbelief of meeting a top-tier idol.
The man who'd just stepped out of a spatial rift and saved their lives was none other than the breakout star plastered across TVs and Gucci ads—Nero!
Kento Nanami and Zenin Naobito, struggling to sit up, froze. "Celebrity?"
They exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion and cracks in their worldview reflected in the other's eyes.
A celebrity?
Someone who could silently rescue all three of them from certain death at the hands of a special-grade cursed spirit like Jogo?
Was the bar for being a celebrity this absurd now?!
Gaio ignored their stunned looks.
He turned slightly, his gaze fixed on the distant ruins—the source of the terrifying curse energy Jogo had rushed toward.
The lingering distortions in the air and the heavy, malicious curse energy made his lips curve into a faint, excited smirk.
"Heh… it's started, huh."