At this point, Asou Akiya was trapped between a rock and a hard place.
He wanted to know what was written inside the letter, yet he didn't dare open the envelope. The fear that Tengen might suddenly appear and drag him away kept him firmly in check.
Tengen is a Hikikomori, an old-fashioned relic, an elderly schemer with thoughts of her own.
Whenever she has nothing better to do, she liked peeking into the affairs of the jujutsu world, and she paid especially close attention to important individuals.
Tokyo Jujutsu High was far too close to the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
You damn voyeur!
Embarrassed and irritated, Asou Akiya cursed inwardly.
The school's barrier was practically Tengen's eyes. Every move he made took place under its watchful gaze.
Fortunately, his trip to collect the letter had been perfectly ordinary, and his expression had remained under control.
He mentally reviewed every location outside the school that might be capable of shielding him from Tengen's observation. The only possibilities he could think of were the forbidden storehouses or inheritance grounds where the Three Great Clans kept their important assets.
Zen'in Naoya could help him with that.
The price, however, would be exposing himself to Zen'in Naobito's scrutiny.
How could an outsider casually enter the Zen'in Clan's Curser Vault?
That wouldn't work.
Neither would anything else.
Could he really do nothing except secretly destroy the letter?
A headache began to form.
Asou Akiya slowed his pace and pretended to admire the scenery as he walked, his mind operating at full capacity.
After transmigrating into the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, wouldn't anyone fantasize about becoming a Special Grade sorcerer?
Madness creates miracles.
Madness inspires the impossible!
He believed that if someone was crazy enough, even Gojo Satoru could be made to feel fear.
In the original story, there was Kenjaku-in-Getou-Suguru.
In the suicide-fueled novel he had written, there was Tengen-in-"Asou Akiya."
In this world, Special Grade sorcerers stood at the very top of the pyramid. They possessed the right to live freely and act as they pleased. Even Kenjaku preferred not to provoke Special Grade sorcerers and seemed to hold a peculiar fondness for them. Before a Special Grade died naturally, he might even offer some angelic end-of-life care:
"Would you like to make a Binding Vow and be revived in a future age?"
The result of that resurrection might turn out like complete garbage, but Kenjaku genuinely wouldn't kill a Special Grade lightly.
In truth, Asou Akiya had already considered his path to becoming a Special Grade two years ago.
As things stood, assimilating with Tengen and fighting for control of the body was the route that brought a transmigrator closest to hope.
Yet as his understanding of the jujutsu world deepened, the odds in his imagination continued to fall.
What he had written in the novel was pessimistic.
But it was also realistic.
The odds of success are less than thirty percent.
He had too few chips to wager.
He would be betting the uniqueness of his soul against the possibility of a thousand-year-old monster failing.
The fate of gamblers is death.
The "Asou Akiya" in the novel had reached a bad ending, leaving Gojo Satoru with a scar that would never fade.
If I'm going to gamble, it should at least be on something with a success rate above fifty percent!
Asou Akiya reflected.
Asou Akiya was inwardly in tears.
Asou Akiya sighed toward the heavens.
He looked up at the sky.
Ah, the barrier.
Then he looked down at the ground.
Ah, Tengen.
Finally, he gazed in the direction of the dormitories.
Ah, Gojo and the Six Eyes.
Life was truly filled with landmines at every turn.
Asou Akiya walked over to a nearby patch of shade and sat on the edge of a flowerbed. Wearing an inexplicable smile, he carefully opened one corner of the envelope.
A person ought to live with a clear understanding of things. You can't die in confusion.
I'll just look at the beginning and the end.
The letter.
A familiar letter.
A familiar handwriting.
The uniquely unhinged energy of his past self came rushing back at him.
The opening line read—
[Novel: "Love Triangle That..."]
Asou Akiya folded the corner of the page over before he could read further.
Stay calm.
Control your racing heartbeat.
Then he looked at the ending.
[For Asou Akiya on May 1, 2006.]
Asou Akiya slowly revealed more of the contents, his gaze growing grave.
The original date, "May 1, 2005," had become "May 1, 2006."
The altered character looked as though it had been written by a monster imitating human handwriting. The number "6" was crooked and distorted, carrying an unsettling air.
It perfectly matched his understanding of cursed spirits.
A bunch of brainless creatures that only knew how to oppose humanity and had no idea how to conceal their hostility.
At the same time, a cheer erupted inside his heart.
Great!
This wasn't a threatening letter written by a human!
A cursed spirit was good, a cursed spirit was wonderful!
There was an extremely high probability that this cursed letter had simply copied the contents of the original.
Asou Akiya sprang to his feet.
He immediately wanted to head for the school gates.
Even if it meant working overtime today, he had to exorcise this cursed spirit!
The next second, he forced himself to calm down.
The cursed spirit behind the letter possessed an unknown technique.
Going alone would be dangerous.
He could easily be walking straight into a trap.
...
Asou Akiya folded the letter several times and tucked it into an inner pocket.
Then he went and caught himself a Zen'in Naoya.
The two of them were suddenly working overtime.
...
Inside the company car, Zen'in Naoya looked as though he wanted to say something but couldn't quite bring himself to do it.
He spent an unusually long time fastening his seatbelt, casting complicated glances at the highly motivated Asou Akiya beside him.
"Aren't you going back to take care of Satoru-kun?" he finally asked.
Asou Akiya drove while following the navigation route to the Tokyo Post Office.
"He's sleeping in. He doesn't need me taking care of him."
For some reason, Zen'in Naoya felt a surge of admiration.
Satoru-kun had mastered Reverse Cursed Technique and possessed incredible stamina, yet Akiya-kun had still gotten out of bed and was walking around perfectly normally!
A short while later, the two arrived at the post office.
Zen'in Naoya's attention had yet to return fully to the mission. His thoughts had wandered the entire trip, and only when he saw Asou Akiya produce his work credentials did he finally snap back to reality.
"There's a cursed spirit inside the post office? What grade is it?"
"No idea," Asou Akiya replied. "To be safe, you'll take point."
Normally, Zen'in Naoya would have complained about being used as a shield again.
This time, however, he couldn't even be bothered.
His hands hung loosely at his sides. He appeared relaxed, but in reality he remained fully alert, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
The postal workers looked at them in confusion.
With the elegant gait of a noble clan heir, Zen'in Naoya strode toward the inquiry counter. He looked exactly like the son of some high-ranking official conducting an inspection.
The existence of jujutsu sorcerers could not be exposed.
Using their special personnel credentials and assistance from the police, they conducted their investigation under the pretext that a report had been filed concerning a dangerous item within the building, requiring the evacuation of everyone present.
Avoiding Zen'in Naoya, Asou Akiya kept behind one elderly postal employee.
He took out the envelope and showed the sender information printed on it.
"Can you locate the complete mailing record for this item?"
The employee nodded and began searching the system using the mailing date and post office location.
Search result: No record found.
The old employee froze.
A genuine supernatural incident had just been born.
The letter had no identifiable origin. It had appeared out of nowhere, yet somehow had still been delivered to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
At last, the weight hanging over Asou Akiya's heart eased slightly.
The lives of sorcerers and curse users were detached from ordinary society. They thought highly of themselves and preferred overwhelming force to complicated schemes.
Even if Kenjaku wanted to target him, he would hardly bother with such a roundabout method.
An hour later, after being driven by Asou Akiya to inspect the building inside and out multiple times, Zen'in Naoya finally snapped impatiently.
"There aren't any, there's no traces of a cursed spirit at all!"
Zen'in Naoya's answer caused Asou Akiya's heart to sink once more.
"But someone received a cursed letter."
Unable to tell whether Tengen's attention was currently focused on Gojo Satoru or Getou Suguru, Asou Akiya kept his expression blank and fabricated details for the sake of the mission.
"The cursed letter is written in the form of a short story. Anyone who reads its contents may be cursed to death."
Zen'in Naoya let out a cold laugh.
"Then just let them die."
Back then, when Satoru-kun had personally delivered a letter, Zen'in Naoya had refused to accept it. It was precisely because he was wary of this kind of cursed correspondence.
Had the Six Eyes not personally guaranteed its safety, he never would have taken it.
Speaking bluntly, he said, "The more powerful a curse's killing effect is, the narrower its target group tends to be. It won't have much impact on the jujutsu world anyway. Missions like this can be delayed. Once the victim dies, the assignment gets canceled on its own."
Asou Akiya, the very person Zen'in Naoya was hoping would "just die," fell silent.
"No," he said firmly. "We have to catch the cursed spirit."
Running away wasn't allowed.
Slacking off wasn't allowed.
After months of overtime, the jujutsu world's work culture had already worn away much of Zen'in Naoya's temper. His spirits visibly drooped.
Changing tack, he said, "Then I need the victim's movement history. We'll track the residual cursed energy left on the envelope."
"No problem."
Bringing along someone whose mouth he could easily keep shut, Asou Akiya was merely revisiting old locations.
Zen'in Naoya had no desire to touch the envelope directly and inspected it from a distance instead. For the time being, he failed to connect any of this to Asou Akiya.
After parking the car by the roadside, Asou Akiya retraced the route he had taken in March 2004, leading Zen'in Naoya through those familiar places.
The first stop on their trip down memory lane was Yokohama Amusement Park.
Zen'in Naoya's attention was repeatedly drawn toward some of the attractions. Maintaining an air of aristocratic aloofness, he nevertheless conducted a serious examination of the residual cursed energy.
A faint cursed aura lingered on the envelope, originating from the cursed spirit that had sent the letter.
"Not here," Zen'in Naoya concluded.
The second stop was Yokohama Cemetery.
Zen'in Naoya had absolutely no reverence for the countless gravestones surrounding him. When he accidentally kicked over an offering, he ignored it entirely.
Walking behind him, Asou Akiya bent down, set the offering upright again, pressed his palms together, and quietly offered a brief apology.
Cemeteries were fertile ground for cursed spirits.
Human fear of graveyards naturally tended to gather there.
After exorcising several low-grade cursed spirits, Zen'in Naoya carefully compared their residual energy signatures.
"None of these are the source of the cursed letter."
The third stop was an indoor swimming facility.
Zen'in Naoya took one look at the water and recoiled in disgust.
"The water's filthy. Let's leave."
Asou Akiya tried persuading him patiently.
Zen'in Naoya still shook his head and stubbornly refused to enter the pool to investigate possible traces of cursed spirits.
Splash— Asou Akiya kicked him straight into the water.
The instant Zen'in Naoya flew into a rage, Asou Akiya jumped in after him.
Without caring about the condition of the water, he wrapped his body in cursed energy. Crimson cursed energy rippled across his skin, bringing a faint warmth to the surrounding water.
Asou Akiya had his own pride.
He was never the sort of person who stood by watching others work while doing nothing himself.
The warmth surrounding him caused Zen'in Naoya's anger to falter.
"You really don't care how dirty it is, do you?"
"Dirty? Are you kidding? None of this is as filthy as the human heart and the curses born from it."
Asou Akiya was still a poor swimmer. He could barely keep himself from sinking in the deep end.
"It's still filthy, though." Zen'in Naoya muttered under his breath.
Suppressing the revulsion brought on by his germophobia, Zen'in Naoya took a deep breath and dove into the deeper section of the pool.
When he resurfaced, he caught sight of Asou Akiya clutching a life ring that one of the instructors had tossed over.
He immediately burst out laughing.
"You look like a hammer that fell into the water!"
It was a deliberately malicious jab.
There was an old saying: When an iron hammer falls into the water, it will never rise again.*
*{Note: I tried to find this proverb, but I couldn't find anything :/}
Zen'in Naoya turned to swim back to shore alone, only to inadvertently meet the other's eyes.
Cold and quiet, without the slightest trace of complaint.
Asou Akiya never called for help. He simply flailed awkwardly in the water, his black hair soaked through, his lips wet from the dirty pool water.
It was as though he had long since grown accustomed to being abandoned by others and, without hesitation, had chosen to rely only on himself.
Zen'in Naoya shuddered as if struck by electricity.
That fallen hammer slammed heavily into his heart.
When he was ten years old, he had eagerly run off to find the Zen'in Clan's disgrace, wanting to see just how pathetic the man with no cursed energy looked.
Instead, the Zen'in Toji who brushed past him had dazzled his entire childhood.
Back then, Toji...
Had possessed the same beautiful gaze.
Could it be that true strength never relied on external things?
When I was a child, I couldn't stop my cousin from leaving.
When I was a teenager, I couldn't save Toji, who had already given up on living...]l
When I cried for Toji, everyone mocked me. Even my father couldn't understand why. Only Akiya-kun handed me a tissue.
That was Toji!
The Toji, who was no less remarkable than Satoru-kun, yet had fallen into the dust!
Zen'in Naoya turned back.
Grabbing hold of Asou Akiya's life ring, he forcefully pushed him toward the edge of the pool.
—At the very least, I can still do something.
The Zen'in Naoya who had enrolled at Tokyo Jujutsu High for Gojo Satoru's sake, and who had once wagered everything on Zen'in Toji, remained silent throughout.
Only after he realized what he had just done did his spirits sink.
Zen'in Naoya could no longer keep lying to himself.
Since things had come to this, he might as well accept it.
He acknowledged Asou Akiya.
Intelligence is a form of strength.
Strength is beauty.
Beauty is everything.
And Asou Akiya was a strong person whom the jujutsu world refused to recognize.
Even his fragility belonged to the strong.
No, Akiya-kun's fragility is bait. This guy managed to sleep with Satoru-kun, after all!
Zen'in Naoya didn't dare look directly at him.
That gaze made his heart tremble.
He was afraid of being mocked.
Afraid of being ridiculed.
Afraid that the absurd reversal of opinions he had undergone would be exposed.
"Naoya?"
Asou Akiya stared at the blond teenager helping him for a long moment in surprise.
He raised a fist to his lips and coughed softly several times, easing the discomfort of having entered the water.
Then he came back to his senses, picked up the phone that had been set aside nearby, and checked it.
Fortunately, it hadn't gotten wet and still worked.
He empathized with me? Did he somehow project Toji onto me?
That was certainly an unexpected bonus.
With a flick of his fingertip, Asou Akiya ignited a flame of cursed energy.
Naturally and without drawing attention, he burned the damp sheets of letter paper hidden in his pocket, reducing them to drifting ash.
Your one redeeming quality is that your vision has never been limited to the world of jujutsu. Once you recognize someone as strong, your loyalty never wavers.
Asou Akiya ruffled Naoya's golden hair.
He didn't thank him.
Instead, he turned and walked toward the exit.
"Let's go. We still haven't found the cursed spirit behind the cursed letter. On to the next stop."
At least, that's what I think.
Zen'in Naoya, the people you admire have always been mountains, oceans, and those with the courage and strength to shatter the stale conventions of the jujutsu world.
But people like that will never look back at you.