"Damn bastard."
Ren stretched his arms above his head, working out the stiffness from two weeks of sleeping on concrete and park benches. Before him stood Tokyo Jujutsu High—traditional wooden buildings nestled between modern barriers, the air thick with cursed energy that made his skin prickle.
This was supposed to be a fresh start.
It felt like a cage.
"Welcome to Jujutsu High!" Kazuki's voice was infuriatingly cheerful. "I hope you'll enjoy your stay."
Ren shot him a flat look. "You say that like I had a choice."
"You did. You could've chosen death." Kazuki's smile never wavered. "You picked this. Own it."
Ren sighed, shouldering his duffel bag. "So what about my family? You guys going to protect me from them, or am I just waiting around to get assassinated?"
"Don't worry about the Kagami Clan." Kazuki started walking toward the main gates, hands in his pockets. "They won't come after you anymore. You're under the custody of the Gojo Clan now."
He glanced back, and even through the blindfold, Ren could feel those Six Eyes boring into him.
"Touch you, and they're touching us. And nobody's stupid enough to pick a fight with the Gojo Clan."
Ren fell into step beside him, boots crunching on the gravel path. Students in the distance stopped their conversations to stare. Word had already spread.
"It was about twenty years ago that Satoru Gojo died, right?" Ren asked, partly to fill the silence, partly because he was curious. Everyone knew the name, but the details were murky—legend mixed with truth.
"Yeah." Kazuki's expression softened slightly, something almost wistful crossing his features. "The fight between Satoru Gojo and Ryomen Sukuna shook the entire jujutsu world. I was just a baby when it happened, but my parents told me the stories growing up. Over and over."
He tilted his head toward the sky, the white blindfold stark against his black hair.
Kazuki's smile returned, lighter this time.
"Either way, I inherited his eyes. Lucky me."
There was something bitter buried in that last sentence, but before Ren could press, Kazuki gestured ahead.
"Come on. Let's get you registered!"
"Hey..."
Kazuki glanced over. "Yeah?"
Ren hesitated.
"I have... someone. Someone I need to see."
"Someone?" Kazuki's tone was curious.
"A... special someone." Ren's voice dropped lower, and...was that a hint of red creeping up his neck?! "I was hoping... maybe I could see her. Make sure she's okay."
Kazuki stopped walking.
"Oh?" A grin spread across his face. "Someone like you has a girlfriend?"
"NOT SO LOUD!" Ren's hand shot out, clamping over Kazuki's mouth. His face was definitely red now, eyes darting to make sure no passing students heard. "What I'm trying to say is—I need to know she's safe. After everything that happened..."
His voice trailed off.
Kazuki gently pulled Ren's hand away, his expression softening into something more genuine.
"Yumi Logica, right?"
Ren froze. "H-How did you—"
"We have our ways." Kazuki's tone was reassuring now. "She's safe, Ren. We've been keeping tabs on her since you left the Kagami compound. The Gojo Clan made sure of it."
Relief washed over Ren's face for just a moment before Kazuki continued.
"Though... the Kagami Clan is looking for her. Actively."
The relief vanished.
Ren's hands clenched into fists, knuckles going white. Cursed energy began to leak from him in thin wisps, dark and volatile.
"Those bastards..." His voice came out low, dangerous. "If they lay a single finger on her, I swear I'll—"
STAB.
Pain.
Ren looked down.
A blade…sleek, cursed energy crackling along its edge—protruded from his side, just below his ribs. Blood bloomed across his shirt, spreading fast.
"S-Shit..." His knees buckled. "Ngh...
"REN!"
The blade twisted, then yanked free.
Blood sprayed.
Ren collapsed to his knees, hand pressed uselessly against the wound. The world spun, colors bleeding together like watercolor left in the rain.
"Well, that was easy."
A girl stepped out from the shadows—long red hair tied back in a high ponytail, dressed head to toe in black tactical gear. A Kagami Clan crest gleamed on her shoulder. She twirled the bloodied blade casually, examining it with mild disappointment.
"I thought he had Special Grade potential." She glanced at Ren's crumpled form with a theatrical sigh. "Guess the rumors were exaggerated."
Kazuki's cursed energy exploded.
The air itself seemed to warp around him, pressure building like a storm about to break. His hand rose, Blue already forming at his fingertips—a swirling vortex of crushing gravity ready to rip her apart.
"You're dead—"
Something grabbed the back of his uniform.
A hand.
Weak. Trembling. But there.
Kazuki froze.
He glanced back.
Ren was standing.
Barely. His legs shook like they might give out any second, one hand still clutching his bleeding side while the other gripped Kazuki's shirt for balance. Blood dripped steadily from the corner of his mouth, staining his teeth red.
But he was standing.
"How..." Kazuki's voice was barely a whisper. "You can't even use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal yourself. That wound should've—"
"I don't..." Ren spat blood onto the ground, his breathing ragged. "...don't need it."
He raised his head, eyes locking onto the red-haired assassin.
"I've got luck... after all."
His other hand released Kazuki's shirt and pointed directly at the girl, finger shaking.
"You." His voice was stronger now. "I recognize you."
The girl's confident expression faltered slightly.
"You're the servant..." Ren took a step forward. "The one who saw me leave the compound. You dropped those plates.
Her grin returned.
"Did you really think the Kagami Clan would just let you walk away, Ren?
"Heh..."
Ren's laugh came out weak, pained, but genuine.
"I guess I really am an idiot."
He looked up at Kazuki, blood still trickling from the corner of his mouth. But his eyes—his eyes were alive. Burning with something that hadn't been there before.
Clarity.
Purpose.
"Screw Jujutsu High." His voice grew steadier with each word. "Screw the higher-ups. Screw all of it."
Kazuki's expression shifted, cautious now. "Ren—"
"All my problems..." Ren pushed himself up slightly, ignoring the screaming pain in his side. "They all stem from one place. One source."
He smiled.
It was the smile of someone who'd just made a decision they couldn't take back.
"The Kagami Clan."
The name hung in the air like a curse.
"Have you ever heard," Ren continued, his voice taking on an almost conversational tone, "of the Zenin Clan?"
Kazuki's eyes narrowed behind his blindfold. "Everyone has. They were one of the Big Three, alongside the Gojo and Kamo Clans. But—"
"They were wiped out." Ren's smile widened. "Completely. Erased from existence. By a single person."
He let that sink in.
"Maki Zenin. One woman with a Heavenly Restriction and a grudge. She walked into that compound and didn't stop until every last one of them was dead. The clan that raised her, tortured her, looked down on her—gone."
Ren's cursed energy began to leak from him again, wild and unstable. The air around him shimmered.
"Do you understand what I'm trying to say, Kazuki?"
Before Kazuki could answer, Ren clapped his hands together.
BOOM.
A shockwave of cursed energy exploded outward, whipping his bloodied clothes and hair. The ground cracked beneath him. Students who hadn't already fled scattered in panic.
And behind him…
Fortune's Wheel manifested.
A massive wheel of pure golden cursed energy materialized in the air behind Kagami Ren, easily three meters in diameter. Its surface was covered in intricate symbols—kanji, numbers, abstract patterns that seemed to shift and change as it slowly rotated. Each spoke represented a different fate, a different outcome, a different roll of the dice.
It cast his shadow long and dark across the courtyard.
Ren's voice dropped low.
"I'm going to kill every single member of the Kagami Clan before I die."
His eyes locked onto Kazuki's.
"Just like Maki Zenin did."
The wheel spun faster behind him, golden light bleeding into the air like liquid fire.
"You really are an idiot," Kazuki said softly.
He stood, dusting off his uniform.
"But I suppose that's what makes you interesting."
[3rd October XXXX] [Kagami Ren Declaration Of War]