After finishing the long and depressing statements at the police station, the sky had already darkened.
The three girls walked out of the station in silence, the cool night breeze unable to dispel the heavy chill shrouding their hearts.
"Where are we going?" Megumi asked softly.
Her face was still somewhat pale, but her emotions seemed to have stabilized.
Utaha looked at Eriri, who was leaning almost entirely on her with hollow eyes, and then at Megumi, who also needed comforting, and sighed. "Let's find a place to sit, we all need to calm down."
They found a cafe not far from the police station that looked quiet and had private booths. The warm lights and the aroma of coffee slightly dispelled some of the gloom.
In the enclosed booth, isolated from the noise of the outside world, Eriri, who had been holding it together, finally broke down. She slumped over the table, her shoulders shaking violently as her cries were finally unleashed without restraint.
"Why... why did it have to be Tomoya... that idiot..." She sobbed intermittently.
Utaha sat silently beside her, hesitated for a moment, and reached out to gently put an arm around her shoulder. At this moment, any words seemed hollow. Only companionship could convey a tiny, insignificant bit of warmth.
Megumi sat on the other side, silently handing over a tissue.
As Eriri's crying gradually subsided into soft sobs, a subtle silence fell over the booth.
Megumi looked up, her eyes, which usually seemed to lack any emotional ripple, now clearly reflecting confusion and a faint, nearly imperceptible fear as she looked at Utaha.
Megumi's voice was soft, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly. "Senpai, at Aki-kun's house, that... thing we saw on the ceiling, what exactly was it? And senpai, you... seemed to have turned into a completely different person later."
Utaha's body stiffened instantly. What was bound to come had arrived.
She opened her mouth, but found she didn't even know where to begin.
Was she supposed to tell them that a thousand-year-old monster lived in her face, and that he had just controlled her body to insta-kill that monster? It sounded more absurd than any urban legend.
Just as she was racking her brain for a way to brush it off, she felt a familiar, hair-raising sensation of something squirming against the skin of her cheek.
"Hey, little girl, you can't hide it. Let this great one explain it to these two terrified brats." Sukuna's lazy voice echoed directly in her mind.
"No! You'll scare them!" Utaha protested vehemently in her mind.
"Scare them? They've already been scared. Explaining it clearly now is better than letting them overthink it, or having them dealt with by the professionals who will come looking for them later." Sukuna's tone carried an unquestionable certainty.
Utaha wanted to argue further, but she felt the control over her facial muscles being forcibly stripped away.
In the reflection of Eriri and Megumi's suddenly constricted pupils, she saw the two cracks on her cheek, which had previously faded, clearly emerge and open once more.
A bloodshot eye and a mouth with a mocking curve at the corner appeared on Utaha's exquisite, flawless face.
"Ah!" Eriri shrieked in terror, shrinking back abruptly and hitting the back of the sofa.
Even the usually calm Megumi instantly covered her mouth, her eyes filled with unbelievable horror.
"Good evening, ladies." A deep, magnetic male voice came from the extra mouth, completely different from Utaha's original cool tone.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ryomen Sukuna. As you can see, I am currently taking up temporary residence in Kasumigaoka's body."
"M-Monster! Get out of Utaha's face!"
Though Eriri was shaking with fear, she grabbed the sugar jar from the table, making a move as if to throw it.
"Monster?" Sukuna let out a low laugh, as if he had heard a funny joke.
"Back at that house, if it weren't for this 'monster,' you'd be snacks for that pile of excrement by now. Where's the gratitude?"
Megumi took a deep breath, forcing down the fear in her heart. She tugged at the corner of Eriri's clothes and gave Sukuna a slight nod. "Th-thank you very much for saving us. May I ask... does the 'excrement' you mentioned... refer to that monster?"
"Not a bad reaction, much better than this black-stockinged fat woman was at the start." Sukuna commented with interest, completely ignoring Utaha's internal roaring.
"Correct, that thing is called a Cursed Spirit. Simply put, it's the negative emotions you humans usually produce, like fear, anxiety, jealousy, resentment. When these things accumulate, they turn into an energy called Cursed Energy, and then this filthy energy gathers to form those things."
"Human... negative emotions?" Eriri temporarily forgot her fear, drawn in by this inconceivable explanation.
"Of course, ordinary people can't see them, nor can they sense Cursed Energy. It's a protection mechanism to keep fragile creatures like you from going insane by living in fear of being surrounded by monsters all day." Sukuna's tone held its usual mockery.
"However, in extreme cases, like when facing life-threatening danger, ordinary people might temporarily see them, just like you did."
He paused, his eye turning toward Utaha before turning back. "As for me, I'm not on the same level as those low-level Cursed Spirits. I am the King of Curses, the ultimate manifestation of Cursed Energy itself. Dwelling in this girl's body is just an... accident, or rather, she's quite lucky."
"How is this lucky?" Utaha couldn't help but retort in her consciousness.
Sukuna continued to the two listeners, "Anyway, this world is far more dangerous and filthy than what you see. Since you've already seen a Cursed Spirit, it means a crack has appeared in that protective shell. According to the rules of this world, it's very likely that people who specialize in handling such incidents will come looking for you next."
"People who specialize in handling them?" Megumi keenly caught the key point.
Sukuna explained, "Yeah, a bunch of guys who call themselves Jujutsu Sorcerers. They are born able to see Cursed Spirits and can manipulate Cursed Energy to exorcise them, maintaining some sort of ridiculous balance."
"Jujutsu Sorcerers usually belong to a 'Jujutsu World' hidden beneath ordinary society. According to their custom, there are generally two ways they handle ordinary people who accidentally glimpse the truth."
The air in the booth seemed to freeze.
Eriri and Megumi held their breath, waiting for the verdict of fate.
Sukuna's voice was as flat as if he were discussing the weather. "The first, and most common, is for a Jujutsu Sorcerer to step in and erase or blur that unpleasant memory, letting you return to your normal life and continue being ignorant sheep."
Erase memories?
This option made Utaha's heart tighten.
To forget everything that happened today, to forget the true cause of Tomoya's death, even to forget Sukuna's existence...
It sounded nice, but a strong sense of unwillingness surged within her.
If she ran away from the truth, could she really pretend it didn't exist?
"And the second?" Utaha asked on behalf of the other two.
"The second?" Sukuna let out an ambiguous chuckle.
"If you're exceptionally talented, or if the other side thinks you have utility, they might invite you to join them and become part of the Jujutsu World. You'd learn how to control and use Cursed Energy, then spend your days dealing with the trash produced by human negative emotions like scavengers. However, this path isn't easy. The mortality rate is terrifyingly high."
Whether it was having their memories erased or being forced into a dangerous new world, neither was easy for two ordinary high school girls.
Eriri's face was full of struggle and fear, while Megumi fell into deep thought, seemingly weighing something.