A domain.
The ultimate expression of jujutsu, the highest realm of the art.
When domains clashed, one either overwrote the other or the two pulled against each other. It all depended on the power of both sides.
Kira Nanami's Amber Mansion was damaged and incomplete.
He had already destroyed most of the original Amber Mansion himself, so it was only natural that the domain's effects were incomplete as well.
Moreover, because this domain had been inherited rather than belonging to him from the beginning, he was not yet proficient in using it.
At most, Kira Nanami could maintain the domain for only 0.3 seconds.
But even so, even for such a brief instant—
it was still a domain.
In an instant, wind and rain came pouring down. Black brick walls rose from the ground, and a three-story building began taking shape behind Kira Nanami. In the dark, rain-soaked night, warm light flickered from every floor. Kira Nanami stood before the Western-style mansion and spread his arms.
'Yesterday's Severance.'
He used the domain's ability on himself. The sensation of rust throughout his body quickly vanished. Kira Nanami compressed the domain into a single line, braced it against the wall of Snake Head's domain, and slammed outward with all his strength.
Soon, a huge black hole was smashed through the domain from the inside. Kira Nanami leaped through the opening and dropped a blue tank.
'Look over here!'
Sheer Heart Attack roared, its wheels riding over explosions and flames as it charged straight toward Snake Head.
——
Fushiguro Megumi cut the rope tied around his body and dropped from midair.
Kira Nanami's battle above might have looked fierce, but in reality only a few dozen seconds had passed.
Fushiguro Megumi surveyed the scene around him.
A wilderness where weeds had grown back thickly, coffins proliferating greedily, and cypress roots that were thick and tangled, half exposed to the air like enormous pythons.
Barren. Desolate... That was Fushiguro Megumi's first impression of the place.
He had jumped down from above, yet still sensed nothing unusual. It seemed that 'jumping off the bridge' was not what triggered the curse.
Thinking this over, he instinctively began exploring deeper into the woods.
Suddenly, he felt dampness beneath his feet.
He looked down and realized he had stepped into water.
To get across, he would have to wade through the river.
A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Fushiguro Megumi's mind.
Cross the river and reach the other shore.
Within Jujutsu Society, that carried powerful symbolic meaning. Could crossing the river be what triggered the curse?
That had to be it. Aside from jumping off the bridge, the other action those chuunibyou teenagers all shared when they came to Yasohachi Bridge was wading through this river. It was the only route back up, so every student had to cross it.
Fushiguro Megumi made his decision.
He looked up at the sky. It was dim and hazy, as though covered by a thin veil of gauze.
He would wait for Kira-senpai. Fushiguro Megumi had no intention of recklessly soloing a dungeon.
He took out his phone, intending to call Kira Nanami.
But just before his fingertip touched the screen, the phone lit up and began to buzz.
Someone was calling him.
Fushiguro Megumi frowned and looked at the screen. It was an unfamiliar number.
He answered.
A shy voice came from the other end. "Hello, um, hi... Is this Fushiguro Megumi?"
"Yeah."
"I'm Fujisao's older sister. Do you still remember Fujisao...? That delinquent you beat up back in high school. These days he keeps calling you Boss Fushiguro, and whenever he mentions you at home he's incredibly respectful. He even set up a portrait of you in his room and bows to it before leaving the house every day..."
"He really worships you. In private he calls you 'The Wolf Looming over Tokyo,' 'The Black-Winged Eagle of the Empire,' and 'The Last Splendor of the Showa Era'..."
"Could you please get to the point?"
Fushiguro Megumi looked utterly mortified. He coughed in embarrassment, the tips of his ears turning red.
Having his embarrassing past recited directly to him was painful enough, especially when it was delivered in a tone of genuine admiration. Fushiguro Megumi could tell she was sincerely praising him, which only made him even more mortified.
Mortified enough to want to crawl into a hole and hide.
"What exactly happened?"
"I saw you at Yasohachi Bridge just now, but before I could say hello, you disappeared somewhere... So I had no choice but to get your number from my little brother."
Fushiguro Megumi raised an eyebrow.
"Don't go... Don't go."
The voice on the other end choked slightly, her tone beginning to tremble.
"That place is seriously creepy. I went there for a test of courage back then too, but I got scared and secretly ran home... There is definitely something wrong with that place."
"...Mr. Morishita was our neighbor. We all knew the elevator doors were always closed. My parents said it was just a coincidence, but there was definitely something there..."
Fushiguro Megumi clicked his tongue instinctively.
Morishita... He remembered that name from the case files.
That strangely upbeat-sounding name belonged to one of the three victims.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Please, go ahead."
"Who else went to that test of courage with you?"
"There were only two upperclassmen from the club..."
The woman on the other end thought for a moment, trying hard to remember, then added,
"Oh, right. Your sister too."
"Fushiguro Tsumiki-senpai came with us that time."
Fushiguro Megumi froze where he stood. A mass of cold seemed to crawl straight up his spine and into his brain, leaving his hands and feet icy.
"Fushiguro? Fushiguro!"
Fushiguro did not answer. He only gave a soft "oh" before hanging up.
Cold sweat ran down his cheek.
——
Fushiguro Tsumiki had fallen into a coma. Fushiguro Megumi's sister, Fushiguro Tsumiki, had fallen into a coma.
She was only an ordinary person with no special abilities. Always making noise. Always annoying.
Back in high school, Fushiguro Megumi firmly believed in one principle.
"Don't cause trouble for other people. In return, other people aren't allowed to cause trouble for me either. And 'trouble' here means everything."
Back then, he was always a little rebellious, always young and hot-blooded.
Always a little arrogant.
Fighting, fighting. It seemed to be part of his daily life. He did not need much of a reason; if he saw behavior he disliked, he would simply beat the person responsible.
Fushiguro Megumi in high school truly was a delinquent. If a teacher only knew how to throw their weight around, he would beat them until they were too scared to come to school. If the food tasted bad, he simply would not pay...
Fushiguro Tsumiki was his sister, though they were not related by blood.
She was the person he hated most.
Fushiguro Megumi had only one judgment for her.
'Disgusting.'
Being a kind person was the easiest thing in the world, and also the most irresponsible. To be kind, one only had to show mercy to everyone without caring whether the other person was good or evil. But that also made so-called 'kindness' hypocritical. Being unconditionally good to everyone was itself a kind of irresponsibility.
Fushiguro Tsumiki was exactly that sort of kind person. She treated everyone well and forgave other people's mistakes even when she was the one who got hurt... She was that kind of nauseating person.
And yet it was precisely someone like her, someone perfect in every respect. Precisely someone like her, precisely someone so kind—
who had been cursed, condemned to lie endlessly in darkness.
Someone that kind.
Fushiguro Megumi closed his eyes, then snapped them open again.
Rage blazed in his pupils, vast enough to contain an entire midsummer, an entire sea of fire.
Fujisao-san had never gone up onto Yasohachi Bridge. The test of courage had taken place beneath the bridge, so jumping from above was not what triggered the curse. A domain imbued with a technique could not remain in place for long, so this should be similar to the incomplete domain he had encountered last time at Eishu Juvenile Detention Center...
Fushiguro Megumi calmly analyzed the situation. His mind was incomparably still—so still it felt foreign to him, so still it sent a chill down his spine.