Chapter Text
“Unit 00, this is Control. We have lost visual on the target. They were last seen headed your way, northbound.”
“Copy that. We’ll keep an eye out.”
“Reinforcements will arrive in twenty minutes. Hold your position until then.”
A hand moved from beneath the forest canopy, startling a lizard who had been lounging on it. Sukuna swiped his index finger over his earpiece and interrupted, “This is Akai. Send the reinforcements to the western border instead. We’ll have this place cleared in five.”
The line fell silent. A few beeps later, the line switched to a private channel and a different voice responded. “Can’t you let your juniors take this one?”
A subtle distortion of space registered 3,000 yards away. Although the enemy had hidden themselves with stealth technology, they couldn’t escape Sukuna’s experienced eyes. Tagging the small disturbance on his biosensor glasses, Sukuna smirked and said, “They can show off after I’m gone.”
He tapped his temple and made a beckoning motion at Uraume, who was stationed a few hundred yards from his main unit. They nodded and readjusted the scope of their rifle in the direction Sukuna marked.
The man on the other line sighed. “This is exactly why HQ won’t promote you to commander.”
2,000 yards. Sukuna checked his rifle and handgun as he signaled his unit to prepare for interception. Headquarters called them a unit, but it was just five people including himself and Uraume. Crinkling his nose, he retorted, “Who the fuck said I wanted to be one?”
“...” Kenjaku was at a loss for words. Eventually, he returned to the mission at hand and warned, “It’s been two minutes already. What happened to finishing in five?”
Sukuna rolled his eyes. “Relax. When have I ever failed to deliver on my promise?”
Looking at his team, he silently pointed his finger up. A second later, all three combatants leaped into the trees. He jumped up last, combat boots landing easily on a tree branch.
1,000 yards.
He sent one last transmission before he closed the private channel. “I’m ending the call. You’ll hear from me in three minutes.”
Without missing a beat, he switched to his unit’s channel and ordered, “Shoot their nest.”
“Roger that.” Sniper shots sounded a distance away, accurately hitting the enemy convoy and destroying their invisibility shield. Sukuna watched in schadenfreude as the cars swerved and turned in a panic, losing their neat formation. Under the snipers’ carefully aimed shots, the convoy changed direction and began heading straight for Sukuna.
“Perfect as always,” Sukuna praised Uraume’s sniping.
Just like that, the foolish prey was led straight into its predator's waiting mouth. He counted the number of cars. “Six cars total. Which means three for me, one each for the rest of you.”
When the last car entered their zone, Sukuna dropped down from the tree branch and swung through the car window heel first, knocking the copilot unconscious and shooting the driver through the skull in one smooth movement. His other hand stabbed the backseat gunman’s neck with his blade, using the body as a shield when the second criminal in the backseat fired her gun. Before the woman could press the trigger a second time, Sukuna had already put a bullet through her head.
Acting on muscle memory, he followed a similar process for two more cars. His team cleared out the remaining three.
After confirming that there were no more enemies, Sukuna swiped his earpiece and reported their success to control.
An incoming call sounded minutes later, and Sukuna sighed. What a busybody; did Kenjaku have nothing better to do? “I don’t know why HQ still keeps you in their ranks when all you do is laze around.”
“How rude! Asking about the status of my friend’s mission is important work.” Kenjaku paused as if he were reading the mission debrief. “Four minutes and forty-six seconds. Not bad.”
Sukuna scoffed. “Yeah, not even enough time for you to take a shit on government time.”
Kenjaku opted to ignore the snub and praised, “I doubt anyone else could have done as good a job as you did. Color me impressed.”
Sukuna tsked, kicking the dirt below him. “It was quite uneventful for my last mission, if I do say so myself.”
“Hah, you call that uneventful? Wait, last mission? You’re really retiring?? Does your team know?”
Sukuna glanced at his team, who were currently dragging the bodies out of the cars and inspecting their belongings. “No.”
They were brothers-in-arms on the battlefield, but complete strangers outside of it. Sukuna didn’t form a habit of making friends with his comrades. What was the point of forming emotional attachments when they could die at any moment? Besides, the less they knew about each other’s personal lives, the safer it was for them.
When they returned to the base that night, Sukuna had his final debriefing with the division leaders. After completing the discharge procedures, he quietly packed up his bags and left the dormitory. In the end, he still left a handwritten note informing the team of his departure, and an encrypted burner phone in case they needed to reach him for an emergency.
A special force’s retirement and personal life was classified information, even more so for someone as extraordinary as Sukuna. This was the best farewell he could give them.
When Sukuna landed back in his country, what greeted him was a raging snowstorm that swept through the airbase. Having been abroad for years, he had almost forgotten how cold his homeland was during winter.
He trudged through the snow, carrying his duffel bags over his shoulder and wishing he had a cap to protect his freezing buzzcut, until a youthful voice shouted his name.
“Uncle Sukuna! Over here!”
A snowman—no, a teenager swaddled in an oversized puffer jacket waved excitedly at Sukuna. Squinting his eyes, Sukuna could just make out the resemblance to his older brother Jin. He could have sworn Yuji was just a baby the last time Sukuna saw him.
He made his way over to the hyperactive kid and glanced around. “Where are your parents, kid?”
Yuji shrugged. “They couldn’t make it, so they sent me instead.” His eyes widened in excitement, and he gushed, “This place is so cool! There are so many planes I’ve never seen before! I wanted to take some pics but they wouldn’t let me.”
Sukuna snorted. “Yeah, no shit. You can’t take photos in a military base.”
He went through the motions of discharge procedures a second time and baggage check with a pink-haired duckling in tow. When they finally reached the parking lot, Yuji pulled out his phone and tapped away. A minute later, a car stopped in front of them.
Sukuna peered through the front window and frowned. A self-driving car. Powered by artificial intelligence. His mortal enemy.
Opening the door to the back, Yuji hopped into the backseat and poked his head out. “Come on, hop in!”
Instead of “hopping in”, Sukuna circled the car, inspecting it for any hidden contraptions and faults. Then he walked up to the driver’s seat and pulled open the door. “Brat, can you override the self-driving AI?”
Yuji blinked back in confusion. “Uhh…I can do it on the app, but it won’t be cheaper. Why not just let it drive us? It’s safer anyway.”
Sukuna scoffed. “AI will never be as good at driving as me. Back in my day, we earned our driver’s license through hard work and skill. I had the highest marks on the military vehicle exam. No AI is going to replace me.”
A groan interrupted him. “You’re even worse than dad,” Yuji complained as he typed something on his phone. “Alright, I disabled it. You can now drive to your heart’s content.”
But Sukuna was not done yet. Eyeing the not-so-hidden cameras, microphones, and biosensors embedded in the car, he asked, “Disable the sensors as well. I didn’t give permission to have my biometric data recorded and sold on the black market.”
Yuji stared at Sukuna like he had grown an extra pair of eyes. “You know Uncle, you’re kinda paranoid.”
“I’m careful. That’s what kept me alive all these years,” Sukuna corrected his ignorant nephew.
“Okay. Whatever you say.” Yuji slouched in the backseat, scrolling through the app settings. “Sorry Unc, you can’t disable them. It says that passenger data must be recorded for safety and performance reasons.”
The car ride home was silent. Sukuna decided that since the car company wanted to collect their information so badly, he’d give them nothing to collect. No audio, no visual—Sukuna wore a mask to hide his face and made Yuji do the same, and no fingerprints because he made them wear gloves.
Anyone who looked at the situation would think Sukuna was overreacting. But the truth was, Sukuna had been in far too many situations where AI and information leaks killed his men and jeopardized his missions. Although he was no longer on the field, his instincts and wariness remained the same. Unfortunately, what was considered good practice in the military was viewed as paranoia in normal society.
Sukuna sighed, a headache brewing. He had a feeling it would take a long time for him to transition back to civilian life. At the very least, he hoped that the rest of today would go smoothly.
It did not go smoothly. If anything, it went horribly.
Before he left his apartment years ago, it had been in a pristine state. Sleek metal accents, polished furniture in a maroon and gunmetal gray palette, and floor-to-ceiling windows so clear that birds would accidentally fly into them.
Now, it looked like a bird’s nest. Brightly colored sweaters littered the living room couches, and books and miscellaneous garbage piled up on his coffee table and rug. As he stepped past the living room to the kitchen, the smell of greasy, half-eaten pizza assaulted his senses. He looked down at the cardboard pizza box and read the name on the order receipt.
Itadori Yuji.
“Ahem,” Yuji coughed sheepishly. “Dad called me to pick you up at the last minute, so I didn’t really have time to clean…I promise it’s not usually this messy! I just finished finals, so I didn’t have time to clean yet.”
Right. Therein lay headache number two. Because Yuji attended a high school far from home, Jin had asked if he could stay at Sukuna’s place since it was in the vicinity. When Sukuna received Jin’s call, he had been in the middle of a mission rotation and agreed without much thought.
And now, his moment of compassion (weakness) had come back to bite him in the ass.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Sukuna let out a heavy exhale. “So when are you moving out?”
Yuji blinked and tilted his head like a confused baby bird. “What are you talking about? I still have two years before I graduate. I can’t leave until then.”
Sukuna barked out a laugh at the audacity of the brat in front of him. He truly had inherited Jin’s talent for pissing him off. “When you graduate has nothing to do with me. Listen closely, brat. This is my house. I own it, I pay the bills, not you. And I’m not your father, so I have no obligation to let you stay.”
Yuji blinked owlishly again—it made Sukuna want to slap some sense into him—and scurried toward the guest bedroom. Sukuna let out a sigh of relief. Good. The sooner the kid packed his bags and left, the sooner he could have some peace and quiet.
A few minutes later, Yuji returned with a white envelope. Holding it out to Sukuna, he said, “Dad thought you might say that, so he told me to give you this if you try to kick me out.”
The headache was getting worse by the second. Sukuna’s eyebrow twitched as he snatched the envelope and ripped it open. In it was a medical bill for his father’s cancer treatment, with a cursive writing he wished he didn’t recognize.
Paid in full by yours truly :)
Seriously? Jin was holding their father’s medical bill over his head? Sukuna had been deployed when that happened, of course he couldn’t chip in! He didn’t even hear the news until two months later!
“Your dad’s a piece of shit,” Sukuna growled, throwing the paper into the trash can.
A huge smile lit up Yuji’s face. “So I can stay?”
Pointing his index finger at the teenager, Sukuna ordered, “Clean up the apartment by the end of tomorrow. I don’t want to see a speck of dust. Clean up the kitchen after you use it and do not throw your shit around. Lights out by 22– by 10 PM; if I hear a peep out of you after that then you can sleep on the streets.”
“10 PM!? That’s early hours!” Yuji wailed. “What are you, a grandpa?”
Smacking a hand on the kitchen counter, Sukuna glared at his nephew. “Don’t test me, kid. I’ve had a shit day and I won’t hesitate to throw you off the balcony. Those are the house rules. If you don’t like them, then find a new place to stay.”
He grabbed his duffel bags and walked toward the master bedroom. “I’m going to sleep now. Do not make any noise. I’ve killed more men than you can count for interrupting my sleep.”
It was actually enemy personnel whom he killed for trying to attack him when he was asleep, but he needed to instill fear in Yuji. Teenagers were the worst kind to deal with.
“How am I supposed to vacuum without making noise??”
“Figure that out yourself, brat.”
Dust clouded every corner of the room, blocking his vision. Perhaps it was better this way, because he wouldn’t be able to see the bloodied flesh and fallen bodies of his allies.
Another explosion rocked the building, ringing his ears. He lost his balance, hand scraping the crumbling floor beneath him. Footsteps thundered up the stairs, distant gunfire following suit. The sounds came closer and closer, until he knew they were headed his way next. Fuck—he fumbled against the concrete—where was his gun, he couldn’t see shit—
Sukuna jolted awake, gasping as crisp, clean air flooded his lungs. His right hand automatically reached underneath his pillow where his handgun lay, and pointed it straight above him. The bedroom ceiling fan stared back, quiet and innocuous in its movements.
Right. He was back home, in his bedroom. Sukuna dropped his hand against his forehead. It’s just a dream, he reassured himself. The problem was why he had this dream in the first place.
Gunfire and crackling sounds trickled through the bedroom door. Now that he calmed down, it didn’t sound like the military-issued firearms he frequently heard on the field. Instead, it sounded more animated and distorted, like the sound effects common in action movies and games.
There was only one other person in this apartment who could be responsible for this. A surge of anger swelled in him, and he yanked off his comforter, taking large strides to the hallway. He followed the source of noise until he stood in front of the powder room. Taking a deep breath, he counted to five in his head to calm himself down, then pulled the door open.
On the toilet seat sat Yuji, eyes locked on some stupid video on his phone. His pants pooled at his ankles, displaying his flashy racecar boxer in all its glory.
This fucking piece of shit brat. Sukuna’s hand trembled as it gripped the door handle, willing all that was holy to stop him from murdering the kid before him.
Yuji froze and looked up like a deer caught in headlights. “Uhh…hi? Do you need to use the bathroom too, Uncle?”
Heh. Forget re-integrating into society; he was going to prison for homicide.
“What. Did. I. Say. About. Noise.” Sukuna gritted out, his voice dropping to the depths of hell.
Finally, Yuji seemed to realize the situation he was in and paused the video, stashing his phone away. “Sorry! I didn’t think you would hear. This bathroom is pretty far from your room…”
“Just.” Deep breaths, Sukuna. He’s just a stupid brat. “Get your ass out of the bathroom. And don’t use your phone on the toilet again, that’s fucking nasty.”
Yuji opened his mouth, but one murderous glare from Sukuna shut him up. Huffing in anger, Sukuna slammed the door shut. Great. Now that he was awake, he didn’t feel like going back to sleep.
His stomach rumbled, and he took that as a cue to make some food. The kitchen looked mostly clean; the pizza and unwashed dishes had been properly cleaned up. At least he did the bare minimum, Sukuna reluctantly grumbled and opened the fridge.
A few minutes later, Yuji slinked onto a barstool and silently watched Sukuna make an omelette. After a while, he slipped on earbuds and continued watching where he left off.
Sukuna glanced at the video playing on his phone and admonished, “Stop watching those videos. Real warfare is far worse than you think.”
Yuji perked up and removed an earbud. “Oh? You know about Jujutsu Kaisen, Uncle?”
“What?” Sukuna furrowed his brows in confusion. Was the kid talking about Jujitsu? As part of his Special Forces training, he had learned that martial art.
“Wow, you don’t know what JJK is? Err…I guess that makes sense since you’ve been gone for so long.” Seeing that Sukuna had no idea what he was referring to, Yuji smiled and pulled up a game trailer on his phone.
As it played in the background, Yuji passionately introduced the game. “Jujutsu Kaisen is a fully immersive VR game that allows you to be anything you want! It’s set in a world similar to ours, but with fantasy elements.”
Sukuna glanced at the trailer as it displayed a battle between a human with superpowers and a monster. A typical MMORPG game, then, Sukuna concluded.
“The best part is that your skills in real life will transfer inside the game! You’ll probably be pretty cracked at this game, Uncle.” Yuji flashed Sukuna a thumbs up.
When the trailer ended, Sukuna tossed the phone back. “Not interested.” He’d had his fair share of VR and AR “games” in the military. They were frequently used in training to simulate real battlefield conditions and sparring partners. One of the rare useful cases of AI, Sukuna begrudgingly admitted.
Yuji tried to advertise the game once more. “I read that a lot of veterans play this game. It helps them process their…uh, PTSD, and helps them ease into civilian life. Or something like that.”
“Or something like that.” Sukuna parroted, raising an eyebrow in skepticism. This brat had the audacity to worry about his uncle when he was less than half of Sukuna’s age and one strike away from becoming homeless.
“Well, I’ll send you the link if you change your mind! It’s free to download, but you need to buy a headset to play it. You can borrow mine if you want,” Yuji offered, typing away at his phone.
A ding vibrated in Sukuna’s pocket, and he looked down at the message Yuji sent. Ignoring it, he continued cooking his meal.
He was too old for games. Besides, he had far more important things to do, like keeping his nephew busy.
“You finished cleaning already? I’m checking tonight.”
“...Shoot, I’m going now!”
Although Sukuna had said (very adamantly) that he wouldn’t play, the message haunted his sleep. For the next two weeks, he would catch Yuji watching a game match on his laptop or phone and had to resist the urge to correct the player’s form.
If I were them, I wouldn’t have moved there.
Why’d he choose that angle?
…He just exposed himself. Could’ve stayed alive for two more minutes if he hadn’t.
Damn, that shooting is atrocious. And that’s not how you hold a deagle.
No matter which match Yuji watched, Sukuna came to the confident conclusion that he could best all of them. They must have been new or low-ranked players to play this badly.
When he voiced his critique to Yuji, he just laughed it off. “Those are my classmates’ matches. They aren’t the best, but they aren’t bad either. I’m doing a game review for them.”
Sukuna raised his eyebrow. Yuji was reviewing their gameplay? That implied that his skill level was better than that of his classmates. Sukuna felt a small twinge of pride; let it be known that the Itadori family had superior genes.
“Here, let me show you what actual pro gameplay looks like.” Yuji tapped the search bar and pulled up a different video. Then he connected his phone to the TV and broadcast the match.
Sukuna read the match overview at the bottom of the screen.
Jujutsu Kaisen Tournament 0 Semifinals:
Satoru Gojo (JPN) vs. Miguel Oduol (KEN)
Since he had nothing better to do this afternoon, he decided he might as well humor his nephew and watch along with him. But if it was shit, he would never listen to the kid again.
Right off the bat, Sukuna could sense something was different. For one, they used props that looked like an expandable rope and supernatural abilities that Sukuna hadn’t seen in the previous videos. For another, the overall skills of both contestants were far superior to Yuji’s classmates.
In particular, the white-haired man was on a whole other level. If Miguel was built like a tank, then Satoru was built like a nuke. He shone so brilliantly, so explosively, that Sukuna was mesmerized by his movements. Sukuna’s blood boiled as he imagined himself in a battle against Satoru Gojo. He visualized how he would block Gojo’s punch, where he would land his own. How they would each take advantage of the terrain to gain an upper hand.
Sukuna was no longer a spectator, but an active participant in the battle. He felt like he was back in the field, getting the same spine-chilling thrill he only received from the best of fights. If he were still in the military, he would have recruited this player in a heartbeat. Unknowingly, he shifted forward in his seat, a crazed smile on his face.
The white-haired man rained a flurry of punches and kicks on his opponent. Wing Chun, Sukuna realized with glee. It wasn’t perfect; Sukuna could see some areas where the man could improve in close combat. However, it was levels above how ordinary citizens and even some special forces personnel performed. Was this a fellow soldier or one of the veterans Yuji mentioned?
When the match ended as expected in Gojo’s victory, Sukuna relaxed his fists that he hadn’t realized were clenched.
Yuji had been observing his uncle’s starstruck reaction the entire time and grinned smugly. “Not bad, right?”
“Hmph. The winner, Satoru Gojo, who is he?”
Yuji’s eyes sparkled as he grabbed the remote control. “He’s so cool, right? That’s the top ranked player in JJK right now. He’s been undefeated since his debut in the professional circle, and he’s my favorite pro player. I knew you’d be his fan too!”
“Fan? I’m not—nevermind, play another match of his.” He’d let Yuji’s offensive comment slide this time.
Three hours later, Sukuna finished watching all of Gojo’s tournament matches. Yuji had long stopped watching, his focus on a group chat with his friends. Sukuna checked the time: 7:30 PM. He had passed his usual dinner time.
Getting up from the couch, he stretched his arms and legs and announced, “We’ll order in tonight. Choose what you want, brat.”
Yuji snapped out of his conversation and cheered. “I want sushi and hot dogs!”
Sukuna’s eyebrow twitched at the two polar opposite dishes. “Sure. As long as they arrive within thirty minutes.”
“Yes sir!” Yuji put up a mock salute and opened his delivery app. After he put in his order, he hollered from across the room, “Do you want anything else, Uncle Sukuna?”
Sukuna was about to reject him when he remembered one of the pre-match interviews. Gojo had mentioned that he liked to eat kikufuku mochi before each match. Before he could stop himself, Sukuna replied, “Get me some kikufuku mochi.”
“Uh…what mochi?” Looking confused, Yuji scrolled through the menu. “How do you spell that?”
Sukuna rolled his eyes. Yuji didn’t even know Gojo’s pre-match ritual food. Some fake fan he was. In the end, Yuji failed to find it because he was an idiot, so Sukuna settled for some regular mochi.
That night, he tossed and turned in his bed, unable to fall asleep. Images of a white-haired man flashed behind his retinas, and Sukuna kept replaying the matches in his mind.
In the end, he pulled out his phone, the bright screen causing him to squint in pain. After staring at his messages for an entire minute, he took the plunge and clicked on the link Yuji sent weeks ago. The website launched him to the browser, where it redirected him to the app store.
Since the game ran entirely on cloud servers and could only be operated with VR gear, the actual mobile app was a simple interface for account setup and management. Sukuna scrolled down to the terms and app privacy section.
Damn, this better not be a scam, Sukuna grumbled and clicked ‘Download’. As soon as the app finished downloading, Sukuna clicked open. His heart thudded in anticipation as the game logo popped up.
This was definitely an impulsive decision, something he rarely did. Impulsiveness led to rashness, which led to oversight, and ultimately fatal mistakes. And this time was no different, as proven by the message on the loaded screen.
Please enter your VR device ID to begin registration.
Well fuck. Should he sneak into Yuji’s room and steal his headset? If he did that, Yuji would definitely know, and he’d be teased to hell and back.
Where would he even go to buy these things? The only VR equipment he ever used was issued by the military, and they were body cabins with almost perfect user synchronization. But those cost thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, per cabin.
After some hesitation, he pulled up his secondary phone and clicked on an encrypted app.
001: I need an unlocked synchro cabin, minimum sync rate 97.
He received a reply almost immediately.
010:Fluid or air lock? MG or CG?
001:Airlock. Prefer MG.
A minute later, the vendor responded with the product details. Sukuna read the descriptions and selected the best one. Once the vendor confirmed the payment, the channel was deleted shortly after.
Sukuna stared at the dark screen and sighed. He had ordered the best military-grade cabin authorized for civilian use. It cost him a sizable chunk of his military credits, but he didn’t regret it. If he didn’t want to do something, not even god himself could convince him. But if it was something he set his mind to, then he would go all in, moving the heavens and earth if he had to.
With nothing else to do, he stared blankly at the time on his phone. It was now 01:00, three hours past his bedtime, and he needed to be up at 5 in the morning. He had violated his own principles and made an impulsive purchase, all for a chance to fight one Gojo Satoru.
Tsk. That man had better be worth it.
Throwing his phone on the bedside table, he closed his eyes and ignored his beating heart. He was thirty-seven years old, for fuck’s sake. He couldn’t afford to stay up late and make stupid ass decisions.
And yet, a traitorous part of his mind told him that it would be the best decision he’d ever make.
When his full-body immersive cabin arrived, Yuji had taken one look at it and given Sukuna the most annoying puppy eyes he’d ever had the misfortune of seeing.
“No. If you touch it, I’ll chop your hand off,” Sukuna threatened, before carrying the cabin into his bedroom.
Setting it up was easy, as it was the same model he used in training. Next, he connected the cabin to the phone app to register it for the game. Thirty minutes passed before the game finished downloading to his cabin.
With everything done, Sukuna stepped into the cabin and adjusted his parameters. Taking deep breaths, he adjusted his mental state and entered the virtual world. A familiar voice echoed through a bright but empty space.
“Welcome, User 48109235. Our records indicate that you have previously synchronized with one of our devices. Would you like to transfer your saved data to this device?”
Sukuna nodded. “Yes.”
“Please wait a moment.” The room dimmed before it transformed into a sprawling gun range. This was Sukuna’s virtual space he had used in the military for his training sessions.
“Welcome back, Akai. The current temperature is 17°C, with a wind of 13 mph northbound. The following firing ranges are available for your use: GA102, GA105, TR002, MR087. The following sparring ranges are available for your use: AS101, AS113, SR067, SR071.”
Sukuna raised his eyebrow, surprised that he still had access to the military training rooms. Was this a retirement perk or an accidental oversight? He decided to ask Kenjaku about it later.
For now, he was itching for a different kind of training. “Load me into Jujutsu Kaisen.”
“Loading: Jujutsu Kaisen.”
The scenery soon changed, and he floated in space with planet Earth below him. As the planet zoomed in, the game trailer began to run in the fully immersive mode.
“In a galaxy far, far away, lies a world where cursed spirits and monsters feed on unsuspecting humans. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious group of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural…”
Sukuna listened carefully to the voiceover even though he’d already heard it before, just in case he missed anything. He’d be damned if he lost a battle because he’d missed out on crucial information.
When the introduction ended, a screen popped up in front of him.
Please enter your username:
Sukuna moved to input “Akai” when he paused. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to associate with his callsign, in case a veteran (or enemy) recognized him inside the game. With that in mind, he typed in a different name.
Welcome, Ryo. Please select your species:
A dozen different creatures materialized before him. Sukuna already knew they could pick their starting build, but he hadn’t realized the game provided this many options.
Since Gojo Satoru was a sorcerer, should he pick that as well? He scrunched up in thought as he viewed the different options for sorcerers. There’s alien sorcerers too. Huh.
He recalled that a sorcerer’s job was to fight cursed spirits. In that case, would it be better to choose a cursed spirit so that Gojo would fight him?
“Are hybrids available?” Sukuna asked.
Hybrids and exclusive species are available to unlock after completing the quest: Incarnation.
Since it was possible, he decided to go with sorcerer first. The character and ability descriptions for the cursed spirits confused him, while a human sorcerer was closer to Sukuna’s human body, so it would be easier for him to level up.
After he selected his species, he customized his body to match his real one, but changed his face and voice to a generic model. Internet (game) safety was important after all. When he confirmed his appearance, a new screen popped up.
Please select your starting region:
Was he going to be region-locked for a period of time? If so, he definitely needed to pick the same region as Gojo Satoru. From the description in his matches, Gojo seemed to be from Japan. Of course, that didn’t guarantee that he chose the same region as his country, but it was more likely than a random region. Thus, Sukuna clicked on the Japan button.
Thank you for registering your account, Ryo.
Your ID is: Ryo13829.
Your species is: Human Sorcerer.
Your region is: Japan.
A second later, he was transported to an airport with a flight ticket in his hand.
Your flight number is J329, Terminal C. Please make your way to the boarding area to enter your region.
Once again, welcome to Jujutsu Kaisen. We wish you a pleasant adventure.
Sukuna looked around him and found thousands of creatures walking around, all headed for different destinations. Many were humans like him, while others were animals, aliens, monsters, ghosts, and cursed spirits. He could have sworn he saw a fairy zip by too, even though that definitely wasn’t an option on the starting screen.
Glancing up at the airport signs, he maneuvered through the crowd and entered an elevator. He clicked on Terminal C and prepared to close the door when a jovial voice sounded from outside.
“‘Scuse me! Hold the door!”
Sukuna turned around and spotted a blue blob flying toward him. This was…a cursed spirit?
The mysterious blob squeezed into the elevator and let out a sigh of relief. “Phew, that was close. Almost missed my flight because of my friend.” Then it glanced at the elevator controls and chirped, “Oh, you’re going to Terminal C too? Are you in the Asia regions? I’m in Japan, by the way!”
Quite a talkative blob, it was. Sukuna side-eyed the creature and nodded. The blob flew down and read Sukuna’s flight ticket, and an audible gasp filled the space. “OMG, you’re on the same flight as me! 39D…we’re seat buddies! Awesome!”
“Yeah. Awesome,” Sukuna repeated. It was not awesome in Sukuna’s opinion. He had met this neon orb for less than a minute and it already talked more than most strangers did in an hour.
Suddenly, his vision was covered with bright blue as the orb flew up to his face, then orbited his body. It whistled, “Damn, I love your body setup. This is like, my ideal type, you know? I spent hours on mine when I first started but couldn’t get it as perfect as yours. Especially that torso. Did you use a mod?”
You’re a sphere. You have no torso. Sukuna wanted to retort, but kept his mouth shut. Maybe if he didn’t respond, the orb would finally stop talking to him.
A futile wish, because the outgoing blob continued to speak, undeterred by Sukuna’s silence. “What’s your username? I’m Go—uh, Five!”
Gritting his teeth, Sukuna gave up and uttered a single word. “Ryo.”
“Ohhh. Nice and short. I like it! Just like my user.”
When the elevator finally opened, Sukuna immediately sprinted out, leaving the blob in the dust. Or so he thought, because Five teleported to Sukuna and landed on his shoulder.
Sukuna almost skipped a step. What did this gloopy blob think he was? Sukuna had not given it permission to use his shoulder as a chair.
“Oh, Ryo, you just passed it! J329 is behind us,” Five chirped unhelpfully.
Sukuna glanced up at the signs, then back at his ticket. Fucking…fuck. He hated that the orb was right. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and marched back to the correct gate.
“You’re a man, right? No hate if you’re not. I’m guessing based on your body, though it’d be pretty sick if you were a woman. I once made a female account—in another game, that is. I’m a guy, by the way, in case you couldn’t tell.”
Sukuna couldn’t, nor did he care to. He grunted in agreement and lined up behind their gate.
Five fell silent for a few beats, before he commented, “You’re not very talkative, are you?”
Sukuna sighed and resigned himself to a socially draining flight. “And you are very talkative.”
“Hehe, thanks! People all say I’m very outgoing,” Five boasted.
When they boarded the plane, Sukuna sat down in his seat and took in the plush softness of the seat cushions and the ample legroom. It was much better than economy flights in the real world. Five jumped on Sukuna’s lap, using it as a trampoline to bounce onto the neighboring seat.
Sukuna watched him twirl around in the air and found the scene slightly comical. His seatmate was so tiny compared to the human-sized chair.
Eventually, the plane took off and flew them to their region. Five finally quieted down, pulling up his holographic screen. Sukuna couldn’t see anything because of the game’s privacy setting, but he presumed it was something funny judging from the way Five would giggle to himself every few minutes.
When the airplane landed, his orb companion waved goodbye as they went their separate ways. Since they were different species, their new player quests and routes would be different.
The beginning quests were a breeze, and Sukuna completed them without much fanfare. By the end of the day, he was at level 4, which he had no idea was good or not. Since it was almost dinnertime, he decided to finish one more quest before logging out.
The last quest on his list was a locked pvp task.
Quest: Kill one cursed spirit.
Sukuna frowned. He hoped it wasn’t Five. Although the orb did make a lot of noise, Sukuna didn’t necessarily want to kill him. He seemed like a young, new player who had lots of enthusiasm for this game. More importantly, Sukuna had a feeling that Five was the type to whine and make even more commotion if he didn’t get his way.
If Sukuna had one weakness, it was whiny brats. He hated dealing with them.
As luck, or unluck, would have it, a damning blue orb materialized smack dab in the middle of the quest field. Sukuna squinted at the blob. Had he gotten bigger?
Five seemed to recognize Sukuna as well and jumped up excitedly. “Oh, it’s Ryo! Hi again! What are the odds we got paired for the same task?”
“Terrible odds are what it is,” Sukuna let out a long-suffering sigh. He didn’t want to kill the guy if he didn’t have to. “If you reload your quest, I won’t kill you.”
Five froze before he laughed loudly, a sound that radiated simple, pure joy. It was a nice sound, Sukuna thought idly. “Oh Ryo…that’s cute, but you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine! But don’t get mad if I kill you, mmkay?”
Sukuna scoffed. Since this overconfident newbie wanted to die that badly, he’d grant his wish.
A countdown appeared above them. The moment the words “Start” materialized, Sukuna pushed on his heel and sprinted full speed toward Five. Channeling the cursed energy skill he just learned, he manifested a blade and sliced downward on the orb.
Just as the blade was about to touch it, a repelling force blasted in Sukuna’s direction, pushing the blade and his body backwards. Before Sukuna could land, Five teleported above Sukuna and slammed down. Reacting fast, Sukuna flicked his blade up and sliced through the orb. This time, the orb split in half and fizzled away. An afterimage, Sukuna realized in delight. Blue whizzed past the corner of his eyes, and he moved his hand on instinct.
Clang. Shadowed metal clashed with a cursed shield as both parties met each other in the middle.
Less than a second had passed since the match started.
This was insane. Sukuna didn’t think a random player could match his speed, let alone a new player. Both of them seemed to realize that they had underestimated each other and leaped back to their starting positions.
From across the field, Five made a loop in the air and exclaimed, “Wow, you’re really good! Let’s add each other after this, yeah?”
Sukuna grinned, enjoying the match in full. If it meant he could experience this high again, he would gladly put up with the man’s yapping. “Sure. You’re not bad yourself.”
They continued to exchange blows, each second that passed increasing Sukuna’s enjoyment in the game. He cackled, squeezing the orb in his hand and tossing it across the field. Five bounced twice before it flew up and teleported back.
“Sorry, but you can’t defeat me like this!” he taunted, throwing blue pellets of energy at Sukuna, who dodged them all.
As the match dragged on, Five gradually stopped talking, as if he was putting all his concentration on the fight. Sukuna didn’t notice, too enamored by their battle to sense that Five’s mood had begun to shift. He had been a little rusty at the beginning of the fight since he wasn’t used to the controls, but now, he was in his element.
Soon, the tide shifted and Sukuna began pushing Five back, chipping away at his health. Five grunted in frustration and pushed back, trying to dodge Sukuna’s attacks and throw in his own.
If Sukuna were in a calmer state of mind, he would have realized that he had reverted back to his old ways: a cold-blooded killing machine that held no mercy for his foes. He couldn’t help it; this fight brought out the best (and worst) of him.
It seemed that his real murderous intent leaked out, because Five seemed to stumble against his assault. This was just a game after all, and the way Sukuna was moving felt too raw and…real.
“Hey, you—” Five seemed to want to say something, but he was smashed down by Sukuna.
The only way to ensure a complete victory was to make sure your opponent was dead. Minimize the traces, remove all bullet casings and identifiers. Always finish with a headshot and check their pulse to confirm the kill.
Five was a cursed spirit and had no head or pulse, so the only way Sukuna could kill him was to ensure that he was pulverized into pieces. He whittled down at the orb’s forcefield and seemingly unlimited healing abilities until Five ran out of cursed energy.
Crunch. Sukuna hit the enemy with the full force of his cursed energy, flattening him like a pancake. Then he twirled his blade and sliced the orb into half, then a quarter, then one-eighths—
“Ow! Ryo, stop—”
The orb disappeared into thin air, being thoroughly exorcised by Sukuna. Silence filled the arena. Sukuna sat down and panted for air, the sound echoing harshly through the space. The adrenaline and bloodlust in his body lingered, and he closed his eyes to savor the feeling.
Well, that was refreshing. He hadn’t felt this way, this satisfied, since that one mission in Uruguay. Not even those stupid AI sparring bots could replicate this experience.
After he came down from his high, he skipped the level up page and checked his match history.
Match History:
Five Grade 4 Cursed Spirit —
VICTORY
Clicking on the name, he carefully examined Five’s profile.
Follow
Five Lv. 5
@five5656
Grade 4 Curse
just a happy blob :D
Joined December XX18
1 Friends 1 Followers
Sukuna chuckled, the corner of his eyes crinkling softly. The profile sure matched Five’s personality. Tapping on the username, he typed in a message and sent the friend request.
You have sent Five a friend request.
Message: Not bad for a new player. Match again later?
In actuality, he almost wanted to write “you were magnificent” or some high praise like “you cleared my skies”, but felt that it was too cheesy between two men who had just met hours ago. Heart beating impatiently, he eagerly checked his inbox to see if his friend request had been accepted yet.
Not even a minute passed before two notifications popped up.
Five has rejected your friend request.
Notification of account report:
This is to inform you that your account has been flagged for cheating and is under review. No action is currently needed.
…What.
What the fuck.
Sukuna was at a loss for words. What did that mean? Didn’t they have an exhilarating, incredible fight just now? Didn’t Five say he wanted to add him as a friend after this match was over?
In a daze, Sukuna blankly stared at the words in front of him.
Just what went wrong?