You are having a great time.
One of them held a selfie stick, but the phone used for the live stream was affected by an unknown "magnetic field," causing flickering and lag. Yet, nobody paid attention to it now.
The streamer, Shunsuke Nanakawa, had forgotten he was still live. Pressed tightly against the wall, he bit his lip hard and suppressed his breathing.
Beside him stood a girl who resembled him somewhat; they were siblings. Opposite them were a schoolgirl in a sailor uniform and a delinquent with yellow hair.
Four people in total, all with faces etched in shock and terror.
They specialized in paranormal live streams, and this time they had chosen an abandoned hospital as their location. They had even scouted the place beforehand and set up traps to fake supernatural phenomena. Who would have thought—they had actually encountered a real ghost!
The yellow-haired delinquent’s pupils dilated fiercely; what was this creature that could speak human words?
Shunsuke, however, knew exactly what it was. His Adam’s apple bobbed nervously. With a gulp, a terrifying sense of his soul detaching gripped him. “F-Fumi, run…”
Before he could finish, a small, elderly man dressed in a yellow short jacket slowly emerged from the swirling dust nearby.
He turned his head, and Shunsuke clearly saw the creature’s head resembling a volcano, with a single eerie eye. His face drained of color.
The yellow-haired boy screamed sharply: “Ah—”
Then, silence.
In an instant, two humanoid figures made of black charcoal appeared before Shunsuke. A gust of wind scattered them into fragments, which silently fell to the ground.
Next to the dust piles, the strange old man lifted his eye and said, “So noisy.”
Unlike a living being, it disliked human screams—they were piercingly harsh.
Having easily dealt with the source of the noise, the creature called Mukago frowned. That little Dugon should have been nearby, but it sensed no trace of it. Strange.
It was precisely because Dugon was absent that these weak pests had intruded.
Logically, Dugon shouldn’t wander off...
Who called Dugon away?
Suguru?
The special-grade cursed spirit pondered as it raised its hand. A crimson flame surged from its palm, ready to incinerate the remaining two humans.
The brother and sister saw the flames spread like a net rapidly approaching them. They tried to flee but found their bodies immobilized.
N-No, they weren’t ready to die...
A hot wind blew by, carrying the scent of burning and turning the air thick with smoke.
“Phew, almost missed it,” came a clear, lively young boy’s voice, entering the siblings’ ears.
They reacted a moment later, suddenly looking up—
The first thing to meet their eyes was a boy with golden hair and blue eyes, surrounded by a yellow talisman that encased them, holding back the glowing red “lava.”
This appearance, this presence—
Shunsuke Nanakawa, well-versed in popular shonen manga, instantly felt a profound realization: “A high schooler saving the world, and I’m just a bystander being rescued!”
They were saved!
At this moment, to him, this unfamiliar golden-haired boy was like an angel.
[This guy’s inner thoughts are hilarious.]
[Lol, he even added a soft glow filter to the imagined Yūki, divine light shining down.]
[Saint Yūki.JPG, screenshot taken!]
[Hallelujah!]
Just as Shunsuke’s smile began to spread, the talisman barrier was cleaved by the flames.
The volcano-headed monster burst through, charging straight at the golden-haired boy’s face.
Boom—
Mukago immediately sensed trouble.
It had fought against that human before and was in high spirits, but this time it showed no restraint.
The opponent was no Satoru Gojo, lacking an impenetrable defense...
Judging by the impact, it had definitely landed a strike—probably reducing Mukago’s hand to ash.
In this situation, reversal techniques were useless. Mukago clicked its tongue in frustration.
Originally, it hoped the boy wouldn’t die before clarifying the “family incident” about the humans.
But oh well, if he died, it would at least remove a potential threat.
Humans really were weak.
Just as the special-grade cursed spirit was about to leave after dealing with the two pests, suddenly a hand reached out from the flames, stirring sparks, and grabbed its arm.
Mukago: “...?!”
It spun around sharply.
There it stood—in the blazing fire—a human.
---
Golden hair reflected the red flames, lifted by the wind, becoming like the feathers of a phoenix reborn.
Those sapphire eyes, half-tinged with burning red, were dangerous yet mysterious, mesmerizing the heart.
The golden-haired boy extended his right hand, pinching his middle, ring, and thumb fingers together in a snapping gesture. At the next moment, the talismans flared wildly.
At the same time, he whispered,
“[Heavy Strike].”
With a built-in lock-on skill and dozens of talismans simultaneously activating, a massive explosion followed.
Hanami, who had been watching from the sidelines thinking the human was no threat, was shocked.
Suguru had said a human had triggered a massive cursed spirit surge, destroying the Technical College, giving them a chance to tamper with the school during rebuilding.
It turned out to be this boy!
The combined power of multiple layered [Heavy Strike] spells was considerable, severing half of Mukago’s wrist, but it did not stop his assault.
On the other side, the golden-haired boy clenched both fists and crossed them over his chest, forming a protective circle of talismans to block the special-grade cursed spirit’s attack.
Before the talismans shattered, he pressed the backs of his hands together, pulling forth a crescent-shaped strike.
The crescent split into two, then four, falling rapidly and purposefully.
The special-grade cursed spirit’s regeneration was measured in seconds. The next moment, Mukago threw a punch.
He sneered, “Cunning human, your talismans are interesting, but this is where it ends!”
Bang—
What followed was a brutal, almost bizarre battle.
This human had almost no sophisticated combat skills but gave Mukago an extremely uncomfortable feeling—
Even cursed spirits instinctively dodge when struck in vital areas.
But this human did not.
He seemed detached from his human shell, impervious to pain, moving with a cold, zombie-like indifference.
Yet he was vivid, fierce, like the rising tide under a moonlit night—caught between darkness and light.
Death, death, and more death.
Time and again, he approached death only to open his eyes again in this world.
Those eyes first reflected the sky, then himself.
Such a strange human.
Cursed spirits had no aesthetic sense for humans, but Mukago thought this one must be handsome—yet more like a beautiful but deformed flower.
No fragrance, yet captivating.
“Your shikigami isn’t by your side,” Hanami suddenly spoke in a unique voice that pierced into Yūki’s ear canal. “Boy, why not give up resisting?”
Yūki pulled three golden threads of cursed energy from his fingertips, smiling: “Perhaps you haven’t heard the saying—don’t talk when others are fighting!”
Especially when the other’s mind transmission made his ears itch.
The special-grade cursed spirit’s brow twitched, voice gentle: “Your talismans are nearly depleted. What awaits you next is endless death.”
“Endless death?” He smiled.
Two contradictory words put together perfectly embodied him.
The golden cursed energy threads bound the enemy, his hands crossed and pulled back. Yūki tightened the threads while shifting the topic lightly:
“Anyway, having a special-grade cursed spirit as my sparring partner all afternoon—I’m quite satisfied with this service.”
Mukago fumed in anger: “...?!”
The special-grade cursed spirit’s inexplicable feelings toward this human vanished like ashes. In a fury, its flames transformed into a long whip, hurling the human away.
Where Yūki landed stood a patch of rusty, half-buried rebar.
He fell onto it, trapping him in place, hopefully restraining him somewhat...
Nearby, Shunsuke’s eyes widened. Before he could speak, Fumi Nanakawa gritted her teeth and activated her technique.
Her technique was called “White Thread”—as the name implied, it was a single line, usually used to fake supernatural phenomena, like pulling haunted house windows to spook live viewers.
Fumi knew—
The fire-wielding volcano-headed monster was terrifying enough, and the other tree-headed one hadn’t acted yet. They were doomed; even escape was a luxury.
Their only hope now was that boy!
“Don’t get in the way.”
Deep brown roots snaked out from a corner, flinging the Nanakawa siblings aside. The white thread protecting the golden-haired boy shattered noisily midair.
Hanami had intervened.
It didn’t think the human posed any threat to its allies and had been watching silently.
With no disturbance, Yūki continued to fall, the first thing to pierce his body was a rebar through his left chest.
—
---
Pinned to a specimen was a summer butterfly.
His breath was clear and passionate; his heartbeat joyful and light.
The rebellious spirit nurtured by the “curse of immortality” was a spell etched upon his soul—a lamp of eternal, silent solitude.
Cruelty, freedom, and desire emitted a wordless resonance within him.
It was the light that lured moths to flame,
The hearth fire in winter,
Or perhaps, in the hearts of the mad, greedy, and restless, that barren, dark, withered wilderness where a single spark flared up.
The connection between shikigami and shikigami master was like a vast sea.
—The spark urged the sails to swiftly cut across the calm ancient well’s surface, abandoning restraint, greedily advancing, flickering toward the far shore.
“Ugh!”
Someone severed the rebar piercing Yūki’s chest. All the rebar snapped and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Landing unsteady, Yūki stepped back and bumped into a cold chest.
Sensing the chill fragrance on the other, the golden-haired boy smiled lightly: “Muzan…”
The sinister cursed spirit spoke, revealing its displeasure: “Cursed spirits can sense their master’s condition. You died too many times, disturbing me.”
“Is that so?”
A half-hearted apology: “Sorry about that.”
Muzan Kibutsuji studied Yūki’s side profile, then suddenly smiled, leaning close to his ear with a teasing tone: “You had fun just now?”
“Hm?”
Muzan lowered his eyelids, smiling: “Why not try something more interesting?”
Cold breath brushed against the golden-haired boy’s ear, lingering and eerie—a clear sign of ill intent.
“Dad, we meet again!” Blue-haired cursed spirit emerged from the ruins, eyes shining.
After leaving the Gojo residence, Yuji Itadori had been pursued relentlessly by his mother.
He thought he was going to die, but unexpectedly his mother changed direction halfway.
Out of curiosity (or recklessness), he followed and unexpectedly met his father!
What luck!
Yuji eagerly expressed his longing and affection to Yūki.
Mukago: “…”
Hanami: “…”
But they had no time for dumbfounded silence because soon, all the cursed spirits present sensed the human’s rapidly rising cursed energy.
Mukago was shocked as it saw black-red shadow cursed energy spilling from the cursed spirit standing behind the human, its thread-like strands entwining around Yūki.
“Stop them!”
Though Mukago didn’t understand the technique, interrupting was always right. Hanami and Muzan rushed out alongside it.
Yuji exclaimed excitedly: “Mom gave you guys to me; leave Dad to me!”
The shikigami didn’t even look at the three charging special-grade cursed spirits. Its slender, pale fingertips extended from behind, landing on the left eye of the shikigami master.
A hum resounded.
At that moment, the vibrations synchronized.
The shikigami figure behind the human blurred, transforming into a massive dark shadow.
“It” opened its eyes, only the right eye remained a blazing scarlet.
The golden-haired boy’s eyes opened simultaneously.
Mukago was incredulous: “?!”
It saw the human’s left eye—a scarlet pupil identical to the shikigami’s—shining alongside the other normal blue eye.
“…”
I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.