Shien studied himself in the mirror one last time, running a hand through his freshly cut hair. The stylist had done good work—clean and sharp. He looked more put-together, exactly the impression he wanted to make.
"Shien-chan, the car is here!" Sayo called from downstairs.
"Coming!"
He checked his appearance one more time, adjusting his collar, then headed down.
Mei Mei was waiting by the black sedan, leaning against it casually in a way that should have looked unprofessional but somehow came across as effortlessly cool. She glanced up as he approached, and her eyebrows rose.
"Well, well," she said, a smile playing at her lips. "Someone cleaned up nicely. New haircut?"
Shien tried not to look too pleased. "Thought I should look professional."
"Mission to Osaka, not a photo shoot," Mei Mei teased, though her eyes held approval. "But I appreciate the effort. You look very sharp."
Success, Shien thought, sliding into the back seat beside her.
The drive to Osaka took two hours. Mei Mei spent most of it briefing him on the mission details—a Grade Two curse reported in an abandoned factory district, with multiple civilian disappearances over the past month.
"Standard exorcism," Mei Mei concluded. "Should be straightforward. You handle the curse, I observe and provide backup if needed."
"I won't need backup," Shien said confidently.
"Probably not," Mei Mei agreed. "But humor me anyway."
The factory district was a graveyard of rust and decay. Abandoned buildings stretched in every direction, windows shattered, walls covered in graffiti and grime. The cursed energy in the air was thick and oppressive, making the shadows seem darker than they should have been.
Shien stepped out of the car and immediately located the source—a massive warehouse at the center of the district, practically radiating malevolence.
"There," he said, pointing.
Mei Mei followed his gaze and nodded. "Impressive range. You sensed it from here?"
"It's hard to miss. Although it seems stronger than a Grade Two."
They approached the warehouse carefully. Shien raised his hand, preparing to establish a veil.
"Curtain," he said clearly, then spoke the field chant in the standard form used by sorcerers. "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
The veil descended smoothly, sealing the area from civilian view. Inside the barrier, the cursed energy intensified, and Shien could now sense multiple signatures—several Grade Fours and Threes scattered around the perimeter, and something much stronger inside the warehouse itself.
"Multiple curses," Mei Mei noted. "We should clear the perimeter first."
Shien turned to her with what he hoped was a charming smile. "Allow me to handle this, mademoiselle. A gentleman never lets a beautiful woman trouble herself with such… fodder."
Maybe he should stick to Japanese, Mei Mei thought with internal amusement, though her expression remained pleasantly neutral.
"How gallant," she said aloud.
Shien snapped his fingers casually. "Consider it done."
The air ignited.
Explosions of pure cursed energy detonated simultaneously across the warehouse district—precise and devastating. The Grade Four and Three curses were incinerated instantly, reduced to ash that scattered on the wind.
The entire process took three seconds.
Mei Mei raised her eyebrows. "Efficient. We'll get paid the full mission fee for maybe five minutes of actual work."
"Time is money, after all," Shien replied, though internally he didn't particularly care about the payment. Mei Mei smiled. Between his investments and the Zenin clan's holdings, Shien had no need for money—but Mei Mei did. From what Shien had been able to uncover, Mei Mei had been born into a minor jujutsu clan who sold her to the Gojo clan for money. The experience of being torn away from her parents for profit seemed to have left her rather obsessed with it, or so the rumors went.
They entered the warehouse.
Inside, the space opened into a vast chamber of rusted machinery and broken conveyor belts. At the center, coiled among the wreckage, was the curse.
It wasn't a Grade Two, as Shien had suspected. Nearly thirty percent of the time, curses were stronger than originally predicted by the authorities.
The creature was massive—easily six meters tall, with a body composed of twisted industrial metal fused with rotting flesh. Multiple limbs jutted from its torso at wrong angles, each ending in jagged blades. Its face was a nightmare of gears and teeth, eyes glowing with malevolent intelligence.
Grade One. Definitely Grade One.
"Well," Mei Mei said quietly, "the intelligence was wrong."
"It usually is," Shien replied, cursed energy already flooding his system. "It doesn't matter anyway."
The creature noticed them and screamed—a sound like metal tearing and bones breaking. Its cursed energy spiked violently, and Shien felt the telltale shift in reality.
"Domain Expansion," the curse howled. "Factory of Endless Consumption!"
The world warped.
Suddenly they were surrounded by churning machinery—conveyor belts of flesh, grinding gears of bone, furnaces burning with cursed flames. The sure-hit technique activated immediately, blades manifesting from every surface with guaranteed accuracy.
Perfect, Shien thought, grinning.
He'd been waiting for this.
Shien brought his hands together at chest level, thumbs pressed together while his index and middle fingers extended upward in a curved, mirrored shape, forming the silhouette of a closed lotus bud. As he slowly separated his palms, the petals opened, and the domain unfolded outward in silence.
"Domain Expansion," Shien said.
"Lotus Pyre Mandala."
The curse's domain shattered like glass.
They now stood in an endless spring garden, frozen in perfect bloom. Massive sakura trees lined the shore of a still, glass-like lake, their branches heavy with pale pink blossoms drifting gently through the air. There was a gentle breeze as the petals fell endlessly, touching the lake's surface only to dissolve into soft light.
The water was calm and impossibly clear. From its center rose a vast lotus mandala, formed of glowing stone and light, each petal etched with faint sutra script pulsing in slow, steady rhythm. The mandala floated just above the lake, its reflection perfectly mirrored below, creating the illusion of infinite depth.
Shien stood at the heart of the lotus, on a raised central platform where the petals converged. The space naturally oriented itself around him—no matter where Mei Mei stood, the mandala remained centered, and Shien remained its axis.
Beyond the lake, framed by sakura branches and drifting petals, Mount Fuji dominated the horizon, snow-capped, serene, and impossibly close. The sky was a soft, luminous blue, untouched by clouds, as if the day would never progress beyond this moment.
The air smelled of blossoms and incense. Sound was gentle and serene.
Yet within this sacred stillness, the domain's effect was absolute.
The Grade One curse froze, suddenly aware it had made a catastrophic mistake. It tried to flee, but there was no escape.
Shien raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
The mandala pulsed with light.
The curse's soul ignited—not its flesh, but the fundamental essence that defined its existence. The technique bypassed all physical durability and defenses, burning away what made the curse real. In a burst of purple, the curse was no more. Only the quiet dissolution of a soul returning to nothing, ash scattered among falling sakura petals.
The domain collapsed, returning them to the warehouse. The only evidence of the Grade One curse was a small pile of white ash on the concrete floor.
Shien lowered his hand, exhaling hard. Using his domain for the first time had been intense. There was a sizeable drop in his restricted cursed energy reserves, and more importantly, his cursed technique was temporarily out of commission. But it was worth it.
Mei Mei stood silent for a moment, processing what she had witnessed. "A complete domain," she said finally. "With a sure-hit."
"Yes."
She walked closer, expression carefully neutral. "That's not something the Kamo clan should know about yet."
Shien nodded. Despite being smitten with Mei Mei, his head was clear enough to recognize the political implications. "I need you to make a binding vow. Not to reveal anything you saw here."
Mei Mei didn't look offended. She simply extended her hand. "I, Mei Mei, vow not to reveal the existence or abilities of Shien Zenin's domain expansion to anyone without his explicit permission. This vow binds me until Shien releases me from it."
Shien felt the vow settle into place.
"Smart," Mei Mei said. "You're learning fast."
They left the warehouse together, the mission complete. Shien's head swam with possibilities on how to improve his domain. He had accomplished something that placed him among the highest echelons of sorcerers, and he had done it before the age of ten. Most importantly, with a domain expansion at his disposal, he now had a chance of even besting Gojo Satoru.
One week later — Jujutsu High, Tokyo.
Shien stepped through the gates of Tokyo Jujutsu High with Mei Mei on his left and Ranta, a member of the Hei, on his right.
They found Shoko in the infirmary, a tired-looking woman in her late twenties with dark circles under her eyes and an unlit cigarette dangling from her lips. She looked up as they entered, expression distinctly unenthusiastic.
"You're the Zenin kid," she said flatly.
"Shien Zenin, enchanté," he confirmed, stepping forward. He snapped his fingers, and a small controlled flame ignited at the tip of her cigarette. "A pleasure to meet you, Shoko-sensei."
Shoko took a drag, eyebrow raised. "Polite. That's rare."
"I was raised properly." Shien gestured sharply to Ranta. "The gifts."
Ranta stepped forward immediately, producing a wrapped package and offering it with a bow.
Shoko unwrapped it—two bottles of expensive whiskey, labels she recognized instantly. Her expression shifted to something approaching approval. "This is good stuff."
"Only the best for someone of your caliber, Shoko-sensei," Shien said.
"Alright, you've got my attention," Shoko replied. "So. RCT."
"Yes, sensei."
"Bad news: I'm a terrible teacher." Shoko gestured vaguely. "RCT is about reversing your cursed energy flow. Negative times negative equals positive. That's it."
Shien waited for more.
None came.
"That's… the entire explanation?"
"Yup. Either you get it or you don't."
"Then could you demonstrate?" Shien picked up a scalpel from the medical tray and pressed it to his palm, drawing it across in one smooth motion. Blood welled immediately. "If you would, sensei."
Shoko shrugged and placed her hand over the wound.
Cursed energy flowed backward. Inverted. Shien watched with absolute focus as the energy folded in on itself, negative meeting negative to create positive healing force. The wound closed cleanly.
And suddenly, Shien understood what he'd been doing wrong.
Not about force, he realized. It's about flow. guiding the curse energy, rather than forcing it to circulate in reverse.
His eyes widened. I can do that.
He raised his other hand, focusing his cursed energy, and this time, instead of forcing it backward, he simply guided it into the reversal. The flow came naturally, negative meeting negative to create—
Positive energy bloomed around his hand, and a small cut from handling the scalpel began to close.
Shoko's cigarette almost fell from her mouth. "Did you just—"
The door opened, and Gojo Satoru walked in. He looked at Shien, then at Shien's healing hand, and started grinning. "No way."
"Gojo-san," Shien greeted. "Perfect timing."
"Did you just learn Reverse Cursed Technique?"
"I believe so, yes."
Gojo laughed. "I almost died before I understood it. Kids these days are terrifying."
Well, I did spend a year studying the theory, Shien thought, but they don't need to know that. "Shoko-sensei's demonstration was very instructive."
"I didn't teach him anything," Shoko said. "He just watched and figured it out."
Before anyone could comment further, Shien turned to Ranta. "Your arm."
Ranta extended his arm without question, without hesitation.
Shien stabbed the scalpel into Ranta's forearm.
Ranta's jaw tightened, but he made no sound, standing perfectly still as commanded.
Shien placed his hand over the wound and guided his cursed energy into reversal. The healing was slower this time—working on someone else required matching their signature—but the wound closed within thirty seconds.
"You may lower it," Shien said.
Ranta lowered his arm silently, waiting.
Gojo watched the exchange with growing interest. This kid just learned RCT, and he's already capable of using it on other people.
The thought that had been growing crystallized: Damn, this kid could rival me someday.
And that prospect didn't frighten Gojo in the slightest. It excited him.
"Well," Gojo said, grin widening, "this definitely calls for celebration. I'm buying everyone ice cream."
"That's not necessary—" Shoko started.
"You're coming," Gojo interrupted cheerfully.
"Celebrating what?" Mei Mei asked.
Gojo's smile was almost proud. "The fact that the jujutsu world just got a lot more interesting."
As they filed out of the infirmary, Mei Mei leaned close. "You already must have researched a lot to be able to grasp RCT so quickly."
Shien glanced at her, then nodded slightly.
"Good," Mei Mei said simply. She was quiet for a moment as they walked. "You know… someone with your abilities could accomplish quite a bit. More than just pest control."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the strong have options others don't." Mei Mei's tone was casual, conversational. "You are far beyond normal sorcerers. You do not need to be restrained by this oppressive, thankless system."
Shien considered that. He'd never really thought about it explicitly, but… wasn't that already true? When was the last time someone had actually told him "no"?
"The Zenin clan has… complicated succession politics," Mei Mei continued. "But politics only matter when power is relatively equal. When there's a clear gap…" She trailed off meaningfully.
Shien walked in silence, turning the words over.
He realized, with sudden clarity, that he hated being told what to do. Hated restrictions. He was subject to fewer than anyone in the clan, but the few he was forced to abide by frustrated him to no end. Why should he let weaklings dictate his life? All hierarchies were determined by strength, and Shien could count on one hand the people who were stronger than him. He would be lying if he said he did not enjoy the way people feared and respected him—grown men fearing they had somehow displeased him. He loved the way everyone groveled in front of him. It was the natural order of things, after all.
Interesting, he thought. I have not been honest with myself.
"Just something to think about," Mei Mei said lightly. "You are still young and have your whole life ahead of you to decide."
Shien nodded slowly. "I'll think about it."
Mei Mei smiled. Good, she thought. Not pushing, just suggesting. Letting him come to his own conclusions. The best way to shape someone wasn't through force, but through showing them what they already wanted. The boy's limitations were largely self-imposed; all Mei Mei had to do was introduce him to a new way of thinking.
"Come on," Gojo called from ahead. "We're celebrating the most terrifying nine-year-old in Japan!"
"Almost ten," Shien muttered, but he was smiling.
As they walked toward the ice cream shop, Shien found his thoughts returning to Mei Mei's words. He shook his head. He had a long road ahead of him to become anywhere close to the strongest. The ability to squish bugs did not make gods of men.