Morning arrived quietly.
Very different from the chaos of yesterday's.
Pale sunlight slipping through the dorm window and landing across the floor in long golden strips.
Sora opened his eyes slowly.
For a moment, he stayed still under the blanket, staring at the ceiling.
His head felt slightly heavy.
Not from sorcerery or exhaustion.
It was from sushi.
Too much sushi.
Yuji had somehow managed to turn a simple dinner into a contest of who could eat the most plates before Nobara insulted the waiter, and somewhere in the middle of it all Sora had lost count of how much he had eaten.
Now his stomach felt full even after waking up.
A strange problem to have.
He pushed himself upright and sat at the edge of the bed for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts together like scattered nails.
Yesterday had been noisy.
Too much stimulating.
Today was slower and calmer.
He stood up and headed for the bathroom.
Cold water splashed across his face first, chasing away the last traces of sleep. He brushed his teeth, washed properly, and combed his hair back into place. The lingering scent of soap and clean fabric slowly replaced the smell of dust and curses that had clung to him from the day before.
After drying himself, Sora opened the small wardrobe beside the bed.
The black uniform hanging inside looked simple.
Dark jacket.
Dark trousers.
He put it on carefully and adjusted the collar.
For a second, he looked at himself in the mirror.
The uniform still felt strange.
It was still mind boggling for him that he crossed over to a strange world like Jujutsu Kaisen.
He slapped himself from overthinking.
Sora left the dorm room and stepped outside.
The dormitory hallways were quiet.
Most people were still asleep.
Or pretending to be.
Yuji was probably rolled into his blanket like a burrito somewhere.
Nobara was likely awake already but refusing to leave her room out of spite for the morning itself.
Sora descended the stairs and stepped out of the dorm building.
The air outside was cool.
Tokyo Jujutsu High looked entirely different in the morning.
Yesterday, it had been filled with loud voices, cursed energy, and destruction.
Now it looked peaceful.
The trees around the stone pathways swayed softly in the wind. Leaves rustled overhead, creating a quiet whispering sound that drifted through the grounds. The sunlight filtered through the branches in scattered patches, turning the path into a river of gold and shadow.
The old buildings sat quietly among the trees.
Traditional roofs.
Dark wooden walls.
Stone steps worn smooth by time.
The entire place felt hidden away from the rest of the world.
Like a forgotten temple buried in the middle of the city.
Sora walked slowly along the path toward the main building.
His shoes pressed softly against the stone road.
The morning breeze brushed against his face.
For once, there were no curses to chase.
No loud idiots to deal with.
No strongest sorcerers trying to launch him through a wall.
Just silence and him.
It was nice.
Eventually, Sora reached the main building.
Today's purpose?
To learn about cursed dolls and corpses.
The future was bleak for someone like him.
Thousands of people will die at some point.
Special grade level curses and sorcerers would run rampant.
In front of them, he was just a ant.
So he must quickly find a way to solve his crisis of strength.
Sora stepped inside and moved through the quiet hallways until he stopped in front of a familiar door.
The principal's office.
He raised his hand and knocked.
"Principal Masamichi. May I trouble you for a bit?"
A voice came from inside almost immediately.
"Enter."
Sora opened the door and stepped inside.
The room smelled faintly of paper, wood, and fabric.
Masamichi Yaga sat behind his desk.
Or more accurately, he sat in a chair beside the desk.
Large hands carefully moving through cloth and stuffing.
Needle.
Thread.
Dark fabric.
In his hands was a doll.
One of the same strange dolls Sora and Yuji had faced before.
There were several more scattered around the room in different stages of completion.
Some had only heads.
Some were missing arms.
One sat in the corner with no face at all, which somehow made it even worse.
The dolls looked harmless when they were not moving.
When they did move, things would go 0 to 100 real quick.
Masamichi did not look up immediately.
He continued stitching the doll's arm onto its body with surprising care.
"You came here early. Very different from your teacher and peers."
Sora stepped further into the room.
"I wanted to understand something."
Masamichi tied off the thread and finally looked up.
"The dolls you were curiously eyeing?"
Sora nodded once.
"Yes.How do you make them?"