Miracle.
An extraordinary event which defies the laws of nature and science, often described as divine intervention.
An occurrence which, by all means, is supposed to be something outside the hands of men, and yet, in jujutsu, not many things were impossible.
Haruta Shigemo, a curse user whose innate technique was none other than Miracle. It allows him to store the small miracles he experienced in his lifetime and use them only in life-threatening situations.
The most interesting fact about this technique was that the user himself is supposed to be unaware of its existence when it activates.
I recalled all of that when I shifted my face slightly sideways to observe my own face for the very first time after coming here.
What stared back at me was a black-haired youth with black hair and black eyes. A handsome face which had Japanese features, and yet it had distinctive Western traits.
A decently built body—no wonder it was able to handle the fighting as much as it did. The previous owner surely had been active in sports or the gym.
Overall, I looked like any other teenager with slightly better looks and build. Nothing special.
However, what was special was the marking on my face.
Multiple faded markings under my eyes, much like that bastard whom Mahoraga killed.
All of them were gone, except one.
"So that's how I'm alive."
When fighting against Mahoraga, I wasn't just touching him but also that blond bastard. I had gotten his technique and didn't even know about it.
I sighed, wondering what kind of luck I had, how I could be so polarized to the extreme.
I had to run around for my life the entire night in Shibuya. I could have died in any one of those encounters, and yet it was my luck which protected me all along.
I let out a depressing chuckle at my condition and then focused on the markings themselves.
The technique gave six markings in total, each one similar to a life-saving grace. Five of them were gone for me now.
What I was trying to recall was when I might have used them, unknowingly, as that was how the activation worked.
'Me learning RCT and that ice, which most likely Uraume used to find Sukuna's finger while cooling me down as well, while literally Jogo's fire was burning me alive.'
'Then there was that time with Mahito, when Nobara saved me with her technique.'
'Then again with Mahito, who was about to use his domain while I was out of cursed energy, and then with Sukuna when he was about to bisect me when the ceiling once again collapsed and Maki fell on me.'
'And of course, me getting Tsukumo's cursed energy just when my domain was about to collapse against Sukuna.'
Now everything seemed to fall in line. Why I survived those encounters.
Shaking my head, I sighed once more and got ready. Today I had a meeting with the man who runs this place—Principal Yaga...
Instead of waiting for me to completely get discharged out of the medical wing, he himself gave me a visit. It seemed like the pressure on top of him regarding the current upheaval was immense.
What I was not expecting was that he wasn't alone. Maki was with him when he arrived, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, her expression unreadable as her eyes briefly met mine before shifting away.
"You must be Principal Yaga..." I asked. Of course, I remembered him from the anime, but I had learned that a bit of acting to not stand out immediately could help in the long run.
"Yes, I'm Masamichi Yaga, the principal of the Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College."
That was a very formal way of addressing his post. It was clear that the man was setting the tone for the conversation.
"Let's start with something simple," he said, his tone even but firm. "Who are you?"
And he didn't waste time on anything, directly going to the subject at hand.
I exhaled slowly, lowering my gaze slightly as if thinking, even though I had already decided on this answer. "I… don't know," I admitted, keeping my voice steady but uncertain. "I remember… bits and pieces. Not everything."
Yaga's eyes narrowed slightly. "Explain."
That kind of authoritative command ruffled all the wrong feathers in me, but I couldn't do anything about it. I was currently on their turf, and if they decided to label me as a curse user, I'd be captured—or worse, a manhunt would begin.
I doubted many from Jujutsu Tech could catch me, perhaps only Maki and Yuta if he decided to show up. However, for what it was worth, I didn't want that trouble.
"Everything is fragmented..." I said carefully, choosing my words with precision. "At least before the point I opened my eyes and found myself among the many frozen, unmoving people in Shibuya station."
Maki shifted slightly at that. It was the same thing I told her back in Shibuya, so my story should check out. And it was the truth—besides me being a reincarnator, of course.
Yaga remained silent for a moment before asking, "And what point would that be?"
I hesitated, just enough to make it believable. "When I first became aware," I replied. "It was chaos. I didn't understand anything…" I paused, frowning slightly as if recalling something painful. "My mind felt mushy, like it lagged behind everything. Even forming thoughts felt like swimming through a thick, muddy pond.
I can't be certain, but I suspect that I, along with many who were frozen there beside me, were struck by some kind of technique or power. Something which directly affected our brains to the point we could no longer even control our bodies."
Recognition flickered in Yaga's eyes. He knew only one technique which did that—Satoru's domain.
Unlimited Void.
That, along with the record of what Maki told him about the boy seeing Satoru inside the station being sealed, matched up perfectly.
Because there were not many who knew what exactly Gojo's technique did. So while lying that he was there when Gojo got sealed was possible, pretending to be affected by Gojo's domain and showing the right side effects was not.
"…That would explain the memory loss," Yaga muttered, more to himself than to me.
I felt some of the tension in my chest ease slightly.
But that didn't last.
"Then let's move on," he continued, his gaze sharpening again. "When did you first realize you could use cursed energy?"
"That night," I answered honestly. "In Shibuya. I didn't know anything before that. I just… woke up, and it was there."
"It's entirely possible that I had the technique and power for longer. However, I can't remember any of that. So as far as the current me is concerned, I got the power on that night."
Yaga stared at me for a while, like determining how much I was hiding or whether I was being honest.
Ultimately, he just nodded and moved on.
"And your technique?"
I hesitated. This was the one thing I didn't wish to reveal honestly. People not knowing my technique gave me an advantage. Not to mention the nature of 'Death Trade' itself was a threat to many sorcerers and curse spirits as much as it was a threat to me.
A technique which could steal power from others—I couldn't even imagine how jujutsu sorcerers here would react, let alone the higher-ups.
And what would happen if someone like Kenjaku or Sukuna found out about that—I couldn't help but shudder even thinking about it.
"It came out during the fight," I said, keeping my tone consistent. "Like I always knew the technique existed inside my mind. It's only because of the technique that I'm alive today."
That wasn't entirely a lie. In fact, deliberately not stating something isn't a lie at all—it's just selective truth.
Yaga studied me closely. "Describe it."
I shook my head slightly. "I would like to keep the technique private."
That immediately made Yaga stare more intensely at me. I didn't even need him to remove those glasses he was wearing to know those eyes were digging a hole into my skull.
From the side, Maki let out a quiet scoff, though she still didn't expose anything.
Yaga noticed.
"You've seen it," he said, turning to her.
Maki shrugged slightly. "Yes," she replied. "However, I won't say it. He used the technique to save my life—twice. If he doesn't wish to state the technique, then I won't say it either."
Yaga's face scrunched up in frustration. Here he was trying to figure out how dangerous the boy was, and even his own students weren't cooperating.
Even my own eyes shot up with disbelief. Maki going through all that just for me—that felt strangely comforting.
Even though she only knew a part of the technique and its application, and the part which I most wished to hide—the part where I could gain others' power forcefully inside the domain—she was still unaware of it. It warmed my heart that she would hide my technique like that.
Unknowingly, a small smile appeared on my face. "Thank you..." I replied softly, showing as much gratitude as I could in my tone.
"No need. I just don't like owing people..." Maki snorted and turned her face away from my softly smiling one.
'Tsundere spotted...'
That's a tsundere, right?
Damn my fragmented memories—even now, many smaller, less important things were hazy.
Yaga looked back at me, clearly frustrated and aware that I was holding something back, but he didn't press further on that point.
"Fine… we won't go into the technique for the time being..."
Instead, he shifted the topic.
"I've heard reports," he said. "You fought multiple special grade curses."
I felt my throat tighten slightly at that.
"Yes," I replied.
"How?"
That question was far more difficult. Of course, it was my technique...
I leaned back slightly, as if recalling the events. "I didn't fight them alone," I began, sticking to a safer version of the truth.
"When I first encountered one—a special grade, that is—it was with others. Nanami, Maki here, and… that old man whose name I forgot."
"Naobito Zenin," Yaga offered.
"Yes… yes… that's the one."
"We met just right after I fought weaker curses at the lower level of the station. I somehow made my way up, was planning to just run away from those monsters, but that's when I met them."
"We talked a little before that special grade curse showed up. It was a mess..." I said with slight resignation in my voice—that was when the entire chaos truly began.
Yaga nodded slightly. "Go on..."
I continued. "We fought together. I just… did what I could to survive. Actually, I hardly knew how to fight—they did most of the fighting. Until..."
"Until...?" Yaga asked.
"Until the damn curse opened his domain," Maki replied this time, annoyance and irritation clear on her face.
"Yes… until the damn curse opened his domain," I nodded.
"And then?"
"I opened my own domain." I shrugged.
Yaga just remained there, contemplating what he had heard just now. For a sorcerer who woke up not even half an hour ago to open his domain—
That was the most absurd thing he had heard. He looked at Maki to verify, to which the girl just nodded once.
"How did you open your domain so quickly?" Yaga finally asked, composing himself again.
I just shrugged. "What do you mean how? I just used my technique."
I technically wasn't supposed to know that domains were extremely difficult to use, so acting this way was the right option.
"You mean, whenever you use your technique, you directly open your domain?" Yaga asked for confirmation.
I nodded, and that made it clearer to him. He put me in the same category as Hakari—a completely domain-based technique user.
And since he knew how broken Hakari's Idle Death Gamble could be, he was even more curious and concerned about knowing my technique now.
"And the second?" he asked.
"The volcano head..." I said, my voice tightening slightly at the memory. "That wasn't a fight. I couldn't beat him. I just… distracted him. Bought time. Then I got out."
Maki didn't contradict me. She herself had seen me fight alongside her—we barely held Jogo back. It was better that they believed that was the case even after that.
Yaga's gaze remained steady. "And yet you survived."
"Do people have something against me surviving or something? Why is everyone reminding me of that!" I asked irritably. That was quickly getting annoying. I already knew surviving was a miracle—just move on.
"Ahem..." Yaga cleared his throat, seeing the genuine irritation on my face, and decided to move on from the subject.
"And Mahito?"
"Who?"
"The patch-faced curse with blue eyes."
"Oh, that bastard." I scowled.
I exhaled slowly. "That was different," I said. "I wasn't alone. Another girl named Nobara was with me. She helped out—without her, I couldn't have done it. Her and that jacked-up man named Todo. And even then, we couldn't beat him. We would have been toast if not for another monster showing up in time."
I said it with clear tiredness lingering in my voice. And the word monster was enough to tell him who I was talking about.
Silence followed.
Yaga leaned back slightly, his eyes never leaving mine as he processed everything I had said. I could tell he wasn't fully convinced, that there were gaps in my story he had already noticed, but at the same time, nothing I had said could be outright disproven.
Finally, he spoke again.
"You're either incredibly lucky," he said slowly, "or far more dangerous than you're letting on."
"Both… with a hell of a lot of bad luck and a personal grudge against God involved," I added with a defeated sigh.
"I couldn't doubt that—for a sorcerer who hadn't even unlocked his power and technique for more than an hour to face three special grade curse spirits and then the King of Curses himself," Yaga said, letting out a defeated sigh.
He couldn't say whether I was incredibly lucky or just that much hated by lady luck—to face all those things after mere minutes of getting my power and still survive to tell the tale.
From the side, Maki smirked faintly. "You have some guts calling yourself unlucky after stealing my first kiss,"
Another silence spread throughout the room.
Yaga looked back between the two teenagers and decided that it was between them, so no comments.
"Hmm… you know that wasn't intentional, I—I just…"
Maki's teasing smirk only widened at that, but ultimately she waved her hand. "Forget it, it was my fault to begin with. I was clumsy back then."
I just looked away at the awkward moment. The kiss was indeed her fault—she slipped. However, what happened next was what made me embarrassed. I cried in her embrace like a little kid.
I felt my cheeks burning seeing her teasing eyes still on me. Thankfully, she didn't bring that up.
"Ahem..." Yaga once again cleared his throat. The conversation was shifting away from the topic.
Even as he tried to bring the conversation back on track, Maki's little tease had lightened the mood quite a bit.
He let out a quiet breath before continuing, "For now, we will operate under the assumption that you are an ally. However, I believe I don't have to tell you what would happen if you were to act against Jujutsu High in any manner, correct?"
"For now?" Maki repeated lightly.
Yaga's gaze hardened slightly. "Yes… for now."
I met his eyes, steady despite everything. "I understand."
"Good..." Yaga stood up, ready to depart after telling me to rest up for a little while longer.
But not before stopping at the door and saying,
"By the way, it isn't much that we could fetch in this situation. However, we learned who you were before you lost your memories.
I have left a paper on the table beside you. It contains everything we could find about you… before Shibuya.
You might want to go through that…
Mr. Akindo..."
xXx
A/N : Dum dum dum.... name reveal time...
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