Nanami adjusted his broken glasses, exhaling a long, deeply tired breath. "We survived. That is enough for today."
Ren wiped the dark ash off Nightfall and sheathed it. He looked down at the kid, keeping his expression calm. "You did good, Yuji. Come on. Let's get you fixed up."
...
Underground medical clinic, Jujutsu High
In the far corner of the morgue, Nanami was standing next to a hospital cot. Yuji sat on the edge of it, looking exhausted but completely healed.
Nanami was speaking in his usual flat, serious tone, giving the kid a quiet lecture about the heavy reality of being a sorcerer and how saving people wasn't always a clean victory. Yuji just nodded quietly, staring at his hands as he absorbed the lesson.
On the other side of the room, Ren was sitting on a metal stool.
Shoko was leaning against the stainless steel counter next to him. She had an unlit cigarette resting between her lips, her dark eyes entirely focused on the matte-black scabbard of Nightfall resting across Ren's lap.
She reached out and lightly tapped the metal handguard.
"Wow," Shoko said, her voice dry but laced with genuine, clinical curiosity. "It's a good weapon. A really good weapon. And you just went up against a Special Grade with it."
Ren looked at her.
"Yeah, yeah. It's a good weapon," Ren replied smoothly, leaning back on the stool. He didn't elaborate. Didn't explain where the katana came from or any other details.
Shoko stared at him for a long moment. She didn't push. She just pulled the unlit cigarette from her lips and let out a soft huff.
"You're a weird kid," she murmured, turning around to toss a blood-stained towel into a biohazard bin. "But you kept Kento and the boy alive today, so I don't really care what your secret is."
Kept them alive? To be completely honest, he hadn't done a damn thing. He had just arrived late to the massacre, stepping into the aftermath when the worst was already over. If anything, Kento and the kid had survived on their own.
But correcting her meant explaining exactly why he had been delayed, and that was a headache he wasn't willing to deal with.
She picked up a clipboard from her desk, checking a few notes before glancing back at him over her shoulder.
"You should probably get out of here," Shoko advised, pointing her pen toward the heavy metal doors. "Go visit Maki."
Ren raised an eyebrow. "Why the rush?"
"Because Satoru texted me ten minutes ago. He's will be on his way back from Kyoto soon," Shoko stated flatly. "And once that idiot gets here, he is absolutely not going to give you two enough privacy to spend any time together."
Ren let out a heavy sigh. He immediately stood up, grabbing his sword.
"Thanks for the heads-up, Doc."
Ren stepped out of the subterranean clinic, the heavy metal doors clicking shut behind him.
The crisp afternoon air of the mountain campus was a welcome change from the sterile smell of bleach and burnt tobacco.
He thought about Shoko's warning. Gojo was on his way back, which meant his window of free time was rapidly closing. He probably should have headed straight for the athletic fields to find Maki, but the burning curiosity in the back of his mind completely overrode the urge.
He needed to check the System. Hitting a Special Grade curse—even a severely wounded one—was completely uncharted territory.
Bypassing the main courtyard, Ren took a quiet detour toward the second-year dormitories. The halls were empty. He found his room, stepped inside, and firmly clicked the deadbolt shut.
He let out a long breath, tossing Nightfall's dark scabbard onto the twin mattress before dropping down next to it.
"System," Ren muttered into the quiet room.
The air in front of him shimmered. The familiar, translucent blue interface materialized, its crisp light casting a faint glow over the cramped dorm room.
Ren didn't even look at the notification log first. His eyes flicked straight to the top right corner of the screen to check his total balance.
His heart literally skipped a beat. He leaned forward, squinting at the glowing numbers just to make sure his exhaustion wasn't making him hallucinate.
[Current Balance: 41,595 System Points]
"Holy shit," Ren breathed out, his pulse suddenly hammering against his ribs.
Over forty thousand. He had barely scraped together sixteen grand after grinding all night in Kawasaki.
He quickly swiped his hand through the air, pulling up the unread notification log to see exactly what had triggered the massive payout. A bright, aggressive gold text block expanded in the center of his vision.
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Dominate against a Special Grade]
[System Note: It does not matter if the target was already severely wounded and exhausted, or if the User utilized multiple helpers. A Special Grade is a Special Grade.]
Ren let out a short, disbelieving laugh at the System's blunt clarification.
He kept reading, his eyes dropping to the specific reward breakdown beneath the note.
[Reward 1: +25,000 System Points]
Ren nodded. That explained the massive jump in his balance. But it was the second line of text that made his breath completely die in his throat.
[Reward 2: Passive Trait Unlocked — 'Soul Immunity']
[Description: The User's soul is now strictly bounded. It is entirely immune to foreign manipulation, transfiguration, or forced extraction.]
Ren stared at the blue screen. The ambient noise of the wind outside his dorm window faded entirely. His brain completely stalled out as he processed the sheer, game-breaking weight of that single sentence.
Mahito's entire terrifying gimmick—the ability to instantly disfigure or kill anyone with a single touch—was now completely, fundamentally useless against him. He was a direct, absolute hard counter to one of the most dangerous curses on the planet.
Ren slowly lowered his hands, dragging his palms down his face. He stared back at the floating blue screen, a deeply bewildered expression resting on his features.
"What the hell..." he whispered to the empty room.