Ren pulled back slightly, his thumbs tracing the line of her hips. "So," he murmured, his voice dropping an octave. "When?"
Maki looked away, her eyes scanning the concrete wall as if checking for eavesdroppers before she leaned back into his space. "Tomorrow," she said, her voice small but firm. "Let's go on a date... outside of Tokyo. Somewhere quiet. No Gojo, no school, just us."
Ren smiled, the expression warm and genuine. "I'm holding you to that."
He let the silence settle for a moment before shifting the topic. "Did you ever get a chance to talk to your sister?"
Maki let out a long, heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping. The mention of Mai always brought a specific kind of exhaustion to her face.
"Not properly. She's still... being her," Maki muttered, her grip on his jacket loosening as she stepped back to create a little professional distance.
"I'll talk to her. Eventually."
She reached down, picking up her cold can of green tea from the vending machine tray and taking a final, grounding sip.
"Come on. If we stay back here any longer, Panda's going to start making up theories that'll make my head explode."
Ren laughed, picking up his forgotten coffee from the grass. "Copy that, boss."
They walked side-by-side back toward the shouting and the rhythmic crack of bats, the heat of the afternoon sun feeling a lot more manageable than the tension they had just left behind the dugout.
...
Ren locked his dorm room door. He dropped onto the edge of the mattress and pulled Nightfall from his inventory. The dark scabbard rested heavily across his knees.
"System," he said.
The blue interface appeared in the quiet room.
[Current Balance: 50,095 System Points]
He opened the weapon menu. He selected Nightfall and hit the upgrade tier.
[Upgrade Weapon: Grade 1 -> Special Grade]
[Cost: 50,000 System Points. Confirm?]
Ren tapped yes.
His point balance instantly plummeted to 95. The blue screen wiped away, shifting into a bright, aggressive gold.
[Special Grade Imbuement Mechanics Unlocked]
[Would you like to utilize Directed Imbuement to manually select a Cursed Technique? Y/N]
Ren tapped the 'Y'. He focused on Shoko's lecture from the morgue, pushing the precise theoretical math of Reverse Cursed Technique into the system prompt.
The interface chimed. A small loading circle spun.
[Technique Validated: Reverse Cursed Technique]
[Calculating Premium Cost...]
A new text block dropped onto the screen.
[Cost to Imbue RCT: 125,000 System Points]
Ren stared at the glowing numbers.
His expression went completely flat. The faint hum of the dorm's air vent suddenly seemed incredibly loud.
"What..." he muttered.
The system chimed again. Another notification box popped up, completely ignoring his shock.
[Insufficient Funds.]
[Notice: If Directed Imbuement is bypassed, the weapon will naturally absorb ambient negative energy and permanently manifest a random Cursed Technique. Once manifested, the slot cannot be overwritten.]
[Would you like to suspend natural manifestation until funds are acquired? Y/N]
Ren let his head fall forward. He dragged a hand down his face, staring at the pathetic 95 points left in his top corner. He needed another so much more just to make the katana work the way he wanted.
He slouched, his shoulders dropping.
"What choice do I have," he muttered, his voice hollow and defeated. "Stop it."
He tapped the screen.
[Manifestation Suspended. Weapon Upgrade Complete.]
The holographic interface pulsed. The bright gold border shifted back to the standard blue.
[Manifestation Suspended. Weapon Upgrade Complete.]
The heavy scabbard resting across his knees suddenly grew ice cold.
Ren grabbed the hilt and pulled the blade free.
Nightfall looked completely different. The metal wasn't just dark anymore; it actively absorbed the dim light in the room. The crystalline silver edge was gone, replaced by a pitch-black cutting edge. Faint, dark mist bled off the steel, curling into the air before vanishing.
The weight felt altered. It was perfectly balanced, feeling less like a forged piece of metal and more like a natural extension of his own arm.
He turned the blade, watching the shadows warp around the steel.
A sharp chime rang in his ears. The interface expanded, pushing a new block of glowing gold text directly into his line of sight.
[ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Arsenal Apex]
[Detail: Successfully possess and wield a Special Grade Cursed Tool.]
Ren let out a slow exhale, his eyes dropping to the next line.
[Calculating Reward...]
[Reward 1: +25,000 System Points]
[Reward 2: Weapon Trait Unlocked — 'Soul Bond']
[Description: The Special Grade weapon "Nightfall" is now bound to the User's unique energy signature. It cannot be wielded, stolen, or utilized by any other entity.]
Ren watched his balance tracker instantly update in the top corner of the screen.
[Current Balance: 25,095 System Points]
He rested his elbows on his knees, holding the newly upgraded weapon. Twenty-five grand. It was a massive payout just for owning the weapon. It dragged him out of the double digits, but the math still stared him right in the face.
He was exactly one hundred thousand points short of buying the Reverse Cursed Technique imbuement.
Ren slid the blade back into its scabbard. The sharp click echoed loudly in the quiet dorm.
The space in the center of his locked dorm room instantly warped.
A sharp rush of displaced air kicked up dust from the floorboards. Satoru Gojo appeared right at the foot of the bed.
The blindfolded teacher stood tall, hands casually tucked into his pockets. The usual obnoxious grin was missing. Gojo just tilted his head, staring intensely at Ren.
Gojo just tilted his head, staring intensely at Ren.
The Six Eyes were locked dead onto the pitch-black blade resting in Ren's hands. The suffocating, abyss-like aura radiating from Nightfall was fundamentally different from the Grade 1 steel it had been exactly twenty-four hours ago. The ambient cursed energy in the dorm room was literally warping around the metal.
Before Ren could even formulate a half-decent lie to feed the world's strongest sorcerer, the hallway outside echoed with heavy, aggressive footsteps.
CRACK.
The locked wooden door of Ren's dorm room practically exploded off its hinges.