Reiji walked briskly through the dimly lit streets of Tokyo.
It was early evening, and the sun already sinking beyond the skyline. He had decided to head straight to Jujutsu High to report the situation with Shoko before anything else could happen.
As he made his way down the main street, a faint rumble of voices caught his attention. A crowd had gathered ahead; a rally, or perhaps a protest? The atmosphere was thick and electric, filled with anger that seemed to ripple through the air.
"That's… weird," Reiji muttered under his breath.
He had already passed a small brawl on his way here; two men fighting in the middle of the street, their shouts echoing through the narrow alleyways. It was not lethal, so he left them to it. But one thing was clear: people seemed to be on edge. The whole city felt like it was quietly unraveling.
He turned back once more to glance at the rally. A passionate orator stood atop a small platform, shouting fervently into a microphone. His words drenched in venom and manipulation. The crowd cheered wildly, swallowing every vile lie he fed them.
Reiji exhaled sharply. "Idiots…" he muttered.
A sudden chill startled Reiji. Then it hit him.
A creeping sensation crawled up his spine, old and terrible.
That same deadly premonition again.
Beads of cold sweat formed along his forehead as the air seemed to warp faintly around him. His pulse quickened, his stomach twisted. He knew what was coming.
'No… not again,' he cursed internally.
This time, he wasn't going to let it take him.
Before the distorted feeling could fully consume him, he clenched his jaw, raised his hand, and-
Smack!
The sound of a sharp slap echoed across the street.
The orator froze mid-sentence, and every head in the crowd turned toward Reiji.
The sting on his cheek was immediate, but somehow, the vertigo vanished almost instantly. He had hit himself harder than intended, and his head throbbed from the impact.
Reiji blinked, steadying his balance as dozens of judgmental eyes glared at him; strangers looking at him as though he'd lost his mind.
He sighed deeply. "Yeah… I'm sure they think I'm a crazy person."
Murmurs spread through the crowd, whispers mixing with suspicion and confusion. Reiji ignored them, straightening his robe and continuing his walk toward the train station.
As the noise of the rally faded behind him, he frowned slightly, lost in thought.
"...And they might be right," he muttered quietly.
*******************************************************************************
Far away from Tokyo, in the expanse of Okinotorishima, Japan's southernmost scientific outpost, a pair of researchers sat frozen before their screens. Warning alarms had long since gone silent, replaced by an eerie, humming tension.
An unidentified object had been detected approaching the island at an impossible velocity. It had cut through the ocean's surface without resistance, traveling in a perfectly straight line.
And now, it had stopped.
Right before impact.
The younger scientist gulped. "It… it's stationary, s-sir. Just above the coral shelf. It's not moving anymore."
"That's impossible," said the senior researcher, leaning closer to the monitor, his face fraught with nervousness. "Something moving that fast… the kinetic energy alone should've vaporized half the island."
But the readings didn't lie. The object had halted completely.
After several tense minutes of silence, curiosity got the better of them. They exchanged uneasy glances and decided to investigate.
The iron door of the coastal observation bay creaked loudly as they pushed it open. A rush of cold, saline air swept in, carrying the sound of waves crashing violently against the reef. The world outside seemed deceptively peaceful, the same azure sea, the same coral shimmering under the fading sun.
Standing upon the coral shelf, illuminated by streaks of dying sunlight, was a giant of a man.
He towered over the horizon, lean but impossibly muscular. His skin glistening in bronze against the light. His long braids hung heavy down his back, decorated with carved ivory beads that rattled softly in the wind. Draped around his shoulders was the white hide of some massive beast, still fresh enough that strips of flesh clung to its inner lining. He wore nothing save for a loincloth made of plant fibers. There was a small, mysterious totem hung around his waist.
The man was M'khoro.
The scientists stared, speechless. He was human in form, but everything about him screamed of something beyond human. His proportions, his stillness, the quiet power radiating from every movement, were all deeply unsettling.
One of them whispered, "Is… is that even a person?"
M'khoro turned his head slightly, acknowledging their presence with a single, disinterested glance. His sharp nostrils flared as he inhaled the frigid air, revealing the faint glint of a bone piercing through his septum.
He dismissed them just as quickly and looked toward the horizon, his eyes locked in the direction of Okinawa. The wind howled across the reef, tugging at the hide that barely covered his back and tapered down to his lower hip.
The scientists could only watch fearfully as his muscles tensed.
Then a sudden rush of pressure hit them. The wind split violently as M'khoro vanished.
The air where he had stood rippled for a moment, like heat rising from the ground, before settling into stillness again.
The two scientists stared blankly at the empty reef.
"What… what was that?" whispered one, his voice trembling.
The other could only shake his head, pale as chalk.
***************************************************************************
As Reiji made his way through the busy evening streets, a thought suddenly struck him.
'I should inform Geto about this…'
He pulled out his phone while walking and dialed the number. The line barely rang once before Geto picked up.
"Reiji? Did Shoko answer your call?" Geto's voice carried an edge of tension.
Reiji paused briefly, carefully choosing his words. "Yes. She's fine…"
Geto exhaled audibly, and Reiji could hear a ruckus in the background. Gojo's voice echoing faintly, throwing what sounded like a fit.
But Geto immediately noticed the unease in Reiji's tone. "Is everything alright, Reiji?"
Reiji sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well… Shoko saw something at the crash site. She's not sure what it was, but I think it might help with the investigation. I'm heading to Jujutsu High right now to report it."
Geto's eyes widened slightly, panic flickering across his normally calm features. Behind him, Gojo's complaining abruptly stopped.
"What? Wait… are you saying a curse was involved? The higher-ups suspected that much, but… Gojo didn't detect any cursed energy at the scene."
Reiji froze mid-step, his heart skipping a beat. "That's impossible. There must have been traces of cursed energy… I mean, Shoko was right there."
Gojo's voice cut through the background, defensive and smug as always. "Hey! Don't question my eyes, Kamo!"
Geto groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. "You two are giving me a headache…"
Reiji, however, was not listening. He stood still on the street, his mind racing. He had seen the precision of Gojo's perception before. If even he couldn't sense cursed energy, then whatever had caused that crash was something else entirely.
A cold dread crept down his spine.
Geto's voice came through again, measured but urgent. "Listen, how about we meet at the site of the crash? We'll recheck it together and compare notes on whatever Shoko told you. Oh, and…. where exactly is she now?"
Reiji exhaled deeply. "Alright…" he muttered and abruptly ended the call.
Lying was not his strength, and with how sharp Geto was, he'd surely catch on to anything off in Reiji's tone.
"Wha- hello?" Geto frowned, staring at the phone. He glanced toward Gojo, who was now lounging on a nearby bench and picking his nose absentmindedly.
Geto sighed. "Tch… Let's get going."
Gojo grinned lazily. "Lead the way man."
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Reiji arrived at the train station before the others. He was still wearing his loose, traditional robes — the hem fluttering slightly in the evening wind as he stood amidst the wreckage.
The air smelled faintly of burnt metal and dust. Shattered glass still lined the platform edges, glinting like pale stars beneath the fluorescent lights. Reiji surveyed the damage quietly, his eyes tracing the distorted tracks and twisted beams.
He couldn't make sense of it. It wasn't natural for sure the destruction looked deliberate, almost sculpted.
A familiar voice broke his concentration.
"Yo."
Reiji turned to see Gojo and Geto approaching from behind. Gojo had his hands in his pockets, his trademark grin already plastered over his face.
The white-haired sorcerer tilted his head, eyeing Reiji's outfit. "Wow. Look at you, quite the fashion icon, huh?" he teased. "Traditional robes over pajamas? That's really unique."
Reiji winced in mild embarrassment. "I rushed here as soon as I finished the call with Shoko, alright? And I really don't think it looks that bad-"
Gojo's laughter exploded through the empty, ruined station. His voice echoed against the walls.
Reiji sighed heavily, cheeks burning. "Urgh."
Geto ignored the exchange entirely, his voice slicing through their noise. "Enough. We're here to investigate."
"Fine, fine," Gojo said, waving a hand dismissively. "Killjoy."
They spread out, carefully scanning the area. The silence that followed was eerie. The only sounds were the faint hum of distant electricity and the rhythmic crunch of their footsteps on shattered glass.
After a few moments, Reiji spoke quietly, eyes narrowed in thought. "You were right, Gojo. There's no trace of cursed energy… not even Shoko's."
Gojo smirked triumphantly, his voice dripping with mock pride. "Oh? And how would you know that Mr. Vampire genius?"
Reiji smiled sheepishly, trying to match his classmate's tone. "Do you really want to know?"
Geto shot them both a look, equal parts exasperated and curious.
'What now? What's he hiding?'
Gojo leaned in. "Of course I wanna know. Spill it!"
Reiji looked up toward the damaged ceiling as they descended closer to the tracks. "Mm… How about after we finish sorting this out first?"
Gojo pouted. "Tch, don't back out later."
They reached the platform edge soon. The steel rails stretched before them, mostly intact, save for a few deep gouges that looked far too precise to be from debris.
A heavy silence blanketed the trio.
Geto's voice lowered, carrying a sense of unease. "Reiji… are you sure Shoko's alright?"
Reiji frowned, uncertainty flickering in his eyes. "She said she saw something; shimmering in the air, like cracked glass. Make sure to report that to the higher-ups. I'll check on her myself after this."
Shoko's cursed energy signature was completely absent.
'Is she really at that hospital?'
Worry crept up in his heart. 'I need to make sure she is okay…'
The three of them stood there, staring at the rails as an invisible weight pressed down on the air.
Then, suddenly-
Gojo's head snapped up, his blue eyes glinting sharply. He stared into the dark stretch of the opposite platform.
A strange wind brushed past them; faint but wrong, carrying a static chill that raised goosebumps across their arms.
Almost immediately, Akame stirred in Reiji's eye socket, twitching violently as his cursed energy spiked. His gaze followed Gojo's instinctively into the gloom.
Geto stiffened, his cursed spirits reacting in tandem to the sudden pressure.
The silence was broken by the faint, deliberate sound of footsteps echoing through the opposite platform. Slow and heavy.
From the veil of darkness, a massive frame began to move, its outline shifting against the dim lights. With each step echoing like thunder in the still air.
Reiji's breath hitched.
Whatever it was… it surely wasn't human.