Megumi Fushiguro nodded firmly, the weight of the moment settling on his shoulders. "I've got it. Leave it to me".
Kira Nanami's eyebrow twitched upward. The boy is catching on, he thought, feeling a flicker of pride. He justified his departure as a necessary trial for the junior rather than a blatant attempt to avoid overtime. With a casual wave of his hand, he turned and vanished into the darkness of the corridor.
Fushiguro turned his focus back to the heavy-set student trembling before him. "Where is the finger?".
The boy opened his mouth to answer, but his pupils suddenly dilated in terror. "Behind you!".
Crack! Shatter!
The window behind Fushiguro exploded into a thousand silver shards, each one reflecting his startled face for a fraction of a second. A massive shadow surged through the broken frame, slamming into Fushiguro with the force of a falling building.
Boom!
The wall buckled under the impact. Fushiguro felt the sickening, humid pressure of the curse—a viscous, putrid texture that reminded him of the strange "cat food" slurry Kira had been mixing earlier that morning. It was revolting.
"Divine Dog!".
A blur of silver-brown fur and moonlight slammed into the curse. The Divine Dog tore through twisted tentacles with razor-sharp teeth, swallowing chunks of cursed flesh as it fought to clear a path.
"Go!" Fushiguro gasped, shoving the student toward the door. "Get as far away as possible! And tell me—where is the finger?".
"With my senior! We split up on the second floor!".
Fushiguro clicked his tongue in frustration.
Moonlight flooded the silent hallway, shadows swaying in the pale glow as the female student ran blindly through the corridor. The school had become a labyrinth of horrors. Whispers drifted from empty classrooms, and the sound of phantom marbles dropping echoed from the floor above.
"Someone help me... please..."
The floorboards ahead of her splintered, and a hideous, gargantuan caterpillar with blood-red human eyes reared up to block her path. She collapsed, paralyzed by the freezing aura of the creature as it leaned over her, its foul saliva dripping onto her head. It opened its mouth—a jagged rift that stretched to its eyes—and lunged.
A pink, cat-like hand adorned with a skull insignia caught the monster by its head.
Boom!
The curse was reduced to cinders, consumed by an instantaneous burst of flame. Kira Nanami stepped out of the shadows and extended a hand.
"Hand it over".
"What?"
"The finger. Quickly. I need to go home".
Kira sighed internally. Entrusting a Special Grade incident to children had been a lapse in his usually impeccable planning. A professional handled professional matters; children were meant for dreams, not battlefields.
"I don't have it," the girl stammered, trembling. "A boy named Itadori saved me... he told me to run and took the finger with him."
Kira's face darkened as he felt a sudden, massive surge of cursed energy erupting from the rooftop. "Tch".
Fushiguro stood frozen before the terrifying figure perched atop a mountain of cursed remains. The entity had four eyes, each curved into a crescent of sadistic joy. Its mouth was split into a wide, jagged grin as it clawed at its own face, tearing away strips of skin in its excitement.
"What a glorious age this is!" the voice boomed, ancient and resonant. "Blood! I want to drink the blood of women!".
The figure laughed manically, pressing its fingers into its own temples, relishing the physical sensation of the new world. It was a terrifying display of pure, unadulterated malice.
"Hey," Yuji Itadori's voice cut through the madness. "What do you think you're doing with my body?"
"Eh?"
The King of Curses paused. The blood-red markings on his face remained, but his hand withdrew from his temple as the wounds began to knit themselves back together.
"Why are you making holes in someone else's head?" Yuji asked, his voice steady despite the horror.
"You... you can still speak?".
"I don't have 'women's blood' to give you," Yuji replied. "But if you're that desperate, I could ask a classmate to spare some... though I'd definitely be labeled a creep. In exchange, can I have my body back?"
The extra eyes beneath Yuji's lids slowly closed, fading into black markings. He patted his head, his expression returning to normal.
"Itadori."
Yuji turned to see Fushiguro standing several paces back, his hands woven into a complex, trembling seal.
"By the laws of jujutsu, I hereby declare you a curse. You will be exorcised".
"A vessel capable of suppressing Sukuna?" A flat, adult voice drifted from the stairway.
"Kira-senpai?" Fushiguro turned, his eyes wide.
Kira Nanami walked calmly into the moonlight, his pink Shikigami hovering behind him with glowing vertical pupils.
"You can't do it, can you?" Kira said softly. "I shouldn't have left this to children".
Kira stood before Yuji, his face a mask of absolute professional serenity. "You didn't do anything wrong, Fushiguro. The error was mine".
He looked at Yuji, his thumb resting over the detonator of his hand. "You said you wanted to die surrounded by a crowd, didn't you?".
"Prove it to me. Release that monster for exactly ten seconds".
"If it lasts a second less, or a second more... I will erase you from this world".