I escaped the hospital at 7am.
I want to be clear that "escaped" is the correct word. I didn't discharge myself. I didn't sign anything. I waited until the nurse switched shifts, took the clothes sitting in the cabinet next to my bed, and walked out through a side door like I owned the place.
Nobody stopped me.
Either Japanese hospital security is terrible or I looked confident enough that it worked. I choose to believe it was the second one.
The second I stepped outside I stopped walking.
Japan.
Actual Japan.
I'd spent years watching anime set here, reading manga set here, listening to people on the internet talk about visiting like it was a religious experience. And now I was standing on an actual street in actual Tokyo and everything was exactly what I expected but also completely overwhelming in a way I wasn't ready for.
The signs. The vending machines on every corner. The way everything was clean in a way that made American streets look embarrassing. People in suits walking fast. A dog in a stroller. A vending machine selling hot coffee in little cans.
I bought one with the coins I found in the jacket pocket. I don't know whose jacket this was. I don't feel bad about it.
I kept walking and just looked at everything like an absolute tourist.
---
After twenty minutes I remembered I had a system.
I pulled up the window while walking and a salary man walking past me watched me gesture at nothing with a look of deep concern. I ignored him.
[STATS]
[Speed: 0] [Strength: 0] [Agility: 0] [Stamina: 0]
[Cursed Energy Output: 0]
[Points: 17]
Everything at zero.
I mean I knew that. I'd seen it yesterday. But seeing it again while standing outside in the real world made it hit different.
I was a regular sixteen year old with the physical stats of someone who avoided PE class for two years straight. In a world with cursed spirits and sorcerers who could destroy buildings.
Right.
Okay.
What to upgrade first.
Strength felt obvious. Speed felt smart. But the one that kept pulling my attention was the cursed energy stat. Because without that I was just a guy. A regular guy. In the JJK world a regular guy is basically already dead.
I spent four points on cursed energy output.
Nothing happened for a second.
Then everything changed.
---
It's hard to explain what it felt like. Like a switch flipping somewhere inside my chest. Like something that was always there just got turned on.
And then I saw them.
The woman walking ahead of me had something around her neck. Small, grey, clinging to her like a scarf that hated her. It had too many fingers and no face.
The old man sitting on the bench had something on his back that was bigger. Dark, heavy looking, gripping his shoulders with both hands while he fed pigeons and had no idea.
I stopped walking.
I was seeing curses.
Actual curses. On actual people. In broad daylight while everyone walked past completely unbothered because they couldn't see any of it.
I stood there for a full thirty seconds just looking around at how many there were.
There were a lot.
This world was so much worse than the manga made it look.
---
I kept moving because standing still and staring at invisible monsters was making people nervous. I was already the guy gesturing at air earlier. I didn't need a reputation on day one.
I turned a corner and stopped.
A system window appeared without me opening it. Automatic. New feature apparently.
[TARGET DETECTED]
[Cursed Spirit: Grade 1]
[Threat Level: Extremely High]
[Recommendation: Do not engage]
The thing was massive. Easily three meters tall. Standing in the alley like it lived there. It looked like someone had taken a nightmare and gave it a physical form. Teeth in the wrong places. Arms too long. The air around it felt wrong.
The system said don't engage.
I looked at my stats. Still basically zero.
Then i thought about how megumi died to a grade 1 curse.
I was not going to be Megumi.
I was not dying to a grade one curse while wearing a stolen jacket with no phone and seventeen points total.
I spent the rest of my points. Speed up. Strength up. Agility up. Everything I had.
[Points: 0]
Small upgrades. Barely noticeable on paper.
But I felt faster. Lighter. Like my body was responding a half second quicker than normal.
I cracked my knuckles.
"Okay," I said. "Let's see what these points actually do."
---
The answer was not enough.
The answer was absolutely, humiliatingly, not enough.
I moved faster than before, that part was real. I dodged the first swing. I actually dodged it and for one beautiful second I felt like a main character.
Then it hit me with the second arm.
I flew into a wall. The wall won. I slid down it and sat on the ground and everything in my body was screaming at me. My face felt like it had been rearranged. I touched my cheek and it was already swelling.
The curse looked at me.
It did not look impressed.
I spat on the ground, looked up at it, and said nothing because my jaw hurt too much to be funny right now.
Eventually the thing just left. Lost interest. Walked into a shadow and disappeared like it had somewhere better to be.
I sat on the ground in the alley for a while.
**[Points: 0]**
Face destroyed. Body hurting. Zero points. No phone. Stolen jacket.
"Okay," I said to nobody.
That was a Grade 1. One of the lower dangerous tiers. There were special grades above that. There were people in this world who fought special grades for fun.
I had barely survived five seconds.
I had a long way to go.
But I was going to get there.
I stood up, fixed my collar like I hadn't just been thrown into a wall, and walked back out onto the street.
Time to find someone to ragebait.