The night air was cold and still, as if time had frozen.
The lingering scent of summer was growing more distant with each passing day, and the slight breeze across the asphalt was dry. Under the streetlights, Itadori was out for a walk, listening to the distant noise of the city, alone and without any particular destination.
Gojo said he intended to reveal Itadori’s survival soon, so he didn’t mind if Itadori went for walks when there weren’t many people around. Itadori had “died” once, but after his long period in hiding, simply taking a walk for no specific purpose felt luxurious.
It was nine o’clock at night, and the moon was high.
Itadori avoided the area around Jujutsu High and the city center, where school personnel might see him, choosing instead to walk around a quiet bedroom village. The busy areas of the city would be at their liveliest at this time, but in this residential area, there were few pedestrians or cars. All human activity felt closed away. Occasionally, he heard voices coming from inside the houses, and this was pleasing to his ears.
He’d walked quite a long way, and was thinking it was time to head back. Itadori turned when he reached a large road and started up a lane that was one road over from the one by which he had come.
Even this slight change of route came with a change of scenery. Looking up at the power lines, he wondered vaguely where all the crows went each night. He walked and walked without aim. The colors of the houses slowly passed in the corners of his vision.
After about ten minutes, he came to an open space.
“Oh, there’s a park here?”
The park Itadori had discovered seemed to have been squeezed in between the surrounding residences. There was a slide and a jungle gym and an unnaturally empty space where a merry-go-round might have once stood. To Itadori, the park’s offerings looked meager.
From nearby, he heard the squeak of metal against metal. He turned and saw a single swing moving, and not because of the wind. A small form sat there, swinging back and forth in the glow of an old streetlight.
He looks too mature for an elementary school student. Maybe he’s in junior high?
As the boy swung, his naturally wavy hair, trimmed short, flipped back and forth.
Itadori could tell from the gentle rhythm of his swinging and the expression on the boy’s face that he wasn’t swinging for fun.
Itadori stared at the boy for the space of a few blinks, then walked toward him. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Huh?”
The boy looked up.
At first glance, he appeared to be wary. Itadori wore a uniform over his hoodie and had bleached his hair. The boy may have thought he had attracted the attention of a delinquent. However, when Itadori reached the streetlight, it revealed his face and his innate friendliness, and the boy’s facial expression softened.
“Were you thinking about something?” Itadori asked.
“Uh, yeah. I guess so.”
Itadori sat beside the boy on the swing set. It creaked under his weight, which was more than usual for the swing. The playground equipment was for children, so it was a little snug for a big high school student.
“Seems like you’re nervous talking to someone whose face and name you don’t know. I’m Yuji Itadori.”
“I’m Kairi Minato.”
“Cool name.”
“My grandma who died last year said that people romanticize the ocean, so I’m named after it,” the boy explained.
“Your grandmother was a romantic, huh? It’s a good name.”
“Yes, she was a unique person,” the boy said. “She said she once clashed with a bear. And she won.”
“She must have had a strong personality.”
Itadori’s expression changed as the conversation about the boy’s life proved to be more interesting than he had expected. The thought occurred to him that death comes even to strong grandparents who act cool. But he hadn’t forgotten why he came over.
“Well, your grandmother may have been cool, but your mom and dad may be stricter. It’s pretty late. Aren’t they worried about you?”
“Oh …”
Kairi might have been expecting such a comment. Looking up at the streetlight, he made a face as if to say, Okay, here we go …
The light flickered. Perhaps the filament was old. The way it lit the bugs around it, which seemed like relics that summer had left behind, reminded Itadori of an old movie.
Itadori continued swinging as he waited for the boy’s answer. He pushed off the ground with his feet, and the swing moved back and forth with a creaking sound. It felt comfortable, like a cradle; it might indeed be a good place for thinking.
After the space of a few breaths, Kairi spoke. “I can’t go back home.”
“Did you fight with your parents?” Itadori asked.
“No. I mean physically.”
“Physically? Is it too far or something?”
“No, it’s nearby,” Kairi said. “Will you promise not to laugh if I tell you?”
“I won’t laugh. After all, you aren’t laughing about it.”
Kairi relaxed his uneasy frown at the tone of Itadori’s voice. Rather than being critical, Itadori had sounded as if it was only natural to believe the boy.
Nonetheless, it seemed that what Kairi was about to say was no laughing matter.
After a stretch of silence, Kairi took a deep breath and finally stated the problem. “There’s a demon there.”
“A demon?”
“It appears in front of the house at night. It’s only … about this big though.” Kairi cupped the air as though he were holding a beach ball.
The scale was so precise that Itadori could tell the boy had a real object in mind, as if he really saw the form of a demon in the darkness.
Kairi frowned apologetically. “Totally unbelievable, right?
“No, I believe you.”
“Huh?”
“If you say a demon’s there, it’s there,” Itadori asserted. “I can tell by looking at you that it’s really bothering you. Sort of, anyway.”
“You believe me?”
Itadori searched his memory. He didn’t think he had a great deal of life experience, but he had encountered a lot of curses. Strong curses and weak curses in a staggering variety. By contrast, this appeared to be an ordinary residential area, and judging from Kairi’s description, the “demon” wasn’t that big. Given these factors, he thought Kairi’s curse probably wasn’t very powerful. Considering that Kairi had seen it without suffering any damage, it might be a fly head, grade 3 at most.
“Well, I’ve seen similar things myself. A lot.” Itadori gave a strong kick and swung two, three times for momentum, then jumped off. “So shall we go?”
“Huh? Go? Where to?”
“Your house.”
“But there’s a demon there!” Kairi explained.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go with you. If it looks really bad, we’ll turn back. But we can get close enough for a look, right?”
Itadori didn’t have anything particularly difficult in mind. The expectation of a victory, of appearing cool, or even fulfilling his duty as a sorcerer were the furthest things from his mind. He had only one simple thought.
“It sucks when you can’t go home,” he said.
Itadori decided to help someone else because of that simple belief.
He and Kairi walked for about ten minutes.
As they advanced through the night breeze, they engaged in chitchat for distraction, speaking about everything from clubs at school to their favorite movies and manga.
Illumination from streetlights dotted the darkness enveloping the neighborhood. One streetlight shone directly in front of the gate to a house. It was a simple house, deep blue with a triangular roof.
As soon as it came into view, Kairi stopped walking.
“There it is.”
He spoke with a struggle, through a dry throat. Instinctive tension froze his legs in place.
Itadori walked up behind him, then stepped forward and turned his eyes toward the entrance to the house, illuminated amidst the darkness.
A dark form sluggishly stepped from the shadow of the gateposts. Smaller than a human being, it lacked the charm of a small animal. It seemed unnatural, with a twisted external appearance that caused revulsion to well up from within Itadori’s soul.
Without a doubt, it was a curse.
“Moooooom!” it cried out.
It had two mouths where its eyes should be. Its nose looked to have been shaved off. It didn’t have any ears, and its main mouth was sutured shut with stitches. Its body was composed of exposed muscle tissue, short legs, a small trunk, and long, thick arms that ended in massive fists.
Two distorted projections that looked like bundles of blood vessels extended from its temples like horns.