Chapter Text
The air in the Sendai Colony was not yet saturated with the aura of calamity, but the tension in the underground bunker of the Tokyo sorcerers was at its peak.
Ryu Ishigori was sitting on the roof of an ordinary house, giving the final touches to his pompadour with a pocket mirror. A few meters away, Takako Uro floated in the folds of the sky, arms crossed and watching the horizon with a paranoia only a veteran of the Heian Era could understand. Both kept their distance after their bloody duel weeks ago, but the overall atmosphere of the Extinction Journey forced them to share the same airspace.
Out of nowhere, a distortion of cursed energy opened right in the center of the roof.
Uro reacted instinctively, bending the space in front of her to prepare a counterattack, while Ryu put away his mirror and gathered energy in his hair, anticipating the attack. However, from Ui Ui’s teleportation barrier, the monster they feared did not emerge.
Instead, the boy in the white uniform appeared, with a katana on his shoulder and a determined, yet strangely peaceful look.
“Okkotsu?” Ryu blinked, relaxing his stance a bit. “Hey, modern sweet tooth... I thought you’d had enough of our menu in Sendai. Are you here for seconds?”
“What are you doing here, Fujiwara?!” Uro spat from the air, her eyes injected with suspicion and hatred. “The colony borders are supposed to be sealed.”
Yuta Okkotsu didn’t draw his sword. He stepped forward and looked at them both with an absolute seriousness that instantly erased Ryu’s mocking tone.
“I’m not here to fight you,” Yuta said, his voice resonating with firmness. “I’m here to save your lives. And to propose a deal before it’s too late.”
“Save us?” Uro let out a bitter laugh. “Us? We need the mercy of a Tokyo brat?”
“Ryomen Sukuna has taken Megumi Fushiguro’s body in Tokyo,” Yuta said, without any sugarcoating.
The name dropped like a thermonuclear bomb on the roof. Uro froze in the air. Her eyes widened and a violent tremor ran through her body. The ancestral panic of the Heian Era, the terror of the four-armed demon who devoured entire armies, hit her head-on. Ryu, for his part, stopped smiling. Sukuna’s aura was a legend even in the Edo Period, a monster Kenjaku respected above all else.
“Sukuna is free... and he’s on the move,” Yuta continued, taking advantage of the psychological impact. “He’s a tactical genius. He knows who the strongest reincarnated sorcerers in the Culling Games are. If he stays in Tokyo, he’ll eventually come to clear out the colonies. If he finds you separately, he’ll kill you in a second so you don’t interfere with his plans. Ryu... your Granite Blast is lethal, but against his Dismantle and Cleave at close range, you wouldn’t even have time to charge energy. Uro-san... just mentioning Sukuna’s name has you paralyzed with fear.”
Uro clenched her fists, slowly floating down to the ground. She hated to admit it, hated Yuta with all her soul, but her thousand-year-old survival instinct screamed that the boy was absolutely right. If Sukuna found her alone, she’d die like an insect.
“So what do you propose, Okkotsu?” Ryu asked, getting up from the ground while yawning. His eyes shone with a mix of cold sweat and a spark of excitement. “You want us to hide like rats with your team?”
Yuta stepped toward them and, out of nowhere, gave them that bright, ear-to-ear smile he was so known for. A smile full of such pure and contagious confidence that it disarmed any hostility.
“I propose a month of truce and a real plan,” Yuta said, extending his hand. “Come to Tokyo with us. We have thirty-five days to train, share information, and refine a perfect combat strategy. Uro-san... I know you hate the Fujiwara Clan and the system that betrayed you. Sukuna is the last vestige of that era of oppression. Help us destroy him and I guarantee you a place in the new world, free from the chains of the past where you can be your own person as you’ve always longed for.”
Uro looked away, swallowing her pride, but nodded slightly.
“And me, Okkotsu?” Ryu smiled sideways, crossing his fists—. I already found my dessert with you.
“Sukuna isn’t a dessert, Ishigori-san,” Yuta replied, his smile widening even more. “He’s the ultimate banquet in the history of sorcery. If you fight alone, he’ll devour you. But if you come with me... I promise we’ll cook the biggest dish of your life. Don’t let anyone else eat the grand prize.”
Ryu let out a laugh that scared the birds from the ruins of Sendai. He fixed his pompadour with an energetic slap of his hand and looked at Yuta with absolute respect.
“Damn it, Okkotsu... you really know how to whet a glutton’s appetite,” Ryu said. “But, I’m not looking for anything in life anymore. You were my dessert, you gave me everything I sought in my past life.”
Yuta smiles at Ryu’s compliments.
“All right. Let’s make the Binding Vow. I’m joining your kitchen for the final assault.”
Yuta nodded, happy that his preventive move had worked perfectly.
“Ui Ui, open the portal,” Yuta ordered through the intercom. “Let’s take them to the base. Shoko and the technical team need to start designing the mechanical combat prosthetics for domain synchronization.”
“We have a month to plan, and you better not die.” Ui Ui replied.