Becoming Sukuna

"Ah, Yukino, welcome back!"

When Yukinoshita Yukino returned from the infirmary to the Service Club, the activity room was empty except for Yuigahama Yui.

The pink-haired girl with her dumpling-style hair bun had a bento wrapped in a pink cloth in front of her, which looked like it hadn't been opened yet. Beside it, there was another bento, wrapped in a blue cat-themed cloth, clearly waiting for its owner to return so they could share lunch.

It was obvious that Yuigahama was waiting for the owner of the cat-themed bento to come back and have lunch with her.

"Huh, Yukino, why is your face so red? Are you feeling unwell?" Yuigahama, always quick to notice, asked.

On Yukino's pale, flawless skin, two faint pink blushes spread, making her already beautiful face even more captivating.

Yukinoshita Yukino's face flushed slightly as she instinctively pursed her glossy, translucent lips. "It's nothing, just that the weather is a bit warm."

"Warm?" Yuigahama tilted her head in confusion, glancing out the window.

The refreshing late spring breeze chased the early summer sunshine, and sunlight filtered through the green leaves, casting dappled patterns on the stone floor. With the weather being pleasant today, it shouldn't have been too hot unless they were under the direct sun.

"Ahem, let's not overthink it. Come on, let's eat, the break is almost over." Yukino smoothly redirected the conversation.

"Right!" At least, it was easy to brush Yuigahama off this time.

She pulled Yukino over to their seats, and they began eating the last bit of lunch during the break.

"Wow, Yukino, your bento is so lavish," Yuigahama exclaimed, glancing at the bento in front of Yukino, "I didn't expect someone as slim as you to have such a big appetite."

"This is the result of carefully considering a balanced diet," Yukino replied, her expression unchanged.

Thanks to a certain parasite, ever since her physical capabilities had dramatically improved, her appetite had grown as well. As a result, preparing bento and cooking had become a bit more troublesome.

Even at home, her sister, Haruno, had commented on her increased appetite, but Yukino wasn't one to mind such things. It was just like how she wouldn't brag about being able to punch a cow into the next world.

"Yukino, I bet you prepare all your bentos yourself, right? My mom makes mine," Yuigahama said thoughtfully, sucking on her chopsticks. "Do you think I should try making my own bento?"

Yukino glanced sideways at Yuigahama, unsure if she was serious.

"I'd suggest against it." Yukino spoke with an almost deadpan expression. "Cooking isn't particularly hard to learn, but it requires experience. It's best to learn gradually, step by step. For someone like you, making bento is a bit too soon."

"Ugh... okay, I get it," Yuigahama muttered, remembering how disastrous her first attempt at baking cookies had been, and quickly let go of the idea.

However, she was already determined to go home and ask her mom to teach her how to cook. One day, she'd make sure everyone in the Service Club would look at her in awe!

"Speaking of which, Yuigahama, can I ask you for a favor?" Yukino said after finishing her meal and putting away her bento box.

"Of course, what is it? I'll help!" Yuigahama perked up, her interest piqued by Yukino asking her for help.

"There's something I need to take care of. If there are no more requests for the Service Club, I'd like to head home early. Can I leave this to you?" Yukino asked, taking out her phone to exchange contact information. "If there's a request, I'll come back to continue the club activities."

Is it something to do with her family?

Yuigahama instinctively thought of the short-haired older sister she'd seen at the school gate earlier. Since it was family-related, she didn't pry, just nodding and agreeing readily. "Got it! I'll handle things here with the small fry!"

"Thanks, Yuigahama," Yukino said with a smile.

"It's nothing. You've helped me a lot, too!"

After exchanging contact info, the lunch break was over.

In the afternoon, following Sukuna's instructions, Yukino didn't head for the school gate but instead made her way up to the rooftop of the school building.

The rooftop was usually off-limits, and the doors leading up there were locked. However, there was one lock that had broken, a piece of info well-known among certain circles.

This didn't mean Yukino had any idea of the insignificant details.

She simply used brute force to open the locked door, snapping the lock in half as she did.

Of course, this rough approach had been encouraged by Sukuna.

"Where should we start?" Yukino asked, standing at the edge of the deserted rooftop, gazing down at the city. The cool wind brushed against her face.

"We'll start by searching the surroundings," Sukuna said, taking over Yukino's body with her consent. Stretching her joints and bones, a series of cracking sounds echoed.

In the next moment, Yukino's figure disappeared from the rooftop.

...

Tetsuka Ayaka, despite injuring her knee during afternoon practice, still had no intention of skipping out on the after-school club activities.

The tennis club members had become so lackluster that if she, as president, didn't show up, it would probably lead to the dissolution of the club.

Although she couldn't practice, at least she could supervise the others.

When Ayaka arrived at the tennis court, she found six members idly hitting the ball back and forth, moving lazily as though they were playing with a partner who didn't know how to play tennis—slow shots, easily returned with little to no effort.

One person was sitting off to the side, absorbed in their phone.

With eight people now, including Ayaka, that was the entire tennis club. Most of the members had either quit or graduated and couldn't participate.

"Sorry, Matsushita, my knee's injured, so I can't train with you," Ayaka apologized as she approached the one member who was playing on his phone.

"It's okay, president, just the way I like it. Let's take a break together," Matsushita replied lazily.

Ayaka chuckled awkwardly, not knowing what else to say, but instead of playing with her phone like Matsushita, she gazed around the court, her face creased with concern.

However, there were things that couldn't be seen with the naked eye but were starting to stir.

Five cursed spirits, resembling flickering ghostly flames, hovered in mid-air, rare for them to leave their usual targets and drift toward the vacant tennis court.

On the cursed energy-filled court, the remnants of cursed power clung to the air like honey, drawing the cursed spirits in.

After hovering for a moment, the spirits followed the trace of cursed energy, drawn to where it led.

A figure was constantly leaping across the rooftop of a high-rise building, moving so fast that ordinary people could not possibly track it with their eyes.

"I've got it, I've got it." After taking a quick stroll around the school's vicinity, Sukuna's curse power detection finally picked up a faint cursed presence within his range.

He landed on the rooftop of an apartment building. "It's in this building. Judging by the cursed energy, it's a level 4, at most level 3—pretty weak."

"Can we win?" Yukinoshita Yukino asked with a hint of concern.

The last time Sukuna described a weak level 3 cursed spirit, it nearly destroyed an entire building, so she couldn't help but be skeptical about his assessment of cursed spirit strength.

Perhaps no matter what cursed spirit he encountered, he would always call it weak.

"Don't worry, just do your best." This time, Sukuna didn't say anything discouraging, "If you can't handle it, I'm here."

He formed a hand seal. "Born from darkness, blacker than dark, all filth and impurity—be cleansed."

As soon as he finished speaking, a mass of black shadows materialized above the building, forming a barrier that enveloped the entire structure, dimming the light around it.

After setting up the curtain, Sukuna relinquished control of the body back to Yukinoshita Yukino. "I didn't forget this time, so don't worry about attracting attention. Let's go."

Yukinoshita Yukino took a moment to calm herself, then opened the door to the rooftop.

She had expected cursed spirits to only haunt old, dilapidated places, but the apartment Sukuna had brought her to didn't look old at all.

On the contrary, it seemed like a newly built apartment, with few tenants. The motion-sensor lights in the hallways were high-tech, and the place was impeccably clean. The white tiles reflected the bright light of the hallway's incandescent bulbs, making Yukinoshita Yukino begin to question if a cursed spirit even existed here.

"Could the cursed spirit be inside one of the apartments?" Yukinoshita Yukino muttered quietly.

"You fool, stop just looking with your eyes. Try sensing the cursed energy instead." Sukuna didn't remain silent like last time. This time, he decided to give a little lesson.

"Okay..." Yukinoshita Yukino responded obediently, not arguing even when he called her a fool.

As the second daughter of the Yukinoshita family, Yukinoshita Yukino had received a good education and admired her older sister, who seemed close to perfection. With her smart talent and hard work, her knowledge was quite broad. However, in the world of Jujutsu, which she had only recently begun to learn about, she was undoubtedly a child just starting to talk, someone anyone could easily give advice to.

Although she felt somewhat subtly uncomfortable about Sukuna pointing things out, she felt reassured by his guidance.

After all, Sukuna's strength was unquestionable—he was an absolute powerhouse.

Sukuna had at least demonstrated how to sense cursed energy with his body, so she figured she could manage as well.

Yukinoshita Yukino stopped and slowly closed her eyes, recalling the feeling when Sukuna had manipulated her body. She focused, trying to trace that sensation.

Before long, she sensed a faint cursed energy reaction. Despite keeping her eyes shut, she could somehow "see" the location of the cursed energy.

"I found it!" Yukinoshita Yukino exclaimed, her face lighting up with joy.

For her, the moment of mastering new knowledge or abilities was undoubtedly one of great satisfaction.

Her steps quickened. No longer hesitant or confused, she went from walking briskly to jogging, then leaping over barriers with swift, confident movements as she ran down the stairs.

She reached the fourth floor of the apartment and stopped in front of apartment 406.

"It's in here," Yukinoshita Yukino said with certainty.

She took a deep breath, then stepped back two paces. With a clean and sharp roundhouse kick, she kicked the apartment door open. The force was so great that the door was sent flying, crashing into the TV stand in the living room and sending both the furniture and TV flying.

After a series of clattering noises, the apartment fell silent again.

Yukinoshita Yukino cautiously stepped over the threshold and into the living room. However, when she saw the scene in the room, she froze in place.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and her mind went into a panic. Even the cursed energy rising from her body faltered due to her chaotic emotions.

The most striking sight in the living room was the splattered blood on the wall, resembling a blood-red wing.

The blood flowed down the wall, dripping onto a brown sofa, while the coffee table in front of it had been tossed somewhere unknown. In its place was a headless corpse.

In front of the corpse crouched a long, lean figure, its deep green color resembling that of a mosquito as it inserted a sharp, slender appendage into the body, presumably feeding.

The cursed energy was emanating from this cursed spirit.

"S-Sukuna-kun..." Yukinoshita Yukino retreated a couple of steps and instinctively called out for the person she could rely on.

In the corner of her vision, she saw something that looked like a basketball. When she turned her head, she saw that it was the missing head of the decapitated corpse.

The flesh around the neck was twisted in a spiral, as if it had been brutally strangled with rope, and it was slowly dripping blood. The face, now a purplish-red, wore a look of extreme terror, with bloodshot eyes wide open as though they were about to pop out.

The strong stench of blood filled the air, seeping into her nostrils and trailing down her throat, making her stomach churn.

"Ugh..." Yukinoshita Yukino instinctively covered her mouth.

At the same time, the cursed spirit, still feeding on the corpse, slowly raised its head and turned toward her.

Meanwhile, in the Service Club…

Hikigaya Hachiman opened the door to the clubroom, greeting casually, "Good afternoon."

As usual, he noticed that only Yui Yuigahama was present in the room, and Yukinoshita Yukino's spot was empty, with only Yui's bag on the desk.

"Eh, where's Yukinoshita?" he asked, puzzled.

Normally, Yukinoshita Yukino was always the first to arrive at the club. If she wasn't coming, she would usually notify them beforehand.

Today, however, she was absent without a word, and Yui had even taken on the responsibility of opening the door.

"Yukino said she had something to handle after school, so she won't be coming for now... Ah, she mentioned she would contact us later if there was anything." Yui explained and relayed their conversation from earlier that day.

"I see." Hikigaya Hachiman nodded, understanding.

She was probably with Sukuna again.

He didn't mind. Whether Yukinoshita was there or not didn't affect him. In fact, without her there, he wouldn't have to worry about Sukuna's influence.

It was bliss.

The dead-fish-eyed boy pulled out a novel from his bag and began reading quietly.

Sitting beside him, Yui Yuigahama was playing on her phone, her fingers flying across the screen as if chatting with someone. Occasionally, she would glance in his direction.

The Service Club was filled with the sound of ticking clocks, pages turning, and fingers tapping on a screen. A peaceful atmosphere settled in, until an unsettling noise caught Hikigaya Hachiman's attention.

He looked up, scanning the room, but saw nothing unusual. The uneasy feeling in his gut, however, kept growing.

"Hey, Hachiman, is something wrong?" Yui Yuigahama asked, noticing his reaction.

"No, it's nothing…" He scratched his head, muttering, "I'll go to the bathroom," before walking out of the clubroom.

The hallway of the large building was empty. Most of the school's club rooms were in this building, but the Service Club was in a rather secluded spot.

Hikigaya Hachiman walked toward the restroom, stopping in front of the door.

Turning his head to look at the outer wall, he noticed an eerie ripple spreading across it.