For Kenjaku, seriously experiencing different lives and seriously playing different people was something quite interesting and meaningful.
If she took over a laborer's body, then Kenjaku would genuinely haul bricks at a construction site for a dozen years.
If she took over a college student's body, then Kenjaku would genuinely study the coursework in earnest and fret over exam weeks.
For a thousand years, Kenjaku had never tired of this, always using it to pass the time.
Now was no different.
She had seized Kaori's body only because Kaori's partner was the son of the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin brother, and only in order to give birth to Itadori. Many didn't know what the most important significance of the vessel Itadori was to Kenjaku... and the truth was, when creating Itadori, Kenjaku hadn't actually anticipated that her plan could unfold ten years later.
Afterward, she was simply turning the situation to her own advantage.
And right now, she was still playing the role of a young, ordinary mother.
Itadori's father had died some time ago.
Itadori, only six or seven years old, spent most of his time living with his grandfather.
Kenjaku now simply made Itadori one dinner each day at his grandfather's house, spent a little time with him, and then left. She had also secretly set up some related Jujutsu to make Itadori gradually forget her appearance. That was why Itadori didn't recall his mother's image again until the Culling Game began.
Today, as usual, at six in the evening, after clearing away the dishes, the young, beautiful woman patted little Itadori's head and left the house.
She hadn't yet picked out her next body to seize. She was quite covetous of the body of that man at Jujutsu High who could use Cursed Spirit Manipulation—the one named Suguru Geto—but unfortunately there had never been a chance, so she could only watch and wait.
For now, she still maintained the identity of Kaori Itadori, earnestly playing a young widowed mother not yet thirty. By day she went to work at the company, and by night she often accepted invitations from colleagues—and even superiors—who lusted after her beauty, going out to gatherings. Kenjaku had originally been female to begin with, and besides, wine only grows finer with age, ahem—having lived a thousand years, that she knew how to win people over was only natural, wasn't it?
Suitors came in an endless stream.
And she was happy to make use of it.
Last night she'd kept company with her boss's kid; as for tonight—the one currently sitting across from her, sharing an upscale dinner, was a semi-first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer from Jujutsu High named Takakagi Kojirō, a supporting character whose name had never even appeared in the original work.
"Oh my, I booked this lakeside restaurant a whole month in advance..." The man across from her chattered on eloquently, doing his utmost to show off his wealth and his attentive interest in her.
The man didn't know that Kaori Itadori was a Jujutsu Sorcerer, nor had he revealed his own identity as a sorcerer to her.
But in the back-and-forth of their probing conversation, this not-particularly-clever man always let slip to Kenjaku various threads and traces of intelligence—and this was precisely one of her channels for gathering information on Jujutsu High.
Such as which town the Jujutsu world's recent focus of operations was in.
Such as how that newly risen prodigy of the Gojo Family was making everyone insanely envious lately.
At the dinner table, the man rattled on endlessly, while the woman responded with a smiling face, tossing out a compliment now and then, all but coddling the man back into an embryo.
...There just wasn't any intel worth mentioning.
Listening to his words, the woman toyed with her nails, a little distracted, her eyes glancing at the lake's surface not far off, watching the light shimmer on the ripples.
What she actually cared about was last night.
Last night, a town on the outskirts of Tokyo was said to have experienced a strange phenomenon... the specifics were unclear, but supposedly the entire town had been enveloped by something resembling a Barrier or a Domain, and everyone had had the same dream.
It sounded a lot like Jujutsu... even, an Open Domain.
Of course, Kenjaku didn't think anyone in this era could master the Open Domain the way she could. Not even that once-in-a-millennium prodigy of the Gojo Family could do it, let alone other unknown small fry.
She just cared.
Inexplicably cared.
"So, um... Miss Itadori..." The man before her suddenly shifted his tone, scratching his nose awkwardly. "Do you... have a boyfriend right now?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," Kenjaku said, drawing back her gaze to look at the man with a smile. "Because personally I'm not that interested in dating right now—I'd rather focus on my work..."
The rejection in these words was already quite obvious.
Hearing this, the man wilted like a withered eggplant, his spirits sinking.
Kenjaku didn't care in the slightest; propping up her chin, she went back to watching the pianist performing in the distance.
By worldly standards, she was probably stringing him along on purpose. But to Kenjaku, the fact that she hadn't extracted this man's head on the spot to analyze him for intel already counted as being quite gentle.
Last night's business... it felt like it still needed to be investigated separately...
The woman leisurely cut another piece of steak with her fork and put it in her mouth, but suddenly felt that the atmosphere around her was a bit off.
She raised her eyes and looked around the lakeside restaurant.
Neatly poised waiters wove back and forth between the tables, and the finely dressed guests were enjoying their dinners with beaming smiles.
The piano music was smooth and lovely, the candlelight warm and flickering—everything here was clearly no different from a moment ago, yet Kenjaku felt an inexplicable tension in her heart.
As if something was about to happen.
The woman's gaze turned wary.
CRASH!
The man sitting across from her abruptly stood up, his chair clattering to the floor.
At the same moment, a surge of Cursed Energy suddenly emerged throughout the entire restaurant... no, across this whole stretch of lakeshore, giving Kenjaku a start.
Such powerful Cursed Energy!
And Cursed Energy she didn't recognize!
Could some Special Grade Cursed Spirit she hadn't recorded have appeared?
No.
How could an ordinary Special Grade Cursed Spirit possess Cursed Energy this powerful and all-pervasive?
Kenjaku's wariness was maxed out, and deep down she felt that something was very wrong.
To be honest, this body of hers wasn't well suited for combat. Ever since she'd seized Kaori Itadori's body, her ability to respond to sudden attacks had been greatly diminished.
If it really came to a fight, she wouldn't be able to resolve the trouble without anyone noticing!
It would be a problem if she were exposed!
The man across from her lacked Kenjaku's discernment.
He'd shot to his feet because he'd sensed the Cursed Energy and assumed a Cursed Spirit was attacking, rising to prepare for battle.
"Guh!... Cough!"
But the next second, his pupils suddenly went wide, and his whole body froze in place.
As if grasped and manipulated by an invisible hand, his body was slowly pressed back down onto the chair, once again seated properly and upright.
—Taken out in an instant.
A semi-first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, in the very instant he tried to resist the Cursed Energy blanketing the area, was casually dispatched.
Just like rolling over a speed bump.
Kenjaku grew even more wary.
The waves of Cursed Energy grew thicker and thicker, while the piano music grew ever more impassioned. Everyone in the restaurant was frozen in place, unable to move.
Kenjaku narrowed her eyes; she had already sensed where the source of the Cursed Energy was.
That source was drawing near.
In a flash of thought, Kenjaku made a snap decision to hide first.
With a twist of her body, she darted behind a concealed pillar and used a Technique to hide her presence.
She could feel it.
This seemed to be something like an Open Domain. But she, who didn't believe any being could deploy an Open Domain of such intensity, was now more inclined to think she'd judged wrong.
The Cursed Energy outlined a region, and the woman, standing within it, felt this Cursed Energy "permeating" her.
This Cursed Energy, this sensation... it was as if it were boring into every pore of hers, surging into her body one after another, clinging to her soul from all directions like sticky tentacles.
A chill crept up her back.
It was hair-raising.
This was by no means a comfortable feeling!
What made the woman even more uncomfortable was that her soul seemed instinctively not to reject this contact!
Just as the human body, for self-protection, produces a rejection response to foreign substances—the human soul, in fact, also has this "rejection mechanism."
Yet faced with the Cursed Energy and soul fluctuations emanating from this unknown being, her soul showed not the slightest instinctive rejection—it was even actively accepting this power!
Gooseflesh rose all over Kenjaku's body!
What on earth was this thing!
...Wait!
It's coming!
That source of Cursed Energy drew closer!
It was in the direction of the lake.
The woman held her breath completely, using a Technique to suppress her own Cursed Energy presence and hide herself.
She heard those around her, who had clearly been touched and manipulated by the Cursed Energy, begin to sing softly, chanting a song of unknown meaning, their voices growing louder and louder.
The source of the Cursed Energy hung above the lake's surface, yet made no move for a long while.
Though the surrounding Cursed Energy fluctuations were intensifying, their rhythm was very sluggish—it seemed there was no fierce desire to attack.
Wait a moment...
The woman suddenly froze, her pupils constricting.
She seemed to have realized something.
That unknown melody was gradually eroding people's souls, sticking and connecting each soul to one another...
That eerie, all-pervasive Cursed Energy was kneading everyone's souls into a single whole...
Just now, too panicked and uncertain, the woman hadn't had time to think carefully about what this phenomenon meant.
But in this moment, she understood it all.
Understood that what was happening before her was precisely last night's phenomenon.
Understood that the source of the Cursed Energy seemed to be assimilating and unifying the souls of everyone here.
So she was utterly stunned on the spot.
All the tension and alarm in her heart were, in an instant, completely replaced by an irresistible ecstasy.
Found it...
She'd found it!
Found the chance to push forward her plan that had stagnated for a thousand years!
Found the one and only key that could assimilate all of humanity!
She of course knew that the ideal of "assimilating all of humanity" was a pipe dream to begin with, and it wouldn't be strange even if she had to wait tens of thousands more years to stumble upon a sliver of a chance.
She was willing to spend an eternity waiting. But that didn't mean she'd never felt frustration, disappointment, or even hopelessness during this long wait.
The woman smiled.
It was a smile she couldn't suppress. She grinned wide, her eyes blazing with light.
She still didn't know who the source of this Cursed Energy was, yet she had already sworn in her heart.
It didn't matter who it was... no matter what deity the other party was, she had to get her hands on this method of assimilating human souls!
Even if it cost her life, even if she had to fight to the death, she would seize this one and only chance in a thousand years!
The singing people around her rose one after another and walked toward the lakeside. The piano music still played, echoing together with the singing.
Whether or not it was an illusion, she felt the moonlight overhead had grown brighter and more luminous.
Once everyone around her had left and all the singing had gathered at the lakeside, with no one else beside her—the woman thought that perhaps her chance had come.
She slowly rose from behind the pillar and looked toward the lakeside.
What was it?
What thing was emanating the Cursed Energy?
She looked over with a sharp gaze.
"...What is that?"
And then she froze.
She saw the people standing in a circle at the lakeside, chanting as if in prayer.
She saw the moon overhead spilling down its light, laying a gossamer veil like silver mist across the curtain of night.
The lake reflected the silver disc, its ripples shimmering. Piano and song met, echoing melodiously.
At the center of it all, a girl hung upside down, floating, slowly descending together with the falling silver light.
The moonlight was like her swaddling cloth, spreading a layer of pure white over her long dress.
Her long hair seemed to drift as if in water, making her whole being resemble a newborn spirit of the lake.
In this moment, this woman who had lived a thousand years, her heart long since worn smooth by the ages... perhaps because she'd glimpsed the dawn of her plan, or perhaps simply because she was struck by the breathtaking sight before her...
She swore that no matter the outcome after tonight, this scene before her would become the most unforgettable sight of her thousand-year life.
Bar none.
Still, awe was awe, and unforgettable was unforgettable.
Kenjaku quickly regained her composure.
And then, she was shocked once again.
She stared at the blue-haired girl in the distance and found, astonishingly, that she couldn't tell at all what kind of being the other was.
Was she human?
Absolutely not!
Whatever made up that girl's body was not ordinary flesh and blood at all.
Was she a Cursed Spirit?
No, even less a Cursed Spirit!
The Cursed Energy on that girl was utterly different from Cursed Energy born purely of negative emotions... it was purer, and more "positive."
—It was a being that transcended both "incomplete creatures," humans and Cursed Spirits.
It was a being more advanced, more sublime than both humans and Cursed Spirits!
Kenjaku's mind was a tangled mess. In just a few short minutes, the woman couldn't even remember how many times she'd been shocked.
She had a full thousand years of experience, yet this time she simply couldn't think of what word to use to describe the girl in the distance.
No... Kenjaku suddenly thought there seemed to be one word that fit perfectly.
"...God?"
A deity? A spirit? A divinity? An Angel?...
The woman's throat bobbed.
She saw the girl slowly open her eyes and, across the hazy moonlight, meet her gaze.
She'd been noticed!
The woman instinctively tensed her body, ready to fight at any moment.
Though this body of hers wasn't good at fighting, that was only relative to her original body. As she was now, apart from those few specific people, she could easily win against anyone.
But the girl in the distance, meeting her gaze, had not the slightest ripple of emotion in her eyes. Those eyes, that expression, were as indifferent as a moon quietly sunk in a calm lake.
No malice?
Never mind malice... that gaze didn't even hold a shred of emotion, just like a doll's.
No malice... then, perhaps communication was possible?
Kenjaku pondered and cautiously took a step forward.
The girl still floated, staring at her indifferently.
Kenjaku took another step, then two, and receiving tacit permission, she quickened her pace, gradually walking to the lakeside.
The people around, as if having received some command, stopped their singing and retreated to either side, leaving the center to Kenjaku and the girl.
Kenjaku frowned and, after a slight hesitation, still continued forward, stepping onto the lake's surface.
Relying on the Anti-Gravity Technique, she could walk on the water's surface as if on flat ground.
And the girl floating in midair also gently turned her body, slowly descending onto the lake's surface, walking toward Kenjaku to meet her.
The two drew closer and closer, until they were extremely near.
The surrounding atmosphere was silent to the extreme.
The moonlight, like a searchlight, enveloped the two of them together in the night.
Kenjaku stood before this girl who was a head shorter than her, silently meeting those indifferent eyes.
"You... guh!"
Just as she was about to open her mouth to attempt communication, unexpectedly the girl, without any scruple or courtesy, reached out her right hand and grabbed her chin, lifting her head up.
The girl floated up again, looking down from above, brought her face close, and began to meticulously turn and examine Kenjaku's face—left and right, up and down.
"Uh..."
The words Kenjaku was about to say were blocked back again.
The other, as if handling an object, pinched her face and turned it side to side.
To be honest, if anyone else had dared do this to her, in a situation like this, Kenjaku would have long since blasted them away with Anti-Gravity.
But facing this girl of unknown origin, she felt not the slightest overt malice, so she could only silently endure it, merely carefully squinting open a sliver of her eyes to secretly observe the other.
The girl's face was beautiful, reflecting the moonlight—she was simply a spirit born of the moon and the lake.
Though the girl was expressionless, Kenjaku still saw in her eyes inquiry, saw curiosity.
The woman was not unfamiliar with this kind of gaze. Newborn babies often had exactly this look.
...Could this being before her have just been born?
After a long while, the girl finally let go of her.
Only then did Kenjaku relax a little, taking a couple of breaths, and looking back, she found the other's eyes still held curiosity.
"You..." Kenjaku hesitantly spoke again. "Hello?"
The girl said nothing.
Instead, everyone at the lakeside spoke in unison.
—"You... hello?"
Huh?
Kenjaku froze, hesitated, then spoke again: "Hello?"
The girl's indifferent expression didn't change.
Everyone at the lakeside, meanwhile, repeated Kenjaku's words, without even a change in tone: "Hello?"
Kenjaku: ...?
Hold on...
Could it be that this girl simply couldn't understand human speech at all?
Was she truly a newborn "baby"?
Realizing this, Kenjaku, far from being pleased, got a headache instead.
If the other could communicate, she could still find a way to understand her, to fool her. But if even the most basic communication was a problem—then all the schemes and tricks she'd prepared in her mind would have no place to be used.
Kenjaku stood on the lake's surface, stuck awkwardly in place.
And across from her, the blue-haired girl, watching Kenjaku stand there dumbstruck with her mouth hanging open, tilted her head slightly, seeming to express confusion.
—But in reality, the girl at this moment was cackling gleefully inside.
That's right!
Yep!
This is exactly how it should be done!
Kenjaku was one old fox. Although Mahiru held an overwhelming information advantage, facing this sort of person, she still had to be extremely cautious.
One careless slip, and the other might catch on.
Say a couple more words to this one, and she might expose a flaw.
Keeping eight hundred hidden schemes running at all times was truly exhausting, and far too risky.
So in that case—since talking too much invites mistakes, why not just directly play the role of someone "unable to communicate normally"?
As long as you can't read my mind, as long as you can't work your tricks on me, then the initiative in this exchange, this contest, is firmly in my hands!
Unless you're willing to give up this enormous opportunity before you and stop trying to make contact with me.
But are you willing?
You absolutely are not!
The girl stood before Kenjaku, her long hair fluttering, her expression indifferent, exactly like an exquisite doll.
But inside, she had actually long since put her hands on her hips, tilted her head back, and burst into laughter.
This time, let's see how I mess with you!
Kenjaku!
Your comeuppance is me!
____
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