Chapter 46:

Naraku packed up and left, changing into the navy blue kimono he'd worn earlier. Aside from the orb, he left nothing behind.

He hesitated, turning his head twice before finally saying coldly, "Don't try to get yourself killed. Remember your promise to be my slave."

Go now...

If she were frightened again, Naoko felt her heart would give out.

But she realized excessive self-consolation was futile, because at night, she had another nightmare.

The familiar throne of skulls, the familiar damp, smelly room, and the familiar man in a woman's kimono.

Perhaps because Sukuna's fingers had gradually merged with her body, she was not only able to move this time, but even speak.

...a rather ominous guess.

This time, she finally saw the man clearly:

a man with four arms, covered in runes, twice her height, and a face identical to hers...

He made all sorts of hideous and terrifying expressions on the familiar face. He lifted her up by the back of her collar and swung her around like a chick.

"You don't look that special. Hmm... your life is more exciting than a 8 o'clock drama."

Naoko guessed that he was talking about something related to Naraku.

"Who... who are you? Anyway, this is... too unreasonable..." As soon as she

finished speaking, she was thrown aside as if she were a bag of hot garbage. She

was so scared that her calves were shaking, but she still forced herself to denounce him.

He laughed: "You don't deserve to know my name."

Another bloody second-year syndrome, she silently concluded.

Her eyes were drawn to the piles of skulls. Sitting at the foot of the grave, she had to lift her head very hard to see the scenery on the throne.

"You're not... the ghost of a bad killer, are you?"

He seemed amused by her silliness, clutching his stomach and laughing for a moment. After a long pause, he stopped, his expression dark and smirking.

"That kind of foolish, incompetent thing isn't even worthy of being compared to me."

... A bloody, late-stage Chuunibyou.

Seeing her face, once hers, appear on someone else's, with such a strange expression, made her cringe.

...Does she always look so needy?

As he straightened up and looked down with his eyelids lowered, Naoko realized he was much larger than she'd imagined. His two hands, side by side, extended from the cuffs of his kimono, their palms larger than her head.

-- If he attacked her, she would be unable to escape, she knew that all too well.

"Hey, kid," he half-knelt, looking her in the eye. A dramatic curve formed at the corner of his lips, and black runes drifted across his face as he moved. "Lend me your body."

...

Upon waking, Naoko remembered only those words the man had left her.

What had she replied?

After waking, she couldn't recall it.

...Hopefully, she hadn't impulsively agreed to something outrageous.

Although she'd reduced her outings for her own safety, she hadn't fallen behind in her tutoring of Asano Yuuki.

Perhaps thanks to the letter, Yuuki's resistance to her had eased considerably, but when she turned around, she felt a chilling gaze fixed on her.

The large house felt eerie and empty—probably because he always kept the curtains tightly drawn.

"But, Yuuki-kun, where are Mrs. Asano and Mr. Asano? It feels like they've been away for ages."

"Dead." His voice was so calm, as if he were recounting a trivial incident, that it took her a moment to react.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

He glanced at her impatiently. "Dead."

"So... sudden?" He

'd been fine just a while ago... Life is unpredictable, isn't it?

Yuuki-kun wasn't the type to joke about such things; what he said must be true.

Many thoughts flashed through Naoko's mind like a kaleidoscope. It turned out that there was a reason for his sudden bad attitude towards her...

No wonder he was doing so badly even on the questions that came to mind, when he had clearly mastered this type of questions before.

The more she thought about it, the more sorry she felt, especially when Asano Yuuki's impatient face looked even more miserable under the light.

A child who had just reached adulthood suddenly lost both his mother and father at the same time, he must feel very sad, right?

As a tutor, although she could not help much, she could still offer some comfort.

So when he lowered his head to write the test paper and looked a little lost, she suddenly leaned over and hugged him in her arms.

Asano Yuuki trembled reflexively, as if he wanted to dodge, but the bounce he expected did not happen.

"Good boy, Yuuki-kun, it's okay... From now on, I'll definitely take good care of you," she said, patting his back lovingly. "Good boy, are you even scared to death?"

In the darkness, out of her sight, Asano Yuuki buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, fangs bared, veins popping, fingers sharp as claws.

He smelled the scent of a cursed object.

If he was not mistaken... it was Sukuna's finger, the legendary object that allowed him to truly walk in the sun.

"If you need a hug, it's okay to hold me longer..." she rambled

.

He had no patience for her rambling. His fingertips slowly moved to the back of her heart, exerting force—

but just before he could do so, a red eye that had appeared on the side of Naoko's face suddenly moved.

Then, his finger was yanked away by an invisible force.

Asano Yuuki looked up and saw that a smiling mouth had grown from beneath that eye.

Strange facial features appeared on Naoko's face, but she seemed unaware of it and continued to speak nonsense: "If you need help, you can come to me, I will definitely be there..."

The corners of her lips turned down in an unhappy gesture, opening and closing, and silently mouthing to him:

"This is my prey, get out."

Ryomen Sukuna.

This is an existence that even Muzan Kibutsuji had heard of, the "Cursed King".

However, it is now a thing of the past, in short, it is no longer enough evidence.

But he can control Kawase's body, which means that the finger has successfully merged with her. If he wants to take it out again, it will not be as simple as cutting her open...

With this thought, Muzan reverted to his gentle, harmless, and foolish demeanor, standing up and pushing her away.

He had to find a way to free the finger. As for the bread that had dared to touch him...

"...Hey, feeling better?" Naoko's endless soothing words came to an abrupt end, secretly relieved to see that he wasn't as upset as she'd imagined.

It's no exaggeration to say that this kid was as cold as a ghost...

Speaking of ghosts, she finally became a little wary: "By the way, Yuuki-kun, have you encountered any strange things in your home? Like the ghosts of Mrs. Asano and Mr. Asano... or something like that?"

The "ghosts" Naraku was referring to were ghosts and the like?

But could Mrs. Asano, so kind, become an evil ghost?

Ignorant and foolish.

He, Muzan Kibutsuji, was the "King of All Demons."

As for the vanished Asano bread family, of course, he had eaten them.

He had only planned to stay here temporarily, but who would have thought he would encounter Sukuna's finger?

This was a cursed object that all ghosts dreamed of.

He lowered his head and shook it gently.

－－－

Meanwhile, deep in the forest, within the Zoldyck clan,

two men, one tall and one short, faced each other in a dim room.

The tall, green-clad youth fiddled with his needle, tilting his head, his long, silky black hair falling across his face. "If you understand, help me track that woman down."

About three months ago, the Zoldyck clan received a lucrative commission from the Tokyo Jujutsu High School. They wanted them to safely deliver Sukuna's finger to Masamichi Yaga himself.

As the only two members of the clan currently free, the task fell to Illumi.

This thing was far more of a nuisance than he'd imagined. First, a long-haired goblin with a keen nose appeared out of nowhere, then a strange figure in a cassock, reeking of curses...

Escape was easy enough, but unfortunately, the finger he'd hidden inside a chocolate parfait to conceal his presence was eaten by a passing woman.

For the sake of Zoldyck's reputation, he had to get his finger back.

But the woman suddenly vanished, impossible to find.

"This is clearly your fault..." Just before hearing this request, Mi Ji was gloating over his older brother's mishap, but now he was the one shouting loudly.

Ilmi's slender, white fingers twirled, and a black card appeared from nowhere, clasping it between them.

"If you help me, I'll give you what you want."

Mi Ji suddenly grabbed it, but unfortunately, he missed, his eyes widening in anger.

His older brother toyed with him more easily than he did with cats and dogs.

Ilmi smiled at his younger brother and said, "I can also buy you that out-of-print game that's being auctioned recently." With a flip of his wrist, the black card in his hand transformed into three needles. "On the contrary, if you don't obey, I'll kill you,"

he threatened expertly.

Unlike his older brother, who had long achieved financial freedom, Mi Ji was still constrained by his family.

"It seems the woman stole something quite important." His face twitched with a ferocious expression. "I can help you find her, but don't forget the reward you promised."

Even with Miki's formidable abilities, finding an ordinary woman in the vastness of Tokyo wouldn't be so easy.

According to Illumi's description, this woman had no unusual characteristics.

Fortunately, he cooperated and drew a portrait of the suspect.

"Is this the woman you mentioned who stole something?" Miki exclaimed in disbelief, picking up the abstract portrait and examining it again and again. "How can we possibly find her?!"

"Really? " As soon as he

finished speaking, he felt two cold, sharp objects against his neck . His elder brother's soothing voice sang:

"If you can't find her, I'll kill you." " Got it , got it! "

Miki gritted his teeth, tapping away on the keyboard.

———

It wasn't Yuuki Asano, but a strange man in a courier's uniform. 

"Please open the door, there's a package for you." 

Of course, she didn't buy anything. 

Although she hadn't been out recently, the strange thing was that the number of people coming to her door suddenly increased. 

For example, the old lady upstairs who she had never met, the strange middle-aged man who claimed to be an insurance salesman, and now this courier who suddenly appeared at her door.