The western side of Shinhidaka—crammed with squat flats and aging apartments—housed hundreds of lives, each folded into cramped, boxed-in rooms. In one such flat, within a room barely big enough for two bunk beds, lay An Xiao.
He rested on the lower bunk, eyes closed, arms behind his head, staring at nothing.
"You know, you went a bit overboard, Dante. The poor guys might actually be dead," he muttered with a nervous chuckle, trying to inject some levity into the tension still coiled in his stomach.
A low, ethereal voice echoed inside his skull—masculine, cold, and slightly amused.
"If you had not insisted on mercy, I would have personally subjected those bastards to a fate even Hades would find distasteful."
An Xiao winced, lips curling upward into a crooked, tired smile. "Yeah… sorry for being a burden. Really. Thanks for stepping in, Mr. Dante."
Silence.
Then, a short grunt—firm and final.
A beat later, the door swung open with unnecessary force.
"Heyoo! I'm back!" a cheerful voice exploded into the melancholy room like a flashbang.
The figure that entered was radiant with infectious energy—blond hair with visible brown roots, eyes narrowed into slits from the sheer size of his grin. A solar flare in human form.
"Sendo, shut the hell up. My head's pounding," Xiao grumbled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.
Sendo chuckled, tossing his school bag to the side.
"Come on, man. Cheer up. You don't have to worry about me—I'll be fine in Tokyo. And look, you'll get the room all to yourself! Freedom!"
He sat at his desk, clicking his PC awake, already prepping for a night of gaming.
"No... I think I'm about to get expelled," Xiao said flatly.
Sendo spun around, expression draining of all color. "Huh?!"
"I'm serious. Shegio and his little band of hobgoblins jumped me yesterday. I don't know what happened—I snapped. Got into a fight before I could even think. One of them…" Xiao paused. "One of them might have a fractured skull."
Sendo's face froze in mid-gasp. His mouth opened, closed, then stayed open—like a goldfish hit with an existential crisis.
Inside Xiao's head, Dante stirred again.
"Who is this boy?" he asked with measured curiosity. Despite having access to Xiao's memories, Dante refused to rummage through them. Privacy, as he put it, was sacred—even between souls sharing the same body.
Xiao thought back at him, words drifting inward like thoughts echoing in a long tunnel.
"He's Sendo Tsukumi. My foster brother. After my parents came to Japan... well, misfortune didn't take kindly to them. They died in a crash. The Tsukumis—whose family caused the crash during a storm—adopted me out of guilt, maybe duty. I remained my parents' son. But they... they raised me."
A pause.
Dante responded, his tone unreadable. "Hmm. I see."
Elsewhere…
The air over Sugisawa Municipal High School twisted with dread.
Night had swallowed the campus whole. The once-drab school building stood like a tombstone under the stars, the color of its walls turned grey by moonlight. On the rooftop, a shirtless figure stood balanced on the railing—arms spread like a mockery of crucifixion.
Below him, the cursed residue of a defeated Grade 3 spirit still clung faintly to the tiles, slowly dissolving into nothingness. The rooftop floor, now cracked and faintly scorched, whispered of a recent battle.
"Ooooh... the women and children," the figure murmured, tongue curling with ecstasy. "Festering like maggots. Magnificent."
He tilted his head to the sky, smiling at nothing. "Mmm… what's that? A strange sensation… This era. So joyous."
The voice was ancient, cruel—drenched in violence.
Then came a second voice. Younger. Sharper. Defiant.
"Hey. What the hell do you think you're doing with my body?"
The pink-haired teen stepped off the railing and onto the rooftop, his posture relaxed, but his tone ironclad.
Sukuna—his grin slipping—twitched.
"How... how are you—"
But he stopped. Mid-sentence. A jolt. A sharp twist in his gut. His heart stuttered.
Yuji had taken control again.