Chapter 1: Nightmare Returns (Double-Length Chapter)
Just for Your Information, I already put the remain chapter i mean All of the Volume 10 until End Chapter in my
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Late at night, Tokyo.
The hustle and bustle of the day gradually faded, and the city slowly sank into the embrace of silence.
Dim streetlights cast mottled shadows, adding a trace of brightness to the deserted streets.
A black-haired, black-eyed teenage boy limped along the road, staggering toward home.
He was wearing the uniform of a nearby high school, and with his slightly swollen cheeks and mud-stained uniform, he looked rather disheveled—perhaps he had just been in a fight.
No, to be more accurate, he had been beaten up one-sidedly.
The cool night breeze blew through Junpei Yoshino bangs, revealing several burn scars underneath, left by cigarette butts. When the wounds rubbed against his hair, a sharp pain inevitably flared up.
A trace of resentment flashed through Junpei Yoshino eyes. He adjusted his bangs to cover the scars again, then resumed his limping walk.
He had always thought that school bullying was far removed from his life.
Until not long ago, he had been living the ordinary and happy life of a typical high school boy.
But life never always goes smoothly. Shortly after entering high school, he became a target of bullying by the school delinquent and his gang for standing up to them, suffering both mental and physical torment.
He hated those people.
Those bastards who, relying on their wealth and power, looked down on others and gained a sense of superiority from bullying them.
Taking a deep breath of the chilly air, Junpei Yoshino shook his head and forced down the darkness and hatred in his heart.
He was almost home—he couldn't let his mom see him like this.
His mother already worked hard enough every day to raise him. He couldn't let his own problems add more to her already heavy burden.
As for the visible scratches on his face, he could only make up some excuse to cover it up.
Junpei Yoshino quickened his steps toward home.
"Miss, would you come with us for a bit?"
"The night is just getting started. Want us to show you a bit of adult fun?"
As he walked, he suddenly heard lewd voices from some men not far away.
Looking up, he saw four men dressed like thugs—tattooed, pierced with earrings and nose rings—surrounding a girl, slowly forcing her into an alley.
Due to the distance and his line of sight, Junpei Yoshino couldn't clearly see the girl's face, but judging from her school uniform, she also appeared to be a high school student.
His heart skipped a beat. He instinctively lightened his steps and tried to change direction to take a longer route home.
He recognized those thugs.
They were closely associated with the school delinquent who bullied him—referred to by him as "bros from the streets."
If he were recognized, he might get beaten up again.
However, after only a few steps, his footsteps came to a slow halt.
He turned his head back toward the girl who had been driven into the dark alley, about to be utterly violated. A struggle appeared in Junpei Yoshino eyes.
"If I run away now, then I..." he bit his lip, "...then how am I any different from those bastards at school who stand by and watch?"
He loathed the bullies from the bottom of his heart.
But he also hated those bystanders—people who clearly saw him being bullied yet chose to look away and pretend nothing was happening.
His cowardice was gradually replaced by a deeper sense of shame. Junpei Yoshino took a deep breath, made up his mind, pulled out his phone, and while dialing 110 (emergency), quickly walked toward the alley where the girl had been cornered.
From within the alley came faint sobbing sounds—like the final cries of someone in despair.
"Stop right there! I've already called the police!"
Holding his phone high, Junpei Yoshino shouted with all his strength before even stepping into the alley, hoping to intimidate those perverts consumed by their animalistic desires.
But his next words caught in his throat as soon as he saw what was happening inside the alley.
There were no lights in the alley; the view was dim.
But with the help of his phone's flashlight and the faint moonlight, the scene before him was clearly visible—and that clarity was precisely what froze him in place.
Most of the thugs' burly bodies were eerily sunken into the shadows on the ground. Their eyes were filled with tears and terror. They struggled to escape, but there was nowhere to run.
From those shadows, countless pale, horrifying arms reached out, gripping their bodies and dragging them down into hell, covering their mouths and turning their cries of despair into faint whimpers—robbing them of even the slightest chance of survival.
And amidst all those countless arms, still standing was the girl who had just been pushed into the alley.
But the terror from before was nowhere to be seen on her face. Her left eye was covered by black hair, while her exposed right eye—deep wine-red—carried a cold indifference toward death.
Hearing Junpei Yoshino shout, the girl's gaze shifted from the thugs to the entrance of the alley, where Junpei stood frozen.
"You... were calling the police?"
He couldn't even see how she moved.
The moment he stepped back slightly, the girl who had been several meters away was now standing directly in front of him—no more than five centimeters away, as if she had teleported.
Seeing the playful smile at the corner of her lips, Junpei Yoshino forcefully stopped himself from stepping back.
He couldn't escape.
There was absolutely no way to escape.
Junpei Yoshino tensed up completely, his mind a mess. Everything had happened too suddenly—he had no time to think.
What was unfolding before him felt like a hallucination, or perhaps an unreal dream.
But he knew he no longer had time to question whether it was real or fake.
His survival instinct screamed: if he didn't say something soon, he might end up like those men in the alley.
"I—I just wanted to help you," Junpei Yoshino stammered. "I saw... saw them push you into the alley, so I called the police, the emergency number…"
"Ah, I see."
After listening to Junpei Yoshino explanation, the girl let out a few light chuckles, then took two steps back, easing the oppressive atmosphere.
Junpei Yoshino heart pounded uncontrollably, and he collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, thankful that he'd been spared.
At that moment, the last sobs in the alley also disappeared.
Unable to resist, Junpei glanced back into the alley again.
The thugs were gone—completely vanished as if they had never existed.
"You're a good person,"
the girl said with a smile. She raised her index finger and lightly pressed it against her lips.
"But if you don't want trouble, then what just happened—let's keep it our little secret, okay?"
If it had been a normal day, Junpei Yoshino would have been flustered by such a smile, blushing over the teasing tone.
But now, his face was pale as paper. He quickly lowered his head and didn't even dare look directly at her.
Large beads of cold sweat rolled down his forehead. His uniform was soaked in sweat, making him look completely helpless.
"I'll keep it a secret," Junpei Yoshino said, trembling. "I promise. I swear I won't tell anyone—absolutely."
"Hehe…"
What responded was a clear and crisp laugh, like the sound of silver bells.
The laughter echoed in the quiet night wind, drifting far away.
It was a long time before Junpei Yoshino finally dared to slowly raise his head.
In front of him, the girl with the wine-red eyes was already gone.
Junpei Yoshino, who had been left behind alone, fell into a prolonged daze.
At the same time, in a nearby residential complex—
An ominous crimson slowly enveloped the entire neighborhood, as if it had been swallowed by some indescribable monster, adding a layer of spine-chilling malice to the night.
However, faced with such an anomaly, not a single resident in the complex screamed or tried to flee. There wasn't even a single sound of human activity.
And that was only natural.
Because in the City of Devoured Time, ordinary people without spiritual resistance were nothing more than helpless meat on the chopping block.
Forced into a comatose state, these normal people couldn't even struggle, let alone escape.
At the very center of the residential complex, atop the tallest building, stood a girl dressed in a red and black evening gown, with heterochromatic eyes—one red, one gold.
It was none other than the Spirit who wielded the power of time and shadows: Tokisaki Kurumi.
Opening her system panel, she began checking her missions in this world.
[Main Quest: Become the Nightmare feared by the Jujutsu world]
[Side Quests Released]
[Side Quest 1: Exorcise Special Grade Cursed Spirits (The more exorcised, the higher the evaluation)]
[Side Quest 2: Become the strongest in the Japanese Jujutsu world (The more people acknowledge you, the higher the evaluation)]
[Side Quest 3: Reshape the power structure of the Japanese Jujutsu world (The greater the change, the higher the evaluation)]
"As expected, after using the item card, both the main and side quests have changed," Tokisaki Kurumi murmured to herself. After confirming the quests, she closed the system panel.
In truth, when she had just arrived in this world, she wasn't yet Tokisaki Kurumi.
Tokisaki Kurumi was the first Spirit she ever roleplayed—and this was now the final training world. Only one Spirit remained unplayed.
Mukuro Hoshimiya.
The power of Mukuro Hoshimiya—or rather, the power of the Sealing Lord—was something she had fully experienced in the world of Re: Creator.
No matter the ability, as long as it involved a concept, its power was absolutely overpowered.
The first ability, [Seal], could seal a particular object or concept.
The second ability, [Open], could open or activate a particular object or concept.
The third ability, [Release], could fully unlock the potential of the body.
The fourth ability, [Unbind], could sever the links between molecules.
These four powers of the Sealing Lord—even if Mukuro Hoshimiya could only use one—would already place her among the top five in combat rankings among the ten Spirits.
Not to mention, she could use all four.
In terms of combat strength, among the ten baseline Spirits, Mukuro Hoshimiya easily secured a stable second place, and could even compete for first. So what worried the girl was not her combat ability.
It was her character role.
In the girl's opinion, playing Mukuro Hoshimiya was even more difficult than playing the mature old woman Nia Honjo, the split-personality Miku, or the aloof Yamai twins.
Of course, if she only had to act the emotionally withdrawn version of Mukuro Hoshimiya, that would be simple enough.
She could just fly off into space and hang around somewhere indefinitely.
But the girl's mission wasn't just to act—she also had to complete the main and side quests during the roleplay. That meant simply floating in space wasn't an option.
And with the main quest given by the system being so abstract, the girl—already lacking confidence in act Mukuro Hoshimiya perfectly—began considering other options.
That's when she decided to use the Spirit Reappearance Ticket.
It was a special item card she had obtained in the Bungou Stray Dogs world. She had originally planned to use it while portraying a weaker Spirit, to avoid putting herself in danger.
However, the worlds she entered while playing Miku Izayoi and Nia Honjo—The Asterisk War and Black Bullet—were not particularly difficult. So, this extremely valuable item has never been used until now.
But if she had to choose one Spirit to play again…
It would definitely be Tokisaki Kurumi!
Back when she had just crossed over into this multiversal system and roleplayed for the first time, she had tried her best, but still only received an A-rank for her performance. The ability she drew at the time was just Bullet No. 6.
Now that she was a seasoned veteran, she felt confident that she could achieve an S-rank performance if she played Kurumi again.
And if she got lucky, she might even draw the ability she wanted most—The City of Devoured Time.
That was a domain capable of absorbing other people's lifespans. If she really obtained it, then once she returned to the real world, she could truly become immortal.
So the choice between playing one of the remaining eight Spirits and getting some random power, or roleplaying Tokisaki Kurumi again for a shot at The City of Devoured Time, was not a hard one at all.
However, shortly after she used the Spirit Reappearance Ticket and became Tokisaki Kurumi again, she was immediately targeted by a few unlucky thugs.
Which led to the events just now.
"Along with the Spirit Reappearance Ticket, I also used an Identity Forging Ticket. In this world, I'm no longer undocumented…" she murmured to herself while absorbing the stream of time continuously being harvested, processing the fragmented memories flooding her mind.
Usually, after using the Identity Forging Ticket, the system would create a single native identity for her.
But in this world, the system created two separate identities.
One public, one hidden.
"My public identity is that of a freshman student at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College… While I'm not too keen on encountering Satoru Gojo this early, if I can properly utilize this identity, it'll be quite helpful for advancing the main quest."
Tokisaki Kurumi stroked her chin, the outline of a plan gradually forming in her mind.
"Well then—let's begin."