CHAPTER 6: SWALLOWED WHOLE

Tokyo glimmered under a waning sun, shadows curling longer between alleyways and old buildings that hadn't seen tourists in decades. A narrow part of town, with power lines like tangled veins and the scent of rust in the air.

Yuta and Maki walked side by side, their mission brief still circling in Yuta's thoughts.

"Cursed presence reported. Civilian disappearance. Possibly a Grade 2 or higher," Gojo had said earlier, sunglasses pushed up on his head as he tossed them the assignment like it was a school project. "Perfect for field experience."

"Do you even know what we're looking for?" Maki asked, gripping her spear.

"Gojo-sensei said a cursed spirit was seen dragging something into an old building near here," Yuta answered, scanning the empty street. "He said we should check it out and stay alert."

Maki rolled her eyes. "His instructions are as vague as ever."

Suddenly, the ground trembled.

A grotesque gurgling sound echoed from the alley to their left.

Yuta turned—too late.

CRASH!

From the ground below, a gaping maw erupted—slimy, sharp-toothed, and hungry. The cursed spirit was massive, a writhing mass of muscle and eyes. Before either of them could react, it lunged—

And swallowed Yuta whole.

Maki shouted, swinging her spear, but the spirit vanished beneath the earth, sealing itself away.

—

Inside.

Blackness.

Then—pain.

Yuta groaned as he opened his eyes. His body ached from the fall; his vision blurred.

"Maki…?"

He sat up. They were inside something. A stomach? A domain? The walls were fleshy, pulsating. The air stank of bile and rot.

Maki was there, bruised but conscious, kneeling over two children. One of them—a little boy—was barely breathing. The other, a girl, clung to him, sobbing.

"They were already in here," Maki said quietly. "Swallowed alive."

Yuta's throat clenched. "Are they…?"

"The boy's fading," she said grimly. "Too long in this cursed space. And I'm guessing this place suppresses cursed energy. I can't sense a damn thing."

The girl cried louder, looking at them with wide, terrified eyes.

"Please… help… please…"

Yuta looked to Maki. "What do we do? How do we get out of here? How can we save them?"

Maki's eyes burned.

"What the hell are you even here for, Yuta?" she snapped. "Why did you come to Jujutsu High? What do you want to do?"

"I—I don't know."

"Then figure it out," she hissed, swaying suddenly. "Because if you can't answer that—you're dead weight."

And then she collapsed, unconscious.

Yuta froze. The kids screamed.

His chest pounded. The pressure in the cursed space grew heavier, thicker, trying to choke him.

He was immune to cursed energy poisoning—Gojo had said that once. But Maki wasn't. The kids weren't.

He looked down at the ring on his finger, heart racing.

Yuta slid it on, eyes wet with fear.

"…Rika," he whispered. "Please…"

And then he screamed.

"Rika, come out!"

There was a crackling shriek of energy as the cursed spirit around them shuddered.

From Yuta's back, a torrent of cursed energy erupted, and Rika emerged—massive, distorted, her claws curled in concern.

"Yuta…?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Who hurt you?"

Yuta pointed at the fleshy walls, at the children, at Maki.

"They're dying. We have to get out. Blast it open—now!"

Rika's form contorted, eyes wide and full of wrath.

"With pleasure."

She raised her malformed arm, cursed energy coiling around it like stormclouds.

And then—

BOOM.

With a thunderous explosion, the cursed flesh around them split open. Light poured in as the beast screamed and died, its entire body rupturing from the inside.

Yuta emerged from the cloud of cursed mist, coughing, carrying Maki over his shoulder and holding both kids in his arms.

On the street, the afternoon had faded into dusk.

Standing nearby, Satoru Gojo leaned against a vending machine, sipping soda through a straw.

"Well," he said, grinning. "Took you long enough."

Yuta dropped to his knees, exhausted, cradling Maki and the children.

"You—knew we'd get swallowed?"

"Eh, 50-50," Gojo said. "But you passed. Sort of."

Yuta looked at him, incredulous.

Gojo smiled wider.

"Welcome to Jujutsu High, Yuta Okkotsu."