The Fire That Spoke My Name

"When the fire remembers your name, even death must learn it too."

— Ancient Ryuen Inscription

Tokyo Jujutsu High – Infirmary, Day After the Fourth Gate

Akashi's knocked out on the bed, looking like he just got drop-kicked through the hell and back. Bandages everywhere. His breath's steady, but you can almost see the fight still crackling under his skin—literal flames flickered whenever he twitches. Wild stuff. 

Yuuji's glued in a chair, arms crossed, looking like he's been chewing on a grudge all night. 

"You said you didn't want a crown," he grumbles, "but the world's gonna slaps one on you, whether you like it or not." 

Nobara's in the doorway, arms folded, doing her best queen-of-don't-mess-with-me impression. "He's breathing. That's what matters."

"Barely," Gojo pipes up, voice sliding in from behind her, all casual but with that edge. "He pushed too far. That domain almost wiped him out."

Nobara throws him a look. "But he won."

Gojo just grins, tired but proud. "Yeah. That's what's terrifying about him, honestly."

Spiral Cult Ruins – Now Empty

Some poor ex-cultist is going to the town on a chunk of stone, scratching out words with his bloody fingernails, desperation in every line:

"The dragon refused the throne. 

The flame still remembers his name. 

The Crownless One must be slain… 

…before the fire becomes a prophecy."

He doesn't even get to finish. A cursed spirit's jaws snapped shut, and that's the end of his story.

Training Yard – Three Days Later

Akashi bounced back faster than anyone sane would. He's already back in the yard, shirt off, fists wrapped, just wrecking a cursed dummy over and over. Each hit from him sounded like thunder—he's got something to prove, or maybe something to bury.

Nobara's watching, arms crossed, not saying much.

"You're supposed to be resting, genius."

Akashi just shrugs, sweat dripping. "They'll come again. More Stronger by the next time. I gotta be ready for that before it happens in the future."

He throws a combo that pretty much explodes the dummy's face.

Nobara doesn't flinch. "Was it worth it?"

He stops. Looks down at his hands. "I saw a version of me that would've killed for power. For glory. For payback."

"And you didn't go that way?"

He finally looks her in the eye. "I chose you. This place. This fight."

For a split second, it looks like she's about to get all sappy, but nah—she just steps up and yanks his bandage tighter.

"Then don't burn alone, idiot."

At Gojo's Office – Night

Gojo's got ancient scrolls everywhere, looking like he's cramming for finals but with way more stakes.

"He inherited Spiral Flame, cracked the fourth Codex seal, beat the hell out of his own evil twin in a domain, all at seventeen."

Yaga leans in, eyebrows up. "So, another anomaly?"

Gojo shakes his head. "Not just an anomaly. It's a convergence, man."

Yaga's frowning now. "You saying Akashi's fate is tangled up with Sukuna's?"

Gojo sighs. " It's Worse. His fate doesn't just cross Sukuna's path—it bends around it. Which means things are about to get real unstable."

At Akashi's Room – Later

He's just staring at the window, the city lights bouncing off his mom's necklace on the desk.

The Codex inside him? Not gone. Just… quiet. Shifting. Evolving into something new, maybe worse.

He shuts his eyes and—bam— the visions. Again. Fire everywhere. City falling apart. Nobara's scream echoing across the flames.

He jolts awake, fist blazing.

"Not this time," he mutters. Sounds like a promise and a threat in one.

Unknown—Cursed Labyrinth

Some shadowy creep is tiptoeing through the ruins of a cursed altar, feet bare, leaving little bloody prints.

"He broke the Fourth Gate. Spiral Cult's a toast now," the figure says.

A second one—masked, of course—laughs. "Let him burn bright. The world should see the fire before someone snuffs it out."

"And if he survives?"

The masked one paused, His smile hidden by the mask, voice low. "Then he'll becomes the flame that burns us all clean."