"I don't know if he's handsome, but he sure is narcissistibsp;

  However, when Miku raised her head and saw the person in front of her clearly, she couldn't help but be taken aback. He retty handsome.

  "No, I'm sorry!"

  Notig that she had been staring a bit too ily, Miku quickly lowered her head, her face flushing with embarrassment.

  The shy, introverted look on her face made Ryuji raise his eyebrow slightly. With her striking appearance, pink hair, and the headphones hanging around her neck it was definitely Nakano Miku.

  He hadn't expected to run into one of the quintuplets here. But then again, this was an anime world, so entering the Nakano family wasn't too surprising.

  "My name is Ryuji. What about you?" he asked, even though he already knew who she was.

  "I'm Miku Nakano," she said timidly, barely meeting his eyes.

  "Hm," Ryuji nodded, aowledging her.

  Though he was a little surprised to see Miku, it didn't matter mu. Sure, she was cute, but holy, all the girls around him had outstanding appearances. After giving her a quice-over, he turned and tinued walking deeper into the stru site.

  He could sehat he was getting closer to the special-grade curse spirit.

  "Hey, wait!"

  Miku, who had expected Ryuji to say or do something else, was left fused when he just walked away. She had been worried, thinking that sihey were alone, he might try something. After all, if he did, she wouldn't be able to stop him. But seeing him leave so nontly, she found herself a bit stunned.

  But this wasn't the time to dwell on that.

  "Wait! Hold on!" Miku quickly caught up with him. The pce was eerily quiet, and she wasn't brave enough to tinue on her own. Now that she had someoh her, she wasn't about to let him out of her sight.

  "What? Weren't you worried I might try something with you?" Ryuji teased, gng at her sideways.

  "Uh..."

  Miku stopped iracks, flustered. She had been seen right through. Her s had been written all over her face, and Ryuji had picked up on them immediately.

  "No, I'm sorry…" she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. She felt bad for assuming the worst about him, especially when he had dohing wrong.

  Ryuji couldn't help but think that Miku's timid apology made her seem even more vulnerable—almost the kind of person you wao tease.

  "So, why are you here anyway?" Ryuji asked, curious. "Don't you know there have been a lot of acts here retly? People have died. This pce is practically off-limits, and you still came?"

  "Huh? No way!" Miku looked shocked. She truly had no idea.

  That would expin why the moment she walked in, she felt this overwhelming chill. She had thought it was just the eerie atmosphere making her uneasy.

  "I heard from a friend that this was the site of a general's tomb from the Warring States period, so I came to check it out."

  Ryuji blinked, uanding immediately.

  In the anime, Miku may have seemed shy, but whehe topic turo historical figures from the Warring States period, she became a lot more enthusiastibsp;

  Everyone had their is, so he didn't judge her for it. But still…

  "Are you sure this 'friend' of yours is really a friend?"

  Miku fell silent.

  The realization hit her. That person probably tricked her. Knowing how much she was into historical stuff, they had pyed a cruel joke on her, leadio this dangerous pbsp;

  Even if it was meant as a prank, this was no ughing matter. It felt more like she was someoo be toyed with.

  "I guess you're ly popur with your cssmates," Ryuji remarked, seeing her downcast expression.

  Miku didn't respond, her head l even more. She followed him as he walked further into the site.

  After a moment of silence, she spoke up again. "They were probably just messing with me. I mean, there's no way ghosts exist, right?"

  "Tsk." Ryuji stopped walking and turo look at her.

  His sudden pause and the seriousness in his eyes made Miku nervous.

  "W-what is it?" she asked, her heart starting to race.

  "What if I told you that the kind of 'ghosts' you think of do exist?"

  "No way…" Miku wao deny it, but the look in Ryuji's eyes wasn't joking. Her heartbeat quied, and she could only stare at him, unsure of what to think.

  "Alright, it's time for you to leave. Don't e to pces like this again," Ryuji said, his tone firm.

  "But…"

  Miku was about to ask, Then why are you still here?

  But before she could get the words out, the air around them ged. Even though Miku couldn't feel cursed energy, she could see that the sky, which had beeively clear, was suddenly growing darker. The oppressive atmosphere felt suffog.

  "What's happening?" Miku whispered, her eyes widening.

  She couldn't believe it. Could there really be something… supernatural here?

  "Let's get out of here!"

  She wasn't stupid whatever was going on, it wasn't normal. She grabbed Ryuji's sleeve, trying to pull him with her, but he didn't budge.

  "You're surprisingly kind," Ryuji said, a little amused.

  Most people would have just run off in a situation like this, leaving their panions behind. It was rare to see someone who would try to help.

  "Fet it," Ryuji said, gng around. "The domain is already active. You 't escape."

  "Domain?"

  Miku had no idea what he was talking about. She didn't even know what a sorcerer was, much less something like a domain.

  Just as she was about to ask, she felt a shadow looming above her. Looking up, she saw a massive, twisted, one-eyed creature t over her, at least teers tall.

  The sight of the monster made Miku scream in terror, stumbling backward and nearly falling.

  "A fusion of urban legends, huh?" Ryuji said, more to himself.

  It all made sense now. If it wasn't a fusion of urban legends, there was no way an ordinary person like Miku would be able to see the curse spirit. More and more cursed spirits like this had been appearily.

  It wouldn't be long before the whole world would have to aowledge the existence of curse spirits. For now, sorcerers could cover up these is as gas explosions or other acts, but that wouldn't st once regur people started seeing the spirits for themselves.

  Notig the unfiaircase behind Miku, Ryuji realized she was about to fall off. He quickly reached out and pulled her into his arms, stopping her just in time.

  There was no romantision, though Miku was too terrified for that. Her face ale, and she looked like she was about to faint from fear.

  "ime, when someoells you there's something cool somewhere, think twice before running off like an idiot," Ryuji said lightly.

  "Eh?"

  Miku looked up at him, fused. To be ho, seeing that monstrous creature, she had already accepted the idea that she might not survive. She had even started saying her goodbyes in her head.

  Goodbye, Ichika, Nino, Yotsuba, Itsuki. Goodbye, everyone. I'm really going to die.

  "Shadoution!"

  Before Miku could fully process her thoughts, Ryuji made his move.

  The shadow beh his feet sprang to life, as if ied with energy, turning into sharp spikes that shot toward the one-eyed curse spirit.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!"

  Several spikes pierced right through the curse spirit's body.

  "This gloomy weather is perfect for shadoution," Ryuji said with a satisfied smile.

  "...???"

  Miku stood there, stunned. She had beeally preparing for her st moments, but now… Ryuji had suddenly turned into some kind of superhero.

  She blinked, staring up at him, utterly speechless.

  "Alright, go hide somewhere safe. I'll deal with this quickly," Ryuji said, letting go of her.

  It wasn't until now that Miku realized she had been held in his arms. From childhood until now, she had never been so close to a boy. But rather than feeling embarrassed, she was more overwhelmed by a sense of loss like she should have stayed in his arms a bit longer.

  No, what am I even thinking?!

  Quickly shaking her head, Miku rushed behind a wall, peeking out as she nervously watched Ryuji, too afraid to disturb him.

  "e on!" she whispered to herself, quietly cheering him on from her hiding spot.

  Ryuji couldn't help but chuckle.

  Holy, she was kind of cute.

  "Well, for a monster like this, I don't really o hear a 'e on,'" he said with a grin.

  This special-grade curse spirit wasn't much of a challenge for him.

  "Shadoution: Bind!"

  Under Ryuji's trol, the shadow spikes transformed into thick ropes, ing around the one-eyed curse spirit araining it tightly.

  "Die! Die!"

  The curse spirit roared in fury The curse spirit roared in fury, thrashing wildly against its bindings, but it couldn't break free.

  "If you don't behave, you're just asking to get beaten," Ryuji said with a smirk.

  Then, in an instant—"Third Dimension".

  Ryuji activated the space-dist power of Third Dimension to its fullest. The air around the curse spirit rippled as space itself began to twist and .

  "Buzzz..."

  The curse spirit's entire body was enveloped by the twisting force. Slowly but surely, its form began colpsing in on itself, uo withstand the overwhelming spatial distortion.

  There was no escape.

  Ryuji watched as the creature's body crumbled uhe pressure, piece by piece. He didn't bother with any further attacks he k was done for.

  "Looks like you had barely formed a domain, huh?" Ryuji muttered to himself as he studied the remains of the curse spirit. It had started to develop a domain, but it wasn't plete. It was all form and no substance just a hollow shell of what a true domain should be. That expined why it had beeively easy to overpower.

  It must have been born only retly.

  "Well then, time to turn you into something useful," Ryuji said casually, holding out his hand.

  "Soul Dev!"

  s shot out from Ryuji's shadows, coiling around the crumbling remains of the curse spirit. Normally, when using the Devour Soul teique, the curse spirits would resist being ed, but this time there was nle. With each spirit Ryuji devoured, his own prew, making it easier to subdue the one.

  The s tightened, dragging the curse spirit's energy into Ryuji's body.

  "Too bad I 't absorb the curse teiques along with their strength…" Ryuji sighed, shaking his head. It would have been nice if he could acquire the ueiques of the spirits he devoured, but so far, that wasn't part of his ability.

  Still, it wasn't a bad oute. He was getting stronger by the day.

  "Hmm?"

  Just as he was about to leave, something caught Ryuji's attention. He looked up at the sky and saw a small bck dot desding toward him.

  He raised his hand, catg the object with ease.

  His eyes narrowed as he ied it closely.

  "Another one?"

  What Ryuji held in his hand was unmistakable a finger of Ryomen Sukuna.

  This was the same type of cursed object he had entered not long ago after exorg the cursed spirit that Tomoya had turned into. No wohe curse spirit he just fought had reached special-grade it had merged with the power of urban legends and, more importantly, one of Sukuna's fingers.

  It was no small feat for a cursed spirit to attain special-grade status, especially ohat had only retly been born.

  "Well, guess I'll just add this to my colle," Ryuji muttered, not too surprised.

  There was no point iroying it. Sukuna's fingers were iructible, and leaving it lying around would only cause more trouble down the road.

  "Third Dimension"

  With a quick flick of his hand, Ryuji used Third Dimension to open up his personal space distortion dimension and tucked the finger safely inside.

  He wasn't worried about Sukuna sensing it. In this space, the cursed object would be pletely sealed away from the outside world.

  With that, Ryuji gave the area o gnce before turning his attention to Miku, who was still nervously peeking out from behind a wall.

  "All done. You stop hiding now," he called out with a smirk.