"Little ungrateful girl, isn't your mother's cooking delicious?"

  Sae smiled as she pyfully scolded her daughter, though there was no real irritation in her voice.

  "It's different!" Sagiri said with a pout, holding her mother's hand affeately.

  Despite being shy and a bit introverted, Sagiri wasn't the type to lock herself in her room all day like the stereotypical anime shut-in. After spending time with her, Ryuji fouo be a cute and smart girl.

  "Don't worry, I'll bring more food tonight," Ryuji said, turning to Sayo with a grin.

  "Well then, I'll leave it to you, Ryuji," Sae replied, l her head slightly, her cheeks flushed. She wasn't foolish, she knew Ryuji's reasons for ing by. It wasn't just about the food.

  Still, Sae felt a bit flicted. She wasly at an age where she could suppress certain feelings. If it weren't impractical, she wouldn't mind spending every day with Ryuji.

  "It's settled, then!" Ryuji waved as he started walking away. "I'll head to school now. See you tonight!"

  "Goodbye, Ryuji!" Sagiri waved happily, her face lit up with excitement.

  As Ryuji headed toward school, the system's notificati in his mind.

  "Goldery: Binding Teique!"

  On his way, Ryuji decided to review the entries he had triggered st night from the Kamo sisters.

  First was the goldery from Mimiko.

  "Binding Teique, huh? Lately, the rate of teiques appearing has beey high."

  The Binding Teique was the teique Mimiko was born with. It involved using a rope to hang a doll by its ypically a sunny doll, though other objects worked as well. The curse inflicted upon the doll would be reflected ba the target it represented.

  It was simir to stabbing a voodoo doll.

  However, the curse could backfire if the target was signifitly strohan the caster.

  Nanako's teique operated simirly, though she used photographs instead of dolls. By taking a picture of her target, she could pce a curse on them.

  "Loading!"

  While not particurly useful in direbat, the Binding Teique could be handy iain situations, like ambushes. It was a fun trick to have in his back pocket, so Ryuji didn't hesitate to load it.

  , he checked the purple entry triggered from Nanako.

  "Purple entry: Beauty!"

  "Uh…"

  Nanako's teique required taking pictures, and over time she had developed an almost supernatural ability to enhance photos. In esse was the power to Photoshop reality.

  But for Ryuji, this ability didn't serve much of a purpose.

  "Fet it, I'll break this one down."

  No big loss. Besides, Nanako was someone close to him. Even if he didn't get something useful this time, there would be more opportunities iure.

  "[Talery system]

  Host: Ryuji Hoshino

  Bloodline: Human

  Loaded entries: Soul Dev [Red], Yin-Yang Eyes [Gold], Presence cealment [Gold],Tranquility [Gold], Reverse Cursed Teique [Gold], Motrag Physique [Gold], Third Dimension, Dreamwalker [Gold], Physical Strengthening [Gold], Cursed Speech [Gold], Shadoution [Gold], Malevolent Shrine [Gold], Bckbird Manipution [Gold], Idle Transfiguration [Gold], Anti-Gravity System [Gold], Horizon of the Captivating Skandha [Gold], Binding Teique [Gold], Iron Fist [Purple], bat Intuition [Purple].

  Points: 80,120!"

  Ryuji took a look at his growing list of abilities. It was starting to get packed.

  Who knows? Maybe one day he'd have all gold-level skills filling every slot. Now that would be something.

  Then again, Ryuji mused, not many people probably khere were gold and red levels to these skills.

  So far, the only red-level skill he had was Soul Dev, which had been granted by the system itself. The unlimited, all-enpassing enha from that ability demonstrated just how overpowered a red-level entry was.

  Ryuji suspected that triggering red entries on his own wasn't possible, those might only e from the system.

  "Whatever, no point stressing over red entries. I'm doing fih what I have."

  Even without another red entry, the abilities he had now were more than enough to let him live freely, unstrained by anything.

  "Idle transfiguration will need proficy," Ryuji reminded himself.

  He had retly unlocked the "Idle Transfiguration" ability, which allowed him to alter souls. It would be useful if he ever o help someone bee a sorcerer, but it wasn't something that could be dohout suffit practice.

  He wasn't about to experiment recklessly on the people close to him.

  "o rush," Ryuji thought. He had time to master it. When the moment came, altering someone's soul to give them sorcerer powers would be a simple task.

  As Ryuji tinued walking, he arrived at school. His thoughts were interrupted by several familiar voices calling out to him.

  "Ryuji!"

  "Hey, m!"

  "Good m!"

  Miura Yumiko and the others waved enthusiastically as they greeted Ryuji. Yumiko moved closer, pressing herself against him affeately. Things had progressed between them, and now there was o hold back.

  Yuigahama Yui, standing nearby, looked on with clear envy.

  "Have you heard the rumors?" someone asked in a nearby group of students.

  "My friend said he saw a terrifying monster on his way home from school yesterday!"

  "Seriously?"

  "I thought that was just a joke. My friend said the same thing!"

  "It has to be fake, right? Monsters don't actually exist."

  "Yeah, no way."

  As expected, the first rea from most students was disbelief. To ordinary people, monsters were nothing more than fial characters from anime or novels.

  But Ryuji knew better.

  He rubbed his thoughtfully. "Looks like the curse world 't stay hidden anymore."

  The fact that regur people were starting to see cursed spirits meant that things were spiraling out of trol. It wasn't something that could be brushed uhe rug anymore.

  Erasing memories wouldn't be enough to cover this up.

  "The world's going to be chaotic soon," Ryuji thought.

  "It feels like the world's bee so dangerous!" Yumiko ented, her voice filled with . She and the others khe truth about the existence of cursed spirits. What had once felt like a normal, peaceful world now seemed filled with uhreats.

  Ordinary people had no defense against such monsters.

  Hina suddenly chimed in, "You know, I've heard a lot of people at school have been taking time off tely. Some aren't feeling well, but some have just… vanished."

  At first, everyohought these disappearances were ued.

  But now, with the presence of cursed spirits, it was obvious what had happehose people had probably bee food for the spirits.

  Ryuji crossed his arms and leaned ba his seat. "There really aren't enough sorcerers around to hahis," he muttered.

  Notig the worried expressions on the girls' faces, he smiled.

  "But don't worry. I'm here."

  The fiden his voice made the girls rex a bit. With Ryuji around, it felt like there was nothing to fear.

  As lunchtime approached, Ryuji didn't head to the usual spot at the service club. Instead, he entered his Third dimension.

  "Finally digested everything… now I enjoy another feast."

  He felt good after having fully absorbed previous cursed spirits. The space around him was filled with thousands of cursed spirits still in a freate.

  "Roar!"

  "Boom!"

  The air was thick with the enraged cries of the cursed spirits.

  These spirits had been going berserk si night, fighting one another over something. It didn't take long for Ryuji to realize what it was.

  "I see."

  At the ter of the chaos were the two fingers of Ryomen Sukuna that Ryuji had stored here earlier.

  To cursed spirits, Sukuna's fingers were an irresistible lure, a sourmense power.

  Without wasting any time, Ryuji temporarily moved the two fingers out of the space.

  "Roar!"

  The cursed spirits, realizing that their prize had disappeared, froze in fusion. Their fighting came to an abrupt halt as they finally noticed Ryuji standing among them.

  They stared at him, their gazes filled with growing hostility.

  Ryuji's grin widened.

  "Let's have a proper feast, then."

  "Soul Dev!"

  tless s shot out from behind Ryuji, ing around the cursed spirits and pulling them toward him.

  It was a se of utter horror. One man alone, dev tens of thousands of cursed spirits.

  O was over, nearly an hour had passed.

  He had devoured all the cursed spirits in the space, thinking they'd st him two or three times. But iy, they were gone iting.

  Every time he ate and digested these cursed spirits, his power increased. But that also meant he needed more to feel full the ime.

  It was a strange feeling, but Ryuji didn't dwell on it too much. At least for now, he was satisfied.

  "Fet it. I'll worry about it ter."

  Ryuji wasn't the type to stress over things he couldn't trol. He would deal with future problems when they arose.

  He put Sukuna's two fingers bato the spad left, stepping out of the dimension. There was still time left before lunch break ended, so he decided to head to the service club to spend some time with the girls.

  ---

  Meanwhile, deep within Ryomen Sukuna's domain, the King of Curses let out a booming ugh.

  "Ha! Hahahaha!"

  Sukuna's voice echoed through his eerie domain, his four eyes gleaming with malice. He had sensed something, something that had been missing for a long time.

  The faint presence of his fingers.

  Though they had disappeared again, the fact that they had surfaced, even momentarily, was enough to make Sukuna smile.

  "So, my fingers weren't destroyed. They're just hidden… But no matter. As long as they still exist, it's only a matter of time."

  The King of Curses smirked.

  Whether they were hidden or locked away didn't matter to him. Eventually, those fingers would e ba. And when they did, the world would tremble.

  His resurre was iable.

  ***

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