FLASH BACK
The mountain air had been still that morning—thick with early summer heat and the sharp scent of old pine. The shrine stood at the edge of the Mikazuki estate, quiet and almost forgotten. A small spirit had begun to haunt it, little more than a Grade 4, but enough to spook servants and stir whispers among the clan.
They hadn't sent anyone. They hadn't needed to.
Souten was eleven. His uniform hung loose on his frame, and his hands were bruised and red. The cursed spirit had tried to lunge. He had reinforced his arms and slammed it into the stone path until it dissolved into smoke.
He hadn't been proud of it. He hadn't even looked back.
That's when Gojo appeared.
"Yo," the man said, standing at the edge of the steps like he'd just wandered into the wrong neighborhood. He wore round sunglasses and carried himself like someone who had never once been told 'no.'
"You really beat that thing with your fists?"
Souten didn't answer. He just stared.
Gojo stepped down a few steps, crouching so they were at eye level. "That cursed energy control. It's rare to see someone of your age have such control."
Still no answer.
Gojo smiled, but not unkindly. "That's fine. I don't like them either. But I like what you did."
Souten finally spoke, his voice quiet but firm. "It was hurting people."
Gojo stood. "Yeah. That's usually a good reason to hit something."
He paused, then looked down at him again. "You've got something strange in you, kid. Something real. You want to find out how far it goes?"
The wind picked up then—just a little.
Souten didn't nod. But he didn't walk away, either.
And that was enough.
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The present-day sun hadn't yet broken the horizon, but the training yard behind Tokyo Jujutsu High was already alive with movement.
Souten moved through his drills with quiet focus, barefoot in the cool morning grass. Each strike, each motion, mirrored the lessons passed down by his father. His breathing was slow, deliberate. His cursed energy, though contained, hummed faintly around him like a taut wire stretched to its limit.
His father's voice echoed in his thoughts—not nostalgic, not sentimental, just sharp and exact:
"The technique is not meant to punish. It is meant to judge. You do not swing on a sorcerer until the scale has tipped."
He ran the sequence again. Slower this time. Hand to shoulder. Shoulder to strike. Step, deflect, pivot, return. The rhythm wasn't fast—it was intentional.
He wasn't chasing speed. He was chasing precision.
The morning air felt clean in his lungs, and his heartbeat stayed steady, even as his limbs moved faster with each repetition.
A cloth-bound journal sat nearby on a wooden bench, pages fluttering slightly in the breeze. Ink still dried from his notes the night before—notations on spiritual flow, diagrams of joint locks, and pressure points aligned to the nervous system.
After finishing the sequence, Souten walked over and sat on the bench beside it. He wiped the sweat from his neck and flipped through the pages—not to study, but to remember what his father taught him: discipline, insight, and purpose.
He turned to a blank page and, without hesitation, began to write:
"Control is more than restraint. It is responsibility. Precision is not passive—it is an active choice."
The scratching of his pen was the only sound for a moment.
Then—a soft crunch. A twig snapping behind him.
Souten didn't startle. He simply closed the journal with one hand and spoke without turning around.
"Can I help you?"
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There was a pause, followed by the familiar voice of Panda.
"Relax, I'm not here to critique your form," he said with a chuckle, arms folded across his chest as he stepped into view. "Though I gotta say, it's kinda creepy how you're more active before sunrise than most people are all week."
Souten looked over his shoulder, expression neutral. "It's just routine."
"Routine or obsession?" Panda grinned, padding forward with surprising lightness for someone his size. "Anyway, Gojo-sensei wants you. Mission briefing. You, me, and Toge are up."
Souten stood and shook out his arms. "Where are Maki and Yuta?"
"Staying back," Panda said with a shrug. "Apparently, the mission's simple enough to be a good intro for you. Low threat, high weirdness. You know how Gojo likes to test people."
Toge appeared from behind a tree, holding a half-eaten rice ball. "Shake." He gave a small nod in greeting, then raised his notebook. "Good morning."
Souten nodded respectfully. "Good morning."
He walked over to the bench, picked up his journal, and tucked it under one arm. The morning's training was over—now the day began.
As the three made their way toward the main building, the gravel crunched softly beneath their feet.
Panda glanced sideways at him. "So... is the journaling thing like... a tradition? Or is that just a 'mysterious soul judge guy' quirk?"
Souten kept his eyes ahead. "It's a habit. Helps me track what I learn, reflect on what I don't."
Toge lifted his notebook again: "Makes sense."
Panda nodded, clearly satisfied. "Cool, cool. Just promise you won't use that karmic ledger stuff on me if I skip morning stretches."
Souten gave the faintest smile. "Only if it becomes a pattern."
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The briefing room wasn't much to look at. Tatami mats lined the floor, sunlight filtered lazily through the paper walls, and a low table sat in the center, cluttered with files and empty snack wrappers. Gojo Satoru was already sprawled out beside it, sipping on a juice box like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Look who decided to show up," Gojo said without looking up. "Punctual, respectable. This team's off to a dangerous start."
Panda dropped into a cushion with a grunt. "You said it was a light mission."
"Light-ish," Gojo replied, gesturing vaguely with the juice box. "We've had reports of a cursed spirit around a half-abandoned temple in Kanamachi. Some people have gone missing, but most people in the area are getting hit with nausea, disorientation, even night terrors after walking past."
Souten stepped forward, quietly picking up the mission folder on the table. "Any pattern in the victims?"
Gojo tilted his head. "Mostly adults. All locals. According to one eyewitness, the closer someone is to 'emotional guilt,' the worse their symptoms get."
Toge, seated beside Panda, calmly jotted something in his notebook: "Cursed energy drawn to unresolved guilt?"
Gojo pointed at him like a game show host. "Exactly. You've got the control, Panda has the bulk, and karma-kid over there…" He nodded toward Souten. "...well, your whole vibe seems tailor-made for a curse that feeds on regret."
Souten glanced at the second folder on the table—case photos, local interviews, spiritual energy reports. It wasn't chaos yet, but it was close.
"You think it's some kind of Echo based Curse?" he asked.
Gojo leaned forward just a little. "Could be. Could also be something we haven't catalogued yet. Either way, you three are there to confirm the type and contain it. Don't engage unless you have to."
Panda raised a brow. "What if it's aggressive?"
"Then you handle it," Gojo said with a shrug, "but don't go full exorcism unless absolutely necessary. I don't want that temple leveled unless it tries to eat someone."
Toge nodded. Souten closed the folder.
"Understood," he said quietly.
Gojo stood and stretched. "Great. Pack light, report back after contact. You roll out in twenty. Try not to traumatize any civilians this time."
Panda grinned. "No promises."
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Kanamachi's outskirts were quiet—too quiet. The sun sat low behind overcast skies, casting a dull light over the narrow forest path that led toward the old temple. Trees leaned in on both sides, their shadows longer than they should've been.
Souten walked slightly ahead of the group, his eyes scanning the path, cursed energy lightly flaring as if on instinct. Panda and Toge followed in easy rhythm behind him.
"Cursed energy's thick," Panda muttered. "Like the air's holding its breath."
Souten didn't respond immediately. He could feel it too. It wasn't just cursed energy—it was focused. It wasn't radiating out at random. It was watching.
The temple came into view. Moss-covered stone, cracked wooden beams, and shimenawa rope long since rotted through. A curse had definitely taken root here. The oppressive aura pressed against their skin like a second atmosphere.
Then the wind shifted—and the curse revealed itself.
It lunged from the shadows of the temple, a twisted amalgamation of bone and rope, white flames flickering around its hollowed face. Its form was unstable, but its movements were precise.
Toge was the first to act. "Stand Still!" The curse flinched back, its arms thrown wide by the force of the command.
Panda charged forward with a palm strike to its center, slamming it into the temple's gate. The curse shrieked, its sound not from the throat—but from somewhere deeper. Older.
Souten narrowed his eyes. It was looking at him. Only at him.
It lunged again, bypassing Panda and Toge entirely. Souten raised his arms to block, cursed energy pulsing across his limbs. The impact rattled his bones.
"It's locked onto me," he said under his breath.
Panda slid into position beside him. "You think it recognizes you?"
Souten didn't answer.
Not yet.
But something was familiar.
Every movement the curse made—it was refined. Measured. Like a technique he knew. Like a technique he had taught.
He clashed with it again, forcing it back with a sweep of cursed energy. The way it moved. The flicker of glyph-like residue left behind.
No. It couldn't be.
Unless…
Souten's gaze sharpened.
"That's not just any curse," he said, voice low. "That's Haganen."
Panda blinked, stepping back slightly. "You know this thing?"
Souten kept his eyes on the creature, even as it stalked in a slow circle, its gaze never leaving him.
"She's one of the two original Shikigami tied to my cursed technique," he said quietly. "They weren't created by me—they were tamed by the first sorcerer to ever use Black Ledger. Ironically, he shared my name."
"That… doesn't sound like a coincidence," Panda muttered.
"It probably isn't," Souten replied. "Haganen and her counterpart—his name was Kazuki—were passed down through the users of the technique across generations. But during the Edo Period, something happened. The technique's wielder died under unclear circumstances, and both Shikigami vanished. No one has been able to summon them since."
Toge scribbled: "So she's been missing for centuries?"
Souten nodded. "Until now."
He reached into the folds of his uniform and drew out a small, worn tag—a pale cloth charm no larger than a thumb, inked with a faint white glyph that shimmered softly in the ambient cursed energy.
"What's that?" Panda asked, eyeing it.
Souten didn't answer right away. He just studied the tag, thumb brushing over the seal's surface.
"It's... something left behind by one of the previous users of Black Ledger," he said at last. "A tool. A contingency."
The charm pulsed faintly as Souten poured cursed energy into it. "I'm not sure if it'll work. But if this really is Haganen... I'm going to try and bring her back."
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The corrupted Haganen growled low in her throat, her massive frame shifting under the strain of her incomplete purification. Her form had stabilized just enough to reveal a new shape—tall and lean, draped in sinewy muscle beneath jagged, bristle-like fur. Her limbs were long and digitigrade, her claws clicking against the broken temple stones. She resembled a cursed werewolf carved from shadow and ash, with burning sigils trailing faintly across her forearms and spine.
Her white mask—reminiscent of a wolf's skull—tilted slightly as her glowing eyes locked onto Souten.
"She's not going to let go that easy," Panda muttered, crouched and ready.
Souten took a breath, feeling the charm's power fade from his palm. "She's resisting. The purification broke the worst of the corruption, but she's still unstable."
Toge raised his notebook: "Plan?"
"She's stronger than she was," Souten said. "Stronger than we expected. Semi-Grade 1, at least. We subdue her—together."
Panda cracked his knuckles. "Got your back."
They moved fast.
Haganen roared, her claws slamming into the earth and sending a wave of cursed energy outward. Souten dashed in first, slipping beneath her reach and tagging her leg with a karmic seal. The glyph shimmered and burned into her cursed flesh, slowing her momentum.
"On your knees!" Toge barked, and her knees buckled slightly, her energy stalling from the weight of the command.
Panda charged in from the flank, catching her in the ribs with a driving tackle that sent them both tumbling across the stone.
Haganen sprang back, more animal now—slashing, snarling, but never looking away from Souten. Another glyph flared across her back as he tagged her again.
She shrieked, dropped to all fours, and lunged.
Souten met her, planted a final seal across her mask—and this time, the cursed energy binding her howled in resistance.
She skidded to a halt.
Toge stood ready to speak again. Panda poised to strike.
But then—she knelt.
Her claws dug into the stone. Her head bowed. Her cursed energy didn't vanish—but it settled.
The air went still.
And she remained on one knee, trembling.
Not destroyed. Not erased.
Reclaimed.
The burning sigils faded into faint marks that matched Souten's own technique.
She didn't speak. But she lowered her head.
A silent gesture.
Recognition.
Souten stepped forward slowly, the charm pulsing faintly in his hand. The corrupted Haganen let out a low, warbling snarl, her body tensing like a string drawn too tight.
Panda shifted beside him, uneasy. "She's not going to make that easy, you know."
"I know," Souten replied, not taking his eyes off her. "But she's still in there."
The tag in his hand began to glow brighter, its glyph expanding into a small ring of symbols suspended in the air. Souten closed his eyes briefly and channeled his cursed energy into it with more force.
The energy wasn't aggressive—it was clean, deliberate, and calm. Not the weight of punishment, but the intention of release.
Haganen screeched and lunged again.
Souten met her halfway.
His hand pressed the glowing charm directly to her chest. The moment contact was made, the tag disintegrated into light. A burst of energy surged through her, and her body convulsed, reeling back and clawing at the sky.
Her cursed form cracked—glowing fissures spreading across her mask, down her arms, along her spine. Panda moved to intervene, but Souten raised a hand.
"Wait."
The light grew. And then, she stopped.
She stood perfectly still. Her claws lowered. Her breathing steadied.
She took a step forward—and then another. Her form was still shifting, like the curse wasn't sure if it should stay corrupted or submit. The energy around her was unstable, teetering between chaos and clarity.
Panda lowered his stance slightly. "Uh, Souten? That didn't work!"
"No," Souten said, stepping back as the glow began to dim. "She's still not fully stabilized. She's resisting the pull... It's like she's stuck between who she was and what she became."
Toge moved beside Panda, readying another command.
Panda growled, "She's not a Grade 2, is she?"
Souten shook his head. "She's stronger. I think... Semi-Grade 1. Maybe higher."
The three of them formed a loose triangle around her.
"I'll suppress her directly," Souten said, raising his hands. "Toge—if she tries to break through, stop her. Panda, don't hold back if she lunges."
"Got it," Panda nodded.
Toge gave a sharp, quiet "Bonito flakes."
The corrupted Haganen let out a wavering shriek, torn between surrender and rage—and they moved as one.
It took coordination, restraint, and constant pressure. Souten applied the karmic suppression seals again, carefully timing each mark. Toge kept her locked in place with verbal strikes. Panda intercepted every wild movement with sheer strength.
Finally, after a long, tense minute—
She knelt.
Not collapsed. Not broken.
She knelt.
Her breath slowed. Her cursed form shimmered.
And then, something changed.
A sudden crack split the air like thunder. A fissure of cursed energy opened across the ground where she knelt, pulsing once—twice—then exploded in a rush of light.
From the eruption, another figure stepped forward.
Not Haganen. Someone else.
A second Shikigami—male in form, slightly taller, with smooth, plated armor wrapped around his chest and forearms. His mask was shaped like a hound's jawbone, and his cursed energy radiated with precise control and cold stillness. Twin blades of pure cursed energy were sheathed across his back.
Souten took a half-step forward in stunned silence.
"Kazuki..." he whispered.
The energy from Haganen had split. The corruption hadn't just infected her—it had fused the two. That was why the spirit had been so strong.
Kazuki knelt beside Haganen in mirrored silence, lowering his head.
They were whole again.
Haganen's form shifted once more, the last of the corruption burning off like smoke from her limbs. Her claws dulled, her limbs regrew into more stable proportions, and her cursed aura settled into something more focused—controlled. No longer wild, no longer animal.
Where there had once been jagged fur and erratic motion, now stood a figure reminiscent of a wolf-like guardian spirit—her body tall and sleek, fur trimmed along the arms and shoulders in lines like ceremonial armor. Her mask reformed, no longer a snarling skull but a smooth, angular visage of pale bone shaped like a fox's face with closed eyes carved into it.
She stood in complete silence—then dropped to one knee before Souten, lowering her head.
She didn't speak.
But the gesture was clear.
Submission.
Recognition.
Loyalty returned.
Panda exhaled, lowering his stance. "Okay... what the hell was that thing you used?"
Souten didn't answer immediately. He approached Haganen slowly, examining the way the karmic sigils had stabilized across her shoulders and mask.
"It was a charm," he said after a moment. "A seal crafted centuries ago by one of the earlier users of Black Ledger. He encoded a reversal technique into it—a purification system tied to the spiritual signature of the original Shikigami."
Toge raised his notepad: "Like a backup key?"
"In a way," Souten said. "Black Ledger judges. But that seal was designed with the inverse in mind. It doesn't punish. It redeems."
Panda tilted his head. "You mean like... Cursed Technique Reversal?"
Souten nodded. "It was Cursed Technique Reversal. One of the previous users had trouble using it, so they placed it into a seal—a contingency, in case they or someone else needed to restore something tied to the curse technique. Like Haganen and Kazuki."
He looked down at Haganen and Kazuki , who now knelt still as stone, their energy no longer erratic.
"I didn't know it would work," he admitted. "But this explains why the curse was so strong. Being made from these two Shikigami will do that."
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By the time the trio returned to Tokyo Jujutsu High, the sun had begun to dip past the horizon. The light painted the school's stone walls in soft amber, casting long shadows over the grounds. The kind of light that made everything feel a little quieter—like the world was giving you space to breathe.
Souten walked slightly ahead, Haganen and Kazuki trailing silently behind him. Their forms had stabilized—disciplined, spectral, but whole. They didn't look like monsters anymore. They looked like soldiers returning from war.
Panda was unusually quiet, and even Toge, who normally scribbled something to lighten the mood, kept his notepad tucked away. None of them said it aloud, but the weight of what had just happened wasn't lost on them.
They made their way into the courtyard where Gojo leaned against the side of the old gate, sipping a fresh juice box and pretending he hadn't been waiting.
"Yo," he said, waving lazily. "You look like you just wrestled a volcano."
Panda tossed him the mission report. "Read that. Then talk."
Gojo caught it, surprised by the lack of a joke. He unrolled the scroll and began scanning through the pages. His expression didn't shift much—but the blindfold lifted just enough to show the tension in his eyes.
"So... you didn't just purify a Semi-Grade 1 curse," he muttered. "You recovered Haganen. And Kazuki."
Souten stopped a few feet in front of him. "They were fused. Corrupted together. That's why it was stronger than it should have."
Gojo lowered the scroll slowly and looked at Souten for a long moment, his face not changing.
"That is not what I expected from this mission." he said, voice quieter now.
"Yeah, me either." Souten confirmed. "But they're mine now."
Gojo let the scroll roll shut with a soft snap.
"You realize what this means, right?"
Souten didn't flinch. "I do."
Gojo studied him for a long moment. Then he smiled—not his usual cocky grin, but something more real. Subtle. Proud, even.
"Well," he said, sliding the scroll under his arm, "looks like the quiet kid's making a bit of noise after all."
Panda glanced at Toge, then back at Souten.
"Yeah," he muttered. "You might eventually take Yuta's place as the Scariest first year."
Souten didn't smile. But he didn't deny it either.
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