Chapter 16- The Cycle of Curses

Jujutsu Tech, Tokyo

The group stepped out into the stone courtyard of Jujutsu Tech—Elle, Cyan, Megumi, Kevin, Nathan, Ava, Amanda, Nkosi.

Tokyo’s winter air cut clean and bright as they approached the welcoming party waiting beneath the temple caves.

Tengen smiled warmly.

“Welcome. May your stay in Tokyo be peaceful.”

Elle returned a polite nod—too polite.

Then she looked at Genkaku and let a slow, yet dangerous smirk form.

“Peaceful… yeah. I’ve only have great memories of this place.”

Genkaku’s cursed energy spiked in a sharp, ugly burst.
Tengen touched his arm lightly and the air calmed again.

The Zenin clan head stepped forward, chin lifted in pride.
“Megumi Fushiguro will receive you once he’s finished at headquarters.”

Elle raises a brow.
“Fushiguro? That brat from back then? Still short-tempered?”

Tengen chuckled.
“He’s grown into a remarkable sorcerer.”

The Zenin head added, with unmistakable provocation:
“He is Japan’s strongest.”

Something in Elle stopped.
Her smile held—but her eyes went still.
Only Cyan noticed the way her fingers twitch.

The group was dismissed to their assigned quarters.

In the guest hall

Cyan breaks the silence first.
“So… who’s this other Megumi? Why does he matter?”

Ava watched the two from the back, jealousy simmering like static, forced to stay quiet.

Elle sighed softly.

“Megumi Fushiguro is the next Zenin clan head.”
A pause.
“And the boy whose father I killed.”

The room froze.

Because every one of them, except for Cyan knew or heard of his father.

Toji Fushiguro.
The Sorcerer Killer.
The man who cut down the strongest like they were paper.

Kevin breathe out shakily.
Ava subtly steps back.
Even Megumi Honda looked rattled.

Amanda whispers, barely audible:
“…You killed Toji?”

Elle didn't look at them.
Her gaze drifted somewhere else—far, far beyond the present.

Her voice became more distant and hollow.
“It was the closest I’d ever been to death.”

She continued without blinking, as if reciting a memory that never stopped replaying:
“He moved like gravity couldn’t catch him.
Every strike I blocked felt like my bones would shatter.
If he’d wanted to, he could’ve killed me ten times over.”

Her fingers trembled—just once—and she hid it by crossing her arms.

“Killing him wasn’t about winning. It was to survive.”

The group looked at her differently now— as someone who has walked through hell and come back altered.

Cyan’s chest tightened suddenly.

A sharp, unfamiliar ache.
Like grief that wasn't hers.
Like it belonged to someone else.

The words Tokyo Terror floated through the conversation—Nathan muttering it under his breath, Ava and Amanda going  into deeper details.

And as soon as Cyan heard it—

Something inside her burned.

Images flash in her head, too quick to form into pictures—

Rage.
Loneliness.
A crushing, suffocating sorrow.

Cyan gripped her shirt, confused.
“Why… does it feel like I’ve seen this before?” she whispers.

Elle turned to Cyan, sensing the shift.
Her Prism Eyes glinted faintly.
There was something unreadable in her expression.

As if she recognized the emotion flickering inside of Cyan.

As if she'd seen it before—
in someone else.

Shibuya Station – Tokyo

The night air tasted metallic as Cyan stepped through one of her veils of shadow and found herself standing in front of Shibuya Station.

She hadn’t told anyone.
She hadn’t even decided to come here.

Her cursed energy simply moved—and she followed.

The underground platform was silent, unnervingly so.
No trains.
No people.
Just the cold hum of fluorescent lights flickering above.

Cyan hugged her arms as a chill crawled down her spine.

Why did hearing “Tokyo Terror” feel like a punch to the heart?
Why anger?
Why grief?

Why did she feel emotions that didn’t belong to her?

She closed her eyes.
One breath in—one breath out.
Her consciousness slipped into darkness—

—and she was back in the throne room.

The air here was thick with despair.
A sprawling mountain of skulls stretched across the void, and on top of them, lounging as if on a king’s bed, was Jaden.

His eyes snapped open the moment she arrived.

His voice was cold steel.
“Go away. I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

Cyan stepped forward, boots crunching faintly on bone.

“I figured something out.”

Jaden didn’t move or blink.
But his presence sharpened, like a blade being turned.

“And what would that be?”

Cyan approached the base of the skull-throne.
Her voice was steady—mostly.

“I think… I can feel your emotions.”

That made him turn his head.

Slowly.
Deliberately.

His gaze pinned her like a spear.

She swallowed hard and continued.
“Back there, when they talked about the Tokyo Terror… I didn’t just get scared. I felt heartbroken. Furious. But those weren’t my memories. They weren’t my feelings.”

Jaden’s expression didn’t change—but the air around him cracked faintly.

Cyan took one more cautious step.
“What happened between you and Elle?”

That was the wrong question.

A black-red spark erupted from Jaden’s fist—
—and before she could react—

BLACK FLASH.

The blow slammed into her stomach like a meteor, launching her across the throne room.

She crashed into a river of shadow water that swallowed her instantly.

Cyan clawed her way out, gasping—

—and froze.

Jaden was already standing in front of her.

She hadn’t seen him move.

His voice was low, dangerous.
“If I were you, I’d focus on surviving Tokyo. They’ll be coming for you.”

Cyan pushed herself onto her knees, coughing.
“And it’s because of you and Elle, isn’t it?”

Jaden’s fist lifted again.
Black and red lightning coiled around it, distorting the air.

She threw her arms over her head—

—but the blow never came.

Jaden slowly lowered his arm and turned his back on her, walking toward the throne again.

“You’re the one who chose to eat the finger,” he said, voice echoing across the skulls.
“No one forced you.”

He sat down, shadows gathering around him like a cloak.

“So now you have to bear the consequences of your choices.”

His final words were quiet, but they cut sharper than any strike.

“You cursed yourself.”

Cyan’s eyes snapped open—
—and she immediately wiped the blood trailing from her nose.

Her hands shook.

Whatever Jaden felt…

Whatever he lived through…

It was now bleeding into her.

And Tokyo was only the beginning.

 

The Next Day – Tokyo Jujutsu High Arena

The stadium trembled with cheers and anticipation.

It was the first day of the Tokyo–South Africa Cultural Exchange Event, and solo battles were on the schedule.

Screens lit the arena with the names of participating sorcerers, while cursed energy suppression barriers hummed quietly overhead.

High above the crowds in a sealed, tinted VIP box sat:

Dean,
Tengen,
the Gojo, Zenin, and Kamo clan heads
—and three South African clan heads representing Liebert, Mowbray, and Abrahams.

Their presence alone made the air feel heavy.

Kusakabe stood at the center of the ring, arms crossed, expression bored but voice loud enough to shake the arena.

“Rule 1:” he said, “Victory is by knockout, ring-out, or death.”

A few gasps erupted from the spectators.

“Rule 2: Cursed tools are forbidden—unless the participant has no cursed energy or is Heavenly Restriction. In that case, first to semi–special grade tools only.”

“Rule 3: No domain expansions or domain-based techniques. Japan’s barriers can’t handle that scale of destruction.”

A few sorcerers groaned.

“Rule 4…” Kusakabe shrugged.
“Prove why you deserve to be called strong.”

The crowd roared.

Waiting Room – Pre-Battle

Combatants gathered in the waiting room, checking gear, stretching, or psyching themselves up.

Cyan sat on a bench, fidgeting so hard she nearly dropped her water bottle.
Her hands were trembling slightly.

“What if I get someone killed…?” she thought.
“Or what if someone kills me?”

Her cursed energy flickered unstable around her fingers.

Megumi nudged her shoulder.
“Stop stressing. You’ll leak cursed energy if you keep this up.”

Cyan nodded, trying to breathe.

Ava leaned back in her chair, arms behind her head.
“Relax. The solo battles are easy. It’s the team battles you need to worry about.”

Megumi, Cyan, and Amanda slowly turned to stare at her.

“Easy?”

Ava blinked innocently.
“What?”

Before Cyan could respond, a heated voice echoed across the room.

Kevin stood face-to-face with a white-haired boy, with a white bandana wrapped around his eyes.

Kevin snapped,
“You have some nerve—talking like you even know me!”

The boy glared with disgust.
“Sorcerers from South Africa are monsters. You’ve scarred this land. Your existence alone insults us.”

The room fell silent.

Cyan stood halfway up from her seat.

Megumi tensed.

Before Kevin could lunge, a girl’s voice cut through the tension like a blade.

“Yuki! Stop it.”

Cyan’s eyes widened.

The girl had long, snow-white hair—
just like Yuki’s

Yukino Gojo approached, placing herself between the boys.

Yuki scoffed but backed off.
“Fine.”

Kevin gritted his teeth, fists shaking.
He was ready to swing—

—but Yuki spoke without turning back.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t try it.”

Kevin froze.
How… did he know?

A shiver crawled up his spine.

From behind Cyan, Ava murmured,
“Those are the Gojo twins. Pray you don’t face one of them.”

Amanda frowned.
“Why?”

Ava smirked slightly.
“Because they’re strong. Stronger than you.”

She looked directly at Cyan.

Cyan looked away.

Kusakabe’s voice echoed through the speakers.

“First match:
Jason Mowbray vs Ryo Kamo.”

The crowd erupted as the two fighters left the waiting room.

A presence approached.

Nathan’s.

He paused beside Ava and Cyan.
Only his eyes moved.

“Everything seems quiet on my end,” he said.

But the way he looked at Cyan—

Sharp.
Cold.
Accusing.

Cyan swallowed hard.

The battles hadn’t even begun…
and the real threats were already circling.