Red Thread in the Dark — Chapter 214
"Ahh… God, why did he punch me all of a sudden? Shit, I knew I should not trust pretty boys!"
The female cop muttered as she pushed herself upright, hand moving to her nose. She staggered, reaching instinctively for her radio—
A red string whipped out of nowhere and wrapped around her arm, yanking it away before she could touch the device.
"W–What the—?"
Before she could even understand what was happening, something slid around her neck. Tight. Smooth. Restraining.
A voice spoke from behind her, calm and too close.
"Shh. Be calm. Don't worry, I won't hurt you, okay? I just need to use your phone."
She froze. Red ropes—no, red threads—bound her arms, her legs, and her whole body. She couldn't move. Couldn't turn. Could barely breathe.
"W-WAIT—AHH—!"
Her scream stopped halfway as red thread wrapped around her mouth, muffling everything.
Ren calmly reached into her pocket, tugged out her phone, and smirked.
'The solution to my problem already came to me. I ran away from it like an idiot, ha! Now… just call Gojo…'
Ren dialled Gojo's number quickly. As it rang, he flicked his wrist. The woman's body was dragged back and pinned upright against the side of the police car like a puppet.
Ren leaned on the hood, tapping the phone impatiently.
"Hello? It's me, your favourite student. I'm in some trouble—I was training, as you know, and, uh… might've messed up a little. Come get me. I'm in Kanagawa Prefecture, near an abandoned school close to Yokohama. Get here now."
Gojo, standing on the edge of Jujutsu High's roof, blinked at the sudden call. Ren's frantic voice earned a small, amused chuckle.
"Really? I told you to be careful, right? How did you mess up? Hmm?"
"I did a stupid binding vow. My body has kept getting damaged now for a while…"
Ren thought 'Better to give him half-truths… No way anyone's going to believe I rebuilt and modified my cursed technique with unique binding vows and my own ritual. Even if it worked. Even if the side effect is… damage, which I healed with my other cursed technique, but the problem with that is the Hour of Undoing ends, and the damage comes back. No one would believe that shit. So half-truths it is…'
Gojo's voice came through lazily. "Binding vow? The same type you did before? Haha. So that's what you're doing—experimenting with binding vows? Or something? Dumbass. I'm coming. Wait there—"
Ren cut the call before he could say more.
'Ugh… he's going to rub this in my face for months, isn't he? Whatever. At least he's coming. The solution to my problem was literally the cops who came to get me. Irony at its finest. Well… I guess for now I will play with Red Stitch a little…'
Ren flicked his wrist again. The red thread connected from him to the female cop surged. In seconds she was completely wrapped, cocooned in red.
"Huh. I can use Red Stitch like this too, huh?"
He flicked again.
Her wrapped body moved—walked—stood upright.
Ren grinned. 'Interesting… I can feel her entire body. With Spider, I can not only wrap someone—I can feel them. Control them. Move them. Cover them completely. Hahaha… and this is supposed to be the less offensive one.'
"HEY! What is going on here?!"
Ren looked over lazily. The male cop had returned, gun aimed at him, hands shaking.
Ren smiled.
With a casual lift of his hand, he dragged a finger downward.
The gun in the cop's hand split apart... cleanly cut in 2... there was no red stitch, no nothing, no visible sign of anything, but the gun just got split in half...
The cop stared, frozen.
'That's Sword… huh? I can control all of it even easier than Spider, and I feel like I can cut through anything… everything…'
Ren stared at his hands, turning them slightly, mesmerised.
"What? What is this? What's going on—!?"
The male cop rushed him—
A red thread shot out instantly from Ren's wrist and coiled around the man, stopping him mid-step before wrapping around him completely. His mouth sealed shut mid-scream.
Both cops were soon cocooned in red, connected back to Ren's wrist like a spider's web extending from its centre. mesmerised. centre.
Ren stared at his hands, breathing slowly.
"Huh… is this how it feels to be strong? Humans feel so… weak. So ant-like…"
Then—
A thin line of blood appeared across his fingertip. A cut.
Ren's eyes widened.
"Shit! The hour of undoing is up! Gojo is not here yet! Fuck, I have to move. I have to make myself seen. If he is in the area, he would have trouble finding me on the ground, but if I am in the sky, it should be easier for him to sense me since there isn't any cursed energy in the sky." Ren's mind moves fast…
He threw his hands upward.
The red strings connecting him to the cops vanished instantly, and four new strings shot out from both wrists—hooking onto a streetlamp, the building wall, a tree, and an electric pole.
Ren pulled down—
And launched up into the sky.
WOOSH!!
The acceleration was brutal. Wind roared past him. The ground shrank instantly.
And then—
His skin split.
Dozens of cuts opened across his body. Blood streamed downward. The damage he'd healed earlier all returned at once.
"Ghh—! Wh–Where the fuck are you, white-haired bastard, when I need you?! Why didn't you stalk me today, huh?! You're always around when I don't need you—and the one time I do, you're not here!"
He gritted his teeth, the air growing thinner, the moon rising into view—bright and beautiful.
He drifted. Floated.
Bleeding out in the cold night sky.
"Ugh… Well… This isn't such a bad way to go, I guess… ah…"
His eyes fluttered shut.
As the darkness consumed him
A blinding white light streaked across his fading vision.
And Ren blacked out.