The room was bathed in beautiful moonlight as a man in his late twenties stood sweating profusely in front of a mirror.
A draft passed through the room just before he let out an exhausted sigh.
'It's really real… I'm definitely Jin Itadori,' he thought, casting one last glance at his reflection.
Yet the man staring intently into the mirror was not the real Jin Itadori.
He used to be an ordinary employee named Claud Thomson, a resident of Texas with Greek ancestry on his father's side.
Before becoming Jin Itadori, he remembered attending a cosplay and manga convention.
Perhaps out of laziness — he hadn't really been in the mood to go all-out at the time.
Claud had simply dyed his hair pink, put on some glasses, and worn decent clothes.
When people asked who he was cosplaying as, he simply answered: Jin Itadori.
"Ow! That hurts…"
Claud frowned as a sudden sharp pain assaulted him.
He remembered being hit by an electric scooter right after leaving the venue, but the memories belonging to this body felt completely foreign.
At least… until now.
Several images flooded back into his mind all at once — including those of his beloved Kaori Itadori.
Just thinking about her made Jin's eyes well up with tears he couldn't hold back.
The idea of having conceived a child with the woman he loved filled him with happiness.
Yet Claud couldn't ignore the truth: the situation was fundamentally absurd, almost monstrous.
He could understand Jin after having somehow "lived" his life, but the realization that he had "eaten" Kenjaku shocked him to his core.
Unconsciously, he turned his gaze toward the woman lying on the bed.
The image of the beautiful Kaori slowly overlapped with that of the selfish creature — the one who upends the world's order purely out of curiosity.
"I-I have to leave—"
The moment he whispered those words, he lost his balance.
His vision slowly darkened, and he collapsed onto the cold bedroom floor.
He wanted to scream, or even run away — abandoning the child about to be born.
But his body was far too exhausted.
And so, he lost consciousness.
…
[Claud's Earth: A few hours before reincarnation]
"Bro, can you hold this for a sec? I gotta go take a leak real quick."
Josh gave an apologetic smile as he handed a bag to his pink-haired friend.
The moment Jin caught it, he noticed a card had fallen to the ground — a result of Josh's hurry to reach the bathroom.
(Image)
Adventurer Card
It was supposed to be part of Josh's cosplay power, but Jin didn't really know the details about the item.
He wasn't much of a Konosuba fan.
The only isekai works he knew or liked were Mushoku Tensei and Re:Zero.
As for the rest? He had stopped trying to find interesting series because of "the system."
"Should I just read the wiki? When this guy goes to the bathroom, he tends to take forever…" he muttered, his eyes flicking between his friend's back and his phone screen.
After refreshing a few details about Jujutsu Kaisen, Claud went to look up information on the Adventurer Card.
The idea didn't come purely from curiosity about the card in his hands — it was also because he still didn't fully understand his friend Josh's running joke about "Steal" or Chunchunmaru.
"Wow, that's some serious potential, but…" he thought, eyes shining as he discovered Kazuma Sato's abilities.
His excitement quickly faded, however, when he read about the downside of the Adventurer class.
Kazuma could learn literally anything — as long as the other person gave permission.
He had even acquired skills from undead monsters, clearly different from what humans could normally access.
Yet Kazuma's pitiful stats prevented him from fully exploiting his class.
'If he'd had a ton of mana, he could've solved most of the series' problems single-handedly,' he thought, recalling Kazuma's initial failure to directly steal a Dullahan's head.
With as much mana as Megumin, the young Japanese man could have saved Axel all by himself.
Without realizing it, Claud became completely absorbed in the wiki articles, studying the various stories tied to his friend's cosplay.
"Young man, you seem to carry a twisted fate," an elderly voice suddenly declared right behind him.
Claud immediately stopped reading and stepped back from the stranger.
The man was short, dressed in Taoist priest robes.
His appearance was unusual, but his face radiated a certain kindness, which slightly eased Claud's wariness.
The young man relaxed, concluding he was simply dealing with another dedicated cosplayer.
A conclusion he would later regret.
"A twisted fate? Old man, you're taking your 'role' a bit too seriously," Jin said while unlocking his phone.
The old man looked momentarily confused by the comment about his "role," but simply shrugged before continuing:
"I can tell your soul does not belong to this reality. A gravitational pull is calling you… you would do well to prepare yourself carefully."
He rummaged through his belongings and pulled out a prayer bead necklace similar to those used in Buddhism, holding it out toward Jin.
"When the gravitational pull of your soul's fate begins, everything you carry will undergo a reconstruction of its very nature. Right now this object is ordinary, but—"
"Save me the spiel. If you're asking for money, sorry — I already spent everything at the convention," Jin replied, trying to walk away quickly.
'I'll just give the fake guild card back to Josh later,' he thought as he headed toward the street.
The old priest first tried to stop him calmly, but suddenly felt a violent disturbance in the very fabric of fate.
The faint pull that Jin's soul had been experiencing became abruptly ferocious, without any apparent reason.
The priest tried to throw the prayer beads toward him, but at that exact moment a man on an electric scooter passed by and took the object straight to the face.
He immediately lost control of his vehicle… and slammed right into Jin.
In trying to help, the old man had only accelerated the work of fate.
"Amidaba… may Buddha forgive me for failing to prepare this young man for his next life," he muttered, not even bothering to call an ambulance.
As he lost consciousness, Jin caught a glimpse of the old man's regretful face.
The young man had simply wanted to attend a convention to make his friend happy…
Not to die.
…
[Back on Earth — Jin Itadori]
"Grr… damn old man, you could've been a bit more specific," Jin muttered as he woke up once again inside the Jujutsu Kaisen universe.
Contrary to his expectations, he wasn't lying on the cold floor — he was on a soft bed.
"You're awake, darling~"
A familiar voice echoed from the bedroom doorway as a woman entered carrying a plate full of food.
Kaori Itadori.
(Image)