The battle between Yagami Sora and Yuta Okkotsu had just ended.
Sora was currently carrying Yuta over his shoulder like a defeated boxer as he walked across the shattered ruins of Shibuya.
He was preparing to return to their temporary base.
Meanwhile—
On the opposite side of the district.
Megumi Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori were navigating through the collapsed streets, searching for a safe place to regroup.
Yuji glanced toward the distant flashes of light illuminating the sky.
Explosions echoed faintly through the city.
"Sora-nii and Okkotsu-senpai are really going at it…"
Megumi kept walking, though his brow remained slightly furrowed.
"Okkotsu-senpai is Gojo-sensei's student."
"He probably won't go all out."
Even as he said it—
Megumi didn't sound fully convinced.
At that moment—
A casual voice suddenly came from above them.
"Yo."
"Isn't this Fushiguro?"
Megumi instantly looked up.
His hand moved to the hilt of his sword.
Standing on top of a broken streetlamp—
Was a blond man wearing a traditional kimono.
Smiling arrogantly down at them.
Naoya Zenin.
"…Zenin Naoya."
Megumi's eyes sharpened.
"Don't look so tense."
Naoya jumped down lightly.
"I'm just delivering orders from the Zenin clan."
He slowly walked closer.
Examining Megumi like merchandise.
"And I wanted to see for myself…"
"The son of that failure."
"Toji Fushiguro."
Naoya clicked his tongue.
"Tch."
"You do look like him."
"Too bad."
"You're nowhere near his level."
"So this is the inheritor of the Ten Shadows Technique?"
"I wouldn't even let you carry my shoes."
"What did you say?!"
Yuji stepped forward immediately.
Naoya glanced at him dismissively.
"Oh?"
"You must be Sukuna's vessel."
"You look pretty ordinary."
"Why does trash like you get to live?"
He smiled coldly.
"I'll just kill you both."
Before the final word finished—
Naoya disappeared.
Whoosh.
Megumi's pupils shrank.
He barely saw a blur.
Naoya's fist was already inches from his face.
"Projection Sorcery."
The Zenin clan's inherited technique.
A sorcery that divides one second into 24 frames.
The user must move according to the pre-planned sequence.
Anyone touched by the technique must obey the same rule—
Or freeze for one full second.
Against someone like Megumi—
That single second meant death.
Megumi felt a chill run through his spine.
He couldn't track Naoya's speed.
Too fast.
Just as the punch was about to land—
SLAP!
A loud, crisp sound echoed through the empty street.
Naoya's body spun violently through the air.
Like a top kicked across the pavement.
He crashed into the ground several meters away.
His cheek swelling instantly.
"…What?!"
Naoya scrambled to his feet.
Shock filled his face.
He hadn't even seen the attack.
A new figure stood between Megumi and Yuji.
"You know."
A calm voice said.
"It's pretty rude to interrupt someone's conversation."
Yagami Sora had appeared.
At some point.
Over his shoulder—
Still hung the unconscious Yuta Okkotsu.
Sora stared down at Naoya.
With the same expression one might give an insect.
"You said you wanted to kill a Special Grade?"
He casually tossed Yuta onto the ground.
Then stepped forward.
"Well."
"I'm standing right here."
"Why don't you try touching me?"
Naoya's face went pale.
"…Yagami Sora."
His arrogance vanished instantly.
Even Naoya knew the rumors.
The Special Grade who had defeated Okkotsu.
The man currently wanted by Jujutsu Headquarters.
He might be arrogant.
But he wasn't suicidal.
"Projection Sorcery?"
Sora scoffed.
"That obsessive technique that divides a second into 24 frames?"
"You're showing that off in front of me?"
"Too slow."
"In front of vector manipulation…"
"You move like a crawling turtle."
BOOM.
Sora stepped forward.
His foot slammed down.
Naoya's head was driven straight into the pavement.
Concrete shattered beneath the impact.
Naoya struggled desperately.
But couldn't move.
Sora pressed down harder.
"Go back."
"And tell those old men in the Zenin clan something."
His voice turned ice-cold.
"Megumi Fushiguro belongs to me."
"If anyone from the Zenin clan touches him…"
"I'll wipe the Zenin family off the map."
He lifted his foot.
"Now get lost."
Naoya scrambled away instantly.
Without another word.
Megumi stood silently nearby.
Watching Yagami Sora walk away.
He didn't say anything.
Nor did he deny the words:
"Megumi Fushiguro belongs to me."
He simply tightened his grip on his sword.
Then—
Almost imperceptibly—
The corner of his lips curved slightly upward.
The Zenin name.
The name he despised.
The name tied to his father's suffering.
And now—
Someone had stepped on that name.
And crushed it into the dirt for him.
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