Nobara stopped dead on the concrete stairs. She whipped around, her grip tightening on her hammer. "Do you actually want to die?"
"Just asking," Ren smiled, leaning against the railing. "You apologized. sooo we're even. Sounds like friendship to me."
"We are coworkers. Barely," Nobara snapped. Her face was still slightly pink. She turned back around and marched down the steps. "Do not push it, transfer student."
Ren chuckled and followed her out of the stairwell into the bright Shinjuku sunlight.
He adjusted Nightfall's scabbard on his back as they walked toward the station. Honestly, he had spent the last three weeks waiting for a massive interrogation about the weapon. A random guy suddenly carrying a top-tier Grade 1 cursed weapon was a giant red flag.
But the interrogation never happened.
Gojo had looked at the black blade exactly once. He just smiled and didn't ask a single question. To the strongest sorcerer in the world, a Grade 1 sword was basically a butter knife.
It didn't threaten him. Maki hadn't asked about it either. She just eyed the craftsmanship and probably assumed Gojo bought it for him to keep him alive.
Ren squinted against the afternoon sun. He wasn't wearing the thick, wire-rimmed glasses Gojo had given him.
He had handled that problem himself two weeks ago.
He knew Gojo would eventually catch him fighting without the glasses. The Six Eyes saw everything. So, Ren took control of the narrative. He walked right up to Gojo in the courtyard and handed the glasses back.
"I don't need these anymore. I can just see them now."
Gojo had actually been shocked. He pulled down his blindfold and stared at Ren for a full, uncomfortable minute. The Six Eyes scanned him up and down. Ren's cursed energy hadn't changed. It was still practically zero. By all laws of Jujutsu, Ren should be completely blind to spirits.
It made absolutely zero mechanical sense.
But Ren knew how Gojo's brain worked. Gojo hated boring things. A random, impossible mutation? That was highly entertaining. Gojo just laughed, pocketed the glasses, and called it a miracle of youth.
It was a calculated risk, but it worked perfectly.
"Hey! Are you coming or are you just going to stand there?"
Ren blinked, snapping back to reality. Nobara was standing ten feet ahead, tapping her foot impatiently on the pavement.
"Yeah, coming," Ren called out, jogging up to catch her.
"You're paying for my train ticket," she muttered, crossing her arms and looking away.
"Consider it compensation for me having to tolerate you today."
"Sure thing, bestie," Ren teased.
Nobara let out an angry, frustrated groan, but she didn't hit him.
The train car rattled as it pulled away from Shinjuku Station.
Ren sat on the plush green bench seat, watching the city blur past the window. Nobara slumped in the seat right next to him. She had her arms crossed, glaring at her phone screen as she aggressively scrolled through social media.
His phone buzzed in his jacket pocket.
Ren pulled it out. The caller ID flashed a number he had saved a few weeks ago. Yuji.
Ren froze for a split second. He glanced sideways at Nobara.
Yuji was still legally dead. Gojo's grand reveal for the Goodwill Event was only three days away. If Ren dropped the kid's name right now, Nobara would instantly interrogate him, break his phone, and probably try to kill Gojo.
He swiped the green icon and brought the phone to his ear.
"Hey," Ren answered smoothly.
"Ren! Nanami is making me read books on cursed energy history! My brain is literally melting!" Yuji's loud, energetic voice leaked slightly through the speaker.
Ren shifted in his seat, slightly tilting the phone away from Nobara. "Is that right, golden retriever?"
Nobara stopped scrolling. Her thumb hovered over her screen. She slowly turned her head and gave him a highly judgmental, sideways look.
"Golden retriever?" Yuji asked on the other end, sounding completely confused. "Wait, who—"
"Yeah, man. Sounds rough," Ren cut in effortlessly, keeping his tone light and casual. "Look, I'm on the train right now. Going through a tunnel soon. I'll catch up with you later."
"Oh, right! My bad! See you later!" Yuji hung up.
Ren slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked straight ahead.
The silence stretched for three seconds.
"Golden retriever?" Nobara asked, her voice dripping with absolute disgust. "Who the hell calls their friend that?"
"Just a guy from my old high school," Ren lied without missing a beat. He leaned back against the window. "He has a lot of energy. Not very bright, but he means well."
Nobara scoffed, turning her attention back to her phone screen. "Sounds annoying. You attract weirdos."
Ren just smiled, watching the afternoon sun reflect off the train window. "You have no idea."
Ren turned his head back toward the window, watching the city buildings blur past in the afternoon sun. He rested his chin on his knuckles.
His mind immediately went back to the math. He currently had 41,595 System Points. He was barely eight and a half thousand points away from the 50,000 required to upgrade Nightfall to a Special Grade weapon.
If he actually managed to pay the premium cost to manually imbue the blade with Reverse Cursed Technique...
A slow smirk crept onto his face. A guy with zero cursed energy swinging an RCT-infused sword.
He would basically be a mini-Mahoraga. He could just walk right through domains and melt disaster curses just by swinging a piece of metal.
But a weapon was still just a weapon. He knew his ceiling was too low without cursed energy.
Ren thought about Megumi. The guy could literally summon electric birds and giant black hounds out of shadows. It was an incredibly versatile, top-tier technique.
Ren let out a quiet, heavy sigh through his nose.
Honestly, he thought, if Fushiguro had been born a woman... I definitely would have had to think about it.
"Stop smiling at the window," Nobara snapped from the seat next to him. "You look like a serial killer."
Ren blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. His smirk dropped into a casual, unbothered expression. "Just thinking about a friend," he lied smoothly.
"Between the golden retriever and whatever you're smiling at now, your friends sound like freaks," Nobara muttered, aggressively tapping her phone screen.
Ren just chuckled, leaning back into his seat.
Ren watched the buildings pass outside the train window. He opened his system interface.
[Current Balance: 41,595 System Points]