The tension in the room hadn't faded.
If anything, it hung heavier now—thick and suffocating like fog just before a thunderstorm. Yuta stood stiffly near the door, unsure of what to do, uncertain whether to speak or retreat.
Panda squinted at him, Toge stared in eerie silence, and Maki… Maki stood.
"Hey."
Yuta looked up. "Y-Yes?"
Her voice was sharp. "You said you're carrying a curse. A Special Grade Curse."
"I didn't ask for it," he replied quickly, voice trembling. "She—she just clings to me. I didn't mean—"
Thwack!
Steel slammed into the wall beside his head.
Yuta froze.
The spear's tip hummed beside his ear, embedded into the wall with surgical precision. The vibration traveled through the floor. If she had wanted to kill him—she could have.
Maki stood in front of him now, her eyes hard and unwavering, her hand still gripping the shaft of her weapon.
"How the hell is someone like you walking around freely?" she asked, her voice cold. "You're carrying something that could level buildings. People die from curses like that. And the higher-ups just… let you join us?"
"I—I don't know," Yuta whispered. "I didn't want this."
"Oh, that makes it fine then," she snapped, yanking her spear free. "You're a liability. We don't need—"
CRACK.
The air shattered.
A scream filled the room—a horrible, twisting sound like a child's cry filtered through static and violence. The floor cracked beneath Yuta as black cursed energy burst from his shadow like a geyser.
A monstrous form surged out.
Veins like tar. Hair matted in gore. Eyes full of sorrow and rage.
Rika.
She launched toward Maki, jaws splitting open unnaturally, fingers curled like claws, her shriek shaking the windows—
"Rika, STOP!!"
Yuta's voice tore through the room like a blade.
Rika froze in midair, her form pulsing with chaotic energy, inches from Maki's throat. Her twisted face turned to Yuta, and for a brief moment—there was hurt in her expression.
Yuta took a slow step forward, trembling.
"Please," he said, voice cracking. "No one's trying to hurt me. I'm okay. You don't need to protect me right now."
Silence.
Rika slowly—reluctantly—drew back. Her form faded into smoke, sinking into Yuta's shadow with a low hiss of cursed energy.
Everything was still.
Gojo finally pushed away from the desk, walking to the center of the room, clapping slowly.
"Bravo," he said lightly. "That could've gone way worse."
Maki stood stunned, her face pale and her spear lowered.
"…What the hell was that thing?"
Gojo turned to the rest of the students, suddenly serious.
"That," he said, "was Rika Orimoto."
He looked to Yuta, then back to the others.
"She was Yuta's childhood friend. They were very close. She died in a tragic car accident when they were ten."
"And she turned into that?" Panda asked, still staring at the dark stain left in the floor.
Gojo nodded. "But it wasn't just grief. Yuta didn't just receive her curse. He cursed her."
Toge blinked, surprised.
Maki frowned. "He cursed his own friend?"
"It wasn't intentional," Gojo said softly. "But Yuta's cursed energy is abnormal. Powerful enough to break the laws of death itself. In his grief… in his desperation… he tied her soul to his own."
Yuta said nothing.
"She isn't like other curses," Gojo continued. "She doesn't just attack. She loves. Obsessively. Violently. She'll destroy anything that even thinks of hurting him."
He turned to Maki.
"So next time," he said lightly, "maybe don't jam a weapon in his face."
Maki clicked her tongue and looked away.
Gojo clapped his hands. "Alright! Class dismissed. I think that's enough near-death trauma for one day."
The students dispersed slowly. Maki left last, glancing back at Yuta once more, her expression unreadable.
Yuta stood in the now-empty classroom, staring down at his hands.
From his shadow, something moved.
And whispered:
"You said you love me… so I'll always protect you."