Future Yuji Itadori Joins the Chat Group

His heart stopped beating, and a wave of darkness completely enveloped Natsuki Subaru.

It was a familiar feeling—the precursor to the activation of Return by Death.

'So, it still didn't work?'

But no matter; once Return by Death triggered, there would be another chance to change everything.

Yet in that very instant, a light emerged from within that darkness—

Natsuki Subaru snapped his eyes open.

He looked around; he was still in the room.

And Yuji Itadori was standing right next to him.

"I... I'm not dead!?"

Natsuki Subaru looked at Yuji Itadori with a face full of shock, his voice trembling slightly. The pain in his body had completely vanished, leaving only the bloodstains on the floor as proof of what had happened.

"To be precise, you actually died once," Yuji Itadori said slowly.

"W-what do you mean?"

Natsuki Subaru couldn't understand what had happened at all.

Just moments ago, Yuji Itadori had stopped using the Reverse Cursed Technique, and Natsuki Subaru's heart had quickly stopped due to organ failure.

At the exact moment Natsuki Subaru entered that 'state of death', Yuji Itadori activated Outputting Reverse Cursed Technique again, successfully bringing him back!

The curse from before had been continuously draining Natsuki Subaru's vitality, which made Yuji Itadori realize that perhaps the curse would never stop.

Unless Natsuki Subaru was already dead.

Therefore, Yuji Itadori stopped using the Reverse Cursed Technique and performed the healing at the moment of Natsuki Subaru's 'death'.

Facts proved that Yuji Itadori's guess was not wrong; after bringing Natsuki Subaru back this time, the curse had disappeared.

The reason Yuji Itadori could make such a judgment was precisely because Okkotsu Yuta had once experimented with it on his body.

Only back then, Yuji Itadori was the one who 'died'.

That was after the Shibuya Incident. Okkotsu Yuta had accepted orders from Jujutsu High School to execute Yuji Itadori. To ensure that the former would not show mercy because of Satoru Gojo, a Contract was even signed with Okkotsu Yuta.

However, Gojo had actually found Okkotsu Yuta in advance and asked him to take care of Itadori. Later, Okkotsu Yuta found Itadori and 'killed' him—the moment Yuji Itadori's heart stopped, Okkotsu Yuta used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal him back.

Although Natsuki Subaru possessed the ability of Return by Death, Yuji Itadori could not simply stand by and watch someone die before his eyes.

"I thought I was going to trigger..."

The words 'Return by Death' almost escaped his lips, but Natsuki Subaru hurriedly reached out to cover his mouth.

He didn't want to experience the sensation of his heart being squeezed ever again.

"What exactly happened, Senior Itadori?"

Natsuki Subaru asked hurriedly, his voice incredibly urgent.

"Was the food poisoned?! If that's the case, everyone else is in danger!"

"No, it wasn't poison. It was a curse."

"A curse?"

Natsuki Subaru froze for a moment.

"Correct. Someone likely placed a curse on you when you weren't paying attention. Since the concept of curses also exists in my world, it's quite close to your current situation."

Yuji Itadori paused, his expression gradually turning serious.

"But a curse like yours, which constantly eats away at life until the target dies, is relatively rare even on our side."

"Who did it? W-why do this to me?!"

Natsuki Subaru's voice trembled. He had no idea what was going on.

"I'm not sure either, but I believe this curse should be similar to the cursed techniques in our world. The more powerful the effect, the more demanding the activation conditions. Since this curse directly drains your life, its activation conditions should have many restrictions. It's very likely it can only be used at close range."

While speaking, Yuji Itadori also posted everything happening here into the Chat Group.

[Only Love White-Haired Elves: To think there's such a malicious curse... who exactly did this?! This is absolutely unforgivable!]

Himmel was clearly enraged by such behavior.

[Jujutsu Physical Education Student: How could such a thing happen...]

[Useless Goddess, You Really Deserve to Die: The Group Leader has a point. I also think it's likely a curse that can only be used at close range; otherwise, killing people remotely would be too broken! If only I could travel to your side with Aqua... Subaru, think carefully, who did you have contact with today?]

Seeing Sato Kazuma's words, Natsuki Subaru converted his interactions with others today into a video and posted it in the group.

[Only Love White-Haired Elves: You came into contact with quite a few people today. Besides those in the mansion, you also went to the nearby village today and had contact with the local villagers... I'll go ask Frieren for you; maybe she knows something.]

[Useless Goddess, You Really Deserve to Die: Let me think. Assuming this curse has a limited effective time, we can probably rule out the people in the mansion for now. After all, if they wanted to make a move, Subaru would have triggered Return by Death long ago... So I think the most likely candidates are the people in the village. Maybe someone is lurking there.]

Sato Kazuma's mind was quite sharp, and he quickly analyzed the most likely answer.

[Jujutsu Physical Education Student: In the village today, the ones who had the most contact with Subaru were those children, right?]

[Useless Goddess, You Really Deserve to Die: Wait, I just thought of something—Subaru, you went to the village with that maid named Rem, right? How is her situation?]

Natsuki Subaru's heart jumped, and he hurriedly prepared to leave the room to check on Rem's condition, but Yuji Itadori spoke up:

"Before you woke up, I hid my presence and investigated the mansion. Everyone else is fine."

"That's good..."

Natsuki Subaru finally let out a long sigh of relief and shared this news with the others in the group.

[Jealous Witch's Object of Escape: Senior Itadori says everyone else is fine.]

[Useless Goddess, You Really Deserve to Die: You and Rem had contact with roughly the same people today. Is there anyone only you contacted that Rem didn't?]

Natsuki Subaru hurriedly checked the video he had sent earlier; this function made it much easier for him to remember.

Someone only he had contacted, but Rem hadn't...

But the people they both encountered were the same?

Villagers, children...

[Jujutsu Physical Education Student: I've been watching for a while, but I don't see anything special.]

[Only Love White-Haired Elves: I don't see anything either.]

But right at that moment, Yuji Itadori seemed to discover something, and his expression became incredibly heavy.

"I've got it."

"What is it?" Natsuki Subaru asked anxiously.

Yuji Itadori lowered his head, his gaze focusing on Natsuki Subaru's hand, which had originally been wrapped in bandages—

"It's that dog."