Splash...
The boy in front of the mirror cupped water from the faucet in his hands, scrubbed his face hard, and dried off with a towel. A simple wash-up, done.
Ice-cold tap water running through the morning pipes—it was the cheapest, fastest way to jolt yourself awake.
"That's better."
Maybe it was psychological, but no matter how much he brushed, there was always a weird taste lingering in his mouth.
Being a dog wasn't exactly a walk in the park. Especially when you'd spent your time biting into so many disgusting things. It left a bad taste, literal and metaphorical.
Kenmei Isayama. That was the name of the boy with the gentle smile in the mirror.
Age? If anyone asked, he was eighteen.
He was the one who had controlled that strange Flesh Hound back in the Warhammer world, the one that turned on its own kind.
Otherwise, a creature known as the most loyal servant of the Chaos God Khorne wouldn't have dreamed of committing such heresy.
Being naturally cautious, Kenmei had kept his kills small-scale to avoid drawing the attention of the massive Khornate legions.
The warm glow of the bathroom light chased away the chill, making the room feel cozy. Everything that just happened felt a lifetime away.
Here, there were no bolter shells exploding in his ears, no stinging scent of blood, no endless slaughter. Compared to that dark, brutal universe, this world was nothing but peace and quiet.
Well, okay. Maybe just a little similar.
"Hm?"
Kenmei noticed something on the white sink. A tiny figure, less than an inch tall, shrouded in ominous black smoke. It had blood-red, savage eyes and was baring its teeth at him.
It was a Cursed Womb—something not even strong enough to be called a Cursed Spirit.
A local specialty of Kenmei's world.
They were everywhere. He casually grabbed the little figure with his bare hand, ignoring its sharp teeth trying to gnaw on his fingers. Without a second thought, he tossed it into the toilet, closed the lid, and flushed.
With a pathetic wahhh scream, the little thing was swirled down into the sewer.
[Points +0.0001]
He ignored the fleeting electronic chime of the system.
The little black figure was just a minor distraction. Kenmei washed his hands again and pushed open the bathroom door.
Clap, clap, clap.
Kenmei stood before three framed black-and-white photos and bowed respectfully three times. The whole family was up on that wall now—everyone except him.
He'd been in this world for eighteen years. But Kenmei wasn't originally from here. He came from a place much more peaceful than this, a place without Cursed Spirits.
He used to be a regular college grad. His boss told him, "Great attitude, keep it up and you'll be full-time," so he worked overtime until he literally dropped dead. Next thing he knew, he was a baby again. Years flew by in a blur.
Kenmei reverently placed three incense sticks into the burner, watching the smoke curl up. That concluded his morning routine.
It was something he did every day. It used to be two of them honoring two others. Now, it was just Kenmei, honoring three.
The black-and-white photos were arranged in order: his older sister, Sakura Isayama; his father, Norimasa Kamo; and his mother, Hatsuho Kamo.
Kenmei still didn't know the exact cause of his sister's death. But his parents? They were killed by the supernatural.
Human negative emotions—anger, sorrow, lust, greed—fester and become breeding grounds for monsters. These horrors born from human desire are called "Curses" or "Cursed Spirits."
The little figure earlier was a low-level Curse. But the powerful ones? They caused major disasters and mass casualties.
When you saw news reports about "gas explosions" causing huge death tolls, it was usually the work of a powerful Curse.
But humanity wasn't just cattle waiting to be slaughtered.
There were those who used "Cursed Energy" to exorcise these spirits. They were called "Jujutsu Sorcerers."
The higher-ups kept the existence of Curses hidden from the public. Luckily, most ordinary people couldn't see them anyway.
If you can't see it, it can't hurt you.
At most, you'd feel a stiff neck or a vague sense of unease.
That was one of the rules of Curses.
It was also why, despite frequent attacks, there was no mass panic.
But that rule only applied to the weak ones. Powerful Curses could force their way into reality, ignoring the rules entirely.
Any of these secrets getting out would cause mass hysteria. So, how did Kenmei, a normal high schooler, know all this?
Birth is a lottery you can't re-roll. His parents' last name was Kamo.
That was the peak of the Jujutsu world.
The Kamo clan—one of the "Big Three" sorcerer families in Japan, with a lineage stretching back a thousand years.
But when Kenmei and his sister were kids, they were tested and found to have zero aptitude for Jujutsu. specifically, they had no talent for the Kamo clan's inherited technique: Blood Manipulation.
To make matters worse, their parents—both powerful Grade 1 Sorcerers—were killed by a terrifying Special Grade Curse during a mission.
No backing, no talent, just dead weight. The Kamo clan kicked the two young orphans to the curb, even stripping them of the family name.
Kenmei remembered every bit of it.
The name "Isayama" came from their mother. It was also an old sorcerer lineage, but the clan was dying out, the main bloodline almost extinct. They could barely take care of themselves, let alone two kids.
Their traditional detached house was bought by their mother years ago. Between that, the government "pension," and occasional help from their mother's clan, the two siblings managed to scrape by. Once Kenmei got older, he started working part-time to help make ends meet.
Kenmei looked at the photo of the beautiful girl with bright eyes and a radiant smile. His eyes filled with deep sorrow.
His parents died when he was so young their faces were blurry in his memory. But with Sakura... the bond ran deep.
Sakura Isayama was both a sister and a mother to him. They were incredibly close. She was the one who raised him.
Other kids had moms and dads to pick them up. Kenmei had Sakura. Walking home from school together, buying cheap snacks along the way—those were his best memories.
But as Kenmei grew taller than her, Sakura's health began to fail.
She started coughing up blood. She ate less and less. Kenmei dragged her to every famous doctor he could find, but they were all helpless.
Eventually, Kenmei swallowed his pride. He chose his sister's life over his own dignity and begged the Kamo clan for help. They sent a Jujutsu doctor to examine her.
That old man—old enough to be Kenmei's great-grandfather—told them the truth. Sakura's illness wasn't a disease. It was more like a specific, high-level Curse. Modern medicine couldn't touch it, and neither could Jujutsu.
The Curse was too advanced, even for the old doctor. It seemed like something she had carried since she was in the womb. It laid dormant during her childhood, but now that she was older, it had erupted. It was too late to save her.
Science and Sorcery both gave up on Sakura Isayama. At that moment, Kenmei felt his world collapse.
But Sakura remained optimistic. She knew she was dying and made peace with it.
Instead of wasting time in a hospital bed, she wanted to go out and have fun.
Because the Curse was rooted in her pancreas, she developed a weird obsession with the organ.
"After I die, I want you to eat my pancreas..."
It was something she said often.
"I heard that if someone eats your pancreas, your soul lives on inside them forever."
"I want to live. I want to live on inside the person I cherish most."
But in the end, it wasn't the Curse that killed her.
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