November 18th, 2018, Tokyo #1 colony

  “Just what have I gotten myself into?” Higiruma let out a hefty sigh as he creased his brow, having come to realize just how dangerous the person who wanted to be his friend was.

  He was currently lying back down on a break room couch. As it turns out, the store he had converted into a base happened to be quite the nice workplace. It had only been a few minutes since Shinji had revealed to him who exactly he was related to.

  Higiruma had quickly excused himself after the boy had unknowingly dropped such a massive bombshell. He wouldn’t have believed that such an insane thing could be reality if it wasn’t for witnessing Shinji’s incredible strength firsthand. Besides thinking on the evidence he had been shown in his battle with Itadori. Higiruma had to admit Shinji’s technique sounded remarkably similar to the kind Sukuna had used while wreaking havoc.

  Higiruma, like many others, was an awakened sorcerer, having been an ordinary man before the games had begun. Due to this, he lacked a basic understanding about Jujutsu history and its proper functions. Needless to say, he was unaware of the specifics of cursed techniques and how one typically got them. Though it was quite easy for him to extrapolate that two people related by blood may have similar, if not the same, abilities. Such similarities—which he had explained before even mentioning Sukuna—made attempts to discredit his claim rather difficult. Higiruma himself didn’t think Shinji would tell a lie that would mean nothing to nearly everyone anyway.

  So the most likely option was just as Shinji had said—he was Ryomen Sukuna’s brother, or half-brother to be more precise. Something Shinji had specified unprompted. The fact that he had tacked on a biological separator seemed to speak to the kind of relationship they had…

  Higiruma felt a groan of inward frustration rise in his throat. It was stupid of him to have run off and let one thing—which Shinji had no control over—define his view of the boy. All he seemingly wanted was a friend, something that Higiruma didn’t think he could really provide him given their age gap…

  Regardless, despite who his family was, Shinji still seemed to be just a young man. A very powerful and perhaps lonely young man, but a young man nonetheless. From his lifetime job, he had seen what happened to young men who got treated as outcasts; he didn’t want to see that happen to someone who, in all likelihood, stood at the pinnacle of sorcery.

  Still he didn’t want to fake an unnatural friendliness to the boy, nor did Higiruma think he could pull such a thing off. So then what was he to do?

  “Higiruma, are you there?”

  Knocking on the closed door, Higiruma heard the other young man who had become attached to him inquiring into his presence.

  “Yeah, come on in.”

  Opening the door at Higiruma’s request, Amani entered tentatively.

  “So how’s everyone?”

  After they had arrived, Higiruma had instructed Amani to take a headcount on everyone. Sara should have been the only player unaccounted for, but it never hurt to be cautious.

  “Everyone’s fine. I asked around if anyone knew of people still inside the colony, and no one mentioned anyone. I did a headcount of everyone here and compared it with how many players were in the colony. The numbers matched, minus you and that new sorcerer.”

  “Good. Have they finished taking stock of all the food and water that can be transported out of here?

  “Yes, they have.” Amani fiddled around with his jacket and pulled a notepad out of his pocket.

  “I’ll save you the specifics, but he said he thinks we’ll have enough food for two or three days of travel. Maybe four if we push it; Kairo didn’t recommend it, though, since we have a lot of younger people here, and they won’t do well on such a scarce diet,” Amani read off the notepad as he recounted what he had been told. If there was any sort of pecking order amongst the people gathered here, Kairo would certainly be number two. Number one, if it weren’t for Higiruma being their main fighting force.

  He acted as their de facto leader and kept everything running smoothly; Higiruma couldn’t thank the man enough for everything he had done. If it weren’t for him, then everything they were doing here with sheltering civilians and keeping them fed in an orderly manner. Escaping this deathtrap would also be impossible if he hadn’t made sure to prioritize using perishable food items first.

  “Two days should be fine. We just need to get out of the colony to get phones working again. With any luck, the government will be able to bring shelter to everyone here…”

  Higiruma’s voice trailed off. Amani himself looked skeptical at the idea. Neither one voiced the obvious that a foreign government had come a few days ago with the intent of taking them all. It made contacting Japanese officials a risk since there was a chance they had agreed to their invasion of the colony.

  Though it was a risk they would have to take, they would run out of food soon enough, and it was too idealistic to think they could find another store like this one once they left. So placing their bets on the government having formed some kind of relief system for the players was their only option. Unless…

  “Kogane, where is Yuji Itadori?

  “He’s not in a colony.”

  “... You’re dismissed.” Higiruma didn’t bother to conceal the disappointment in his voice. It was a long shot to begin with, so he didn’t have high hopes for it, but he had hopes regardless.

  “Why did you ask where Yuji is?” Amani spoke up from the entryway. Inquiring into Higiruma’s sudden ask of the game master.

  “He mentioned to me he was a part of a group that was trying to put an end to the Culling Game. I… didn’t offer to join them before, but I think I would be able to help them out given my domain's effectiveness against strong fighters. Also, the group he mentioned may be able to give shelter to everyone we’ve gathered. The only problem is I don’t know how to contact him,” Higiruma let out a groan, one caused by his frustration towards himself. He had been so full of self-deprecation at the time he hadn’t bothered asking for more details.

  “I still have Yuji’s number on my phone… If you want, I can call him once we leave the colony.” Amani pulled his phone out and waved it back and forth, indicating its upcoming utility.

  “Right, I forgot you two were classmates.”

  “Well, not really… I only have his number since he was kind of famous.” Amani looked away as he rubbed the back of his head.

  “I see… Regardless, with any luck, we’ll be able to contact Yuji. We’ll decide on our next course of action after discussing it with him and his associates.”

  “Um, Higiruma. There’s… something I wanted to ask you about.”

  Higiruma looked towards the young man as he spoke up. He was fiddling with his hands in front of him, seemingly nervous about something.

  “Sure, what is it?”

  “That new sorcerer you brought back today… How dangerous is he?”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “To us or in general?”

  “...Both.”

  “...I doubt he’ll be a problem or anything like that to us. Shinji seems like he’s just… looking to not be alone anymore. Though he’s probably one of the strongest players in the game, so I suppose it makes him quite dangerous from that perspective. Why’d you ask?”

  After a few moments of deliberation, Shinji decided to respond to Amani’s earnest question with his honest opinion. Rounding off his answer with a question of his own.

  “Well, if I’m being honest, he’s kind of scary. Which sounds insane given everything I’ve seen since I got sucked into all this madness, but with him it’s a different kind of fear.”

  Amani looked down as beads of sweat rolled down his face. He seemed ready to say something else before Higiruma interrupted him.

  “I understand what you mean. Compared to all the sorcerers I’ve fought and seen, Shinji is an anomaly, to say the least.” Higiruma didn’t bother to mention his relative. He didn’t see what good adding it to the reasons why Amani should be fearful of him would do, not like he knew who Sukuna was anyway.

  “So then… do you really think it’s safe to keep that anomaly around?” Amani posed his question with bated breath. Clearly already having reached his particular answer on his own.

  “As I already said, he’s not a danger to us at the moment. Telling him to leave might inspire him to flip our amicable status on its head, and if I’m being honest, I doubt forcing his hand is something I’ll be capable of even if Judgmen is kind enough to give him a harsh sentence.”

  Amani looked like he wanted to give a retort, but he quickly gulped down whatever words were on the tip of his tongue. Taking a step back as he began to talk again.

  “Kairo said he should have everything ready to transport by late tomorrow afternoon. He wanted me to tell you that he thinks leaving the day after tomorrow morning is for the best.”

  “Tell him that I agree and excellent work like always. It’s been a long day, so I’m going to get some shut-eye; you should soon as well, Amani.” Higiruma let out a slightly exaggerated yawn as he commented on his tiredness. Running amok in Tokyo’s streets looking for that girl had been a draining experience, to say the least.

  “All right… Have a good sleep, Higiruma.” Amani left those parting words before shutting the door behind him as he left.

  In truth, Higiruma wasn’t quite sure why the boy was so attached to him. He had assumed Amani would disburse after people had started flocking to them, but he had stayed by Higiruma’s side and made sure to be of use. He probably should ask what attracted Amani to someone as pathetic as him…

  I’ll leave such idle thoughts till after we get out of here. I have to remain vigilant; even if Shinji’s here now, I’m still the only one besides him who can defend against enemy sorcerers. I have to make sure I’m well rested.

  Such thoughts of all the lives that rested on him had occupied his mind since he had begun shielding the safe haven from outsiders. He was the only person strong enough to protect them from enemy players. The rest of the people gathered here were too weak to protect themselves from such threats.

  Higiruma let out a hearty laugh at the irony of it. Everyone here looked to him as someone strong and dependable, but he was, in reality, as weak and pathetic as they came. When it came to what he was doing, a phrase such as “the strong protects the weak” was the farthest from the truth.

  The weak protecting the strong was far more appropriate.

  “I screwed it all up, didn’t I?”

  Talking to himself on the lonely rooftop, Shinji posed a rather important question. Once he was quite fearful he knew the answer to…

  It had been a handful of minutes since Higiruma had told him he was dismissed, though if Shinji were asked, he would say it felt like he was being kicked out. The way Higiruma’s color drained from his face and he told him, “That’s all I wanted to ask,” with a slight tremor in his voice, was a big enough giveaway.

  He hadn’t realized just what had inspired such a reaction in his friend-to-be, so Shinji had taken his unspoken request without question and left. It was only after he had made it to the roof and began staring up at the starry sky that he realized where he had erred in his actions.

  Dammit, Ryomen, Just what did you do?

  Even now that he had left everything behind, that demon could still be a cause of pain. He hadn’t thought that Ryomen’s actions could bounce back onto him through fickle blood ties, but clearly they had. Because of such things, a wedge had been driven between him and Higiruma.

  “It’s not fair.” Shinji flipped around to lie on his stomach as he grumbled about how irritated the situation made him.

  All he wanted was to leave everything behind; wasn’t that his right as a person? To forgo the past and focus on the present and future. Despite his efforts to do so, the past continued to drag him down, down to the loneliness he had felt since he put an end to his best friend's life.

  “It’s so stupid.” Shinji turned again as he tucked his hands behind his head, once again gazing up at a starry sky.

  “Whatever, I'm sure I can fix things. Ryomen couldn’t have done things that bad while he was alive, could he?”

  Shinji’s annoyance died down as he began to look towards the future, deciding to focus on the things he could fix and not on what was broken. That was what he had been trying to do since he got here after all.

  Shinji reached up his hand towards the sky, tracing celestial bodies above him out of boredom. He quickly gave up on this task, dropping his hand down beside him as he let out a sigh.

  Everything he wanted to talk about would have to come tomorrow, though; now was the time for sleep.

  “Hello, I’m Kogane. Within this barr—”

  An icicle pierced through the game master's head as it was giving its warning. The icy projectile had been launched from the outstretched hand of someone a scant dozen feet from the barrier that surrounded Tokyo’s first colony. It had taken quite a lot of effort, but they had been able to make it here in record time.

  The game master began to fall after being struck, vanishing a few moments later as it fell. The sight of its destruction caused the sorcerer to let out a slight sigh; they couldn’t put an end to the life of its creator due to their lord's interests. So they would have to settle for destroying the vermin's creations. Speaking of which….

  Flying a half a dozen feet in front of Uruame was the cursed spirit Kenjaku had given them. A collar of ice was around their neck, and a thin, icy leash connected it to Uruame’s hand. The cursed spirit paid no mind to such restraints as it continued to try to fly forward, desperately trying to break free and reach that which it had no place possessing.

  The finger must be here; is it in a player’s possession, or is the cursed spirit that the leech fed it to still alive?

  The thought lingered in Uruame’s head for a moment—only for a moment. Whoever held Sukuna’s finger was an inconsequential detail; they would simply force the possessor to return it to where it rightfully belonged.

  Having made their resolution, Uruame walked forward towards the barrier, stopping inches in front of it. They had yet to declare themselves a player in the Culling game, instead having entered the colonies previously through a loophole. Ururame’s lack of participation was simply due to an abundance of caution when it came to the game's originator.

  Perhaps they were simply being paranoid, but their instincts refused to play into that devil's palm more than they had to. Having to utilize a cursed spirit they had provided to find Sukuna’s finger was already cause for enough concern. Uruame assumed it was tracking them or some other form of long-range spying. Though they couldn’t destroy the curse until they found who held the finger.

  Uruame tilted their head as they refocused on what was important—retrieving his finger. Which, of course, meant entering the colony, which naturally meant…

  Uruame’s mouth curled up into a slight smile as they realized they would have to implement the loophole to enter the colonies and not be a player. The fact that they would be trampling on Kenjaku’s rules was one of their reasons for enjoying the loophole, though the main source of pleasure was derived from truly selfish reasons. Such reasons were—

  “Domain expansion: ?????????,” Uruame brought their hands together in front of them. Crafting the hand sign as they spoke their domain name aloud.

  The circular barrier enveloped Uruame, a blank void surrounding them. This void was quickly filled with color, more specifically one color of different shades.

  The ground was covered in snowfall and layers of ice; no greenery as far as the eye could see. Only the rare decaying tree arose from the ground, its branches covered in snow. The sky was covered by layers of thick clouds, blocking out the sun and casting a shadow on the land. From those clouds came a small amount of snowfall. It fell across the domain, sparing no area from the crystallized rain.

  The world was that of an ice age—no, ice age was too generous. This was a desolate frozen wasteland, devoid of life and any trace of man. It was a place dyed perpetually in grey, the sun forever locked behind a barrier of clouds. Frigid temperatures that culled nearly anything that dared to step foot into such an inhospitable realm.

  “How lovely,” Staring off into the endless expanse of white, the domain’s conjurer had but that to say. A slight, heartfelt smile found itself on their lips as their eyes danced with adoration.

  They spread out their arms to their side as they basked in the frigid air. It had only been a few days since they had last used their domain, but having known they would need to once again enter a colony only served to add to their anticipation. How could one witness the beauty of such magnificence and not long for it?

  Uruame’s self-indulgence only lasted a few seconds; their head tilted back to look up at the falling snow a moment later. While Uruame truly did love this frozen world, if they had to place it among all the things they had seen. It would safely net the third slot in terms of beauty; perhaps even that was too high when faced with the years they had spent a long Sukuna’s side.

  As such, seeing this sight filled Uruame with no small amount of pleasure, but they could not say better things did not exist. The fact that such a portrait could be created at their whim and was neither the most alluring thing they had seen nor the most magnificent painting they could marvel at—was a true testament to how fortunate Uruame had been in life. How spoiled they were to have been blessed with such things, to have met their savior when they had. How could they have the audacity to say they were not one of the luckiest in history?

  As thoughts of their fortuitous birth crossed their mind, the world around Uruame began to shift. Shifting into what they would consider the second on their list.

  Embers sparked all around as the ground lit itself ablaze. Orange fires burned atop the snow, their flames reaching up to Uruame’s knees. The flames, while naturally quite hot, were naught but touching a small heater to the domain's caster, a privilege they were unable to extend to anyone else who entered their realm.

  The snow-covered trees were no exception, their bark becoming covered with smoldering flames. Likewise to the icy ground, the trees were unblemished by the flames that coated them. The snow and bark upon them neither melted nor burnt when put into contact with such heat.

  Even the snow that fell from the sky was no exception, each individual flake becoming enveloped in flames as they fell to the ground. Countless streaks of glowing amber traversed the sky, falling to the floor and adding to the already burning ground. The light caused by the countless flames gave light to the sunless world, an orange glow coating the world.

  In the midst of this burning and frozen world, Uruame stood tall, their eyes locked towards the sky. Observing the flaming snow as it fell to the ground. Their eyes widened, and their smile deepened. An expression akin to a child who had just opened their presents on Christmas morning adorned their face.

  Due to the incredible heat and cold of the domain, any sorcerer ensnared below the rank of special grade would die in under a minute. It was a move that Uruame had scantily used in combat; most of the time, they had expanded it for the sole reason of returning to Sukuna’s side quicker. Only one person had ever seen what lay inside the barrier and lived. When asked by Uruame what he thought of their domain, he had but four words to say.

  “It looks wonderful, Uruame.”