Jujutsu Kaisen: False Dawn

The morning air was light, calm, and kind of forgettable—like the flavor of warm water. But I wasn't sitting around sipping metaphors. I was threading cursed energy through my damn bones. Again.

Yeah. Welcome to my life.

Three days left before I have to make a boom big enough for the jujutsu world to turn their heads. And what was I doing? Lacing cursed energy spirals around my arm bones like some mad tailor with too much time and too little patience.

But hey, it worked.

I called it "Level 2 Circuit Spiral." Nothing flashy. Just cursed threads spiraling in tight patterns down my limbs, around my spine, and up to the base of my skull like I was designing a haunted motherboard. It was still incomplete, but it was something. I could coat my body in cursed energy for twelve minutes now. That was two whole extra minutes more than before.

Small gains. But survival in this world came down to tiny percentages.

And this? This was more than survival. This was control.

I stood up in my room, red cursed energy humming under my skin in a slow, spiraling rhythm. More stable. Easier to summon. It wasn't just the time increase—it was the clarity. I could use cursed energy like I was just breathing. Like I'd always had it.

That's the kind of growth no one talks about.

But the real weirdness started with Rika.

No, not the world-shattering kind. The kind that makes you stare at your cursed spirit and say, "What the hell?"

See, I was testing her cursed tool storage. Every time I summoned her, I asked her to store weirder and weirder things. Pens. Notebooks. A full damn mat from my floor. And she just… took it. Like a vacuum cleaner with hands. I wanted to know where it went. Curiosity killed the cat, right?

So this one time—I still don't know what I was thinking—I reached into her chest cavity to feel around. I don't even get halfway before she flinches, makes this weird humph sound like a startled cat, closes her damn chest, and crosses her arms like she's shielding herself.

And then.

She speaks.

"Perv."

In a raspy, guttural tone, but definitely a word.

I froze. Just froze there while she vanished into cursed mist like I'd just tried to grope a ghost. Which, yeah, I guess I did? I'm not proud of this moment.

I just sat on the floor, wide-eyed and stunned.

And then I look up—Kai2 was sitting on the table. Floating there. Staring at me. Judging me.

Judging me.

Like he was the one with morals. Like he didn't eat cursed flies and nap on top of my old laundry. I made him do laps around the apartment after that. Had to reassert dominance.

Speaking of Kai2—he has been the real MVP lately.

He'd improved more than I had, in some ways. His floating speed had increased. That was cool. But the real shocker? He started hiding in my shadow.

No joke.

One minute he's hovering by the kitchen, and next he's just gone. Then, suddenly, I feel a shift in my cursed energy, and bam—he slips out of my shadow like a fishy ninja. I nearly choked on my breakfast.

I didn't teach him that. I didn't even think it was possible. But then I remembered the vow I forced on him: "You will live in my shadow."

Guess that wasn't a metaphor.

Now he slips in and out like some pocket curse. Not like Rika, who lives in my aura and follows my call. No, Kai2 is a literal shadow-dweller now. Creepy, weird, and kind of awesome.

I gave him a fish chip as a reward. He drooled slime on my mat. We're not speaking anymore.

Three days passed like this—minor improvements, weird discoveries, and a lot of internal screaming.

But now?

Now it was time to make a boom.

A real boom. The kind of event that turns heads and starts rumors.

I thought about it long and hard. The most tempting idea?

Go all out with Rika. Fight a grade 1 curse. Beat the crap out of it. Walk away covered in cursed blood and say something dramatic like, "I'm just a passing monk."

A 16-year-old nobody defeating a Grade 1?

Unheard of.

Exactly what I needed.

But it had to be public. It had to be visible. I needed Jujutsu High's eyes on me. Gojo's eyes are on me. Because I was running out of time, out of money, and out of options.

Still, part of me hesitated.

This world wasn't a game. And I was no longer just some isekai protagonist with plot armor. I bled. I ached. And every time I used Rika, I felt the weight of it creeping deeper into my bones.

But I wasn't backing down.

Not now.

Tomorrow, I will find the biggest, nastiest curse I could reasonably not die from. Then take Rika out for a spin. I will burn my cursed energy circuits until they sing with red light.

And I will show the world I existed.

Let's hope I live through it.