The sound of sirens gradually faded into the distance. Once the ambulance and police cars were gone, Sōjun Minamoto turned and began walking home.
Meeting the boy had been a coincidence, and he quickly pushed the matter to the back of his mind. He was still too young—like Itadori, he needed time to grow.
Back at home, Sōjun Minamoto returned to his flesh-and-blood form and began logging the day's research, documenting the values of each transformation.
This clone had mostly stabilized. On most days, he focused on developing techniques or collaborating with Kenjaku on experimental research. Beyond that, there wasn't much going on.
Life was calm—almost eerily so. Just like the current state of the Jujutsu world, peaceful on the surface, with none of the underlying currents touching him.
...
Some time later, Sōjun Minamoto made a trip to Jujutsu High, bringing back the cursed energy sources he'd collected. He also retrieved six of Sukuna's fingers from the Forbidden Vault.
As the final line of defense protecting the Forbidden Vault, safeguarding these Special Grade cursed objects was part of his duty. And really, where could be more secure than under his own seal?
He unsealed the original containment on the six fingers and re-bound them with hair, constructing a new seal. Then he headed to the Church of the Stars.
In one of the upper offices of the main hall, the human form and the Cursed Body reunited.
Over time, the Cursed Body had undergone noticeable changes.
In height alone, it had grown from a mere 1.45 meters to well over 1.8 meters. Still shorter than an average adult human, but it was clearly in a growth phase and evolving rapidly.
Eventually, it was expected to exceed two meters and likely reach around 2.5 meters—a height Sōjun Minamoto found most comfortable.
Curses, unlike humans, weren't constrained by societal norms. A 2.5-meter figure might seem strange among humans, but on the cursed side?
There were no taboos.
If he wanted it, he could become it.
That was the true nature of curses—desire made real.
"Let's give you a name," the human form said, gently stroking his chin as he looked at the Cursed Body.
The Cursed Body echoed thoughtfully, "What should it be?"
This body represented his cursed side. Still in development, but destined to serve a significant purpose. Giving it a name would make things easier to distinguish.
In fact, it already had one—Shizai.
Curses like this—born aware—were intelligent even during gestation. Their names, too, were innate and carried unique significance.
Take the Flyhead, for example, born from disgust toward flies. Or Kuchisake-Onna, born from the urban legend and the fear surrounding it.
His name was Shizai—[Four Sins].
From the moment he gained consciousness, he had known it. The name came to him instinctively, representing his birth from four distinct emotions.
The balance mechanism might not differentiate between his cursed form and his human form, but it didn't seem to "like" him either.
Most cursed spirits are born from specific negative emotions tied to concrete things—like Flyhead, Rainbow Dragon, or Kuchisake-Onna—each with a clear point of origin.
First there's the fly. Then comes the disgust. Then Flyhead.
A specific object gives rise to negative emotion, which in turn gives birth to the curse.
But with Shizai, it was the other way around.
He came first. Only afterward did those broad negative emotions begin to converge on him.
The concept of "four sins" was far too expansive, referring directly to four fundamental negative emotions. That alone made him an anomaly.
An outlier.
Naturally, the balance mechanism wasn't fond of him.
"Let's go with Shichizai," the human form said after a brief pause, smiling faintly.
He'd originally considered naming it "Source Sin," but that felt too forced. "Original Sin" was too narrow, didn't quite fit. So for now, Shichizai (Seven Sins) would do.
The Cursed Body—now Shichizai—clapped his hands and grinned. "Sounds good!"
And just like that, the name was changed.
They were, after all, two sides of the same being. Talking to each other was just talking to oneself.
Amused, Sōjun Minamoto handed over the Sukuna Finger he'd brought from Jujutsu High to Shichizai.
With the one he'd sent over earlier, that made seven fingers in total.
Shichizai took the finger, examining the dense, rune-covered surface that faintly shimmered with black light.
Then he tossed them all into his mouth and swallowed them whole, storing them in his Gluttony Stomach—a space designed for internal storage.
Sōjun Minamoto hadn't expected it would take him this long to find a proper storage-type cursed spirit. Not that it mattered anymore—it was just a clone of himself anyway.
Still, he nodded in satisfaction. When luck falls short, you make up for it with strength.
As soon as the fingers entered his stomach, the black runes began to expand. One end embedded itself into the stomach lining, while the other tightly wrapped around the fingers. Everything looked perfectly still, as though nothing unusual had happened.
Then his digestive system began to contract, drawing cursed energy from the fingers. As the energy drained, the fingers trembled and instinctively began absorbing more cursed energy from somewhere else.
Seven Sins started regulating the balance, adjusting the absorption rate. Gradually, the cursed fingers began to stabilize.
"In about two weeks, they'll be completely stabilized," Seven Sins murmured after a moment of focused sensing.
Sōjun Minamoto nodded—he already understood.
With the Sukuna Fingers dealt with, the two of them left the office, walked down a long corridor, and took the elevator toward the main hall of the Church of the Stars—the sanctum of the Seven Sins.
They didn't speak along the way.
That was how they usually interacted—no need for words. They already knew each other's thoughts.
After all, they were just a single-core, dual-threaded existence. Sōjun Minamoto multitasking with himself.
At the main hall entrance, guards from the church were already stationed.
When they saw Shichizai approach, they quickly lowered their heads and began murmuring, "Do not look directly…" and similar phrases.
Clearly, a whole set of rituals and doctrines had already taken shape.
This was how it always went. Sōjun Minamoto only needed to set things in motion—his followers would take it from there, crafting an entire mythology in their minds and envisioning a flawless, omnipotent figure.
Well, not a "thing." That being was now Shichizai.
Sōjun Minamoto didn't bother explaining. That kind of fanaticism carried significant emotional value.
The church already had a mature system in place—one that knew how to convert such zeal into targeted emotion, which in turn could be harnessed as strength.
"I need to go inside," Shichizai said. His starlit face shimmered faintly, and his voice echoed directly inside the guards' minds.
They trembled with even greater fervor, nearly shaking from the pressure. Their heads, already bowed low, drooped even further as they tried to keep from collapsing.
Sōjun Minamoto ignored them and pushed open the doors to enter the main hall.
At the center stood a two-meter-high altar, upon which a floating heptahedron hovered in midair. Four of its seven faces already displayed distinct patterns: the Bone Tree, the Chōchin-obake, the Garuda, and Fly Head.
Each image rippled like disturbed water, as if struggling to manifest in the physical world.
Shichizai stepped forward and snapped off three of his own fingers. The human form beside him flinched, a deep pain piercing his soul.
It wasn't just flesh—he'd torn away parts of his very spirit.
Then, Shichizai cast the three broken fingers into the remaining empty faces of the heptahedron. The object reacted immediately, absorbing them and transforming the once-blank surfaces into dull, gray egg-like patterns.
Thump—thump—
After a brief silence, the egg shapes began to pulse like beating hearts.
They were gestating something.
Sōjun Minamoto smiled with satisfaction.
If it was going to be called Shichizai (Seven Sins), then of course it had to be complete.
As for the balance mechanism? He couldn't care less.
The cursed side hadn't yet reached its limit. He could continue to grow unchecked. As long as he remained within the rules, the balance mechanism couldn't do anything to stop him.
Once Seven Sins became fully realized, the musical faction would begin building the Seven Virtues...
Then both the positive and negative poles of cursed energy would be in place. When they matured, the full form of cursed energy would finally be complete.
Just as he'd said before—Seven Sins was only a transitional form.
Sōjun Minamoto had already started fusing his power. The Seven Sins, the Seven Virtues, the human form, even the Fly Head and other anomalous clones...
All of them were destined to merge into one. Sooner or later.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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