The rain just wouldn't let up, hammering the Jujutsu High rooftops like it was trying to drown the place. Gojo Satoru, white hair plastered all messy, dropped down into the school's secret catacombs—yeah, the kind even the principal pretends don't exist.
Only one key worked down here.
Yukari Ryuunosuke.
No one else got in, no matter how powerful they thought they were.
Gojo flashed a cursed tag, smeared with a single drop of Akashi's blood, at the spiral-shaped seal. The thing flickered, sort of like it was sniffing him out. Satisfied, the lock clicked open, and something old enough to remember the dawn of curses lets out a breath of dusty as tombs.
Inside the Vault
The room honestly wasn't much to look at—just four walls, but the air inside it? Felt like it wanted to crush your ribs. The Scrolls are everywhere, locked away behind glass, and in the corner, a dragon's skeleton, all twisted up, buzzing with energy so thick it made Gojo's skin crawl.
Center stage: a black silk box, creepy as hell, etched with nine spirals, and because this wasn't bizarre enough that is sealed with human teeth.
Gojo snorted. "Classy as ever, Yukari."
He popped it open.
Inside, a sutra—alive. Cursed ink, writhing like smoke, slithering across the page. He barely touched it before it hit him: a vision. Yukari herself. Younger than him, wild eyes, arms inked in spirals, the kind of smile that says she's lost more than you'll ever know.
"If you're reading this… he lived," her voice rolled in, echoing off the stone.
"And if he lived, he's Spiralborn. Not by blood, but by voice. He doesn't carry my curse—he's what's left of it."
"Protect him, Satoru. Or don't. Just don't lie to him."
The script went up in smoke, burning away between his fingers.
Gojo just kinda stood there. Soaking it in.
Eventually, he turned to the dragon bones.
"Alright, old-timer. What's hiding in your memory?"
Elsewhere – Akashi's Recovery
Akashi was flat on the training room floor, wrapped up in talisman gauze, looking like death warmed over. Nobara hovered, wiping the blood off his head. "Don't even think about dying, idiot. Not till you buy me those damn takoyaki you promised."
Akashi grinned, despite himself. "Pretty sure I never said that."
She rolled her eyes. "You were out cold. I wrote it down. It's official."
Yuji bounced into the doorway, waving a scroll, grinning like he'd just won the lottery. "Megumi's downstairs, ready to spar an i swears he won't stop till he finally gets a clean hit on you."
Akashi groaned, but sat up anyway. "Guess I owe him a couple of concussions, then."
But before he could even stand, it hit. The Spiral. Hard. Like something ancient dragged a claw up from the dirt, straight through his gut.
He froze. The room went dead quiet.
"What's wrong?" Yuji asked, instantly on edge.
Akashi didn't answer. He just… walked out into the pouring rain. Head tipped back, eyes staring into the storm.
He spoke—one word. Just one.
"Enki."
And holy hell, the clouds above twisted—spirals forming, eyes staring down through sheets of rain.
Way, way down, in the cursed earth under the school, something old and hungry started to move.
That Night — Gojo's Office
Gojo slammed the vault box onto his desk hard enough to make Yaga jump.
Yaga scowled. "That's a vault seal. Whose is it?"
"Yukari's," Gojo said, voice flat. "She didn't just leave a curse. She left instructions. A map. A warning."
He flipped open the lid—there was another page under the first.
Nine names. Nine syllables. Each one cursed so deep, nobody even had a word for it these days.
One spot? Blank. The eighth.
The ninth?
Akashi's name—written in ink that looked like it actually bled.
Gojo's voice dropped, just above a whisper. "We've had it backwards this whole time. He's not inheriting anything."
"He is the ninth Spiral itself."