"This is reckless, even for you," Beatrice muttered as she and Subaru crouched on a rooftop overlooking a quiet residential street in the predawn light. Below them stood a modest two-story house, the Yoshino residence.
"Junpei will leave for school in exactly seven minutes," Subaru replied, his eyes fixed on the front door. "In the original timeline, Mahito makes first contact with him three days from now. We need to intercept him before that happens."
"And your brilliant plan is to confront a Special Grade curse directly, I suppose?" Beatrice's drill-like hair quivered with indignation. "Have you forgotten what happened in loop seventeen? Or twenty-three?"
Subaru's expression darkened. "I haven't forgotten any of them."
Loop seventeen: Mahito had sensed his presence and attacked without warning. Subaru had died with his chest cavity transformed into a grotesque puppet, feeling every excruciating second as his organs failed.
Loop twenty-three: He'd gotten closer, managing to warn Junpei before Mahito arrived. But the boy hadn't believed him, and when Mahito appeared, he'd used Junpei as a shield. Subaru had died with the boy's blood on his hands.
"This time is different," he insisted. "I know exactly when and where Mahito will appear. And I have something we didn't have before."
He reached into his pocket and produced a small talisman, a finger bone wrapped in sacred paper, markings of containment etched in dried blood.
Beatrice's eyes widened. "Is that what I think it is?"
"A fragment of Sukuna's finger, not enough to register as a full finger, but enough to serve as bait." His lips curved into a humorless smile. "Mahito won't resist investigating once he senses it near his intended target."
"And where did you acquire such a thing, I suppose?"
"I found it during reset twenty-five, just before I died. Memorized the location before I looped back." He tucked the fragment away. "The disadvantage of dying with something in your possession, it doesn't come back with you."
Beatrice shook her head, causing her twin drills to bounce cutely. "Baiting a Special Grade curse? Sometimes I wonder if you've lost more than just pieces of yourself during these deaths."
Subaru didn't respond to that. Instead, he rechecked his watch. "Five minutes. We should move into position."
As they prepared to descend from their perch, Beatrice suddenly placed her small hand on his arm. The gesture was unusually gentle.
"Subaru," she said in a softer version of her childlike voice, filled with worry, "our contract states that I must assist you until your goal is achieved. However, it doesn't require you to keep returning from death for my sake."
Subaru turned to her, a little surprised. "What are you saying?"
"There may be a limit to how many times one should die just to save the world," she said. Her eyes met his. "Especially when the world hasn't asked to be saved."
For a moment, a flicker of something appeared in Subaru's lifeless gaze—a spark of the person he had been before eighty-six deaths hollowed him out. Then it vanished.
"It's not about what the world wants," he said softly. "It's about what I cannot allow to happen. Not again."
Before she could respond, he stood and walked to the edge of the roof. "Let's go. We have a curse to catch."
Junpei Yoshino stepped out of his house exactly as Subaru had predicted. He was a slight teenager, often slouching, with headphones on and his eyes downcast as he began his walk to school. Unbeknownst to him, in the original timeline, his life was about to spiral into tragedy and death.
"Now," Subaru whispered.
They moved in tandem, Subaru dropping down the street while Beatrice remained hidden, maintaining a barrier that would mask their presence from any nearby curses.
"Yoshino Junpei," Subaru called out, startling the boy as he removed his headphones.
"Who are you?" Junpei asked, already suspicious. "How do you know my name?"
Subaru approached slowly. "My name is Natsuki Subaru. I'm a jujutsu sorcerer, and you're in danger."
Junpei's expression shifted from surprise to disbelief. "Jujutsu what? Is this some kind of prank?"
"I wish that were the case," Subaru said as he stopped a few steps away. "There's a curse targeting you. It will come to you pretending to be friendly, offering you power. But its true intention is to use and discard you when you are no longer useful."
Junpei took a step back. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I need to get to school."
"The bullies there," Subaru said. "They'll never stop unless you make them, right? That's what the curse will tell you. It will offer you a way to fight back, to make them suffer like you've suffered."
Junpei froze, his eyes widening. "How do you know about—"
A sudden chill swept through the air, cutting him off. Both felt a crawling sensation down their spines, the unmistakable presence of cursed energy approaching.
"He's early," Subaru said as he turned toward the source of the sound. "Beako, activate the barrier."
Beatrice materialized beside him, her hand tracing complex patterns as she strengthened the concealment barrier. "This is too soon, I suppose. The timeline has shifted?"
Subaru's mind raced. In the previous loops, Mahito had never appeared this early. Something had changed, something he hadn't accounted for.
"Junpei, get behind me," he ordered, pushing the scared teenager back. "Whatever happens, don't let him touch you."
"What's happening?" Junpei asked, panic in his voice. "What is that?!"
He pointed at the street ahead, where the air rippled and distorted. A figure took shape, humanoid but wrong, like a child's clay model of a person, with soft and malleable features.
"Hello there," the figure said, His voice unsettlingly friendly. "Am I interrupting something?"
Mahito had arrived.
Subaru's hand moved to his side, where his cursed tool was concealed: a sleek black whip capable of channeling his cursed energy. "Junpei, run. Now!"
The boy stood frozen, gazing at Mahito with horrified fascination.
Mahito tilted his head, examining them with curious eyes. "How strange. I don't recognize either of you. Yet here you are, clearly expecting me." His gaze shifted to Junpei. "And you've taken an interest in my new friend."
"He's not your friend," Subaru said, drawing his whip and taking a fighting stance. He positioned the whip over his left shoulder, grabbing the fall with his left hand and infusing it with cursed energy, causing it to glow a deep purple. "And he never will be."
Mahito's lips curved into a creepy smile. "Bold words from someone I've never met. Have we crossed paths before?"
"In another life," Subaru replied.
Without warning, he launched forward, tightening his grip on his cursed tool as he channeled cursed energy through it. Then, with maximum effort, he swung the whip. The attack was precisely aimed, not at Mahito's body, which he could reshape, but at the ground under him, cracking the pavement and forcing him to leap aside.
"Oh my," Mahito laughed, landing gracefully. "You know how to fight me. How surprising!"
He extended his arm, fingers stretching as they shot toward Subaru. But before they could connect, a barrier suddenly appeared, created by Beatrice.
"I can't let you touch him, I suppose," she said, floating forward with hands outstretched.
Mahito's eyes widened slightly at the sight of her. "A cursed spirit cooperating with a human? Willingly? Now that's not something you see every day."
"I'm not an ordinary cursed spirit," Beatrice replied, her childlike voice infused with power. "And besides, he isn't normal for a human."
She clapped her hands together, and a wave of cursed energy shot forward, manifesting as dozens of spectral needles that pierced through Mahito's body.
He merely laughed as his flesh reformed around the wounds. "Impressive power for such a small package. But meaningless against me."
He lunged toward her, but Subaru was already in motion. Invisible Providence manifested as an unseen force that grabbed Mahito mid-leap and slammed him into a nearby wall.
"Get Junpei out of here," Subaru orders Beatrice.
"I won't leave you to fight alone, I suppose!"
"That wasn't a request!" Subaru said, his eyes locked onto her. "Keep him safe—that's the priority!"
Beatrice hesitated for a moment before nodding. She moved to Junpei's side, creating a barrier around them both. "This way, human child."
As they retreated, Mahito pulled himself away from the wall, his body reforming like putty. "You're quite protective of that boy. I wonder why?" He narrowed his eyes. "Could it be... that you know something I don't?"
Subaru didn't answer. Instead, he reached into his pocket and produced the fragment of Sukuna's finger, holding it up for Mahito to see.
The curse's playful demeanor vanished instantly. "Where did you get that?"
"Come find out," Subaru said, then turned around and sprinted in the opposite direction from where Beatrice had taken Junpei.
As expected, Mahito followed, his interest in Junpei temporarily overshadowed by the lure of a fragment of Sukuna. As Subaru had planned, though far earlier in the timeline than he anticipated.
Subaru led the chase through narrow alleys and abandoned lots, using his whip for extra movement always staying ahead, leading Mahito further away from populated areas. He knew he couldn't defeat the Special Grade curse in direct combat; no one could except perhaps Gojo Satoru, but he didn't need to win. He just needed to buy time.
Finally, he reached his destination, an abandoned construction site, far from civilians. He skidded to a halt, turning to face his pursuer.
Mahito emerged from the shadows, no longer smiling. "Enough games. Hand over the finger."
"You want it?" Subaru held it up. "Come and take it."
Mahito's body distorted as he launched forward, hands transforming into deadly claws. Subaru dodged the first swipe, but the second caught him across the shoulder, tearing through cloth and skin.
Pain seared through him, but he'd felt worse, much worse. Eighty-six deaths had given him a close relationship with pain.
He countered with his whip, channeling cursed energy through it as he struck at Mahito's core, his soul, with his whip's special ability.
Mahito twisted unnaturally to avoid the blow. "You know my weakness," he observed, more intrigued than concerned. "Who are you?"
"Someone who has faced death too many times to fear you," Subaru replied, activating Invisible Providence once more.
An unseen hand grabbed at Mahito, attempting to restrain him, but the curse slipped free with disturbing fluidity. His body contorted, arms splitting into multiple limbs as he attacked from all directions.
Subaru fought with the precision of someone who had faced this opponent before, anticipating moves and dodging attacks that hadn't yet materialized. However, Mahito adapted quickly, changing his patterns and making each exchange more dangerous than the last.
A fist connected with Subaru's ribs, sending him flying into a pile of construction materials. He felt something crack inside his chest, but forced himself back to his feet. The finger fragment was still clutched tightly in his hand.
"Your technique is fascinating," Mahito called out, waking closer. "Those invisible hands... and something else too. You've faced me before somehow, haven't you? Yet I have no memory of you."
Subaru spat blood, his breathing labored. "Memory is a funny thing. Sometimes it only works in one direction."
"A riddle? How delightful." Mahito's face split into an unnervingly wide smile. "I'll have plenty of time to solve it once I've taken your soul."
He lunged again, but this time, Subaru didn't dodge. Instead, he thrust the finger fragment forward, directly into Mahito's path.
The curse's eyes widened as he realized the trap too late. The fragment burst with cursed energy, not just Sukuna's power, but a binding vow Subaru had prepared, using his blood as a catalyst.
Chains of crimson energy erupted from the fragment, wrapping around Mahito's malleable form, briefly restricting his movements. It wouldn't hold him for long, perhaps only a few seconds, but seconds were all Subaru needed.
He raised his whip and channeled every ounce of his remaining cursed energy into the popper. If it landed, it would have the power of a punch traveling at the speed of sound.
"Die," Subaru said, swinging the whip, aiming for his core.
But before it could connect, the curse twisted in ways that defied anatomy, one hand breaking free of the binding to grab Subaru's wrist.
"Touching a soul isn't as simple as poking me with a stick," Mahito said, his grip tightening. "Let me demonstrate."
Excruciating pain shot through Subaru's arm as Mahito's cursed technique began reshaping it from the inside out. Bones twisted, muscles contorted, skin bubbled like wax under flame.
Subaru screamed, dropping to his knees as his arm was transformed into something no longer recognizable.
"There," Mahito said with satisfaction. "That's art."
Through the haze of agony, Subaru fumbled for something at his belt, a small, round object he'd kept for this contingency.
"You... talk... too much," he gasped, before pressing the device.
It activated with a shriek, emitting a pulse of disruptive cursed energy designed to interfere with a curse's form. Not enough to harm Mahito seriously, but enough to force him to release his grip and step back.
Subaru collapsed, cradling his misshapen arm against his chest. The pain was almost blinding, but he forced himself to focus. He wasn't dead yet, which meant he still had a chance.
"Interesting toy," Mahito said, shaking off the effects of the disruption. "But ultimately futile. Your soul is mine to reshape as I—"
A massive explosion of cursed energy interrupted him as a barrier shattered behind them—a barrier Subaru had set up hours earlier, now triggered by a timer.
Through the smoke and debris, a small figure in a long white dress with pink details and a pink ribbon at her waist scanned the scene nervously.
"Step away from him," she commanded, her childlike voice resonating with ancient power.
Mahito laughed. "Another rescue? Your friend seems quite popular for a human."
"He's not just my friend, I suppose," Beatrice replied, raising her hands as cursed energy gathered around her like a storm. "He's my contractor."
The air around them shimmered as Beatrice unleashed her full power—not the restrained force she usually wielded, but the unfiltered might of a curse spirit that was centuries old. The ground cracked beneath her feet, and the very atmosphere warped under the weight of her cursed energy.
"Subaru," she called, not taking her eyes off Mahito. "Can you move?"
He struggled to his feet, swaying slightly. "I'm fine. Where's Junpei?"
"Safe. I left him with the jujutsu student, the one with shikigami."
Subaru's eyes widened. "Fushiguro? How did you—"
"I have my ways, I suppose." Her expression softened slightly. "You're not the only one who's been planning contingencies."
Mahito looked between them with growing interest. "Such devotion from a curse to a human. I really must understand what makes you two special."
He moved with blinding speed, not toward Subaru but toward Beatrice, hands extended to reshape her soul.
But Beatrice was prepared. She raised a barrier directly in his path, not to stop him, but to slow him just enough. As Mahito's hands penetrated the barrier, she twisted to the side and channeled her energy into a concentrated blast that caught him squarely in the chest.
The force sent him reeling back, his body momentarily destabilized by the impact.
"Now, Subaru!" she called.
Despite his ruined arm, Subaru activates Lion's Heart. But instead of using it to enhance someone else by taking their burdens, he reversed the flow, drawing strength from Beatrice through their contract.
Power surged through him, temporarily overriding the pain of his transformed arm. He seized his whip with his hand and charged forward, striking at Mahito's momentarily vulnerable core.
The curse twisted at the last moment, but not quickly enough to avoid the blow entirely. The whip connected with the edge of his soul, sending a shock wave through his malleable body.
Mahito hissed in genuine pain. "That hurt. How interesting."
Before either Subaru or Beatrice could press their advantage, the curse's body began to melt into the ground. "As much as I'd love to continue this, I have other appointments to keep." His eyes fixed on Subaru with disturbing intensity. "We'll meet again, Natsuki Subaru. I'm quite certain of it."
Then he was gone, his presence fading as he escaped to the cursed realm.
The moment he disappeared, Subaru collapsed, the borrowed strength from Lion's Heart evaporating. Pain returned in a crushing wave, coming from his disfigured arm.
Beatrice rushed to his side, her small hands hovering over the grotesque limb. "This is bad, I suppose. His technique has altered your soul."
"I know," Subaru wheezed, his vision starting to blur. "Nothing to be done except..."
"Don't say it," she cut him off, her voice quivering. "There might be another way."
But they both knew there wasn't. Mahito's cursed technique altered the very shape of the soul. Once changed, it couldn't be restored by any jujutsu technique.
"Beako," he whispered, using the nickname that he was permitted to use. "It's okay. This isn't my first death, and it probably won't be my last."
Tears filled her eyes, a rare sight that momentarily distracted him from the pain. "I hate watching you die, I suppose," she admitted, her typical speech pattern unable to conceal her genuine emotion.
With his good hand, he reached up and gently touched one of her drills. "I understand. But I will come back. I always do."
The transformed arm was spreading now, the corruption creeping across his chest. His breathing became more labored as internal organs began to reshape themselves.
"Junpei is safe this time," he managed to say. "That's what matters. When I reset, we'll need to adjust our approach. Mahito appeared earlier than in any previous loop. Something's changing."
Beatrice nodded, composing herself. "I'll remember everything you've told me, I suppose."
That was the benefit of their contract: when he died and reset, Beatrice retained her memories of previous loops. She alone shared the burden of his knowledge, making her more than just an ally. She was his anchor in this world, constantly reshaped by his deaths.
"Thank you," he whispered, "for coming back for me."
She looked away, but her small hand found his. "Our contract requires nothing less, I suppose."
But they both knew it was more than a contract binding them together. Eighty-six loops of shared struggle had forged something deeper, something neither wanted to name yet.
As darkness enveloped his vision, Subaru felt the familiar pull of his cursed technique activating. "Return by Death" responded to his imminent demise, preparing to reset the timeline again.
His last thought before death consumed him was of Beatrice's tears—rare, precious, and somehow worth all the pain that awaited him in the next loop.
Death arrived, bringing with it a reset.
Loop eighty-seven began.