[Jujutsu Kaisen] Keep on Living...

"Stay alive... I... have to stay alive... Ah! Ah! Ah!"

In a sushi shop where thick, ink-black liquid dripped incessantly, a trembling girl stood in the middle, clutching a sushi knife and muttering something under her breath.

Everyone in the shop fled in terror, leaving the girl alone amid the thick liquid...

The ones who dared to come were not the police, but several people dressed in black suits.

"Uh... ah, uh... I... uh... am Xiao Hong... heh... heh..."

Watching the eerie girl on the platform tremble nonstop, a fear-laced smile leaking across her face,

Geto and Gojo exchanged a look.

Gojo, with his legs propped up on the desk: "Huh? This is the person who took care of a Grade 1 cursed spirit? She looks so weak. Right, Geto...?"

"Satoru, don't say that."

"Ha! That assistant supervisor must've gotten it wrong..." He walked closer. "Isn't that right, Li'l Red?"

At Gojo's approach, Xiao Hong suddenly fell onto the floor.

"Ah! Uh... ah... are you going to... kill... me? Is that it...?"

"Huh? Geto..."

Before Gojo could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a violent burst of cursed energy and Xiao Hong charging at him with the sushi knife.

Satoru abruptly jumped back. "...Is she crazy or what? Shoko! She's definitely got a mental illness!"

Shoko: "..." She silently turned away.

"I... uh... ah... It took so much... so much... just to be able to go to school... to go to school and earn money at the same time... Ah... why... why are you trying to kill me...!!!! Even though... but... people are all so... cruel... I want to stay alive!"

Gojo kept dodging.

"She's totally a dangerous criminal, Geto!!!"

"Satoru, here she comes again. And don't wreck the classroom, okay?"

Everyone knew that sorcerers had something wrong with their heads. They also knew that the special-grade sorcerer Xiao Hong had something seriously wrong with hers, and that Xiao Hong would stay alive even if it killed her...

Geto: We have to protect the weak, Xiao Hong... We have to protect the weak...

Gojo (sticking out his tongue): Pfft! Pfft! Geto's going on about his grand ideals again.

Xiao Hong: I... uh... I... want... I-I want to stay alive... I've... I've had such a hard time just staying alive... Waaaah, uh... They... they're going to kill me... Geto has to protect me. I can't die... I'm the weak one... Suguru Geto, you'll protect me, right... even if you die.

Geto and Gojo: ...

The curse Xiao Hong had laid on them unilaterally had taken hold of the two boys. Xiao Hong wouldn't die...

Thinking of Xiao Hong's crazed way of exorcising curses, Satoru Gojo thought: "Gee... one idiot with grand ideals, one alcoholic chain-smoker, and one lunatic. I'm the only normal one at Jujutsu High, the strongest and most handsome guy."

Suguru Geto's fists clenched.

The air grew even more stifling, and inescapable cursed energy enveloped the three children.

An outsider. Everyone knew outsiders would be ostracized, even when they protected people, even when they were powerful. Evil, the evil in human nature...

A child curled up in a ball... How am I supposed to save you?

Suguru Geto, you have no right to save anyone. All you can do is take them somewhere else. But they survived. They made it out alive.

Xiao Hong: Suguru Geto, you can't leave. You'll die. I'll kill you... You can't leave.

Suguru Geto, you said you'd protect me. Don't you remember...?

Suguru Geto, you know who the weak are and who the strong are. Is Xiao Hong strong? She's special grade. She's strong. But some random old man at a market can still spit at her. Suguru Geto...

What... should I do?

Satoru Gojo, Shoko, Xiao Hong...

"Why do you want to stay alive?"

"Life is all I have left. I can't let them take it away from me too..."

Theme: Wanting to survive, no matter what