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The 5th Special Grade | Jujutsu Kaisen

章節 1: Night Parade of 1000 Demons [REWRITE]

The convenience store was eerily quiet that night, the kind of quiet that pressed in from all sides, thick and unnatural. The lone cashier, headphones blaring, scoured the shelves for a bag of crayfish-flavored chips. The music drowned out the emptiness, but even then, something about the silence beyond the noise felt… wrong.

The store's door jangled suddenly, breaking the stillness. At first, Fukitsu Furōkawa, a young man with a slightly disheveled appearance, perked up. He turned toward the front, about to offer his usual half-hearted greeting, when a woman in a black uniform burst through the entrance.

She wasn't there to shop.

Her eyes were wide with panic, her face pale as death. Without a word, she sprinted toward the counter, gesturing frantically toward the back exit. Confused, Furōkawa started to say something, but his voice caught in his throat.

Behind her, something massive burst into view—a towering, grotesque creature, its limbs unnaturally long and sinewy. The woman didn't make it more than a few steps before the thing lunged, its clawed hand wrapping around her ankle. With a sickening crunch, its jaws clamped down, severing her leg in one brutal motion.

Furō froze, horror paralyzing him as the creature dragged the screaming woman away. It was like nothing he'd ever seen—nothing he'd thought possible. Yet, deep down, it stirred something in him. The thing looked disturbingly similar to the small shadowy figures he'd glimpsed as a child, only this was far, far larger.

And far more terrifying.

Furō ducked behind the counter, grabbing a metal baseball bat he kept there for emergencies—though nothing could have prepared him for this. He huddled in the darkness, his body trembling as he gripped the bat tightly, desperate to make no sound.

The creature prowled the aisles, its wet, heavy footsteps echoing in the otherwise silent store. Occasionally, it paused to sniff the air, letting out unsettling trills that sent shivers down the young man's spine. It was hunting him.

Slowly, carefully, Furō crept out from behind the counter. His heart pounded as he crawled toward the back door, clutching the bat like a lifeline. He moved with painstaking care, each movement deliberate and quiet.

He was almost there.

The creature let out a sudden screech, and the sound was so jarring that he froze mid-step. It had caught his scent. The thing turned, its shadow falling over him as it advanced. Panicking, the cashier ducked behind a shelf, his whole body shaking. He knew he couldn't outrun it—not like this.

Then, an idea struck him. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Reaching out, he grabbed a bag of crayfish-flavored chips from the shelf. The crinkle of the bag felt deafening in the silence, but he had no choice. With a sharp toss, he hurled it to the other side of the store.

The creature pounced instantly, tearing into the bag with savage fury.

Seizing the moment, Furō bolted. He raced toward the back door, throwing it open and spilling into the alley behind the store. Once outside, he shoved debris against the door, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

"Too close," he muttered, sweat dripping down his face. "Way too close."

But the nightmare wasn't over.

As he turned to leave, a massive figure dropped onto the fence ahead of him. It was bat-like in shape, but larger than any bat had any right to be. Its body was covered in wiry, dark fur, its mouth filled with jagged, needle-like teeth. Worse, it clutched a severed arm in its clawed foot, a grotesque trophy of its earlier kill.

For a moment, Furōkawa and the creature stared at one another. Then, the trash pile behind him collapsed with a deafening crash.

The bat screeched, a piercing sound that made Furō wince and stumble. Before he could recover, the creature lunged. He barely managed to dodge its claws, swinging his bat wildly in defense. The creature pulled back, but only for a moment.

The young man took off, sprinting down the alley. He vaulted over a fence and rounded a corner, his legs burning as he pushed himself toward the main street. Explosions boomed in the distance, accompanied by the faint sounds of screaming. The chaos seemed to stretch in every direction.

He slowed, confusion clouding his panic. None of this made sense. Kyoto was a bustling city—there should've been people, cars, noise. But the streets were empty, eerily so.

His mind raced, piecing together fragments of memory. The strange lack of customers earlier that day. The absence of smaller creatures, which he'd always glimpsed in the shadows. The woman who had tried to warn him.

This wasn't a nightmare. It was real.

"Oh my god," he muttered, the weight of the realization hitting him. "Did I miss an evacuation? Holy shit, I need to—"

The bat struck from behind, its claws raking across his back as he tumbled forward, hitting the pavement hard. Pain flared, but he scrambled to his feet before the creature could strike again. With a desperate swing of his bat, he caught it in the side, sending it crashing into the wall of his store.

"Take that!" he shouted, though his voice was shaking.

He stumbled out onto the main street, his breathing ragged. To his left, empty lampposts flickered ominously. To his right, chaos erupted. A group of uniformed individuals battled more of the grotesque creatures, their movements precise but desperate. For every monster they cut down, two more seemed to appear.

And then the first creature emerged from the store behind him. The lion-like beast prowled forward, snarling, its massive form nearly scraping the doorway. Above it, the bat hovered, its screeches filling the night.

"Aw shit."

Furō raised his bat, backing away toward the curb. "Stay back!" he shouted, his voice cracking. The monsters advanced, and in his panic, he tripped.

Both creatures lunged.

He threw up his hands, bracing for the end. But instead of pain, he felt something deep inside him ignite—an unexplainable, searing energy that erupted outward.

When he opened his eyes, the world around him was gone.

The street, the creatures, even his clothes—all of it had been melted and corroded in a wide, gaping crater. He sat there, naked and bewildered, in the center of the destruction.

"What. The. Fu—"