Jujutsu Kaisen: False Dawn

Ren sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling, hand lazily resting over his stomach. The dorm room was quiet—just the distant hum of the hall lights outside. No one was knocking. No one was training. Just stillness.

His thoughts, though, were anything but still.

'I only have 1 week before the war starts… Ugh, wow, talk about more pressure, huh?'

He exhaled through his nose, eyes drifting toward the closed curtains.

'Anyway, it doesn't matter; I already have a good hold on my cursed energy. It's still nowhere near perfect. I have a little problem with controlling my output, but other than that, it's pretty much there.'

He lifted his hand slightly, twisting his fingers as if flexing invisible threads.

'I have gotten used to the Perfect Red Cursed Circuit, but I have not gone all out with it yet. I mean, I want to try Overdrive... I wonder what will happen if I use that now…'

The red energy that coiled deep within him stirred slightly at the thought, like a beast waiting to be unchained. His body was adapting—he knew that much. But even now, he hadn't tested the upper limits.

Not truly.

'Anyway, so plans, plans… hmm, ok, when Geto comes for me, I will just beat him up and then kill him and make Rika eat him?'

The thought made him smirk a little, amused at how casually it sat in his mind.

'Or should I? I mean, if Kenjaku never gets Geto's body… would anything even happen?'

He shifted to sit upright, elbows on his knees now, his fingers interlocked.

'The plot will change a lot. Almost too much… I am sure Kenjaku would have a different way of doing things, but still… should I let all of this happen?'

He stared down at the floor for a long moment.

'I can actually stop it all by just killing Geto and letting Rika eat him… but let's think about this: if I do that, then the plot will change and my meta-knowledge will be useless.'

The red cursed energy inside him pulsed again, subtly, like it was listening.

'Pretty much Sukuna will for sure be coming because Yuji…'

He leaned back again.

'Hmm, is it profitable for me to let Kenjaku take Geto's body…?'

His jaw clenched slightly.

'Ugh. I'll think about that later.'

Too many outcomes, too many possibilities spiraling. It wasn't fear. Just calculation.

'Now, about my plans… the cursed warehouse… it still has many things that could be useful to me…'

His lips twitched upward slightly again.

'So yeah, after I beat up Geto and knock him out, I will put on a curtain and then go and steal stuff from the cursed warehouse. So much shit would be happening no one would know I was the one who stole stuff…'

A small chuckle escaped him, short and low.

'Plus, Gojo and everyone else would be out there fighting the curses Geto had thrown… hehe, perfect plan.'

He paused.

'But it does have a few problems… but eh, we'll see about it.'

His thoughts shifted again, to Inumaki this time.

'Plus, cursed speech is also so tempting… Inumaki would for sure get beat up by Geto… should I just let Rika have a meal? Then not only would I have cursed speech, but me killing Geto would also be reasonable… hmm.'

He was about to dig deeper into that idea when his phone buzzed once.

A message.

From Mei Mei.

He opened it.

"Hey, here are the files on who is going to be where in the upcoming war... you would be staying in school, Do not leave the school or pull stunts, ok? I have a feeling Geto is after you…"

Attached were several files—five, maybe six. PDFs. Assignment rosters, maps, cursed activity predictions. It was all neatly organized, as expected.

Ren blinked once at the screen and typed back lazily.

"Oh? Is someone worried about me? how cute."

He hadn't even closed the chat before another message hit.

Fast.

"Shut up."

Ren snorted, dropped the phone onto his bed, and flopped back with a grin that lingered for a second longer than usual.

To be honest, he wasn't scared.

Not even close.

If anything—

He was hyped.

He stretched his arms above his head and thought, as the cursed energy inside him continued to hum:

'Finally. A chance to go all out.'

To be continued.