Jujutsu Kaisen: False Dawn

I lay on the mat, the ceiling fan spinning slowly above, casting warped shadows on the concrete walls. Outside, the hum of the city was distant, almost like a dream. I blinked up at the shadows. Today was done. Another day where I didn't die. Another day I kept going.

But I wasn't smiling.

Because reality has a weight to it. And tonight, I was feeling all of it.

I stared at my ceiling, letting the silence creep in. That was when the thought came to me. One that sounded... ridiculous.

"What if I used Red Stitch inside my own body?"

Cursed techniques don't work like that, right? I mean—sure, I've seen what techniques can do, but not like this. Red Stitch was a cursed technique that created cursed threads—webs, connections. I'd used it for catching, tethering, and forcing control. But inside my body? Could it become a circuit? A way to conduct cursed energy more efficiently? Could it help me bridge the gap between potential and power?

I turned my head to stare at the fishbowl where Kai2 lay, weak and dull. No answer came. Just the bubbling silence.

I sat up. My limbs were tired and heavy. Training had gone long again. The old noodles I ate for dinner felt like rocks in my stomach. But my mind? Wide awake.

This idea—it felt like the kind of stupid that just might work.

I had never read anything like this in the manga. No sorcerer I could remember ever used their cursed technique to enhance their own cursed energy control. The Kamo clan used Blood Manipulation—sure, their cursed technique interacted directly with their body and cursed energy. But even that was a specific technique with a bloodline.

Red Stitch wasn't that. And I wasn't a legacy.

Still... what did I have to lose?

I sat in silence and started thinking through the possible futures in front of me. Laid them out like threads. Tangled. Fragile. Sharp.

---

Path One: The Slow Death.

I keep doing what I'm doing now. Training. Surviving. Climbing inch by inch. Maybe I'll reach Grade 2 by the time Sukuna takes over Yuji. Maybe. Even if I dodge that arc—and that's a big maybe—the Culling Games will swallow me whole. I won't even last a minute in there. I'd be a background casualty. The camera wouldn't even pause on my death. A bloody smear on a battlefield.

That future ends with me dying like a rat, clawing at the walls.

---

Path Two: Escape. Runaway.

Get out of Japan. Flee. Hide. Live a simple life somewhere in a quiet town.

But who am I kidding?

No passport. Barely any money. I'm 16 with a dead man's name and a cursed mark on my back. I could barely buy rice last week, let alone a plane ticket.

Besides, if the Culling Games or Kenjaku go global... where would I even run to?

There is no "safe." Not in this world.

---

Path Three: The Devil's Gamble.

Rika. Stealing her.

That's the real cheat code, isn't it?

Yuta Okkotsu is still a normal high school student right now. Has no idea what's coming. No idea what she is. Maybe… just maybe… If I get close enough, make the right Binding Vow… trick him… or survive the backlash...

I could take her.

It's insane. But that's the point.

I think I have two weeks until the incident at school. Until Rika rips apart the bullies.

Two weeks. After that, it's over. Jujutsu High steps in. Yuta awakens. Rika becomes herself.

Two weeks. That's my window.

---

And that's why I need this idea to work.

If I can't become something in two weeks… I can't walk any path. They all end in death.

So what now?

I exhaled and closed my eyes, feeling the dull ache in my bones.

Red Stitch… Could I use it like a wire? Could I plant it in my body? Use it as a cursed energy channel?

I know it's dangerous. If I screw it up, I could rip nerves. Destroy my own flow. Disrupt my cursed energy entirely. Worst-case scenario, I break my own CT permanently. But…

But I can't afford fear. Not now.

I sat up again, fingers twitching with the memory of cursed threads. I flexed them. Red energy sparked at the tips. The strings were responding quicker now.

They were becoming familiar. Natural. Mine.

I opened my journal. Flipped to a clean page.

Operation: Internal Circuit.

I started sketching. A diagram of my body. Not perfect—just enough. I mapped the core cursed energy nodes I'd studied from the manga—based on what Gojo hinted at, what Yuki said, and what I saw Sukuna do in bits and pieces. I drew lines and imagined connections.

If I could thread Red Stitch inside the framework… connect my cursed core to extremities with higher fidelity…

Would I become more precise?

Would I waste less cursed energy?

Could this… be the breakthrough?

I didn't need to be the strongest. I just needed to stop being weak.

Seven days. That's what I will give myself.

I'd try to build the circuit. Train my cursed energy like a damn monk. Eat. Sleep. Train. Wire. Rest. Repeat.

And after seven days?

If I improve—even a little—I will consider taking Rika.

If not?

...I will run. Or pray. Or die.

But at least I'll know I tried.

The ceiling fan clicked again.

I shut the notebook. My hand trembled slightly.

Was it fear? Or excitement?

I lay back down, clutching the journal to my chest like a lifeline.

This world isn't fair, I thought. It never was. But maybe—just maybe—I can cheat it back.

I closed my eyes.

And whispered, "Seven days."