Recipes and Rika - Chapter 7
Ren cooked for the first time since arriving in this world.
Not instant noodles. Not toast or canned food. He pulled what he had from the fridge—rice, egg, soy sauce, seaweed, half a carrot—and began cutting, boiling, and frying.
His hands moved like they had always known.
The kitchen filled with warmth. The soft crackling of oil. The bubbling hiss of rice in the pot. The scent of soy, sweet and sharp, curled around him like a blanket.
For a moment, it didn't feel like the Jujutsu Kaisen world.
It just felt… lonely.
He sat cross-legged on the tatami floor, the warm bowl in his hands. Ate slowly. Silently.
No curses.
No fear.
Just… life.
But it couldn't last.
He leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling.
"This life sucks," he muttered. "Even without curses."
It was true.
Fifty thousand yen in the bank. A debt three times that. No friends. No job. Just an apartment and a name that didn't feel like his.
Even if JJK wasn't real, this life would still be a nightmare.
But.
The man who had woken up in Ren Sato's body had been through hell before.
Climbing out of nothing? He'd done that.
Cursed monsters and world-ending threats? That was new.
He stood and stretched. Rolled his neck.
Then he sat at his desk and focused.
Cursed energy.
He called to it.
This time, it came more easily. Still unsteady. Still flickering. But it obeyed him for more than just seconds.
His fingers pulsed. His hands warmed. The cursed energy didn't lash or flare—it stayed like mist caught in a breeze.
Still weak.
Still not enough.
At this rate, he'd never make it. By the time Gojo started his war, or Yuji swallowed that finger, Ren would still be struggling to make his cursed energy wrap around his palm.
He needed a cheat.
A real one.
He leaned back, exhaled, and stared at the ceiling.
Yuji cheated.
A body of steel, natural combat talent, and Sukuna stuffed into his soul.
Yuta cheated harder.
Rika.
Bound to him.
A special-grade monster tied by love and loss.
Ren blinked.
"Rika…" he said softly.
That was power.
That was raw, unrepentant, absolute power.
Could he… steal that?
Could he take Rika from Yuta before it all started?
Ren laughed. Not from joy.
From madness.
From the possibility.
Yuta should still be a normal student. He hadn't joined Jujutsu Tech yet. Still lost, still quiet. Still alone.
And Rika…
Bound to him, but unstable.
Ren tapped his pen rapidly.
Could he reach Yuta first? Could he use a binding vow? Could he manipulate the cursed energy? Could he split Rika somehow?
He shook his head.
Too risky.
Too unknown.
Too many ways to die.
But the seed was planted.
If he couldn't take Rika, maybe…
Maybe he could make one.
"Bind a curse," Ren whispered. "Like Yuta did."
His mind raced.
There had to be low-level curses with brains—dumb ones, greedy ones. Things that could be fooled.
He didn't need a monster.
He needed a deal.
A contract.
He remembered how binding vows worked. Mutual agreements. Sacrifices for gain. Trickery was allowed—so long as the terms were technically kept.
Could he trap a curse into helping him? Offering it something small… food, space, protection… and in return, it becomes his weapon?
He scribbled the idea down.
- Find a weak, sentient curse.
- Provoke it. Trap it.
- Offer a binding vow: "I protect you; you lend power."
- Leave the escape clause hidden in the intent.
It was dangerous.
It was morally gray.
But it might work.
And it was better than dying.
Ren looked out the window at the city.
Curses were everywhere.
He just needed to find one stupid enough to deal.