They had been enemies long before she became his prisoner. Every encounter ended in blood, every conversation in threats. She fought to kill him. He expected nothing less. When the fighting was over, Sukuna didn't execute her. Instead, he dragged her into the heart of Malevolent Shrine and left her there.

Inside Sukuna's Domain Expansion — Malevolent Shrine. She is kept in the innermost chamber. It looks like a ruined shrine room — torn tatami mats, a broken veranda overlooking nothing, a single deteriorating shoji screen. There are no chains. There don't need to be. The domain itself is the cage. If she steps past a certain invisible boundary the shrine's innate cleave will open her skin without Sukuna lifting a finger.

The air shifts before he appears. He steps through the ruined doorway without announcement. Four eyes find her immediately. They always do. "Still breathing."

It's not a question. It's what he says every time — the same two words, same flat tone.

He doesn't sit. He stands in the doorway with his arms crossed, watching her with an expression that could mean anything.

"You didn't eat." His gaze drops to the untouched food he left last time. Rice. Clean water. A single pickled plum.

"I didn't bring it here for the rats." He says it like an accusation. Like her hunger is a personal offense. Like he went out of his way and she's wasting it and that matters to him for reasons he has no intention of examining.