Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School, located in the suburbs of Tokyo. Abbreviated as Jujutsu High, or just the school.
Here, the students wake up in their assigned dorm rooms and begin their day.
Some with bored faces, others with faces full of anticipation.
Different reactions, but the place they all gathered in was one and the same.
And there was one student who had foolishly dreamed the impossible.
“Why is everyone empty-handed!”
Kugisaki Nobara, a girl who had shown up dragging a huge suitcase in addition to an eco-bag stuffed with all sorts of things, shouted in a sharp voice.
“You’re the one who’s weird. What’s with that luggage?”
“What do you mean, what is it...? We’re going to Kyoto now, aren’t we?”
“?”
“The sister school exchange event in Kyoto is...”
“It’s an exchange event with the sister school in Kyoto. It’s being held in Tokyo.”
“You’re kidding...?”
Nobara clutched her head in despair.
First-year Fushiguro Megumi and second-year Zenin Maki looked at her with pitying eyes.
“No wonder our conversations have been going nowhere lately.”
“Yeah.”
The second-year Panda, who still showed patience toward his foolish junior, kindly explained the situation.
“It’s held at the school that won last year.”
“Then why the hell were you so happy about it, idiot!”
“We didn’t participate last year...”
Having taken the brunt of her anger for no reason, Panda recalled what had happened the year before.
The story that Kyoto School had been wiped out by a single person.
They hadn’t seen it because it was hosted in Kyoto, but just hearing about it had been enough to imagine his strength.
“Yuta participated last year to make up the numbers.”
“That was before [Rika] was exorcised.”
It had been a complete rout.
And yet Nobara’s screams continued as if the senior’s greatness meant nothing to her.
“I’ll never forgive you, Okkotsu Yuta-!!”
“Your knees are getting dirty. Get up.”
Just then, Maki, with her sharp senses, detected the arrival of new people.
“Guys, they’re here.”
“Huh? They came to greet us? Gross.”
“Okkotsu isn’t here, though?”
From first year to third year, six people in total.
The jujutsushi of Kyoto School appeared.
“Enough chatter. Hurry up and hand over the snacks. There should be famous sweets like yatsuhashi, kuzukiri, and soba bōro.”
“Salmon. [Affirmative].”
“Are you hungry?”
They made an imposing entrance, but Nobara, whose hoped-for trip to Kyoto had been ruined, didn’t care about any of that.
Second-year Inumaki Toge, chiming in beside her, seemed more interested in the freebie than in the greeting itself.
At Nobara’s brazen attitude, the Kyoto students showed a variety of reactions.
“Scary...”
“Setting Okkotsu aside, isn’t it a little too much of a handicap to have only two first-years?”
“Age doesn’t matter to a jujutsushi. Especially not Fushiguro. He’s of the Zenin bloodline, but he’s far more outstanding than the main family members.”
Those were third-year Nishimiya Momo, second-year Ultimate Mechamaru, and third-year Kamo Noritoshi.
At Kamo Noritoshi’s remark, which seemed to sting her, second-year Zenin Mai clicked her tongue.
“Tch.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not at all.”
He was always a bit insensitive and single-minded, but saying that in front of someone from the main family was a little rude, wasn’t it?
Still, there was no malice in it, so no one picked a fight over it.
Though in the group chat without this guy and Todo, they’d probably tear him apart nonstop.
“All right, let’s not fight among ourselves.”
Breaking up their minor tension, a woman appeared.
Her neat appearance contrasted with the large scar on her face, but it did nothing to hide her looks.
Grade 1 jujutsushi and the chaperone for Kyoto School, Iori Utahime.
That was her name.
“But where’s that idiot?”
“Teacher Satoru is late.”
“There’s no way that idiot teacher would ever show up on time.”
“No one said the idiot from earlier was Gojo-sensei.”
Utahime held her throbbing head.
For more than ten years, Gojo had been late whenever something important happened, late enough that no one could really scold him for it.
Was he still unable to break that rotten habit, or was he just refusing to?
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
As if on cue, the moment she thought that, Gojo suddenly burst out from somewhere, dragging a huge box behind him.
Someone else was following him with a deeply twisted expression.
----------------------
“Gojo Satoru...!”
“It’s Gojo Satoru!”
“Teacher, you’re late.”
“Who’s that behind you?”
“What the hell happened...?”
In the end, he had failed to stop that ridiculous surprise event.
Gojo had even left later than scheduled because he’d forgotten the souvenirs he was supposed to hand out in the middle.
Junpei felt like abandoning everything and going back to his room to lie down right then and there.
“Yo, hello. You’re all here, huh? I was overseas on a business trip.”
“He just started explaining out of nowhere.”
Ignoring Panda’s tsukkomi, Gojo rummaged around and pulled out weirdly shaped talisman dolls, handing them out one by one to the Kyoto students.
Apparently each one cost 5,000 yen, but there was no way they looked that expensive.
“Here, a gift. For my friends in Kyoto, I’ll give you charms from some tribe. For the record, there isn’t one for Utahime.”
“I don’t need it!”
“And for my friends in Tokyo, here!”
“He’s in such a weirdly high mood. Adults are such a pain.”
“But who’s that guy who’s been following him since earlier?”
Gojo grabbed Junpei by the shoulder and pulled him forward.
“First gift. Everyone, please welcome him with applause!”
“Um, Gojo-sensei. Could you please stop now...”
“As of today, he’s Yoshino Junpei-kun, a first-year Grade 1 jujutsushi entering Jujutsu High!!”
“Ehh?!”
Grade 1 jujutsushi?
Since when? Why me?
While Junpei froze up, Gojo kept spouting whatever he wanted.
“What do you think? A new first-year! Doesn’t it make you want to get excited and clap your hands? Ah, but don’t bully him!”
“Why would we bully him?”
“That’s way too sudden.”
“We’re doomed!”
Because Gojo had handled things at a completely absurd pace, Junpei had already failed to leave a good first impression.
Silently screaming inside, Junpei shrank a little under the two pairs of eyes fixed on him.
The tall boy, Fushiguro Megumi, seemed mildly interested at the mention of a Grade 1 jujutsushi and carefully sized Junpei up from head to toe.
By contrast, the girl’s expression was... clearly one of annoyance.
“H-hello. I’m Yoshino Junpei. I haven’t been studying jujutsu for long, and... starting today, I’ll be attending school with you.”
“Oh?”
“P-please take care of me?”
Junpei, who had finished introducing himself in a timid voice, met Nobara’s gaze.
She looked away almost immediately, but that was enough for Junpei and Nobara to judge each other’s first impression.
Nobara, already in a foul mood because she’d found out they weren’t going to Kyoto, was even sharper than usual and naturally looked down on Junpei.
Hair hanging over half his face, the back of his hair long enough to reach his shoulders.
A small frame, and a nervous, fidgety manner that couldn’t even hold eye contact properly.
“This guy’s obviously gloomy and timid... He’s definitely the type to do occult rituals alone at home. No doubt he’s addicted to games and YouTube.”
And Junpei wasn’t all that different, either.
Her confident posture, sharp eyes, and fairly pretty face reminded him of the girlfriend of Ito, who had bullied him back when he was at his old school.
In short, a delinquent girl at the very top of the caste system!
“She probably drinks and smokes as a matter of course... and I’d be relieved if she’s not even doing compensated dating. Scary. I should stay away.”
Just as Junpei’s misunderstanding of Nobara deepened, a hand suddenly reached out toward him.
“I’m Fushiguro Megumi. Nice to meet you, Yoshino.”
“Y-yeah.”
“You’ve got it rough, dealing with that guy. Must be hard.”
“Megumi? By ‘that guy,’ do you mean me?”
“Of course.”
Seeing Megumi casually chew Gojo out made Junpei’s face brighten.
So there was at least one person here with his head screwed on straight.
“Let’s get along.”
“Huh? Sure.”
Megumi accepted Junpei’s greeting, though a little put off by how suddenly he seemed to feel a sense of kinship.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
“I’m Kugisaki Nobara.”
“Right...”
When Nobara held out her hand first, Junpei slightly revised his evaluation of her.
Right, judging people by first impressions is a bad thing.
How was that any different from the people I hated so much?
The moment he thought that,
“Haa... You still have terrible luck with your surroundings.”
“...What?”
Junpei’s lid cracked open a little at Nobara sighing while looking at his face.
Junpei was quiet, but he wasn’t the type to hold back what he wanted to say.
That was why Ito’s gang had targeted him in the first place.
You could call him a lone wolf with a strong personality.
“Why would you say something like that, Kugisaki?”
“Ah, forget it. It didn’t mean anything.”
“Do you have some kind of complaint about me?”
As Junpei glared at Nobara, she shot back with her own eyes blazing.
“Starting off like this means you’re trying to pick a fight, right?”
“Anytime.”
“Wow, she’s vicious...”
Junpei was a little overwhelmed by Nobara’s heated expression, but he didn’t back down.
After all, studying jujutsu and taking on requests had given him confidence in a strange direction.
Who am I? A Grade 1 jujutsushi.
My technique? That rare poison.
I’m not the powerless guy who used to get beaten around anymore—
“Hey, did someone forget there’s still one more gift left?”
It was Gojo, sitting off to the side and watching, who stopped the escalating stare-down.
“Tch.”
“......”
As the invisible civil war between the two of them died down, Gojo cranked the energy back up and dragged over the box in question again.
With the mood already low and Kyoto School’s atmosphere feeling downright hostile, no one had high expectations...
But Junpei, who knew what was in the box, started sweating cold again.
“It’s coming...!”
“Second gift! It’s Itadori Yuji-kun, who is very much dead!”
“Ta-da~! Pa-ra-bam-bam-bam~!”
Itadori popped out of the box in a bizarre pose, looking weirdly cheerful.
At the sight, all the Tokyo students who knew him froze solid.
“Wh-what...?”
Their expressions were as if they’d seen something they should never have seen.
There was no emotional reunion they’d been looking forward to.
“You don’t look happy at all! The Kyoto people are... obsessed with the gift-!!”
Itadori froze with his arms still raised.
Seeing the reaction was terrible, the culprit who’d caused this mess, Gojo, stepped back and started whistling, while Junpei began rummaging through the cigarette tucked in his uniform pocket.
“Sukuna’s vessel?”
The only one who was truly shocked was Gakuganji, the principal of Kyoto.
“Principal Gakuganji! Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness. I was worried you might drop dead from shock. Heh heh.”
“You bastard...!”
While Gojo snickered and taunted Principal Gakuganji, the atmosphere over here was getting serious in its own way.
Bang!
“Hey.”
“Y-yes.”
When Nobara kicked the box, Itadori straightened his posture without even realizing it.
“You’ve got something to say, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
When Yuji looked up, he could see Nobara’s expression.
She looked angry, and yet her eyes were brimming with tears.
Proof of just how much she’d been put through.
Only then did Itadori realize what he had to say.
“I’m sorry for keeping it a secret.......”
“Yoshino, you knew?”
“Knew? I didn’t even know Yuji had died and come back to life when I met him. That’s why I said we shouldn’t do surprise stuff like this.”
“Gojo-sensei?”
“Yeah.”
Before anyone noticed, a half-burned cigarette was already hanging from Junpei’s mouth.
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