[One minute until commencement. Then, here we have Teacher Utahime’s gracious words of encouragement.]
[Wh-what? Uh, um... some injuries may be unavoidable, but, well... sometimes it’s important to help each other out...]
[Time’s up.]
[Ah, Gojo, you really...!]
[Then, the sister school exchange event,]
-Start!
[Show some respect for your seniors!]
The exchange event began amid the mingled voices of an angry Utahime and Gojo.
The Tokyo students immediately started running into the forest.
“Where do you think the boss curse spirit is?”
“It was released somewhere near the midpoint between the two schools, but it probably won’t just sit there.”
“We split into two teams, with someone good at tracking in each group, at the timing I mentioned earlier. Junpei, you can do that, right?”
“Leave it to me!”
As Okkyan ran at the very front of the group, it sensed something and barked.
-Where are youuuu
It was a small curse spirit shaped like a spider.
“Grade three. Trash.”
Maki was just about to spring out and grab some points, but what Okkyan had detected was not some mere grade-three curse spirit.
“Senpai, stop!”
At the sound of Megumi’s urgent voice, everyone froze, and then—
Boom!
“Nice! You’re all here!”
Todo Aoi, a first-grade jujutsushi from Kyoto with his upper body bare, burst out after smashing through a tree.
His immense cursed energy and trained physique made everyone swallow hard and tense up.
But this was not an unexpected situation.
“All at once, huh—”
“Moon.”
Thud
“Huh?”
Before the fight had even properly begun, Todo felt a stab of pain in his right shoulder.
What had pierced his shoulder was probably the jellyfish shikigami Junpei Yoshino had summoned.
“Ha! An attack from some little trash like this doesn’t even sting!”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right! You think you can stop me with something this smal—ughhhhh.”
The overconfident Todo lunged out and immediately collapsed, poisoned.
Black spots spread across his upper body, twitching faintly.
“I didn’t use a strong poison, so you should be able to recover later.”
“Hahaha! Success!”
“Serves you right for trying to go it alone for too long.”
“Not bad, Junpei!”
Todo tried to steady himself as his consciousness blurred, but his body would not listen.
“Y-you... cowar—”
Before long, Todo was completely paralyzed and unable to move an inch.
Leaving him there, the Kyoto students split into two groups and scattered exactly as planned.
“Todo’s going to come at us head-on and try to crush us. He’s a monster. The worst-case scenario is everyone taking him on and getting wiped out. So I was going to leave one person behind to tie him down, but now there’s no need?”
“Junpei, how far does your poison work?”
“If I really go for it, I can take down a first-grade curse spirit in one shot.”
“Then stab him the moment Todo shows up. They don’t know anything about your technique, so he’ll take the hit.”
As they rapidly pulled away, they were all thinking the same thing.
-Thank goodness that gorilla moved exactly the way we expected.
All that remained at the place they had left behind was Todo, paralyzed and helpless.
There was a chance a curse spirit might attack him, but no one cared.
Ah... I was going to ask him what kind of girl he likes...
Todo Aoi.
The first casualty of the exchange event.
------------------------
At the spot the Tokyo students had left behind, someone arrived a little late.
“Huh? He got taken out? Todo did?”
Flying through the sky on a broom, Nishimiya Momo found the poisoned Todo collapsed on the ground and was stunned speechless.
Todo wasn’t exactly beloved, thanks to his bizarre behavior and violence, but he was still Kyoto’s strongest secret weapon.
And now, right at the start, their strongest combatant was out of the fight.
“There are no signs of a battle, so it looks like he got taken down before he could even start causing trouble...”
After shaking Todo around a few times, Nishimiya soon noticed the black spots covering his upper body.
And the small hole in his right shoulder.
“Poison...?”
None of the Tokyo students she knew used poison.
The suspect was narrowed down immediately.
Junpei Yoshino.
With a grave expression, Nishimiya immediately pulled out her phone and called Kamo.
[What is it?]
“Todo got hit. And he didn’t even get to fight properly.”
[...That makes no sense.]
Kamo sounded just as dumbfounded.
“It was Junpei Yoshino. Looks like he uses poison. Pretty strong poison, too. That muscle gorilla went down in one shot.”
[...Then things won’t go according to plan. I’ll move with Mechamaru and Mai. Long-range sniping is our only option.]
“Who knows whether Junpei Yoshino is good at long-range combat?”
[If Todo got taken out, then it’s the same even if we try close combat. Keep tailing the Tokyo side. We’re not giving up on killing Itadori Yuji.]
“Got it.”
Nishimiya hung up and took off again.
She didn’t like the situation. She hadn’t expected cooperation, but the moment Todo was out, Kyoto was at a huge disadvantage.
The exchange event victory, and killing Itadori Yuji.
Still, Kamo didn’t seem willing to abandon the plan.
“Ugh, this is such a pain~ Everyone’s so much work. Maybe we should just give up on killing Itadori...”
“What did you say?”
What.
Startled by the voice that suddenly rang out, Nishimiya turned around and found Junpei, flying through the air atop a moonlit wave.
His face was twisted with rage and disgust.
“H-how...?”
“I can fly too, you know. You’re the best at tracking, so I figured we’d run into each other sooner or later...”
A growl rumbled in Junpei’s throat.
“That was an interesting thing to hear. Who exactly are you planning to kill?”
------------------------
“So, your school’s dean ordered you to kill Yuji?”
“Sniff.”
“Why are you crying? I didn’t even do anything that bad.”
“T-this is bad enough!”
The battle ended in an instant.
More accurately, it barely qualified as a battle at all. Nishimiya, while fleeing, was struck by a projectile fired from the tail of the moonlit wave and fell from the sky on the spot.
Junpei left her conscious enough to talk, but in a state where she was already poisoned and unable to use her technique or fight hand-to-hand, then began his interrogation.
If you don’t confess properly, I’ll leave permanent spots on your face.
Hiiiiiik! Anything but that!
He only used light threats, with Moon as backup, but Nishimiya cracked almost immediately.
After getting the information he wanted, Junpei covered his forehead and sighed.
“What are you going to do with cute little me now! You beast! Pervert!”
“I’m really not going to do anything, so please just stay still...”
“Sea anemone! Otaku!”
“Ugh, you’re so loud.”
Junpei stabbed her one more time and knocked Nishimiya out cold.
The Kyoto students had received orders and were trying to gang up on Yuji and kill him.
What had that good kid done wrong?
Because he was half curse?
Because he was a bomb housing Sukuna inside his body?
It was ridiculous to punish someone for a crime they hadn’t even committed yet.
More than anything, Yuji was a precious friend who had reached out to even someone hopeless like him.
The fact that they had tried to kill that friend for such a petty reason made him so angry he could barely stand it.
“First I need to contact Maki senpai’s group...”
Junpei pulled out his phone to make a call, then slapped his forehead.
He had only entered Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School today. There was no way he would have the contact information of his seniors or classmates.
All he had was the number Itadori had given him before.
Just as Junpei was about to call Yuji, his hand stopped.
“Sorry. I couldn’t save your mother.”
Yuji was the kind of person who felt guilty and suffered over things beyond his reach.
If strangers tried to kill him because of the monster inside his body,
and if it was because that monster might one day use his body to commit a massacre,
he would definitely blame himself.
Thinking that far ahead, Junpei took out Nishimiya’s phone instead of his own.
Luckily, it used fingerprint recognition instead of a pattern lock, so he could unlock it easily.
He immediately opened the phone app and called the top entry in the recent call list.
[Hello? Nishimiya? What is Itadori Yuji’s current location?]
As expected, she had probably been giving them location updates while tailing them just moments ago.
“I’ve taken care of Nishimiya.”
[...Who’s there? That’s not a voice I recognize.]
“Junpei Yoshino. Are you Kamo Noritoshi?”
[That’s right.]
“I already know you were given orders by your dean to pursue and kill him.”
[...And what of it?]
“I should probably call Gojo-sensei right now, but I don’t want to do that either. Let’s settle this face-to-face.”
[I refuse. Itadori Yuji is a curse. The mere fact that he exists is reason enough for him to die. With such a half-hearted mindset that calls a curse a friend, can you really call yourself a jujutsushi?]
“What I think qualifies me as a jujutsushi is none of your business. Looks like there’s no room for compromise. Don’t go begging me to back down later. I’m hanging up.”
Beep
After ending the call, Junpei cut across the sky.
--------------------------
“Nishimiya got taken out. Junpei Yoshino is probably coming after us. He means to finish this.”
“Alone?”
“Considering he took Todo down in one hit, he’s got that kind of power. If we all rush him, we could get wiped out.”
So I’ll handle him alone.
The moment Kamo finished his declaration, a thorn laced with poison flew toward his head.
Crimson Blood Manipulation - Crimson Scale Dance
By controlling the components of the blood flowing through his veins and sharpening his vision, Kamo barely managed to dodge the thorn.
Even though he shifted his body aside quickly, the thorn tore through the hem of his clothes by a hair’s breadth before burying itself in the ground with a whistling sound.
Piiit!
“He’s here already! Scatter!”
Following the order, the Kyoto students dispersed in every direction.
Kamo drew the bow slung across his back and looked up at his opponent.
Junpei gazed down at him from atop a gliding ray.
Backlit by the sun, his expression was hard to make out, but that attack had clearly carried killing intent.
“You planning to kill me?”
“I’m not going to kill you. It’ll just sting a little.”
He had one hand in his pocket, looking down with a crazed, arrogant air that Kamo found deeply irritating.
He was the man who would one day stand at the head of the Kamo clan.
He should never bow his head or look up at anyone so carelessly.
“Have you heard the saying that what falls has no wings?”
“Hmm. I dropped out of school halfway through, so I wouldn’t know.”
Junpei Yoshino versus Kamo Noritoshi.
The main event of the exchange was about to begin.
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