After that outing, Junpei and Nobara started being conscious of each other.
It wasn’t like their relationship had advanced dramatically or anything, but a lot had changed.
Junpei, who used to smoke without giving a damn whether anyone was watching, would now put out his cigarette in front of Nobara.
She was a nonsmoker, and he was worried his breath might stink.
“Uh, Kugisaki....”
“Forget it, Yoshino. I’m not going to say anything, so just smoke.”
“No, I was done with it anyway.”
Nobara also stopped roughly touching Junpei’s body as often.
Part of that was her own way of showing respect, and part of it was that she was embarrassed by skinship with him.
And when she did touch him absentmindedly, there was a tiny bit of selfishness mixed in.
“Working out again today?”
“I feel like I’m going to die, so don’t talk to me....”
“I went out of my way to worry about you, and this is what I get? Drink this and keep going.”
“Oh, Pocari. Thanks.”
Tap
“Huh?”
“W-why? Is touching me that disgusting?”
“N-no.....”
They still weren’t fully at the point of calling each other by first name, but to anyone looking on, they were the picture of a fresh young couple clearly in the middle of something.
And the two watching from the side, Yuji and Gojo, couldn’t stop grinning.
“Wow. Youth, huh.”
“That’s where freshness lives.....”
“What’s freshness?”
“It’s a thing.”
“Who’s going to confess first?”
“I’m betting on Nobara.”
“I’ll take Junpei. He’s unexpectedly aggressive in weird places...”
Day after day passed like that.
Junpei’s skeletal muscle mass finally rose above the level of a normal human being, and just as Nobara, who had spent the whole week wearing only the clothes Junpei picked out for her, was about to decide it was time to do laundry, a new request came in.
------------------------
Junpei was quietly looking forward to the new mission.
For about two weeks, he had endured hell week and trained in hand-to-hand combat, and he felt he had made real progress.
His miserable strength and stamina had become at least passable, and he was landing more and more effective hits on Yuji and Maki.
He was still getting beaten far more often, though.
And above all, this would be his first mission with the kids.
His experience couldn’t compare to Megumi’s or Nobara’s, but his combat ability was clearly number one among the four first-years.
No longer the one trailing after the veteran Nanami, he had reached the position where he could lead the kids.
His blood was pumping hot, and he was sure he’d do well.
At least until Gojo’s cold words came down.
“Junpei, you’re excluded from this mission.”
“Why.....?”
“Come on, you’re a first-grade jujutsushi. The kids need to gain experience too. This is their first mission since the exchange event, so what happens if you go and crush everything by yourself?”
“No way...!”
“Go train some more.”
“The weather’s nice, the birds are singing. On a day like this, a weakling like you should be burning muscle in the training room.”
“Nooooo!!!!”
Panda dragged the despairing Junpei off to the training room, and soon he was out of sight.
Watching him go with a wistful look, Nobara heard Megumi and Yuji whisper behind her.
“He’s got it bad.”
“He’s got it bad.”
“What are you staring at?”
“Oh, nothing.... I was just thinking you two have gotten really close.”
“That’s none of your business, is it?!”
“Anyway, have a good trip. I’ve got something to discuss with the Kyoto side, so I won’t be back until next week.”
Gojo left first, and soon after, the bickering trio got into the car and headed for their destination.
The assistant supervisor supporting them this time was not the usual Ijichi, but Nitta Akari.
She was the older sister of Nitta Arata, a first-year at Kyoto Jujutsu High.
After exchanging quick greetings with Nobara and Megumi, whom she already knew, Nitta introduced herself to Itadori.
“You’re Itadori-kun, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Nitta Akari. Nice to meet you.”
“Please take care of me!”
“You’ve got a lot of energy. I like that~”
As they drove, they were briefed on the case they’d been assigned.
The incident was a serial murder case caused by a curse.
The three victims had all been killed in the exact same way.
“They were stabbed to death by a curse at the entrance of their apartment buildings. And all of them had filed the exact same complaint with the management company several weeks before they died, saying the automatic doors kept opening wide on their own. None of the other residents reported anything like that.”
One in Morioka in June.
One in Yokohama in August.
One in Nagoya in September.
The dates and locations of death were all different, but they shared one thing in common.
They had all attended the same middle school for two years.
“So the three of them were cursed together back then, and it only activated after all this time?”
“Exactly. That’s the most likely possibility.”
“Whoa, nice one, Kugisaki!”
“Hmph. This much...”
“So from here on, we’re going to hear things from the middle school and from people who knew all three victims in common. Please look into it from a jujutsu perspective too.”
But when they arrived, the people waiting to greet them were mourners in black suits.
“A funeral...?”
Nitta went inside to check the situation, then came back out and let out a sigh before continuing her explanation.
“This is a problem. This person died the exact same way as the other three.”
There was no automatic door at the victim’s family home, but the key wouldn’t work either.
The victim’s parents also knew very little about the relationship between their child and the other three victims.
That left only one place.
Urami Higashi Municipal Middle School in Saitama City, where all four victims had graduated from.
They’d find something there.
------------------------
What welcomed them inside the school were two students smoking with a delinquent air.
Dyed hair. Slouchy posture. Cigarettes openly lit without a care whether anyone was watching.
The sight made Nobara think of Junpei for a moment, and her mood soured.
“Am I insane? Why do I keep thinking about him.....”
Strictly speaking, those guys were closer to the bastard who had burned Junpei’s forehead than to Junpei himself.
They were obviously the type who liked bullying people.
Imagining a nail being driven into Ito Shota’s head, Nobara ground her teeth.
“They look like obvious delinquents. Let’s beat them up and rehabilitate them.”
“Why..?”
“Just come on!”
As Nobara strode up and dragged Yuji along, the two students noticed the new intruders.
“What?”
“Huh?”
Just as they were about to put on their usual tough-guy act, their eyes landed on the man behind them.
At that unforgettable sight, the two students froze in place.
“Th-thank you for your hard work!”
Seeing them suddenly bow at a ninety-degree angle, Nobara and Itadori grew smug.
“What, so you do get it...?”
“Aura leaks out even if you try to hide it.”
But their attention was on something completely different.
“It’s the first time we’ve seen you since graduation, right, Fushiguro senpai!”
No way.
Avoiding the dumbfounded stares of Nobara and Yuji, Megumi gave a halting explanation for why.
“I, middle school, here.”
“That’s surprising too, but that’s not the real issue, is it?”
“What did you do?! What the hell did you do at middle school?!”
“This... let go.......”
Even as they kneaded his face and pestered him, Megumi wouldn’t say another word.
Giving up on getting an answer from Megumi, they turned their attention to the victims(?) instead.
“No, wait. It’ll be faster to hear it from those guys.”
“Hey, you two idiots. What did this guy do to you?”
The one who answered was the student with slicked-back hair, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
“We..... well, not just us, but all the delinquents, thugs, and whatever else in this area got beaten up by Fushiguro senpai.”
“He beat the crap... out of us.”
“Why do your answers keep getting shorter?”
“What did you do? What the hell did you do?!”
While the two of them hung off Megumi and badgered him, an elderly faculty member who had spotted them came running over in anger.
“You there! Who are you people? Students from other schools aren’t allowed in here!”
“Who are you, then!”
“Some faculty guy, I guess......”
“We have permission to enter.”
“Ah, so it’s you lot. You’re all young.”
Fortunately, the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up when Nitta showed their entry permit.
The old faculty member, Takeda, who had been sizing them up, spotted a familiar face among the students.
“Fushiguro, is it!”
“....Hello.”
“Has this man been at the school a long time?”
“Probably.... Takeda-san is full-time staff.”
“Then I’ll leave the rest to you!”
“That was fast to abandon your duties....”
While Nitta went back to the car to slack off after finding a good lead, the others asked Takeda about the victims.
It wasn’t a lie that he had been at the school a long time, because Takeda gave them a surprisingly detailed account.
They had been as much of a problem as Megumi himself was, and Yuji, who tried to tease Megumi at that point, got punched for it.
At the time, a dare game had been popular in the area: midnight bungee jumping from Yasohachi Bridge nearby.
One day, after they’d all skipped school without permission, they were found collapsed together under the bridge, and they had lost their memories of what happened.
“Could this be the target?”
“I’ve been to Yasohachi Bridge before.”
“For bungee jumping?”
Smack
“Ow!”
“Places like that, where rumors of spirits gather, attract curses easily, just like schools do. That’s why the jujutsu high staff patrol them regularly. Nothing happened when we checked then. It may be famous, but it’s also just a bridge people use normally.”
“Still, we’ll have to go there at least once.”
So their next destination was decided: Yasohachi Bridge.
Just as Megumi was about to say goodbye and get back in the car, Takeda called out to him for a moment.
“Fushiguro. How’s Tsumiki doing?”
“....She’s fine.”
At the unfamiliar name, Yuji and Nobara tilted their heads.
“Who’s Tsumiki?”
“.....My sister.”
“What? You really don’t talk about yourself at all, do you?”
Megumi smirked at Nobara, who was getting angry, and fired back.
“And you, what did you hear from Yoshino that suddenly made you so nice?”
“Why are you bringing Yoshino up there!!! No, wait. How do you even know that.....”
“Ah.”
The expressions on Yuji and Megumi’s faces went white.
By contrast, Nobara’s face slowly twisted into something demonic.
“Wait, Kugisaki.....”
“Explain yourself clearly. Before I kill you.”
They say that when a woman bears a grudge, frost can fall even in the height of summer.
By the time they reached Yasohachi Bridge, her anger still hadn’t cooled, and Yuji and Megumi had to beg until their hands and feet were practically worn out.
“I-I d-didn’t do anythiiing.....”
“I’m sooorry.....”
“You say you didn’t do anything, but that’s exactly the problem. You two need more beating.”
“Fushiguro... you idiot..... what were you thinking, saying that....”
“......”
Getting beaten up was just a bonus.
-----------------------------
And somewhere nearby, in a private house, another victim was being made.
This time by a different curse.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Even in this situation, you still can’t see me. You really have no talent. Come on, open wide~”
“Aaaagh!! Gaaahhh!!!!”
Jutai Kyosodo.
Human and curse hybrids.
Creations made by Kamo Noritoshi, the worst jujutsushi in history.
Having been sealed as cursed objects for 150 years, they were now being released into the world, following the thick, sticky malice.
Drip, drip.
“Hey there. Sorry to wake you up, but could you run an errand for me for a bit?”
-Kechizu.
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