An incident broke out that could shake all of Japan, not just the jujutsu world.
"A political vacuum.... It’s a vacuum, plain and simple!"
"You want us to announce the existence of curses? Are you serious!?"
The politicians, faced with an unprecedented crisis, lost their bearings and failed to come up with any clear response.
While they split into factions, bickered, and flailed around, the Tokyo city center around Shibuya turned into a den of monsters.
"For now, we need to reduce the number of curses and prioritize evacuating civilians."
"If it’s not Tokyo, maybe we’ll be okay...?"
The jujutsushi side was just as rattled.
Gojo Satoru’s sealing. The deaths of most of the assistants and deputy supervisors. The thousand curses Kenjaku had released before leaving.
Each one was a fatal loss, and together they led to a disastrous failure in the initial response.
Boom!
"Aaaah!"
Curses attacked nearby homes again and again.
A hellscape unfolded as people were slaughtered indiscriminately, and by now almost no one was left in Shibuya.
That was when the Jujutsu Headquarters issued its notice.
With the shield they feared most, Gojo Satoru, gone, their claws turned toward Jujutsu High.
First. Confirm that Geto Suguru is alive. Sentence him to death again.
Second. Treat Gojo Satoru as a co-conspirator in the Shibuya Incident, permanently expel him from the jujutsu world. Also, decide that unsealing him is itself a crime.
Third. Judge Yaga Masamichi to have incited Geto Suguru and Gojo Satoru into causing the Shibuya Incident, and recognize this as a capital offense.
Fourth. Revoke the stay of execution for Itadori Yuji and decide to carry out his execution swiftly.
Fifth. Designate Yoshino Junpei as special-grade, and sentence him to death on charges of colluding with curse users and curses.
Sixth.
-Appoint special-grade sorcerer Okkotsu Yuta as the executioner for Yoshino Junpei and Itadori Yuji.
---------------------------------
On the outskirts of Tokyo stood a grand mansion.
A family that had long ago gathered talented sorcerers under its wing and seized wealth, power, and prestige.
The estate of the Zenin clan, one of the great houses representing the Three Great Families.
"So she’s dead? Mai."
Special-grade sorcerer, Zenin Naoya.
A man with dyed yellow hair and striking piercings.
As he strolled down the hallway with a swagger, a woman of mysterious beauty followed behind him.
"The head of the family has passed away. How long has it even been since the funeral? Besides, the one on the verge of death is Maki."
"Is that so? Then that’s fine."
Even though his father Naobito had died in Shibuya, he didn’t even blink.
In fact, he seemed pleased. Naobito, watching from heaven, was surely weeping blood.
Just from that short exchange, it was easy to see the shameless, rotten nature he made no effort to hide.
"She’s a beauty, but Maki won’t do. She doesn’t know how to preserve a man’s dignity. A woman who can’t walk three steps behind you is the kind who gets a knife in her back and dies, you know."
"......."
"That’s where Mai shines. Same face as Maki, same chest. She may act tough, but she truly understands that she’s a woman."
He didn’t even hesitate to make remarks that would make anyone who knew the identity of the woman accompanying him click their tongue.
Boundless arrogance. A heart so rotten he could ignore his own father burning to death. And on top of that, a deeply patriarchal mindset for a man only twenty-eight years old.
That was most of what made up Zenin Naoya, the man chosen as the Zenin clan’s next head.
When Naoya opened the door and entered the room, two men greeted him.
"You’re late."
"What were you doing?"
Special-grade sorcerer, Zenin Ougi.
Special-grade sorcerer, Zenin Jinichi.
Each of them was vying for the position of family head from a place similar to Naoya’s.
"It hasn’t even been a day since your own father’s funeral...!"
"Sorry~ But does it really matter? Whether I came or not."
After all, I’m the next Zenin clan head anyway.
"My older brothers are all frauds, and Uncle.... your younger brother, you’re weak too. And your daughter isn’t even worth discussing."
He insulted them all in one breath, mocking their lack of ability, their shabby technique, and even the existence of Maki and Mai, whom he regarded as blemishes.
After cackling and trashing Ougi like a storm, Naoya turned his head toward Jinichi.
"Jinichi.... your face is the problem. It’d be nice if you were the exact opposite of Toji."
Whoosh!
Jinichi took the bait and threw a punch, but Naoya dodged it lightly.
Just as he was about to toy with him using the speed inherited from his father, Ougi’s blade came slicing in from the side.
"Your old man’s dead, so can’t you cut me a little slack?"
Naoya raised both hands and casually declared surrender, and Ougi’s blade stopped right in front of his throat.
As tension hung between the three sorcerers, a short old man opened the door and came in.
"Everyone’s here, I see."
"Oh."
"I, Furudate, have been entrusted with the will. Following Naobito-sama’s instructions, I was to deliver it once the three of you—Zenin Ougi-sama, Zenin Jinichi-sama, and Zenin Naoya-sama—were all gathered."
"Hurry up."
"If you are certain, I will read the will aloud."
The old man, Furudate, knelt and slowly began reading Naobito’s testament.
-I designate Zenin Naoya as the 27th head of the Zenin clan.
-I bequeath all assets, including cursed tools stored at Jujutsu High and the Zenin clan estate, to Naoya, to be managed by him with the approval of either Zenin Ougi or Zenin Jinichi.
"Tch."
Though he had a bit of dissatisfaction with the final clause, Naoya clicked his tongue at the fact that he had become the Zenin clan head in the end.
Ougi and Jinichi were old men anyway. If he waited a few years, he could get rid of them by killing them or stuffing them into some nursing home.
The day his reign over everything would come was not far off.
"However,"
"?"
"If, for some reason, Gojo Satoru loses his ability to object or dies, then in accordance with the pact made with Fushiguro Toji, Fushiguro Megumi is to be brought into the Zenin clan and made the head, with all assets transferred to him."
"Huh?"
What the hell is this crazy old man talking about.
When did he make a promise like that behind my back...!
"....."
"Whoever it is, he’d still be better than this bastard."
Unlike the furious Naoya, Ougi and Jinichi seemed to accept the will to some extent.
In the end, those two were also rivals. Cooperation was out of the question.
"What a bunch of spineless old fossils."
Unable to suppress his anger, Naoya stormed out and headed to his room with the woman from earlier in tow.
"Where is Megumi now?"
"I’m not sure about the details.... but he was last seen near Shibuya."
"Was he assigned any mission?"
"Seems not."
"Even better."
Right now, Shibuya was a demon’s nest. He surely wouldn’t care how many people died there.
The one who should become the Zenin clan head was him.
"I’ll kill you, Fushiguro Megumi.....!"
----------------------------------
Meanwhile, in the ruined center of Shibuya.
Munch munch
A filthy little child was eating food in a convenience store.
Just as she was picking at a cold lunchbox with her tiny hands, a strange voice came from the front door outside.
"Come here, kid. It’s dangerous here."
"....?"
A swaying figure was beckoning to the child.
The gentle voice calling to her almost seemed enchanting.
She might have been suspicious, but this innocent little girl didn’t yet have enough experience to handle it wisely.
"A warm bath. I’ll even sing for you."
"....My mom?"
"There’s a mom, a dad, an older sister, a little brother, and a teacher too."
"I don’t have a little brother. And I hate teachers."
"I don’t have a little brother. And I hate teachers."
The girl tilted her head at the sudden imitation.
What’s wrong with them? Are they sick or something?
Glad to meet another person after so long, and moved by goodwill, the child held out the water bottle she was carrying.
"Are you okay? Do you want this to drink?"
"M-m, thanks."
At the affirmative answer, the girl stepped forward and ran over.
The moment she crossed the convenience store threshold, what had been waiting for her was,
Grrrgle
a curse that had disguised itself as a human to lure in prey.
A gaping maw lunged toward the girl.
And from above it, a man leapt down.
Thwack!
Crash!
A black-haired young man holding a Japanese sword.
A special-grade sorcerer from Jujutsu High’s second year who had been on a long overseas assignment in Africa.
Okkotsu Yuta had returned to Japan.
"Sorry, did I startle you? Are you hurt anywhere?"
nod
"Are you with anyone? Your dad, maybe? Or your mom?"
"....I don’t know."
Smiling awkwardly, Okkotsu looked over the child’s clothes.
Shabby clothes, worn-out shoes.
She must have come a long way to get here.
'So she’s not from around here.'
"Did you walk a lot?"
nod
"You did a good job."
As Okkotsu patted the child’s head, the still-living curse lunged at his back, but then vanished with a dull thud.
Sensing something strange, the child turned toward the sound, but Okkotsu’s hand covered her eyes.
"You said you could see it, right?"
"Yeah."
"No, Rika. If you go too far."
Behind him as he led the child away, the curse’s corpse remained plastered to a building in a bloody mess.
After taking the child to the civilian evacuation area, Okkotsu headed for Jujutsu High.
A grand mansion near Hongsung Palace, where the higher-ups lived.
Ever since being appointed executioner, it was a place he had gone in and out of countless times to earn their trust.
As he walked through the hall with its old-fashioned atmosphere, Okkotsu’s senses caught something.
".....!"
An intruder.
And an incredibly strong one.
[Yuta, what is it?]
"Rika, I need you to come out."
Okkotsu, nerves rising, drew his sword and ran toward the source of the presence.
He arrived at the most central room, where the Jujutsu Headquarters held its meetings.
Swallowing hard, Okkotsu opened the door.
"Oh, Okkotsu!"
"Hurry up and kill this guy!"
Inside, the Jujutsu Headquarters personnel were bound tightly in the air by black tentacles.
Not a speck of cursed energy could be felt from their bodies, no matter what had been done to them.
Following the source of the tentacles, Okkotsu’s eyes landed on a jellyfish made of black smoke.
'A curse...? No, a shikigami.'
He wasn’t exactly trying to save the higher-ups, but there was no guarantee the other side was friendly.
As Okkotsu touched the ring on his finger, Rika’s whining voice reached his ears.
[Yuta....]
"What is it, Rika?"
[I don’t like that thing....]
Even Rika was afraid of it.
Given the power he could feel and the unknown ability behind it, this was not an opponent to take lightly.
He must not attack recklessly.
"Who are you?"
With his Japanese sword in hand and his stance set, Okkotsu watched as a man walked forward with steady steps.
"Are you... Okkotsu-senpai?"
A school uniform with spiral buttons.
His face was hidden in shadow, but he was clearly a student of Jujutsu High.
"What are you doing! That guy’s the execution target!"
"Quiet. We’re talking."
Squeeze
As the jellyfish twisted its tentacles, the pressured old man from Jujutsu Headquarters fell silent.
The man walked closer to the tense Okkotsu, and his face came into view.
He was about the same height as Okkotsu.
Beneath his bangs swept cleanly back, a distorted burn scar showed itself.
After looking at Okkotsu with tired eyes for a moment, the man bowed his head politely.
"My name is Yoshino Junpei."
Special-grade sorcerer.
Haesin, Yoshino Junpei.
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