New Shadow Style [Simple Domain].
Draw-and-sheath sword—[Moonlit Wave].
In front of Yuji, who was charging straight at him, Kusakabe dropped to one knee and took a drawing stance.
In modern times, iaijutsu was considered to have almost no practical use, but that was a different story when the user was a sorcerer. The technique drew and cut down the enemy the instant they stepped into the range of the [Simple Domain]. It was basically an upgraded version of the one Miwa used at Kyoto Jujutsu High.
Yuji didn’t know the details, but his instincts told him he absolutely should not get close.
Boom
With his center of gravity pitched forward, Yuji faked a charge. Instead of ramming in, he kicked a stone from the ground and sent it flying at Kusakabe.
A boulder the size of a child’s head shot through the air like a soccer ball, aiming straight for Kusakabe.
Sshhk!
As expected, the moment it entered the range, the stone was sliced clean in half like tofu and bounced away.
But that also ruined the [Moonlit Wave] stance as the sword came free of its sheath, and Yuji’s fist drove in through the opening.
Clang!
It was a sound of impact so sharp it was hard to believe fist and sword had collided.
The two closed in at point-blank range and traded blows. Sword and fist crossed at nearly the same timing, each grazing the other’s body by a hair’s breadth.
Neither of them had a technique, so the fight was limited to hand-to-hand combat reinforced by pure cursed energy. And in that delicate balance, Yuji had the edge.
Thud!
"Damn, this kid’s heavy!"
Kusakabe’s hand shook as he parried Yuji’s kick with the base of his blade.
His career as a sorcerer couldn’t even be compared to Yuji’s, but their raw specs were on different levels. Even back when he was bad at handling cursed energy, Yuji had displayed physical ability on the level of Heavenly Restriction, smashing reinforced concrete with his bare hands.
Obviously Kusakabe couldn’t do that without cursed energy. Just deflecting Yuji’s powerful attacks was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat.
"This guy’s strong too, even without a technique like me...."
But Yuji couldn’t relax for even a second either.
Even if there was a gap in their physical abilities, bare hands versus a sword was never something to ignore.
In fact, several times already, sharp counters had come at him from unexpected angles.
Whoosh!
While Yuji was distracted by the sword, Kusakabe’s front kick came flying in. Yuji slipped to the side to dodge, then reached out and grabbed Kusakabe’s leg.
Wrapping his arm around the back of Kusakabe’s knee while pressing his body in close so the sword couldn’t come down, Yuji lowered his body and twisted.
Whirl, thud!
"Ghk!"
Thrown off balance, Kusakabe was dragged down by Yuji’s brute force and slammed face-first into the ground.
Pat-pat—Yuji quickly released the leg, climbed onto Kusakabe’s body, and took mount position before driving a fist down.
Bang!
Kusakabe reflexively tilted his head to avoid it, then switched his grip and brought the sword up in reverse.
Just before the blade could bury itself in Yuji’s left shoulder, a rough hand seized the hand holding the sword.
Grip....
Blood from the cut ran down, staining both men’s hands red.
Yuji, still on top, used both hands to seize Kusakabe’s wrist and force it down.
Kusakabe struggled with everything he had, trying not to let the sword be taken.
"If I lose the sword, I lose!"
Thump! Thump!
"......"
Even when he used his free hand to hammer Yuji’s side over and over, Yuji didn’t budge.
Kusakabe’s hand was being crushed by a grip that transcended human limits, and his face twisted in pain.
Just as the slick blood and crushing pressure began to drain the strength from his hand,
Chaaang♪!
An intangible sonic wave, carrying a bizarre melody, struck Yuji’s body.
The moment Yuji was blown back, Kusakabe immediately tried to get up and pursue him, but a follow-up attack arrived a beat late and aimed for his leg.
[Thousand Blood]
Piiing!
Kusakabe hurriedly deflected the attack with the side of his sword and swallowed hard at the terrifying piercing power.
Even though he had avoided a direct hit, the edge of the part he’d blocked with was already damaged. Without the [Simple Domain], the sword might have snapped.
"Get a grip, Kusakabe. What kind of disgrace is this?"
"I’m sorry, Principal Gakuganji."
Gakuganji, who had just saved him from danger by firing off that sonic wave, barked at him.
Despite the stern tone, the electric guitar slung over his shoulder and the punk rock T-shirt created such a strong sense of cognitive dissonance that it was hard to focus.
Kusakabe bit his lip and fiddled with his sword as he lamented inwardly.
"Damn it, I shouldn’t have come here. How did I end up in this mess?"
He had already thought something was off when Yaga, his benefactor, was restrained, and before he knew it, he had been assigned to the pursuit team chasing Itadori Yuji.
He didn’t exactly want to obey the higher-ups, but the old man with him was the problem.
Gakuganji, who had long and fervently demanded Itadori Yuji’s execution, had dragged Kusakabe along and actually found Yuji.
"Why don’t we just wait in front of the dorms? They probably haven’t even heard the order on this side."
"I was told that Cursed Womb: Death Paintings is with Itadori Yuji. We have to wipe that thing out too."
Even his habit of slacking off couldn’t beat the old man’s stubbornness.
So, with tears in his eyes and swallowing his pride, he followed the order-like instruction and stood off against the two men in front of him.
"Choso, you okay?"
"That old geezer’s a bad matchup for me."
Choso looked bad at a glance, while Gakuganji on the other side was spotless, not a speck of dirt on him.
At first, judging by the matchup, Choso had volunteered to keep an eye on Gakuganji, who seemed to be a long-range type, but that had quickly turned into a losing move.
"That sonic wave makes it hard to control my blood!"
Gakuganji’s technique was an acoustic attack that used his own body as an amplifier to boost and fire the melody of his guitar.
The amplified sound could be shaped however Gakuganji wanted, whether as slashes or shockwaves.
For Choso, who had to go through the [Hundred Refinements] process to fire [Thousand Blood], that was a fatal weakness.
Every time the sonic wave came in, the impact shook the compressed blood he had prepared, making control over [Thousand Blood] unstable.
Even if he tried to close the distance and settle things with [Crimson Scale Dance], getting close to Gakuganji while he was bombarding them from range with sonic attacks was no easy task.
There was no doubt the other side had burned through a lot of cursed energy too, but Choso’s body had already been wrecked for a long time.
(I think it’d be better as a two-on-two.)
(Why?)
(Even after I pinned you down, he couldn’t fire a sonic wave at me easily. His accuracy must be off. If Kusakabe-sensei is up front, he won’t be able to attack recklessly for fear of catching an ally in the blast.)
Choso nodded at the plausible strategy and watched his opponent’s movements.
Gakuganji still had his hand on the guitar strings. If he saw any sign that Choso was about to charge [Thousand Blood], he would attack again with that bizarre performance.
Since Yuji and Choso showed no sign of moving rashly, Kusakabe and Gakuganji also tensed up and tried to read the other side’s strategy.
(Kusakabe. Don’t rush in first. If this turns into a brawl, I won’t be able to intervene easily.)
(Understood.)
After glaring at each other for a while, they entered a brief stalemate.
"Stop resisting and come quietly, Itadori Yuji. I’ll end this without pain."
"No thanks."
Yuji shook his head, and Gakuganji’s roar shook the air.
"People are dying because you’re alive! Don’t think you can hide it. I’ve already been briefed on what happened in Shibuya."
"....."
"Fine. I’ll be generous and let it slide since there were no victims that time. But what guarantee do we have it won’t happen again next time?"
I’m not some idealist like that Gojo bastard or Yaga.
They probably believed you could handle Sukuna. And if that really happened, nothing would be better.
But people like me have to stay cold and rely on clear evidence.
"This isn’t because your backer, Gojo Satoru, is gone. It’s simply because the signs show you can’t fully control Sukuna."
"I understand what you mean, old man."
"......."
Yuji knew it too.
He knew Gakuganji was different from the other higher-ups, who simply couldn’t stand the fact that he existed.
Even so, he couldn’t just obediently die here as Gakuganji wished.
"I still haven’t done everything I have to do."
He had a promise with Gojo Satoru.
He had debts owed to the friends who had helped him.
He had his grandfather’s last words.
If he fell here without repaying any of it properly, then everything left behind by the people who believed in him would be for nothing.
Even if it was nothing more than a filthy excuse or self-comfort, he still had to find a reason to live.
"There’ll be more and more people who need you."
"You’re the one who showed me there’s no one in this world who has to die."
Nana-min and Junpei had both affirmed him like that.
Until all the connections that gave a bomb like him the confidence to keep living were cut off, he couldn’t stop.
"Even if dying here is what I’m supposed to do, I still don’t want to give up."
"...I see. Then there’s no helping it."
If they couldn’t understand each other, then they had no choice but to curse each other.
Gakuganji’s fingers plucked the guitar strings, and explosive cursed energy burst from his body.
His target was not Yuji, but Choso, who had been stalling this whole time while compressing his blood.
Bang!
"Gah!"
"Choso!"
Struck by the shockwave and sent flying backward, Choso fired a sphere of blood from his hand.
Its surface trembled and warped slightly from the sonic wave, but the sphere still held its shape.
"That’s not [Thousand Blood]! What is that?"
Gakuganji reacted too late because this was a different method than before.
As Kusakabe, sword in hand, rushed in from the front, the unstable sphere of blood exploded.
Choso’s secret move, honed through 150 years of self-checks and countless mental rehearsals.
[Supernova]
Boom!
The maximum-output [Supernova] Choso had manifested in his fight with Megumi, using the extreme recoil from compressed blood.
It was in a state where even a light touch would make it explode, and it reacted with Gakuganji’s sonic wave, bursting in every direction.
"Agh!"
"Kusakabe!"
Gakuganji, who had been farther back, took relatively little damage, but Kusakabe, who had been used as a meat shield, was another story.
Hit point-blank by [Supernova], Kusakabe collapsed in a mangled heap from the impact.
Beyond his failing body, Yuji came into Gakuganji’s view, charging in.
"You little bastard!"
He had given them a chance to surrender until the very end, and yet they still chose the wrong move. Gakuganji’s fury exploded.
He raised the pick above his head and began mercilessly shredding the guitar strings in a violent pose.
Rattle-rattle-rang♪
"!"
Unlike before, the attack did not fire all at once.
Gakuganji’s inhuman performance, packed with a burning rock spirit of rage, continued as the air around him warped.
Before long, compressed notes of cursed energy rose above his head and vibrated fiercely.
Maximum Technique—
Hendrix Shock
The reason Gakuganji was called a reversed sorcerer.
A technique that struck the inside of the body with high-output amplified cursed energy, shaking the interior to pieces.
"Yuji! Dodge it!"
Choso’s urgent shout reached him, and with the sensation of time slowing, a note came flying toward Yuji.
Literally the speed of sound. It wasn’t something he could dodge easily.
Judging from how long it took to charge, Gakuganji probably couldn’t fire this kind of attack recklessly. With that calculation in mind, Yuji decided he’d just give up one limb if he had to.
Just as he raised both cursed-energy-wrapped hands to defend, someone watching from the sidelines intervened.
Clap!
With the sound of a clap, his position was switched.
The note, having lost its target, flew backward and shattered the pillar supporting the overpass, and through the opening, a man leaped down.
"Principal, if you lay a hand on my brother too.... I can’t forgive that."
"Todo!"
"I’m here, brother. You can relax now!"
Topknot. Bare chest. A massive frame packed with bulging muscle.
Todo Aoi, third-year at Kyoto Jujutsu High, had arrived.
"You planning to interfere, Todo?"
"If you mean hurting my brother, absolutely."
"...You and that other one, both of you!"
"I want to go home...."
Seeing the intruder, Gakuganji twisted his brows and pulled a pager from his pocket, pressing the button.
The signal went out, and immediately he could feel presences gathering in the distance.
Kusakabe, sprawled out flat on his back, made an unhappy face, but Gakuganji ignored him.
"What did you do?"
"The pursuit team isn’t just me. Okkotsu Yuta has been appointed as the executioner, but Headquarters is serious about this too."
"!"
"I didn’t want to go this far either. Why do you keep making the situation worse?"
While time dragged on, the other members of the pursuit team began to appear one by one.
From the feel of their cursed energy, every one of them was clearly at semi-grade 1 or above.
"This is going to be tough."
"Yes. It certainly will be. But brother, you and I can break through this obstacle!"
"You, you’ve been calling yourself Yuji’s brother all this time. Who exactly are you?"
"Huh? Who’s this pale-looking bastard?"
"Shut up, gorilla! How dare you try to steal my place!"
Even in this serious situation, Choso and Todo were spouting nonsense and trying to pick a fight with each other, so Yuji stepped in to stop them.
"Enough! Is this really the time for us to be fighting each other?"
""Tch!""
Yuji looked at the pursuit team lining up in formation and swallowed the words he’d been about to say.
"If they had that many people, then why during Shibuya...."
They must have been holed up at home, worried the main base would be hit.
If even half of them had been there back then, Nanami wouldn’t have died, and Maki-senpai wouldn’t have ended up in critical condition.
It wasn’t exactly Yuji’s place to complain, considering he’d almost caused a major disaster by failing to control Sukuna, but he couldn’t help feeling bitter.
"One last time. Are you still going to fight?"
"Do you even need to ask, old man?"
Seeing that their fighting spirit had not died down, Gakuganji sighed and waved his hand, giving the order to attack.
Pat, pat, pat!
The pursuit team, their momentum rising, charged at the three men.
"Blood brothers, fireeeeeee!!!!!!"
"Uoooooh!! Takada-chan, lend me your strength!!!"
Just as the two of them, fully resolved, were about to collide,
Crash!
A blue beam slammed down into the center and shook the ground.
The immense force carved out a huge crater, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Neither side knew whether it was an enemy attack or a friendly one, so both stopped in combat stance and backed away. Through the dust, a man and a woman appeared.
"The bell of the Gion Shōja."
"Echoes the truth of all things are impermanent."
Seeing the faces of the new arrivals, Yuji’s group lit up, while the higher-ups facing them froze.
The woman looked fairly strong too, but the real problem was the man.
The moment he appeared, he radiated an overwhelming presence that crushed the room. From him, Yuji could feel a power so immense it was untouchable.
"The petals of the twin sal trees."
"Reveal the truth that the prosperous must eventually perish."
A burn scar covering the right side of his forehead.
Brown hair cut to shoulder length.
"However!"
""Except for us.""
Kugisaki Nobara and Yoshino Junpei.
They had arrived on the battlefield.
"What the hell did you do, Gojo Satoru...!"
He had been strong during the exchange event, but not a monster on that level.
It was obvious Gojo Satoru had prepared a backup plan for the moment he was gone.
As Gakuganji’s misunderstanding deepened, Junpei looked around the battlefield and declared,
"From this moment on, if anyone moves even one step without my permission, I’ll kill them."
No one could refute that.
They knew the man in front of them actually had the power to make good on that threat.
"I don’t get any of this anymore......"
Only Kusakabe, who had been lying around slacking off in peace, shook his head helplessly.
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