After the long commotion had finally died down, they got down to the serious business of making a plan.
Mai brought up the most important issue with a calm expression.
"We need to decide the lineup."
From the moment they stepped into the Culling Game, they would become players, so they had to choose carefully.
In a place where you couldn’t survive unless you took other people’s lives, throwing in too many people would only poison the well.
Besides, if they wanted to secure 1000 points with limited human resources, a small elite force was far better.
And since there was no peaceful way to transfer points, they had to avoid putting comrades in situations where they’d be forced into high-scoring fights.
"I’m prepared to kill people."
Even if everyone hesitated, their hands were already raised.
"Who can use anti-domain measures or [Cursed technique reversal]?"
From the powerful sorcerers who had been incarnated in the past to the modern sorcerers who might still be hiding some unknown potential.
Since they had to push through difficult battles to achieve their goal, only sorcerers above a certain level should be included.
Toge, Panda, Noritoshi, Momo, Miwa, and Nitta lowered their hands.
"Me too?"
"Yuji, you’re already a player. You don’t get a choice."
"Maki can’t use cursed energy either."
"My sister counts as an inanimate object, so she’s immune to sure-hit effects."
"Your sister?"
"Right now, she’s Mai."
There was a brief argument, but in the end the lineup was trimmed down, and there weren’t many people left.
On the Tokyo side, it was the four first-years, Okkotsu, and the Maki/Mai sisters.
On the Kyoto side, only Todo.
"I can imitate [Cursed technique reversal] to a certain extent with [Crimson Blood Manipulation]. I’m sure I’ll be useful."
"You are definitely strong."
"But who are you?"
"For now... he’s my brother."
"Yu, Yujiiiii!!!!"
Once Choso was added for overall combat strength, the total came to eight.
The faculty decided not to participate because of outside issues.
"The upper brass has been wiped out, so someone has to replace them. We’re buried under the aftermath of the Shibuya Incident, civilian evacuations, negotiations with the government, and a mountain of other work. We can’t afford to leave our posts."
"We’ll probably need to negotiate with foreign leadership too."
"...Sorry it looks like we’re the only ones sitting this out."
Utahime lowered her head with a troubled expression, but the students waved it off.
"Don’t say that. Everyone has their role."
It sounded like a slightly desperate excuse, but it wasn’t wrong.
In fact, the jujutsu world and the surrounding neighborhoods were still a mess, and someone needed to stay behind and hold the line.
The students’ overall combat power had already surpassed the teachers’, so there was no need to drag them along.
If there was anyone worth bringing, it would be someone like Kusakabe.
"Why me?"
"Aren’t you the strongest grade-one sorcerer?"
"Stop trying to wriggle out of it and get over here."
When Mai barked at him, tears welled at the corners of Kusakabe’s eyes.
"......"
"Are you crying?"
"I am crying."
Crying didn’t change the fact that he had to go.
They couldn’t afford to watch him slack off at a time like this.
In the end, a total of nine people would head into the colony.
"I’ll gather all 1000 points myself. The rest of you can just... you know."
"I know. Kill people."
"Don’t die. You just have to hold out until the first round is over."
Junpei would be the one to receive the pooled points.
He was the strongest, and the one best suited to this role because he could definitely beat Kenjaku.
The others would just need to hunt down one person each and rack up points.
Megumi already had an idea about when they should enter the colony.
"You come in later. We’ll gather intel until then."
"...That would definitely mean fewer people die."
"There’ll definitely be people who’ve already piled up a few hundred points. We just need to go headhunting."
That was why he would be deployed later.
He’d be wandering around alone, but that wasn’t a problem. No matter how strong another player was, none of them would be able to beat him.
In other words, he was a joker card who could overturn the board all by himself.
"Next is Tsukumo Yuki’s persuasion, right?"
"I’ll go first. I’m the only one here who knows her. I’m weaker than the rest, but in terms of compatibility, I’ve got the advantage over my teacher."
"Then Todo and I will go together."
To face a special grade, they needed special-grade firepower on their side too.
Following Todo, Okkotsu would join the group.
"I’ll go too."
"Why?"
"If Sukuna pops out again, then aside from Junpei, only Okkotsu-senpai can suppress him."
Yuji raised his hand with a solemn expression, but Nobara stopped him.
"What about me?"
In her hand was one of Sukuna’s fingers, confiscated earlier from the Hasaba sisters.
"Ah!"
Nobara’s [Resonance] would work on Sukuna.
Remembering that, Yuji nodded and lowered his hand.
"Then Kusakabe-sensei should go too."
"Me?"
"Stop pretending to be an idiot."
"...Understood."
So the task of persuading and subduing Tsukumo Yuki would be handled by Todo, Okkotsu, and Kusakabe.
"Leave the search for the Angel and the escort to me. With Nue and Divine Dogs, I should be able to find them quickly."
"I’ll stick with Fushiguro too. I can heal from a distance, so I should stay back."
"Then I’ll stay with Kugisaki and head that way too."
"Itadori, that sounds a little weird."
"?"
Megumi, Nobara, and Yuji would handle the search for and escort of the most important person of all: the Angel.
That left only two people and one mission.
"I’ll take responsibility for hunting down Kenjaku."
"I’d rather go that way too. I have a duty to avenge my mother, who was half me."
Choso and the Maki/Mai sisters would go after Kenjaku, but there was one thing that worried them.
Kenjaku’s abilities were above special grade.
No matter how much stronger Maki and Mai had become, and no matter how strong Choso was, this wasn’t something just two people could handle alone.
For a sure victory, they needed a more careful division of labor.
"Maybe I should go with Maki instead."
"Then we’d have a gap in the force assigned to Tsukumo. Where would Okkotsu go?"
"Hmm..."
Tsukumo Yuki and Kenjaku.
Either way, neither was an opponent they could afford to underestimate.
While they were worrying about where to assign Okkotsu, their strongest asset after Junpei, Okkotsu suddenly came up with an idea.
"Ah, there’s Hakari."
The third-year on suspension, and a grade-one sorcerer.
He should be able to fill the gap left by Okkotsu.
"Hakari?"
"Hakari Kinji. He’s a suspended third-year."
"He’s trustworthy enough."
At the mention of Hakari’s name, Todo recalled the exchange event from the past.
He was the only man on the Tokyo side who had been able to go toe-to-toe with him.
With his [technique], he wouldn’t be lacking when it came to facing the teacher.
"Is that guy strong?"
When Junpei asked, hearing a name he didn’t know, Okkotsu grinned and nodded.
"He’s a bit inconsistent, but when he’s on a roll, he’s stronger than me."
"That’s not true."
As Mai cut him off at once, Hakari was definitely not stronger than Okkotsu, but in some ways he had advantages over him.
In that case, it would be better to send Okkotsu after Kenjaku and have Hakari join the group that would face Tsukumo.
Uraume, who had vanished somewhere after the Shibuya Incident, was also a concern.
Against Kenjaku, whose [technique] might still have more tricks hidden up his sleeve, Okkotsu would be the better choice because he was good at reading the board.
"Okkotsu, go after Kenjaku with Mai and that pale bastard. The teacher, Kusakabe-sensei, and Hakari will go meet Tsukumo."
"My name is Choso!"
"Don’t care."
While Todo and Choso bickered, Okkotsu came over and tapped Junpei on the shoulder.
"We’ll enter the colony first. If you come in at the right time, we’ll tell you where the high-scoring players are."
"Got it. Kokane?"
"Why are you calling me!"
"Can the player roster be made public too?"
"It can! However, information other than whether they’re alive and how many points they have will not be disclosed!"
He’d figured as much.
To keep the small number of strong players from settling into a stalemate, there had to be enough incentive.
It was an indispensable rule if they wanted to turn the point-hungry competitors against each other.
"That’s enough."
"Come into the barrier with Hakari. We’ll be waiting."
"...Please, Okkotsu-senpai."
With a tired smile, Okkotsu returned to his seat.
Yaga, who had been sitting in the seat of honor, stood up and slammed his hand on the desk with unusual energy.
"All right, then. It looks like everything’s been settled. Everyone except Yoshino will enter the colony tomorrow. Split into teams according to your assigned roles and carry out your missions!"
Okkotsu, the Maki/Mai sisters, and Choso would hunt down Kenjaku and Uraume.
Itadori, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki would search for and escort the Angel.
Todo and Kusakabe would meet up with Hakari when he arrived later, then go find Tsukumo Yuki.
"Yoshino, after the others go in, bring Hakari in through the barrier, check the roster, then enter the colony and hunt down the high-scoring players."
There was no need to feel too guilty.
Those guys were all basically murderers who had killed dozens of people.
"That concludes the meeting. We’re fighting starting tomorrow, so get some good rest tonight!"
At Yaga’s dismissal, the sorcerers got up and headed back.
Back in his room, Junpei lay down on his bed and began to think over the job he had been given.
"1000 points."
Pooling the points, obtaining the authority of the game master, and bringing the Culling Game to an end.
Since he had to earn the points entirely on his own, he couldn’t count on anyone else in battle.
It would be a lonely fight.
"I’ll gather 1000 points by myself and end the game."
Gojo, who had walked alone into Shibuya, must have been thinking the same thing.
Only after reaching the same height as him did Junpei begin to understand what had been waiting there.
The crushing expectations and stares.
The compulsion to live up to them.
The fear of failure.
Because Junpei had started from the very bottom instead of being born strong, he felt those emotions all the more sharply.
He couldn’t talk to anyone else about this.
-You can do it.
He had to remain an icon of hope, someone who could inspire unshakable belief.
That was the weight carried by the name "the strongest."
It wasn’t that he was lonely or that he didn’t understand other people, or anything so pitiful as that...
"This is a little heavy."
But he had to do it.
If someone had to do it, Junpei thought it should be him.
That was the duty as a sorcerer now placed on his shoulders.
-Devour it.
Then he would devour it, just as he was told.
100 people, 200 people.
Between his two clasped hands, Junpei’s eyes gleamed with a chilling light.
-------------------------------------
Late at night.
Footsteps sounded in front of Junpei’s room as he drifted in and out of sleep.
-Creeeeak....
The intruder opened the door with a soft sound and slipped inside, creeping toward Junpei.
Apparently unaware that he was still awake, the closer the figure came, the bolder the footsteps became.
"Who...?"
Junpei slowly opened his eyes and tried to make out the intruder’s face, but the darkness made it hard to see.
The figure was smaller than him. Not Megumi, and not Yuji either, since both were taller than Junpei.
Who on earth would sneak into the boys’ dormitory at this hour?
-Rustle....
He could hear the intruder breathing right in front of him now.
A cautious hand reached toward Junpei’s face, and at that moment he snapped his eyes open and grabbed the hand hard.
"Eek....!"
"??"
Junpei was stunned by the familiar voice.
The slender wrist trapped in his rough grip let out a pained cry.
"That hurts...!"
"Nobara?"
He had no idea why she was sneaking into the boys’ dormitory in the middle of the night.
"Why are you here?"
"We were busy with the meeting today, and tomorrow we won’t be able to see each other. I just thought we could talk for a bit..."
When he looked closer, Nobara’s cheeks were flushed red.
As his eyes adjusted to the dark and her damp expression came into view, Junpei’s heart began to pound.
"No way, right...?"
Something like this had happened once before, but they had really just slept together and that was it.
After that, he’d decided to empty his mind and wait calmly.
Junpei, still half doubtful, met her eyes.
"...Talk about what?"
"Just, you know... whether 1000 points is possible, that kind of thing...?"
"That’s a weird thing to ask."
There was no way she had come all the way here just to ask that.
His suspicion slowly turned into certainty, and at last Junpei decided to test Nobara one more time.
"Tell me honestly. Could it be that you have some other idea in mind...?"
-Thump!
Before Junpei could finish, Nobara shoved him back onto the bed with both hands.
Perched atop the bewildered Junpei, she let out a trembling breath.
Her always-proud expression was a mess of embarrassment and excitement.
"Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"......."
"I came to comfort you before you left. If something goes wrong, we might never see each other again..."
That settled it.
She had come to his room with those kinds of intentions.
Realizing that Nobara had been trying, in her own way, to seduce him, an unknown force surged up from deep inside Junpei’s body.
-Whoosh!
"Huh?!"
"Don’t regret it."
Junpei flipped her over and pinned her beneath him, a low growl rumbling in his throat.
He had held back for so long.
When she kept barging into his room without a trace of caution, when her chest brushed against his arm during dates—
Now that he had been given a chance to claim the body he had always imagined, Junpei’s masculinity had awakened his instincts.
"Y-you...!"
For a moment, Nobara was flustered by the ferocious side of Junpei she had never seen before, but then she forced a crooked smile.
Even with her arms pinned and her body trapped beneath his, she was still trying not to lose her composure. It was both ridiculous and adorable.
"Y-you’ve grown up."
"I was always bigger than you."
"Hurry up and do it already. You’re not some useless bastard who can’t even eat what’s put in front of him, are you?"
It was a very Nobara kind of provocation.
And the kind of provocation men least wanted to endure.
"No. Not at all."
Junpei and Nobara’s lips met.
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