…
At the same time, amidst a flowing crowd on a busy street in Tokyo—
A few strange-looking cursed spirits stood on the roadside alongside a man dressed in an eccentric outfit, clearly a jujutsu sorcerer.
Normally, cursed spirits and humans were natural enemies. Yet here they were, standing together in harmony. If any other sorcerer saw this, they would be absolutely shocked.
One of the cursed spirits, who had a head like a volcano, said,
"Seriously, was it really necessary to waste one of those precious fingers just to assess a jujutsu sorcerer's strength?"
The man responded calmly,
"There's no point in guessing if you can't confirm it. But it wasn't a complete waste—we did gain something."
"Oh? I sure didn't see anything worthwhile. It took her thirty whole minutes to defeat that cursed spirit. A complete weakling who barely scraped into the special grade category because of Sukuna's finger. What's so special about someone like that?"
"Well, while that girl may seem ridiculously weak from your perspective, that battle allowed me to see her value."
"Value? What value?"
"Didn't you notice anything strange about her power?"
"What's strange about it? She's weak as hell."
"Exactly. And it's because she's weak that it stands out as strange."
"…What do you mean?"
"Do you really think someone with her level of power could defeat that cursed spirit?"
"Hmm…" Volcano-head fell silent, deep in thought.
Behind them, a tall cursed spirit with tree-like antlers growing from its eyes muttered something unintelligible:
"￥%..."
"Shut up! I don't understand a single word you're saying!"
"Now, now, no need to get mad," the man chuckled. "Hanami was just saying: even though that cursed spirit was weak, it was still a special grade.
Given that girl's power, she shouldn't have been able to defeat it. But she did.
If we use Sukuna's finger as a power metric, then that cursed spirit had the strength equivalent to one of Sukuna's fingers. That girl, at best, had only half a finger's worth of strength.
So tell me—how does half a finger defeat a whole finger? That's exactly what piqued my curiosity."
"Heh. Maybe she just knows some weird, specialized jujutsu?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought at first too. So I reached out to one of our informants. But the info I got was… unexpected.
According to the report, after that battle, the girl didn't have a single scratch on her. Not even a tiny wound. How's that possible?
Half a finger defeats one whole finger… and she walks away without a mark?
Even if she did use some kind of special jujutsu to temporarily boost her power, a technique like that would've come with major side effects. There's no way she'd come out of it completely unharmed."
"Still, that's the truth. Don't you think it's strange?"
"…It is. But is that really worth going through all this trouble? If you're curious, why not just capture her and get it over with?"
"Such mortal wisdom."
"What?!"
"Apologiescursed mortal wisdom."
"WHAT?!" Volcano-head was clearly pissed off now.
"￥%..."
"I already told you to stop talking!!"
"Now, now, no need to get so worked up. Hanami's just trying to give you some friendly advice."
"Ridiculous! Two young punks bullying an old man—where's the honor?"
"You're just too impulsive. That girl belongs to Gojo Satoru, you know. She's not someone you can just grab on a whim. You might reach out to snatch her, and the next second—bam! Gojo kills you on the spot."
"Ugh, enough with the Gojo Satoru worship already. Everyone hypes up his strength. Is he really that strong?"
"Haha, of course he is. You just haven't seen it with your own eyes yet.
That's why we can't make a move until we've figured out exactly what's going on with that girl. No rash decisions until we've got a solid plan."
Volcano-head clicked his tongue. "So? Did this little operation clear anything up for you?"
The man shrugged. "Meh… it's still a bundle of mysteries."
"Great. So all of this was for nothing? A whole Sukuna finger, wasted?"
"Not entirely. We still gained a bit of insight."
"Like what?"
"I have two theories. First—the girl's been hiding her true strength, which would explain how she took out that trash without getting hurt."
"No kidding."
"Second—and this is the one I'm leaning toward more strongly—she's in possession of a cursed tool. One that enhances a person's power significantly."
"A cursed tool?"
"Exactly. One capable of massively boosting strength. And what's more—it likely has the ability to be shared with others."
"And how the hell do you know that? You weren't even there when the fight went down. You're making all these assumptions based on one battle?"
"You're right—I wasn't there. But this intel comes from my earlier surveillance… on her companions. Another group of jujutsu sorcerers."
"…What?"
"Sounds like you weren't in the loop. Not long ago, Gojo Satoru made a trip out to the countryside and brought back two new students. One is that girl, and the other is a boy named Itadori Yuji.
With them, plus the two who'd already passed the official test—Kugisaki Nobara and Fushiguro Megumi—Jujutsu High now has four first-year students."
"You sure know a lot."
"Of course. They're our enemies, after all. Ever heard the saying, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated'? Besides, I'm human—gathering intel is a hell of a lot easier for me than it is for you."
"Pfft."
"Back to the point—just a few days ago, those three kids went to a spirit house on West Street for an exorcism job. That's when I first noticed something was off.
That Itadori Yuji kid—he was using power and speed way beyond his natural limits. And what's more—there didn't seem to be any side effects."
Ever since then, I've been curious—because as far as I know, there's no such cheat-like cursed technique in the world of jujutsu.
And sure enough, when they were talking, they mentioned that the power came from a cursed item given to them by their companion—the blonde girl.
And from the sound of it, she seems to have a lot of those cursed items in her possession.
That's why I set up this whole operation—to verify Itadori Yuji's claim.
And the result didn't disappoint me. That girl really is suspicious."
Volcano-head asked, "Even if she has something like that, would it actually work on us? On curses like us? And even if it works, would it really have an effect on special grades like us?"
"…I don't know."
"Huh!?"
"Haha, come on, don't look at me like that. I'm not a god—I can't know everything."
"￥%"
"Exactly. So next, I plan to craft a thorough and precise plan… to capture that blonde girl."
"￥%..."
Volcano-head shouted in frustration, "Shut up already! No one can understand a single damn word you're saying!"
"As for Gojo Satoru… yes, he's definitely a concern. But according to my intel, that girl seems to be a real do-gooder.
She runs around the city every day, tirelessly exorcising curses that just keep popping up. Honestly, that kind of spirit—I admire it."
The man narrowed his eyes and gave a dangerous smile. "But you know… sometimes, doing good things can end up hurting yourself."
A plan was already forming in his mind.
…
A few of them walked into a restaurant.
"Welcome! Table for one?"
The man nodded. "Yes. One."
The waiter completely ignored the other curses—after all, regular humans can't see them.
They sat down and started chatting casually, their topic drifting to other matters.
"…So basically, your boss wants to overturn the current roles of humans and curses, right?"
"More or less, but there's a bit more to it. Humans lie with every word. Their emotions and actions on the surface always hide something underneath.
But negative emotions—hatred, malice, killing intent—those are undeniable truths.
We curses, born from that truth, are the pure ones—the real humans. The fakes should disappear!"
"Yet as it stands now, it's you who are being exterminated."
"Which is why I'm asking you—how can we defeat the jujutsu sorcerers?"
The man replied, "Before the war begins, if you can fulfill two conditions, victory is guaranteed."
"…And what are those two conditions?"
//END
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