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"An unregistered Special Grade cursed spirit?"
Currently, an important meeting between high-ranking jujutsu sorcerers was taking place.
"Yes. A new Special Grade cursed spirit with no prior records was discovered yesterday. The scale of destruction caused by it far exceeds that of normal Special Grade curses."
Naoya pressed the remote, and the projector lit up, displaying images of the destruction caused by the lava-based cursed spirit.
Present in the meeting room were:
Satoru, Naoya, Yaga, Gakuganji, Nanami, Mei Mei, Kusakabe, Utahime, and Todo.
The people were the current Grade 1 and higher-ranked sorcerers who were functioning from Jujutsu High.
Other people should have been present, but were currently off on a mission and will be briefed later.
"Who was the one who made contact? And what about the casualties?" Kusakabe asked with a serious look on his face. Depending on who dealt with the curse, the danger should already be over, and he might not even need to deal with such a dangerous enemy.
"I did, there were no people nearby, so there are no casualties."
Hearing Satoru speak, the rest of the ignorant people gave a nod and thought that the danger was already past them.
Kusakabe mentally sighed in relief.
'Gojo, ever the reliable one to get us out of danger,' thought Kusakabe.
Naoya, sensing the hopeful aura in the room, immediately decided to reel the seriousness back in.
"Don't be too hopeful. This idiot let the curse escape."
*SMACK*
Naoya smacked Satoru without hesitation.
"Ouch! I call it them making a tactical retreat after facing the mighty me."
"That doesn't change the fact that the danger is on the loose!"
Naoya yelled at Satoru.
The rest of the sorcers gave a nod.
'F*CK YOU GOJO!!!!' thought Kusakabe and facepalmed. He hated dangerous situations with every fibre of his being.
"Gojo, how exactly did a curse escape from you? Was it really that strong?"
Nanami asked curiously. Better to know about the curse's abilities and description before facing it.
Naoya stopped yelling and gave Satoru the stage.
"Go ahead. Tell them."
Satoru glared at Naoya before he looked at the rest of them with a serious look on his face.
The other sorcerers tensed, seeing the Special Grade getting serious.
Satoru gave a fake cough for the dramatic effect.
Kusakabe gulped. Was it that bad?
"No comments."
With a totally serious expression, Satoru sat back on his chair.
"..."
"..."
"..."
There was a loud silence in the room after that.
A moment later, a vein popped up on everyone's forehead except for Mei Mei and Todo.
Kusakabe's hands twitched, wanting to take out their weapons and strike the eye mask asshole.
Yaga was already getting ready to do a German suplex on the idiot.
Gakuganji was oozing murderous intent and wanted to strike Gojo.
Naoya was rubbing his forehead with annoyance before he turned towards the screen once again.
"Forget it. Nothing can be changed now about how this idiot handled the curse. What you guys need to know is this-"
Naoya started explaining what was needed to be known about the curse, its shown abilities, its appearance, its intelligence, and most importantly, how it was specifically targeting Gojo.
"I don't want to point out the obvious, but I don't think this curse is working alone. Knowing about Gojo and where he will be at that time... it makes me believe that there is a mole within the Jujutsu division and that mole is actively in cahoots with this curse or, if things are too bad, an organisation that is targeting us."
Naoya ended that with a serious look on his face.
Gojo was not at the school, the usual spot where he could be found, but despite that, the curse knew where to find him alone.
If this didn't scream that someone from their side fed the information to the other party, then Naoya didn't know what to make of this whole situation.
"It could also be that the curse had a way to keep track of their target's location?" Yaga mentioned.
"It could be, and I hope that it is that. That is our best-case scenario. If it is what I mentioned, then we are, excuse my crass language, royally screwed. Not only are our movements and locations tracked, but they also have full access to almost each and everyone's record. What we are like when we are off duty, what missions we accomplished and how we did that, the skillset that we have shown to the people, and I don't know what else."
Naoya's tone was grim. Not that there was no reason for it not to be.
The rest of the people turned dead serious as well. Information played a vital role during battles; by withholding information, they were able to set up win conditions.
"I don't think that is the case; the curse didn't seem to process how his attacks weren't harming me. He didn't have an inkling of what my technique was. And not to brag, the Gojo clan's [Limitless] is one of the most popular techniques out there."
Hearing Gojo's input, a flash of hope appeared in the room.
"Then perhaps the mole, if one exists, doesn't have access to high-level classified information," Gakuganji concluded.
The other gave it a thought and nodded.
Naoya stood up and switched on the lights before moving towards a whiteboard and started writing with the marker.
"We either don't have a mole, or they simply possess a way to track their targets with a technique or something."
"We have a mole, but they are not a high-level individual."
"We have a mole/moles who have access to quite some info on the proceedings of the Jujutsu division, but the curse that attacked Satoru was not given the said information...."
As Naoya wrote the third point, he turned to others.
"What do you guys think of the third possibility?"
The people thought about it. It could be possible, but why?
"Possible. As Big Brother and Gojo-san mentioned, the curse seemed to be highly intelligent, right? But despite that, it acted in shock at his inability to attack Gojo-san. It might be that the curse and the group with the information are two entirely different entities." Todo quipped in.
That made the rest of the shocked. People working in tandem with curses?
That was an entirely different kind of trouble.
"It might be that the people who had information on Gojo simply kept it from curse to either test it....or to make it known that there is no chance to suppress Gojo alone and have the curse work for them," Mei added.
Another dangerous possibility has been added to this mix.
By now, Kusakabe already felt that he would puke from all the tension he was feeling.
Naoya noted everyone's point on the whiteboard. The things were not known to them, but having the worst possible outcome, there was better for all of them than just being hopeful that everything was a fluke.
"Damn. Such elaborate planning... and they still got beaten senseless by me. Just how amazing am I?"
Without hesitation, Naoya used [Frame Drop] on the marker and let it hit Satoru.
"We would have been way better off if you had either caught or killed the curse from yesterday!!!"
"Ow! Don't be mean to me! It is because of me that you even know that the curse exists; if it had been any of them, they would have been dead!"
At Satoru's words, the rest of the room turned serious.
Just looking at the aftermath of the destruction, told them that the battle was quite something. It might be that Gojo just went overboard and caused all that on his own, but if that was not the case, then the curse made Gojo go that far and that in itself meant that the curse was far stronger than they could even assume.
Naoya sighed.
What Satoru told was indeed true.
The whole situation felt off to Naoya, and he really didn't want the whole thing to unfold.
Whatever it was, he felt that the world would be better if they nipped off the bud before the whole mess blooms.
-----
The meeting ended, and the high-grade sorcerers present began to leave.
Todo looked at his phone; there was still time.
"I need to get ready to meet Takada-chan at the fan meet and greet."
Because of this sudden meeting, schools in both Tokyo and Kyoto were closed, and even Mai decided to tag along to meet Maki.
Todo was going to get Mai.
As her senior, mentor, and big brother figure, and most importantly as a fan, it was his responsibility to get Mai to understand how great an experience meeting Takada-chan was.
As he walked through the Tokyo Jujutsu High compound, he spotted Mai on the way.
"Done with your stuff?"
"Yeah, Maki and the others are busy preparing for the Goodwill event."
Mai replied casually.
The info made Todo remember that they would be having their next goodwill event soon.
'Wait. This will be my last Goodwill event...'
The realisation hit Todo hard. After this year, he won't be able to battle to his heart's content with other sorcerers.
'The third years are suspended....that only leaves Okkotsu....'
Todo frowned.
This year's match-up could be boring without the third years.
"Would Tokyo even have enough students?"
"Ah, you mean the third years, right? Maki told me that the first years were training, meaning that they will most likely participate to fill in the numbers."
"First years..."
Would the inexperienced juniors be even worth the fight?
Todo's evaluation of this year's fight seemed to be going down.
As the two were walking, they came across an unfamiliar group of students.
Mai though knew one of them.
"Oh, if it isn't Megumi~ Surprise and happy to see me?"
Mai called in a sweet tone.
Megumi's neutral face immediately turned to that of a frown.
"Gh! Why are you here?!"
Megumi asked. For better or worse, he was close to Maki and Mai.
The two were reliable aunts who were closer in age, felt like sisters, and had a lot of fun moments together.
But there was no denying that, while growing up and even now, the two teased him a lot as well.
Mai's smile twitched at his response, and she immediately walked up to him and was about to grab him.
Megumi grabbed her hand midway.
"What are you doing in front of everyone?!"
"Is that how you react after seeing me?! You ungrateful brat!!!"
The aunt and nephew started arguing immediately.
"Fushiguro, you know her?" Itadori asked.
"Woah, her uniform is so cute~ Hey, can you tell me how you got the cutesy summer uniform?" Nobara asked.
"Mai? Are these guys the first years?" Todo asked.
"Hm? Yeah? So?"
Mai stopped fighting Megumi, making the boy sigh and lower his hands.
Though that was the moment he messed up.
Mai immediately grabbed his cheeks and pulled them as hard as she could.
"Ow ow ow! Let go you violent witch!!!!"
"Is that how I raised you?!"
*CLAP!!!*
While this was happening, a loud clap echoed.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards Todo, who clapped out of nowhere.
"If you are the first years, then you must be Megumi Fushiguro."
Megumi, still in Mai's grasp, gave a nod.
"Good, it's better if we get things sorted here. Megumi Fushiguro! What kind of woman is your type?!"
"Huh?!"
A collective sound of confusion escaped the Tokyo first years' mouths.
"You two, Sukuna's vessel. Yuji Itadori, right? What kind of woman is your type?!"
Todo asked the same question to Yuji as well.
Mai let go of Megumi.
Knowing the little sea urchin who grew up along with her, she knew that he would be getting beaten after he gave his answer to Todo.
As she expected, Megumi asked Todo why he was asking such a question and what that had to do with anything.
Todo explained his reasoning and asked the question once again.
"Hm? As long as she is nice to me(shoots a glare at Mai) and is happy to be with my loved ones and me. I won't ask for more."
Hearing his answer, Todo looked at the sky.
"Ah....I was getting the vibe from you....but still being the nice guy I am, I decided not to judge based on the looks....Megumi Fushiguro. You are boring!"
Todo declared and blasted forward to pummel the boring dude in front of him.
"Ah, Todo, I forgot to introduce him, right? He is Megumi, my nephew, and by that logic, even Onii-san's nephew as well."
Todo clearly heard what Mai mentioned.
Megumi Fushiguro is Mai's nephew.
Mai's Onii-chan is Naoya, aka Big Brother.
Megumi Fushiguro is Big Brother's nephew.
I am Big Brother's brother.
By that logic....
Todo came to a halt right in front of Megumi and held his shoulders.
"NEPHEW FUSHIGURO!!!!! HOW DID YOUR TASTE BECOME SO BORING?!"
Todo cried in despair.
How had they failed his upbringing this badly?!
The whole group was shocked by what was happening.
Megumi shot a confused look at Mai.
Mai simply gave him the OK sign.
'What the hell is OK about this?!'
Yuji, though, soon snapped out of his thoughts.
"Oh, you asked the same question of me, too, right? Um...well if you are going to put me in the spot then....hmm....I guess, a tall woman with a big ass....like Jennifer Lawrence."
As the words came out of his mouth, Nobara and Mai immediately looked disgusted.
"Just die," Nobara said while kicking Yuji.
"Pervert," Mai added.
Megumi sighed, hearing his answer before he turned back to Todo, going to ask him to let him go.
A second later, however, Todo yetted Megumi away-
"MY BEST FRIEND!!!!"
-and held Yuji with a happy smile on his face.