Chapter 120: The Crisis of Utahime and Mei Mei
Shizuoka Prefecture.
Deep inside an abandoned Western-style mansion, the corridors stretched on without end.
The place did not feel like a building anymore. It felt alive, like the intestinal tract of some enormous creature. Old European wallpaper peeled from the walls in damp curls, revealing dark red mold beneath. The stains pulsed faintly, writhing like rotten flesh under thin skin.
The air was worse.
Blood, mildew, and layers of accumulated fear mixed into a stench so thick it seemed to cling to the throat.
Utahime Iori leaned against a cracked pillar, breathing hard.
Her red and white miko outfit was stained with dust. Her once-neat hair had come loose in several places, and sweat beaded across her forehead. The white tabi socks on her feet were smeared with grime and dark red blotches.
"Damn it," she muttered through clenched teeth. "What the hell is this place?"
Her hand moved to the talisman pouch at her waist.
Nearly empty.
Utahime's expression tightened.
Beside her, Mei Mei remained composed.
The tall woman with silver hair covering one side of her face leaned casually against the wall, turning a coin between her fingers. Even after two days trapped in this cursed mansion, her uniform was still unnervingly clean.
"Mei Mei," Utahime said, unable to hide the exhaustion in her voice, "we've been trapped here for two full days."
She looked toward the corridor they had already walked through more times than she cared to count.
"The structure of this barrier makes no sense. Up, down, left, right, it doesn't matter. No matter where we go, we end up back in this hall."
Her grip tightened around the remaining talismans.
"If this keeps up, we'll run out of stamina and Cursed Energy before we ever find the core."
Mei Mei sighed.
The coin flicked upward with a soft ring.
She caught it neatly and slipped it back into her pocket.
"It is troublesome," she admitted. "I thought this was an ordinary Grade 2 mission. A simple job, quick exorcism, easy bonus."
Her gaze moved across the walls.
"I didn't expect the mansion itself to be an Earthbound Spirit that had already reached Grade 1. It swallowed us into its stomach and built an infinite corridor barrier to wear us down slowly."
She spoke calmly, as if she were discussing bad weather rather than the possibility of being digested alive.
"Still, what pains me most isn't the danger."
Utahime stared at her.
Mei Mei's eyes narrowed slightly, a calculating light passing through them.
"Because I've been trapped here for two days, I've missed at least three high-paying designated missions. I also couldn't check the market, so I lost a perfect opportunity to buy at the bottom."
Her voice finally carried a trace of genuine emotion.
"The old men at Jujutsu Headquarters will reimburse me for this. With interest."
Utahime nearly coughed blood.
"Is now really the time to settle accounts?"
She pointed at the pulsing walls.
"What use is money if you're dead? If we can't break this barrier, forget reimbursement. We'll become nutrients for this mansion."
The mold on the walls squirmed faster.
Utahime could feel it. The Cursed Energy inside the barrier was rising. The air grew heavier, wetter, more suffocating.
The Grade 1 Cursed Spirit hiding in the mansion had lost patience.
It was preparing to digest them properly.
"Don't be so pessimistic, Utahime," Mei Mei said with a faint smile. "In this world, aside from money, nothing is absolutely unbreakable."
She lifted her gaze toward the dim ceiling.
"According to Jujutsu High procedure, if a team loses contact for more than forty-eight hours, they're considered missing. A rescue team should already be on the way."
Utahime's expression eased slightly.
Then Mei Mei added, "The only question is who Yaga will send."
A short pause.
"If it's those two problem children, things might actually get worse."
Meanwhile, a black Jujutsu High vehicle sped along the highway toward Shizuoka.
Yami sat in the driver's seat, dressed in simple black casual clothes. His hands were steady on the wheel, his eyes calm as he watched the road ahead.
As Tokyo Jujutsu High's newly appointed external combat instructor, this was his first field mission in this era.
Technically, he was only responsible for driving.
Considering the mission involved rescuing two missing sorcerers, the atmosphere in the car should have been tense.
It was not.
Yami glanced at the rearview mirror and sighed.
The back seat was a disaster.
Satoru Gojo was sprawled across the leather seat like his bones had dissolved. His round sunglasses had slid halfway down his nose, revealing bloodshot eyelids. A transparent snot bubble swelled and shrank with his breathing.
Suguru Geto was only marginally better. He leaned against the window, head bobbing with the movement of the car, dark circles under his eyes so heavy he looked like a panda that had lost a fight with insomnia.
In the passenger seat, Shoko Ieiri had an unlit cigarette between her lips and was staring out the window with bored eyes.
"These two," Shoko said flatly, "forced you to stay up all night because they wanted to beat you in a fighting game."
Yami kept his gaze on the road.
"They were very determined."
"They lost every round."
"That was also very determined."
Shoko looked back at the two in the rear seat with open contempt.
The result of their all-night challenge was simple. Yami had spent the entire night defeating them with starter characters until both of them were on the verge of mental collapse. By the time Masamichi Yaga sent the emergency mission that morning, the two strongest students at Jujutsu High had looked like they were one loading screen away from death.
Yami tapped his finger against the steering wheel.
The crisp sound echoed through the car.
"We're almost there. Wake up and get ready."
No response.
"We're rescuing Utahime and Mei Mei. Try not to embarrass yourselves as Special Grade prospects in front of your juniors."
Gojo's snot bubble popped.
He rubbed his eyes, yawned so widely that tears gathered at the corners, and mumbled, "Huh? Rescue? Who are we saving?"
Then his brain finally caught up.
"Oh. Utahime?"
His voice became lazy again.
"That weak crybaby? If it's just a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, I can blow it apart with one hand and my eyes closed. Seriously, waking me up for this is cruel."
Suguru forced himself upright and pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Satoru, don't be careless."
His voice was hoarse from lack of sleep.
"We're strong, but our condition is poor. Our Cursed Energy flow might not be as smooth as usual. If that mansion has a complicated barrier, breaking it may take time."
Yami slowed the car.
The vehicle rolled off the main road and stopped in the wilderness.
Ahead of them stood the abandoned mansion.
It was wrapped in layers of dense black Cursed Energy, like an old corpse sealed inside a cocoon.
"We're here."
Yami unbuckled his seatbelt and picked up the standard-issue katana Jujutsu High had given him from the center console.
"If the two of you are too sleepy to keep your eyes open, stay in the car and nap."
He opened the door.
"I'll bring them out. Consider it the first field demonstration from your combat instructor."
Shoko stepped out as well and stretched.
"I'll take a look too. Utahime-senpai hasn't been heard from in two days. I'm a little worried."
Gojo instantly woke up.
"Hah? Who are you looking down on, Instructor Yami?"
He kicked open the car door, jumped out, and rolled his neck. His bones cracked loudly.
"I'm the strongest. A Grade 1 curse wants to steal my spotlight? Watch me tear down that rotten house along with it."
Suguru climbed out after him, hands tucked into his sleeves. Behind him, the faint outline of a winged Cursed Spirit appeared.
"Instructor Yami," Suguru said, "we may have lost to you in taijutsu and games, but when it comes to exorcising Cursed Spirits, we're the professionals."
Yami looked at the two sleep-deprived problem children trying desperately to protect their pride.
A smile tugged at his lips.
"Then show me that professionalism."
Inside the mansion, in the main hall, the infinite corridor began to shake.
The floor trembled. The walls bulged and contracted like organs. Dark red mold spread rapidly across the wallpaper, forming tentacles that pulsed like blood vessels.
They crawled toward Utahime and Mei Mei from every direction.
"It's attacking!"
Utahime bit her finger and smeared blood across her last few talismans. Her eyes hardened.
If this was the end, she would at least make the curse pay for it.
Mei Mei put away her coin and reached into empty air.
A massive black battle-axe manifested in her hands.
Her lazy expression vanished.
Just as the tentacles were about to reach them, the shadow of death pressed down over the hall.
Boom!
A roar like thunder crashed down from above.
The entire mansion shook as if struck by a meteor. Cracks tore through the walls and floor. The barrier's operation stuttered under the force of something far too violent to ignore.
Utahime and Mei Mei looked up.
The ceiling, which had been reinforced by Cursed Energy, had been blasted open by a huge burst of azure force.
Dust, wood fragments, and chunks of stone rained down.
Sunlight poured through the hole, cutting into the dark hall like a blade.
And with that sunlight came a face wearing round sunglasses.
White hair shone brilliantly from above.
Satoru Gojo leaned over the edge of the hole, wearing the kind of smug grin that made people want to punch him even before he opened his mouth.
"Yo."
He looked down at the dust-covered Utahime.
"Utahime, are you crying?"
The hall fell silent.
Even the dark red tentacles seemed to freeze in the face of his arrogance.
Utahime stared up at the person who had arrived to save her.
For one brief second, gratitude almost appeared.
Then Gojo's words finished processing.
The gratitude died without leaving a corpse.
Her face went white.
Then red.
Then blue.
Rage burned above her head so fiercely it nearly took physical form.
Deep in the mansion, the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit let out a shrill, furious roar.
The real battle was about to begin.
Or rather, the one-sided massacre.
.....
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