"What is it, everyone?"
...
Silence swallowed the atmosphere in the conference room at once.
The moment Kujo removed her ring, everyone's vision seemed to be dyed a deep blue.
The pressure spreading through the room was so dense that it felt as though they were sinking beneath the deep sea.
So the Kujo family had been keeping someone like this hidden away the whole time?
Even Yaga, who had managed to maintain his composed expression until then, narrowed his eyes.
"Will this be enough, Gojo-san? Masamichi-san?"
Kujo's question caused the atmosphere in the conference room to freeze for a brief moment.
Gojo was the first to move. He gave a small nod.
Yaga remained silent for a short while before replying in his usual firm tone.
"That will do."
Kujo gave a small nod before putting the ring back onto her index finger.
In the very next instant, the deep blue tint that had washed over everything faded away, along with the suffocating pressure that had filled the room.
Kujo herself had not released her aura in quite some time.
But judging from the reactions of everyone in the room, she could easily guess that her aura was stronger than ordinary.
"Masamichi-san, as a jujutsu sorcerer, what level do you think I would be?" she asked.
That question made Yaga clear his throat.
He fell silent for a moment, thinking.
"To be honest, I still can't assess you yet."
He paused briefly before continuing in the same calm, weighty tone.
"Having overwhelming cursed energy alone does not guarantee that one can successfully complete missions."
Looking straight at Kujo, he continued,
"At the very least, I would need to see actual combat or a real curse-exorcising assignment before I could make that kind of judgment."
Kujo then gave a small nod in understanding.
"I see... I understand."
Yaga looked at her for a while before speaking again, his voice steady as ever.
"In that case, let me ask you something else."
He paused briefly, then continued,
"Would you be interested in joining our institute, Kujo-san?"
Kujo fell silent for a moment.
"If you mean joining as an ordinary student, that would be difficult."
She paused, then continued without hurry.
Then she raised her head slightly and spoke in her usual calm tone.
"However, if it is only a matter of joining in name, I will take it into consideration."
1
Yaga seemed reasonably satisfied with that answer, while Gojo and Geto did not immediately interrupt.
Only Shoko leaned back slightly, as though watching to see where this conversation would lead next.
A hurried knock suddenly sounded at the door.
Masamichi turned toward it and said shortly,
"Come in."
A young man in the institute's uniform quickly slid the door open, his face visibly tense.
His steps nearly halted the moment he saw everyone gathered in the conference room, and he bowed his head in haste.
"My apologies for the interruption."
He took a moment to steady his breathing before continuing in a voice still tinged with tension.
"There's been an abnormality in the cursed-object storage warehouse. The sealing wards have started to burn, and the cursed pressure inside has risen sharply."
Gojo immediately lifted the corner of his mouth.
"Oh? Looks like this came at just the right time."
Geto frowned slightly, while Shoko—who had looked relaxed until now—raised her gaze toward Yaga with renewed seriousness.
Masamichi was silent for only a moment before rising from his seat.
"We're going to check it immediately."
Then he turned toward me.
"My apologies, but it seems our conversation will have to be paused for now."
He continued,
"Would you like to come as well, Kujo-san? This may be a good opportunity for you to see how the institute works."
To be honest, it sounded more interesting than continuing to talk inside that room.
I went silent for a moment.
Then I slowly rose from my seat.
"In that case, I would like to accompany you."
...
We left the conference room and headed toward the cursed-object warehouse deep within the inner grounds of the institute.
I was now close to learning where the cursed objects were stored, and perhaps even where Sukuna's fingers were being kept.
My goal of gathering the fingers still remained quietly tucked away in my heart, and I was ready to step back into that role once Jogo returned.
But my stance remained unchanged.
I would not make enemies unnecessarily.
Even if the institute had already begun to take note of me.
Yaga walked in front at an unhurried pace, while Geto and Shoko followed not far behind him.
Gojo, meanwhile, walked near the back of the group, fairly close to me.
Before we reached our destination, he spoke in a tone that sounded almost playful.
"Why not let Kujo handle it?"
Yaga did not turn around. He simply answered in his usual calm, weighty tone.
"Don't say things like that yet."
Gojo gave a small shrug but still did not stop.
"Well, if it really is a curse, she should be able to handle it, right?"
Yaga continued walking as he replied.
"We still don't know what's up ahead."
He paused briefly before emphasizing the next words more clearly.
"It may not be a cursed spirit at all."
Gojo fell silent.
As for me, I simply kept walking without saying anything.
After that, no one spoke again.
There was only silence, and the cursed pressure that steadily grew heavier the deeper we went.
When we arrived, Yaga opened the large door covered in talismans and stepped inside.
The instant we crossed the threshold, the cursed pressure from within came crashing over us.
This place was filled with cursed objects.
We spread out as usual to inspect the area.
But for some reason, I ended up walking in the same direction as Shoko, with her following a short distance behind me.
The footsteps of the others gradually grew farther away, while I swept my gaze across the shelves and the seals affixed to the wooden pillars one by one.
I was just about to turn and look elsewhere—
and then my eyes stopped.
At the far end of the warehouse, something stood with its back to us.
It was a white cursed spirit.
It had two arms and two legs, and its overall shape resembled a human, though twisted too far to truly be called one.
In the next instant, it slowly turned to look at me.
Its face had no eyes. No mouth. It was nothing but a smooth, blank surface, like a white mask with nothing painted on it.
It had definitely eaten something strange.
The curse raised its hand.
Its index finger extended outward like a gun.
Acting on instinct, I dodged to the side just before something shot toward me.
An invisible wave tore through the air, so fast that I could feel the pressure scrape past my side.
It passed my face by little more than a strand of hair.
"Ah—!"
A cry rang out from behind me.
I immediately turned to look.
The brown-haired girl had collapsed to one side, her face twisted with pain. Her left arm had been severed.
Blood was pouring out in a horrifying stream.
I moved at once, and the shadows beneath my feet expanded, enclosing both her and me inside a black spherical barrier.
A cutting technique, then?
That meant it had eaten one of Sukuna's fingers.
That thought brought a faint smile to my lips.
Now I was beginning to feel certain of a few things.
I looked down at Shoko.
She was breathing hard, her face growing rapidly pale, her lips pressed tight in an effort not to cry out. But with that much blood loss, if I didn't heal her immediately, she would die.
She reached up to touch the shoulder on the side where her arm had been severed.
"Why..."
She spoke without any strength.
It seemed she was trying to use Reverse Cursed Technique on herself, but the faint white aura around her was barely there.
In her current condition, it would not be enough.
I had to heal her now if I wanted her to survive.
Only one thing came to mind.
Madoka's Reverse Cursed Technique.
In the next instant, a white aura quietly appeared in the shadow at her feet.
That white power flowed up through her body, and her severed left arm regenerated in the blink of an eye, as though the injury from moments before had never existed.
I went still for a moment.
...
So I could use a shikigami's ability without even summoning it?
I turned my attention back to Shoko.
"Are you alright now?"
The girl in front of me stared at her own arm in disbelief before raising her head to look at me.
"Wait... what did you just do to me?"
She was still breathing hard, but the look on her face held more shock than pain.
I looked at her for a moment before answering simply,
"Reverse Cursed Technique."
Shoko visibly froze.
"Reverse Cursed Technique...?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"No..."
She looked down at the shadow at her feet, then back up at me.
"You used it through the shadows, didn't you?"
I did not answer directly.
"Something like that."
I stood up.
"Please keep this a secret."
Shoko was silent for a moment. Her expression still carried disbelief, but in the end she gave a small nod.
"Then let's call it even, Shoko-san."
I gave her the faintest smile before stepping out of the shadow sphere and leaving her safely inside.
The white cursed spirit was still standing there.
Though it had no eyes and no expression, I could feel clearly that it was staring at me.
Was it really not going to do anything at all?
If that was the case, then I would have to make the first move.
I raised my hand slightly.
The shadows beneath the warehouse floor twisted and shot upward as sharp spikes from multiple directions.
But I wasn't taking it seriously.
I just wanted to see clearly how its cutting technique worked.
The spikes rushed in from the front.
The cursed spirit raised its hand once more, slowly.
An invisible cutting wave shot out.
All the spikes were split into smooth pieces in an instant.
Interesting.
I shifted to the left, and three more spikes shot toward it from behind.
It used the same motion again.
And cut.
The slash swept through the air, effortlessly severing even the shadows I had created.
"Fufu..."
The more I felt it, the more I wanted its technique.
I kind of wanted to try eating Sukuna's finger myself.
But this much testing was enough for now, before the warehouse suffered any more damage.
So I changed the tempo at once.
Spikes burst upward from the shadows continuously, leaving it almost no openings.
It managed to cut through the first wave.
It managed the second as well.
But as their number kept increasing, its timing began to slow noticeably.
At last, one spike pierced its leg.
Another tore through its abdomen.
And before it could ready another counterattack, multiple spikes drove into it from every direction at once.
The white curse's body was pinned in place for an instant before dissolving into purple mist.
Silence returned to the warehouse once more.
Yaga, Gojo, and Geto quickly gathered after the fight ended.
I dispelled the shadow sphere that had been enclosing Shoko, leaving her standing there as though nothing had happened, if not for the torn state of the left side of her clothing.
Yaga swept his gaze across the aftermath—the cuts in the walls, the shelves sliced apart, and the destruction scattered across the floor—before speaking in a firm voice.
"A cursed spirit, then?"
Gojo glanced at the traces of the battle for a moment before answering almost immediately.
"Obviously."
After it had been exorcised, two of Sukuna's fingers remained on the floor where it had dissolved.
I looked at them for a moment before speaking calmly.
"It looks like it had eaten Sukuna's fingers."
Geto crouched down and carefully picked up the two fingers.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"I think we should keep these farther apart."
...
When everything had been settled, it was time for me to return to Kujo City.
But before I boarded the helicopter, Yaga approached me once more.
In his hands was a not-too-large wooden chest, tightly sealed with multiple talismans layered all around it.
Yaga stopped in front of me.
"This is a token of gratitude."
He paused briefly before continuing,
"I've already heard the details from Shoko."
I froze for just a fraction of a second.
...Surely she hadn't told him about my Reverse Cursed Technique.
But Yaga showed no unusual reaction.
"So I must sincerely thank you for eliminating that cursed spirit."
Then he held the chest out to me directly.
"In addition, we will consider you a special-grade jujutsu sorcerer."
That in itself was surprising.
But what truly halted my thoughts was what lay inside the chest.
I accepted it, and Yaga continued.
"Inside are Sukuna's fingers."
Nothing was more startling than the fact that he was handing me the very thing I most wanted right now.
I kept my expression steady as I lowered my gaze to the chest.
Yaga continued,
"It may be useful if you intend to search for the remaining fingers before they fall into the hands of cursed spirits."
He paused slightly.
"But please keep it safe."
I gave a small nod and answered politely,
"Thank you very much. I will make sure to preserve it carefully."
Of course.
If I wanted to keep it safest of all, there was no place more secure than inside my own stomach.
Behind Yaga, the institute's students who had come to see me off shifted slightly.
Shoko raised a hand and waved casually.
Geto simply gave me a polite nod.
When I turned to look at Gojo, he lifted the corner of his mouth slightly and said in a tone that sounded half playful, half serious,
"If there's a chance, let's fight sometime."
Gojo was still Gojo.
I let out a quiet sigh and merely lowered my head to everyone in response.
...
I looked once more at the sight of everyone standing there together.
"Then I'll be taking my leave."
Even I had to admit that it was a strangely warm moment.
"My lady, it is time."
Sebastian's voice came from beside me.
So I turned and boarded the helicopter.
As the machine lifted off the ground, I looked down below one last time.
The institute's students were still standing there, some of them raising their hands in farewell.
I simply looked at that scene with a faint smile until the distance grew wider and wider, until at last I could no longer see them.
My face returned to normal again.
Then Sebastian's voice came once more.
"My lady, what is that?"
There was clear interest in his tone as he looked toward the sealed chest in my hands.
I had no intention of hiding it from the one who had always taken care of me.
"It's one of Sukuna's fingers."
That answer made Sebastian lift an eyebrow slightly.
"That must be quite a rare item, then."
I looked at the chest in my hands for a moment.
"Something like that."