Maki Zenin walked like the world owed her something and she was here to collect.
Haruto limped behind her through streets he didn't recognize. She hadn't slowed down once. Hadn't looked back. Hadn't asked if his bleeding knee was okay or if his legs were about to collapse.
He respected that honestly. If she'd been nice to him he would have been suspicious.
"So." He tried to start conversation between ragged breaths. "You're a student at Jujutsu High?"
"Second year."
"And you were in this area because..."
"Curse patrol. The school assigns zones. This one has been active lately."
"Active as in the thing that almost ate me?"
"That was grade 2. Barely worth the trip." She said it the way someone would say the coffee was lukewarm. Mildly annoying. Not concerning.
He limped harder trying to keep pace. "Do you always patrol alone?"
"Panda was supposed to come." A pause. "He's lazy."
"Panda..." He almost slipped and said something about Panda being a cursed corpse not an actual panda. Caught himself. "Cool name."
She glanced over her shoulder for the first time. Just a quick look. Assessing. "You know a lot for a civilian."
"I read a lot."
"Nobody reads about jujutsu sorcerers."
"I'm special."
Her eyebrow went up above the frame of her glasses. For a moment he thought she might actually smile. She didn't. But the eyebrow thing was close enough.
They reached a car parked on a side street. Black. Government plates. The kind of car that screamed "we're not a normal organization."
"Get in." She opened the driver's door.
"You have a car?"
"The school has cars. I have a license."
He climbed into the passenger seat and immediately sank into the leather. His entire body groaned with relief. He hadn't realized how much pain he was in until he stopped moving.
Maki started the engine without looking at him. The car pulled out smooth and fast.
He watched Tokyo blur past the window. The silence wasn't awkward. It was the silence of someone who didn't waste words. He could appreciate that.
What he couldn't appreciate was the system notification that popped up in his vision.
[PROXIMITY BONUS: WITHIN 2 METERS OF FEMALE SORCERER]
[PASSIVE POINT ACCUMULATION: +1 POINT PER MINUTE]
"You've got to be kidding me."
Maki's eyes flicked to him. "What?"
"Nothing. Talking to myself."
He stared at the floating panel only he could see. One point per minute just for being near her. The system was literally paying him to sit next to a pretty girl.
He was starting to suspect the system wasn't designed by a pervert. It was designed by a BUSINESS GENIUS who knew exactly what kept users engaged.
Jujutsu High was not what he expected.
He'd seen it in the manga. Read about it. Imagined it. But standing at the entrance gates looking up at the sprawling traditional Japanese campus nestled into forested mountains he realized no drawing could capture the feeling of this place.
The air was different here. Heavier. Like the entire campus was soaked in something invisible. Not threatening exactly but present. Aware.
Barriers. He could feel the barriers even with zero cursed energy.
"Come on." Maki was already walking through the gate. "Don't just stand there."
He followed. Past the main gate. Up a stone path lined with old trees. Through the front courtyard where a fountain that definitely wasn't in the manga sat bubbling quietly.
And then they were inside.
The main building was traditional architecture outside but surprisingly modern inside. Clean hallways. Fluorescent lights. A bulletin board with mission assignments and what looked like a chore rotation schedule.
"MAKI!"
A voice boomed from somewhere ahead. Loud. Energetic. The kind of voice that entered a room three seconds before the person did.
A pink haired boy rounded the corner at full speed nearly crashing into them.
Yuji Itadori.
He was exactly how Haruto imagined and also completely different. The manga made him look like a cheerful kid. In person he radiated energy like a space heater. Warm and constant and somehow making the hallway feel brighter just by standing in it.
"Maki you're back early! Panda said you'd be gone until—" He spotted Haruto. Stopped. Tilted his head. "Who's this?"
"Found him in the park." Maki walked past Yuji without stopping. "A curse almost killed him."
"A curse? Is he okay? Hey man are you okay?" Yuji was in his face immediately. Hands on Haruto's shoulders checking him like a concerned older brother. "You're bleeding! Your knee is messed up! Come on let's get you to the infirmary—"
"Itadori." Maki's voice cut through the hallway. "Take him to the principal's office. Not the infirmary."
"But he's hurt—"
"He says he knows about curses. And about things that haven't happened yet."
The hallway went quiet.
Yuji's hands were still on Haruto's shoulders. But the energy changed. The warmth was still there but underneath it something else surfaced. Something that said this kid might be friendly but he housed the King of Curses and he was not naive.
"Things that haven't happened yet?" Yuji repeated slowly.
Haruto cursed himself internally. Why did he keep saying too much?
"I just... I have information. Important information. For whoever's in charge."
Yuji studied him. Then smiled. Bright and sudden like the sun coming out.
"Sure! I'll take you to Gojo-sensei. He's way more fun than the principal anyway."
Maki had already disappeared around a corner. But her voice drifted back. "I'll be in the training grounds if anyone needs me."
[PROXIMITY BONUS ENDED. MAKI ZENIN HAS LEFT RANGE.]
[TOTAL PASSIVE POINTS EARNED: 47]
[SYSTEM NOTE: THAT IS PATHETIC. TRY HARDER.]
Forty seven minutes of proximity. Forty seven points. For sitting in a car and limping through hallways.
This system was going to make him a stalker.
Gojo Satoru was sitting on his desk.
Not at his desk. On it. Cross legged like a meditation pose but eating a bag of kikufuku mochi with the enthusiasm of a five year old at a birthday party.
He wore the blindfold. Even indoors. Even while eating. How he could see the mochi was a question Haruto decided not to ask.
"Ohhh?" Gojo looked up when Yuji pushed Haruto into the room. His head tilted at an angle that should have been casual but felt like being scanned by an MRI machine. "What's this?"
"Maki found him in the park." Yuji was still hovering near Haruto like a concerned bodyguard. "A grade 2 almost got him. He says he knows about curses and stuff."
"A civilian who can see curses." Gojo popped another mochi into his mouth. "That's not super rare. But you..." He pointed at Haruto with a mochi-holding hand. "You're interesting."
Haruto felt his skin prickle. Being called interesting by Gojo Satoru was like being called a snack by a lion.
"You have zero cursed energy." Gojo hopped off the desk. Landed without a sound. Walked toward Haruto with the kind of smooth predatory grace that made the air feel thin. "Literally zero. Like not even a trace. That's actually unusual. Even normal humans have some. The barrier around this campus should have rejected you if you were truly zero."
He was close now. Close enough that Haruto could see himself reflected in the dark fabric of the blindfold.
"So either the barrier is broken." Gojo smiled. Wide. Too many teeth. "Or you're something I haven't seen before."
"I'm really not—"
Gojo's hand landed on his shoulder. Light. Friendly. And completely inescapable.
"Maki said you mentioned knowing about things that haven't happened yet." The smile didn't change but the temperature of it did. "What things?"
Haruto's mouth went dry.
He couldn't tell Gojo everything. That would be insane. "Hey Gojo you're going to get sealed in a few weeks and then your best friend's brain will be hijacked and the entire country will become a death game." That would either get him killed or locked up.
But he needed to say enough to get a foot in the door.
"The Culling Game." He said it quietly but the words landed like bombs in the room.
Yuji's expression didn't change because he didn't know what that meant yet.
But Gojo went still.
For exactly one second the strongest sorcerer alive didn't move didn't speak didn't breathe. The mochi bag crinkled slightly in his grip.
Then the smile came back. Bigger this time.
"Yuji." Gojo's voice was light. Breezy. "Go find Megumi and tell him I won't be at practice today."
"But sensei—"
"Now please."
Yuji looked between them. Confused but obedient. He patted Haruto's shoulder on the way out. "Don't worry. Gojo-sensei is weird but he's a good guy."
The door closed.
Gojo pulled a chair from somewhere and sat down backwards leaning his arms on the backrest. His blindfold faced Haruto dead on.
"Sit."
Haruto sat. Mostly because his legs were about to give out anyway.
"The Culling Game." Gojo said it slowly like tasting each syllable. "That's a very specific name for something that hasn't been announced yet. Even I've only heard whispers." He paused. "Who are you?"
"My name is Akira Haruto."
"That's not what I asked." The smile sharpened. "I asked who you ARE. Because your body is a twenty year old civilian with zero cursed energy but your eyes..." He tapped his blindfold. "Your eyes have the look of someone who's seen how the story ends."
Haruto felt something cold in his stomach. Gojo was perceptive. Terrifyingly so. The blindfold hid his eyes but Haruto knew what was behind it. The Six Eyes. The technique that saw everything.
Could the Six Eyes see through people's memories? He didn't think so. But with Gojo you could never be sure.
"I can't tell you everything." Haruto chose his words carefully. "Not because I don't want to. Because if I change too much too fast the timeline could shift in ways I can't predict. But I can tell you this."
He looked directly at where he assumed Gojo's eyes were.
"Something very bad is going to happen to you. Soon. And after that the people you care about are going to need every advantage they can get. I want to help them. That's why I'm here."
Silence.
Gojo leaned back. Crossed his arms. The chair creaked.
Then he laughed.
Not a small laugh. A full body throw-your-head-back laugh that echoed off the walls and rattled the windows.
"Something bad happening to ME?" He wiped what might have been a tear from under the blindfold. "Kid I'm the strongest. Nothing bad happens to me."
"That's exactly what concerns me."
The laughter stopped. Gojo stared at him. Or at least the blindfold faced him in a way that felt like staring.
"You're either the bravest civilian I've ever met." Gojo stood up. "Or the most suicidal." He walked to the door and opened it. "Either way you just made my day interesting."
"So... you'll let me stay?"
"Stay?" Gojo grinned. "I'm going to give you a room. If you can make my students stronger I'll give you anything you want." He paused in the doorway. "But if you're lying to me or if you're working for someone who wants to hurt my students..."
The air compressed.
For one instant Haruto felt the weight of Infinity. Not directed at him. Just existing. A reminder that the man in front of him could erase a city with a thought.
"...I think you understand."
The pressure vanished. Gojo was all smiles again.
"Welcome to Jujutsu High! Dinner's at seven. Don't be late. Yuji eats everything if you're slow."
He disappeared down the hallway humming a pop song.
Haruto sat alone in the empty room.
[QUEST COMPLETE: REACH JUJUTSU HIGH WITHIN 24 HOURS]
[TIME REMAINING: 18:23:07]
[REWARDS:] [+100 POINTS] [+1 FREE GACHA PULL (AVAILABLE)] [+RESIDENCE AT JUJUTSU HIGH (PERMANENT)]
[TOTAL POINTS: 247]
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE]
He looked at the new quest notification.
[QUEST: TRAIN YOUR FIRST FEMALE SORCERER]
[DEADLINE: 48 HOURS]
[REWARD: 500 POINTS + SYSTEM UPGRADE: BOND LEVEL TRACKING]
[PENALTY FOR FAILURE: SYSTEM DEACTIVATION]
"Forty eight hours to convince a girl at this school to let a zero cursed energy nobody train her."
He put his head in his hands.
"I'm going to die here aren't I."
[STATISTICALLY PROBABLE. YES.]