"Stop messing around. The Curtain has been compromised." In the observation room, Mei Mei, who had been watching Gojo and Utahime bicker, suddenly interrupted. "No, it's not just compromised. Someone has raised a new Curtain."
"Oh?" Gojo's reaction speed was peerless. One moment he was still pressing Utahime down with one hand, watching her struggle, and the next he was sitting upright, perfectly composed. "Can you see who it is?"
"You bastard!" Utahime finally caught her breath. Lacking any self-awareness of her own status as a "weakling," she grabbed the cup of hot tea from the armrest of Gojo's chair and threw it at him. It was effortlessly deflected by his automatically active Infinity.
As the steaming tea slid down the invisible barrier like rain on a windowpane, Mei Mei's next words made Utahime stand up in alarm.
"Special Grade Cursed Spirits. Three of them."
"Seriously? Always giving me trouble." Gojo stood up and let out a long yawn.
"Need a hand?" Mei Mei remained comfortably in her chair, giving her hair a stylish flip. "If you pay me enough, I'm willing to take a crack at a Special Grade."
"Don't bother." Churning his cursed energy with Cursed Technique Lapse, Gojo clasped his hands. A second later, he vanished from the observation room.
Utahime's anxiety lasted only a split second before she calmed herself. After all, that white-haired jerk was undeniably strong. Three Special Grades probably wouldn't take him more than an hour to exorcise.
"That jerk... when he's serious, he's actually kind of..." Before she could finish her sentence, a gust of wind whistled past her ear. Utahime spun around to find Satoru Gojo sitting in her seat, casually sipping from her teacup.
"Kind of what? Go on, say it."
Gojo gave her a wicked grin. Utahime, however, didn't even hear his teasing. She stared blankly at the cup in his hand, her mind racing. Don't drink from the cup I just used... That's disgusting... An indirect kiss with this jerk...
"Why are you back already?" Mei Mei asked, her expression as calm as ever.
"The caster of that Curtain has some skill. It seems they used a Binding Vow to exchange specific conditions. I can't get in, but others should be able to pass through just fine." Gojo's understanding of jujutsu was absolute, but he didn't have the slightest clue what was going on in Utahime's head. He took another sip. It tasted a bit floral, a bit sweet. "Utahime, your tea tastes better than mine. What'd you put in it?"
"You bastard! Don't touch my tea!" Utahime's face looked ready to vent steam. She snatched the cup back and drained it in one gulp.
The unexpected success of reclaiming her property gave her a small boost in confidence, but then reality hit her. ...Why did I just drink from the cup that jerk used...
Ignoring the spiraling Utahime, Gojo readjusted his blindfold. "No need to worry. We don't have eyes on the ground, but it seems Gumo felt something. He and Nagasawa are already moving toward the center."
As Hisazakuro Nagasawa and Hasegumo moved toward the heart of the Curtain, the birds that had been circling in the sky finally descended toward them.
"One, two, three... three crows?" Hasegumo slapped his forehead. "That's Mei Mei-san's technique, right?"
Hearing this, Nagasawa checked her cute ladybug-themed watch. "It's the day of the Kyoto Sister School Goodwill Event, isn't it?"
"That explains it. They're observing the students' performance from the outside. Those crows are all controlled by her... but what do three crows signify?" Hasegumo pondered for a moment. "Wait, Satoru must be out there too. Does that mean he's been watching our date this whole time?"
"So what if he saw? It's not like we're doing anything shameful. We're in our thirties; it's people like those perpetual singles who are the weird ones."
"Mei-san, Utahime-san, and that whole circle... not one of them is in a relationship." Nagasawa arched an eyebrow, giving Hasegumo a sidelong glance. "Keeping it a secret from them... are you trying to be a player?"
"No! Never!" Hasegumo wiped cold sweat from his brow. How did the conversation turn so dangerous? He clumsily forced a topic change. "Why isn't Satoru coming in? And what do the three crows mean?"
"Maybe he just stepped out?" Fortunately, Nagasawa didn't press the issue. She thought for a moment and found the answer. "There must be three enemies. Let's verify."
Without waiting for Hasegumo's reply, she brought her hands to her chest, crossing her index and middle fingers.
"New Shadow Style: Simple Domain." "Technique Extension."
Unlike the standard blue-black of cursed energy or the gold of Reverse Cursed Energy, her Simple Domain converted the energy's properties into a faint, pale blue.
Across Nagasawa's skin, ripples of pale blue data-streams flowed upward. As they merged into her body, every living being within the barrier felt a phantom sensation pass through them—a harmless, transient pulse.
"One deep red, one red, and one green. They're all near the center." She pointed in another direction. "Over there, another red signal is about to encounter a student. Looks like it's Maki from your school."
Her words sounded cryptic to an outsider, but Hasegumo, who knew the nature of her technique, understood instantly.
"We won't make it in time. Split up?" As Nagasawa spoke, she slipped on her brass knuckles. Hasegumo had already condensed his Reverse Cursed Energy. They leaped simultaneously; with a violent swing of his palm, Hasegumo launched Nagasawa like a human cannonball toward her target.
Their voices lingered in the air as they flew in opposite directions.
"Don't go dying on me, Nagasawa!" "Worry about yourself!"
Technique Name: Game World
A technique derived from the concept of video games. By using Technique Extension, Nagasawa overlays her innate technique onto her Simple Domain. Within a 2.5km radius, every entity possessing cursed energy is detected and evaluated based on threat level, displayed as a chibi icon on a virtual HUD visible only to her.
Green: Zero threat.
Red: A moderate threat or possesses the ability to kill her.
Deep Red: Severe threat; high probability of being one-shotted.
When applied to her own body, her physical form becomes "data-fied." A data-fied body is immune to damage from joint locks or strikes to vital points. While the technique is active on herself, she receives "CC (Crowd Control) Protection": no control-type technique can affect her for more than 5 seconds. If she is hit by the same control technique twice in a row, she becomes temporarily immune to all crowd control.
Data-fication Properties:
1. If applied to a target other than herself without using Simple Domain to expand the range, that target will display a health bar.
2. Regardless of how weak an attack is, the minimum damage taken upon contact with a data-fied body is 1% of total health.
3. The maximum number of tracked targets is 5.
Hisazakuro Nagasawa's technique, much like Projection Sorcery, was a modern technique birthed by the changing eras. When she first enrolled and mastered it, she was suppressed by the conservative Higher-Ups of the jujutsu world. It was a subtle, invisible suppression—lowering the final evaluations of her missions, delaying her grade promotions with various excuses, and so on.
Kinji Hakari of Tokyo Jujutsu High, despite his rough-and-tumble appearance, was incredibly perceptive. He noticed this happening during his own missions and eventually drifted away from the conservative mainstream, eventually leaving school with a fellow classmate.
Nagasawa, however, was naturally sunny and optimistic. Much like Hasegumo, she didn't dwell on things she didn't care about. She hadn't even realized she was being suppressed; she simply assumed she was a Grade 2 sorcerer because her own abilities were lacking.
As Hasegumo and Nagasawa split up, we will temporarily bypass the second battlefield and return to our protagonist.
Whether it was Jogo, Mahito, Yuta, Todo, or Toge—they all possessed a shared trait. It was something intangible, unrelated to jujutsu—a sort of invisible "presence." Powerful sorcerers, high-grade curses, academic giants, national leaders—anyone with talent far exceeding their peers possessed it. No matter how many people were on the field, such individuals could be picked out of a crowd in an instant.
Our protagonist, Hasegumo, was a man with absolutely zero Presence.
His meditative training allowed his aura to achieve a perfect, constant balance with his surroundings. He was like the environment itself; even if you knew he was standing right in front of you, the moment you closed your eyes, you would lose all sense of his existence.
And yet, right now, he was extremely noticeable. He had walked to within ten meters of Jogo's back, but until he spoke, not a single soul on the battlefield had realized he was there.
"Yo. Yuta, Toge... and someone I don't know."
The atmosphere on the field was currently at a boiling point, and Hasegumo's voice acted like a massive dose of coolant, instantly steadying the frayed nerves of the Tokyo students.
"Gumo-sensei!" Yuta was the only one to respond. "Watch out for that guy!" He pointed toward Mahito, sharing intel. "It's dangerous if his hands touch you."
Toge Inumaki, following Hasegumo's advice, was currently practicing "Silent Zen." Until he fully mastered his technique, he refused to make a sound other than necessary combat commands. He simply stood his ground.
Aoi Todo stood in the distance, his mind racing. This guy is Hasegumo? He doesn't look that strong.
Jogo and Mahito had also performed a quick exchange of information. Hearing that Jogo had brought two more Special Grade comrades to save him, Mahito—who had been on the verge of despair—felt the seeds of hope bloom once more.
"Hello there, Senpai. My name is Mahito." After restoring his soul to its original shape, the first thing Mahito did was offer a very polite handshake to Jogo.
Jogo, oblivious to Mahito's treacherous nature, laughed and reached out. "Jogo."
Tch. It didn't work? The moment their palms met, Mahito attempted to activate Idle Transfiguration to modify Jogo's soul. To avoid damaging his ally's combat power, he only tried to make a few hairs grow on the back of Jogo's head. But while the technique successfully "marked" Jogo, the attempt to alter the soul resulted in zero physical change.
Is a curse's body independent of the soul's shape? But I can change mine whenever I want... Mahito, trying to control his senior upon their very first meeting, was deep in thought. But he quickly realized they were on a battlefield. The priority was killing these sorcerers and escaping the Curtain.
"Well, whatever." He flashed a standard, perfect smile, his teeth gleaming. "Where should we start?" Mahito scanned the area, only to see the students had stopped attacking and were huddled together, looking like they were watching a show.
"I guess I'll start with you." Confused by the shift in energy, Mahito locked onto Hasegumo. "Can someone this weak even be called a sorcerer?"
He moved to step forward, but Jogo's arm shot out to block him.
"I'll handle this one."
Mahito stepped back, content to let him lead. He was smart; this volcano-headed senior was undoubtedly stronger than him. Following the senior's lead was the safe play.
"So, which one should I go after?" Mahito glanced at the group of students again. Their gazes felt... malicious. "Taking on two at once is my limit."
"It's not 'which one'." Jogo watched Hasegumo slowly approach, and his throat suddenly went dry. His bravado crumbled. "Run. Immediately find the others and run together."
"Huh?" Mahito thought he had misheard. "Senpai, you're supposed to be strong, aren't you?"
"I've lived for over three hundred years. I once thought that aside from Sukuna, I was the strongest. But this man..." Jogo's bloodshot eye went wide. Cold sweat began to pour down his face.
Even with Mahito's talent and his growth during battle, he was still several leagues below Jogo's current level. Only a truly top-tier powerhouse could perceive the sheer pressure Hasegumo radiated. On this field, aside from Jogo, not a single person—or curse—could see through this "Terrifying Upright Ape's" true face.
"This guy... don't you dare look down on me!" Jogo didn't even notice that his voice had spiked in volume due to the sheer stress. It was a primal biological instinct, a desperate attempt to boost its own confidence in the face of a predator.
Loud as he was, the tremble in his voice told Mahito everything he needed to know. Mahito didn't ask another question. He didn't even try to attack. He instantly reshaped his soul into a bird, wings spreading to take flight. As he ascended, he kept his eyes glued to Hasegumo, ready to activate his technique at the first sign of an attack.
"He's the one called Mahito? He really does deserve to die." Hasegumo muttered, acting as if Jogo wasn't even there. He kept walking.
One step. Two steps.
The distance closed. Three meters—the invisible line of absolute lethality. Before Hasegumo could take a third step, Jogo snapped under the pressure. It slammed its hands together, forming a hand seal. With a violent surge of cursed energy, it attempted to open its Domain at the very start of the fight:
"Domain Expansion: Coffin of the Iron—"
In the next heartbeat, a sensation of weightlessness hit Jogo's skull. It was a wait that was simultaneously eternal and instantaneous, as if its head had been tossed into the stratosphere.
Falling... falling...
Finally, the back of its head touched something. It landed softly in Hasegumo's right hand. Jogo's singular eye gazed upward into the sky. A flash of golden light swept past; Mahito's silhouette was erased as easily as a chalk drawing on a blackboard.
Only the pitch-black Curtain remained, looming overhead.
"For a curse... it's too unfair..." Jogo's dying thought flickered. "No one... should be this strong..."