A/N: Don't forget to check out my original novel: Can I Magic Please. It's like really good. đ
ANYWHOOO. ENJOY THE CHAPTER
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Morning sunlight filtered softly through the trees of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
The training grounds echoed with dull impacts and distant shouting.
Panda stretched his arms overhead as he walked beside Yuta and Inumaki.
"Where's Maki anyway?"
Inumaki tilted his head slightly.
"Salmon."
Yuta adjusted the wooden practice sword in his hand.
"She went on a mission."
Panda nodded casually at first.
Then paused.
"...Wait."
His head slowly turned toward Yuta.
"With who?"
Yuta smiled awkwardly.
"With Oden."
Silence.
Then both Panda and Inumaki froze completely.
"...Eh?"
"Bonito flakes?!"
Panda grabbed his head dramatically.
"GOJO-SENSEI SENT THOSE TWO TOGETHER?!"
Yuta laughed nervously.
"I think Sensei wants them to learn to cooperate."
Panda looked toward the heavens as if praying.
"They're gonna kill each other before the curse does."
"Tuna..."
Yuta shook his head gently.
"No, I think they'll get along eventually."
Panda stared at him.
"Yuta."
"Hm?"
"You are way too optimistic."
Meanwhileâ
Inside the abandoned school building several districts away, the atmosphere was cold and damp.
Broken desks littered the hallways.
Shattered glass crunched beneath footsteps.
A low curse-like stench lingered in the air.
Maki walked ahead confidently, her spear resting across her shoulder.
Behind her, Oden followed lazily with his hands in his pockets.
A curse lunged from a nearby classroom.
Maki didn't even slow down.
Her spear flashed.
The curse exploded instantly.
Black blood splattered across the wall.
Oden blinked behind his blindfold.
"...That one died fast."
Maki scoffed.
"It was weak."
Another curse dropped from the ceiling.
Maki pivoted smoothly.
CRACK.
Its skull caved inward from a single strike.
The body crashed against the lockers before dissolving into smoke.
Maki glanced backward slightly.
"Try not to get in my way."
Oden raised a thumb.
"Okay, Master."
"...Stop calling me that."
"Okay, Master."
Veins bulged faintly on her forehead.
Oden grinned slightly to himself.
Though inwardlyâ
He was thinking about something else entirely.
His serpent eyes remained hidden beneath the blindfold, but his senses quietly observed everything around him.
The flow of cursed energy.
The movement of air.
The pulse of life.
And yetâ
Maki barely registered at all.
Oden frowned slightly.
How strange.
Even ordinary assistant managers had more cursed energy than her.
And yet she moved confidently through this place slaughtering curses one after another without hesitation.
How can she even see curses with this little cursed energy?
Before he could think furtherâ
Maki suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
Her body stiffened instantly.
Oden noticed it immediately.
The subtle tightening of muscles.
The shift in breathing.
Fear.
Real fear.
"...What?"
Maki's eyes remained fixed forward.
For the first time since they entered the buildingâ
Her confidence disappeared.
The hallway ahead was dark.
Silent.
Thenâ
Heavy footsteps echoed slowly from the shadows.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The air pressure changed.
A massive figure emerged from the darkness.
Humanoid.
Grotesque.
Its skin looked stitched together from different corpses.
Its jaw hung unnaturally wide while multiple cloudy eyes rolled independently across its face.
An overwhelming wave of cursed energy flooded the hallway instantly.
Oden's brows lifted slightly beneath the blindfold.
Strong.
Very strong.
Maki immediately grabbed his wrist.
"We're leaving."
Oden tilted his head.
"...Why?"
Maki looked at him like he was insane.
"Because that's a Grade 1 curse!"
Then she turned and bolted down the hallway while dragging him with her.
The curse immediately screeched.
The sound shook the entire building.
BOOOOOM!
The floor behind them exploded apart as the creature charged forward.
Oden glanced backward calmly while being pulled along.
"...It's fast."
Maki grit her teeth.
"Why the hell is a Grade 1 here?!"
The curse tore through the corridor behind them like a monster unleashed from hell.
Walls shattered.
Ceilings collapsed.
Its massive limbs smashed through everything in its path as it chased them relentlessly.
Maki's expression grew uglier by the second.
"We can't deal with this!"
--
Far away from Japanâ
Under the bright Mediterranean sunâ
Satoru Gojo stood among a tourist group somewhere in Greece wearing casual clothes and sunglasses.
Behind him stretched massive ancient ruins overlooking the sea.
A tour guide passionately gestured toward towering marble pillars.
"And here we have the Temple of Poseidon, originally constructed around 444 BCâ"
Gojo raised his phone lazily while eating ice cream.
"Moshi moshi?"
On the other end, Ijichi's panicked voice nearly exploded through the speaker.
"GOJO-SAN!"
Gojo pulled the phone slightly away from his ear.
"Whoa. Loud."
"There's been a mistake in the mission assignment!"
"Hm?"
"There's a Grade 1 curse at the site!"
Gojo blinked.
"Oh."
Ijichi nearly screamed.
"'OH'?!"
Nearby tourists glanced strangely toward him.
Gojo casually walked away from the group while still licking his ice cream.
"So?"
"So?!"
Ijichi's voice cracked.
"Zenin-san is only Grade 4! They can't handle that level of curse!"
Gojo hummed thoughtfully.
"...But Oden's there."
Ijichi froze briefly.
Gojo continued casually.
"He'll be fine."
"You're putting a lot of faith in someone who only joined last week!"
Gojo smiled beneath his sunglasses.
"Trust me."
His tone carried unusual certainty.
"He can handle a Grade 1."
The tour guide continued speaking passionately in the background.
"Ancient Greeks believed the gods themselves watched over these watersâ"
Ijichi rubbed his forehead anxiously.
"...I really hope you're right."
Gojo took another bite of ice cream.
"I usually am."
Then he hung up.
Ijichi stared at the disconnected phone in despair.
"...That is not comforting."
Back at the abandoned schoolâ
CRAAASH!
Maki was sent flying through three classroom walls.
Dust exploded everywhere.
Wood splintered apart violently.
She crashed across the floor before skidding to a halt.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
The Grade 1 curse slowly walked through the collapsing debris toward her.
Its grotesque body twitched unnaturally.
Every few seconds, one of its many eyes rolled independently before locking onto her again.
Maki gripped her spear tightly.
The curse raised one massive arm.
Suddenlyâ
The surrounding walls warped.
Like soft flesh.
Maki's eyes widened instantly.
The corridor around her distorted violently as the walls expanded inward like breathing organs.
The curse's technique.
Flesh Domain Mimicry.
Anything within a certain radius became living tissue under its control.
The floor beneath Maki bulged upward.
Spikes of hardened flesh erupted toward her instantly.
Maki dodged sideways.
BOOOOM!
The spikes blasted through the ceiling.
She rushed forward immediately.
Her spear swung downward with monstrous force.
The curse blocked using its forearmâ
CRACK.
Bone shattered.
But immediatelyâ
The broken flesh regenerated.
Then tendrils burst from its body.
Maki's eyes narrowed.
'Too fast.'
The tendrils wrapped around her leg instantly.
SLAM!
The curse smashed her violently into the floor.
The hallway cracked apart.
Blood sprayed from Maki's mouth.
The curse opened its grotesque jaw wideâ
And screamed.
The sound wave blasted through the building like an explosion.
Maki crossed her arms defensively.
BOOOOM!
She was blown backward again.
Her body slammed against a pillar hard enough to crack it.
Pain surged through her entire body.
'Damn itâ'
This thing was overwhelmingly stronger than a Grade 2.
Its cursed energy alone was suffocating.
Thenâ
She realized something.
Oden still hadn't moved.
Maki turned her head furiously.
The idiot was literally standing there watching.
Hands in pockets.
Completely relaxed.
"...What the hell are you doing?!"
Oden tilted his head slightly.
"Hm?"
"RUN AND GET BACKUP!"
The curse lunged toward her again.
Maki barely blocked the incoming strike with her spear.
BOOOOM!
The impact shattered the ground beneath her feet.
Her arms screamed in pain instantly.
The curse's raw physical strength was absurd.
Maki grit her teeth desperately.
She could die here.
Thenâ
She heard Oden chuckle softly behind her.
"If I remember correctly..."
His voice remained irritatingly calm.
"...I'm Special Grade."
Maki's eyebrow twitched violently.
"...Then what the hell are you waiting for?!"
Oden folded his arms.
"I want a 'please, Master.'"
For one secondâ
Maki genuinely considered murdering him herself.
"GO TO HELL!"
The curse suddenly broke through her guard completely.
Its monstrous arm swung downward toward her skull.
Too fast.
Maki's pupils shrank.
Thenâ
BOOOOOM!
The curse disappeared sideways instantly.
Its massive body blasted through several classrooms after being kicked away with overwhelming force.
The entire building shook violently.
Dust exploded everywhere.
Maki stared blankly.
Oden stood where the curse had been.
One leg still extended from the kick.
"...I'm not gonna let you die, idiot."
His tone sounded almost annoyed.
Then slowlyâ
He reached toward his blindfold.
The white cloth loosened.
And slipped away.
For the first time since arriving at Jujutsu Highâ
Maki saw his eyes clearly.
Black sclera.
Golden irises.
Red slit pupils.
Monstrous.
Inhuman.
Predatory.
The very air around him seemed to sharpen.
The curse emerged from the rubble with a furious screech.
Oden rolled his shoulders lazily.
Then smiled slightly.
"Alright."
Several snakes slowly slithered out from beneath his sleeves.
"Let's do this properly."
---
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