A frail impression. A slender build.
The first thing Maki thought when she saw Okkotsu Yuta was that he looked weak, through and through.
That said, she neither looked down on him nor showed any open discomfort.
If anything, it felt familiar.
The man she loved, Kadoc, had a solid enough frame too, yet somehow always looked strangely fragile.
And worn down, besides.
Why did someone who spent every day playing around and sleeping well look like that?
That had always puzzled her.
More than anything, though—
He had a stronger woman attached to him, just like Kadoc did.
"Ugh!"
Clatter!
Panda and Inumaki hurriedly jumped back and dropped into guarded stances.
White top. Black pants.
The reason was the cursed aura coiling around the frail-looking Okkotsu Yuta.
Dense. Dangerous.
They had never seen a curse this intense in their lives.
By contrast, Maki and Mai remained seated as if nothing was wrong.
As though they could not sense the curse at all.
"Quit making such a scene. There has to be a reason for it."
The moment Maki said that, Panda and Inumaki's eyes went wide.
Geto, who had brought Okkotsu in, was smiling.
'Oh?'
Interest flickered across Geto's eyes.
Nerve. Bearing.
They were calm, and not a single opening showed.
"Maki's right. It just looks like some girl latched onto him. She probably recognized a good man early, that's all. Everyone should calm down."
Mai, on top of that, had read the true nature of the curse with perfect accuracy.
And she had done it despite meeting Okkotsu for the first time today.
So all she did was prop her chin on her hand, looking bored.
The shocks life could offer.
The mysterious, overwhelming things that could rattle a person.
She had already experienced enough of them to build up an immunity.
"You two aren't numb in the head, are you?"
Panda asked in disbelief.
Even though he had recognized the sisters' strength at a glance, he still had to ask.
Maki turned slightly and answered.
"Numb? Hardly. If we're just talking power, then yeah, it's dangerous. But it's not dangerous to us, is it? If being strong automatically made someone dangerous, then Suguru and Satoru standing over there would be the same."
Maki's face and voice stayed flat.
Calling Geto and Gojo by name, and speaking casually to them, was business as usual for her.
"Maki. Talking casually to a teacher is rude. Fix that."
Mai, as always, tossed in a comment and looked forward.
Her gaze met Geto's.
"Teacher. Anyway, I think you should at least introduce him properly. Before this gets any more chaotic."
"Right."
Geto nodded with a smile.
Thanks to the sisters holding the center steady, the confusion died down quickly.
"Good. Everyone, take your seats. Okkotsu-kun must be startled, so I'll handle the introductions."
How strange.
Okkotsu's eyes shifted as he watched Maki walking ahead of him.
She was attractive, and her figure was well beyond what anyone would call a student's.
Even most adults would have had trouble comparing.
That was surprising enough, but it was not the only reason.
She was far too calm.
'Today's mission was definitely...'
Today's assignment had been the exorcism of a Cursed Spirit haunting a school, along with a search for missing persons.
It was the kind of mission even students could handle.
And Maki, on top of that, was a complete physical-type [Heavenly Restriction] user.
For her, the enemy had been easy to the point of absurdity.
A Jujutsu Sorcerer's value was measured by one thing: whether or not they could exorcise Cursed Spirits.
By that standard, Maki was a failure.
Without the help of a cursed tool, she could not exorcise even a Grade 4 Cursed Spirit.
But—
The instant she took any cursed tool into her hand, she displayed overwhelming combat power.
Screeeech...
The school hallway had gone dark beneath the veil spread over the area.
Maki advanced through it, carving apart low-grade Cursed Spirits with the spear in her hand.
It was a cursed tool she had received from the Zenin Clan armory.
A cursed tool was a weapon or object imbued with a curse.
Depending on its level, it could be ranked anywhere from Special Grade down to Grade 4.
"Um, Maki."
Okkotsu called to her carefully.
He had already figured out during their first meeting that she disliked being addressed by her family name.
Maki turned with a bored look.
Even in that moment, another tiny Cursed Spirit vanished.
"Hm? What is it?"
"They call it exorcism... but aren't you scared?"
"Normally? Sure, people probably are. Me, I chose this because I really wanted to do it. So it probably won't help much from your point of view."
"Oh. Right. I see."
Okkotsu nodded weakly.
Yeah. That really wasn't helpful.
"You enrolled at Jujutsu High to get your woman under control, right? Or was it for exorcism?"
"...Yeah. That's right."
A shadow fell across Okkotsu's face.
Originally, he had been sentenced to secret execution, but Gojo had secured a stay.
Then, while that was pending, the higher-ups who had ordered his death died.
As a result, the execution was canceled.
He spent his time waiting, living an ordinary life, and then entered Jujutsu High.
The reason was the curse attached to his side.
The Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit, Rika.
Rika had once been his childhood friend and his lover.
After dying in a tragic accident, she had remained by Yuta's side ever since.
But no longer in the form she once had.
She had become a curse of terrifying, monstrous threat.
"Then real combat matters. I get that you're scared, but you came here for your woman, didn't you? You need to know how to take a step forward."
Maki's words were strict, but kind.
She sounded like the model of a proper teacher.
Okkotsu seemed moved by that, and nodded.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Good. Then the next Cursed Spirit that pops out, you exorcise it yourself."
"Huh? What do you mean—"
Boom!
Before Maki had even finished speaking, part of the schoolyard collapsed.
Uooooooh...
A larva.
A grotesque larva as huge as a giant from a fairy tale, with several pairs of human arms growing from its body.
Okkotsu froze in fear at the sight of the insect.
It was the first large-scale Cursed Spirit he had ever seen.
Maki, on the other hand, stayed calm.
By rank, it was around Grade 2 or Grade 1. Not enough to make her tense.
It would need to be Mahito, the one she had only heard about—
Or one of the Special Grade Cursed Spirits running with him.
'Have my senses gone numb from seeing my sisters?'
Maki casually knocked aside one of the incoming arms.
She did not cut it. She struck with the shaft of the spear instead.
Thud! The larva's arm whipped away from the sheer force and shook violently.
It was half-broken.
"Hey, Yuta. You exorcise it."
Maki spoke without taking her eyes off the front.
She shoved him forward even though she knew he was terrified.
"M-me?"
"Yeah. You came here to learn about curses, didn't you? Are you going to keep cowering like this and let your woman drag you around? If you're a man, learn how to take the lead instead."
Maki's voice rose slightly.
If a man had said it, it would have sounded like pure trash.
But—those trashy words lit a fire under Okkotsu's courage.
Perfectly.
'Right. I...'
Okkotsu swallowed hard as he stared at the giant swinging its arms.
He was still afraid, but his resolve crushed that fear down.
Fwoosh.
Cursed Energy flared from the necklace hanging at his throat.
The ring he had received when he made his promise to Rika.
The symbol of a husband and wife that, one day, they should have exchanged properly in an ordinary wedding hall.
"That's it. That's how you do it."
Maki smiled as she lightly shoved aside another of the larva's arms.
A blast like a bomb going off thundered through the hallway.
She did not need to look back to feel the flow of it.
That flow told her exactly what Okkotsu would do next.
"Rika. Come here."
Snap. Okkotsu broke the cord holding the ring.
Then he slid it onto his finger.
The finger that marked a married person.
The ring finger of his left hand.
"Y-Yutaaa..."
A little girl's voice, grotesquely split and warped.
A white body, with the lower half trailing away like a tail.
The curse wrapped around Okkotsu's body—Rika—revealed herself.
Entirely by Okkotsu's own will.
"Rika. Lend me your strength."
Okkotsu spoke as he put on the ring.
His voice was firm now, steady and without a tremor, as if his resolve had hardened completely.
"Okaaay..."
Rika answered and flew at the larva.
The Queen of Curses, Orimoto Rika.
Fifteen seconds after beginning full manifestation, she tore the giant larva Cursed Spirit to pieces.
Uooooooh...
The black blood of the Cursed Spirit, which had been spraying down like a squall, evaporated.
The exorcism was complete.
After that, the two children trapped inside the Cursed Spirit fell out of the air.
They were the children who had gone missing after being swallowed by it.
"Ah! The kids—!"
"Don't worry."
While Okkotsu panicked, Maki kicked off into the air and snatched the children out of freefall.
Once, then twice.
Using the rebound from her own explosive movement, Maki seemed to fly through the air.
Then she landed cleanly.
"W-wow..."
Watching from farther down the hall, Okkotsu's eyes went wide.
It was less a rescue than a stunt performance.
Maki grinned at Yuta standing at the end of the corridor.
"Yuta! Bring my cursed tool down when you come! I can't be bothered climbing back up!"
"Huh?! O-oh! Got it!"
Okkotsu picked up the spear that had fallen to the floor and ran down the hallway.
Rika's white form trailed after him.
'For the first time, I called Rika out by my own will.'
Thump, thump. Okkotsu's heart hammered in his chest.
Elation. Excitement. A sense of achievement.
A tangle of complicated emotions twisted together inside his heart.
"...Rika, I'll do my best."
Just before he stepped out into the schoolyard, as Rika's form faded away, Okkotsu murmured to himself and steeled his resolve.
Do your best.
It felt as though the Rika from the past was saying that to him.
Not hot, not cold.
On a day like this, grilling meat on the rooftop would have been perfect.
Or camping.
There was something appealing about spending time alone and tending a fire.
I went with something in between.
I spread out a sunbed on the rooftop, lay back, and enjoyed the sunlight.
"I'm back."
"Oh. Maki? You're back early today. Mai too."
Creak. Maki opened the rooftop door and walked over.
Mai was with her.
"Yes. We wrapped things up early today. More importantly, what are you doing on the roof?"
"Just reading a book."
I sat up and waved the book in my hand.
A romantic comedy manga.
"More importantly, how was today?"
The moment I asked about school, the sisters started talking as if they had been waiting for it.
Maki sounded cheerful. Mai, a little sulky.
'They're doing well.'
As I listened, I naturally got a sense of what was happening at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
And I naturally heard about Okkotsu's situation too.
The giant larva Cursed Spirit that had appeared at the school.
It was a little strange that the one Geto had released had shown up exactly as it had, but...
It seemed like an extremely minor issue.
"A Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, huh. That really is impressive."
The jujutsu rank given to Okkotsu was Special Grade.
A level where one person alone could overturn a nation.
Okkotsu's Cursed Technique was copy.
He was free from the restriction that normally limited a person to one technique.
"Still, if that girl Rika disappears, won't he be nothing special? It looked like he became Special Grade because of her."
Maki asked from beside me before I knew it.
Mai had also pressed right up against my side and linked arms with me.
Okkotsu's power was his own.
Rika was a product of that power too, but they would not know that yet.
Maybe they would not know for a long time.
Because Geto, the trigger for Rika's passing on, was on our side here.
'Then couldn't we just keep her with him forever?'
There was already the example of the [Cursed Womb: Death Painting].
If Rika stayed by Okkotsu's side, the limitations on his technique would disappear too.
When Rika was present, it was unconditional copy.
After she passed on, Rika's shell had to consume a body part from the target of the technique.
But if Rika remained?
He could keep unconditional copy and that overflowing Cursed Energy exactly as it was.
'That actually sounds better.'
Rika's form was a problem, but even that looked like it might have a solution.
It was worth trying.
In the end, Okkotsu's own wishes mattered most, and they had to be respected, but...
This was absolutely worth pushing.