Chapter 45 — Fourty-Five Punch
Inside Tokyo Jujutsu High, in the underground screening room of the school building.
Satoru Gojo lowered his phone from his ear and casually ended his call with Nanami Kento, muttering, "One call after another—seriously, can't a guy catch a break?"
He stared at the phone screen for a few seconds before suddenly noticing, from the corner of his eye, two pairs of sparkling eyes nearby.
"Sorry, sorry—got interrupted again." He lightly waved his phone, then stuffed it into his pocket and scratched through his naturally falling silver-white hair, since he wasn't wearing his blindfold. "Now then… where were we?"
"Um…" Yoshino Junpei cautiously raised his hand as if asking to speak.
"Yes, Junpei-kun!" Gojo pointed at him dramatically, granting him the floor.
"Just now… I think I heard Saitama-san's name during the call," Junpei asked hesitantly. "Was it… something related to Saitama-san? Ah, of course, if it's not something you can tell us, Gojo-sensei, that's fine. I'm just personally curious…"
"Yeah, I want to know too, Gojo-sensei!" Itadori Yuji chimed in loudly.
"Well… since you both want to know, I'll tell you." Gojo nodded solemnly. "It's not something that needs to be kept from you anyway—Saitama's been recommended for Grade 4 sorcerer status and is currently on a mission. Though technically speaking, his mission's already been completed."
"That fast?" Yuji blinked. "What kind of mission?"
"To identify the mole who was communicating with the intruder during the exchange event." Gojo snapped his fingers casually. "It's been confirmed now—the mole was Kyoto School's Mechamaru. That kid's already gone to turn himself in, crying and all. So that's that."
"Mechamaru? Whoa… I never would've guessed…" Yuji said, stunned.
"But I suppose that's Saitama-san for you," Junpei sighed in admiration. "Finishing a mission in less than a night. There's probably nothing in this world he can't do."
Gojo couldn't help staring at Junpei for several seconds. "Uh, Junpei? I'm your teacher right now, you know?"
Junpei froze, then hurriedly corrected himself. "Sorry! I respect Gojo-sensei very much too!"
Receiving his student's respect, Gojo nodded in satisfaction. Then he clapped his hands loudly and announced, "Anyway, that's all in the past now—even if it wasn't that long ago, it's still the past. The two of you focus up and listen."
"Yuji's cursed energy comes from Ryomen Sukuna inside him. As Yuji consumes more fingers, the amount of cursed energy he can produce will increase. So Yuji needs to further strengthen his control over cursed energy."
"As for Junpei, the reason is even simpler—you're a beginner. Learning how to stabilize your cursed energy output is absolutely something you need to practice."
"So, the training method I've prepared is—"
Gojo suddenly turned around and pulled out a massive suitcase from behind him. He unzipped it and with a loud rustling sound dumped out a huge pile of movie discs.
"Watching movies!" he declared enthusiastically.
"Oh…" That was Yuji's confused response.
"Wow!" That was Junpei's eyes sparkling in excitement.
After emptying out all the movie discs, Gojo rummaged through the bottom of the suitcase and pulled out two otter-shaped cursed corpses wearing boxing gloves, handing one to each of them.
"These two cursed corpses have been adjusted to match your current cursed energy output levels. As long as you supply them with sufficient cursed energy, they'll fall asleep. What you need to do is continuously and steadily supply cursed energy while watching movies. Also, outside of movie time—like during class—if you can maintain basic stability, you should carry them with you as much as possible."
"You'll need to do this every day whenever you have time." Gojo rubbed one of the cursed corpse's heads as he spoke. "Training like this when everyone else is resting will definitely be tough. I've already tried to make it as relaxing as possible. But you two are technically behind—if you want to catch up to Megumi and Nobara, you'll need to put in more effort."
Yuji and Junpei both fell silent. Gojo was right. As fellow first-years, Fushiguro Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara had already been experienced in dealing with curses when they enrolled. They were far more skilled than newcomers like them.
Yet neither of them mentioned Saitama, who couldn't even output cursed energy at all—after all, Saitama's strength was something beyond anyone's imagination.
"Junpei, you pick the movie first. Didn't you write on your enrollment form that you were in the film club at your old school?" Gojo asked. After Junpei nodded, Gojo smiled and crooked his finger at Yuji. "Yuji, come here for a sec~"
Yuji followed him obediently. The two stepped out of the screening room and into the hallway outside.
"Yuji, I'm about to show you something amazing," Gojo said as he reached into his pocket—then suddenly paused. "Guess what it is?"
Yuji was silent for a moment. "Sensei… I feel like I've heard this kind of line before during safety education classes. You're not about to pull out something that would need censorship bars, right? I'm telling Saitama."
The smile slowly faded from Gojo's face. "Yuji, what kind of person do you think I am? Also, shouldn't you call the police in a situation like that? Why are you reporting me to Saitama?"
"It's this."
Satoru Gojo withdrew his hand from his pocket. Between the long, well-defined fingers of the white-haired teacher was something Yuji Itadori found painfully familiar—
One of Ryomen Sukuna's fingers.
In that instant, the two slits beneath Yuji's eyes slowly opened, revealing half of a crimson pupil. A gaze carrying the hidden, obscure emotions of the King of Curses circled the finger several times before quietly retreating.
Sukuna's extra eyes closed again, as if they had never opened at all.
Meanwhile, behind his sunglasses, Gojo's blue eyes remained fixed on Sukuna's.
"S-Sukuna's finger?" Yuji exclaimed in shock. "Gojo-sensei, there's another new finger?"
"Mm. But only the two of us know about this. Don't tell anyone else, okay? Not even the other students."
Gojo slipped Sukuna's finger back into his pocket. "Once your cursed energy output reaches the next level, Yuji, you can eat this one."
"Somehow… emotionally speaking, that's not exactly something to look forward to. That thing tastes seriously awful." Yuji scratched his head. "But okay—I'll work hard, Gojo-sensei!"
Under Gojo's smiling gaze, Yuji returned to the screening room. Junpei Yoshino was crouched in front of the projector, fiddling with something. Yuji saw him slide a disc inside.
"Oh, you picked a movie already?" Yuji quickly plopped down on the sofa, stuffing his otter-shaped cursed corpse into his arms. "What are we watching?"
"Ah, well…" Junpei turned around and sat down beside him. "Actually, I've seen a lot of the movies Gojo-sensei brought, so I chose something I haven't watched before."
"Oh…" Yuji murmured.
"And, um… it's not a movie. It's an anime…"
Junpei picked up the DVD case and showed it to Yuji.
Yuji leaned closer and unconsciously read the title aloud.
"JoJo's Bizarre Adventure?" he said curiously. "From the name, it sounds like a wholesome, all-ages adventure series. And it's animated, too."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. So I figured we'd use this as a warm-up before moving on to the big blockbuster films," Junpei said shyly.
"Wow, that's really thoughtful, Junpei!" Yuji grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.
Just then, images began appearing on the screen in the screening room.
"It's starting!"
Both of them quickly hugged their cursed corpses and focused intently on the screen.
...
Meanwhile, in Kyoto.
Nanami Kento was feeling extremely puzzled.
Following Gojo's instructions, he had come all the way to Kyoto Jujutsu High and contacted Utahime Iori. As expected, he was brought without obstruction into the principal's office, where he found Saitama and Genos, who had arrived earlier, along with the real body of Mechamaru—Kokichi Muta—the one responsible for this incident.
Although he wasn't sure why the job had already been completed without his knowledge, Nanami maintained his usual serious and methodical attitude and inquired about what had happened at the scene.
When Kokichi informed him that the curse involved had been a Special Grade and had even mastered Domain Expansion, Nanami wasn't surprised.
But after that—why did Kokichi say that Saitama had defeated Mahito?
This bald man with no cursed energy had kicked the Special Grade curse Mahito away?
Nanami withdrew his gaze from the dejected Kokichi and turned toward Saitama. The bald man was sitting there with an unusually serious expression, one hand covering his cheek, seemingly deep in thought.
Was he… injured?
"What's wrong, Saitama?" Nanami asked. "Is your face hurt?"
"Oh, this?" Saitama blinked, still covering his cheek as he looked up. After a moment, he replied, "I ate too much ice cream earlier and froze my teeth."
As he spoke, the bald hero shuddered like a phone on vibrate mode. "They're still kind of sore…"
"Then, Sensei, should I go buy some hot drinks?" Genos immediately offered from the side.
"Don't!" Saitama quickly stopped him. "You'll definitely buy a whole bunch again like you did with the ice cream. Then, just to avoid wasting it, we'll have to keep drinking hot drinks nonstop—swinging from one extreme to the other…"
"Is that so, Sensei…" Genos punched his own chest in self-reproach. "This is all my fault…"
"..."
Watching the master-and-disciple comedy routine, Nanami's face went completely blank.
...
After finishing the follow-up procedures, they entrusted Kokichi Muta to Kyoto's principal, Yoshinobu Gakuganji, asking him to handle the matter.
For reasons unknown, Gakuganji had no intention of reporting this incident to the higher-ups of the jujutsu world. Instead, he made a phone call to Masamichi Yaga. When the call ended, the elderly man's expression was extremely grim.
"My student was used," he said. "You need not trouble yourselves with what comes next. I will see to it personally."
As it happened, Nanami had no intention of continuing to involve himself in matters concerning Mechamaru—Kokichi Muta. His job had simply been to investigate the curse that infiltrated the exchange event and submit the findings. How the exposed mole would be punished was not something he needed to follow up on.
By the time they left Kyoto Jujutsu High, the sky was already beginning to lighten.
Saitama's toothache had subsided, and he followed behind as usual, wearing his typical vacant expression.
"Are we heading back to Tokyo next?" Saitama asked as he walked. "If we go back now, I can still make it to the supermarket to pick up groceries."
"The flight is booked for four in the afternoon. Gojo Satoru arranged the tickets," Nanami Kento replied as they walked. "There's still plenty of time before boarding. Do you need to rest? If so, I can book a hotel room for you."
"That won't be necessary," Saitama answered. "It's just one night without sleep."
"I also don't require rest," Genos said. "I'm a cyborg. Prolonged sleep deprivation isn't a problem."
"I see. I thought as much," Nanami said quietly. "Then follow me."
Like Tokyo Jujutsu High, Kyoto Jujutsu High publicly claimed to be a religious school to avoid attention. Its campus was likewise located deep in the remote mountains. Nanami led Saitama and Genos some distance away from the Kyoto school grounds, stopping only after they had reached a secluded stretch of rocky terrain.
"This should be far enough."
Nanami swept his gaze over the brown mountain rock surrounding them before turning back to face Saitama. Lowering his voice, he spoke.
"Saitama. According to Mechamaru—Kokichi Muta—you kicked the Special Grade curse Mahito away at the very instant before he was about to be killed. The force of your attack also shattered the Domain he had deployed from the inside. Is that correct?"
A stray ray of sunlight fell onto Saitama's head, dancing playfully across his bald scalp.
"Yeah. That's right."
"Saitama," Nanami paused and adjusted his sunglasses, his hand covering the lower half of his face so his expression couldn't be seen, "you… are aware, aren't you, that breaking a Domain from the inside is theoretically possible—but in practice, so close to impossible that it might as well be?"
Saitama's expression didn't change. "Ah… I didn't know."
"That's the issue."
Nanami let out a quiet sigh and lowered his hand.
"Frankly speaking, Saitama, I don't believe your account—or Kokichi Muta's. While I see no reason for the two of you to fabricate something so unreasonable to deceive me—if you were going to lie, you would surely come up with something more convincing than 'breaking a Domain from the inside,' which naturally invites suspicion—rationally speaking, I cannot accept that you are capable of destroying a Domain."
"Given the possibility that you and Kokichi Muta concocted this story for some reason, if I follow that line of reasoning, it would not be difficult to conclude that you may also have ties to curse users. I cannot simply ignore that possibility."
Nanami unbuttoned his suit jacket and loosened the tie at his neck. Then he reached behind his back and drew the weapon strapped between his jacket and shirt.
—It was a short blade wrapped in patterned bandages, broad-edged, more like a bone cleaver than a standard combat knife.
"Labor is bullshit—that's my life philosophy," Nanami said quietly, gripping the blade. "I hate overtime. But since I've already taken on this assignment, I have to see it through properly. After all, I am a jujutsu sorcerer."
"However, I will not strike to kill, Saitama-kun. The bandages will remain in place, and I will only use the blunt side of the blade. I won't activate my technique. My goal is merely to test whether you truly possess the strength that you and Kokichi Muta claim—the ability to defeat a Special Grade curse in a single blow and destroy an innate Domain."
The moment Genos saw Nanami draw his blade, his expression sharpened. Golden light glowed from his steel arms as internal power systems flared to life.
"To speak so disrespectfully to Saitama-sensei…" Genos stepped forward, then turned back to Saitama. "Sensei, there's no need for you to act. Allow me to handle—"
Before he could finish, a hand in a red rubber glove came to rest on his shoulder.
"Genos, stand down," Saitama said. "The one he wants to test isn't you—it's me. I'll handle it."
Genos reluctantly lowered his arms, and the golden glow of his power systems gradually faded.
Red boots stepped forward, passing Genos. A white cape fluttered in the wind as Saitama walked by the blond cyborg's side.
He stopped in front of Nanami. His cape swayed, his bald head gleamed, and his face showed not the slightest trace of tension.
"So you want to fight me."
Saitama spoke calmly. "If you're going to fight me, then come at me, uh…"
"That first character was a, I think. No…? No, that doesn't seem right. Maybe Nu… Could it Num?"
Nanami: "..." Has this man seriously still not remembered my name?
Saitama began thinking out loud. "Na… Ne… Ni…"
Nanami: "..." Nana is correct.
"Nana…" Saitama maintained a serious expression as he pondered. "Nu…"
Nanami: "Wrong."
Saitama's serious face instantly went blank. "Huh?"
"It's Nanami Kento," Nanami reminded him. "I hope you'll remember it properly."
"Ohhh!" Saitama sighed in relief. "Then come at me, Nanami."