The instant his technique touched Gojo's Cursed Energy signature, Touma's brain slammed into a wall at full speed.
If analyzing Sato had been drinking a cup of water, and analyzing Yaga had been wading into a river, then Satoru Gojo... was an ocean. Bottomless. Violent. Without order or end.
Even a shallow scan flooded his mind with a volume of data comparable to an entire simulation's worth of information crammed into a single heartbeat.
And this was after two full simulations had stretched his mental capacity far beyond what it used to be.
He remembered now. The intel from those simulations had warned him about this. The Limitless, passed down through the Gojo Clan for generations, was virtually unusable even by those who inherited it unless they also possessed the Six Eyes.
Phantom Night Parade had flagged this exact scenario in its earlier prompts.
But Touma refused to back down. He pushed harder, teeth clenched, determined to measure for himself the distance between where he stood and the so-called strongest.
He forced the analysis. Pushed past the warnings.
Failed.
"Ngh..." A grunt escaped through his teeth. Twin lines of blood trickled from his nostrils, his skull splitting with pain, and he staggered back two steps before catching himself.
"Bwahahaha!" Gojo watched the whole thing and didn't show a flicker of anger. Instead he doubled over laughing, slapping his thigh and pointing. "Couldn't do it, huh? Guess yours truly really is one of a kind!"
He strode over, grabbed Touma by the shoulder to steady him, then clapped him on the back hard enough to rattle his bones.
"But hey, you actually tried! Takes guts!" That grin stretched wider. "You're weak, sure, but you've got the right look in your eyes. Welcome to first year, transfer student."
Yaga watched the room devolve into chaos around this pack of problem children and rubbed his temples with a sigh.
"Touma Hayase, starting today you're enrolled as a first-year. Shoko, take him to the dormitory and get him settled."
Touma wiped the blood from his nose and looked at the three people standing before him. The three who would one day shake the entire jujutsu world to its foundations.
"Looking forward to working with you all."
---
The dormitory grounds of Tokyo Jujutsu High sat tucked against the mountain behind the school, quiet to the point of desolation.
The setting sun stretched the shadows of the old wooden corridors into long fingers across the ground. The air carried the scent of mosquito coils and the damp breath of the surrounding forest.
"Boys' dorms are over there. Plenty of empty rooms. Pick whichever one you want."
Shoko walked ahead, her usual languid pace carrying just a hint more warmth than before. Touma's stunt with Yaga's Cursed Corpse had impressed her enough to crack the door open, if only by an inch.
"Understood. Thanks, Ieiri-senpai."
Touma followed a step behind, his manners flawless.
But his attention was fixed on the system panel floating in front of him, visible to no one else.
[Side Quest Triggered: So-Called Classmates]
[Objective: Earn the approval of Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko Ieiri.]
[Description: As a latecomer, you must integrate quickly.]
[Reward: +1 simulation charge per person.]
Behind his glasses, Touma's eyes narrowed.
So beyond waiting out the cooldown timer or killing key enemies, forming bonds with pivotal figures also yielded simulation charges. That tracked. In this world, connections were often worth more than Cursed Energy.
And after two years as an Assistant Manager in his last simulation, he knew Shoko Ieiri better than almost anyone.
Compared to those two Special Grade freaks who threw around words like "yours truly" and "the greater good," Shoko was the easiest to understand.
She didn't need you to be powerful. She didn't need you to carry noble ideals. She just needed you to give her a moment to breathe between the mind-numbing autopsies and paperwork.
"Um... Ieiri-senpai."
Touma stopped walking. His voice carried just the right note of hesitation.
Shoko glanced back. The beauty mark beneath her eye looked tired. "What? Something else?"
He looked left, then right, playing the part of the good student worried about breaking school rules, and lowered his voice.
"The dorms... smoking's not banned, right?"
Shoko blinked. She studied the bespectacled, mild-mannered boy in front of her as if recalibrating her entire assessment.
"Ha." A short laugh. Her hand drifted toward her pocket and came up empty. "Officially, it's prohibited. Yaga-sensei will lecture your ear off. But... if you don't get caught, it doesn't count."
She clicked her tongue in irritation. Out of cigarettes, clearly.
That was when a slender hand appeared in front of her, an unopened pack resting in the palm.
An imported brand, hard to find on shelves. Smooth draw, but with real kick behind it. And more importantly, it was the exact brand Touma had bought for her countless times during his years as an Assistant Manager in the previous simulation.
He'd prepared it before the quest even triggered. Building a relationship with Shoko had always been part of the plan. In the entire jujutsu world, sorcerers capable of using Reverse Cursed Technique on others were rarer than giant pandas.
Even Gojo, the so-called strongest, couldn't apply his Reverse Cursed Technique to anyone but himself.
"Picked it up at the duty-free shop on the way here. Figured I'd save it and work through the pack slowly."
Touma wore the easy smile of someone who'd found a fellow conspirator. His fingers peeled the cellophane with practiced ease, tapped out a cigarette, and offered it over.
"If you're a fan too, senpai, consider the whole pack a welcome gift."
Shoko looked at the cigarette. Then at Touma. Something shifted in her eyes. He went from "the new kid" to "one of us" in the space of a breath.
No hesitation. She plucked it from his fingers, stuck it between her lips, and leaned in slightly.
"Light."
Touma flicked open his lighter. The flame danced between them, painting her face in warm amber, surprise and satisfaction mingling in her expression.
A deep inhale. White smoke unfurled through the corridor.
The tension in Shoko's shoulders dissolved.
"Huh... not bad taste for a newbie."
She held the cigarette between two fingers, and the smile that curved her lips was the first real one he'd seen from her.
"Drop the senpai thing. Makes me sound ancient. Just Shoko is fine."
"Sure thing, Shoko."
Touma lit one for himself, the motion so smooth it didn't belong to a fifteen-year-old.
The two of them stood there in the corridor under the dying sun, trading clouds of smoke back and forth.
No talk of the jujutsu world's future. No discussion of technique theory. Just the simple, shared taste of tobacco.
Then, quiet and clear, the system chimed inside his head.
[Quest Complete.]
[Congratulations. You have earned Shoko Ieiri's approval. (Current Relationship: Smoking Buddy)]
[Reward Distributed: Simulation Charge +1.]
The cigarette paused halfway to his lips.
That's it?
Compared to those two monsters who seemed ready to punch a hole through the sky, winning over the future doctor had taken nothing more than one well-chosen pack of cigarettes.
This was the power of good intelligence.
"Thanks, Touma." Shoko waved the cigarette pack as she turned toward the girls' dormitory. "If you ever get hurt and you're not completely dead, come find me. I'll bump you to the front of the line. Consider it the cigarette discount."
"I'll hold you to that."
Touma watched her go, then pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
That was the result he'd been after.
In a world this dangerous, those words were worth more than any insurance policy money could buy.