[By the time you caught up to Gojo, he was already sizing up a Western-style house not far ahead, looking ready to tear it apart. You threw up a Curtain before he could start.]
[Thanks to Phantom Night Parade, you picked up on it almost immediately: some kind of barrier-related technique woven into the structure of the building. You tried getting a word in.]
["Feels like a barrier. Want me to take a crack at it?"]
[Then you watched Blue reduce the house to rubble in the space of a heartbeat, and realized you'd wasted your breath.]
["What'd you say just now, Touma?"]
[Gojo apparently hadn't heard you over the sound of demolition.]
[You sighed.]
["Nothing. I said it's a good thing I got the Curtain up early, or we'd be making the evening news again."]
["I'm here to save you, Utahime!"]
[Gojo called down to the figure tumbling out of the wreckage below.]
[Utahime dragged herself upright from the debris, battered and furious. She glared up at the source of that voice she despised so much.]
["Are you crying?"]
["I am NOT crying! And use respectful language when you talk to your senior, you jackass!"]
[Compared to Utahime's disheveled state, Mei Mei had already materialized beside you and Gojo, composed and unbothered. Not a trace of panic on her. You couldn't help but note the gulf between Grade 2 and Grade 1. A single rank apart on paper, but worlds away in practice.]
[Mei Mei studied your group with open interest.]
["So if I were the one crying, would you comfort me too?"]
["I'd love to find out."]
[Gojo gave her a puzzled look.]
["You wouldn't cry though, would you, Ms. Mei? You're way too strong for that."]
["Hmm, is that so?"]
[Watching the exchange, you were certain Gojo had missed her point entirely.]
[During your previous simulation as an Assistant Manager, you'd dealt with Mei Mei plenty and understood the woman well enough. Sweet words and comfort meant nothing to her. Only money could move her needle, and not modest sums either.]
[Which meant Gojo was probably the only person present who met the entry requirements. Mei Mei wasn't interested in Gojo himself so much as she was eyeing the Gojo family fortune.]
[Meanwhile, Utahime had apparently had enough of being ignored. She stormed to her feet and shouted at Gojo.]
["Listen here, Gojo! I didn't need you to come save me..."]
[Mid-tirade, the mission's target Cursed Spirit exploded from the rubble behind her, jaws wide open for a blindside attack.]
[You'd already been tracking it. Even after the house collapsed, that signature of Cursed Energy hadn't faded. So you'd kept Phantom Night Parade locked on its movements, and by the time the spirit lunged for Utahime, you were already a step ahead.]
[The Cursed Corpse left your hand in a clean throw. About fifty centimeters tall, a plush monkey with bright black eyes, fluffy fur, and a full set of golden armor and crown.]
[Your own creation. One semester under Yaga, finished just recently.]
[The one flaw: you still hadn't found a proper cursed tool to arm it with.]
[Under your Puppet Manipulation, it caught Utahime's stunned gaze and delivered a vicious uppercut to the massive Cursed Spirit's jaw. Two oversized fangs went flying.]
["What...?"]
[Before Utahime could process what she'd seen, a serpentine Cursed Spirit burst from the ground beneath the first one and swallowed it whole, leaving only the head exposed.]
["Don't eat it, okay? I still need to absorb that one later."]
[Geto called back casually as he strolled down toward the pinned spirit.]
[You shouted after him.]
["Suguru, I got first hit. Let me finish analyzing its technique before you swallow it."]
["Yeah, yeah."]
[He didn't argue. This was standing protocol between you by now.]
[A year of training had closed enough of the gap that you could keep pace with Gojo and Geto in combat, if only contributing five to ten percent of the overall effort on any given mission. Small as that was, they no longer brushed aside your claim to first crack at your own targets.]
[That said, any Cursed Spirit capable of wielding Cursed Energy was at minimum Grade 2, and those that possessed actual techniques ranked Semi-Grade 1 or above. In practice, you'd harvested exactly zero techniques from Cursed Spirits so far.]
[Mei Mei watched your Puppet Manipulation with an appraising eye.]
["So that's Phantom Night Parade at work. One look and anyone could tell you're Masamichi's student."]
["You're too kind, Ms. Mei."]
["Though, you'd better not be sneaking an analysis of my technique while we chat."]
[She delivered the line with a smile, but the warning underneath was impossible to miss.]
Damn.
[She'd noticed.]
["That said, if you really want to learn, I could always give you some private, one-on-one instruction..."]
[You cut her off before she could finish, a wry smile already forming as you completed the sentence for her.]
["But that would be another price entirely, right? I'll come find you once I've saved up enough, Ms. Mei."]
[Down below, Geto reached the pinned Cursed Spirit and glanced over at Gojo.]
["Bullying the weak isn't a good look, you know."]
["Who the hell goes around bullying the strong, idiot!"]
[Even Mei Mei chimed in.]
["Geto, that's an even more natural way to provoke someone."]
["Huh?"]
[Utahime's teeth clenched. She turned her fury on Geto.]
[Shoko's languid voice drifted in at exactly the right moment.]
["Utahime, are you okay? You were out of contact for two whole days. I was worried."]
[Utahime broke away and threw her arms around Shoko, holding tight.]
["Shoko, promise me you'll never turn out like those two!"]
["Ahaha, don't worry. I'll never become that kind of scumbag."]
[Shoko patted her back gently, laughing.]
[Gojo, visibly annoyed, jabbed a finger in your direction and demanded of Utahime and Shoko:]
["Why is it only us two? Touma's the same, isn't he?"]
["Wait, I'm a scumbag too?"]