At the same time.
The Zenin estate.
The Zenin estate had already been thrown into total disarray by the deaths of Ogi Zenin and Naobito Zenin… and now, on top of all that, strange rumors had begun to circulate within the household.
"Hm? Ah? You're saying ghosts?" Ranta froze for a moment, looking at the guard cowering in front of him with a face full of confusion. "Our household has ghosts too?"
Ranta was a member of the Zenin estate's most elite guard unit.
And right now, listening to his fellow guard's account, he was a little dumbfounded.
"Aren't we a sorcerer family? Why on earth are you afraid of ghosts?"
Ghosts — probably meant Cursed Spirits, right?
By rights, the Zenin estate's village was protected by a barrier, so no Cursed Spirit ought to be able to exist within it. But over the many years, there had in fact been a few cases of Cursed Spirits sneaking in… probably because some spot had developed a crack somewhere.
After all, the place was old and poorly maintained.
It wasn't a big deal, so very few people paid it any mind.
But the guard in front of him was so terrified his face had gone white. This was an old veteran — there weren't many things that could scare a man like him to this degree.
He said it had been a truly terrifying figure.
"I saw Master Toji," he said, voice trembling. "Could it be that after his death, Master Toji has come back as a Cursed Spirit?"
Oh hell.
That really was terrifying.
Toji could basically be counted as the number-one strongest figure the Zenin estate had produced in recent years — and yet, back then, the Zenin estate, gripped by its pathology (and honestly, still gripped by it now), had insanely ostracized and looked down on Toji.
If Toji Fushiguro just hadn't been bothered to deal with them, those lunatics would have long since been killed off by him.
And so, when they looked back on it later — many of the Zenin estate's people only belatedly came to realize that, back then, they really had been dancing on the edge of a knife.
That fact left them deeply uneasy.
And the guard in front of him was a textbook case of this kind of guilty conscience. Which was why, after seeing a Toji-like figure last night, he'd been scared into trembling all over.
"The build wasn't quite like what I remember, but that blade — that I'd never mistake." The guard shivered. "Last night, just like ten years ago, he walked through the corridor without sparing anyone a single glance..."
Uh.
Ranta felt this guy was just talking absolute nonsense. Probably had a nightmare and taken it for real — something wrong with his head.
Still, since his subordinate had spoken up, he'd just have to pass the report up the chain.
So Ranta went and knocked on Naoya Zenin's door.
"What is it?" Naoya Zenin's voice came from inside.
Ranta reported the matter faithfully.
"It's nothing — leave it alone, I have my own way of handling it," Naoya replied.
Ranta didn't really care much about this matter either, and turned to leave. But what he didn't know was that, before he had made his report, inside the room, Naoya Zenin had been standing in front of the mirror in a black wig, holding the Soul-Severing Blade, striking poses in imitation of Toji Fushiguro.
— Yes, that's right. The figure the guard had spotted last night was, in fact, Naoya cosplaying Toji Fushiguro.
Earlier on —
that woman who had claimed to be a curse-user had delivered the Soul-Severing Blade to him.
To Naoya, this blade was the personal weapon of the man he had idolized his entire life.
Naturally, he couldn't bear to put it down — even going so far as to sleep with the blade clutched in his arms at night.
The previous evening, after holding the blade up and posing with it in front of the mirror a few times, he'd suddenly thought, holy shit, I actually look exactly like Toji Fushiguro. So he started putting wigs on himself and painting on scars — awakening some strange new hobby, and once it got going, there was no stopping it.
To the point that even now he was still cosplaying, striking poses in front of the mirror.
"Tch — what a damn nuisance," Naoya Zenin clicked his tongue. "Getting to lay eyes on this lord's figure should be your good fortune — and yet you go around calling me a ghost..."
Doesn't know how lucky he is.
He lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on the blade.
This blade really was beautiful.
Naoya Zenin decided he was never going to let himself be parted from this blade again.
He was going to have this blade fight at his side, just as Toji Fushiguro had back in the day.
Knock. Knock. Knock—
Just then, someone was knocking on the door once more.
Naoya Zenin gave a small start, jerked his head around, and called out to ask who was there. He really didn't want anyone seeing him in his current state right now.
"Lord Naoya, it's me again." The voice outside was Ranta's.
"What is it now?" Naoya frowned.
He assumed Ranta had some more boring matter to bring up — but instead, what Ranta said next was a piece of news that left him momentarily stunned.
"That Fushiguro Maki... she's saying she wants to keep participating in the estate-division assembly," Ranta's voice was somewhat hesitant. "The people downstairs just confirmed it... Fushiguro Maki really is able to retract her renunciation of the estate division..."
Naoya Zenin sat there frozen for two seconds, then let out a cold laugh: "Hah. Fine."
Fushiguro Maki, is it? Doesn't matter.
Either way it was just killing — whether he killed one of them or two of them, made no difference to him.
Anyone who wanted to come and fight him for the Zenin estate's property would die under his — and his idol's — blade.
No exceptions.
...
"Attention all passengers, train number XXXX is now ready for departure."
The time had now moved on to the second day.
A train stopped at some town station was running announcements. In one of the seats inside the carriage sat three figures — two young women and a little girl.
Both of the young women had very ordinary features, yet at the same time were extremely eye-catching — because both of them were wearing maid outfits.
And the younger little girl was a blonde, blue-eyed foreign child, looking just like a porcelain doll.
The passengers around them were stealing glances, wondering whether perhaps some great household's young mistress had come to Japan on a trip, with two maids in tow.
In reality, this was Zen'in Mai, Maki Zenin, and Mahiru — the three of them.
"Mai-Mai, Mai-Mai, I want a snack."
"Yes, Young Mistress. Which one would you like?"
The three of them had disguised themselves with makeup, and made Cursed Energy disguises as well, all just to ride the train and make the journey. For two sorcerers and a Cursed Spirit to slip past security and bum a ride was, naturally, absurdly easy — they just had to find three empty seats.
Mai was going along enthusiastically with Mahiru's roleplay, Maki had reluctantly fallen into line — and right now she was sitting off to one side with an expression of pure speechlessness.
Tomorrow was the day the Zenin estate would begin its estate-division assembly. Without question, Ogi Zenin's actions had been backed by the other members of the Zenin estate — which was why he had been bold enough to come and kill them face-to-face.
Every single claimant in the Zenin estate's property division was an accomplice in the hunt for the two of them — a target of their revenge.
Tomorrow, the two sisters would carve their way back into the Zenin estate, and take their revenge on these enemies.
Maki's gaze fell on the blonde, blue-eyed little girl in front of her. Their seats were arranged two-by-two side by side. Mai and Mahiru sat together, the seat beside Maki was empty, and the two of them faced Mahiru and Mai's seats.
Mahiru had said she would help too.
If the two of them could handle the problem themselves, Mahiru wouldn't step in. But if they couldn't, then Mahiru wouldn't keep her identity hidden any longer either.
The girl was good to them.
Both of them could feel it.
The help and attention Mahiru gave them didn't conform to rationality in the slightest — but it was precisely because it wasn't rational that, coming from someone like Mahiru, who did whatever she pleased, this kind of behavior felt so genuine.
The girl's head suddenly began turning over plans for the future.
As for the future... after they'd settled things with the Zenin estate, what would she and Mai do then?
According to the contract, she and Mai still had to work for Mahiru.
At first she had been quite resistant — but now, Maki was gradually finding that being beside Mahiru, she was actually living more comfortably, more genuinely.
As a friend, even though Mahiru's mysterious bad-taste impulses could be infuriating sometimes, everything else about her was pretty great.
And as a boss, a leader like Mahiru — one who could backstop you, and who cared enough about her subordinates — was a rare find.
She and Mai had already given up on their above-ground lives. Even after Satoru Gojo came back later on, he wouldn't be in a position to help them anymore.
The only one who could help them now — was Mahiru, and Mahiru alone.
After the matter with the Zenin estate was over, they'd just stick with Mahiru, then.
That was what Maki was thinking.
And she figured Mai was probably thinking the same.
It was just... after the Zenin estate matter was settled, what was Mahiru going to have the two of them — sorcerers as they were — do?
Serve as her enforcers?
In that case, would they end up making enemies of Jujutsu High's people for Mahiru's sake?
If it really came to that... that really would be hard to swallow.
But there was no help for it. Since they had already signed a contract with Mahiru, if it really did come to that situation, all they could do was follow Mahiru's orders and turn against Jujutsu High's people.
But Mahiru didn't seem to bear any ill will toward Jujutsu High's people, so it probably wasn't a big issue?
"Speaking of which — how much money do you two have left?" Mahiru suddenly asked the pair of them in a low voice.
How much money?
"Enough for about a week's living expenses," Maki answered honestly.
"Three days," Mai indicated that she had even less.
Mahiru's brow twitched.
"Got it," she suddenly said. "Maki, you should go run food delivery later on."
Maki: ?
"With your abilities, doing food delivery, you could absolutely handle fifty orders' worth of deliveries a day... no, a hundred orders." Mahiru gave Maki a thumbs-up. "I'm betting on you."
Hey — why don't you just have me go fight my fellow Jujutsu High people instead? That'd at least be a bit easier for me to accept.
The train began to move.
Take the train for a little over an hour, then trek through the mountain forest on foot — that was one of the most concealed routes Mahiru had designed, guaranteed to get them there in time for the meeting.
Just as Mahiru was in the middle of a stretch, she suddenly sensed something. Her body went rigid.
At the same instant, Mai and Maki's pupils both contracted simultaneously — having sensed an extraordinarily dangerous aura — their bodies stiffening to motionlessness.
What was going on?
Cold sweat instantly broke out across Maki's back.
After becoming the Heavenly Tyrant, her instincts had also become a great deal sharper. At this moment, even though she clearly didn't sense any presence of Cursed Energy at all, she was unconsciously trembling.
Something terrifying had stepped onto the train.
"Tch." Mahiru silently clicked her tongue.
The girl had already spotted, from a distance, the woman walking into the carriage — and couldn't help but be amused into something like exasperated laughter.
That was the source of the sense of danger — and at the same time, a long blonde-haired older sister with a great figure and the kind of model-tier sultriness.
She walked over, step by step, eyes scanning the seat numbers — and when she saw the seats where Mahiru and the others were sitting, one of her eyebrows lifted.
Set her luggage down.
And sat down right beside Mai.
"Oh my, this train's really packed today," the woman said with the familiar ease of someone who made friends easily, then turned to look at Mai and Maki. "Whoa, are you two foreigners? Some kind of noble household's young mistresses?"
Both Mai and Maki's expressions were a little less than natural.
Especially Mai — Mai too had recognized exactly who this person was.
"We're not foreigners! Hello, big sis!" Mahiru beamed brilliantly, raising her hand in greeting to the woman. "Big sis, big sis! What type of woman do you go for?!"
"Ah, that question?" The blonde woman laughed. "You're quite an interesting one, little sister."
——Yuki Tsukumo.
One of the Four Special Grade Sorcerers.
Without question, one of the absolute powerhouses of the Jujutsu Kaisen world.
____
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🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
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