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CHAPTER START---
---Tokyo Jujutsu Tech, April 3rd, 2014, 5 AM…
"What the hell?!" Taiyo yells as he swings open his door to see Kusakabe, who is vigorously knocking on his dorm room door. "Unless the world is ending, you shouldn't be waking me up this early."
"Get dressed and grab your travel bad, school starts now. Meet me at the main hall," Kusakabe says before walking away.
Taiyo sighs and shuts the door, doing exactly what his teacher says.
---5 Minutes Later…
Walking into the main hall, Taiyo is wearing a red and black jacket, a black undershirt, and pants with red accents that match the jacket and his hair.
Over his shoulder is a backpack with a change of clothes and some other essentials, the standard travel bag for a Jujutsu Sorcerer on missions.
"Let me guess, your favorite color is red?" Kusakabe asks.
"Well, my hair is naturally red, and it all looks good on me, plus my heat is red too," Taiyo shrugs. "If it works, right?"
"Right, follow me," Kusakabe says as he leads Taiyo to the car. "I'll explain on the way."
A few minutes later they're driving out of the Barrier protecting the school, and Taiyo is sipping on a can of coffee to wake up.
"Ok, what's going on?" Taiyo asks.
"Here," Kusakabe hands him his student ID, since this is supposed to be his first official day.
"Happy first day to me, but why are we starting this early instead of at 8, like classes are supposed to be?" Taiyo asks. "Actually, since it's only me, we probably won't have any classroom time, huh…that's good."
"One of the Barriers sealing a Registered Special Grade Cursed Spirit has been broken," Kusakabe says.
"What the hell is a 'Registered Special Grade'? I thought as soon as one of those appears we kill it, don't we?"
"Normally, yes, but these are a bit more powerful than a regular Special Grade Cursed Spirit, so usually we'd send Gojo for something like this. A Registered Special Grade is more like an animal we've locked in a cage.
This is because they collect Cursed Energy from a specific thing. For example, that rubble Special Grade we fought with Nanami and Ino. After exorcising it and rebuilding that hospital, people's Negative Energy toward the hospital will diminish enough that it won't appear again.
These are different since they're spawned by great disasters throughout history, and since those disasters have become part of Japan's history or culture, they will always be reborn after killing them, and when they are, they'll rampage and likely kill people before we seal them again."
"So we keep them sealed to prevent that," Taiyo says.
"Exactly, and there are over a dozen of these at the moment."
"Ok, and why are we doing this instead of Mister Invincible?"
"Gojo isn't in the country right now, which is likely why this is happening just a day after he leaves."
"So things get chaotic every time he leaves…I should have expected that since most of the Curse Users only keep their heads down because of him."
"At least you get that Special Grade money. Oh, and since you're officially on the school's payroll now, you can expect some people from Jujutsu clans to contact you, now that you're officially in the system."
"What would they want with me?"
"Could be anything from handing you some women to breed to make Special Grade babies, or hiring you on retainer. A lot of them train internally. The only people who are part of Jujutsu Tech and called Jujutsu Sorcerers are those who don't mind working with the government. The clan members are usually just classified as 'Special Grade 1' and such, or Independent Sorcerers like Mei Mei and Yuki."
"The woman with the braid who recorded the video of me?"
"She's strong and knows how to keep her mouth shut. That's an invaluable combination, and since she only cares about money—"
"She makes more working solo and getting hired by Jujutsu Tech occasionally."
"Pretty much," Kusakabe says. "Jujutsu Tech isn't mandatory, but it is the best place to learn, aside from a major clan. She's never attended, but she's been working with the school for about ten years now, mostly for collecting intel on Curse Users via her birds."
"So even if you aren't a student, so long as you're part of Jujutsu Society and follow the rules, then you're fine."
"Yeah, pretty much. But unless you decide to marry into a clan, Jujutsu Tech is the best place for you."
"There are too many beautiful things to try before I consider settling."
"I figured as much," Kusakabe shakes his head. "Will you be attending during your 4th year?"
"Hmm, well, my options are to remain as a student or step into the professional path instead…but I'm not really sure yet."
"The 4th year at Jujutsu Tech is mostly to ease you into the life of a Professional Sorcerer while still having the support of the school. It's also good to remain for students who either want to have a closer relationship with the school or need a bit more time to get to a higher rank."
"Because it's probably harder to move up the ranks without the school, since the school is more trusted than the clans when ranking people, right?"
"Yeah, but you're Special Grade, so you don't need to worry about that."
"Well, if I leave after 3rd year I won't get to fight Gojo in my 4th."
"Would save you one Beatdown," Kusakabe says.
"Have some faith in your student."
"I'm a realist," Kusakabe says. "Do you really plan to slam your head against that mountain until it breaks?"
"I've got four tries, and I intend to use all of them."
"Hopefully his hand doesn't slip and accidentally punch your head off…" Kusakabe mutters as they drive away from Tokyo.
---Hours Late, Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park…
Standing on a wooden bridge, Taiyo and Kusakabe look down at a small lake below them.
"This isn't going to be some kind of fish Cursed Spirit, right?" Taiyo asks. "I'd rather not fight a fish in water."
"The Barrier is like an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Regular people can't get through it and just see regular rocks down there," Kusakabe says as he removes his jacket and places it on the railway of the bridge.
Taiyo follows his lead, placing his phone in a plastic bag before putting it in his pocket.
"Ready?" Taiyo asks.
"God, that water looks cold," Kusakabe says as he stands on the railing, sword in hand.
"Makes me kind of happy I'm not affected by extreme temperatures," Taiyo says as he casually hops over the railing after kicking off his shoes, splashing down in the water.
"Tch, 'Jujutsu is fair' my ass," Kusakabe grumbles as he leaps into the water.
Taiyo immediately dives and follows Kusakabe below, and to his amazement, he sees a massive air pocket with a shrine inside it.
The top of the air bubble fit perfectly with the lakebed, creating a car-sized opening for them to enter.
Following Kusakabe's signal, Taiyo swims to the bottom of the lake with ease and reaches through the Barrier, feeling the air on the other side before pushing through.
As he's in the Barrier, he finds himself falling down to the shrine below, a full three stories.
But both he and Kusakabe land as if it were nothing and take battle stances.
A tense minute passes before Kusakabe relaxes, and Taiyo takes that as the signal that they're alone.
"So I'm guessing it's not supposed to be this quiet, right?"
"And you'd be right," Kusakabe says. "This Cursed Spirit is a snake that slithers through the air, it was sealed within this shrine, but it should be free to roam the entire Barrier since the shrine acts as an anchor."
"Most of that second part went over my head," Taiyo admits as steam begins pouring off his body.
Kusakabe looks over, and Taiyo simply increases the heat of the air around him to spread the warmth to his teacher instead of simply drying his own clothes.
"Thanks, now let's check the talismans," Kusakabe says as he walks to the wooden shrine, covered in talisman tags.
"These look like what the box with Sukuna's finger had, but…fancier."
"Because these are anchor tags along with being containment tags," Kusakabe says. "These were made centuries ago, and aren't meant to ever move. They drain the Cursed Energy of the Cursed Spirit and use that to keep it bound, and making them requires keeping the Cursed Spirit within the barrier for hours."
"Wow, no wonder they don't want to redo that process," Taiyo says as he inspects the back of the shrine. "So how strong is this thing supposed to be, anyway?"
"Well, from what I'm seeing over here, whoever broke in here didn't kill it since I don't sense any of its Cursed Energy staining this place from death. And the talismans were broken in a bad way, so it must have been weakened by that too…one or two Grade 1's can handle it, but I'd rather not fight it."
"Ok, so someone captured it for whatever reason. What happens if they kill it?"
"Then this lake and the surrounding area become a death zone for any civilians," Kusakabe says. "Swim back up and call Principal Yaga. Tell him we need to close this park until this problem is dealt with."
Taiyo looks up at the water beyond the barrier, "Right, cell signals don't work through barriers unless specified."
"Most people can't do that if they tried, since nature will always side with Jujutsu, Cursed Energy naturally blocks signals. That's also why anyone with simple Cursed Energy Enhancement will take more than just a gun to kill. Now get moving…"
"On it," Taiyo says as he crouches down, then leaps up the three stories into the lake above them.
Taiyo swims with extreme speed and launches himself out of the lake, landing on the bridge above the water, to the amazement of a man who was currently fishing over the side of the bridge.
The man stares at the boy in shock at what he just saw, and Taiyo just smiles and casually waves at him before taking out his phone and calling Principal Yaga.
Walking away from the man, Taiyo quickly informs Principal Yaga of the situation, and is told that the park will be closed soon to the public.
He then hangs up and puts his phone in his pocket, still barefoot and unable to dry his clothes because of the man fishing.
'So with a single call they can just have a national park closed down…I guess I shouldn't be surprised since they're a secret branch of the government,' Taiyo thinks as he turns around to speak to the man.
To his surprise, he sees the old man rushing toward him with incredible speed, leading with a fist emanating Cursed Energy.
'Cursed Energy Reinforcement,' Taiyo realizes as he easily sidesteps the attack.
He then lands a knee to the man's gut, sending him tumbling a dozen feet back across the wooden bridge.
"Are you with the people who stole the Cursed Spirit?" Taiyo asks, only for the man to silently pull out a short sword from under his jacket. "Not in the mood for talking, huh…"
The man rushes toward Taiyo once more, aiming to stab him with a forward thrust.
But Taiyo focuses his mind, sensing that the Cursed Energy of the man is incredibly weak.
With a smile, he sidesteps the attack and swipes his hand downward on the blade, using the heat on his fingers to slice it in two.
The old man's eyes widen before Taiyo grabs his head and throws him to the other side of the bridge, sending him rolling across the entire length.
'This guy is weak,' Taiyo thinks. 'Too weak to think he could kill two Jujutsu Sorcerers, so either he's a pawn who doesn't know what he's doing, or he has stronger friends hiding and is the bait for us to reveal what we can do.'
Taiyo decides not to show his Innate Technique as he charges forward, clearing the few dozen meters between them in two seconds, and grabs the man by the shoulder.
With a twist, he lifts the man and slams him down, cracking the wooden bridge below them.
The man groans, feeling the wind knocked out of him, and is now sure that his client lied, but before he can do anything, a fist crashes into his face, knocking him out.
Taiyo leaps away before he looks around, on guard for any more surprise attacks as he keeps an eye on the man, waiting for Kusakabe to return to the bridge.
While Taiyo waits for Kusakabe, in the surrounding treeline, a single black bird rests atop a branch, observing the encounter and taking note of how strong Taiyo is.
END CHAPTER---
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pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
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