Winter had claimed the Kamo clan estate, covering its grand pagodas and gardens in an unbroken layer of snow. Yet in the centre of the garden, the white was marred… painted in splattered red blood… and dreadful echo of carnage lingered in the cold air.
A pale young boy stood frozen in the midst of it all, his thick haori soaked, clinging to his meek form. The coppery scent of blood was sharp enough to sting his throat.
Trembling, he brought his feeble arms to his face, inspecting them with his single, wide eye… and the empty socket beside it. He was no stranger to blood, but never had he spilled blood like this… blood he had never wished to shed.
Insurmountable despair gripped his heart. Tears he had long trained himself to hold back flowed freely now, carving paths down his haggard cheeks. Reiji Kamo felt his world shatter. He knew, in that instant, that he had lost a part of himself. He could never be the same again.
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Masamichi Yaga was on his way to one of the classrooms at Jujutsu High. Today, he would finally meet the new batch of first-years. 'Two potential Special Grades and two RCT users, huh? Exceptional even for this school…' He grimaced. 'It is going to be a pain to deal with them. What am I even supposed to teach them? '
He did not even know where to start.' Damn it.' Yaga cursed internally.
Steeling himself, he approached the classroom and opened the door. The classroom smelled faintly of chalk and varnished wood, a strange mix of the ordinary and the ominous. As he walked in, he scanned the students.
'The smug brat must be the kid from the Gojo clan… Hm. The one with the weird bangs is probably the curse manipulation user… interesting.' That left the brunette girl… and then his gaze landed on the last student. Unlike the others, who had at least acknowledged his presence, this boy sat by the window, staring at the sky with a blank expression on his slender face. A subtle red tinge in his long untied hair caught Yaga's attention. Something about him seemed different.
Despite Yaga's entrance, none of the students bothered to greet him.
Gojo Satoru leaned back in his chair with an air of entitlement, one leg casually propped up on the desk as if the rules and decorum did not apply to him. Reiji Kamo sat in a daze, his mind paying no attention to his surroundings; even the antics of his boisterous classmate went unnoticed. Suguru Geto, meanwhile, had already introduced himself to the ever-laid-back Shoko, who was easily the most approachable of the group.
Yaga positioned himself at the center of the podium and cleared his throat to get the students' attention. Much to his displeasure, Gojo was busy picking at his nose, while Reiji continued staring at the sky.
"Ahem!" Yaga exclaimed loudly, finally managing to capture most of the class's attention. "I am Masamichi Yaga, Grade 1 sorcerer. I'll be your teacher from now on. Everyone, introduce yourselves and your techniques …"
The first to respond was Gojo. He stood up eagerly, facing the class.
"I am Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer you peasants will ever meet! I am the one and only wielder of the amazing Limitless Technique…" He paused dramatically. "And the glorious Six Eyes!" His charade made Yaga facepalm internally.
"Good morning, everyone," Suguru Geto said in a measured, elegant tone. "My technique is curse manipulation." Yaga nodded, then turned to Shoko.
"Eh, hi… I'm Shoko. Nice to meet you all," she said lazily, as if the words had no weight at all. "Oh, and I specialize in Reverse Cursed Technique," she added casually.
Yaga sighed and turned toward the boy still staring out the window. "Hey, kid… it's your turn now."
"Seems like Dracula here needs a special invitation," Gojo quipped, his voice dripping with amusement. Reiji's head snapped toward Yaga and then Gojo, a flash of confusion crossing his face. 'Eh… what's wrong with this kid? He really didn't notice when I entered the class?' Yaga pondered.
Reiji stood up, albeit with some difficulty. "Hello… I'm Reiji Kamo. My technique is blood manipulation. And… I also specialize in RCT."
The mention of the Kamo name seemed to stun his classmates. "Hah, so you're a bloodsucker after all," Gojo teased playfully.
The brunette eyed him casually. "Whoa… you better not start bleeding all over the place," she said, her tone nonchalant, though her gaze betrayed a hint of realization. 'Quite an impressive technique. I've never seen it in action before', Geto remarked to himself.
"Alright, settle down now. I'll start the class."
Shoko's gaze lingered on Reiji as he sat down, as if she understood something he had been trying to hide all along.
Yaga crossed his arms and took a deep breath before starting " I'm well aware that you have already been taught the basics of cursed energy or are extremely proficient in it, but..."
"I'll make one thing clear-strength alone doesn't make a sorcerer. Overconfidence, recklessness, hesitation… these will get you killed faster than any curse." His gaze flicked again, towards Gojo, then softened almost imperceptibly when it landed on Reiji. "The life of a jujutsu sorcerer is not about glory. It's about survival yours and the people you're meant to protect."
He stepped forward, resting a hand on the desk, he said with a solemn expression "Jujutsu sorcerers rarely die without regrets. A curse doesn't care if you're a Gojo, a Kamo, or anyone else. These things don't give a damn about lineage. They'll kill you the same way they'd kill an ordinary human, and the only thing standing between life and death is how you control yourself in battle." His words were blunt, harsh even, each word of his was delivered with the gravity of experience.
Yaga then raised his hand, cursed energy flickering faintly around his palm. "Control. That's what separates a Grade 1 sorcerer from a corpse. Anyone can flood their body with cursed energy, but directing and manipulating it precisely takes discipline. If you can't direct it, you're swinging a sword blindfolded. Learn to sharpen your control over your technique, push it to its limits, and learn to compensate for when it's gone. Even Reverse Cursed Technique won't save you if you burn yourself out before the fight's finished."
Finally, his voice dropped a bit, heavy with conviction. "Remember this: every curse you fight was born out of human suffering. You don't get to choose when or where it appears. But you do get to choose how well prepared you are. The only sorcerers who live long enough to teach others… are the ones who never forget this fact."
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Yaga's class had ended, and he asked the students to regroup outside the academy after a short break.
Reiji lingered by the vending machine, settling for a plain bottle of water. In the glass reflection, his face looked pale… almost translucent, like a ghost among the living. His gaze fixed on his right eye. Though it was faint, a trace of crimson bled through the iris, noticeable only upon close inspection.
'What am I even supposed to do with this…' Reiji thought, lifting a finger to touch the red in his eye, half-expecting something to happen. Nothing did though. He exhaled softly and twisted open the water bottle. 'I should stop expecting things?'
A faint smile curved his lips, but the melancholy was unmistakable. 'At this rate, I'll be dead soon.' From his pocket, he retrieved a small, familiar pill. Without hesitation, he tossed it into his mouth and washed it down. His hand dipped back into the pocket for another, when a playful voice suddenly rang out behind him.
"Heyyy, Mr. Vampire, whatcha doing?" Gojo's grin was sharp as ever, but his endless sky-blue eyes… narrowed with quiet suspicion.
Startled, Reiji almost choked on his pill. "A-ah… it's nothing," he stammered, trailing off. Behind Gojo, Geto and Shoko followed.
"Well, stay out of the sun—I don't want my classmate getting roasted alive," Gojo said, reaching for some sweets at the nearby vending machine.
"I'm Suguru Geto. Nice to meet you," Geto added, extending his hand politely. "Hello… I'm Reiji. Nice to meet you too," Reiji replied nervously, his expression anxious.
As Geto went for a firm handshake, he immediately realized there was almost no force behind Reiji's hand. 'Huh? What's with him?
'Reiji winced under the grip. Concerned, Geto quickly pulled back.
"Are you okay?! I'm sorry—I didn't mean to hurt you." Clutching his crushed right palm with his left, Reiji forced a sheepish smile, trying and failing to hide the pain. "It's okay… really. I'll be fine."
Watching this, Gojo munched on his sweets and thought to himself, 'He's totally weird… even his uniform is off, though Geto's looks the same…but...' His sky-blue eyes narrowed as they locked onto Reiji. 'What's this sinister vibe I'm sensing from him?'
Gojo Satoru was not one to hang out with weaklings… and Reiji outwardly seemed exactly that. Yet the Six Eyes never lied. Slipping into a more serious mood, Gojo's expression stiffened. 'His cursed energy reserve is almost as much as mine. This guy… he's hiding something.'