Shin calmed his breathing and looked at Satoru, who was watching from the side, asking with his eyes if they should continue.
He felt Megumi wasn't in good shape. One of his arms was broken, and one of his shikigami had been destroyed.
Unexpectedly, Satoru was still looking up at the sky.
Shin had no choice but to take out his fishing rod again, hook Megumi over, and punch him in the stomach. The pain made Megumi crouch down, clutching his stomach with his one good arm.
Shin held an Iron Sword to his neck and said, "It's over, you lose. But Gojo-sensei, do we really have to decide a winner? Couldn't we have stopped just now? Everyone already knows the outcome in their hearts."
Satoru hopped over and rubbed Shin's head, saying, "It's all because of you. Didn't I tell you to fight seriously just now? You only needed to use your real skills to strike Megumi heavily once, making him realize how weak he is. That would have achieved the purpose of this match."
"But your playful performance would make Megumi misjudge his strength, so I had to extend the time."
Shin asked, "But didn't you say at the beginning it was for us to get to know each other?"
"Ah! Of course, that was a consideration too."
Megumi raised his head in pain and asked, "Then, Gojo-sensei, I've already realized my weakness. Can you send me for treatment now? My whole body hurts."
Satoru Gojo: "..."
"I forgot."
In the end, Megumi's injuries didn't require Shoko's treatment. Shin gave him two Cooked Pork Chops to eat, and after a while, he was completely recovered.
...
Megumi's arrival proved that the plot was about to begin, but Shin had already forgotten which high school Yuji was at, so he could only wait patiently.
However, after Megumi arrived, the time Shin spent being pummeled by Satoru became shorter and shorter. After all, while bullying students is fun, one eventually gets bored.
A few days later, both Megumi's and Shin's student IDs were issued. Along with the IDs came a pile of missions for exorcising Grade 2 and Grade 3 Cursed Spirits, which Satoru "generously" provided, claiming it was for the students to practice.
"Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer? I thought I'd be starting from Grade 4. Fushiguro, what's yours?"
As Shin spoke, he glanced at Megumi's student ID, it was also Grade 2.
Grade 2 is usually the highest rank issued for the first time, because becoming a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer requires a recommendation from a Grade 1 or Special Grade Sorcerer.
Of course, for special people like Yuta, whose initial strength is off the charts, they can be directly designated as Special Grade. But Shin was still far from that kind of strength.
For the remaining half of the summer break, Satoru seemed quite busy. It seemed that as school was about to start, the resentment from the student population catalyzed many troublesome Cursed Spirits, requiring him to travel everywhere. Shin and Megumi were no different, traveling around to complete many tasks originally assigned to Satoru.
Shin actually enjoyed it, as his experience bar was growing rapidly. A Grade 3 Cursed Spirit could raise his level by two, and a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit could raise it by three to five levels. He and Megumi even took down a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, which raised his level by seven in one go.
After more than half a month of exorcising Cursed Spirits, Shin leveled up 60 times. He also unlocked many special items. Combined with using items to craft their derivatives, there were now fewer than 50 items left to unlock. Most of them were relatively unimportant blocks and derivatives from the Nether or the End.
The current Shin was frighteningly strong.
However, all items needed to be accumulated. For example, consumables like Enchanted Golden Apples could only be crafted at a rate of eight or nine per day—still too few. But there was no helping it. While Cursed Energy was plentiful, it was mainly too time-consuming.
But Shin had a faint premonition that when he unlocked all the items, there might be a huge surprise.
Although he really wanted to kill a few more Cursed Spirits to finish unlocking all the items, Satoru called and told the two of them to retrieve a special grade cursed object.
When Shin Kagura heard the words "special grade cursed object," it was as if some special switch had been flipped, and he became excited.
This left Megumi feeling quite helpless.
...
By the time the two arrived at the stevenson screen mentioned in Satoru's message, Megumi couldn't help but complain, "Putting such an important special grade cursed object randomly in a stevenson screen—isn't that stupid? Well, at least it makes it easy to retrieve."
As he spoke, he opened the stevenson screen to reach in and take the cursed object, while Shin stood by with his hands in his pockets, watching. After all, he knew it was empty inside.
Sure enough, after Megumi opened the stevenson screen, he immediately exclaimed, "Huh? It's empty! Where's the cursed object? Did it fall on the ground? It's not on the ground either! The cursed object is missing!"
Initially, Shin didn't understand the value of a special grade cursed object, as he felt the Jujutsu High vault was full of them and they weren't that rare. However, seeing the usually calm Megumi so panicked over the loss of a special grade cursed object, he suddenly felt that they might actually have some value.
"Calm down, Fushiguro. Call Gojo-sensei first."
Ring! Ring!
"Hello? What? The special grade cursed object is missing? Did it go out for a walk at night?"
"But if you can't find the cursed object, you and Shin don't need to come back to Jujutsu High. That's it, bye."
Satoru calmly said those words that made them both feel a chill.
Megumi took several deep breaths, concentrating Cursed Energy in his eyes to carefully observe the surrounding residue, and led Shin all the way following the residue to the gate of a high school.
"Miyagi Prefecture Sugisawa Third High School? It looks like the cursed object was probably taken by some curious high schoolers to play with. Then there's no need to worry. Fushiguro, you know, right? Special grade cursed objects usually have seals on them, and ordinary people with almost no Cursed Energy can't open the seals."
Megumi knew this, but that was for ordinary special grade cursed objects. What the two of them were here to retrieve was the legendary fingers of Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses. Moreover, what Shin just said about not being able to open it was based on the seal still being effective.
Although the purpose of coming to retrieve it now was because they calculated the seal had weakened due to corrosion and needed to be taken back for reinforcement, if those in the Jujutsu World who issued the task were even slightly reliable, the current seal should definitely still be within its effective period.
But one can never be too sure. What if the time given by the Higher-Ups was wrong?
What if... what if the person who got the cursed object just happened to have Cursed Energy?