Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High School.
Gakuganji took one last look out the window. The rain wouldn't stop—dense threads of water wove into a heavy fog, plastered so thickly against the glass that without the occasional gust lifting the curtain of rain, it could have been a slab of black cloth.
Hopefully everything goes smoothly... he prayed silently. Nearly every sorcerer had been deployed. He'd been left behind to hold the school alone. The sprawling campus had emptied out in an instant—hollow and silent as a tomb.
He closed the window. Then a flicker of awareness—someone was coming back.
He didn't know who. The curse site was a good hour's drive from the school. Based on the latest intelligence, Kira's team had only just finished with Hanami. There was no way they could be back this soon.
The visitor paused at his door. Footsteps stopped—as though something had caught their attention.
Through the window lattice, Gakuganji watched a young man in office clothes crouch down in front of the school's small shrine, studying the offertory box with evident curiosity.
It was Nanami Kira.
"Dude... hah... I'm done. I seriously don't have a single drop of cursed energy left..."
Todo's face was ashen. Every wound on his body had scabbed over. He was braced against the ground, chest heaving violently, as if trying to cough up a lung.
Moments ago, he'd pushed his cursed energy output far past its limit. He could lose consciousness at any second.
Kira paid the exhausted Todo no mind. He was too busy examining the offertory box, sensing the familiar—and, without careful attention, virtually undetectable—cursed energy signature emanating from within.
The pale-pink cat darted out from beneath his feet. Its translucent right hand reached into the offertory box and fished out a stack of bills stamped with the face of Yukichi Fukuzawa.
One hundred eighty thousand yen. His Bad Luck Money.
Untouched. For ten straight days.
But according to Kasumi Miwa, Gakuganji had been desperate for cash lately—wanted to buy a limited-edition guitar—and had been sneaking money out of the offertory box every night.
Miwa had also said it was a secret. Hardly anyone knew the principal did this.
A secret, huh... Kira allowed himself a quiet smile and placed the Bad Luck Money back inside.
He stood, brushed a crease from his trouser leg, produced a handkerchief, dabbed at the nonexistent sweat on his forehead, folded the handkerchief into a perfect square, and tucked it back into his inner breast pocket.
Once satisfied that everything about his appearance was in order, he nodded to Todo:
"Let's go. Time to report the mission to the principal."
"So why did you—"
Todo didn't have the energy left to ask. Even as a Grade 1 sorcerer, his cursed energy reserves were virtually empty now. His consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind; every step threatened to be his last.
He followed Kira like a sleepwalker, one leaden step at a time.
They crossed the rain-soaked courtyard, rounded the covered corridor, passed through a torii gate and two more doors before finally reaching the principal's quarters.
Kira knocked. Hearing assent, he slid the door open and stepped inside. Todo staggered in behind him.
"Kira, you're back already—what happened to Todo?"
Gakuganji rose, catching Todo before he toppled over and easing him down onto the tatami. He looked up:
"Has the cursed spirit been dealt with?"
"Yes. Thanks to you, the mission was completed without incident."
Kira tossed something across the room. Gakuganji caught it reflexively. He opened his hand—a blackened stub of a finger, mottled with lividity. Sukuna's Finger.
"How did you get back so fast?"
"You seem awfully well-informed about our movements for someone who stayed at the school."
"...I was getting updates from Zenin's team, obviously."
"But we operated independently. It was just me, Todo, and Mechamaru."
Kira held Gakuganji's gaze, then smiled faintly. He settled onto the tatami, his tone light:
"We used Todo's technique to get back. He can swap the positions of any person or object that has cursed energy, so I dropped two prayer beads every kilometer on the way there. Poor Todo got run ragged."
"...Why go to all that trouble?"
"To get this into your hands as quickly as possible. No sense letting anything go wrong overnight."
Kira tilted his chin toward the finger in Gakuganji's hand.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Gakuganji looked somewhat weary. After a pause, he reached for the teapot on the table and poured Kira a cup.
Hot water churned over tea leaves. Dark-green fragments bobbed on the faintly steaming surface, slowly unfurling, releasing a fragrance that was subtle, faintly astringent—like a clear pool hidden between moss-covered stones. The poetic aroma lent the storm outside a touch of ink-wash elegance.
"No thank you. I'm not thirsty."
Kira waved the tea away, setting the cup aside.
"If you'll excuse me, I need to seal this in the temple repository."
The temple repository—Tokyo Jujutsu High had one too.
A sacred vault for sealing cursed tools and cursed objects. Everything that couldn't be destroyed, only contained—Special Grade cursed objects like Sukuna's Fingers, or critically dangerous cursed tools—was stored there under heavy guard.
Beneath layers of barrier techniques, thousands of doors shifted position continuously. No one below Special Grade could even begin to crack it.
Gakuganji stood, circled the tea table, and headed for the door.
His hand had just touched the handle when Kira's voice came from behind:
"Oh? Leaving already, Principal?"
The hand froze.
"I need to hurry and seal—"
"Why not sit a while longer?"
Kira's left hand propped up his chin. His right index finger tapped idly on the edge of the table—tok, tok, tok.
"Stay a while. I still have things to report."
"Have a seat, Yoshinobu Gakuganji."
Gakuganji turned to face Kira. A benevolent smile spread across his features—white-haired, white-browed, almost sage-like in appearance.
He sat back down on the tatami, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and met Kira's eyes.
"What else is on your mind?"
"Just a few questions I was hoping the principal could clear up."
Kira shifted into a more comfortable position. The tapping stopped. He cocked his head:
"The curse users set off a massive panic across Kyoto with their cursed plague. What was their real objective?"
"You were right from the start: there's no such thing as a monster that can devour all of Kyoto's emotions. We simply looked at the curse users' behavior and jumped to exactly the conclusion they wanted us to reach."
"The so-called cursed plague was nothing but a smokescreen. A decoy."
Kira looked Gakuganji in the eye, his expression perfectly composed:
"In international affairs, a country will often announce a grand strategic initiative to divert everyone else's attention—while quietly pursuing its real agenda."
"They were never trying to create a King of Jujutsu. They didn't have the power to. The only explanation I can think of is that they simply wanted to manufacture a crisis severe enough to pin down every available sorcerer—and then, while everyone was occupied, carry out their actual plan."
"Misdirection."
"A con. One that deceived both sides."
Kira paused, then said softly:
"You're not actually Principal Gakuganji, are you? Or rather—not entirely."
"Your real name is... let me think... right. Hasegawa Kaede. The one I met at the shopping mall."
"The curse user who 'died' at my hands."