It didn't take long for the two of them to divide the Cursed Spirits in the office. Half for you, half for me.
The Broken Thorn Sword returned to its original white glow.
Even though the material was bone, it didn't look deathly pale. Instead, it had a translucent, crystal-like clarity—a sense of purity.
Suguru Geto instructed the Cursed Spirits to re-contain the broken swords.
The bloated human face on the Cursed Spirit looked even more pained than before. It had just vomited everything out, and now it had to swallow it all back again—and there was so much of it...
It stood to the side, constantly dry heaving.
Suguru Geto held one of the broken swords in his hand. An inexplicable sense of cold serenity came over him, and for a moment, he stared in a daze.
He shook his head.
Once the Human Face Cursed Spirit had swallowed the last of the broken swords and slowly climbed up to his shoulder, he handed over the sword in his hand and watched as it bit down, chewing bit by bit.
After all the swords were collected, Suguru Geto looked up.
His eyes were deeply sunken as he glanced at Sōjun Minamoto, who was recording information at his workstation.
"Well, I'll be going then."
"Yes. If you have any questions, you can come to me."
Sōjun Minamoto didn't look up.
"...See you next time."
Only then did Sōjun Minamoto look at Suguru Geto's back as he slowly walked out of the office, before quickly returning to his own work.
He had to record in detail the changes in Haibara's sister's technique.
A naturally gifted technique undergoing change after birth—he had only seen that in himself. Now there was another example. That alone made it worth studying.
...
A few days later,
Sōjun Minamoto began preparing to merge the Cursed Energy Sources. With experience from the first time, the process was now much simpler.
He took out the seventeen Cursed Energy Sources he had gathered during this time. It didn't seem like much at first glance, but considering how complex the origins were, the quantity felt significant.
Compared to a typical sorcerer who possessed only one Cursed Energy Source, the value of these seventeen was especially high.
Sōjun Minamoto steadied his thoughts.
Cursed Energy Sources weren't physical things—they were conceptual.
The only reason he could access and use them was thanks to Perfect Control and Assimilation. That allowed him to sense the presence of the energy contained within.
Soon, he began absorbing them into his body, one by one.
Seventeen star-like points lit up across his body once again. A strong sense of foreignness welled up in his chest.
Sōjun Minamoto immersed himself in the sensation.
At the same time, the Cursed Spirit Orbs in his stomach began digesting, transforming into streams of pure Cursed Energy.
These streams repeatedly washed over the external Cursed Energy Sources, bringing an odd sense of comfort—like being bitten by a mosquito, then pressing your nails into it to make a cross. A tingling, oddly satisfying itch.
A small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. He thought to himself:
Almost there. Just a few more days of assimilation.
Once they're filled with Cursed Energy refined from negative emotions...
Once they're full, they'll completely become mine.
...
For the next stretch of time, Sōjun Minamoto remained in his dorm, largely ignoring the outside world.
He focused entirely on speeding up the refinement of Cursed Energy.
Until one day—Riko Amanai and the others came to find him at the dorm.
Yu Haibara beamed as he looked at Sōjun Minamoto. "Senpai, do you have a moment? I want to treat everyone to a meal."
"Go find me at the medical department," Sōjun replied, checking the time. It was just about time to clock out.
"You go!" Riko Amanai immediately shot back. "We already came all this way, and now you want us to go back?"
"You go!" she repeated with emphasis.
There was no hierarchy between the clones—each one was just another version of himself. Aside from unique cases like the Fly Head and the Bone Tree, Jujutsu High should have data on all of them. Half the Jujutsu world probably knows already.
And the people around him likely knew even more.
Riko Amanai, in particular, always followed the same search pattern: dorms first, then the Bone Tree, and finally the medical department.
Whenever something came up, she'd head to the dorm first. If he wasn't there, she'd follow that exact sequence.
Sōjun looked up at the four of them. Haibara's younger sister was there too, clutching the hem of Yu Haibara's clothes and peeking out from behind him, sneaking glances his way.
He thought for a moment. It wasn't like he had anything urgent to do, so he didn't refuse and stood up. "Alright, let's go."
"Woohoo! Let's head out!" Riko cheered, grabbing Haibara's sister's hand and leading the way. The girl didn't resist or seem afraid.
It looked like the two of them had gotten close in just a few days.
...
That evening, everyone gathered for a meal. Yu Haibara had gone all out, treating them to premium charcoal-grilled beef at an upscale restaurant—a pricey gesture.
Sōjun glanced around. Everyone from their usual group was there—except Suguru Geto.
"It's the 18th today," Yu said, checking his phone, looking a bit disappointed. "Senpai's out on a mission. He's not at Jujutsu High."
"No worries, I'll send that guy some pics," Satoru Gojo said, whipping out his phone and snapping away—first at the food, then at everyone around the table.
Soon, he flipped it into selfie mode, turned it toward himself and aimed at the group.
"Alright, smile! Say cheese~~"
"Cheese!"
"Cheese~~"
"Cheese."
The voices weren't exactly in sync, and after that, everyone burst into laughter. Riko laughed the hardest, doubling over with her hands on her stomach, her face twisted with exaggerated glee.
Sōjun felt himself relax. It was easy being around them. The flow of Cursed Energy within him was slowly filling up again, and the sensation was genuinely pleasant. It doubled his sense of ease, and even he cracked a smile.
Gojo kept tapping away, capturing everyone's expressions and sending the photos into the group chat.
After the meal, life seemed to slip right back into its usual rhythm.
...
A few days later, a steward came to Sōjun's door to inform him of a meeting.
When he arrived at the meeting room in the Taiji Conference Room, the atmosphere was heavy. Masamichi Yaga was there too. They exchanged glances and sat down.
"Everyone, take a look at the report first," came the mumbled voice of the elderly man leading the session.
The room fell silent as Sōjun opened the file on the table before him.
Tokyo Jujutsu High — Principal and Faculty
September 28, 2007
Incident Report: Harm Caused by a Student
Assistant Manager: Misato Masatojin
Subject of Investigation: Tokyo 3rd-year student, Suguru Geto
The report read:
...
Sōjun skimmed through it. Geto had gone on a solo mission and hadn't returned on time. When the assistant supervisor went to check the situation, they found the entire village—112 people—dead.
It had already been five days since Geto was dispatched.
At first, they suspected Cursed Spirits. But the residuals confirmed it was Cursed Spirit Manipulation—Geto's technique.
No clear motive.
The report noted that the village had once housed a Jujutsu Sorcerer clan. They were following up on that lead.
...
So, it's come to this, Geto.
"This has blown up," the old man said, scanning the room. "What do you all think we should do?"
"A sorcerer killed non-sorcerers, and in such a brutal way…"
"...According to Article 9 of the Jujutsu World's regulations, he should be classified as a Curse User, apprehended immediately, and sentenced to death."
"…"
"Who's going to handle this?" the elder asked.
Silence.
The course of action was clear. The Jujutsu world had rules, and this case warranted the death penalty. No one could argue that.
But who was going to carry it out?
With Geto's Grade 1, borderline Special Grade power, there were few capable of capturing him. Add to that his Cursed Spirit Manipulation Technique, and it would certainly trigger a widespread disturbance among curses.
It was a logistical nightmare.
Some people cast sideways glances at Sōjun. He was the only Special Grade sorcerer present—someone with the power to do it.
"Don't push it on me. I've got to maintain the school's barrier. How am I supposed to leave?" Sōjun said offhandedly. The higher-ups always used the barrier as an excuse to restrict him, so now he could use it to deflect responsibilities too.
The tension in the room shifted.
"Yaga, you're his teacher. Shouldn't you take charge of the capture?" the elder said, though it sounded more like a decision than a suggestion.
The other elders started chiming in.
Yaga looked troubled. He didn't want the task, but he also didn't want anyone else to take it...
"Satoru Gojo's close with him. He's Special Grade and strong enough. Just leave it to Gojo," Sōjun suggested.
No one here wanted to get their hands dirty. They were all looking for someone to dump the job on. With Yaga on the scene, if he didn't take it, he'd be the default scapegoat.
Sōjun couldn't let that happen. If Yaga ended up taking the fall, it would be bad for their faction—and for Geto.
But he couldn't completely wash his hands of it either. So, he threw out the name of someone powerful and not easily cornered—Satoru Gojo.
Truthfully, even if Gojo wasn't officially tasked with it, he'd still go after Geto. So why not take a little initiative? And no one could—or dared—to dump the full blame on the Gojo Clan.
Once Gojo's name was brought up, the room fell silent again. But just sitting around was pointless.
Sōjun stood up. "Then let's issue the capture order. Yaga-sensei, please notify Satoru Gojo."
"If any of you think you've got what it takes, feel free to go capture him yourself."
The General Inspectorate would definitely release a wanted notice, so they could just post a bounty. Whoever had the guts could go after him.
As for the fallout? Everyone would share the blame. No one was getting out of this clean.
Some in the room still clung to false hopes and tossed ideas back and forth. Sōjun had no more patience for it. He stood, walked past the others, and looked directly at the old man at the head of the room.
"What do you think? Since no one has a better idea, just go with what I said. Dragging this out any further is meaningless."
His words left the old men fuming.
The elder fell silent, as if dozing off, then slowly scanned the room. Aside from Sōjun and a few others, no one dared meet his gaze.
He let out a heavy breath and muttered, "Let's do it this way."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / PinkSnake