After the team match ended, the owl in the sky scanned the area one more time. Then it soared upward and vanished without a trace.
* * *
Inside the monitoring room, Mukuro opened his eyes.
He did not know what went wrong. He had planned to wipe out the cursed spirits and curse users the moment they showed up.
But now, it seemed that plan had fallen apart.
"HAHAHAHA! Looks like this year's victory belongs to Kyoto Jujutsu High!"
In the same room, Principal Gakuganji patted Masamichi's shoulder and laughed out loud, which was rare for him.
Last year, Kyoto had been crushed, mostly because of Yuta.
And this time, both schools' students had been trained by their own special grade sorcerers. Kyoto winning this round made him look very good.
Next came the individual matches. With Todo alone, they should be able to win easily, right?
"That's not guaranteed," Masamichi adjusted his sunglasses and answered calmly.
After all, Tokyo had several talented first-years this year.
"Hey, how about we change this year's individual match into a teacher battle instead? I haven't gotten serious in years."
Suddenly, Satoru raised one finger and tossed out his wild idea.
He had already secretly changed the individual match into something else anyway, so adding more fun would not hurt.
"Absolutely not! You're already grown up. Act more mature!"
The moment he finished, both principals shut him down hard, especially Masamichi.
Masamichi could see right through him.
After watching the students perform so well, Satoru's old fighting spirit had clearly come back. He wanted to continue the battle from twelve years ago, the one he had with Mukuro.
He wanted to test the difference between then and now.
He wanted to see who was truly the strongest.
But if two special grade sorcerers fought seriously, the entire school would not survive.
And a fight at that level, if someone tried to decide a winner, could easily turn into a fight to the death. That was the last thing Masamichi wanted.
They were his students. He cared about them. No matter what, they could not go too far.
"I don't mind."
Mukuro did not object. If that white-haired idiot wanted a clearer, deeper lesson on strength, that was fine too.
"Forget it. I don't want to cause trouble."
Between Mukuro's casual reaction and Masamichi's strict warning, Satoru's fighting urge faded fast.
He spread his hands with a bored look, pulling back his impulsive suggestion.
"Yeah, that's better. Principal Gakuganji, want to grab a meal together?"
Satisfied, Masamichi nodded and stood up, looking at the old man who had just been showing off.
"Sure. It's been a while since I came over here."
Gakuganji stood up with his cane, and the two of them walked out together.
If you ignored the rivalry between their schools, they were actually good friends.
"Then I'll be leaving too."
Mei Mei gently brushed her hair aside and looked around the room.
She was only hired as extra support for the team match. Now that it was over, she had no reason to stay.
After all, time was money.
She only came because both principals paid her well.
"See you in Kyoto."
Mukuro nodded. The others waved goodbye, and Utahime even hugged her farewell.
Once she left, only four teachers from the two schools remained.
The room suddenly went quiet.
"Then I'll also—"
Just as Utahime was about to leave too, Satoru suddenly spoke up, making her stop.
"There might be someone in Jujutsu High working with curse users, maybe even cursed spirits."
(In the original story, he did not start suspecting this after Hanami entered Jujutsu High. He already suspected it right after he was attacked.)
"Working with curse users and cursed spirits... why do you think that?"
Utahime froze, then frowned at the scumbag sitting there with his legs crossed.
On matters like this, she did not believe he was joking.
"Groups of cursed spirits that act together, talk like humans, and think like humans. If they show up in numbers and target Jujutsu High sorcerers, it has to be planned."
Satoru laced his fingers and calmly explained.
If it were just normal cursed spirits or ordinary curse users, they should not be able to track their movements that well.
The most likely answer was that someone inside the school was feeding them information.
"But that person might not even know they're working with cursed spirits. They might think they're just in contact with some other sorcerer."
He tried to phrase it gently. Even he did not want to believe there was a traitor inside Jujutsu High.
"So... I want you to investigate Kyoto's side. As for Tokyo, I'll leave it to Nanami."
Then he finally said what he wanted, handing that heavy task to them.
"Why me? And even if you suspect something, aren't you worried the traitor could be one of us?"
Utahime did not refuse. Her face turned serious.
"Oh, that's not a problem. Because you're too weak, Utahime. And you don't have the guts either."
The mood instantly shifted as Satoru waved his hand, and even his tone turned bright and casual.
Nanami was someone he trusted. Leaving Tokyo to him was fine.
Mukuro needed no explanation either. If he ever had a scheme, he would not bother with all this. He would just crush everything with force.
But as special grades, their movements drew too much attention. That was why he wanted Utahime and Nanami to handle it.
Satoru honestly did not get why she asked such a question.
"Pfft!"
A vein popped on Utahime's forehead. She grabbed a teacup beside her and threw it.
The warm tea splashed out, but stopped about ten centimeters in front of Satoru, blocked by his Infinity.
"Don't get so worked up. I didn't even do anything."
To this day, Satoru still had no idea what he did to make her hate him so much.
"Be more polite! I'm your senior!"
That small monitoring room suddenly felt like their classroom from ten years ago, back when they used to fight like this all the time.
"You two can keep messing around. I've got something to handle."
Mukuro ignored the other three. He tossed out a sentence and walked toward the door.
"Oh, and Utahime. I'll handle Kyoto's side personally."
At the doorway, he turned back and cut in before their argument went any further.
"You? You're actually going to deal with something like that?"
Satoru lifted the edge of his blindfold slightly.
With Mukuro's personality, he should hate handling petty problems like this. Unless it was personal, or he already had a lead.
"I trained the last two Kyoto classes myself."
Mukuro waved and left, offering no further explanation.
**
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