(Pov Satoshi)
It was summer now, and over the months, Yuta had grown quite a bit. During his first mission, he had gotten the planned urgency to begin pushing himself. It hadn't happened how I had planned, but the important part was that it happened. Now, after his first mission, Yuta had begun both combat training and cursed energy training to finally learn how to regulate his massive reserves.
All of his skills, alongside those of the other students, were about to be put to the test as the Goodwill event would be taking place soon. The two Jujutsu schools would send their students to engage in two events to determine which school had stronger students. The students who were second and third years could participate, but first-year students needed to be invited by a higher-level student. Fourth years are blocked from participating, but there aren't any at the school.
As for the second years we had Hakari Kinji and Hoshi Kirara, and it was likely that our first years would join or at least some of them. I knew in the original timeline, Yuta took part in this event, but other than him, I'm not sure. The Kyoto school would likely be bringing quite a few powerhouses, with Todo Aoi and Kamo Noritoshi, who had a very unfortunate name. They also had another second year, Nishimiya Momo, though compared to the other two, she wasn't nearly as strong.
The first years would be where things changed the most, as we had more than they did, in part because they didn't have Mai this time around. I knew Yuta would be chosen, given he was already Special Grade even without full control of Rika, and it was likely that both Maki and Mai would be chosen, but to keep it fair, they likely wouldn't add any others. For the Kyoto school, they had Muta Kokichi and Miwa Kasumi as first years. With these students, the two schools would have an even number of students participating, though next year would be even more unfair for Kyoto.
The previous year, the Kyoto school had won the goodwill event, which meant the event would be taking place on their grounds. The teachers at the Kyoto school were an odd bunch, but then I suppose I had no room to judge, given we had Satoru and he's weird enough for all of us. Their principal, Gakuganji, was an old guy, somehow even older than our previous principal, and he was a major conservative in the Jujutsu world, and later he would instruct his students to use the goodwill event to try to kill Yuji. They also had Iori Utahime; she wasn't so bad, though Satoru loved messing with her, and she fell for his provocations every time.
The one I was less sure of was Tsukumo Yuki. She wasn't an official teacher at the Kyoto school, but she did take a special interest in Todo, and she hung around the place often enough. She was another strange one, but that's par for the course with Special Grades, and she had the extra of being a former star plasma vessel, though she had also refused to merge with Tengen. Her favorite pastime was asking people their type, a habit she had passed down to Todo as well. It was always awkward being asked that question, though having Shoko meant I could just describe her, and I wouldn't even be lying.
As the last few weeks before the event flew by, I did my best to prepare the students while also preparing for the event itself, as it would likely follow the same pattern. Despite being allowed to pick any activity, the principals would almost always make the same two choices on the first day: a big team battle followed by one-on-one for the second day.
As the day finally came, we began to board the train that would take us to Kiyoto where we would then be picked up and brought to the Kyoto campus. I had been right about the selected students brought for this event, and it made sense that the first year's chosen were abnormally strong, considering Yuta was one of the currently only five recognized Special Grades alive. Not to mention, both Maki and Mai were not only strong on their own but also managed near-seamless teamwork.
Then there were the two second years, Hakari and Kirara. They weren't well-liked by the higher-ups in part due to their delinquent nature, and Hakari kept making bets, but he was strong, and his technique was powerful as well, allowing him to summon train doors from the pachinko game his technique was themed after. He would also one day achieve a domain expansion, but I didn't know if he had it yet. The most interesting part, though, was that he was one of the few who had a special type of cursed energy, making him feel rough like barbed wire.
Kirara, on the other hand, had a much more confusing technique that she was able to use surprisingly well. It involved applying positions to things based on cursed energy and making them move along specific lines. I didn't really get it, honestly. The two of them went together well and always managed to cause chaos wherever they went. I didn't have much of a problem with them, but their antics got Yaga pissed at me more than once, and that's never fun.
This event was going to be interesting either way. Given the caliber of students involved, I wasn't usually one to get excited or be frothing for a big fight, but I couldn't help but feel ready to see my students in action.