Inside the Jujutsu High gymnasium.
Swish! The basketball went straight through the net!
Kenmyo Isayama, slightly out of breath, landed steadily on both feet after finishing his jump shot.
"Ahhh, Kenmyo is so cool!"
"If I were a girl, I'd definitely fall in love with you immediately."
"Satoru, you're being too dramatic."
Kenmyo Isayama caught the basketball Suguru Geto passed him from under the hoop with one hand, speaking helplessly to Gojo Satoru, who was lying on his side on the floor.
"It was just a regular jump shot."
The only friend Kenmyo Isayama had made by offering a bottle of strawberry milk who would say something so exaggerated (and awkward) was Gojo Satoru.
"Regular? Kenmyo, you're too modest."
"Hahaha, Geto is practically getting destroyed by you."
Gojo Satoru lay on the basketball court floor, propping his head up with his bent right arm, grinning as he watched Kenmyo Isayama and Suguru Geto.
Above his head was something resembling a scoreboard, condensed from Cursed Energy, sparkling and quite flashy.
Following Kenmyo Isayama's shot, the red number 35 immediately rose to 37, while the blue number on the other side was 6.
According to Gojo Satoru's incomplete statistics, Kenmyo had blocked Suguru Geto fifteen times and neutralized thirty-five attacks within twenty minutes.
The reason Kenmyo Isayama started playing one-on-one basketball with Suguru Geto was purely to pass the time.
Kenmyo Isayama's purpose for coming to Jujutsu High was to find out if he could locate any information about the mark carved onto his arm by some unknown entity.
This damn thing had zero presence and almost no Cursed Energy fluctuation; it was only after killing the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, the "Big Head Baby," which was the corrupted form of that white-haired brat, that an extra mark suddenly appeared.
That's why Kenmyo Isayama wanted Suguru Geto to take a look, preferably an in-person "consultation," just to be sure.
At first, those two bastards, Gojo Satoru and Suguru Geto, were enthusiastically convinced they could help Kenmyo Isayama, patting their chests and claiming they, as brothers, knew everything.
But when Kenmyo Isayama rolled up his sleeve to show them the Cherry Blossom Tattoo, the two of them instantly became stiff wooden puppets, knowing nothing when asked anything.
Instead, Kenmyo Isayama was mocked by the two of them: "Why is that tattoo so girly?" and "It really suits you, Kenmyo."
In short, those two bastards worked together perfectly to be passive-aggressive; Kenmyo Isayama finally understood why that brown-haired girl always wanted to fight them.
Both of them concurrently agreed that their homeroom teacher, Yaga Masamichi, should know something. Kenmyo Isayama also recalled that Mr. Akutabe seemed to have once said that if there were any problems concerning sorcery, consulting Yaga Masamichi instead of studying alone could save a considerable amount of detours.
However, Yaga Masamichi was currently delayed and unavailable due to certain matters, but he said he would come right away once he finished his current tasks.
Even if it wasn't for the sake of an old friend, he had to consider Kenmyo Isayama's contribution.
Kenmyo Isayama had saved Principal Yaga's student, Nanami Kento, from the hands of a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit—a talent he had painstakingly scouted who was nearly destroyed.
As an educator, nothing was more heartbreaking than that, and Kenmyo Isayama had reversed the tragedy, preventing the worst outcome.
Therefore, Yaga Masamichi vowed to spare no effort in helping Kenmyo Isayama examine the mark on his arm to determine what kind of monster it was.
"Since Teacher said it would be a while, that means it's going to be a long while."
"Kenmyo, you don't know, Teacher Principal Yaga is incredibly slow."
"So it's still early, let's just go find some fun!"
This search led them here, to the gymnasium. Another benefit of Jujutsu High was the low student count; every student was allocated at least 600 square meters of space. The super-spacious indoor basketball court was even larger than the one at Kenmyo Isayama's Aoyama Academy.
Gojo Satoru was the one who first suggested going to the gymnasium, yet he ended up being the spectator.
Kenmyo Isayama delivered several consecutive blocks against Suguru Geto, prompting Gojo Satoru to cheer loudly about how exciting it was.
It had been a long time since Gojo Satoru had seen a man as fierce as Kenmyo Isayama, so when he cheered for Kenmyo Isayama just now, his voice was full of soul and incredibly high-pitched, making both competitors, Kenmyo Isayama and Suguru Geto, feel a little weak in the knees.
"Ah, that's really too bad."
"This is the first time I've seen someone block Geto over ten times in basketball and lead by thirty points."
"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter! Geto, honestly, why do you still have the nerve to be on the court?"
Gojo Satoru never missed any opportunity to mock his friend, especially Suguru Geto, who was his lifelong rival.
"You're so lame."
Hearing Gojo Satoru's merciless mockery, Suguru Geto, enraged, opened his usually squinting eyes wide, making them incredibly sharp.
He forced a smile onto his face and said to Kenmyo Isayama,
"Kenmyo, can we take a short break? I want to have a serious discussion with that bastard over there."
To this, Kenmyo Isayama had only one reply: "I want to see rivers of blood!"
"Get up here, Satoru. You're not scared, are you?"
The basketball in the hands of the cold-faced Suguru Geto was covered in dense Cursed Energy. He then threw the ball like a baseball pitch; it shot out like a cannonball, heading straight for Gojo Satoru, who was still comfortably lying on the ground.
"Hahaha."
Gojo Satoru's laughter echoed in the gymnasium; he hadn't seemed this happy in a long time.
However, despite the terrifying power unleashed by the ball, enhanced by Suguru Geto's Cursed Energy—power that felt capable of tearing apart a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit—
it ultimately stopped five meters in front of Gojo Satoru, unable to move. Not only was the Cursed Energy stripped away, but the kinetic energy it contained seemed to have been eaten up out of thin air, leaving it absolutely still, suspended in mid-air.
Kenmyo Isayama saw a pair of exceptionally brilliant, sparkling eyes—eyes that contained the starry sky, like a miracle of the world.
"Is that Limitless?"
Although Kenmyo Isayama and Gojo Satoru were both members of Japan's Three Great Jujutsu Families, their status and standing were worlds apart.
One was merely a family outcast, while the other was the next head of the family.
Gojo Satoru was born with the Six Eyes, commanded the Gojo Family—one of The Big Three Families of the Jujutsu World—and possessed the Limitless Cursed Technique, a technique passed down for a thousand years. He was destined to be the strongest existence in the Jujutsu World in the future.
"Geto, I didn't expect you, the guy who always preaches 'righteousness,' didn't you always say power should be used to protect the weak?"
"When did you start abusing your power?"
"Whatever. Let's just go play outside. This cramped place isn't big enough to show off."
Gojo Satoru slowly stood up and made a playful throat-slitting gesture, pointing toward the back mountains.
Behind Suguru Geto, countless terrifying Cursed Spirits seemed to be roaring. He spoke in a cold tone:
"Just as I wished."