Inside the reception room, Gojo barged in without the slightest hint of manners and sat down across from Kyoto Jujutsu High's principal, Yoshinobu.
"Don't wait for him. Principal Yaga isn't coming. I gave him the wrong meeting time on purpose."
Today was the pre-meeting for both schools' tournament participants, and the two principals were scheduled to catch up as well.
"Are all young people this rude nowadays?" Yoshinobu glared coldly, his hands resting atop his staff.
"Oh, save the act. I know you were involved in the Yuji incident too," Gojo said casually, sprawling across the sofa like he owned the place. "You're a member of the conservative faction, after all. The fact that that guy didn't try to kill you last time means you're not entirely inflexible."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"Yesterday, I was attacked by two special-grade curses."
Gojo began recounting the events of the previous night.
"That truly is unfortunate," Yoshinobu responded indifferently.
"That's not the point. The important thing is that those special-grades could communicate with each other… and even speak like humans. They were clearly acting under some kind of organized intelligence."
"And so what? If I recall, something similar happened many years ago," Yoshinobu replied dismissively. A high-intelligence curse wasn't unheard of. A special-grade had spoken like a human decades ago—and had been exorcised easily.
"What I'm saying is this: there are more like them. Definitely."
Gojo's expression remained light, but his words were sharp.
"Old man, haven't you noticed? Ever since the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons a year ago, look at everything that's happened—Tokyo High's Yuta Okkotsu, Kinji Hakari, Kyoto's Aoi Todo, Sukuna's vessel, and now this mysterious curse organization.The jujutsu world has undergone a massive shift. The things you fear and try to suppress are rapidly gaining strength. Your control is already slipping.
From here on out, the jujutsu world can't be categorized with simple 'special-grade' labels anymore."
Gojo wore a cheerful smile, but his words were a declaration: The ruling elders' era of decay was about to be shattered—opening the door for a new jujutsu world.
"…" Yoshinobu remained silent.
"Well, I'm done. Principal Yaga should be here in about two hours."
With that, Gojo stood up and left in an excellent mood.
Only Yoshinobu was left behind in silence — and Kasumi, who stood at the doorway, inwardly squealing at Gojo's coolness.
Back at home, Jinsuke was relaxing on the sofa watching TV when his phone rang.
Ring ring ring…
"What do you want? Speak or get lost."
"You can't sound a little more polite?" Gojo's irritated voice came through the phone.
"Oh please. Be polite to you? Don't make me laugh."
"Whatever. I called to ask you something: are you interested in helping me build a new jujutsu world?"
"You're insane. Bye."
Click.
"Hey—I—"
Beep… beep… beep…
Gojo stared at his phone, speechless. His good mood evaporated instantly.
He'd thought about collaborating with Jinsuke, but clearly that was pointless. The guy was just a curse-killing hermit. Changing the world? Nope. That responsibility fell to Gojo and the younger generation.
Back in his living room, Jinsuke set the phone down, clicking his tongue.
"That guy really has something wrong with his brain."
Knock knock knock.
"Cousin, are you home?"
A familiar voice called from outside. Jinsuke opened the door and found Mai poking her head in.
"So you are home."
She walked in confidently and plopped onto the sofa.
"What are you doing here?" Jinsuke glanced at her.Wasn't she still sulking?
"Hehe, I came to Kyoto Tokyo Jujutsu High to greet the participants. Since it's close, I dropped by to see you."
Her original plan had been to beat Maki first and then reconcile… but after a year apart, she couldn't help missing them.
"What's wrong? Did you cause trouble at Tokyo High and get beaten by your sister?"
"What?! Of course not! We just went to say hello! And I'm not the same as before—does you still think I can't beat Sis now?"
Mai puffed her cheeks. It was really Aoi Todo who insisted on checking out the first-years replacing Okkotsu and the third-years… she'd only gone along to tease the Tokyo first-year girl a little.
"Oh? So confident, huh?"
Jinsuke stared at her more closely. Then he frowned slightly.
"You're… different. Your cursed energy recovered?"
After inspecting her carefully, he realized her aura really was stronger than before.
"Obviously! I'm not some failure anymore!"
Mai held her chin up proudly.
"Good. This event is the perfect chance for you two to spar and clear up your misunderstandings. Don't act like enemies forever."
Jinsuke was surprised for a moment, but quickly returned to normal. Even with proper cursed energy, Mai's Construction Technique was extremely limited. Unless she trained her physical body too, she wouldn't reach its true potential.
Still… Maki and Mai really were a matched pair — one created weapons, the other mastered using them.
"Hmph. Unless Sis apologizes to me first, I'm going to crush her and make her acknowledge my strength."
Mai raised her fist proudly.
"Yeah yeah. Handle your own business. I'm not getting involved."
"You eaten yet? I'll make something."
"I want your mapo tofu!"
A month and a half passed in the blink of an eye.
The exchange event approached.
This year, it would be held in Tokyo.
"Alright, the exchange event will officially begin at noon. Until then, everyone is free to use their time as they wish," Yaga announced before heading to the meeting room with the other teachers.
"Damn… it's called the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Even! I thought we'd get to go to Kyoto!" Nobara complained loudly, luggage already packed.
"Each year, the event takes place at the location of the previous winner. Last year, Yuta crushed Kyoto so badly that this year's is being held in Tokyo," Panda explained.
Normally, first-years didn't participate—but last year, due to special circumstances, Yuta was pulled in to fill numbers and ended up obliterating Kyoto single-handedly.
"No helping it. Yuta is just that strong," Panda said. "Only three special-grade sorcerers exist in the entire jujutsu world."
For a special-grade to compete in a simple event… That was pure dimensional warfare.
"Yuta's not here? Lame." Aoi Todo scanned Tokyo's participants, found no Yuta, and immediately lost half his motivation.
He turned away at once. He had to go watch aTakada Takada event anyway—no time to waste here.
"Uh…" The Kyoto students looked helpless but said nothing. After all, if Aoi Todo didn't even give the principal face, what could they say?