"The few of you, reflect properly."
"Yes, Yaga-sensei." ×3
Why did this happen?
Because the three of them had gone a little too wild last night, all of them acting like incarnations of outlaws, playing a real-life round of CS on campus.
The result was numerous bullet holes across the school walls, and traces of grenade and rocket explosions scattered across the playground.
Good news: the students got three days off.
The cleanup crew needed time to collect bullet casings and repair the damaged grounds and outer walls.
Bad news: Eichi, Satoru, and Suguru were rewarded with a full day of standing punishment. Artoria, who had been guarding the Assistant Supervisor and enjoying a late-night snack in the back, received no punishment at all.
Standing punishment is an interesting thing, and different people view it differently.
For example, in Shoko's eyes, the three boys outside were simply getting what they deserved, completely losing face.
But in the eyes of Eichi and the others, they looked like a superhero team standing before an audience, basking in attention.
"It's normal to cause damage while exorcising Cursed Spirits. Yaga-sensei is making a big deal out of nothing."
Satoru leaned lazily against the wall, looking up at the sky.
"Satoru, this time we really went too far."
Suguru stood more upright, though his back was already pressed to the wall.
"Speaking of which, my investigation report from the exorcism mission is out. Want to hear it?"
Eichi, who was squatting on the ground, bored, drawing circles, looked up.
"Yeah, sure."
Satoru agreed without hesitation, and Suguru turned his attention to Eichi.
"There was a student at that school with decent Cursed Energy but no Technique. His family had an old book they'd bought from an antique market, which contained instructions for luring and controlling Cursed Spirits as shikigami."
"So that student tried it?" Suguru quickly pieced it together.
"Exactly. That school has high academic pressure, and the teachers are strict. The student, who liked ghost stories, had poor grades. Eventually, feeling resentment toward the teachers, he remembered the book's contents. He disguised the method of luring and controlling Cursed Spirits as a wish-making game called 'Mr. Dog Fox' and spread it around campus, hoping the evil spirits described in the book would take revenge on the teachers.
But because they couldn't see Cursed Spirits, they never completed the control steps after summoning them.
As a result, the Cursed Spirits that gathered there didn't know what to do and just wandered around."
Incidentally, that book now sat in Eichi's personal collection.
"What a mess. Luckily, no one was hurt."
"Indeed."
If anyone had been injured, the Jujutsu World would have had to intervene, and that student's punishment would've been far more severe than a demerit for promoting the 'Mr. Dog Fox' game.
Out of boredom, Eichi started studying his own shadow.
Ever since he began researching shikigami control Techniques, he had made a new discovery.
The eito mirror engraving on the toad's belly seemed deeply connected to the depths of his shadow.
This gave Eichi a new theory about the Ten Shadows Technique.
Originally, because there were ten shikigami, he thought the Ten Shadows Technique was simply about summoning ten shadow shikigami.
But after using his shadow for storage, movement, and now feeling the same energy as the eito mirror mark within it, he began to realize something more.
The Ten Shadows Technique was far more complex than it appeared.
The last two characters of the Technique weren't "shikigami" but "Spell."
Eichi reached out to the shadow cast on the wall behind him and slowly sank his hand in.
Before long, his whole body disappeared into the shadow.
A minute later, Eichi emerged, gasping for air.
"Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale."
"What's wrong, Eichi?" Suguru asked in concern.
"Nothing, just… no oxygen. Inhale, exhale."
"What's it like inside the shadow?" Satoru asked, walking over and touching the wall.
"Eichi, let me go in and play too."
Eichi didn't refuse.
Soon, Satoru sank into Eichi's shadow.
"Pfft! There's no oxygen in there at all!"
Satoru quickly popped back out.
Just as Eichi was about to speak, the classroom door slammed open, hitting the frame with a loud bang.
"You three! You're supposed to be in standing punishment, not playing around!"
"Yes, Yaga-sensei!"
The three of them immediately stood straight and bowed ninety degrees in apology.
"Go run a hundred laps around the playground!"
"Yes!"
The trio bolted from the classroom.
While they were enjoying their lively high school days, let's shift our focus to one year ago.
On an island far from Ota City, Japan.
"Hey, hurry up and tell me, what's the method to control the Shadow Crocodile?"
In a dim cave, several Curse Users surrounded and tortured a man completely bound in ropes.
"There isn't, there really isn't!"
Crack!
Another lash struck his body, and the cursed energy infused in the whip made him scream in agony.
"Still stubborn? Are you going to talk or not?"
"Alright, stop hitting him. You'll kill him."
One of the Curse Users grabbed his companion's arm, stopping the next strike.
"Then what do you suggest we do?"
"Throw him in. If there really is a method to control the Shadow Crocodile, he'll use it. If not, we run."
As he said that, he turned toward the distance.
There, a large well stood, its surface sealed with countless talismans and bound by layers of shimenawa ropes.
Shimenawa, sacred ropes used in rituals to mark divine or forbidden areas, often decorated with white shide paper, were common around torii gates, sacred trees, and Divine Stones.
Torii, those red gates marking the entrance to Shinto shrines, symbolized stepping into the realm of the gods.
The Curse User nodded at his companion's suggestion. It was indeed the most effective way.
Together, they tore away the talismans and shimenawa, lifted the cover, and threw the bound man into the well.
The moment he hit the bottom, the Curse User waved his hand, releasing the ropes.
They watched him struggle below.
To their surprise, the man didn't die.
"Do you feel like the mouth of the well just turned black?" one of them muttered.
"Has it? It's dark in the cave, you're seeing things."
But behind them, a horrifying presence beyond human comprehension silently opened its massive jaws.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)