The sky had just begun to lighten when Amber stretched and rose from her bed.
A full month of intense overtime exorcising Cursed Spirits had left even Amber feeling somewhat worn out.
Though she'd been eliminating many Curses each day, most of her time was actually spent traveling from place to place. The actual fights, when added up, totaled less than ten minutes.
Still, the results of this continuous work were gratifying. For now, the "Windows" could hardly spot any Cursed Spirits left in Tokyo.
It wasn't that there were absolutely none, but the ones that remained basically lacked the power to kill humans—at most, their mere presence made people feel a bit unwell.
Feeling satisfied with her achievements, and considering it was the weekend—with her classmates urging her to take a proper two-day break—Amber found herself, for once, not waking up and immediately thinking about exorcising Curses.
Yaga had once said this was a profession that required walking hand-in-hand with death and malice.
Surprisingly, Amber had adapted to it quite well. Maybe it was because she'd slain plenty of demonic beasts before?
Although Cursed Spirits were far more grotesque and terrifying than those beasts, they didn't make her lose her sanity. Instead, she'd gradually gotten used to their appearances.
After washing up, Amber sat down at her desk, sighed, and pulled out the textbooks Satoru Gojo had brought back from outside.
Clearly, because both Amber and Dark Amber's techniques required a solid knowledge base to be used creatively, Gojo had taken Amber's theoretical education to heart.
Though his work kept him from teaching at the school regularly, he still assigned and checked her homework every night, closely monitoring her progress.
For Amber, who had hardly ever studied seriously before, this was enough to make her feel like she was going bald.
She could only ask Dark Amber for help cramming knowledge—from literature to math, history to politics.
Though her learning pace couldn't be called fast, she made steady progress every day. Amber didn't exactly love studying, but she didn't hate it either.
Since it was the weekend, there were no classes at Jujutsu High.
Amber stayed in her bedroom, snacking on sweets while studying straight through until noon. Only when her stomach growled did she finally leave her room and head to the training grounds.
Everyone was usually training there around this time, and today was no exception.
"Oh, finished studying already, Seele?"
Maki, who'd been watching Yuji and Fushiguro spar, noticed Amber's arrival and turned with a smile. "You're so diligent. Compared to you, we all seem like good-for-nothing delinquents."
"How could that be? Senpai, you all just have more important things to do than studying."
Amber replied shyly, "If anything, I'm the one lacking ambition…"
After all, they were jujutsu sorcerers. While everyone else was honing their combat skills, she was the one buried in theoretical books.
"Well, you're plenty strong already, Seele."
Maki shrugged, then shouted toward the field, "First years! Break time! Let's go get lunch!"
"Huh? Has that much time really passed already?!"
Yuji snapped back to reality.
Fushiguro, catching his breath, lowered the nunchaku-like Cursed Tool in his hand and quickly steadied his breathing.
The Stigmata had given them tremendous boosts.
The longer they had them, the more they realized how absurd these marks were. Even one ten-thousandth of the Garuda's regenerative power was incredibly potent and fearsome.
With sufficient cursed energy, Yuji could regenerate a severed limb in mere seconds.
Because of this, Yuji had almost instantly become the strongest among them.
Unless his head was cut off or his heart destroyed, he could rapidly regenerate. Combined with his enhanced physical defense, he'd become both incredibly tanky and powerful.
"Seele, you're finally here! Seriously, we've barely seen you lately! What are those stupid higher-ups thinking, dumping so much work on a minor?!"
Nobara had already rushed to Amber's side, throwing an arm around her shoulder.
"Ahaha…"
Amber laughed awkwardly.
Although she'd sought out the work herself—it wasn't assigned by the higher-ups—Nobara wasn't entirely wrong.
The higher-ups had initially given her an endless stream of missions, leaving Amber unsure whether to correct her or not.
"Yo, everyone heading to lunch together?"
Just then, Satoru Gojo appeared before them, grinning and waving.
Maki looked at him with a completely flat, almost disdainful expression. "Yeah, that's the plan. What are you doing here?"
"This teacher rushed through his work to carve out precious time for his dear students, you know~"
Gojo acted as if he didn't notice her look, his smile as bright as ever. "After all, tomorrow is—"
Before he could finish, the others swarmed him and covered his mouth.
Though Infinity kept them from actually touching him, Gojo obediently shut up.
"Don't go spouting unnecessary stuff, you idiot!" Maki snarled.
"Yeah, yeah! Have you no sense for a girl's heart? You've never had a girlfriend, have you, sensei?!" Nobara piled on.
Fushiguro didn't join the fray, but he also wanted the surprise kept secret.
Worried the muscle-brains might spill something in the heat of the moment, he quickly tried to divert Amber's attention.
Small talk wasn't his strong suit, though, so he fell back on recent events. "They've gotten even noisier, it feels like… after receiving the Stigmata."
The Stigmata was the name they'd settled on for the totem Cursed Tools.
Since each of them had received one, and they'd had no unified name for them, they'd asked Amber—who'd created them—to choose one.
Amber, who was bad at naming things, had simply used the original term.
In a broad sense, "Stigmata" originated from Christianity, referring to phenomena where Christians manifested wounds resembling Christ's crucifixion—sometimes even bleeding spontaneously from their palms, heads, or eyes. It was said such phenomena could even appear on statues.
The Jujutsu High group didn't think these Stigmata were the same as the Christian concept.
They simply took it as a reflection of the girl's romanticized naming sense, interpreting it as "Sacred Marks."
To be honest, using negative cursed energy to power something called "Stigmata" felt a bit contradictory… but that dissonance somehow resonated with Amber's own dual technique of Creation and Withering.
Using negative energy to produce healing effects was itself a heaven-defying paradox.
So, after some thought, everyone agreed the name was quite fitting.
"It's good that everyone is so full of energy, isn't it?"
Amber found the liveliness pleasant. Though she didn't fully grasp why they were suddenly scolding Gojo, she enjoyed seeing the people around her so vibrant.
"…Yeah." Fushiguro couldn't deny it.
He often found himself grateful for her arrival. Because of her, he'd actually found a sense of belonging and warmth within the jujutsu world.
None of his comrades had suffered severe injuries or died; in fact, they returned from every mission completely unscathed, thanks to the Stigmata.
Spending each day in this noisy, chaotic way was far better than the high school life he'd once imagined.
"Alright! Since it was teacher's mistake, how about I treat everyone to a whole day out in Shinjuku!~"
At the front of the group, Gojo—finally having enjoyed enough of his students' "affection"—grandly waved a hand and made his promise. "You can do whatever you want. Gojo-sensei will cover everything~"
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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If you guys wanna check it out.