"I've changed my mind," Satoru Gojo said.
"Have Yoshii, the assistant manager, escort those two to Jujutsu High."
Suguru Geto reached over and rubbed the little boy's head beside him.
"So where's Yoshii?"
"I sent him to buy sugar-coated popcorn. That's part of the job too."
"Huh… I heard you chewed out the new guy, Ijichi. You even made him follow Yoshii to learn assistant supervision work. Didn't expect you to be that harsh on a junior."
"Ijichi doesn't have any talent for Cursed Techniques to begin with. Even if he really puts in the effort, maybe someday he'll barely manage a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit. And with that conflicted, indecisive personality of his, he's basically cannon fodder. If he keeps working as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, he probably won't even survive until next year."
Suguru Geto nodded.
"True. We're short on both sorcerers and assistant managers. Cursed Spirits keep appearing nonstop, and there are even Curse Users who don't do their jobs properly. Reducing unnecessary casualties really is important."
As they spoke, Yoshii came walking over with a huge box of popcorn in his arms. More than anything, he wanted a successor right now. As long as it got him reassigned away from Satoru Gojo, he didn't care what job it was.
"So, I send them to the infirmary first and then notify Principal Yaga, right? Got it. But if an actual fight breaks out, don't forget to put up a Curtain."
"Yeah, yeah. With Suguru here, you can relax!"
"Ugh… every time you two work together, you forget that part. I really can't put my mind at ease."
Still muttering to himself, Yoshii led the victims away.
"Satoru, did you notice something?"
"Residuals. They cleaned it up pretty well, but in front of my eyes, even the faintest trace can be tracked back to its source."
Satoru Gojo casually stuffed the oversized popcorn box into Suguru Geto's arms.
Suguru Geto finally understood. So this was the real reason Gojo had dragged him along on this mission.
Following Satoru Gojo's observations, the two of them quickly located a hideout without much effort.
It was a low, single-story mud house, wedged deep in a twisting alley and trapped between the shadows of two buildings. A crude Barrier barely concealed it from view.
Still, any proper Jujutsu Sorcerer passing through would immediately sense something off. A place like this could never be running legitimate business.
Satoru Gojo let out a soft laugh.
"So this is what they mean by 'hiding in plain sight,' huh? Now I really get how desperate the sorcerer shortage is. Anyone walking by could spot this."
Suguru Geto crushed the popcorn box in his hands and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
"The strength of Cursed Spirits increases with population density. The strongest ones all gather in Tokyo, and missions are assigned proportionally. Some oversights are unavoidable."
The two stopped in front of the door. Hands still in their pockets, they each lifted one leg and kicked it open at the same time. If Suguru Geto had been wearing sunglasses too, the scene would have looked straight out of a gangster movie.
"Hey, Gojo-sama's here. Surrender while you still can!"
Unlike the shabby exterior, the inside of the house was unexpectedly clean and simple, even spacious. Perhaps the Barrier outside also expanded the interior space.
The room held only one person. A gray-haired man wearing a mask, hunched over an experiment table, repeatedly tinkering with something. Beside him were four glass containers, each holding a brain that had grown grotesque "flesh gears" and drifted about restlessly.
The man seemed completely unaware of Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto bursting in, fully immersed in his own world.
"Beautiful… absolutely beautiful! That person was right. The most perfect Cursed Corpse really is the human brain!"
"Hey, old man over there."
"Shut up."
The casual sharpness of his response made Satoru Gojo pause for a moment. Normally, nothing like this would faze him, but for some reason, the way the man handled the Cursed Corpse and those words he just said reminded him of Masamichi Yaga.
A few seconds passed before Satoru Gojo finally processed what had just happened.
"Damn it. I seriously got rattled by some third-rate Curse User? I must've stayed up too late binge-reading manga last night. I'm just wiped today."
With the brain tissue spread across the man's desk, Satoru Gojo knew he hadn't come to the wrong place. The person in front of him was a Curse User experimenting on living people.
Satoru Gojo blinked to the side of the workbench and planted a foot on it.
"Well, aren't you full of yourself. You know why we're here?"
"Why? Tokyo Jujutsu High sent people to mess with my work, didn't they?"
After speaking, the masked man fogged up his glasses with a breath, wiped them, and put them back on before taking a serious look at the intruders.
"You look kind of familiar… I've seen you somewhere… Go… Gojo… Satoru Gojo!"
"Finally figured it out? Then start packing. If you get to the prison Barrier early, you might even get a decent spot."
"You can't destroy my research! This is revolutionary! And I've got the Zenin Clan and Kamo families backing me!"
Satoru Gojo almost couldn't keep a straight face.
"Old man, you seriously don't know the Gojo Clan and Zenin Clan hate each other? You've lived this long for nothing. And you just sold out your backers that easily too…"
Satoru Gojo pulled out his phone and dialed.
Beep… beep… beep…
"Hey, Akira-chan. Where are you?"
"At home. Sleeping."
…
"Noritoshi, you're putting your effort in the wrong place with Piercing Blood. Focus on compressing your Cursed Energy. Don't just chase the initial speed.
Whatever, we're out of blood packs. We'll practice later. Go play."
"Dumping your own work on Naoya Zenin again? You really know how to slack off."
"That's training for him. That's how he grows."
"Nice excuse. Bet you didn't pay him a single yen of the commission fee."
"Why's Gojo-sama calling me again all of a sudden?"
"There's a Curse User here claiming he's connected to the Zenin Clan."
Akira Zenin immediately sat up in the tree. Had some old bastard been pulling strings behind the scenes and gotten caught?
"Any identifying features?"
"Green tengu mask. Likes human brain flowers. Looks like his Cursed Corpse technique is pretty solid."
Akira Zenin flopped back against the branch.
"Don't know him. If I don't know him, then he's one of that old fossil Ogi Zenin's people. Do whatever you want with him."
"OK~"
Seeing Satoru Gojo casually chatting on the phone in the middle of a capture, the masked man started to think all the hype about him was exaggerated.
He decided to slip away while Gojo was "distracted." Strangely, when he passed right by Satoru Gojo, Gojo didn't move an inch.
The masked man shifted his attention to Suguru Geto at the doorway.
'Cursed Corpse research is my gift, but close combat is my hobby. This young Jujutsu High kid's no match for me. Once I'm out that door, I'm gone.'
But as he approached, he saw Suguru Geto smiling, eyes narrowed as he watched him.
Maybe it was his imagination, but for a split second, the masked man thought he saw it: the fox Cursed Spirit that had killed his master back when he was studying jujutsu at his teacher's side.
Suguru Geto reached out, clamped a hand around his throat, and dropped him with a few effortless punches to the face.
After a brief stretch, Suguru Geto tossed the masked man back into the room and stood shoulder to shoulder with Satoru Gojo, who had just ended the call and put his phone away.
With the two of them blocking the exit completely, the Curse User had nowhere to run.
Dazed from the beating, the masked man dropped to his knees at once, hands braced on the floor with his wrists turned inward, body pitched forward until his forehead hit the ground.
"S-s-sorry! I was too reckless! Those brains can't be put back anyway, so please, just let me finish my research!"
Before either of them could respond, he suddenly shrieked, completely hysterical:
"Giant Cursed Corpse Type 2, ignore activation conditions and initiate immediately!"