'Well... if I've heard the name, it must be a famous school.'
"I'd like to finish this quickly and get some rest. I was just coming back from a night out yesterday, and I didn't expect to receive a mission immediately."
"It seems the higher-ups are quite interested in Zenin... or rather, Touya-kun. I've only heard rumors myself, but the assistant managers often talk about how you will surely become a Special Grade sorcerer before long."
I looked out the window and spokeindifferently.
"Is that so? Honestly, being a 'Special Grade' sorcerer... it doesn't sound all that appealing. I don't think I need a hollow title."
Yuri-san met my eyes through the rearview mirror for a moment and spoke.
"This is just my opinion, but I wish Touya-kun would become a Special Grade so that you can set the standard for what it means. A sorcerer as polite and upright as you deserves to be called a Special Grade."
'Haha... that sounds a bit difficult. All the future Special Grades seem to have a screw loose somewhere.'
"Thank you. I hope I can live up to that. Anyway... I understand who my target is. But even if he's hunting sorcerers there, we don't know exactly where he'll appear. What should I do about that?"
"That's obviously bait. Since you're wearing the Jujutsu High uniform, any decent sorcerer or curse user will recognize it immediately."
"Ah... I'm the bait... But aren't I quite famous? Do you really think they'll think of that when they see my face?"
Yuri-san nodded as if she had expected that, and replied.
"Yes. You are incredibly famous, Touya-kun. There isn't a person in the sorcerer world who wouldn't recognize you. That's why I prepared a hat and a mask. They won't know it's you if you disguise yourself. They'll just think, 'What a tall, handsome boy.'"
'A disguise... I never thought I'd be doing something like this in my life.'
"Ha... to think I have to go to such lengths for a mission. Well, it can't be helped. Since it's annoying, I'll just have to finish it off in an instant."
"Understood. I will wait in the car. If you walk around acting like an amateur, he will definitely approach you."
'Acting like an amateur...'
As I watched the city scenery pass by the window, we arrived at our destination quickly.
"We have arrived. If you walk through the residential area from here, he will surely seek you out. Before that... let's get you disguised."
Searching through several baseball caps in the trunk with passionate eyes, Yuri-san seemed to find the right one, brought it over, and handed it to me.
"Touya-kun. Could you try wearing this?"
I put on the hat I received from Yuri-san and checked the mirror.
"Yuri-san. How is it?"
Yuri-san covered her mouth and simply gave me a thumbs up.
"It's the best..."
"No... that's not what I meant. I was asking if it looks like I'm well-hidden..."
Before I could even finish, Yuri-san nodded vigorously and said,
"Oh, certainly! Most people will just think, 'What a handsome and tall young man.'"
"Ah, I see... then that will do."
I put on the mask she handed me and checked the mirror again; it looked decent enough.
"I think this is good. It's not a perfect concealment... but they won't be able to tell at a glance. I'll be going now."
"Yes. Give me a call and I will drive over to pick you up."
I nodded and got out of the car, starting to walk aimlessly.
"There are plenty of people... but they're all students or housewives. Well, I suppose it's working hours for most others."
About ten minutes into my walk, I bumped shoulders with a clean-cut man walking from the other direction.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Are you hurt anywhere?"
I reached out my hand to help the fallen man up. Grasping my hand, the man stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes.
"It's fine. My body is sturdy to begin with. In fact, I was the one walking hurriedly and bumped into you. My apologies. If you'll excuse me."
Watching the man leave in a hurry as he said that, I thought to myself.
'His body certainly is solid. But why isn't he showing up? I want to get this over with and go home.'
As I started walking again, an ominous thought crossed my mind and I stopped in my tracks.
"Could it be... was that him? No matter how sturdy his body is, if he were a non-sorcerer, he wouldn't be walking away perfectly fine after colliding with me."
'I always keep a certain amount of cursed energy coating my body, so that doesn't add up.'
I turned back in a panic, and seeing that he had already disappeared, I immediately ran in the direction the man had gone. However, to track him down, I headed for the roof of the nearest tall building.
"Ah, damn it. Where did he go? Summoning Nue to search would reveal my identity immediately... If he found me and chose to ignore me, could it be that he isn't targeting sorcerers this time? Looking at the direction that bastard disappeared... that's towards Renchoku Women's Academy. This insane prick..."
Surveying the surroundings from above, I finally spotted him. He was on the roof of a building like me, as if to scout my position, and the moment we locked eyes, he began darting across the rooftops. I chased him immediately.
'Damn it... he's adept at physical reinforcement with cursed energy. His mobility is too high.'
Continuing to track him, I followed as he leaped over the walls into the Renchoku Women's Academy grounds. I increased my speed by shrouding myself in Nue's cursed energy to close the distance. Fortunately, I didn't encounter any students, and finally meeting him on the roof, I let out a heavy sigh and erected a curtain, setting the roof as the target area.
"Agh... you can't run now. Why are you so fast? And why come here? What is your objective?"
"Whew... obviously I have an objective. There are so many pretty girls here. Just imagining those beautiful girls screaming and begging for their lives... Hahaha! It's delightful, isn't it?"
"So you were just a madman. I'll catch you and make sure you face the judgment of the law."
"Don't be so scary. Looks like you're from the College. Is school life any good? My teacher was a curse user. School life seems like it would be fun~ I hear even Gojo's clan head enrolled recently. Isn't that girl a woman? How is it? Is she pretty? You're a first-year too, so you'd know, little Zenin heir."
'Tch. Did he already know? Disguises really were ineffective after all.'
Throwing away my hat and mask, I said,
"What does it matter to you, trash?"
The guy laughed vilely and replied,
"Well, you know. Her body must be fucking sexy, right? If you're in the same grade as a girl like that, you're definitely doing it, aren't you? A man and woman in their prime together. If it were me, I would have just fucked her hard. Grabbing her hips from behind and thrusting deep—wouldn't that be art?"
Seeing the guy thrusting his hips while he said that... it was disgustingly repulsive beyond words.
"I'll just kill you."
Just as I formed the seal to summon my Divine Dogs, my vision suddenly blurred and I lost my balance in an instant.
"Ugh... what is this? Uh-oh..."
Even though I was standing perfectly, I felt like the world was turning upside down. It felt like not just left and right, but up and down were being inverted. The more I tried to find my footing to keep my balance, the more I felt like I was losing myself.
"Hehe! How about that? Even the successor of the Zenin can't adapt to this, right? My technique is 'Inversion' (Reverse Lick). It disrupts the equilibrium and balance of anyone I touch with my hands. It's somewhat helpful for capturing curses, but as soon as I realized the ability, I thought: it's perfect for crushing sorcerers like you. Don't you agree?"
'Tsk... was it the contact when I tried to help him up? Activation of the technique... It's so dizzying. At this rate, I can't even form hand seals. I can't even tell if my hands are facing up or down.'
"Shut up... you're making my head pound. Just be quiet."
As if to provoke me further, the guy approached me leisurely and started tapping my face.
"Come on, little heir. Give it your best. If you came to crush curse users, you should be able to overcome this much, right? Though, not a single person has managed to overcome it so far. Hehehe..."
He then landed a surprise blow to my face with his fist, and I collapsed backward.
'That fist is fucking heavy... he doesn't have combat-oriented abilities, so he must have honed his physical prowess. More importantly... at this rate, I'm just going to be toyed with. I have to escape.'
Hiding straight into the shadows, I tried to catch my breath, but the guy's technique continued even within the shadow.
"What? Where did you go? Little heir. Come out and fight me. This isn't fun if you hide~"
Since things had come to this, I had to adapt to his technique and regain my sense of balance one way or another. I slowly began to adapt to the technique within the shadow, and by interlocking my hands, I formed the seal precisely in reverse to summon my shikigami out of the shadows.
"Mournful Tiger"
"Damn it. What is this? How did you form a seal? You should barely be able to move a finger. Even so, if you can't regain your balance, the capabilities of your shikigami will be halved."
As he said, the Mournful Tiger was fighting with only about 60% of its total output. Since the opponent also relied mainly on martial arts, he was currently evenly matched with the tiger, and to truly crush him, I ultimately needed to fully recover my sense of balance.
'Ah... how I wish I had Mahoraga's Dharmachakra right now. Though, this is no time for such useless thoughts.'
To overcome this, I had to face him. I stepped out of the shadow and approached the man, who was still locked in combat with the Mournful Tiger, moving at a very slow pace.
"What can you possibly do with that snail's pace? I'll knock down this pretty tiger and lay you out right next to it."
As I approached him, the speed of my steps eventually became quite fast. Once adapted, it wasn't much of a challenge.
"Ugh, what? Suddenly the shikigami is stronger. Did you actually adapt to it?"
Once I reached right in front of him, I consciously stretched my arm forward to strike him, and the moment I whipped it back, my sense of balance returned to normal—causing me to trip backward heavily.
'Ah... this is seriously bothersome. Why is a curse user running around with such an effective ability?'
"Puhaha! If you adapt, I'll just release the technique. I can always just re-apply it before you adapt again. Just get toyed with by me."
Looking up at him as he laughed, I let out a dry chuckle.
"Are you a retard? Why are you distracted while fighting?"
"What...?"
The guy, who had forgotten about the fight with the Mournful Tiger to laugh at me from above, took a direct punch to the face from the tiger—now restored to 100% output after the technique was dispelled—and went flying.
"Gah!"
Hitting his head against the wall, the guy slumped over, unconscious. I rose to my feet, testing my sense of balance with a few steps as it had fully returned to normal.
"You underestimated my technique. I wasn't fighting alone to begin with. Anyway, what a truly troublesome technique. Though, it's nothing special once you've adapted to it."
I considered healing the wounds on my face but decided it was too much of a hassle, so I figured I'd just get treated by Shoko later. I returned the Mournful Tiger to the shadows and stored the suppressed curse user, Shinya Kurose, inside the shadow. The moment I dispelled the curtain and turned to leave, the rooftop door opened and a female student appeared.
"Huh...? Who are you? I've never seen your face at this school before?"
"Ah, that is... yes. I came in place of my younger sibling for the parent-teacher meeting... wait, huh?"
'That face... wait, no wonder it felt familiar. Renchoku Women's Academy was the school Riko attended?'