We arrived in front of an abandoned building at the edge of the city, where no one passed by.
"The source of the curse pressure has to be inside," Jogo said.
Jogo pushed open the rusted door and stepped inside first.
I followed after him in silence.
The interior of the building was dark, damp, and filled with the stench of rot and burning.
We went deeper and deeper until we finally reached the source of the curse pressure.
It was a grotesquely twisted curse spirit, many times larger than a human. Its body was swollen and misshapen, its blackened skin cracked all over, with murky fluid seeping out from the fissures here and there.
It slowly turned to look at us.
Its many eyes trembled out of sync.
Jogo stopped walking.
So did I.
The curse spirit in front of us let out a roar, and the curse pressure around it erupted.
"No doubt about it. There's one of Sukuna's fingers inside its body."
In terms of sheer curse pressure, the curse spirit before us was only an ordinary one compared to Kurorai.
Jogo continued,
"And its body is already starting to fail."
The curse spirit roared violently, its body twisting as one of its arms began to swell grotesquely.
I watched it for a moment.
"In that case, let's get rid of it."
Jogo gave a slight nod and stepped forward.
I slowly coated my palm in a black aura, while Jogo raised one hand and orange-red flames began to gather around his fingers.
In the next moment, the curse spirit lunged at us with a distorted shriek.
I was fairly confident in a vampire's physical strength, so I charged straight forward at high speed and threw a punch with power that I had not even truly accelerated to the limit.
It was sent flying straight into the wall.
"So that's all you've got, curse spirit?"
It answered my words with a low roar from deep in its throat.
I gave it not even a second to recover, immediately closing in and driving another punch into its torso.
"How durable you are."
Even after being blasted away again, it still managed to force itself back up.
But at the same time, the cursed flesh along its body was beginning to swell and split even more.
In the next instant, it let out a roar so violent it became a shockwave, making the ground tremble, and all of the eyes on its body began glowing at once.
I watched it for a moment.
The curse spirit's body rapidly swelled, black vein-like cracks spreading across it as the light from its eyes and fissures grew brighter and brighter, until it was painful to look at.
It was destroying itself.
Or perhaps it was simply letting the power of Sukuna's finger explode directly through its body.
"Get back!"
Jogo shouted at the same moment the curse pressure erupted violently from its body.
I jumped back at once, but the blast still reached me.
A deafening crash rang out through the building as fragments of the walls and ceiling collapsed all at once in an instant.
Beneath the rubble, I was covered in dust and could barely see anything, but before long my vision gradually cleared.
"I didn't think it would kill itself."
"It wasn't trying to kill itself," Jogo's voice came from the other side of the cloud of dust.
"It simply couldn't withstand the finger's power."
The moment he finished speaking, Jogo wasted not even a second. He stepped over the broken stone and concrete and headed straight for the center of the explosion.
Not long after, he crouched down and picked something up from the pile of debris.
"There. This is what I was looking for."
I looked at the object in his hand.
It was a dried, darkened finger, wrapped with strange markings like curse patterns around the joints. Just looking at it directly, I could already feel the unnatural pressure emanating from it.
"May I take a look?"
Jogo glanced at me before tossing it over carelessly.
I caught it at once.
Heavier than I expected.
And it really was a human finger.
I turned it over slowly in my hand, never taking my eyes off the black markings clinging tightly to its surface.
"This is the third finger I've found," Jogo said. "Seventeen remain."
I lifted my gaze to him.
"Fingers and toes?"
Jogo went silent for a moment, then narrowed his eyes at me.
"So you really don't know anything at all, do you?"
He let out an irritated sigh.
"Sukuna was no ordinary human. He had four arms."
I went still for a second.
"Ah..."
1
"For now, I intend to leave the city. Will you come with me?"
I hesitated for a moment.
Because of the problem of living through the morning, following Jogo might become more of a burden than a help.
Honestly, I should have just told him outright that I was weak to sunlight and could only travel at night. But who would willingly reveal their weakness to someone else?
I had already tried using the sunscreen Sebastian had prepared for me, and it really did protect me throughout the whole day until it was washed off in the bath.
I understood how dangerous it was—like walking along the edge of a cliff—but if I followed the proper precautions, I would never slip.
"I should inform the people at the mansion first."
I took out my phone and called Sebastian.
He might stop me. At the very least, he ought to care about the safety of a pure-blood vampire.
I myself understood the danger.
"Sebastian, may I go out of town for a while?"
Sebastian answered almost immediately.
"Yes, my lady. But please be careful."
I fell silent for a moment, then suddenly remembered something else.
The matter of wanting to go back to school life.
"Oh, and if you have the time, arrange the school matter for me as well."
Sebastian paused.
"School, my lady?"
"Yes. I'd like to try living as a student for a while."
"Understood. I will make the arrangements."
When I heard that answer, I started to feel that my earlier concern had probably been unnecessary.
He indulged me more than I expected.
"As for your meals, my lady, I will send an attendant to you every day."
"Ah."
Even though ordinary human food could make me feel full, drinking human blood still gave me a strangely pleasant sensation.
That was probably normal for a vampire.
I ended the call, then turned to Jogo.
"He said I can go."
I paused slightly, then smiled faintly.
"Please take care of me, Jogo."
He glanced at me for a moment.
"Good. Then there are two of us now. You will definitely be useful to the plan to revive Sukuna. And he would no doubt be pleased."
...
A middle-aged man named Yaga, driving in uniform, spoke in an even tone.
"So you've already heard, I take it. The three of you will be stationed in Kujo City."
Gojo, reclining in the back seat, let out a soft sigh.
"Huh. I thought we'd be sent somewhere more interesting."
Yaga glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
Gojo chuckled quietly, as if he did not care.
Shoko, sitting in the front, turned back slightly.
"Kujo? I've heard it's the name of an old family that governs its own city."
Geto gave a small nod and spoke up.
"They say they have an inherited sorcery connected to shadows, but no one's seen it used in the present day."
Gojo tilted his head slightly.
"Are they strong?"
Yaga answered in a flat voice.
"Compared to your family, their connection to the jujutsu world is far weaker."
"In simple terms, you may not know the Kujo name as a jujutsu family, but you would know them more as politicians."
After explaining that, he answered Gojo's question.
"And as for how strong they are... that, I can't say."
Geto turned to look at the friend sitting beside him.
"Satoru, have you ever been to Kujo City?"
Gojo leaned comfortably against the seat and lifted the corner of his mouth before speaking again.
"There should be quite a few curse spirits there too, shouldn't there, Yaga-sensei?"
"You'll find out once you get there."
...
When they arrived, all three students got out of the car, while Yaga spoke before leaving.
"This is where you'll be staying during your training here. You should thank the Kujos for providing lodging free of charge."
The surroundings were quieter than they had expected.
The apartment building in front of them was not especially tall, but it was far too clean and orderly to be dismissed as temporary lodging. Behind it, there was even a garden and a swimming pool connected to three large rooms, and beyond that, the lights of the city itself.
At night, the city looked like an entirely ordinary city.
"Tonight and tomorrow, you are allowed to rest as much as you like. Work starts the day after tomorrow."
Gojo looked up at the building in front of him and casually rested one hand behind his neck.
"I thought we'd be sleeping in some shabby old building."
Shoko glanced at him slightly.
"For you, as long as there's a bed and sweets, that would be enough, wouldn't it?"
Geto watched for a moment before turning back to ask,
"And how are we supposed to report in?"
"The day after tomorrow, someone will come to pick you up."
Yaga answered shortly.
"Just don't go causing trouble."
"You make it sound like we can cause trouble anywhere."
Yaga did not answer Gojo. He simply started the engine again and gave the three of them a wave.
"Get plenty of rest. The day after tomorrow may be rough."