In the end, the incident was officially closed and written off as a "gas explosion."
Why exactly was there a gas explosion here? And why did it blow up so big? Don't worry about that—ask, and the answer is simply that we've got plenty of gas, and we happen to be exceptionally good at making explosions look flashy and sound loud.
By now it was the morning of the next day.
The sun had already climbed over the mountains.
Since they knew the truth of what had happened on the scene, the three girls had been called away to give their reports, leaving only Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto behind to clean up.
And it was in the course of talking with the Assistant Supervisor who rushed over that the two of them finally pieced together the identity of that blue-haired girl.
"A new student from the Kyoto sister school?" Suguru Geto was a little surprised. "A first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer straight out of enrollment?"
Where on earth had this person sprung from?
How had no one ever heard of her before?
"Yes. And apparently she has no sorcerer bloodline—her whole family are ordinary people," the Assistant Supervisor answered.
Suguru Geto was even more astonished.
He still remembered how it had gone when he first crossed paths with her in the small hours of the morning.
Back then, Satoru Gojo had been so guarded around the blue-haired girl.
You have to understand—Satoru Gojo rarely treated anyone as such a serious threat. Suguru Geto had never seen him wear that kind of expression toward anyone their own age.
If the commotion earlier really had been the blue-haired girl's doing, then this new student was strong indeed. But even twice as strong, that still wouldn't be enough to make Satoru Gojo brace himself the way he had.
The girl's true power was likely even more unfathomable than what they had seen with their own eyes.
"Miwa Ran, huh…" Satoru Gojo thought back on it, his face full of suspicion. "It's like she just popped out of a crack in a rock."
And they weren't the only ones who felt shocked and suspicious.
Mahiru had actually only enrolled two or three days ago.
She'd barely shown her face in public on enrollment day before turning around and heading off on a mission. So it wasn't until yesterday—when the ruckus she caused sent plenty of people running—that most of the Jujutsu world belatedly realized the Kyoto school had produced a genius who'd started out as a first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Everyone was stunned.
That very evening there was a banquet in the Jujutsu world, with many Tokyo sorcerers and Jujutsu High students invited.
In the banquet hall, the sorcerers gathered in twos and threes to chat, and the topic of every conversation was that fledgling girl who had made such a stunning debut.
Just where did she come from?
What kind of ability was her Cursed Technique?
Was her level of genius on par with Tokyo's Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo?
Could she be some kind of secret weapon those old men in Kyoto had been quietly hiding away?
"They're all talking, you know… comparing Miwa Ran to you." Suguru Geto sat beside Satoru Gojo, smiling as he spoke.
"…Huh? What?" Satoru Gojo was sprawled carelessly on the sofa, dozing, and only opened his eyes to look at him when he heard the voice. "Did you just say something?"
Suguru Geto had nothing to say to this overly laid-back guy.
"So when can we leave?" Satoru Gojo rolled over, a little impatient.
This banquet counted as one of the few social occasions sorcerers had, aside from challenging each other to fights. But the boy didn't much care for mingling with these people.
Suguru Geto was about to say something more when he heard the banquet hall doors pushed open once again.
Everyone's attention drifted toward the doorway for a moment.
They watched the blue-haired girl walk into the hall.
And so, naturally, Mahiru became the center of the entire banquet hall.
"That's the one…"
"Long blue hair, and wearing the Kyoto Jujutsu High uniform—that's got to be…"
"She's the incredibly powerful genius sorcerer who showed up out of nowhere?"
Everyone cast curious, probing looks her way.
But under all that attention, the girl was completely unaffected by the stares. She glided along, heading straight for the spot where the cakes were laid out, her purpose crystal clear.
Eat! Somebody's treating, so eat up!
The moment Mahiru reached her destination, she switched into one-tap sweep mode, not caring in the slightest about the looks being thrown her way.
Those looks were complicated things.
For most sorcerers, no matter how hard they worked their whole lives, the level of a first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer was a place they might never reach even after a lifetime. Yet this blue-haired girl had planted herself at that finish line the moment she enrolled, and so their gazes toward her carried ever more tangled feelings.
Some marveled that this was already the third genius the younger generation had produced.
Others were skeptical, or jealous, thinking that Mahiru's first-grade ranking might be watered down and not the real deal.
The feeling was… right now, watching Mahiru, they were like a flock of roosters staring at a peacock strolling past the yard, or a crowd gawking at some new species they'd never seen before.
"Oi, you—the one named Miwa." The crowd had its share of troublemakers, cut from the same cloth as Todo when he'd first met Megumi Fushiguro. One rolled up his sleeves and sidled up to Mahiru to pick a fight. "I hear you're a first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer? Is that for real?"
"Ah, first-grade sorcerer? Seems so." Still savoring her cake, Mahiru glanced up at the burly man before her and tilted her head slightly. "Is there some problem?"
The big man snorted a laugh. "No sorcerer bloodline, and yet somehow first-grade right out of the gate? There's got to be something fishy about you."
Before the words had even faded, the Cursed Energy around him flared to life.
"Come on, convince me with your strength!"
He meant to throw down. Oh boy, what a piece of work. Mahiru had nothing to say, and the people around them were startled too. The atmosphere turned tense in an instant.
"This kind of brainless fool who can't read the room…" Suguru Geto frowned and rose, meaning to go help.
But the blue-haired girl stayed perfectly calm. First she stuffed the cake in her hand into her mouth in a couple of bites, then leisurely drew a paper ticket from her satchel and activated [Re-Contract Manifestation], her Cursed Energy setting the ticket alight.
The girl wasn't even trying, so her Cursed Energy was tiny—even fainter than the aura around the big man. But the next second, his body gave a violent shudder, his eyes rolled back, and he toppled straight to the floor, twitching over and over without stop.
Someone nearby cried out the man's name and rushed over, frantically checking him over.
"What did you do to him!" the person demanded, looking up at the blue-haired girl.
The blue-haired girl chuckled. "Don't worry, I just put him under general anesthesia. He'll come around in a little while."
This time, [Re-Contract Manifestation] had reproduced the invoice from a hospital's general-anesthesia surgery—dropping the big man with ease.
Every onlooker was shaken.
Wasn't that big man a second-grade sorcerer? And he'd been taken out in an instant! It seemed the girl's first-grade strength was the genuine article after all.
Not far off, Suguru Geto watched it all, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.
"Hey… Geto." Suguru Geto turned his head.
Beside him, Satoru Gojo had sat up straight at some point, those blue Six Eyes fixed directly on Mahiru in the distance.
"She wields her Cursed Technique so skillfully, and her Cursed Energy runs so precise and refined… did she really only learn jujutsu recently?" Satoru Gojo's voice this time was dead serious, unlike his earlier easy slouch.
Normally, controlling jujutsu to that level of precision took a veteran forged through a thousand trials. If she really had only gained her powers in the past few months—then Satoru Gojo had to admit that when it came to controlling Cursed Energy, her talent was no less than his own, and he had the Six Eyes.
Over there, Mahiru gave a yawn, couldn't be bothered with the challenger slumped on the floor, and turned back to keep devouring her cake.
The cake really was delicious. She was thoroughly enjoying herself.
Of course, she hadn't come to the banquet just to mooch a free meal—and certainly not to show off her status as a first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer.
She'd gotten some intel about this banquet from Kenjaku.
The banquet was hosted by one of the Jujutsu higher-ups, but its real purpose was to summon the other relevant parties here to confer. Right now they were holding a meeting in the tea room on the second floor of the banquet hall.
Mahiru had actually arrived earlier than most. Well before Satoru Gojo showed up, she had quietly planted an eavesdropping clone in that tea room. So while she appeared to be here with her head down eating cake, in truth she'd long since started listening in on the meeting inside.
And just as she'd expected, the topic of the meeting was none other than "Tengen."
This world's Tengen had also "gone missing." Or rather, had "lost contact."
The day of Tengen's assimilation was drawing ever closer, yet when the higher-ups sent people to make contact, they no longer received the usual replies. Normally one could hold an ordinary conversation with Tengen, but this time, whatever they asked sank without a trace, leaving only the shikigami to occasionally send back a word or two, urging them to find the Star Plasma Vessel and deliver her as soon as possible.
As Mahiru listened in, her expression grew serious.
The Culling Game had opened a passage into this world yesterday, which had already put her on alert.
Now, hearing that this world's Tengen had run into trouble too, it was hard for her not to link the matter to the Culling Game.
Things were taking a turn for the worse.
The people in the meeting room were deliberating. Back and forth they went, until at last they reached a conclusion—Lord Tengen must urgently need the Star Plasma Vessel for assimilation right now!
It was precisely because the assimilation had been delayed for so long that he no longer even had the strength to speak! That was why things had come to this state! So they absolutely had to get the Star Plasma Vessel to Lord Tengen as fast as possible!
Honestly, the moment she heard them reach this conclusion, Mahiru went blank for a second.
Was this what one should expect from the Jujutsu higher-ups? When it came to "being absolute clowns," they had never once let Mahiru down.
But thinking about it more carefully, she couldn't really blame them for the conclusion. After all, who could have imagined that people from a future world were using the Culling Game to erode this one? If Mahiru herself hadn't happened to stand right at the center of time, she probably wouldn't have thought of it either.
"My chance is coming," the girl murmured.
The discussion carried on for a while longer. The meeting ran a full forty minutes. And with it, the banquet slowly drew toward its close. At last, the meeting upstairs came to an end.
A young Yaga came down from upstairs and walked straight up to Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.
"The mission to deliver the Star Plasma Vessel to Lord Tengen has been moved up," he said gravely. "The day after tomorrow, you'll go collect the Star Plasma Vessel, protect her, and escort her—until she is [Devoured] by Tengen."
"[Devoured]?" Satoru Gojo was a little puzzled by the choice of word.
Yaga didn't explain further; he simply turned his head to look at the blue-haired girl who had appeared at his side at some unknown point.
"…Hello? I know you—you're that new student from the Kyoto school." He was a bit bewildered, unsure what the blue-haired girl wanted by sidling up to him. "Is there something you need?"
"Teacher Yaga," the girl began with a grin, "everyone who was just up there in the meeting had such grim faces… things are looking pretty bad this time, aren't they?"
Yaga didn't answer directly.
"The moment you came out, you handed these two classmates a mission to protect the Star Plasma Vessel—which must mean something's gone wrong on Lord Tengen's end!" The girl pressed on, volunteering herself. "So let me join the escort mission too! I can be of help!"
At these words, Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Yaga—all three—froze in unison.
"Join the mission? Why?" Yaga asked.
"Because I think you need the help." The girl's eyes curved into a smile. "Isn't that so?"
Suguru Geto, off to the side, said nothing.
"Ha?" Satoru Gojo let out a scoff. "Please, we're the strongest there is. Saying we need help—are you looking down on us?"
"I know you're strong. But one more person means one more bit of strength, right?" Mahiru clasped her hands behind her back, beaming. "Besides, Principal Gakuganji is the one who recommended me, you know?"
As she spoke, the girl fished a letter of recommendation out of her satchel and held it out to Yaga.
Yaga took the letter from her hand and read it, his brows knitting even tighter.
Because what Mahiru had produced really was Gakuganji's own handwriting—something she'd secured earlier that day through a silver tongue and the goading line, "Are you willing to see the Kyoto school shut out of this!"
The letter stated that this girl was to be assigned to the Star Plasma Vessel escort mission, asserting that the Kyoto school had an equal right to take part and to claim the credit, just as the Tokyo school did.
This time Yaga was out of options.
If it had merely been the girl volunteering herself, he could have refused flatly. But since it was Gakuganji speaking, turning it down became awkward.
Because the Yaga of now was not yet a principal. Gakuganji's authority—at least in terms of official position—ranked a notch above his.
"…Fine," Yaga relented at last. "Then you'll go with Gojo and Geto and carry out the escort mission together."
He raised his head and met the eyes of the smiling girl before him.
To be honest, he gave in so quickly partly because he didn't think letting one girl come along could cause any serious trouble. What was the worst case? The worst case was that the girl was a mole. But that was impossible.
And even if she really were a mole… after all, the girl was only a cut above an ordinary first-grade Jujutsu Sorcerer; in her enrollment assessment data she fell well short of Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto, so even as a mole she couldn't stir up much of a storm.
Yet somehow, in that moment, looking at the girl before him, Yaga's chest gave a sudden, inexplicable lurch. As if the decision he'd just made was, through some unseen force, quietly steering the course of certain things toward an earth-shattering direction.
He glanced at the girl again on reflex. She was smiling at him, eyes crinkled, a smile utterly harmless.
Yaga shook his head.
Was it just his imagination?
It had to be.
He must simply be too tired, and that was why he was imagining things.
____
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