Chapter 31

Later, his mother came to him and appealed to the bond between mother and son that did not exist between them, begging him never to leave the clan.

They tried to prevent the Kamiki Clan's destruction by hiding Kamiki Yūhaku's existence.

Even now, Kamiki Yūhaku remembered their conversation.

"I'm begging you, please don't leave this place. As long as you stay, no one will die. The Kamiki Clan has endured for a thousand years. It can't be destroyed by a curse."

"Then why not break the curse?" Kamiki Yūhaku looked at her calmly, his voice gentle. "There's no point in trapping me here. If this really is a Binding Vow, then its conditions were fulfilled the moment I was born. How could an agreement that's already been made be hidden?"

"No! It has to work!" The woman seized his shoulders hard enough to hurt. "As long as no one sees you, the clan won't be destroyed, and I won't..."

Kamiki Yūhaku watched her. After a moment, he spoke. "I saw your future."

"Mother." For the first time in his life, Kamiki Yūhaku called her mother. "I saw you standing on a circular altar, holding a piece of red silk."

As soon as Kamiki Yūhaku finished speaking, the woman's face went deathly pale. She struck him, her eyes full of fear and anger.

Then she immediately apologized. Under Kamiki Yūhaku's strange gaze, she forced down her fear and continued speaking to him, but her expression grew worse and worse, and she found herself less and less able to say anything more.

At last, she broke down.

"You demon!" she screamed at her son. "It's because you were born that I ended up like this! Because of you, I went from the clan's genius to a member of a branch family no one would even look at! Why couldn't you have died when you were born?"

"I curse you! I curse you!"

The woman screamed wildly until members of the clan dragged her away. Their expressions were indifferent, their gazes equally cold whether they were looking at Kamiki Yūhaku or the woman.

Only later, after leaving the Kamiki Clan, did Kamiki Yūhaku learn that what he had seen was called a sacrifice.

It was an evil Jujutsu that sacrificed a Jujutsu Sorcerer's blood relative to make the sorcerer's Cursed Technique disappear.

The principal of Jujutsu High told him that the Jujutsu had first appeared among Curse Users. After the Curse User died, it was lost, surviving only in records in a few ancient texts.

"So why believe it?"

Kamiki Yūhaku murmured, "They could just be like Satoru and refuse to believe."

"The so-called future is only something I've seen with my eyes. If they believe that knowing my prophecies in advance can help them avoid harm, why do they also believe the future I prophesy can't be changed?"

"I never made prophecies to lead people to their deaths."

Chapter 31

Satoru Gojo never got the chance to ask Masamichi Yaga about the Kamiki Clan, because something unexpected happened that day.

Strange incidents had repeatedly occurred at a neglected grave site during government development. The Windows detected a Cursed Spirit there, but it was only Grade 3, so three assistant managers and a Jujutsu Sorcerer suited to the task were dispatched to exorcise it. Something went wrong along the way. The Grade 3 Cursed Spirit was not the only one there; a sealed Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit was there as well.

The nearest Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer was dozens of kilometers away and could not possibly arrive in time. All three assistant managers were killed, and only one Jujutsu Sorcerer escaped. The losses were severe.

Of course, it was normal for the Windows' detection to be wrong on occasion, but one thing was highly unusual.

An assistant manager who had originally been assigned to the mission that day had declined it on the grounds that his mother was ill, and had not reported for duty all day. Some people thought he was very lucky, and no one saw anything suspicious about it. After all, a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit was not considered deadly to an assistant manager.

But Satoru Gojo knew there might be more to it than it seemed.

After all, a Special Grade Cursed Spirit capable of foretelling the future was currently at Jujutsu High.

"Shouldn't you be asking the person who left instead of me?" Kamiki Yūhaku leaned against the wall, the chains on his wrists hanging down toward the floor. His tone was innocent. "Satoru, do you trust me more than you trust that assistant manager?"

"Don't play with words. I'm not falling for that," Satoru Gojo said. "So, did you really give him a prophecy?"

Kamiki Yūhaku looked at him. "So you think the prophecy is the problem."

"No." Satoru Gojo shook his head. "If you really gave him a prophecy, and that prophecy caused him to act as he did, then he made a mistake."

"His mistake wasn't ignoring what I said and believing your prophecy. It was believing your prophecy and not telling anyone else." There was a hint of resignation in Satoru Gojo's voice.

Satoru Gojo knew very well that, if Kamiki Yūhaku made a prophecy, everyone would still feel uneasy deep down, even if they claimed not to believe it. No one would truly want to gamble their fate on a choice where neither answer seemed quite right.

Judging by what had happened today, Kamiki Yūhaku had probably prophesied that the man would die, so after agonizing over it, he had chosen to believe.

He had not dared gamble his life on a possibility.

So he had fled, using some arbitrary excuse, without telling anyone why.

Satoru Gojo thought, If he had told the others about the prophecy, would no one have died this time?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Satoru Gojo froze. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have unconsciously accepted Kamiki Yūhaku's prophecies.

He had even thought that knowing a prophecy in advance could change a tragic outcome.

He could not help looking at Kamiki Yūhaku. Through his blindfold, he could see countless streams of Cursed Energy surrounding the Special Grade Cursed Spirit's body. He could make out Kamiki Yūhaku's general outline, but could not tell what he looked like now. Was this also why the higher-ups had always treated him as a trump card they could not give up?

As long as one prophecy came true, several Jujutsu Sorcerers could be saved.

Who wouldn't be tempted by that?

"Satoru, do you mean you're starting to trust me?" Kamiki Yūhaku smiled at Satoru Gojo. "Didn't you say you'd never believe anything I said?"

"I stand by what I said. As long as no one believes any of your prophecies, no one will get hurt," Satoru Gojo said. "Rather than relying on so-called prophecies to avoid harm, wouldn't it be more practical to become strong enough that you won't be hurt no matter how great a disaster you face?"

"Huh?" Kamiki Yūhaku tilted his head with a smile. "Satoru, have you ever considered something?"

"Go on."

"Not everyone is the strongest like you, Satoru." Kamiki Yūhaku lowered his voice. When he did, its tone became soft and faint, like winter snow drifting down to the ground, carrying a chill with it. "The weak need ways to survive besides strength, so they turn to me to avoid harm."

"By stopping them, you're taking away their means of survival, in a sense."

Satoru Gojo sighed. "What nonsense. Looks like nothing good will come of talking to you."

Kamiki Yūhaku watched Satoru Gojo leave, then lowered his head, a smile in his eyes.

"I hope that's nothing but nonsense too."

Unfortunately, Kamiki Yūhaku had seen too many things like this.

As a Special Grade Cursed Spirit of prophecy, Kamiki Yūhaku did not need to do anything at all, nor did he need any ability to attack. Merely standing there was enough to spark arguments. Some higher-ups did believe he should not exist, but every time such views were voiced, they were suppressed.

Because only Kamiki Yūhaku's prophecies could prevent greater harm and bring greater benefits.

Those who spoke against him would be condemned and accused of wanting more Jujutsu Sorcerers to die, or even of disregarding whether others lived or died. So his opponents stopped speaking up. No one wanted to bear such an accusation.

Thus, even when Kamiki Yūhaku occasionally lied and caused the deaths of some Jujutsu Sorcerers, they still could not truly give him up.

Elsewhere, Satoru Gojo slouched in a chair in the principal's office. Masamichi Yaga was carving a doll, and he seemed thoroughly displeased by Gojo's uninvited visit.

"Why are you hanging around Jujutsu High instead of exorcising Cursed Spirits?"

"I'm just curious. Why do the people upstairs care so much about a Special Grade Cursed Spirit? Even if his Cursed Technique lets him see the future, he's still a Cursed Spirit." Satoru Gojo sighed. "Besides, talking to that guy really isn't interesting. I've spoken to him a few times, and none of our conversations lasted very long."

Masamichi Yaga listened to Satoru Gojo as he carved the doll. "Kamiki was pretty strange back then too. It was hard to communicate with him. He often gave answers that had nothing to do with the question."

"Speaking of which, was he really human once? And a student at Jujutsu High?"

"If he really is Kamiki, then yes." Masamichi Yaga nodded. "He was a year behind me, though he was the same age as me. He spent less than six months at Jujutsu High. By the time I came back from a long-term mission, he'd already been registered as dead."

"Only six months, huh?" Satoru Gojo nodded. "Then, Mr. Yaga, do you know about the Kamiki Clan?"

"No," Masamichi Yaga said calmly. "If you want to know, you'd be better off looking through your family's records and asking the elders in your family than asking me."

Satoru Gojo rubbed his chin, then nodded after a moment. "That works. I'll ask whenever I go back. There's no hurry, anyway. I'm not curious enough to make a special trip."

"Then hurry up and get on with your mission." Masamichi Yaga shooed him away. "You've been hanging around Jujutsu High so long that the people upstairs are about to die of anxiety."

"Then let them," Satoru Gojo said, unconcerned.

Even so, Satoru Gojo pulled out his phone. Just then, a message came in about a mission that only he could handle. He opened it.

It was an out-of-town mission in Hokkaido. The Windows had detected what appeared to be a Special Grade Cursed Spirit there, and they wanted him to deal with it. All the Jujutsu Sorcerers in the area who could handle the problem were unavailable, so the mission had been assigned to him, since he was hanging around Jujutsu High.