Prison

"Hello, Shen Yuanyi, first-year at Jujutsu High."

A man and a woman who had arrived with Gojo Satoru each extended a hand and shook Shen Yuanyi's.

"Hirakawa Kei."

"Suzuki Nishiko."

Both were dressed in suits, with formal smiles on their faces. After a brief exchange of greetings, they stood in the spacious training hall of Jujutsu High. Gojo Satoru spoke up. "Then let's begin."

"Genichi-kun, please describe the effects of your Cursed Technique in detail and demonstrate it. I'll record everything as it happens."

The man named Hirakawa Kei took out a plain notebook as he spoke. Shen Yuanyi walked to the center, said there was no problem, and began explaining.

"My Cursed Technique is related to time. I call it the 'Wheel of Time.' Its effect is to accelerate my own time, like this..."

Shen Yuanyi held a card between his fingers. It bore Hirakawa Kei's portrait and name. Hirakawa Kei touched his pocket in confusion, surprise appearing in his eyes.

Then he felt the pocket under his hand bulge. Looking down, he saw that his ID had reappeared inside it, while Shen Yuanyi had yet to finish speaking.

"As for specific offensive methods, let's skip those. They aren't easy to demonstrate here, and you wouldn't be able to see them clearly anyway. Next is the Cursed Technique Reversal I learned from Gojo-sensei."

Shen Yuanyi looked at them with a radiant smile. "I call it Reversal. Simply put, it reverses my own time."

"Um... Gojo-sensei, please help demonstrate it."

Gojo Satoru readily agreed. The two of them settled it with a few words, and when Gojo Satoru raised a finger, a tiny red orb spinning at high speed lit up at his fingertip.

Cursed Technique Reversal: Red

Even at such low output, Red threw the surrounding airflow into chaos the moment it appeared, startling Hirakawa Kei and Suzuki Nishiko into quickly backing away from Gojo Satoru.

"Mr. Gojo, please don't—"

Before he could finish, Gojo Satoru flicked his finger and launched the Red at his fingertip. Trailing a streak of red light through the air, it struck Shen Yuanyi in the abdomen in an instant.

Looking at the bowl-sized hole in his abdomen, Shen Yuanyi could not help complaining, "Gojo-sensei, wasn't that a little too strong? Even Cursed Spirits don't hit me that hard."

Gojo Satoru then said, "Oh, stop talking and use your Cursed Technique already, will you? It's my first time using my Cursed Technique on one of my own students. Besides, that was already low output. Do you want to tear down the school if I make it any stronger?"

As the two chatted casually, Hirakawa Kei blinked, then rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The wound blasted through Shen Yuanyi's abdomen vanished in an instant, and even his Jujutsu High uniform reverted to its pristine state.

It can't be an illusion, can it? But he's also Grade 1. Even if it were an illusion, that would still be incredible...

Of course, he did not truly believe this was an illusion Shen Yuanyi had used to deceive them. Other than a few exceptional cases, there was no need for Jujutsu Sorcerers to conceal their Cursed Techniques.

After all, the binding vow of "revealing" one's technique enhanced its effects, something especially valuable in battle, particularly when the opponents were evenly matched.

Moreover, what others learned was generally only the overall nature of a Cursed Technique. The ultimate moves and finer details developed from it by Jujutsu Sorcerers were another matter. Thus, Hirakawa Kei was more inclined to believe that this first-year boy was telling the truth.

Another genius rated Special Grade as a first-year? The previous one only had his Special Grade title revoked not long ago... Hirakawa Kei thought as he quietly recorded everything.

"By the way, can your Cursed Technique also be used continuously like Mr. Gojo's?"

With a meaningful smile, Shen Yuanyi answered, "Of course. I set my Cursed Technique to activate automatically. If an attack damages my body, the automatically triggered Cursed Technique Reversal will reverse me to the point before I was injured."

Finding explanations troublesome, Shen Yuanyi then said he would give them a practical demonstration and pulled Gojo-sensei over for a friendly spar.

The dazzling exchanges between the two made the pair watching from near the entrance widen their eyes, yet they still found it difficult to catch Shen Yuanyi's attack trajectories.

Only the training hall, which was destroyed here and there before instantly returning to normal, and Shen Yuanyi's occasional appearances, his presence still as strong as ever, proved how intense the battle was.

Though Gojo Satoru looked relaxed in their eyes, they both knew the reputation of this strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer. Yet this first-year could trade blows with him, and the damage he took vanished like an illusion, just as it had before.

If they were put in his place, they would probably only last seconds...

"All right, that's enough. This should be sufficient, right?"

The latter half was directed at Hirakawa Kei and Suzuki Nishiko. Hearing that, Hirakawa Kei closed his notebook and smiled. "Mr. Gojo, it is sufficient. We'll end things here today and won't disturb you any longer. Goodbye."

The two bowed and left the training hall. As Shen Yuanyi stretched his body, he said thoughtfully, "Gojo-sensei, I have a new move I want to try. Would you cooperate with me?"

Gojo Satoru's refined face fell without a shred of dignity. "No... I'm busy."

A moment later, as if recalling something, a smile appeared on his face again. "Oh, there's a newly assigned mission that suits you perfectly. The target is to retrieve one of Sukuna's Fingers. That finger has already been swallowed by a Cursed Spirit, and according to the Window's observations, it has been provisionally classified as a Special Grade Cursed Spirit."

Shen Yuanyi's expression shifted. "Sukuna? The legendary King of Curses?"

Ryomen Sukuna. Whether it was the memories buried deep within him or the records about him in the Jujutsu World, both brought this being to Shen Yuanyi's mind.

It was said that during the Heian Period, when Jujutsu was at its peak a thousand years ago, he had been the strongest Curse User. He possessed four arms and four eyes. Because of his absolute evil, all the Sorcerers of that era had gathered to attempt to exorcise him, but they still failed.

This incomparably vicious being had transcended the category of Curse User or even human. Due to his strength and similar appearance, he had even been given the name of the demon god from Myths and Legends, "Ryomen Sukuna." After his death, his twenty fingers became Special Grade Cursed Objects, sealed away and scattered across various places.

In the future, he would even achieve a different kind of resurrection through the vessel Itadori Yuji, though he would not have much control over the body.

"That's right, Sukuna's Finger. So, what do you think? Special Grade Cursed Spirits aren't exactly everywhere. Isn't this perfect for you to freely test your new move?"

Shen Yuanyi glanced sidelong at Gojo Satoru, who was grinning and showing off his white teeth, and said with some suspicion, "This wouldn't happen to be your mission, would it, Sensei? And you're tossing it to me?"

Having been exposed, Gojo Satoru was not embarrassed in the slightest. "How could that be? As your teacher, I only thought of this mission because I'm considerate of your needs..."

"I'll take it."

"Excellent. I'll register you for it right away."

Gojo Satoru's expression changed in an instant. He cheerfully settled the matter, then strode away with his arms behind his head.

"Oh? Mr. Ijichi, it's only been a few days, but you look much better."

Standing beside the car, Ijichi Kiyotaka smiled. "Genichi-kun, I took a few days off and rested for a while. I feel much more relaxed now."

"Did you go to the city? Did you find any places with amazing food? I'd like to try them sometime too." As he got into the car and accepted the paper briefing Ijichi handed him, Shen Yuanyi casually chatted at the same time.

Ijichi started the car and smoothly pulled onto the road. Smiling, he replied, "There actually is one. Their sushi and sashimi are very delicious. It's an old establishment. If Genichi-kun wants, I can send you the address later."

"Sure, sure. Mr. Ijichi, you should come with me when the time comes."

"Haha, then thank you, Genichi-kun."

After reading through the briefing in his hands, Shen Yuanyi found that it merely supplemented the information in greater detail. He had already understood the general situation beforehand.

The target Cursed Spirit was in a prison for serious offenders called Ono Prison. When it was discovered, dozens of inmates and six prison guards had already died, not including the number of injured.

The prison had conducted an emergency evacuation. There had been no further casualties for the time being, and after the existence of a Curse was confirmed, the matter had been handed over to Jujutsu Sorcerers.

This prison was actually rather well known in society because it housed only the most vicious criminals, including serious offenders and death row inmates. Over time, bored people had invented many stories about the prison, though those stories had naturally been heavily suppressed.

Places like this generally had some "exorcising" objects to suppress Curses. Ono Prison naturally had them as well, with three placed in different areas.

Who could have expected that one of the "ritual implements," a Buddha statue, would contain a Special Grade Cursed Object within it—Sukuna's Finger.

How the Buddha statue had been broken and how the Cursed Spirit had swallowed the Sukuna's Finger inside were no longer known. In any case, the Cursed Spirit that ultimately devoured Sukuna's Finger successfully gained power and leaped into the ranks of Special Grade Cursed Spirits.

Leaving behind the bustle of the city, Shen Yuanyi and Ijichi traveled to a picturesque suburb. After getting out of the car, Shen Yuanyi saw a massive, gloomy monster crouched by the roadside.

Although the place was fairly tidy and its outer walls and gates appeared to have been renovated in recent years, the atmosphere that hit them the moment they arrived made breathing feel difficult.

Even under the sunlight, the place did not feel bright or upright in the slightest. At the entrance, a bald middle-aged man in a prison guard's uniform was waiting for them.

He had likely been standing there for quite a while. Even in the warm sunlight, he had broken out in a fair amount of cold sweat, so he had taken off his cap and occasionally wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.

When he saw Shen Yuanyi and Ijichi arrive, delight appeared on his face as he hurried over. "You two, I'm Yamaguchi Takuyoshi, the warden here. Are you the specialists assigned to handle this matter?"

Ijichi took out some sort of identification and handed it over. Shen Yuanyi paid no attention to that, instead turning his gaze toward the prison.

Yamaguchi Takuyoshi did not show the slightest contempt because of their appearances. He then respectfully led the two inside.