Enrollment

"So far, that was everything. But... Genichi, you'd better use your technique to enhance yourself as little as possible. After accelerating your own time, it seemed to have some effect on your body too."

Shen Yuanyi thought for a moment, his face going dark. "I'm not going to suddenly grow up or age really fast, am I?"

Gojo Satoru imagined the teenage Shen Yuanyi as a middle-aged man and burst out laughing. Only after he was done did he say, "So you need to be careful, Genichi. But maybe it could be a good thing too, haha! Once you learn Reverse Cursed Technique and Cursed Technique Reversal, perhaps things might change."

Seeing Shen Yuanyi's thoughtful expression, Yaga Masamichi spoke up. "Those techniques are extremely difficult to master. Genichi, you still need to take things step by step. Don't aim too high!"

"That's right, that's right!"

Gojo Satoru laughed and patted Shen Yuanyi on the head before looking at Yaga Masamichi. "Yaga-sensei, for now, let's say Genichi's technique is Object Acceleration. That's what we'll tell everyone else."

Yaga Masamichi naturally understood what Gojo Satoru meant and nodded. "Understood. We'll register it that way when Genichi enrolls. His enormous Cursed Energy can help conceal it as well."

Rubbing his chin, Gojo Satoru thought of Megumi Fushiguro. That kid's technique was the Zenin Family's inherited technique—the Ten Shadows Technique. But without some inherited knowledge and insight, no one would recognize Megumi's technique. Most would simply take it for an ordinary shikigami-summoning technique.

And even if Megumi's information leaked out, he still had Gojo Satoru and the Zenin Family's protection. But Genichi had no background and was still weak. Gojo Satoru couldn't stay by his side every moment, so it was best to hide it for as long as possible.

After returning home, Gojo Satoru somehow brought back a pile of books, some new and some old. According to him, many were from the Gojo Family's collection, mostly containing knowledge about the Jujutsu World and jujutsu sorcerers.

"Look, I know everything, but teaching other people is just too troublesome. I'm sure someone as smart as you, Genichi, can learn it all on your own, haha!"

Looking at Gojo Satoru's carefree grin, Shen Yuanyi silently complained, "Have you even considered whether a seven- or eight-year-old can understand these? I can only communicate. My reading and writing aren't anywhere near this level yet!"

Gojo Satoru, who had already left, suddenly poked his head back through the doorway. "Oh, right. The paperwork for you, Megumi, and the others to attend school should be done around tomorrow. Make sure you get along!"

After saying that, Gojo Satoru vanished again. Shen Yuanyi, who had been about to speak, finally shouted, "What school? What's its name? Where is it? How am I supposed to get there?!"

Gojo Satoru, existing in a superposition of reliable and unreliable, naturally couldn't hear him. Shen Yuanyi could only sigh. He would deal with it when the time came. If necessary, he could ask the Fushiguro siblings.

Shen Yuanyi flipped through the books and found that he couldn't understand many of the terms. He could only put them on the bookshelf in his bedroom for the time being and save them for later.

The days of school afterward could hardly be called interesting, especially elementary school. What they taught came easily to Shen Yuanyi, while most children his age were terribly childish, so he did not have many friends.

Wanting to read those collected books as soon as possible, Shen Yuanyi studied exceptionally hard. His outstanding grades earned him praise from many teachers.

That long elementary school life also brought Shen Yuanyi closer to the Fushiguro siblings. Of course, that mostly referred to Tsumiki. As for whether Megumi Fushiguro looked at him kindly, that was impossible to say.

The reason their relationship improved somewhat was actually a fight. Though calling it a fight was a bit of an exaggeration. How badly could two half-grown children really beat each other up?

Shen Yuanyi had not even been serious. Otherwise, with his grasp of the basics of Cursed Energy, wouldn't he have simply been bullying Megumi?

Whenever Shen Yuanyi looked at that cold-faced, sea-urchin-haired kid, he could not help wanting to tease him. Wasn't his own background in this life pitiful too? Megumi Fushiguro even had a sister! Why did he have to wear such a gloomy expression all day?

And although Megumi had awakened a technique, he kept saying he did not want to become a jujutsu sorcerer. But if Shen Yuanyi remembered correctly, Megumi had already been a sorcerer when he first appeared! Shen Yuanyi had no idea what would happen in the future to make him choose that path.

Shen Yuanyi had learned much of this from Gojo Satoru during training sessions whenever Gojo Satoru had time.

Going back to that time, after Shen Yuanyi decisively defeated Megumi Fushiguro, Tsumiki pulled the two apart.

Though she was not much older than them, Tsumiki displayed an adult-like gentleness and tolerance. She did not blame either of them. After stopping their fight, she treated their slightly swollen and reddened injuries.

As her gentle voice explained principles of how to conduct themselves—words that somehow never became tiresome—Shen Yuanyi and Megumi Fushiguro gradually lost their confrontational attitudes.

Later, when some upperclassmen who could barely even be called delinquents spoke disrespectfully to Tsumiki, Shen Yuanyi went straight to their classroom. In front of every student there, he beat every one of those tall, well-built boys by himself.

The school delinquents lying on the floor and wailing were threatened one by one by Shen Yuanyi. Under those circumstances, the threats naturally carried enough weight. In the end, he left behind only the wrecked floor and those delinquents.

Afterward, it was unclear whether Gojo Satoru had pulled strings behind the scenes. Combined with Shen Yuanyi's perfect scores in every subject, the school merely gave him a token scolding and had him write a letter of apology before letting the matter go.

Only after that did Megumi Fushiguro gradually lose his hedgehog-like defenses. Although the occasionally mischievous Shen Yuanyi still provoked him into arguments now and then, their relationship had undergone a fundamental change.

Oh, right! Megumi Fushiguro had written that letter of apology. He had looked extremely unwilling, but under Shen Yuanyi's righteous words and unable to withstand Sister's gaze, he could only grit his teeth and write it.

By the time they reached middle school, the three were still classmates. Perhaps because they had grown older, they had also matured. Although Megumi Fushiguro often still wore a cold expression, he rarely argued with Shen Yuanyi anymore.

He did get into conflicts with the delinquents at the new school, though this time it was not because of Tsumiki. It was because of the girls who confessed to him after being drawn to his cool, handsome appearance.

The outcome was obvious. Megumi Fushiguro beat them all up. Later, even delinquents from nearby areas failed to escape him, building up Megumi's reputation. He seemed to have some sort of title too—something rather cringe-worthy—but Shen Yuanyi could not recall it at the moment.

Logically, Shen Yuanyi, who was in a similar situation, should have encountered the same problems. But in reality, he had not. That was all thanks to Shen Yuanyi's once-and-for-all approach.

At the start of school, he deliberately put on an arrogant, handsome, wealthy, utterly punchable act, and some older delinquents outside the school set their sights on him.

After beating those delinquents—people who might have qualified as Yakuza if they went any further—half to death in one go, Shen Yuanyi became someone those low-level delinquents absolutely could not afford to provoke.

Over the years, under Gojo Satoru's guidance—though it was hard to say whether it truly counted as guidance—Shen Yuanyi had gained a deeper understanding of his technique, especially his use of Cursed Energy.

According to Gojo Satoru, Shen Yuanyi could already try exorcising cursed spirits using only hand-to-hand combat.

"Anything below Special Grade shouldn't be much of a problem for you, but you can't afford to let your guard down."

Those were Gojo Satoru's exact words. Incidentally, Shen Yuanyi's path to becoming stronger had mostly been spent enduring Gojo Satoru's "merciless beatings."

And so, when he had reached the true second year of middle school, Shen Yuanyi was informed that he would be enrolling at Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High School.

"Huh? I thought I'd have to wait until I graduated middle school. This feels a little sudden. Also, what are you planning for Tsumiki and Megumi?"

Shen Yuanyi lounged on the sofa, happily enjoying a can of iced cola. His slightly long hair was tied behind his head and dyed white.

A few days earlier, Shen Yuanyi had gone to a convention dressed as the anime character Kakashi. He had simply dyed his hair while he was at it, since the dye would fade quickly anyway.

Shen Yuanyi had dyed his hair all kinds of colors before. Put together, they could almost make a rainbow. In his own words: "It'd be a waste not to cosplay all those handsome guys and beautiful girls when I've got such great looks..."

Now, at sixteen by East Asian reckoning, Shen Yuanyi was already over six feet tall. The cute boy he once was had grown into his looks. Shen Yuanyi said the thick stack of love letters he had received could prove it.

Gojo Satoru waved a hand. "That's because you're too smart, Genichi. You can't learn anything more at your current school, so hurry up and go to Jujutsu High. As for Megumi, let him figure things out for himself. Entering the Jujutsu World requires resolve. The two of them can stay at ordinary schools for now."

That was what he said, but Shen Yuanyi felt that Gojo Satoru simply wanted to send him off to Jujutsu High as soon as possible so he would stop being pestered with questions all the time.

Although Gojo Satoru was Jujutsu High's homeroom teacher, based on Shen Yuanyi's understanding of him, he would definitely shove everything onto Yaga Masamichi and others—or simply vanish again.

"Fine. I can go play with Panda while I'm there. If I remember right, he's enrolling this year too, isn't he?"

After Gojo Satoru gave him an affirmative answer, Shen Yuanyi was already thinking about what luggage to bring. His PS4 and Switch both had to come, and White Wolf too...

Speaking of Panda, he was a mutated Cursed Corpse Yaga Masamichi, now the principal, had created a few years ago. Not only did he possess independent thought, he could communicate normally. Since he looked like a giant panda that walked upright, he was called Panda.

Shen Yuanyi had gone to see Panda with Gojo Satoru back then. After meeting a few more times, he and Panda had become close, as though they had hit it off at first sight.

Pulled back from his thoughts, Shen Yuanyi suddenly saw that Gojo Satoru, who had disappeared at some point, had reappeared with a long wooden case in his hands.

Then he struck a "surprise" pose. "Ta-da... This is your enrollment gift. A Special Grade Cursed Tool. I picked it out especially for you, and it suits you perfectly."

Shen Yuanyi's interest was immediately piqued. Opening the wooden case, he found a longbow inside. Fine patterns covered its vermilion-lacquered body. There was no bowstring or arrows, yet Shen Yuanyi could sense Cursed Energy within it.

"This bow is called Annihilation. You use it by condensing Cursed Energy into a bowstring and arrows. With Genichi's Cursed Energy, it couldn't be more suitable."

After hearing Gojo Satoru's explanation, Shen Yuanyi was eager to try it. But naturally, he could not test it at home. Forget it. There would be plenty of opportunities later.

Now that he was preparing to go to Jujutsu High, he did not need to worry about his current school. Still, he needed to say goodbye to Tsumiki and Megumi.

As soon as he thought of it, he acted. Shen Yuanyi informed Gojo Satoru and headed out. Before long, he knocked on the Fushiguro Household's door. Megumi Fushiguro answered it and asked flatly upon seeing him, "What is it?"

Shen Yuanyi pushed the door open with a grin. "I'm going to Jujutsu High. I'm leaving tomorrow, so I came to say goodbye."

"If you're leaving, then leave. Why say goodbye? So sentimental..."

Without even turning his head, Shen Yuanyi said, "Wrong. It has nothing to do with you. I mainly came to say goodbye to Sister, so don't flatter yourself, Megumi."

"Tch... Who cares?"

After hearing that Shen Yuanyi was going to Jujutsu High, Tsumiki, despite lacking the talent to become a jujutsu sorcerer, showed that she knew a little about such matters.

After congratulating Shen Yuanyi, Tsumiki prepared a table full of delicious food and kept him for a meal.

"I'll come back to see you when I have time!"

Waving goodbye, Shen Yuanyi turned and left, ready to step into the Jujutsu World he had waited so long to enter.