Gojo Satoru, who stood beside Principal Yaga and Principal Gakuganji, spoke up upon hearing that.
"Huh? Could there be other people coming to watch this exchange event besides those from the two Jujutsu High Schools?"
Utahime Iori said in surprise.
Ordinarily, given the temperament of those sorcerers outside Jujutsu High School, few would specifically make time to watch a competition focused on sparring and exchange between students. Aside from rare oddballs like Gojo Satoru, most adult sorcerers rarely concerned themselves with matters unrelated to them.
Just then, several figures approaching from afar entered everyone's sight.
Walking at the front was Makima, dressed in a women's suit and exuding a sharp, capable air. Beside her strolled the languid An Xiu and Siri O'Flaherty.
As the three arrived, the students from the two Jujutsu High Schools, who had been bristling with hostility toward each other moments ago, fell quiet as well.
"Upperclassmen, who are they?"
Among the Kyoto Jujutsu High students, the blue-haired Miwa Kasumi cautiously asked the people beside her.
"She is Makima, the newly appointed upper-ranking official of Tokyo's Director's Council, fully responsible for all sorcerer-related matters in Tokyo."
"And... Siri O'Flaherty, the fifth Special Grade sorcerer to emerge over a month ago. Rumor has it she once defeated Gojo Satoru, the current head of the Gojo clan!"
Noritoshi Kamo, who came from the Kamo clan of the Jujutsu World's Three Great Families, spoke seriously from the side.
Utahime Iori's Shock, the Attack Arrives
"Yo, Miss Makima, and An Xiu and Miss Siri. I didn't expect the three of you to show up together."
Seeing them arrive, Gojo Satoru immediately greeted them from nearby.
That was right. An Xiu and Siri had come here this time because of Gojo Satoru's invitation.
"Mr. Gojo Satoru, it is a pleasure to meet you. And Principal Yaga, Principal Gakuganji, Miss Iori."
Makima nodded to the four before her, then looked toward An Xiu and Siri beside her.
"I happened to meet Mr. An Xiu and Miss Siri on the way here. We got along well and were headed to the same place, so we came together. I hope we are not causing everyone any trouble."
"You are too polite, Miss Makima. As long as Miss Siri and Mr. An Xiu do not mind."
Gakuganji Yaga spoke with a stern expression.
In truth, he had always been curious about Siri, the newly promoted Special Grade sorcerer who had made the ever-confident Gojo Satoru personally admit defeat. Now that he had met her, even he had to marvel at how she had attained such accomplishments at such a young age.
Judging solely by her appearance, she looked no older than a middle school student. Though eighty percent of a sorcerer's strength depended on talent, Siri had truly overturned everything he had believed over the years.
Even Gojo Satoru back then could not possibly have possessed such strength at her age.
"So she's the Special Grade who defeated Gojo Satoru?"
Utahime Iori was also cautiously studying Siri. When she had learned that the loathsome Gojo Satoru had actually been defeated, her first reaction, beyond her delight, had been disbelief.
After all, as Gojo Satoru's upperclassman during their days at Jujutsu High School, Utahime Iori knew exactly how powerful he was.
It was difficult to imagine that such a monster could one day be defeated, especially by the petite, adorable girl before her, who even gave off a timid impression at first glance.
Perhaps noticing Utahime Iori's gaze, Siri met her eyes briefly before giving her a sweet smile.
Utahime Iori immediately felt as if her whole body had been healed.
Compared to that scumbag Gojo Satoru, the girl before her was practically an angel. She wanted to hold her in her arms and breathe her in while hugging her.
If she could, how blissful would that be?
But she could only think about such things. The girl before her was a Special Grade sorcerer, and one who had defeated Gojo Satoru at that. She was probably, like Gojo Satoru, someone even the upper ranks of the Jujutsu World could not control.
Who would dare show her such disrespect?
Then Utahime Iori saw someone do exactly what she only dared imagine but would never actually dare do.
"This is kind of boring. When is the exchange event going to start?"
A pair of arms wrapped around Siri, pulling the girl's petite body into an embrace as An Xiu leaned his entire body against her.
The girl showed no dissatisfaction. Instead, she asked with concern, "Is An Xiu-ge tired? Then rest against Siri for a while."
Who the hell was this guy?
Utahime Iori wanted to say that, but after opening her mouth, she realized she had no right to. She could only conceal her inner shock and silently close it again.
Gakuganji Yaga, on the other hand, had heard Gojo Satoru mention the relationship between Siri, the newly promoted Special Grade sorcerer, and An Xiu. Still, seeing it in person left him surprised by their intimacy.
"Ahem. Since our guests are already getting impatient, I will now explain the rules for the team battle in this exchange event."
The rules for the team battle were simple. A Grade 2 Cursed Spirit and an unspecified number of Grade 3 cursed spirits would be placed in a field prepared beforehand by Jujutsu High School, then the students from both schools would be sent in.
Whichever side killed the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit first, or killed more Grade 3 cursed spirits, would win.
After announcing the rules, Gakuganji Yaga gave the Jujutsu High students time to prepare. Then Makima, the principals of both schools, Utahime Iori, Gojo Satoru, An Xiu, Siri, and the others headed to the monitoring room.
Soon, it was time for the match to officially begin. Gojo Satoru held a broadcast microphone and repeated the rules once more.
"Then I hereby declare the match officially begun!"
At Gojo Satoru's command, the Jujutsu High students in the surveillance footage began moving.
Then, unsurprisingly, one section of the surveillance feed quickly went black.
By coincidence, all the Kyoto Jujutsu High students and Itadori Yuji had vanished from the monitors as well.
Anyone who was not an idiot could understand what was happening.
"Was this your doing, Principal Gakuganji?"
Faced with this situation, Gojo Satoru's smile had somehow taken on a trace of chill as he addressed Principal Gakuganji beside him.
"I do not understand what you are talking about."
Naturally, Principal Gakuganji would not admit it and immediately claimed he did not understand Gojo Satoru's meaning.
"Then was this the upper ranks' idea?"
Gojo Satoru turned his gaze toward Makima.
"The upper ranks would never harm students still attending school. At the very least, I can guarantee that is the case on my side."
Makima wore a perfectly measured smile as she calmly replied to Gojo Satoru.
In truth, this operation to kill Itadori Yuji really had nothing to do with the upper ranks of the Jujutsu World. After all... most of them were already under Makima's control.
Collecting the fingers to restore Sukuna's power, then defeating him to offer points to her master—that was what served her master's interests. Naturally, Makima would not prematurely eliminate Itadori Yuji, Sukuna's vessel.
And Makima's intentions were now the intentions of the Jujutsu World's upper ranks. In other words, this operation to kill Itadori Yuji had been entirely the decision of Gakuganji Yoshinobu, the principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High School.
Seeing that Makima did not appear to be lying, Gojo Satoru tentatively believed her and prepared to turn his attention back toward Principal Gakuganji.
However, at that very moment, every surveillance feed in the monitoring room vanished at once.
Then...
Rumble—!!!
An immense surge of cursed energy erupted from the direction of the forest, accompanied by flames shooting into the sky.
"W-What happened? That cursed energy..."
Staring at the disturbance in the forest's direction, Utahime Iori covered her mouth in terror.
What on earth had happened in the forest for such a terrifying amount of cursed energy to erupt?
"Someone infiltrated Jujutsu High School. But why did the school's barrier fail to stop them? It did not even trigger the most basic alarm."
Gakuganji Yaga wore a grave expression as he looked toward the forest.
"For someone to infiltrate Jujutsu High School right under our noses..."
Principal Gakuganji's already gloomy face darkened even further.
"Principal Yaga and Principal Gakuganji, go check on Lord Tengen. Everyone else, come with me to the forest and protect the Jujutsu High students."
As the person with the highest authority present, Makima rose and gave everyone their assignments.
PS: Regarding the pacing of this book, the reason the protagonist has been so eager to collect points is mainly because, according to the outline, the abilities of the characters in the next world are very expensive. The two possible worlds currently under consideration are Izayoi Sakuya from JOJO World, and Yurudai'er plus Sakura from the DanMachi world. An ability that manipulates time costs over a hundred thousand, while all fifty-four Sakura Cards are even more outrageous. Even if the author intends for the protagonist to buy them one by one, it is still the same. So, without realizing it, the protagonist ended up seeming somewhat impatient for points in the Jujutsu World. The author will try to pay more attention to that later.
An Xiu's Acting Skills, Makima's Arrangement
No one objected to Makima's arrangement. They immediately stood up, split into two groups, and left the monitoring room.
Gakuganji Yaga and Gakuganji Yoshinobu went to check on Tengen just in case. The rest headed from the main gate toward the source of that enormous cursed energy—the forest field where the Jujutsu High students were located—to search for the intruder.
However, they had barely stepped outside when they saw a pitch-black barrier descend over the forest in the distance, enveloping the entire woods.
"It's a curtain. Someone has set up a barrier here."
Utahime Iori spoke with a grave expression.
"Looks like a curse user is causing trouble?"
Gojo Satoru's tone remained casual, but an air of danger had quietly entered his gaze beneath the blindfold.
He quickly arrived before the black barrier, circulated his cursed energy, and reached out to destroy it.
Bang!
The sound of cursed energy colliding rang out. To everyone's surprise, Gojo Satoru's hand was bounced away by the barrier.
"How could this be?"
Utahime Iori looked stunned. A seemingly ordinary barrier had actually managed to stop Gojo Satoru?
Thinking this, Utahime Iori reached out as well to touch the barrier before her.
Yet when she touched it, her hand passed through without the slightest obstruction, as though the barrier did not exist at all.
"Wait, why were you repelled while I can enter?"
"It has an effect similar to a Binding Vow."
Makima stepped forward from behind at that moment.
"In exchange for allowing everyone to enter and leave freely, it gains the effect of preventing only one person from entering."
That one person who could not enter was clearly Gojo Satoru.
"A very clever barrier technique. It seems to be the work of a highly skilled curse user."
"What do we do now? The students from both Jujutsu High Schools are still inside the barrier. If they encounter the intruder..."
Utahime Iori's expression turned extremely ugly. The other party had prepared such a highly targeted barrier in advance, so they had clearly come prepared. Whatever their objective was, the Jujutsu High students inside were in grave danger.
"Don't panic. They may have set up a barrier beforehand to keep me out here, but I'm not the only Special Grade present."
Though somewhat surprised by the skill of the person who had set up the barrier, Gojo Satoru did not seem anxious.
After all, so what if he was blocked here? The fact that the other side had set up such a barrier meant the intruders feared his strength and knew they might not be able to defeat him, so they had shut him outside in advance.
But if they could not beat him, could they beat Siri instead?
"Miss Siri defeated Gojo Satoru in the past and also possesses a technique that allows spatial movement. Even if the enemy's barrier can stop Mr. Gojo Satoru, it surely will not be able to stop Miss Siri."
As Makima spoke, she looked toward An Xiu and Siri beside her.
"Miss Siri, in the name of the Jujutsu World's upper ranks, I request your assistance for Kyoto Jujutsu High School and Tokyo Jujutsu High School. Please enter the barrier with Miss Utahime Iori and me, and rescue the Jujutsu High students trapped inside."
"Afterward, I will personally visit you and offer both of you compensation that will satisfy you."
Gojo Satoru and Utahime Iori both caught the implication in Makima's words.
She had requested help in the name of the Jujutsu World's upper ranks, yet when she mentioned payment at the end, she only referred to herself.
In other words, even if the Jujutsu World's upper ranks learned of this afterward and tried to renege on their promise, Makima would pay An Xiu and Siri out of her own pocket.
Was she worried that they would not trust the upper ranks' character, while also unwilling to waste the precious time needed to rescue the students, so she used this method to dispel their concerns?
It seemed Makima truly was different from the other upper ranks of the Jujutsu World. She was someone genuinely willing to consider ordinary sorcerers, unlike those rotten old men who completely disregarded the lives of lower-ranking sorcerers.
As for why she did not directly order Siri to help as one of the Jujutsu World's upper ranks... what a joke. When An Xiu and Siri joined the Jujutsu World, they had clearly stated that they would not accept any orders from the upper ranks. Gojo Satoru himself had passed on that condition for them. Therefore, if they wanted Siri's help now, even they needed to seek the girl's consent.
At that, Siri turned her gaze toward An Xiu beside her.
"Does Siri want to go?"
An Xiu asked.
Before you continue