Suguru Geto

"Riiing, riiing, riiing~~~"

The melodious dismissal bell rang. The students, who had looked sickly and listless just a second ago, instantly came back to life, transforming into Olympic sprinters as they rushed out of the classroom.

Long accustomed to this sight, the teacher shook his head helplessly, closed his lesson plan, and left after the students.

Eiji, who had spent the entire day writing and drawing in the back row, also began packing up to go home.

It was already 2003. This year, Eiji was a second-year middle school student, still two years away from being able to enter Tokyo Jujutsu High.

As for why Eiji was attending school outside?

That story went back several years.

At first, while fooling around with Satoru Gojo, Eiji had relied on scraps of knowledge from his past life to mock Satoru Gojo for quite a while. Then, he suddenly received notice that he was to attend elementary school.

"Satoru, this is your doing, isn't it?"

The moment Eiji learned the news, he put Satoru Gojo in a chokehold.

"Mmph, don't you like studying? I'm doing this for your own good. Besides, you're already old enough for elementary school."

Satoru Gojo grabbed Eiji's choking arm with one hand, while his other hand reached back stubbornly and seized half of Eiji's face, pulling hard.

"Ha, aren't you old enough too? Why aren't you going?"

His rare leisurely life had been ruined. Just thinking about going back to school and pretending to be a kid alongside a bunch of little brats made him blush with embarrassment.

"I attend Family Study. If you've got what it takes, you can too."

Family Study, the Zenin Family's Family Study.

Eiji's fists clenched.

The scene in the courtyard became extremely chaotic for a while afterward.

The two Bodyguards outside the courtyard had stopped worrying about Satoru Gojo's condition. They skillfully lit cigarettes and drank tea, occasionally commenting on the two boys' moves.

In the end, Eiji still went to school, though he chose the school himself.

"What are you thinking about, Eiji?"

A young man with narrow eyes, a bun hairstyle, and a lock of bangs over his left forehead draped an arm over Eiji's shoulder.

"Geto. I was thinking about what to do after I get home."

"There's still plenty of time before the job. Want to come hang out with my club?"

Suguru Geto extended the invitation with a smile.

Suguru Geto's club was a music club modeled after a famous rap group. The boys in it were all fans, and they dressed rather unconventionally as well.

That was how Eiji learned the origin of Suguru Geto's strange bun-and-bangs hairstyle. It was modeled after the lead singer of a band Suguru Geto liked very much.

"I'll pass. I've been sitting in the classroom all day. I need to get out and move around, or my body's going to rust."

As he spoke, he gathered all his manuscripts into his schoolbag.

"Come to think of it, Eiji, if you like writing so much, why don't you join the literature club?"

Having been classmates for years, Suguru Geto had long known about his Best Friend's hobby.

Eiji often wrote stories about historical figures being summoned as Heroic Spirits into various incidents.

Suguru Geto found those stories fascinating, but Eiji never published them. He merely continued building up his backlog.

"The literature club? You know perfectly well there are more guys there trying to pick up girls than there are reading."

At first, Eiji had indeed been curious about club activities. In his previous life, the Physical Education Teacher had been frail and sickly, so he could barely attend PE class a few times a year. He had been incredibly envious of extracurricular activities like these.

But after joining several clubs in succession, he lost interest.

He discovered that clubs were really just groups of children with the same interests playing together, or teachers giving extracurricular tutoring to the gifted students they favored.

The literature club was somewhat special. Since it had many girls, it also attracted plenty of boys.

Honestly, Eiji had found it rather strange when he learned this. Didn't the teachers here crack down on puppy love?

That was until Eiji found out that girls in the Island Nation could apply for marriage certificates once they turned sixteen.

It was... pretty absurd. The legal age of adulthood in the Island Nation was twenty, yet the law also recognized men at eighteen and women at sixteen as able to apply for marriage and be considered legal adults.

Night soon fell. After finishing their club activities, Suguru Geto and Eiji arrived at an abandoned Amusement Park.

"So this is the job? Can't the client be a little more responsible? Number of Cursed Spirits unknown, strength of Cursed Spirits unknown. They can issue a job like this?"

Eiji mercilessly criticized the job sheet in his hand.

"That's exactly why the price has gone up three times in a row. There's no information at all."

"Why are they so concerned about this patch of wasteland?"

"A big boss bought this land because it was cheap and planned to develop it. Later, several workers died after construction began. To keep the project from falling through, he had no choice but to ask around everywhere. After learning about Cursed Spirits, he used his connections to find the Jujutsu World and issue a job."

The one speaking was Shiu Kong. The two had met through Zenin Toji.

After Zenin Toji left the Zenin Family several years ago, Eiji began approaching him under the pretense that they were alike.

Perhaps because Eiji had also left the Zenin Family, Zenin Toji's attitude was not overly hostile, though it definitely could not be called friendly.

But Eiji had known his personality long ago, so he did not mind.

Later, when Shiu Kong came looking for Zenin Toji, Eiji managed to get Shiu Kong's contact information and began taking jobs related to Cursed Spirits through him.

"The Jujutsu World isn't handling it?"

Suguru Geto was somewhat curious.

"They think no one comes here anyway, so they can't be bothered. The Jujutsu World has always been short on manpower."

"I'll send in a few Fly Heads to check things out."

His curiosity satisfied, Suguru Geto prepared to act.

"No, I'll have Rabbit Escape take a look."

Eiji rejected Suguru Geto's suggestion.

Fly Heads were easy to find, and losing some was no great loss, but during their previous jobs, Eiji had noticed the obvious look of discomfort on Suguru Geto's face whenever he replenished his Cursed Spirits.

Cursed Spirits tasted like rags used to wipe up vomit.

After recalling that, Eiji took on scouting duties himself, doing his best to reduce the number of times Suguru Geto needed to swallow Cursed Spirit Jades.

Then, a massive object glowing with countless red lights appeared before Shiu Kong, making him swallow involuntarily.

It was a small mountain made of Rabbit Escapes. The countless red lights were the scarlet pupils of each Rabbit Escape.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Several hundred Rabbit Escapes immediately scattered in every direction, and Eiji quickly received the answer he wanted.

"Interesting. The Cursed Spirits are actually located in the office building on the west side of the Amusement Park and the dining area beside it."

Eiji's interest was piqued.

"What is it, Eiji?"

Suguru Geto found it a little strange.

"Shouldn't the things that generate Negative Emotions at an Amusement Park usually be images like clowns wandering around handing out balloons, ghost employees in Haunted Houses, or ghosts on Roller Coasters and Ferris Wheels? Yet the Cursed Spirits here are concentrated in the office building and dining area. Isn't that strange?"

"Now that you mention it, it is."

Suguru Geto thought about the Amusement Park Ghost Stories he had seen before and agreed with Eiji.

While they were pondering, Rabbit Escape brought back the latest information.

"The targets have been confirmed. There are five Cursed Spirits in total. All are above Grade 2 and highly aggressive. After discovering Rabbit Escape, they kept pursuing them until I dismissed the summon."