It had only been a few days since Maki Zenin left the Zenin Family for Tokyo Jujutsu High when Shinsuke Zenin was confronted by Mai Zenin.
Mai came to Shinsuke's house looking utterly dejected, like she'd been abandoned by someone. It was hard not to feel sorry for her.
She found Shinsuke and looked up at him blankly. "Brother, my sister abandoned me."
At her words, Shinsuke's cheek twitched.
What did she mean, abandoned? Maki had just left without discussing it with her.
Shinsuke grumbled inwardly, but seeing Mai looking so pitiful, on the verge of tears, he refrained from making things worse and instead asked,
"You already know?"
Mai replied, "I overheard Sister talking to the Family Head. I kept waiting for her to tell me her decision herself."
But all she got was news that her sister had left the Zenin Family.
That meant her sister had abandoned her. Why hadn't she discussed it with her? Was it because she was useless?
"Don't be so upset. Maki probably just didn't want you to worry," Shinsuke comforted her.
He'd already guessed that a rift would form between the sisters.
"So that's why Sister told you before she left, but didn't tell me?"
Mai clearly wasn't going to believe him so easily now. She was no longer the little girl who could be led in circles by a couple of words.
"Are you jealous?" Shinsuke asked, raising an eyebrow.
Seeing the resentment in Mai's eyes, he realized what was going on.
What really made Mai angry was that Maki had discussed leaving home with him, but not with her. So the girl was jealous.
"No! Why would I be jealous of you, Brother?"
Mai turned her head away, her lower lip unconsciously sticking out. She looked like she might as well have hung a vinegar jar from her mouth.
"Come on. If you want to know why so badly, go find Maki at Jujutsu High. That's better than sitting here being jealous."
Shinsuke was a little exasperated. It wasn't that big a deal. She was so jealous she might as well spend the rest of her life with her sister.
"Brother! I told you, I'm not jealous!"
Mai glared at Shinsuke, her eyes wide and her cheeks slightly flushed, embarrassed that he'd seen through her.
"Besides, I'm not going to find Sister. If she thinks I'm a burden, then I'll prove her wrong!"
Mai's eyes were more determined than ever.
"Don't be silly. What are you trying to prove? That you're stronger than your sister?"
Mai's words made Shinsuke want to laugh for some reason.
"That I can help her!"
She thought Maki considered her lazy and useless, so she was determined to prove her sister wrong.
"How are you going to prove it?"
"I'll beat Sister!" Mai clenched her fists, as though she'd made up her mind.
"Pfft—hahahaha..."
"That's the spirit, Mai! I believe in you!"
Shinsuke burst out laughing. From his perspective, Mai's words were pretty funny. He didn't want to discourage her, but a little sister was still a little sister. Beating her big sister would be incredibly difficult.
Unless Maki could fix the flaw in her Cursed Technique, Mai might have a chance.
"Brother~! You're making fun of me! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Mai could tell Shinsuke was laughing at her. She knew beating her sister would be difficult, but she could become a Jujutsu Sorcerer, at least. If she worked hard enough, she should—probably, maybe—be able to do it...
"Brother, I'm going to Kyoto Jujutsu High! You and Sister just wait!"
Mai stormed out.
This time, she was cutting ties! She was cutting ties with both her brother and her sister!
She wouldn't make up with them until she beat her sister and made her brother stop laughing at her.
"Still just a kid who hasn't grown up."
Shinsuke watched Mai run off and shook his head.
Her body had grown, but her mind hadn't caught up. A few years out in the world should do her good.
After seeing Mai off, Shinsuke didn't stay home either. He decided to visit his nephew. Once the boy finished school next year, it would be time for him to enroll at Jujutsu High.
After all, his nephew didn't much like living with the Zenin Family.
During his training at the Zenin Family's estate, Megumi always felt that the people there were going out of their way to please him. It wasn't the sort of place that suited him.
Shinsuke arrived at a restaurant. It was already past mealtime, and there weren't many customers.
"Boss, I'll take one of everything on the menu."
As soon as he entered the restaurant, Shinsuke called out without hesitation.
Toji was at the counter looking over the bills. When he saw the familiar face, his expression darkened. "Can you even finish all that?"
After taking in Megumi and Tsumiki, Toji had used what little money he had left to buy a restaurant and start a small business.
He'd been getting fewer and fewer jobs as a Sorcerer Killer over the past few years, and now he had two kids to look after. He didn't want to make any more enemies, either.
He always made sure to eliminate everyone involved in the jobs he took, but there was always a chance someone could slip through the cracks.
So he decided to quit being a Sorcerer Killer and become a business owner instead.
He hired a few employees and only dropped by now and then. That left him more time to train.
"Who are you looking down on? Just bring it out. Why all the questions?"
Shinsuke treated the place like his own home, stopping by for a good meal every now and then. It wasn't like he had to pay.
Toji glanced at him, then turned to the server clearing a table. "Give him the cheapest set meal."
"Got it, boss!"
"Hey, hey, Toji, that's a little stingy, isn't it?"
Toji ignored him. Did he think running a business cost nothing? Toji still had two kids to raise.
Tsumiki needed those expensive nutrient injections to stay alive every day. He had to save money where he could.
He'd already made a plan. If Megumi didn't want to go back to the Zenin Family and inherit their wealth next year, he'd send him to Jujutsu High to work.
His good-for-nothing older brother was a teacher there, so Megumi would have someone to look after him.
"By the way, Toji, how's your training going? Can you open the fourth gate yet?"
Shinsuke set aside his complaint about Toji being stingy and asked about his training progress instead.
It had been years since Toji last asked him to help open the fourth gate. If he hadn't been slacking off, he should be close to mastering the Fourth Gate by now.
"Probably in the next day or two. By the way, how many gates can this physical technique be trained to open?" Toji replied.
He'd been training in the Eight Gates for ten years now. The further he progressed, the more he could feel how powerful this physical technique was—almost frighteningly so.
But the time and difficulty required to train it grew exponentially, too.
It was much harder now to produce even a trace of blood and vitality than it had been at the beginning.
"How many do you think?" Shinsuke asked with a smile.
Training in the Eight Gates was different from developing a Cursed Technique. A talented sorcerer might develop their Cursed Technique to its full potential at a young age, reaching the peak of their strength.
But a physical technique like the Eight Gates required you to hone your body and gradually build your strength over time.
"Five?" Toji guessed.
Each gate he filled gave him a different sensation, and the further he went, the greater the boost.
He figured five was probably the limit. At his current rate of progress, he thought he might manage to open the fifth gate at most. Anything beyond that was out of the question.
"Heh. More or less."
Shinsuke didn't give Toji a detailed answer.
Toji's guess was right. The limit for an ordinary person with no Cursed Energy was probably around five gates.
Without his cheat, Shinsuke figured he'd still be stuck at that stage himself.
Before you continue