Enrollment

"Hello..."

"Die, pervert!"

Nobara Kugisaki swung her fist straight at Lin Ran's face. Though Lin Ran hadn't expected that response, he reacted quickly and dodged the punch.

Bang!

With a dull thud, Nobara Kugisaki's fist slammed into the wall, cracking it over a small area. Before she could strike again, Lin Ran immediately shouted.

"I'm just the new neighbor who moved in. I only wanted to say hello—I'm not some pervert!"

"Not a pervert?" Nobara Kugisaki suddenly understood. She withdrew her fist and gave an awkward smile. She really had let her imagination run wild just now, and thinking about it now was indeed embarrassing.

Besides, Lin Ran didn't look like that kind of pervert. He even seemed a little younger than her?

"Of course not. How could I be a pervert? Have you ever seen a pervert greet you by saying hello?" Lin Ran felt rather exasperated. He had finally remembered who this girl was—wasn't she Nobara Kugisaki, the future first-year at Jujutsu High?

Just as he had imagined, she really did have a bold temperament...

If Lin Ran hadn't dodged so quickly, anyone else who took that punch would have been lucky not to die—or at least lose a layer of skin, right?

Thinking of that, Lin Ran felt that this girl was still a little dangerous. At least for now.

"Sorry. Someone has been following me around lately, so I may have overreacted. I'm really sorry." Nobara Kugisaki bowed apologetically. She had indeed hit a little too hard just now. Had she scared this boy?

The fist mark on the wall remained, proving that it had really happened—and that it had been left by a woman.

Lin Ran looked Nobara Kugisaki over from head to toe. She was quite pretty, but no matter how he looked at her, she didn't seem like someone to be trifled with. Would someone really stalk her?

Besides, Nobara Kugisaki should have been somewhere else at this point. Why was she in Sendai City?

"It's fine. I wasn't hurt, anyway. I'm Lin Ran, your new neighbor." Lin Ran extended a hand and smiled.

"Nobara Kugisaki." Nobara Kugisaki extended her hand as well and briefly shook his. Only then did she realize that Lin Ran was actually so tall.

After the awkwardness passed, the two smiled at each other. Lin Ran went downstairs while Nobara Kugisaki went upstairs. That brief scuffle and exchange counted as getting acquainted.

"That was so embarrassing..." After returning home, Nobara Kugisaki scratched at her orange hair. After setting down her shoulder bag, she splashed her face with cold water before finally calming down.

Only then did Nobara Kugisaki realize something was off. Though she had held back that punch, it still wasn't something a teenage boy could easily dodge.

Yet Lin Ran had avoided it with ease. That was very unusual. Nobara Kugisaki had observed him, and there was no cursed energy on him. He couldn't be a Jujutsu Sorcerer, so perhaps he had simply practiced some kind of self-defense?

"He's got some nerve, living in a place like this." Nobara Kugisaki gazed out the window, deep in thought.

Lin Ran had gone downstairs only to avoid the awkwardness. His purpose in going out had been to take a look at his new neighbor, so after taking two casual laps around downstairs, he returned home.

Lin Ran simply hadn't expected Nobara Kugisaki to live here too. What a coincidence. In a city as large as Sendai City, the two of them just happened to live in the same cramped building.

The building had five floors, with six rooms on each floor. Lin Ran lived on the fourth floor, while Nobara Kugisaki lived on the fifth. Given the surrounding environment and the supernatural incidents that had happened here before, Lin Ran's sudden move-in would indeed seem suspicious to Nobara Kugisaki.

Still, Nobara Kugisaki's reaction had been a bit too intense. That punch upon their first meeting had left a deep impression on Lin Ran.

"Well, I should build a good relationship with her first. We might end up working together in the future, after all." Lin Ran smiled, took off his clothes, and went into the bathroom to shower.

Nobara Kugisaki, who lived upstairs, could hear Lin Ran opening his door below. After closing the book on jujutsu, she gritted her teeth. "I have to leave this place in a few days."

The next day.

Lin Ran went out for a run before dawn. Every morning, he had to run a full ten kilometers. It was training for his physical endurance, and strength training was just as important—something Lin Ran would not neglect either.

Lin Ran still didn't need to report to school yet, so he spent every day training. Aside from training, he also familiarized himself with the use of Cursed Energy Armor.

During the day, he would run into Nobara Kugisaki once, and he would see her again at night. However, the two did not talk much, merely exchanging greetings.

After getting to know Lin Ran over the past few days, Nobara Kugisaki had changed her impression of him.

She had initially thought Lin Ran was some kind of shut-in, but it turned out she had misjudged him. She saw him go out running every day, and in that case, it was not particularly strange that he had been able to dodge her punch.

Still, Nobara Kugisaki had decided to leave this place after a while. Once she was done dealing with matters here, she would leave. After all, her goals and ambitions did not lie in a small city like this.

Time passed quickly. Half a month went by in the blink of an eye, and Lin Ran slung his shoulder bag over his back and headed to Sugisawa Third High School to register.

Coincidentally, Lin Ran was assigned to the class right next to Yuji Itadori's. They were not in the same class, but they were very close by.

"Before class begins today, we will welcome a new student from Kanagawa. New student, please come up and introduce yourself?" the female teacher said with a smile to Lin Ran at the classroom door.

The moment Lin Ran stepped into the classroom, some of the girls covered their mouths, while others gasped.

"He's so handsome!"

"Mm-hm, and he's so tall."

"Exactly! He should be about the same age as us, right? How did he develop so well?"

"Could you be a little more reserved? What do you mean, 'develop'? It's obviously because he eats well, isn't it?"

The girls began whispering among themselves. Clearly, they were all curious about and looking forward to Lin Ran.

The boys, meanwhile, looked as though they had encountered a sworn enemy. Many of them harbored a faint hostility toward Lin Ran.

Oh, perhaps it was more the hostility of romantic competition?

"Tch, he's just a little taller. What good is being that tall? His head almost hit the classroom door when he came in just now."

"Exactly. Someone that tall definitely isn't agile. All for show."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Listen to how sour you all are. Lemon juice just pours out whenever you open your mouths, huh?"

"Hey, Momoe, what kind of thing was that to say? You're actually taking the side of some new transfer student?"

"What, got a problem with that?"

"Alright, everyone, quiet down. Let our new classmate introduce himself first." The Female Teacher raised a hand to signal for silence. The new student was tall and handsome; as a teacher, she could understand their reaction.

"..." Lin Ran could naturally hear what those students had just said. In his previous life, he had never had this height or appearance, so there had been very little discussion about him in class. This time, he had become the center of attention instead. Yet rather than feeling troubled, why was he actually enjoying it?

"Hello, everyone. My name is Lin Ran. I'm from Kanagawa. I'm 182 centimeters tall, and I'll skip my weight. I enjoy working out and listening to music. It's a pleasure to meet you all, and I hope we'll get along!" As soon as Lin Ran finished speaking, the students broke into enthusiastic applause, especially the girls.

"Hey, Itadori, did you hear the noise from the class next door?"

"It's so loud, of course I heard it. Seems like they're holding some kind of welcome ceremony for a transfer student?" In the neighboring classroom, Yuji Itadori tilted his head and rested his chin on one hand as he spoke.

He had seen that new student around school before. He was pretty tall, and although he looked quite ordinary, Lin Ran gave Yuji Itadori a somewhat different feeling—something strange.

But he couldn't put his finger on what was strange about him, so Yuji paid Lin Ran a little extra attention.