Another Death Sentence

Watching Tsukamatsu Hayato leave the café, Xia Jie excitedly clenched his fist and gave it a little pump.

Yes!

This might greatly speed up the creation of the System Spirit. Xia Jie thought happily.

"Signing with an L.Q editor really is something to celebrate!" An unfamiliar voice sounded behind Xia Jie.

"Of course it is!" Xia Jie replied casually. "After all, that's..."

Halfway through his sentence, Xia Jie suddenly realized something and turned around.

At some point, someone had appeared behind him. The man wore a black uniform, a black blindfold... and had a head of striking white hair.

Xia Jie unconsciously rose to his feet and instinctively compared their heights.

So tall! The other man looked to be around fifteen centimeters taller than him!

It had not been obvious in the manga, but in reality, Gojo Satoru, who stood over 1.9 meters tall, seemed far more imposing.

"You seem to know me?" Gojo Satoru casually patted Xia Jie on the shoulder, then sat down in Tsukamatsu Hayato's former seat.

"Wouldn't it be stranger if I didn't?" Xia Jie slowly sat back down, his voice somewhat weak.

Although he had expected Gojo Satoru to meet with him sooner or later, Xia Jie still could not stop himself from becoming nervous when the man actually appeared before him.

"Relax!" Gojo Satoru noticed Xia Jie's nerves and said with a smile, "I'm not a bad guy, after all. You can think of me as an ordinary middle school teacher."

Bullshit middle school teacher! Xia Jie cursed inwardly.

"Xia Jie... is it?" Gojo Satoru called his name, visibly pausing over it. The name, so similar to that of his closest friend, involuntarily brought back memories of the past.

"Mm." Xia Jie nodded.

"Would you mind releasing your... or should I say, Shikigami?" Gojo Satoru asked.

"Now?" Xia Jie looked around. Seeing eight or nine people nearby, he hesitated. "Is that really okay?"

"It's fine. Ordinary people can't see curses!" Gojo Satoru reminded him.

"All right, if you say so..." Xia Jie called softly, "Shadow Maru! Thunder Maru!"

At Xia Jie's quiet call, the pitch-black Shadow Maru and the ghostly blue Thunder Maru appeared behind him at the same time.

"So something like this really exists!" Gojo Satoru's voice was filled with astonished admiration.

He removed his blindfold, revealing azure eyes veiled in white mist. Shadow Maru and Thunder Maru felt as though some presence had fixed its gaze upon them. They instinctively took up attacking stances, only for Xia Jie to stop them.

"Somewhere between existence and nonexistence..." Gojo Satoru pulled his blindfold back up, a strange smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. "You really have awakened an extraordinary Cursed Technique! One even more powerful than mine!"

Xia Jie raised an eyebrow. "That joke isn't funny at all! If anyone else heard you say that, I'd probably be dead!"

"You're quite cautious." Gojo Satoru understood the implication behind his words and replied lightly, "Don't worry. I won't bring trouble to a young man!"

"So... Xia Jie, would you be interested in joining Jujutsu High?"

"If I join Jujutsu High, will you protect me?" Xia Jie looked at Gojo Satoru seriously. "You know my Cursed Technique is unusual! If the people at Jujutsu High learn about it, they might very well have me eliminated!"

"So that's your concern. No wonder...!" Gojo Satoru stroked his chin. "Still, those bastards among the Higher-Ups really might do something that rotten!"

Gojo Satoru began to understand Xia Jie's actions from before.

A few days ago, Xia Jie had gone easy on Okkotsu and Maki, and he had even given them his name. That meant he was indeed interested in Jujutsu High.

The reason he had not revealed anything to Okkotsu and Maki was likely because he wanted to meet Gojo Satoru himself and make him give a promise.

Tch, what a complicated little brat! So young, yet already so full of schemes. And he knew quite a bit about Jujutsu High and Gojo Satoru himself...

Could this brat be the descendant of some Curse User? Gojo Satoru could not help wondering as he looked at Xia Jie's young face.

Probably not. The only ones bold enough to arrange for someone to approach him were those people from Jujutsu High!

But why did Xia Jie trust him? Was it simply because he was Gojo Satoru?

The instant that thought flashed through Gojo Satoru's mind, he suddenly realized that he might have guessed the right answer.

Only he could protect Xia Jie, who had awakened an Imaginary Technique!

"As long as I remain at Jujutsu High, if those Higher-Ups dare lay a hand on you without cause, I absolutely will not let them off!"

Gojo Satoru looked at Xia Jie and spoke seriously. "Will you join Jujutsu High now?"

Okkotsu, Maki, Panda, and Toge Inumaki sat in the classroom, discussing news about the transfer student—Xia Jie.

Though they were students of Jujutsu High in name, they could count on one hand the number of times they actually sat in a classroom like this.

After all, their true identities were Jujutsu Sorcerers. When Gojo Satoru taught them, it was usually during combat drills or on the way to exorcise Cursed Spirits, rarely inside a classroom.

"Okkotsu, Maki, I heard you two fought the transfer student this time?" Panda asked in his adorably simple voice.

"Yeah, he was incredibly strong!" Okkotsu sneaked a glance at Maki's expression and spoke quietly.

"Mustard leaf?" Toge Inumaki asked.

"Mm." Okkotsu nodded. "He's a Cursed Spirit Manipulator who can summon a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit! If he hadn't suddenly appeared and recalled it that day, Maki and I would have been in serious danger!"

Because he himself had been reduced to a Grade 4 Jujutsu Sorcerer, Okkotsu had misjudged both his own strength and Shadow Maru's, believing Shadow Maru was at most Grade 1.

However, when he reported the matter to Gojo Satoru, Gojo Satoru heard something different in it. He knew Okkotsu's true strength.

Okkotsu was not truly a Grade 4 Jujutsu Sorcerer, and Gojo Satoru knew that well. Any being capable of threatening Okkotsu had to be at least Special Grade.

That was why he had decided to meet Xia Jie in person. If he had sent someone else, that slippery little brat might have simply run away.

As for the Higher-Ups of Jujutsu High, they had not paid much attention to Xia Jie. More precisely, they had not taken Okkotsu's report very seriously. Even when Okkotsu said Xia Jie was a Cursed Spirit Manipulator who controlled a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, it had not caught their attention.

They believed Okkotsu was sensationalizing things.

According to information from the Window, the Cursed Spirits frequently appearing around Shinjuku were only Grade 3, while Okkotsu and Maki were merely Grade 4 Jujutsu Sorcerers.

If Xia Jie truly controlled a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit as Okkotsu claimed, how had they escaped? Had it all depended on their opponent's mercy?

It was not until Gojo Satoru brought Xia Jie to Jujutsu High that they learned everything Okkotsu had said was true.

The Shadow Maru Xia Jie summoned shocked them. Shadow Maru truly possessed Grade 1 strength, and that was after it had split off a clone.

Shadow Maru's appearance drew intense attention from Jujutsu High, and Xia Jie, who controlled it, was questioned several times. Their focus was on information about his Cursed Technique.

Anyone wishing to join Jujutsu High had to disclose some of their information to the Higher-Ups, and their background would also be investigated by Jujutsu High.

The Cursed Technique Xia Jie revealed to Jujutsu High was that he could summon Imaginary Cursed Spirits that existed in legends. After subduing them, they would obey his commands. A small number of Imaginary Cursed Spirits possessed the potential to grow and could continuously become stronger by absorbing the fear of others. That was also why he had Shadow Maru attack other people.

What Xia Jie disclosed was indeed part of his Cursed Technique's effect. As a result, the lie detector at Jujutsu High did not uncover the parts he had concealed.

Upon learning that Xia Jie had not inherited Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation, the Higher-Ups of Jujutsu High all breathed sighs of relief. But after Xia Jie revealed information about his Cursed Technique and Shadow Maru's origins, their expressions darkened again.

Without question, Xia Jie was another extremely dangerous existence. His Cursed Technique was even more dangerous than Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

The ability to manipulate public opinion and create imaginary Cursed Spirits was chilling enough just to think about.

Even more terrifying, if anyone posed a threat to him, he could summon Cursed Spirits from legends and perish together with them, perhaps even plunging the world into an enormous crisis.

Thus, after learning about Xia Jie's Cursed Technique, Jujutsu High almost immediately sentenced him to death without much hesitation.

Gojo Satoru: You bastards! You really did it, didn't you!