Private Tutoring and the Grade 1 Promotion Test

Late at night, Kyoto Jujutsu High's guest rooms.

Still not fully recovered from the fierce battle earlier, someone lay sprawled on the tatami in a graceless starfish pose, like a useless wreck who had been drained dry.

Moonlight slanted in through the window, falling across Zenin Mai's face. He had just "tricked" her into coming over for tutoring with a phone call.

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She clutched a sheet of cursed technique theory questions, the vein at her temple twitching nearly as fast as Mizuki Makoto's heartbeat.

"Oh? I heard Mai-chan nearly got herself killed during her last mission against a mere Grade 2 cursed spirit. In the end, she only barely wrapped things up thanks to Miwa-chan's 'cute girl helping cute girl,' right?"

Mizuki Makoto turned his head, propping it on one hand, a mocking smile on his lips that was enough to make even Buddha lose his cool.

"None of your business!!"

Mai slammed the test paper onto the table. Her eyes reddened slightly with pent-up anger and grievance as she glared through gritted teeth at the man on the tatami. "I'm weak, okay?! I don't have freakish cursed energy and talent like you and Todo, and I don't have a body like Maki's either. Even Momo's stronger than me! I'm just that weak! Does seeing me cry give you some kind of satisfaction?!"

"Well, crying Mai-chan is delicious too, but this isn't the time~"

Ignoring the look in her eyes that practically screamed murder, Mizuki Makoto leisurely sat up and dusted nonexistent dirt from his robe.

"How come you do so well in regular classes, but your brain stops working when it matters? All right, Mai, answer this question—why did 'Professor Mizuki' specifically bring up Miwa-chan just now?"

Mai froze for a moment. Though her face remained full of resentment, she instinctively followed the scumbag's line of thought. "...Because her cursed energy is about the same as mine?"

"Too bad. Zero points." The scumbag wore an expression of deep regret, then lightly leaned forward and gave Mai's butt a smack.

"Ah! What the hell are you doing, you scumbag?!"

"Students who don't think carefully deserve punishment." Mizuki Makoto withdrew his hand without changing expression.

"The answer is that Miwa-chan doesn't even have an innate technique, and her constitution and cursed energy are only slightly better than yours. In theory, an innate technique should more than make up for that gap. So why can't you do it?"

"I can't learn New Shadow Style either!" Mai covered her backside. "It requires physical ability and a specific inheritance. I don't have the foundation for it at all!"

"That's where you're mistaken, Mai-chan. Still, you're not completely hopeless."

He put away that frivolous grin. His gaze settled on the gun holster at her waist, and his voice carried a rare note of sincere approval.

"Choosing firearms as your weapon was an extremely correct choice for you. Your constitution is about as bad as mine—you were never suited for close combat. And with how little cursed energy you have, using it like an idiot to reinforce your body would be like using diamonds as bricks."

Mizuki Makoto looked directly into her eyes and slowed his pace.

"But Miwa-chan has only just begun learning New Shadow Style. Theoretically, she shouldn't have any combat ability at all. So what did she do? The answer is—[Binding Vow]."

"Besides her, there's Nanami, who made a Binding Vow because his strength was insufficient, and Mei Mei, the capitalist better suited to hanging from a streetlamp. Got it—"

"A jujutsu sorcerer who can't 'cheat' won't get anywhere. The reason you're weak is because you're too 'stupid.' For instance, Miwa-chan imposed a [Binding Vow] on herself—her feet cannot leave the ground—allowing her to use New Shadow Style's Simple Domain despite her lack of mastery. Can't you learn from that? Place a similar Binding Vow on yourself, and trade it for the absolute power of that one constructed bullet at a critical moment."

He casually picked up the revolver Mai had left on the table, spun it deftly around his finger, then gently pressed it against her forehead.

"Also, Mai-chan, go get some extra lessons when you have time. Don't be so rigid-minded—in a fight against pure cursed spirits, modern technology really is useless. But if your opponent is a 'person,' don't let so-called 'common sense of jujutsu' lock you down."

"Bullets can pierce a brain without cursed energy. A high-powered scope looking at someone two kilometers away doesn't care whether they're a sorcerer or an ordinary person. Flashbangs and white phosphorus rounds don't distinguish between sorcerers and ordinary people when they destroy retinas either."

Mizuki Makoto pulled back the gun and revealed an exceptionally relaxed, wicked smile.

"If you don't have enough cursed energy, make up for it with your brain. Show those self-proclaimed noble conservatives in your family an artwork called 'science.' Understand? This is the exclusive tutoring of the 'scumbag teacher.'"

The room fell utterly silent.

After a long while, Mai silently rose to her feet. When she reached the door, she suddenly stopped and gripped the handle of her gun tightly.

"...Even though what you said, you scumbag, was really infuriating..." She bit her lip and muttered softly, "I'll count this one as owing you."

The door closed.

Mizuki Makoto lay back down on the tatami.

Tomorrow was the Grade 1 promotion assignment personally issued by Gojo-sensei. It would probably just be a formality.

"So the date money and surgery money are taken care of..."

Kyoto's outskirts, Bliss Temple.

This place had completely become a severely contaminated zone forgotten by the outside world.

The stone steps that had once led to the main hall were long covered in cold, damp black moss. With every step, a sizzling sound rose from beneath their feet, like stepping on rotten flesh.

The faint scent of incense in the air transformed, the instant they crossed the temple gate, into a dense burnt stench that was almost tangible. The ancient trees around them were twisted like fingers clawing at the sky, cutting off all traces of life.

"This place... is practically a horror director's dream location."

Mizuki Makoto adjusted his monocle, trying to find a source of light in the absolute darkness. Countless tiny ashes floated through the air, burrowing into their skin as if alive. They were residue left behind by highly condensed curses.

"Careful, brother."

Todo Aoi was unusually cautious. Every muscle in his body was taut as steel, and the stone bricks beneath his feet cracked inch by inch under the power of that hulking frame. "Something's wrong with the sense of space here. There are 'traps' hiding in those shadows."

Something was indeed wrong.

The ground beneath them began to ripple slightly. The decayed scriptures on the walls gradually twisted, releasing low murmurs like the chanting of ten thousand people. The once-spacious courtyard stretched under cursed energy into a bottomless, spiraling trap of darkness.

"The examination officially begins." Mei Mei stood hidden among the rafters with a battle axe in hand, her pale blue hair flickering in and out of the blood-red light. Looking down at them, her eyes swept over Mizuki Makoto's pocket as if calculating interest. "Makoto-kun, Todo-kun. Inside Wild Buddha's domain, cursed energy depletion is calculated by the second. Don't die too quickly. The paperwork for paying the deceased's allowance is terribly complicated, and I don't want to waste time anywhere other than financial statements."

"Since I'll be charged for it afterward anyway, and I'm already doomed to carry Gojo Mai's bill, I might as well raise the stakes as high as they can go—"

Under the crushing pressure of Wild Buddha's cursed energy, Mizuki Makoto suddenly flashed an utterly unhinged, provocative smile at the rafters. "If I make it out of here alive, Miss Mei, would you go on a date with me?"

The sound of an abacus above them paused for a second. Mei Mei let out a pleasant laugh. "A date? If it's with a future 'Grade 1 sorcerer,' it won't come cheap, Makoto-kun."

"So this is your resolve! Seeking love at the edge of death—now that's burning passion, brother!!"

Todo Aoi laughed as he tore off his shirt, muscles exploding across his body like steel. "To keep you from becoming money's slave, to make sure you live long enough for that date, let this best friend's iron fists carve out a path for you!"

"No, at a time like this, just make sure I keep my waist!" Mizuki Makoto locked a fierce gaze onto Wild Buddha. "If I don't tear that thing into scraps today, I'll have to change my name to Mizuki 'Poor'! Todo, move!"

"For money and love! My brother—!!"

Mizuki Makoto's path to promotion—and debt repayment—officially began within this dark trap.

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