Bonus 1.5: The Cat Lovers Won

[Tokyo Jujutsu High—Lounge]

A deathly silence known as "poverty" filled the air.

Okkotsu Yuta stared blankly at the wallet in his hand. The last thousand-yen bill inside fluttered lonely in the breeze.

He had only been enrolled for a month, yet everyone's money was disappearing as fast as Gojo Satoru's teleportation.

"A dishwashing job for 600 yen an hour... Or hauling garbage contaminated with cursed residue for 800 yen an hour." Maki clutched a crumpled job posting, a vein twitching at her temple. "Yuta, what's the minimum hourly wage in central Tokyo?"

"About... 989 yen an hour..." Okkotsu's voice was barely louder than a mosquito.

[As I write this, I hope readers will remember our domain name: Tiantian Kan Xiaoshuo Ban Ni Xian, super convenient.]

"Bunch of bloodsucking bastards!" Maki crushed the notice into a ball.

Just as everyone was preparing to bow their heads to fate—capitalism—the scumbag second-generation heir, the man with shattered ribs, the first-year savior burst through the door.

At that moment, the light of justice (?) shone upon the floor.

"Everyone, since the righteous path won't work, let's try a little 'cat-loving' plan! As long as we tough it out for three hours, everyone gets at least 30,000 yen!"

"Cat-loving?" Panda sharply raised his head, sensing some sort of malice directed at him.

"Panda, what kind of look is that? Do you think I'd come up with some awful plan like 'make Panda play a panda, sell him to a circus to jump through flaming hoops, catch throwing knives, and let kids ride him'? You're my brother in arms, my dearest friend!"

"So you mean," Panda said, a dangerous excitement flashing in his eyes as he cracked his knuckles, "you're planning to jump through flaming hoops yourself, catch Maki's throwing knives, and let me ride you, Mizuki?"

"No, what I mean is," Mizuki Makoto said gravely, "the circus's offer is too low. We need more money."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Panda was the first to leap up, thumping his chest indignantly. "I'm a cursed corpse! A mutated cursed corpse with dignity! You want me to perform acrobatics in a place full of little brats' drool? And get ridden? Mizuki, you're insulting my dignity! I'm not the kind of bear who sells his soul for money!"

"I absolutely refuse too." Maki's gaze was cold enough to kill as she slammed the sheath of her long blade heavily against the floor. "'Magician's assistant'? Wearing a bunny-girl outfit? Looks like you don't want those hands anymore. I, Zenin Maki, would rather starve to death at school, jump off this building, than wear something that frivolous! Makoto, do you want your brain filled with cement before being dumped into Tokyo Bay?!"

Faced with two companions whose combat power was off the charts, Mizuki Makoto displayed unprecedented calm. He casually pulled a calculator from his pocket, his fingers turning into afterimages as they flew over the buttons.

"If we wash dishes or haul cargo, we'd have to work fifty hours nonstop to earn 30,000 yen, all while putting up with grease fumes and the boss screaming obscenities at us. But if we just stand on the street for three hours—"

The calculator gave a crisp ding.

"Thirty thousand yen per person. Cash, paid immediately. Maki, how much junk food would that buy you? And by the way, eat less. Your abs don't feel as firm as they used to—Panda, think about it. Do this once, and you can buy a whole year's supply of premium plush-care spray, plus a limited-edition scarf set."

The lounge fell into deathly silence.

Maki's lips twitched as her gaze swung wildly between "600 yen hourly wage" and "30,000 yen for a bunny girl outfit." Panda, meanwhile, lowered his head to look at the fur that had grown a little rough from fighting, then thought of the luxurious fragrance of that care spray...

Seizing the advantage, Mizuki Makoto expressionlessly pulled a thick stack of contracts from his schoolbag and slapped them onto the table.

"A guaranteed 30,000 yen each. If that's not enough, my reward from the next mission is yours. Maki, as long as you're willing to squeeze out a little more 'popularity,' there'll be commission bonuses on site. Panda, every time a child rides you around once, you get an extra thousand."

The lounge fell into deathly silence.

Maki stared fixedly at the stack of bills. Her originally icy eyes began to waver violently, and her breathing grew a little hurried. Panda suddenly sat upright, staring at the money. Even his beady eyes within those dark circles shone with something called "resolve."

"...Tch. Now that I think about it carefully." Maki spoke first. She turned her head away awkwardly, her voice dropping several octaves. "Sorcerers have to learn to adapt to all kinds of environments. Disguises and infiltration are part of training too. And since it's training, what you wear doesn't really matter... Can you raise the pay a little?"

"Roar. That's right." Panda added solemnly, nimbly climbing onto the table to sign his name. "Actually, I've had a circus dream since I was little. Whether children can ride me isn't important. What matters is that I want to bring joy to children. Mizuki, you really know cats. I'm exactly the kind of cat with a spirit of selfless dedication."

[Shibuya Streets—3:00 PM]

At Shibuya Crossing, the crowd flowed endlessly. Before a hastily assembled temporary stage, a spectacle that made ordinary people's eyes pop was unfolding: "black-tech magic" inherited directly from Gojo Satoru.

"Everyone! Open your eyes wide! This next performance will overturn everything you know about the laws of physics!" Mizuki Makoto, dressed in a fitted tailcoat, sharply pointed his slender fingers into the air.

To ordinary eyes, there was nothing there. But to a sorcerer, a tiny, highly concentrated "Blue" was quietly taking shape.

"Rise!"

At Mizuki Makoto's command, playing cards, roses, and even coins tossed by passersby from around the stage seemed to be drawn by a black hole, defying gravity as they rapidly contracted toward that central point. The objects spun and intertwined madly in the air, forming a dazzling sphere without ever colliding or falling.

"Look! Those things are flying!" Waves of startled cries erupted from the onlookers as countless phone cameras aimed at the scene.

In less than three seconds, Mizuki Makoto was almost unable to control the output of his cursed energy. With an elegant sweep of his hand through the air, the technique instantly dispersed, and the gathered objects scattered precisely across the ground like fireworks.

If Gojo-sensei sees this, I'm dead. I'm actually using his technique to hustle for tips on the street.

At his side, Maki was on the verge of exploding.

In the end, she had yielded to that thick stack of bills and put on a black bunny-girl outfit that saved an outrageous amount of fabric. Though she wore a thin jacket to protect herself from the perverts nearby, Mizuki Makoto's magical words—"for 30,000 yen"—forced her to grit her teeth, take it off, and reveal the stunning curves that had been forcibly squeezed into shape.

"Maki, rein in your killing intent! Squeeze a little more—yes, like that! Make your smile more... professional!" Mizuki Makoto urged in a low voice that only the two of them could hear. "Audience tips have already exceeded 50,000 yen!"

"Shut up... I'm already considering whether I should kill every witness here." The veins at Maki's temple throbbed as if they were about to burst. She forced out a professional smile more vicious than a demon's, yet it unexpectedly struck some bizarre "gap moe," instantly igniting wild cheers from the male spectators.

On the other side of the stage, Mizuki Makoto unveiled the most shameless pay-to-win attraction. He held up a huge advertising sign: [Limited Time Only: Intimate Contact with Panda! 10,000 yen per person/10 minutes (riding limited to children under seven)].

Panda lay on the ground with a lifeless expression, allowing several snot-nosed, shrieking children to roll wildly over his expensive fur.

"Roar—(If I were a cursed spirit, I'd exorcise every one of these little brats who don't know their own strength right now...)"

"Salmon!" At some point, Inumaki Toge had changed into an animal trainer's outfit. He coolly cracked his whip, its tip accurately stopping Panda's complaint before it could erupt.

As the team's last remaining conscience, Okkotsu Yuta played a ridiculous clown, diligently juggling balls beside them. Even when one hit him in the face because his nerves were shot, he had to cooperate and let out a silly laugh beneath Mizuki Makoto's sharp, "for survival" glare.

In the shadows not far away, a white-haired man in a black blindfold held up his phone, laughing so hard his shoulders shook.

Gojo Satoru tapped the screen with his fingertip as the shutter clicked repeatedly. He slowly dragged this absurd group photo of "all students selling their souls" into a private album.

The previous photo in the album was slightly yellowed with age. In it, a younger Gojo, Suguru Geto, Shoko, Nanami, and Haibara laughed at the camera. The two photos overlapped: one was an innocent summer that could never be returned to, while the other was this farcical yet vibrant world of the present.

"Yeah, youth really ought to be like this." Gojo Satoru murmured softly before sending the photos—enough to make Maki kill someone—to Mizuki Makoto.

[Several Months Later—Kyoto Jujutsu High]

The scumbag who had successfully fled sat in Kyoto Jujutsu High's courtyard, smiling as he took out his phone.

"Mai-chan, I have a precious historical record here called 'Maki Abandoning Her Dignity in Shibuya for 30,000 Yen.' Want to see it?"

The screen lit up.

In the footage, Maki wore the bunny-girl outfit, forcing out a smile to draw customers despite her humiliation. When a child tried to pull out Panda's fur, she wore an incredibly twisted, ferocious expression that nevertheless had to endure it all for those 30,000 yen. Especially that one scene—when she had to face the camera, tilt her head cutely like a machine, and say, "Want to experience... Panda's warmth?"

Mai stared at the phone screen in silence for a full half minute, then erupted into insane laughter loud enough to shake the entire back mountain.

"Hahahaha! Maki... she actually squeezed them! Hahahaha! That expression of 'selling her soul for 30,000 yen' is an absolute masterpiece!"

Mai laughed until tears streamed down her face, pounding the ground wildly before snatching Mizuki Makoto's phone away. "Send it to me! I could watch the Maki in this video for a lifetime! Thirty thousand yen, right? I'll give you 100,000! Send me the original file!"

"Deal."

"By the way, Mizuki." Mai stopped laughing and wiped the corner of her eye. "When you filmed this, did you ever consider what would happen if Maki found out...?"

"Isn't that why I came all the way to Kyoto to take refuge?" Mizuki Makoto gazed into the distance, his expression profound. "As long as I don't go back to Tokyo, Maki's Playful Cloud can't reach me."

However, the moment he finished speaking, the phone on the stone table vibrated. A private message from Gojo Satoru appeared on the screen:

[Makoto, Maki just found that video in my favorites... Oh, and by the way, I was the one who paid for that bunny-girl outfit. She's heading to Kyoto with a blade right now. Good luck~]

Mizuki Makoto's smile froze.

"Mai-chan, tell me, does Mechamaru's bathtub have room for one more person?"

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