Higuruma's question actually left Maki stumped.
She lowered her head, thought for a moment, then shook it decisively.
"What other reason would I need? I'm from Jujutsu High. Of course I'd come out to help."
"Jujutsu High?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Hiromi Higuruma's mind.
He had never heard the name before, but as a top graduate of the University of Tokyo, he immediately deduced that it must be this country's official organization for jujutsu sorcerers.
"So you're with the authorities?"
"Well... you could put it that way."
Higuruma frowned slightly as he looked at Maki.
Staring at her face, which looked far too young, he couldn't help asking:
"Does this country even have a future? Why are even high school students being sent out to work? You're not an adult yet, are you?"
Maki showed no sign of concern.
"Whether I'm an adult has nothing to do with this."
"How does it not?" Higuruma stared at her. "You just said you're from Jujutsu High. So your school sends underage students into a place like the Culling Game to die?"
Maki's brow twitched.
"To die?" she repeated. "You think I came here to die?"
Higuruma didn't answer.
He simply studied the girl before him in silence.
Short hair, round glasses, a sword at her waist, and not the slightest fluctuation of cursed energy anywhere on her body. Standing in his domain, she was no different from an ordinary person.
Clearly, Higuruma didn't think Maki was capable of surviving the Culling Game.
Something suddenly occurred to Maki.
The corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly. On her usually expressionless face, that faint curve almost qualified as a smile.
She looked at Higuruma, and the gaze behind her glasses suddenly took on a subtle shift.
"How about this?"
Maki spoke far