The first day of school

Morning sunlight filtered through the branches of Jujutsu High's ancient trees, casting dappled shadows onto the thin paper of the shoji doors.

After working through the night, the water-locking cursed script drawn in cinnabar on the doorframe had dimmed slightly.

The humidity inside had reached an astonishing peak, leaving a thin haze of moisture suspended in the air.

Even the wooden pillar in the corner was covered in tiny beads of water that slowly trickled down its grain.

Feng sat quietly on the bedding spread over the tatami.

His black bangs were slightly tousled from getting up, a few strands falling beside his pale cheeks.

His dark red eyes looked clear in the morning light, his gaze resting calmly on the closed sliding door.

His dark blue uniform jacket hung on a wooden rack nearby.

He wore only a thin black undershirt, with the white quilt bunched around his waist. Beside him, the clear water in an enormous wooden tub rippled gently whenever a stray breeze stirred it.

Footsteps sounded out in the corridor.

Soles struck the old wooden floor with a steady, restrained rhythm.

After rounding several corners, the footsteps finally stopped outside this secluded, specially equipped dorm room.

Knock, knock.

The sound of knuckles tapping the wooden doorframe broke the morning silence.

"Sorry to disturb you. I'm Megumi Fushiguro, a first-year at Jujutsu High."

A boy's cool, even voice came from outside, his tone formal and somewhat businesslike.

"Gojo-sensei asked me to take you to the classroom to check in. Are you awake?"

Outside the shoji door, a boy with black, spiky hair stood in the corridor.

Megumi Fushiguro wore his dark Jujutsu High uniform, its collar standing high.

His green eyes swept over the densely packed sealing runes and moisture-proof barrier on the doorframe, and his brows drew together involuntarily.

That unreliable white-haired teacher had simply kicked him out of his dorm that morning.

After leaving him with, "Go bring the dangerous item I picked up last night to the classroom," he had run off to buy daifuku.

As for what sort of newcomer was behind the door, or why he had been placed in a high-security sealing room meant for volatile cursed objects-

Satoru Gojo hadn't offered a single word of explanation.

Megumi Fushiguro rested his fingers against the wooden edge of the shoji door, feeling the unusual cold and damp seeping from its surface.

Rather than rashly sliding it open, he stopped and stood quietly on the other side of the thin paper door, waiting for the owner of that unfamiliar presence inside to respond.

"Megumi Fushiguro?" Feng searched his memories carefully and recalled the boy from Jujutsu Kaisen.

Along with one of Gege Akutami's pearls of wisdom.

"A Grade 2 sorcerer should be capable of exorcising a Grade 2 cursed spirit."

But the first episode of Jujutsu Kaisen had rather undermined that claim.

"Ahem..." Feng lightly pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head.

"Let's just say Sukuna's Finger made it stronger. Yep! That must be it."

"Got it, thanks. My name is Feng."

The wooden frame scraped stiffly along its track as the shoji door covered in red runes slid aside.

A thick mist, cold and damp as the depths of a well, immediately poured through the opening.

Tiny droplets instantly clung to Megumi Fushiguro's eyelashes. He raised his green eyes slightly, looking at the person standing inside.

The first thing he saw was a neatly worn dark blue Jujutsu High uniform. Longish black bangs fell loosely without obscuring those dark red eyes.

It was a striking face that would have drawn attention even in a crowd. Cold white lamplight mingled with the morning sunlight, lending his figure an immaculate, chilly air.

"Feng."

Megumi Fushiguro briefly rolled the name over his tongue.

His gaze didn't linger on the other boy's face. With a jujutsu sorcerer's distinctive vigilance and eye for detail, he looked past the black-haired boy's shoulder and quickly surveyed the room.

The tatami looked ready to seep water. Dense droplets coated every wall, and several enormous wooden tubs filled with clear water stood incongruously in the corner.

The dry room originally meant to seal dangerous objects now looked like a pressurized steam chamber in full operation.

Megumi Fushiguro's brows furrowed again, almost imperceptibly.

Where on earth had Gojo-sensei picked up a newcomer who needed such abnormally high humidity at all times?

But he didn't voice the question.

In an industry full of lunatics and curses, prying too deeply into someone else's secrets often came with fatal risks.

He slipped his hands back into the pockets of his dark uniform and stepped aside to make room.

"Let's go. The first-year classroom is halfway up the mountain in the main campus. It's a bit of a walk."

He set off ahead, his soles sounding steadily against the corridor's old wooden boards.

"Jujutsu High covers a lot of ground, and barriers to keep out intruders are everywhere. Newcomers get lost easily.

Stay close."

Megumi Fushiguro's tone was as level as if he were reading an instruction manual.

The morning breeze outside the corridor stirred his signature black spikes. He turned his head slightly, checking from the corner of his eye that the footsteps behind him were keeping up.

"Oh, and although that blindfolded excuse for a teacher really is unreliable,

try not to touch any buildings or objects with paper talismans on them while you're at Jujutsu High.

If anything happens, we'll be the ones cleaning up the mess."

They walked single file through the long wooden corridor. The morning sunlight gradually chased away the shadows, and faint birdsong came from the training grounds nearby.

As the first years' only current "veteran," Megumi Fushiguro dutifully carried out his role as a guide in his own cold but exceptionally responsible way.

"Really? Gojo-sensei is that unreliable?" Feng asked curiously. His black bangs fluttered in the breeze as his dark red eyes calmly took in the lush ancient trees around them.

At the question from behind him, Megumi Fushiguro's steps faltered almost imperceptibly.

The faint crunch of dry leaves beneath his boots stopped for a second.

The boy raised a hand and pressed between his brows, as though nursing a headache.

Morning sunlight filtered through the leaves onto his black, spiky hair. His cool, sharply defined profile openly displayed a weariness and emotional exhaustion far beyond his years.

"If your definition of 'reliable' means doing your job on time, having an adult's basic common sense, and not casually dumping your messes on your students..."

Megumi Fushiguro half turned, his green eyes looking through the morning light at the black-haired boy behind him with cool certainty.

His gaze lingered on Feng for a moment. Though he knew nothing about this newcomer or why he had been placed in that environment last night, he knew Satoru Gojo's way of doing things very well.

"Then he has absolutely nothing to do with the word.

Aside from the undeniable fact that he's the 'strongest,' his character as an educator is a complete disaster."

Megumi Fushiguro looked away and turned back around, continuing to lead him along the stone-paved path.

His tone remained even, without much emotion. Clearly, he had long since grown used to this and reached an entirely objective conclusion through countless hard lessons.

"It's best not to expect anything remotely normal from him in the first place.

For instance, he was supposed to personally help you with enrollment and show you around this morning.

Instead, ten minutes ago, he sent me a message saying, 'Kikusuian is selling Edamame Cream Daifuku at a limited-time pop-up in Tokyo. If I get there late, I'll miss my chance to line up,' and sent me over instead."

A mountain breeze swept through the corridor, making the wind chimes beneath the eaves ring crisply.

Megumi Fushiguro stopped before a spacious courtyard.

Ahead stood a row of traditional Japanese wooden buildings, their sliding doors closed, giving the place a quiet, solemn air. He turned and pointed toward the classroom at the end of the corridor.

"That's the first-year classroom up ahead.

By the way, since we don't get many students, there are only three first years at the moment, including you."

The other one is probably Yuji Itadori.

Feng arrived at that thought through his remaining memories of Jujutsu Kaisen's plot, then spoke.

"Really? It sounds like jujutsu sorcerers are pretty scarce."

He followed quietly beside Megumi Fushiguro, his steps steady.

At the remark behind him, Megumi Fushiguro stopped before a sliding door bearing a plaque marked "First year."

"Rather than scarce, I'd say we're chronically and severely understaffed."

Megumi Fushiguro turned, resting his palm on the wooden edge of the shoji door.

His green eyes held a jujutsu sorcerer's cold rationality as he explained in the even tone of someone stating objective facts.

"The 'Windows' who can see curses are already a minority. Among them, people who possess a cursed technique and are willing to risk their lives fighting monsters at any moment are even rarer.

In this industry, failed missions routinely leave people maimed or dead, sometimes without enough of a body left to piece together. So being short-handed is normal."

With that, he said no more. He pulled the classroom door open with a slight exertion of his arm, accompanied by the stiff scrape of the wooden track.

A few lonely desks stood in the spacious classroom.

Morning sunlight poured freely through the large glass windows, illuminating the fine dust drifting in the air.

At a desk in the back sat a boy with distinctive short pink hair, wearing a conspicuous red hoodie beneath his Jujutsu High uniform.

The boy had been casually leaning his chair back, balancing on its two rear legs while idly twirling a pen.

At the sound of the sliding door opening, the chair hit the floor with a clatter.

He immediately looked up, full of energy, his bright amber eyes turning straight toward them.

"Oh! Fushiguro! You're finally back!"

The pink-haired boy sprang out of his seat and waved as though he'd spotted his savior, his voice loud and clear.

"Gojo-sensei said this morning that he was going to buy some limited-time pop-up daifuku, but he still hasn't shown up. I thought class might be canceled today... Huh? Who's this?"

His gaze quickly passed over Megumi Fushiguro's shoulder and landed on the black-haired boy with dark red eyes standing behind him.

His eyes immediately filled with undisguised curiosity and enthusiasm.

Megumi Fushiguro sighed helplessly and entered the classroom, stepping aside to reveal Feng behind him as he gave a brief, efficient introduction.

"That excuse for a teacher really did just go line up for sweets. Don't expect him to make it to class on time. This is Feng, a newcomer who was brought back last night."

At Megumi Fushiguro's introduction, the pink-haired boy hurried around his desk and strode to the doorway.

His smile was as radiant as sunshine, without a trace of wariness or reserve, and he promptly held out his right hand.

"Hi! I'm Yuji Itadori! I only transferred here recently, too! We're classmates now, so I'm looking forward to getting to know you!"

Yuji Itadori radiated a remarkably pure vitality.

That warmth and openness of a healthy human being seemed entirely out of place at Jujutsu High, which was perpetually shrouded in death and darkness.