After training ended, the four of them sat on the stone steps beside the training grounds.
Itadori sat cross-legged on the ground, unscrewed a bottle of water, and took a long gulp before handing it to Fushiguro.
Fushiguro accepted it but didn't drink, setting it beside his feet.
Kugisaki was still staring at her palm. Her cursed energy nail had dissipated a while ago, but the sensation of those seven seconds seemed to linger.
"Once I've mastered the cursed energy nail," she said, slowly clenching her fist, "how many targets can I hit at once?"
"Depends on how you distribute your cursed energy." Mashiro sat on the top step, gently wiping Murasame. "Right now, you can only form one. Get that number consistent first."
"And after that?"
"Then you can try forming several. Two, three-each one needs enough penetrating power and cursed energy. The more you make, the weaker each one gets. You need to find a balance."
Kugisaki nodded, spreading her fingers and closing them again several times, feeling the flow of cursed energy inside her.
Itadori stood up and walked over to Mashiro, his expression unusually serious. "Mashiro, you said my rhythm was too rigid. But if I don't control my rhythm, how do I make sure every punch lands where it should?"
"Your problem right now is that you control too much." Mashiro raised a hand and tapped the air with a fingertip. "You plan the angle, force, and speed of every punch in advance. Probe with your left, hit hard with your right, probe with your left again, then sweep with your right leg. Fushiguro saw through that pattern after watching two rounds."
Itadori turned to Fushiguro.
Fushiguro nodded. "Yes. By the third round, I could block every attack."
Itadori's expression stiffened for a moment, then he slowly sat back down. "So I'm not too slow. I'm just too easy to read."
"You're fast enough, but your rhythm is too honest," Mashiro said. "Look at Fushiguro. He controls both Divine Dogs while repositioning himself and looking for openings to attack."
"Every move he makes is a judgment on the spot, not a preset routine. You're physically stronger than him, but you're still at the stage where your brain has to tell your body what to do."
"You can start learning how to deceive people in a fight now."
Itadori looked up, and she continued, "Don't control the rhythm. Break it. Deliberately show your opponent your punching habits, then do the exact opposite the next time."
"Let him think he's figured you out. That's when you throw your real punch. Your physical abilities are better than anyone else's I've seen. Now get your brain up to speed."
Itadori looked down at his fists, then stood and walked to the middle of the field. He threw two punches at the air without using cursed energy, purely testing how the movements felt.
The first punch went straight ahead. The second abruptly changed direction halfway through, pulling back the force of the straight punch and turning into a hook.
The movement was still awkward, but he was on the right track.
Fushiguro glanced at Itadori, then turned to Mashiro. "You said my shikigami control and movement were already good. What do I need to change?"
"You don't have enough types of shikigami, but you'll have to tame more yourself. Your control doesn't have any obvious weaknesses anymore," Mashiro said.
"But if an opponent pressures you and the Divine Dogs at the same time, you'll be forced into nothing but evasion. When you circled around my flank earlier, all your attention was on the Divine Dogs. You lost track of your own position. That's why I caught you from behind."
"Positional awareness," Fushiguro repeated.
"Know where you are at every moment while controlling your shikigami. Don't rely on peripheral vision or instinct. Treat your own position as information you have to keep updating in real time."
"The Divine Dogs can be driven back. You can't let yourself be cornered. When you circle around someone's flank, leave yourself an escape route."
Mashiro drew Murasame back into her body, the blade turning into a streak of light that sank into her palm.
She rose from the stone steps and brushed the sand off her pants. "That's enough for today. Work on what you've learned when you get back."
Itadori finished his shadowboxing and walked up to Mashiro, his expression earnest. "Mashiro, next time I'll definitely make you use your right hand."
Mashiro looked at him with a hint of provocation. "Oh? Can a mere Yuji Itadori really pull that off?"
Itadori smiled, his eyes resolute. "Just you wait, Mashiro. One day, I'll take you down."
Kugisaki was still studying how to form a cursed energy nail when she heard her phone vibrate. She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at it.
Itadori picked up the water bottle from the ground, took two steps toward the exit, then looked back and asked Mashiro if she wanted to join them at the cafeteria.
Mashiro declined, and then her own phone screen lit up again.
A LINE message from Satoru Gojo.
"Satoru Gojo": Mashiro-chan, I hear you played coach again today?
Mashiro leaned against the wall beside the training grounds and typed.
"Mashiro": Who told you?
"Satoru Gojo": Fushiguro. He said you saw through everyone's attack patterns at a glance, and that you knocked Yuji flat using only your left hand.
"Satoru Gojo": Oh, right, you taught Kugisaki that cursed energy nail too. When are you coming to Jujutsu High as a full-time teacher? I'll pay you a salary.
Mashiro lowered her eyes to the screen, the corner of her mouth lifting.
"Mashiro": You can't afford me. I charge by the mission.
"Satoru Gojo": Boo-hoo, so cold.
"Satoru Gojo": By the way, I still haven't seen your Water Control Cursed Technique demonstration in person. Nanami gave me the gist, but I really want to see it in action.
"Mashiro": Like I said last time. A report in exchange for a demonstration.
"Satoru Gojo": I'm still writing the report. I'll give it to you in a few days.
"Mashiro": Then you'll get the demonstration in a few days too.
"Satoru Gojo": Fine, fine.
Mashiro was about to put her phone away when it sounded again.
"Nanami": Emergency mission. I need you to come.
"Mashiro": What kind?
"Nanami": Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture. The Window observation station reported abnormal cursed energy fluctuations last night. Preliminary assessment puts it at no lower than Grade 1. The exact grade needs to be confirmed on-site. There are currently no jujutsu sorcerers there who can handle it alone. This is an official mission request.
Mashiro studied the message. Saitama wasn't too far away, but getting there from Tokyo would still take some time.
"Mashiro": When do I leave?
"Nanami": As soon as possible. The mission briefing is already in your inbox. Someone from Window will meet you at the station and take you to the site.
"Mashiro": Understood.
Mashiro slipped her phone into her pocket and rose from the stone steps.
Itadori was about to head toward the cafeteria when he noticed her standing and turned back.
"Mashiro?"
"I've got a mission." Mashiro tugged at her cuff. "Out in Saitama. I need to leave right away."
Itadori nodded.
He didn't ask any more questions. Mashiro was strong, and besides, other people would be going with her.
"Take care on the way," he said, then added, "Should we save you dinner?"
"I probably won't be back for a couple of days. Don't wait for me."
When Mashiro left the training grounds, the corridor was flooded with sunlight.
Chichibu City lay at the northwestern edge of Saitama Prefecture. The fastest route from Tokyo was to take the Shinkansen to Kumagaya Station, then transfer to the Chichibu Railway.
Window's observation station was near Chichibu Shrine, while the mission area lay in the forested mountains. The cursed spirit probably had something to do with the terrain.
The entire trip would take at least an hour and a half each way.
On her way to the station, she sent Satoru Gojo a LINE message.
"Mashiro": Nanami assigned me an emergency mission in Saitama. I'm leaving now.
Satoru Gojo didn't reply. She waited a few minutes, but there was still no message.
Is he busy? He usually replies so quickly.
"Whatever." She pulled her jacket zipper up another notch. The wind was cooler than usual today.
The Shinkansen took forty minutes to reach Kumagaya Station from Tokyo.
As she transferred to the Chichibu Railway at Kumagaya Station, the platform announcements were listing the stopping times at stations along the line.
There weren't many passengers in the carriage. An elderly woman sat across from her holding a shopping bag, two backpackers were studying a map, and the other seats were empty.
Mashiro sat by the window, watching the scenery gradually shift from Kumagaya's residential neighborhoods to the mountains toward Chichibu.
The Japanese cedar forests grew denser, and tunnels came one after another.
Her phone vibrated.
She looked down at the screen. Nanami had sent additional information.
The observation station's report showed that the cursed energy fluctuations were strongest in a valley on the eastern side of the forest. The Grade 3 Jujutsu Sorcerer dispatched by Window had gone missing after the last communication the previous night, and contact had now been lost for four hours.
She acknowledged the message, then opened her LINE chat with Satoru Gojo again.
Still no reply.
She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes to rest.
The journey by Shinkansen and onward to Chichibu Station took an hour and a half in total. A bespectacled female Assistant Supervisor from the Chichibu observation station was waiting outside to meet Mashiro.
Mashiro got into the car with her and listened as she reported the mission details.
The cursed energy fluctuations had lasted more than twelve hours. The observation station had attempted three remote scans. During the last scan, the cursed energy level had jumped at least two grades, suggesting that the cursed spirit was growing far faster than expected.
"We need you to confirm the cursed spirit's grade. If it's Grade 1 or higher, exorcise it immediately."
Mashiro nodded.
The car climbed the mountain road. Japanese cedar forests on both sides blotted out the sky, and the light grew dimmer.
There was no paved road near the summit, so they had to walk the rest of the way. She followed the female supervisor along the mountain path for ten minutes. The terrain grew steeper, and the dirt path underfoot became a gravel slope.
Then she sensed cursed energy. Its density was beyond anything a Grade 1 should have.
She frowned and continued upward until she entered a valley and saw the cursed spirit.
It occupied the center of the gorge, its body resembling a mixture of rotting tree roots and mud. It was at least twice Tide Echo's size, and it hadn't fully taken shape yet. It was still growing.
It wasn't Grade 1. It was Semi-Special Grade.
She first moved out of the cursed spirit's attack range, then sent Nanami a brief LINE message.
"Mashiro": Semi-Special Grade.
Nanami's reply was almost immediate. "Understood. Can you exorcise it?"
"Mashiro": Yes. I'll need time.
"Nanami": Stay safe.
Mashiro returned to LINE's main screen and glanced at her chat with Satoru Gojo.
He still hadn't replied. The last message remained her notification that she was leaving.
She put her phone away, then drew Murasame from her palm.
Mashiro gripped Murasame, the blade giving off a faint silver glow in the dim valley.
She descended a few steps along the gravel slope. The soil beneath her feet was soft and damp, carrying the stench of decay.
The cursed spirit was still slowly writhing at the bottom of the gorge. Rootlike tendrils on its torso spread outward, their tips burrowing into cracks in the rocks or beneath tree roots as though drawing in nutrients.
Its Semi-Special Grade cursed energy density made even the surrounding air feel oppressive. With every breath, she could feel cursed energy clinging to the walls of her windpipe, as though she were inhaling a dilute toxin.
Mashiro stopped about twenty meters from the cursed spirit, raised her left hand with her fingers slightly spread, and activated the Water Control Cursed Technique.
Water molecules were drawn from the surrounding air, gathering into a dozen slender water needles that hovered between her fingers. Then the needles shot out, targeting not the cursed spirit's torso but the tendrils embedded in the rocks.
The water needles struck precisely. Dark green fluid spurted out the instant the tendrils were severed.
The cursed spirit's body jolted, and it let out a low roar. Several tendrils that hadn't burrowed into the rocks instantly rose and swept toward Mashiro.
Mashiro stepped forward and slashed Murasame horizontally. A wet slicing sound rang out as the blade met a tendril.
But the tendril didn't break. The blade only cut halfway through, and mucus spilling from the wound rapidly solidified into a layer of black gelatinous material.
It regenerates so fast. This isn't an opponent I can finish in one stroke.
As the thought crossed Mashiro's mind, she dodged the sweeping tendril and formed another wall of water beside her as she landed.
The tendril struck the water wall with a heavy thud. The wall shuddered violently, but it held.
While cutting through the approaching tendrils with Murasame, Mashiro extended her perception into the cursed spirit's body.
It was filled with water, with a huge water chamber at the center of its torso.
Dense roots surrounded it. Through a central hub, the chamber connected to every tendril, supplying nutrients and cursed energy.
If she hadn't learned the Water Control Cursed Technique earlier, this would inevitably have become a long battle of attrition.
But things were different now.
Mashiro shifted Murasame to her left hand, formed countless water needles in her right palm, and shot them precisely into the cursed spirit's body.
The instant the water needles entered the cursed spirit, she activated the Water Control Cursed Technique.
"I'll drain you dry from the inside!"
The cursed spirit's body abruptly swelled. An outside force churned the water chamber within it, sending its liquid core out of control. Cracks spread across several of its thickest tendrils, and dark green liquid seeped out, sending up white smoke as it burned into the ground.
But it wasn't dead yet. Even with its internal circulation disrupted, a Semi-Special Grade cursed spirit could keep its body functioning on its remaining cursed energy.
It stopped trying to attack Mashiro with its tendrils and drew them all back instead. Then the top of its torso split open, revealing a huge mouth made of broken wood and rotting mud, which descended to swallow her whole.
Mashiro looked up as the shadow of the enormous mouth enveloped her. The Dharma Wheel above her head turned.
She didn't retreat. Instead, she charged straight at it.
She held Murasame in a reverse grip, coating the blade with the Sound Wave Cursed Technique. High-frequency vibrations resonated with the water molecules.
She kicked hard off the ground, launching herself into the enormous mouth.
The blade pierced the upper wall of its throat. Sonic vibrations spread from the blade throughout the mouth, and the resonating water molecules changed from liquid to gas. A second expansion followed, with an abrupt shift in pressure.
The entire mouth burst apart. Broken wood and mud mixed with dark green fluid exploded in every direction.
Mashiro shot through the ruptured opening and landed on the ground. A layer of dark green residue coated Murasame's blade, and she flicked her wrist to shake it off.
A thunderous crash came from behind her. The cursed spirit's body began collapsing from within. Its tendrils twitched aimlessly a few times before going completely still.
Using the Water Control Cursed Technique, she extracted all the remaining liquid from the cursed spirit's remains. A fist-sized ball of dark green water hovered above her palm, then she flung it against the mountainside, where it dispersed into harmless wet stains.
The Dharma Wheel gradually stopped. She had killed it before it could finish adapting.
An elemental advantage, huh. It wouldn't have been this easy without water control.
Before you continue