The Disease Called Love

"My name is Yuta Okkotsu..."

Before the boy at the podium could finish, the three students below had already lunged at him.

Maki flicked her wrist, drew a long-handled cursed tool from her waist, and advanced straight toward Yuta Okkotsu with brisk steps. Panda's fur bristled as he put on blue boxing gloves and raised his fists into a fighting stance.

Inumaki pulled down his scarf, exposing his mouth, ready at any moment to use Cursed Speech to restrain the powerful vengeful spirit before him.

Dai Li remained reclined in his chair, but dozens of cursed tools had appeared in the air behind him, aimed at the boy in front of the blackboard-or, more precisely, at the thing behind him.

"Is this some kind of test?"

Maki hurled her Long-Handled Blade, burying it in the blackboard just ten centimeters from Yuta Okkotsu.

Yuta Okkotsu's eyes widened as far as they could, his dark pupils contracting slightly. Panic flickered in his gaze, and beads of sweat appeared on his cheeks.

He had never expected a blade to come flying at him during his introduction.

"Hey, you... you're cursed."

"This is a place to study curses, not a place for cursed people."

Satoru Gojo, who had been leaning against the wall watching the show, spoke up to explain to Yuta Okkotsu what kind of school this was.

"This is a place where we study curses to exorcise them: Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical High School."

Okkotsu, Maki, Inumaki, and Panda all turned to Satoru Gojo with accusatory looks, as though asking why he had waited until now to explain.

Satoru Gojo slowly raised his right hand, holding it upright with his palm facing outward.

"Sorry, but you'd better get away from him."

The instant Satoru Gojo finished speaking, the cursed energy in the classroom spiraled out of control.

An enormous white arm formed from vengeful energy reached out of the black mist. Its five fingers clamped around the blade's handle in the blackboard, veins bulging across the back of the hand as it wrenched backward.

With a creak, the hand forcibly ripped the entire blade out of the blackboard.

"Don't..."

"Wait, Rika!"

"Bully Yuta!"

Another, even larger hand belonging to the vengeful spirit surged through the roiling black mist, carrying bone-chilling cursed energy as it prepared to slam down on Maki, Inumaki, and Panda.

Whoosh-

Dozens of airborne cursed tools shot forward, wrapped in cursed energy, and plunged into Rika's arm.

"Hm?"

Just as Rika Orimoto's attack was about to reach the three of them, Dai Li used his cursed energy to launch his projected cursed tools at her, drawing her attention to himself in the process.

"You... dared to scratch my nails!"

Rika Orimoto unleashed an immense surge of cursed energy, sending all the power contained in the white vengeful spirit's hands hurtling toward Dai Li.

"That's what set you off?"

Against a cursed energy attack of this magnitude, Dai Li could never have defended with his bare body and escaped unscathed.

"Trace On!"

Shield after shield suddenly appeared before Dai Li. Dozens formed a semicircle, blocking Rika Orimoto's attack.

Every one of those shields was a cursed tool imbued with cursed energy.

Rika Orimoto showed no sign of stopping after her attack was blocked. She kept pounding the shield barrier with her arms, unleashing a relentless barrage.

Dai Li refused to sit there and wait for death. Gripping his right arm with his left hand, he extended his right hand with his palm open. While maintaining the shields with cursed energy, he projected ten more cursed tools into the air to attack.

Clang, whoosh-

Now prepared, Rika Orimoto used cursed energy to block eight of the cursed tools, but two small knives still managed to strike her.

"Aah!"

Rika Orimoto seemed even angrier and tried to manifest more of her body.

"Don't bully Rika and Yuta!"

The overwhelming aura of cursed energy spread farther through Jujutsu High.

"Hey, hey, seriously? I can't hold out against this."

Rika Orimoto's swelling cursed energy had already drawn the attention of the other sorcerers on campus.

But Satoru Gojo finally stepped in, preventing Rika Orimoto from manifesting further.

Only after the commotion had passed did Satoru Gojo resume his explanation.

"So there you have it! This is Yuta Okkotsu, who's been cursed by his beloved Rika!"

"Make sure you all look after him."

Satoru Gojo spread his arms, one higher than the other, with both palms open in a presenting gesture as he introduced Yuta Okkotsu beside him.

He looked relaxed and casual, as though the dangerous clash just now had never happened.

Still, thanks to Satoru Gojo's timely intervention, Dai Li had only expended some cursed energy and was otherwise fine.

"If you attack Yuta, Rika's curse might activate."

"Anyway, be careful, everyone."

Since Dai Li had taken the attacks, Maki, Inumaki, and Panda had escaped without injuries and looked none the worse for wear, so Maki still wore a sour expression.

"They're still in their rebellious phase and too shy to speak up, so I'll give you a quick introduction."

Beside him, Yuta Okkotsu privately felt that this whole incident seemed to be Satoru Gojo's fault.

"Cursed tool wielder, Maki Zenin. She specializes in using special weapons to exorcise curses."

"Cursed Speech User, Toge Inumaki. He only speaks in rice ball fillings, so do your best to communicate with him."

"Kelp."

Satoru Gojo enthusiastically introduced Yuta Okkotsu to his classmates.

"Projection sorcerer, Dai Li. He can analyze cursed tools and then project unlimited copies of them. With him around, you won't have to worry about broken weapons."

"Keeping them around eats up a lot of cursed energy. No thanks."

Dai Li answered while leaning back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other.

"Panda."

"I'm Panda. Nice to meet you."

Faced with these four classmates and their strong personalities, Yuta Okkotsu felt rather lost, wondering whether he could get along with them.

"That's about it. Now we have five first-years."

"We'll have a jujutsu practical this afternoon. I'll divide you into groups."

"Toge and Panda will be one group, Maki and Yuta another."

Satoru Gojo announced the teams for the afternoon's jujutsu practical, but he seemed to have left someone out.

"What about me? What am I supposed to do?"

"Dai Li, you'll be a group of one. You're already a Grade 2 Sorcerer, after all. You can operate on your own now."

"Tch. I wanted to show off a little in front of my junior."

Over the past two months, Dai Li had completed quite a few cursed spirit exorcism missions and successfully advanced to Grade 2 Sorcerer. He could exorcise a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit without difficulty; his rank was entirely deserved.

"Who's your junior here? Even if that guy transferred in two months late, he's still in our year, you idiot."

"Very nice comeback. Keep it up, Maki."

"I'll kill you!"

After Satoru Gojo finished making the arrangements, the five of them stood in the hallway outside the classroom.

"Um... I look forward to getting along with you."

Yuta Okkotsu looked at Dai Li a little nervously and politely greeted him first, probably because Dai Li seemed the easiest of the four to get along with.

After all, Maki Zenin had let out a disgusted noise when she heard she would be paired with Yuta Okkotsu.

"Likewise, little bro Okkotsu. Your girlfriend really went at me hard back there."

"Uh, haha."

Since Dai Li getting hurt really had been his fault, Yuta Okkotsu could only offer an awkward, apologetic laugh, unsure how to respond.

"I'm not blaming you. If you have any questions from now on, feel free to ask me."

"O-okay."

Thank goodness. The students at Jujutsu High don't seem as hard to get along with as I imagined. At least Dai Li seems pretty nice.