Satoru Gojo stretched and looked at the students from both schools.
"This year's Goodwill Event is a lot more interesting than usual."
A breeze swept through the forest.
And so, the first day of the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event ended in victory for Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Then came the second day.
Sunlight pierced the clouds and spilled over the grounds enclosed by the barrier.
After resting through the afternoon and night, the students from both sides had recovered, but the atmosphere was even tenser than yesterday.
Because today was the individual competition.
"Now, let the individual matches on the second day of the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event officially begin."
"The matches will follow a single-elimination format, with pairings drawn at random."
"We will now announce the rules for the individual competition:
-Deliberately killing another student is prohibited. Violators will immediately lose the match and face additional disciplinary action from Jujutsu Society.
-Matches are restricted to the designated arena. Leaving its boundaries counts as a loss.
-Being rendered unable to fight, falling unconscious, losing the ability to move, or voluntarily surrendering counts as a loss.
-Cursed techniques and cursed tools may be used as normal, with no additional restrictions on moves."
When it came time for the draw, Satoru Gojo randomly picked two people to face each other.
"Aoi Todo..."
Aoi Todo stood nearby, completely unconcerned. He believed that the destiny binding him and Dai Li as archrivals would guide them.
"And Hiroshi Sato."
"Who the hell is that?!"
Aoi Todo's confident expression turned to disappointment. He didn't even know this Sato.
"Todo, he's from Tokyo Jujutsu High. He's the one who fought Yamada in the team competition."
Noritoshi Kamo reminded him from beside him.
"I don't know Yamada or Sato!"
"But that's fine. This is an elimination tournament, so Dai Li and I are bound to fight eventually. We're both strong. Destiny must be guiding us toward a showdown in the finals."
Satoru Gojo drew another pairing.
"Dai Li and Momo Nishimiya."
"Um, I forfeit."
The moment Momo Nishimiya heard that her opponent was Dai Li, she gave up. She hadn't really wanted to enter the individual competition in the first place; one-on-one combat wasn't her specialty.
Especially when her opponent was Dai Li, who could go toe-to-toe with that guy Todo.
"All right, Dai Li advances automatically."
"Everyone else gets a first-round bye. Once Aoi Todo and Sato finish their match, we'll draw the second-round pairings."
The match between Aoi Todo and Sato from Tokyo Jujutsu High began. There wasn't much worth watching. Sato wasn't the sort of jujutsu sorcerer who excelled at close combat, and Aoi Todo practically steamrolled him. Meanwhile, Dai Li sat in a chair off to the side, eyes closed, fast asleep.
"The winner is Aoi Todo."
"We'll now draw the second-round pairings."
"Todo's second-round match will be scheduled last."
Utahime Iori's arrangement was perfectly reasonable. Aoi Todo was the only competitor who had advanced by fighting in the first round, so he needed time to rest, even if he saw no need for it himself.
"The second-round pairings are..."
Satoru Gojo was still in charge of drawing the opponents. He seemed to find it particularly entertaining.
"First up is Dai Li. Don't get impatient, Dai Li. Watch your teacher draw you a stronger opponent."
"Dai Li's opponent is Noritoshi Kamo!"
That's decent enough. As long as it isn't someone like Okkotsu or Kinji Hakari.
"Next up..."
"Yuta Okkotsu and Kinji Hakari!"
Well, you paired your two especially strong students together. What a knack for drawing lots you've got, Satoru Gojo.
Once the second-round draw ended, Dai Li rose from his chair and stretched.
"Noritoshi Kamo, huh..."
He looked at Noritoshi Kamo a short distance away.
"Let's make this quick, then. I still want to sleep a little longer."
Noritoshi Kamo wasn't angered by Dai Li's dismissive attitude. He simply walked slowly into the arena.
"Dai Li, I wanted to fight you during yesterday's team competition."
"But now it seems you aren't taking this match seriously."
"Can't help it. I was sleeping so well just now."
Dai Li yawned.
"Let's start."
"Both sides, get ready!"
After confirming that both of them were in position, Utahime Iori immediately swung her arm down.
"Begin!"
Noritoshi Kamo raised his hand at once.
"Blood Manipulation-..."
"Projection, begin."
Several short blades abruptly appeared in front of Dai Li.
The next instant, all the blades shot forward!
Noritoshi Kamo's expression shifted slightly. He quickly dodged sideways, condensing blood into a shield in front of him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The short blades struck the blood shield one after another.
Just as he prepared to counterattack, Dai Li had already rushed right up to him.
"Too slow."
A blade flashed.
Noritoshi Kamo immediately raised his arm to block, only for the tremendous impact to send him skidding several meters backward.
Dai Li pressed the attack, turning his wrist to bring his longsword up in front of Noritoshi Kamo.
"Still want to keep going?"
Noritoshi Kamo fell silent for a moment, then slowly dismissed his cursed technique.
"I surrender."
"The winner is Dai Li!"
A murmur immediately rose from the spectators.
Dai Li dismissed his projected blade, turned, and headed out of the arena.
"That ended even faster than I expected."
As Noritoshi Kamo watched him leave, however, his expression grew even graver.
"The gap in our strength is too great..."
"I really can't judge him as an ordinary Semi-Grade 1 Sorcerer."
In that brief exchange, he hadn't even managed to draw out Dai Li's trump cards.
"That was amazing, Dai Li. I've fought Kamo before. We didn't fight for very long, but I know he's strong, and you finished the fight almost instantly."
"Okkotsu, if Rika came out, it'd probably be over much faster than that. The moment she appeared, everyone else would have to surrender."
"You're much stronger than you think. Even I might not be a match for you right now."
Yuta Okkotsu had never considered hurting his companions, so he didn't particularly care about Dai Li's suggestion that he might be stronger than him. To Okkotsu, Rika's strength was a power meant to protect his companions.
"But these are just sparring matches with other students. I don't intend to summon Rika."
"But Rika might come out on her own, right? Don't worry. Gojo-sensei is here."
At that, Satoru Gojo waved to Okkotsu and Dai Li.
"Kinji Hakari is strong. You'll pay dearly if you underestimate him. Besides, he hates people who lack passion more than anything."
"Kinji Hakari, the second-year upperclassman? Understood. I'll do my best."
Dai Li sat back down and, feeling rather bored, went back to sleep.
"Yamada is unable to continue. The winner is Mechamaru."
Even though they attended the same school and Yamada was his upperclassman, Mechamaru hadn't held back. He regulated his cursed energy just enough to avoid inflicting excessively serious injuries and won the fight with a few cannon blasts. The cursed energy output granted by his heavenly restriction was more than Yamada could withstand.
Despite the deafening roar of Mechamaru's cannon blasts, Dai Li was still sound asleep. Anyone who looked closely would have noticed:
Dai Li had wrapped his ears in cursed energy, which could also block out some of the noise.
"Next up are Yuta Okkotsu, a first-year at Tokyo Jujutsu High, and Kinji Hakari, a second-year."
Utahime Iori's voice rang out again.
Before you continue