Undercurrents

"True Vegas?"

"What a crappy name. Just don't stop me when I win."

The place was noisy, and pachinko machines were everywhere, leaving even the aisles cramped.

Quite a crowd. I doubt anyone will pay attention to me.

That might change when I leave with a pile of winnings, though.

This machine will do.

Dai Li found a machine that charged four yen per pachinko ball. It seemed to feature some anime about cute girls, but he didn't recognize it at all.

"Let's test the waters first."

He dropped in a pachinko ball. Nothing happened.

Dai Li wasn't surprised. He only needed to confirm that the machine worked.

Life and Binding activated in an instant.

He sacrificed a portion of his cursed energy in exchange for hitting the jackpot with his next pachinko ball.

Since he was essentially exchanging it for a few thousand yen, the rules of equivalent exchange required only cursed energy, and not much of it.

An abstract concept like luck would have cost far more.

Dai Li could already use binding vows flexibly to suit different situations.

I'm a real genius. This cursed technique sure found the right owner.

Clatter, clatter, pop, pop.

The pachinko balls he had won poured out of the machine.

An elaborate animation lit up the machine to announce Dai Li's jackpot, while he kept playing with the pachinko balls he had won.

He still had some sense and didn't use his cursed technique to win every single time.

He sat there for about three hours, and some people had already noticed that the guy at the anime-themed machine had hit the jackpot many times.

He could barely hold all the balls he had.

This only encouraged those people to spend more money playing pachinko.

You pitiful mortals. I've got cheats on my side. At best, you'll win a little playing pachinko. I'm making my living here.

Once he had earned enough, Dai Li went to the counter to exchange his winnings for vouchers worth one million yen, then headed to the exchange booth outside to cash them in.

"The Japanese really know how to exploit loopholes in this area. Still, all they can do is fleece those people. Their eyes were burning with excitement when they saw me cash out a million yen. Hahaha."

"Wait, doesn't using a cursed technique leave traces behind? Am I going to get discovered because I left cursed residue?"

Dai Li only realized the problem after he had finished playing pachinko.

That lot is probably searching the place where I fought earlier. There's definitely residue from my cursed technique there.

If they find cursed residue in the pachinko parlor, they'll be able to follow the trail to me.

Probably not. Those jujutsu people must be slow as hell, and surely they aren't conducting a blanket search.

Would they really come to a downtown pachinko parlor looking for a jujutsu sorcerer who just fought a major battle? Even if they searched that way, it'd take at least a month, right?

Besides, even Suguru Geto knew to head back home.

"Forget it. Why worry about all that? What matters now is enjoying life with money."

"Otherwise, what did I spend my already precious cursed energy for?"

"This should be enough, right? A million yen should easily cover a month's expenses."

"Time to spend!"

Night settled over the bustling city, with neon lights flashing amid towering buildings.

Gazing up at the dark sky, Dai Li couldn't help thinking about the road ahead.

Somewhere in Tokyo, in a remote spot surrounded by dense mountain forests.

A burly man with spiky hair was speaking to someone on the phone. His most distinctive feature was the pair of sunglasses he wore.

"That's the situation, Satoru."

"The higher-ups intend to put you in charge of this case, which may even involve two Special Grade Sorcerers. You'd better handle it carefully."

"Don't let anything go wrong."

The voice on the other end laughed.

"It's fine, it's fine."

"The case is in Sendai, right? I happen to be here buying Kikufuku, so I'll head over right away."

"The edamame cream flavor from Kikusuian. Want me to bring you some when I get back?"

"Satoru! Could you take this seriously? This is..."

The tough-looking man's voice was frantic.

But the person he called Satoru hung up on him.

"Geto, what exactly are you thinking?"

Unlike his flippant attitude on the phone, Satoru immediately grew somber after hanging up.

"Forget it. Thinking about it won't help now. I'd better take a look at the scene."

"Could the jujutsu sorcerer who fought Geto be Special Grade? I don't know who the other sorcerer is, but it's precisely that uncertainty about their identity that scares those old geezers."

Jujutsu Society is finally showing a little life after such a long lull.

"I'm actually pretty pleased that this person managed to scare the higher-ups."

"Lord Geto!" a stylish, youthful-looking girl called out with concern.

Suguru Geto wearily climbed down from his cursed spirit.

"What happened to you?"

"I'm sorry, Nanako, Mimiko."

"It looks like I won't be able to have crepes with you today. I got a little hurt."

"Who did this? I'll never forgive them!"

"Let's get everyone together and kill them right now!"

The other pretty girl, who had black hair and a slightly different air about her, was furious.

"I'm sorry I worried you, but there's no need. That person and I were only sparring. There's no bad blood between us."

Suguru Geto felt genuinely happy that his family cared about him.

"But this is still going too far, Lord Geto..."

"Neither of us came out unscathed. That's enough. The other person is an excellent young jujutsu sorcerer."

"There's a place for him in the world I intend to create."

"Edamame cream Kikufuku!"

"This is it!"

"One serving, please."

Dai Li had been wandering aimlessly through the city when he happened upon the shop he had wanted to visit.

"Delicious!"

"The combination of the textured edamame filling and rich whipped cream is incredible!"

"It's cheap, too. A gift box of eight Kikufuku only costs 1,200 yen."

He was still marveling at how Kikusuian lived up to its century-old reputation.

But then he suddenly sensed a fluctuation of cursed energy, seemingly coming from an empty alley some distance away.

"An official jujutsu sorcerer? Using a cursed technique so openly in the city?"

"Judging by the fluctuation, it seems to be moving from the ground into the sky?"

"Did they just fly straight up?"

"Whatever. Why should I care? Whatever mission those official jujutsu sorcerers are on has nothing to do with me."

"Ignore it, ignore it."

If Dai Li had followed the cursed energy and looked up at that moment, he would have spotted a strange, tall man with white hair and bandages over his eyes.

But the man in the sky would also have immediately locked onto him.

This was the man who stood at the pinnacle of Jujutsu Society: the wielder of Limitless, the bearer of the six eyes, capable of using Reverse Cursed Technique and Cursed Technique Reversal, possessing Domain Expansion, and hailed as the strongest-Satoru Gojo.