In the desolate lands of Ba and Chu, Jujutsu High's Hao Heavenly Emperor!

It was the day of the Goodwill Event.

Early that morning, everyone from Tokyo Jujutsu High, the hosts, had gathered at the school gates.

"Where's that guy?"

Maki stood with her hands on her hips, looking around. "He finally acted normal for a few days. Don't tell me he's off cooking up trouble again."

Beside her, Kugisaki frowned. "I've got a bad feeling. I think Jiahao's only been normal for so long because he's saving up for something huge!"

"Surely not?"

Panda scratched his belly with one large paw. "We've got students and teachers from Kyoto here today, after all. Jiahao probably wouldn't..."

"He would!"

"He absolutely would!"

Itadori and Fushiguro spoke in unison.

Itadori, who had been his classmate at Sugisawa High School, said, "New transfer students, newly hired teachers... Jiahao only gets more interested when he meets people he doesn't know."

Fushiguro, who had shared a room with him for three days and endured the first Trials of Hao, nodded with absolute conviction. "The more people there are, the more excited he gets!"

"Oh, he's more interested in strangers?!"

Kugisaki's eyes lit up. "Then, going by what Itadori said, Jiahao should be targeting the sorcerers from Kyoto Jujutsu High!"

"Better Kyoto than Tokyo!"

"As long as he doesn't come torment me, I don't care if he goes full Hao today!"

Fushiguro folded his arms and gave her a cold look. "Don't celebrate too soon. If we really let him go full Hao, we might all end up suffering."

Itadori nodded in heartfelt agreement.

He still remembered when a new student had transferred into their class. Jiahao had brought over a dozen bald lackeys, a piano, and a loudspeaker, then performed "You at the Same Desk" outside their classroom for four whole periods.

The bald guys had sung in chorus, while Jiahao played the piano.

By the second period, several students had been standing on the third-floor windowsill, wavering.

That mind-blowing spectacle was still fresh in Itadori's memory.

"My, my~"

Uneven footsteps came from below the stairs. The girl leading the group had short, dark-green hair and looked almost exactly like Maki.

Mai Zenin, Maki's younger twin sister.

"All lined up so neatly first thing in the morning. Did you come out especially to welcome us?"

Mai brushed back the hair beside her ear, her manner utterly provocative. "And every one of you has such a sour face. How disgusting."

Kugisaki, who couldn't stand even the slightest insult, immediately fired back. "At first I thought you looked alike, but up close, you don't hold a candle to Maki. Especially those pores. They're bigger than that pink-haired gorilla's."

Mai's eyelid twitched. She was about to draw her gun when Todo, the biggest of the group, stopped her. "Don't waste time. Settle your grudges once the Goodwill Event starts."

Then Todo scanned the crowd. "Okkotsu isn't here? You might as well just forfeit."

Their narrow-eyed captain, Noritoshi Kamo, looked at Fushiguro. "A jujutsu sorcerer's strength has nothing to do with age. Especially Fushiguro, who also carries Zenin blood, yet is far stronger than the main family."

Maki and Mai both frowned, looking displeased.

Kugisaki spoke up for them. "Where's that mosquito buzzing coming from? Is your Kyoto captain blind?"

"Those two slits under your eyebrows... did you stick a couple of seaweed strips there?"

Refusing to back down, the robot spoke. "So many first-years. Without Okkotsu, has Tokyo just given up on itself?"

Kugisaki said, "Keep looking down on first-years... and watch them beat the shit out of you later."

It sounded like mockery, but Kugisaki was actually giving them a serious warning.

"Now, now, let's all ease up and calm down!"

Long, sky-blue hair and a black suit.

Kasumi Miwa quickly stepped out of the group and changed the subject. "Um... everyone from Tokyo, which one of you is Hao Heavenly Emperor?"

"Hao Heavenly Emperor?"

"Has Jiahao's infamy spread that fast? Even the Kyoto students know about him!"

Looking at Kasumi Miwa, the only reasonably polite person from Kyoto, Kugisaki warned her solemnly, "Wherever you heard that name, forget it immediately!"

"If you accidentally meet him in person, trust me. Run!"

"That guy is a genuine sigma psychopath. He won't show any mercy to a lady!"

A bewildered Kasumi Miwa nodded awkwardly. "Okay, I understand."

"But I didn't hear the name Hao Heavenly Emperor anywhere. It's written on the sign at your school gate."

"'In the desolate lands of Ba and Chu, Jujutsu High's Hao Heavenly Emperor.'"

"So that's it."

Kugisaki and the others looked completely unsurprised.

He had merely replaced the school sign with his own signature. A basic Hao move like that was nothing to get worked up about.

Kamo asked, "The sign at the school gate was replaced?"

Mai said, "Are you actually blind? Those huge letters covered the whole school sign!"

Kamo frowned. "Hao Heavenly Emperor... I wonder if he's the recently enrolled first-year the principal mentioned, Wang Jiahao."

"Oh?!"

"A first-year the principal specifically mentioned?"

Todo, who had been listless just a second earlier, instantly perked up and looked toward the Tokyo group. "Where? Where is he?!"

Panda waved a paw. "Stop looking. He's not here."

"Todo, take my advice. Don't get hotheaded and go picking a fight with Jiahao, or... you'll die."

Mai stepped forward. "Are you kidding? Todo is a grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer."

Panda's expression was serious. "I'm really not joking. If you mess around, something terrible will happen."

Kugisaki snorted. "With the way you were talking earlier, if Jiahao had heard you, he probably would've torn your mouth off already!"

"But don't worry. His Reverse Cursed Technique is top-notch. He'll heal you right away... then tear it off again!"

The Kyoto group hadn't reacted yet, but Itadori and the others suddenly shuddered.

Itadori, whose arms had repeatedly been broken and healed during training, said, "Seriously. If you don't want to die, stay away from Jiahao."

Fushiguro, whose legs were often broken, said, "Especially when he's having an episode... you really will die!"

Toge Inumaki, crouched halfway down and clutching his calf, nodded. "Tuna mayo!"

They didn't seem to be joking, and the Kyoto students felt a chill.

"He doesn't sound boring... Is he another monster rookie like Okkotsu? I wonder what kind of women he likes!"

Todo alone became positively fired up!

"Whether I beat him half to death or he beats me all the way to death... both sound exciting!"

Panda slapped his forehead. "Damn it. I forgot Todo isn't exactly normal either."

Kugisaki's mouth twitched as she watched the fired-up Todo. "Is this going to turn into a goodwill event for psychopaths?"

Itadori rubbed his chin. "I feel like I've seen this big guy in a dream..."

While the students from the two schools traded insults, the white-haired teacher on the stairs was even more blunt.

"Yo, Principal Gakuganji. You're still alive?"

The bald, white-bearded old man of indeterminate age was the principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High and a leader of the jujutsu world's conservative faction.

Hands in his pockets, Satoru Gojo leaned toward the white-browed old man with the cane, his tone lethally friendly. "You must've been pretty surprised when Itadori completed that Juvenile Detention Center mission alive, huh?"

"I was worried you might drop dead from the shock. What would I have done then?"

"You damned brat!"

Gakuganji glared, furious but helpless against the lawless Satoru Gojo.

Ten minutes later...

Once Satoru Gojo, ever respectful of the elderly and caring toward the young, had distributed the souvenirs he'd brought back from overseas to the Kyoto students, Yaga, as the host, began explaining the rules for the first day's team competition.

"The forest, the lake, the estate, and even the sky are all part of your combat zone."

"Several grade 2 and grade 3 cursed spirits have been released into the combat zone. Exorcise all the cursed spirits in the designated area. The team with the higher score wins!"

"Other than that, there are no rules!"

Seeing that Satoru Gojo still hadn't let up and was mocking Gakuganji right in his face, Yaga grabbed Gojo and tucked him under his arm.

"The purpose of the Goodwill Event is to understand your companions and yourselves through competition!"

"Remember! Killing your opponents during the Goodwill Event is forbidden!"

"The match officially begins at noon. You each have another half hour to discuss tactics!"

"Dismissed!"

Twenty-nine minutes later...

The sorcerers from Tokyo and Kyoto stood at opposite ends of the forest, waiting to enter.

Inside the observation room, Satoru Gojo handed his megaphone to Kyoto's supervising teacher. "One minute left. Let's have Ms. Utahime Iori give us a stirring speech!"

Utahime froze, instinctively accepting the megaphone Satoru Gojo handed her.

"Shouldn't we wait a little longer? It looks like one of your school's sorcerers still hasn't taken the field."

"No need."

From the back row, where he was watching the wall of surveillance screens, Yaga said, "Start on time. There's no need to make every student wait for him."

To be honest, Jiahao's voluntary absence had actually come as a relief to Yaga.

After all, with Jiahao's overwhelmingly unfair strength, his participation in the Goodwill Event would do nothing to help train the other students.

But Jiahao was also a newly enrolled first-year, so Yaga couldn't very well ask him to withdraw.

Just as his own student, Satoru Gojo, who had now become reliable, had said: robbing young people of their youth was an unforgivable act.

"Then shall I announce the start?"

Utahime looked at Yaga, then turned toward Satoru Gojo, who merely smiled without saying a word.

It was time. Utahime stopped waiting for Jiahao, the final registered participant, and announced directly through the schoolwide speakers.

"The match begins!"

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Seeing that the students on the screens hadn't moved at all, Utahime shouted again, "Begin!"

When the students at both ends of the forest still showed no reaction, Utahime began to panic. "Are the speakers broken?!"

"No."

As though sensing something, Satoru Gojo turned toward the central forest area on the middle of the big screen. "Heh. I knew he'd pull something like this!"

The moment he finished speaking, an electrifying anthem blasted through the schoolwide speakers.

"Habataitara~"

"Modoranai to itte~"

"Mezashita no wa~"

"Aoi! Aoi! Ano sora!"

The familiar, blood-pumping Naruto theme song, "Blue Bird," rang throughout the campus.

The instant the music began, a figure silently appeared atop the tallest tree in the center of the forest.

Narration-

The protagonist always made his entrance last.