Toy

Ijichi drove Chiyo Shin and Yuji Itadori around the places Junpei Yoshino frequented, following the information provided by the police.

While they were waiting at a traffic light, Ijichi spotted Junpei Yoshino crossing the road through the car window. "Finally found him."

Hearing that, Yuji Itadori patted Chiyo. "Wake up, Chiyo. We found him."

Chiyo Shin blinked sleepily. "Already? Couldn't you let me sleep a little longer? I've been staying up these past few nights studying the secrets of the human body in the book Shoko gave me."

"You slept just as much before she gave you that book," Yuji Itadori retorted.

"Yeah, yeah, my fault. Now that we've found him, what do we do, Mr. Ijichi?" Chiyo Shin hurriedly changed the subject.

Ijichi pulled a cursed object containing two small cursed spirits from beneath the passenger seat and handed it to Yuji Itadori in the back.

"Are these cursed spirits?" Yuji Itadori took it and examined it.

Ijichi turned around and explained the plan to Chiyo Shin and Yuji Itadori. "These are fly heads. They don't even qualify as grade 4 cursed spirits.

Here's the plan: once you get out, wait until nobody else is around, then release one and let it attack Junpei Yoshino."

"There are three possible outcomes.

One, he can't see the cursed spirit and gets attacked. You rescue him.

Two, he can see it but can't deal with it. You rescue him then, too.

Three, he can see it and exorcises it. In that case, arrest him immediately."

"Got it." Yuji Itadori nodded.

After explaining the plan, Ijichi addressed Chiyo Shin again. "Chiyo, there's one more possibility. If Junpei Yoshino has the strength of a grade 2 jujutsu sorcerer, you're authorized to subdue him by force, even in the street."

"Understood. Subduing people by force is my specialty." Chiyo Shin grinned.

"All right. Get out and carry out the plan."

Junpei Yoshino was in wonderful spirits after returning from Mahito's place. He lowered his head, feeling the strange power surging inside him.

He knew he was no longer the Junpei Yoshino who let anyone bully him.

"Yoshino, why haven't you been coming to school lately?"

Junpei Yoshino looked up toward the voice in surprise. "Mr. Tomura... what are you doing here?"

Standing on the steps, Mr. Tomura wiped away his sweat and panted. "I've been looking everywhere for you. How could you skip school?"

"Even if you're skipping school, you shouldn't miss Sayama, Nishimura, and Honda's funerals.

That was completely unacceptable. I remember you getting along pretty well with them, didn't you?

They always looked after you, yet you couldn't even attend their funerals. Come with me and offer some incense."

As Junpei Yoshino listened to Mr. Tomura, memories flashed before his eyes.

The bullies' abuse. The teacher walking past and turning a blind eye. Those self-righteous words. The delusions of an ignorant, overgrown child.

Whatever you do, I'll support you.

Mahito's words still echoed in his ears.

This cursed spirit was the only one who acknowledged and supported him. A being that wasn't even human understood him better than other humans did.

Junpei Yoshino couldn't stand this world anymore, or the clueless teacher before him.

He formed a seal with one hand, ready to unleash his anger.

"Time out."

The sudden voice interrupted Junpei Yoshino's flow of cursed energy. He looked up and involuntarily shuddered as he saw someone lunging toward them with a cursed spirit in his hands.

Five seconds earlier.

Chiyo Shin tapped the cage holding the fly heads to separate them. Releasing too many wouldn't be good. One was just right.

"Itadori, I'm letting it out." Chiyo Shin kicked Itadori's backside to alert him.

Yuji Itadori was peering around the wall, watching covertly. Before he could answer Chiyo Shin, he saw Junpei Yoshino talking to a fat man who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Wait, Chiyo! There's someone else there." Yuji Itadori turned as he spoke, trying to warn Chiyo Shin, but it was already too late.

Chiyo Shin's hands were too quick. By the time Yuji Itadori called out, he had already opened the cage and released a fly head.

"Chiyo!" Yuji Itadori was beside himself.

Chiyo Shin shrugged and mimed throwing a Poké Ball. "Nothing we can do now. Go, Itadori."

"Fushiguro was right about you, you bastard." Yuji Itadori hardly needed the reminder.

He shot forward in a single bound.

The fly head wasn't slow, either. It wobbled through the air until it reached the space above Junpei Yoshino and Mr. Tomura, then moved to attack.

Seeing that, Yuji Itadori leaped at it, catching it just above their heads.

The moment he caught the fly head, Yuji Itadori noticed that Junpei Yoshino seemed able to see it, too.

As he rolled to absorb the impact of his landing, he accidentally crashed into a utility pole.

"Ow. This is all Chiyo's fault." Yuji Itadori rubbed his head, stood up, and stuffed the fly head into his pocket before approaching Junpei Yoshino. "Could we talk somewhere else? I have something urgent to ask you."

Junpei Yoshino casually glanced at Yuji Itadori and spotted the buttons unique to Jujutsu High.

Those are the buttons Mahito mentioned. He's a jujutsu sorcerer. I need to get on his good side.

Before Junpei Yoshino could respond, Mr. Tomura interrupted Yuji Itadori. "Hey, what school do you go to? How rude. I wasn't finished talking!"

"Um, I really do have something important to discuss," Yuji Itadori explained.

Mr. Tomura was already angry with Junpei Yoshino for missing the funerals, and this only made him angrier. "What important business could a little brat have? Who do you think you're fooling?!"

"Aaargh!" The moment Mr. Tomura finished speaking, a heavy blow struck his backside, making him scream.

He flew two inches off the ground, and Chiyo Shin caught him before he could land. "You'd better get lost right now, or I'll strip you naked and hang you from that utility pole!"

"All right, I'll leave right away. Just put me down first," Mr. Tomura said shakily.

Chiyo Shin set Mr. Tomura down and kicked his backside again. "I said get lost. Move!"

Mr. Tomura was kicked another two inches off the ground. Not daring to say another word, he scurried away.

"Now come with us. Let's have a proper talk about what happened at the movie theater." Chiyo Shin walked up to Junpei Yoshino and slung an arm around his neck.

Junpei Yoshino backed away two steps. "What happened at the theater had nothing to do with me."

"Don't be nervous. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to find out what happened," Yuji Itadori explained beside him.

"All right, then. We can talk as we walk." Junpei Yoshino removed Chiyo Shin's arm and rubbed his shoulder.

The riverside steps

After hesitating for a long time, Yuji Itadori finally asked, "Um, did you see anything strange while you were at the movie theater?"

"Like this." Yuji Itadori pulled the fly head from his pocket to show Junpei Yoshino.

Not wanting to expose Mahito to the jujutsu sorcerers, Junpei Yoshino answered firmly, "No. I only started being able to see them recently."

"Really?" Chiyo Shin handed Junpei Yoshino a file. "Read this, then think carefully."

Junpei Yoshino frowned deeply after reading the information in the file. "That's impossible! Mahito is a good person."

Clutching the missing-person reports, Junpei Yoshino loudly protested.

Got it out of him. Mahito, huh? He has a name, just like Jogo. An intelligent cursed spirit. Are they working together?

Chiyo Shin hauled Junpei Yoshino up from the steps and demanded loudly, "Are you an idiot? Huh?!

You're human! Human!

That Mahito you're talking about is a cursed spirit, our enemy. Do you know what an intelligent cursed spirit means?

An enemy!

And you're calling the enemy a good person.

A good person? Just because he acknowledged you?

He killed those three people you hated at the movie theater, and you're grateful to him.

What about next time, when he kills your family? Will you still think he's a good person?"

After Chiyo Shin finished, Junpei Yoshino stood frozen in place.

Junpei Yoshino imagined his mother being killed. He couldn't bear it.

Then he thought back on the time he had spent with Mahito.

Those grotesque human experiments.

That's right. He's killing my own kind. Why would I trust him?

Am I an idiot?

Junpei Yoshino still couldn't calm the turmoil inside him. Mahito, who had acknowledged him, was an enemy. He had been deceiving him.

Why would he deceive me? Was it fun?

"Then why would he do this?" Junpei Yoshino asked in anguish.

"Why? I don't know. But what we can be sure of now is that he's treating you as a toy.

Your loved ones would be the perfect tools to torment his toy. Your family is in danger."

"Mom," Junpei Yoshino murmured.

"What you can do now is tell us everything you know about Mahito. We can help you." Chiyo Shin extended a helping hand.

On the bridge over the river

"Did it fail? No matter. The focus is different this time. Chiyo Shin, who exactly are you? Qin, or Chiyo?" Wearing a hood, Kenjaku crossed the bridge, his eyes fixed on Chiyo Shin.