The first day of school

Bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang.

Megumi Fushiguro knocked on Chiyo Shin's door. "Chiyo! Get up, it's time for class. Chiyo Shin! It's 7:40! Get up!"

Inside, Chiyo Shin mumbled groggily, "Don't rush, Fushiguro. That bastard Gojo won't show up this early. Trust me. Go back to sleep for another half hour before you go."

Chiyo Shin yawned and fell asleep again.

When the room went silent, Megumi Fushiguro's expression darkened. "Fine, I'm leaving without you, baby-faced bastard."

Megumi Fushiguro hurried to the classroom. Sure enough, just as Chiyo Shin had predicted, Satoru Gojo wasn't there.

Those two bastards.

8:50.

Satoru Gojo stood at the front of the classroom and announced, "All right! Your first-year jujutsu field training officially begins today."

"Are there only two first-years?" Chiyo Shin asked. From what he remembered, shouldn't there have been three besides him?

"There's actually one more student. Due to special circumstances, she'll be joining us later," Satoru Gojo replied.

"She? A girl?" Megumi Fushiguro asked.

"Yep, a girl," Satoru Gojo confirmed.

One more? Chiyo Shin, who hadn't read the original, was a little confused.

Forget it. I'll take things as they come.

"Then let's head out!" At Satoru Gojo's command, the first-years set off immediately.

Tokyo Tsuchido Elementary School.

Satoru Gojo explained their assignment. "Today's mission is to exorcise the cursed spirit inside this elementary school."

"According to the report from the Window, there's only a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit inside, and no one needs rescuing. It's perfect for you two."

"Oh! Right, Shin, you're not allowed to use your cursed technique during the exorcism."

"And from now on, don't use your cursed technique on exorcism missions unless you encounter a Special Grade."

"Your cursed technique is powerful, but you have far too little combat experience. If you keep relying on its power, you'll never grow or grasp the true essence of jujutsu."

"You'll only grow by honing yourself in evenly matched or one-sided battles."

"Megumi Fushiguro, your situation is the opposite of Shin's. You need to use your cursed technique as much as possible."

"Your Ten Shadows Technique is the most versatile cursed technique, combining offense and defense. Use it more so you can understand its true nature."

"Understood?"

"Understood, Gojo-sensei," Chiyo Shin and Megumi Fushiguro answered in unison.

"All right, let's begin. Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure." Gojo began chanting the incantation for a Curtain, sealing the school off from the outside world.

"Go on in," Satoru Gojo said.

Chiyo Shin and Megumi Fushiguro entered the Curtain together.

As soon as Megumi Fushiguro stepped inside, he formed a dog's head with his hands and shouted, "Divine Dogs!"

Two Divine Dogs shikigami, one black and one white, instantly appeared beside Megumi Fushiguro.

"Oh, summoning your animal friends." Chiyo Shin draped an arm over Megumi Fushiguro's shoulders when he saw them.

Megumi Fushiguro gave Chiyo Shin a look of disgust. "Let the Divine Dogs find the cursed spirit so we can finish this mission and get back early."

"Yeah, yeah." Chiyo Shin didn't seem bothered.

Chiyo Shin and Megumi Fushiguro entered the school building.

The black Divine Dog stayed beside Chiyo, while the other followed Megumi Fushiguro.

When they reached the lobby, Megumi Fushiguro laid out the plan. "Chiyo, check the third and fourth floors. I'll check the first and second. If you find the cursed spirit, have the Divine Dog alert me."

"Got it. I'm heading up." Chiyo Shin was already dashing up the stairs as he spoke.

Megumi Fushiguro was speechless. "That idiot."

Chiyo Shin wandered around upstairs. The place was pretty big.

He checked the third floor from end to end. There were twenty-three classrooms in all.

Chiyo Shin took the Divine Dog into every classroom to inspect it, but found nothing.

He was about to head to the fourth floor when Megumi Fushiguro's accusing voice came from behind him. "Baby-faced bastard, weren't you supposed to be checking the third and fourth floors?"

Chiyo Shin turned at the sound and retorted, "You uptight hedgehog-head, I've been on the third floor this whole time. I haven't even gone to the fourth yet."

Megumi Fushiguro froze, utterly bewildered. "Huh?"

Megumi Fushiguro calmed down and surveyed their surroundings. Sure enough, they had changed. The rows of classrooms stretched on with no end in sight.

After observing for a while, Megumi Fushiguro spoke. "I was on the first floor the whole time, and you were on the third."

"What's going on?"

"Have the spaces overlapped?"

"Is it a domain? No! A domain manifests an innate mental landscape. If it's not a domain, then it must be a Barrier Technique."

After hearing Megumi Fushiguro's conclusion, Chiyo Shin drawled mockingly, "Brilliant deduction, Detective Megumi Fushiguro."

Megumi Fushiguro: "..."

"Now isn't the time for wisecracks. We need to break the barrier to get out and exorcise the cursed spirit," Megumi Fushiguro continued.

"So how do we break this barrier?" Chiyo Shin asked.

Megumi Fushiguro explained, "We need to understand its structure and work out a solution from there, or break it directly with brute force."

Chiyo Shin said confidently, "Brute force? Then that's easy. Fushiguro, everything around us is part of the barrier, right?"

"In theory, yes. All this scenery around us was created by the barrier," Megumi Fushiguro replied.

"Then I'll just smash it open." Chiyo Shin concentrated the cursed energy throughout his body into his right fist.

Megumi Fushiguro looked at Chiyo Shin. "Without figuring out how a Barrier Technique works, it's difficult to destroy it from the inside."

Chiyo Shin brushed that aside. "It's fine. Watch me break through everything with one punch."

As he spoke, Chiyo Shin raised his fist, now packed with terrifying cursed energy, and slammed it into the wall.

Cracks like shattered glass rapidly spread across the wall.

Megumi Fushiguro's eyes widened. "Seriously?! You actually broke it open!"

Chiyo Shin raised his left fist and struck again, shattering the wall along with the surrounding scenery.

After the barrier shattered, a slender cursed spirit roughly three people tall crouched in a corner nearby, outside their field of vision, quietly watching them.

Megumi Fushiguro spotted the cursed spirit first and quickly called to his shikigami. "Divine Dogs! Tear it apart!"

At his command, the two Divine Dogs raced toward the cursed spirit.

The cursed spirit wasn't stupid either. It turned and fled, mumbling, "I... won't do... homework."

But the cursed spirit couldn't outrun the Divine Dogs. Within a few steps, they tore it to pieces, and it dispersed into the air.

"Mission complete. Let's go, Fushiguro." Seeing the cursed spirit vanish, Chiyo Shin called to Megumi Fushiguro.

"Yeah, let's go," Megumi Fushiguro replied.

Outside, Satoru Gojo sensed the curse disappear and lowered the Curtain. A short while later, he saw the two of them emerge.

"Nice work. You didn't even damage the building. Too bad you've saved those higher-ups another repair bill," Satoru Gojo said, leaning against the car.

Chiyo Shin tilted his head back at a forty-degree angle and gazed at the sky. "Of course. Who do you think I am?"

Without much small talk, the three drove back to school.

Chiyo Shin hadn't expected the rest of his school days to follow the same pattern as today: studying at school and doing field training outside.

Inside a private dining room at a restaurant in Sendai.

A man and two girls sat facing each other.

Kenjaku smiled in the face of the two girls' murderous glares. "As long as you make absolutely sure Sukuna's Finger from the Stevenson Screen in Sendai City reaches Yuji Itadori, I'll consider switching bodies."

Mimiko and Nanako exchanged a glance and could only grit their teeth and agree.

Mimiko and Nanako believed this was the only way to make the cursed spirit desecrating Master Suguru Geto's body compromise.