Cursed Corpses

After enjoying a delicious meal of fried chicken, they had no reason to keep lingering outside. If they stalled any longer, Masamichi Yaga would come looking for them.

They soon returned to Jujutsu High. Time continued to slip by without pause, and academic classes occupied most of their schedule during that period.

Despite the increase in academic classes, Sukuna still learned nothing. Unlike last time, though, it was not because he could not understand the material. This time, he simply had no desire to study.

He genuinely could not understand it. They had already entered Jujutsu High, so why did they still need academic classes? Wasn't that a complete waste of time?

It was just like another question he still could not figure out: if nuclear wastewater could be used to make noodle soup, why insist on dumping it into the ocean?

Just like that, half the summer had passed. The faint cries of cicadas could already be heard, a symphony from nature.

Three months of classes had gone by, leaving only one month before their break. They had just four months of classes, after which they could take time off.

Unless Jujutsu High urgently summoned them to exorcise cursed spirits, they would spend that time at home.

During another leisurely break between classes, Sukuna and the other three lay slumped over their desks in the spacious classroom, bored out of their minds.

Suddenly, tinkling music rang out, and a Teddy Bear plush walked in.

Masamichi Yaga liked these dolls, which were known as cursed corpses. The Teddy Bear plush's sudden arrival meant that he wanted to see them about something.

"Let's go. The teacher wants us for something. Hopefully it isn't bad news."

Shoko had been agonizing over the illustrations of the human body in the anatomy book she held, so she was naturally delighted to see the toy bear enter.

She had been studying human anatomy for over a month straight, but no one wanted to volunteer for her.

Even after she asked Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto several times, neither would agree. As for Sukuna, she had not bothered asking for trouble.

Although Shoko thought she got along fairly well with Sukuna, they were not close enough for her to ask him to volunteer.

Not to mention, she still could not get the sight of Sukuna slicing up a living cursed spirit out of her mind.

"Yay, yay! Our teacher finally remembered us. I thought he'd abandoned us already~"

Satoru Gojo drew out the last syllable as he spoke, as though he had truly transformed into the world's sleaziest Gojo.

"Let's go, then."

Sukuna pushed the door open first. The instant he did, the other three dashed out past him. Over these three months, their relationship had certainly improved considerably from when they first met.

Even Satoru Gojo had stopped making snide remarks at him. However, ever since they returned from eating fried chicken last time, Gojo had never brought up a one-on-one fight again.

That had left him frustrated for a while. He had wanted to give Satoru Gojo a proper beating, but approaching him to demand a duel would hardly suit his status.

As the strongest, he should be the one everyone challenged, not the one challenging others. The moment he challenged someone, he would be admitting that they were stronger than him.

Of course, that was merely Sukuna's own twisted logic. After all, a fight between strong opponents could also be called a sparring match.

As Shoko passed the toy bear, she scooped it up. The scalpel in her hand glinted coldly.

She wanted to examine its internal structure, but she was afraid Masamichi Yaga would find out and beat her up. In the end, she could only tuck the Teddy Bear plush into her pocket. If their teacher forgot about it, though, she could dissect it.

After all, Masamichi Yaga had made plenty of cursed corpses lately, although none of them possessed intelligence.

So Shoko decided to take a gamble. If she won, it could go straight onto the dissection table tomorrow. If she lost, the worst she would get was a beating.

Besides, she still had Satoru Gojo. She could quietly plant the doll on him and neatly escape Masamichi Yaga's "guidance."

Although Masamichi Yaga was not their homeroom teacher, recent rumors that he would become the next principal had earned him an office of his own.

Unlike other teachers, who were either tidy or particularly slovenly, Masamichi Yaga surrounded himself with cursed corpses. Just picture a burly, middle-aged man with a face full of beard.

His desk and the space beneath his chair were all stuffed with cursed corpses. Had this been an ordinary technical college, the students would certainly have thought Masamichi Yaga was a complete creep.

"Teacher, what did you want to see us about?"

Suguru Geto walked straight up beside Masamichi Yaga, who was still sewing. Startled, Yaga's experienced hand trembled, and he nearly stitched two bottoms onto the doll he was holding.

"Ahem. You're first-year students already. Haven't you learned to act a little more mature? What kind of behavior is all this shouting?"

Masamichi Yaga turned toward them with a stern expression and immediately launched into the lecture all students hated most.

"So, teacher, what exactly did you call us here for? If it's nothing, I'm going back to sleep," Satoru Gojo chimed in.

"What do you mean, sleep? It's only morning! Your bedtime is still a long way off."

"Haha, teacher, you don't know about this. I recently discovered that if I listen carefully in those academic classes, I fall asleep the moment the teacher starts talking. If I could patent it, I'd make heaps of money."

"Uh..." Masamichi Yaga glanced speechlessly at Satoru Gojo, who was still chuckling foolishly. His lips moved slightly, but in the end, he said nothing.

He had already grown accustomed to Gojo's flippancy. If Satoru Gojo suddenly became serious one day, that would be the real abnormality.

"I didn't call you here for anything major. Your class is probably the strongest group of students I've ever taught. Three of the four of you are Special Grade Sorcerers, and the fourth is a healer every jujutsu sorcerer would love to have."

There were plenty of powerful people in this world, but only a handful could heal other people's injuries. Among that handful, Shoko was the youngest.

Shoko was only sixteen now. Although she would never become a Special Grade Sorcerer, that ability alone was enough to protect her.

After all, who would want to kill a healer? Especially one who could heal them.

"So, for the final month of this semester, the higher-ups at Jujutsu High have arranged a Goodwill Event between Tokyo Jujutsu High and Kyoto Jujutsu High."

After saying that, he looked with satisfaction at the four people standing before him, each with a different posture. He still felt a little proud, even if Shoko was the only one who respected her teacher and the other three were idiots.

But they were all students he had taught. Whenever he brought them up with the other teachers, they made him look good beyond belief. They truly did him proud.

"It's just a Goodwill Event. Did you really need to call all four of us here?"

Satoru Gojo looked at Masamichi Yaga unhappily. Although he respected his teachers too, his personality made it difficult to show it.

"Naturally, I called you here for a reason. At the very least, I need to explain the opposing team's lineup, don't I?"

Masamichi Yaga shot Satoru Gojo a fierce glare, thinking that he had to find an excuse to give him a beating. Otherwise, keeping his frustration bottled up would be unbearable.

"Do they have a Special Grade Sorcerer too? Or has Yuki Tsukumo come back?"

"She hasn't returned yet. Who knows which country she's off enjoying herself in? Besides, she couldn't take on the three of you by herself."

"Teacher, could you stop wasting words? Just get to the point and tell us who their strongest fighter is."

Suguru Geto also interrupted Masamichi Yaga's endless speech.

Masamichi Yaga really did love being a teacher, and he was particularly fond of lecturing people.

Rumors had been circulating within Jujutsu High that theirs would be the last class Masamichi Yaga taught. The old principal apparently could not keep going at his age, and word was that he would soon retire.

Apart from the three students standing before him, Masamichi Yaga was the only person with enough strength to become the next principal.

So the rumors within Jujutsu High were hardly surprising. After all, even Sukuna knew that the next principal would definitely be Masamichi Yaga.

He also knew that this seemingly rough man had once refused assessment as a Special Grade Sorcerer in order to protect the cursed corpses born from his own hands.

Otherwise, Masamichi Yaga would already have been a Special Grade Sorcerer.

"Kyoto Jujutsu High's leader this time is only a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, but you still mustn't let your guard down. He's from the Zenin Clan."

As he said this, he deliberately glanced at Satoru Gojo. Like the Gojo Clan, the Zenin Clan belonged to the Three Great Families.

However, the current generation of the Zenin Clan was rather disappointing. So far, no one had been born who inherited the [Ten Shadows Technique]. Their team leader had merely inherited the same [Projection Cursed Technique] as the Zenin Clan's head.

That had directly resulted in the Gojo Clan taking the lead among the Three Great Families.

The remaining family hardly needed mentioning. They had no one worth showing off, although they did have one particularly famous figure.

That was Kenjaku, who had created the "Cursed Womb: Death Paintings" over a hundred years ago. His fame was merely infamy, though. Every jujutsu sorcerer cursed his name.

Kenjaku was therefore known as the disgrace of Jujutsu Society, as well as the shame of the Kamo Clan.

"If he's from the Zenin Clan, I'll just finish him off in one move. That'll give the Zenin Clan a slap in the face too."

Satoru Gojo rolled his wrists, his expression a little playful but also somewhat serious.

"All right, all right. I've told you what I needed to tell you. Read the rest of the details yourselves."

Masamichi Yaga handed over a sealed kraft-paper file envelope, then picked up his needle and thread and resumed sewing his cursed corpse.

Seriously, rather than worry about these four students, whose strength gave him no cause for concern, he might as well make a few more cursed corpses. What if he succeeded one day?

Shoko, who had not spoken once since entering, had a gleam of excitement in her eyes as they were about to leave. Even her steps grew noticeably lighter.