Mission

"Forget it. Who cares? They're all trash anyway."

Sukuna stopped dwelling on the question. It had only occurred to him on a whim in the first place.

He couldn't care less where those people had gone.

Before long, Sukuna reached his dorm room. He slid the door open and found a single bed that looked exceptionally comfortable.

Especially when he lay down and sank right into it. The feeling was unbelievably good.

"Megumi, even if Uncle doesn't send us any money now, we have enough food left to last us ages."

Tsumiki Fushiguro skipped off to wash the dishes, then opened the refrigerator. The little fridge that had been empty before was now packed full.

Looking at the fridge filled with meat and vegetables, Tsumiki Fushiguro silently thanked Sukuna again.

Megumi Fushiguro didn't sit idle after dinner either. He took his homework out of the little black schoolbag he carried. He was determined to study hard.

"Achoo!"

In a distant town, Suguru Geto sneezed involuntarily and rubbed his nose.

He swallowed the cursed spirit orb he had just absorbed. His face remained expressionless as it went down, but his stomach was already churning.

"Looks like I'll never get used to this taste. It's disgusting!"

Suguru Geto gave a quiet sigh, then his gaze turned resolute again. He was going to grow stronger to protect the weak.

They were only cursed spirit orbs. As long as he could protect the weak, everything he was doing now would be worth it.

Then he turned his attention to the other towns.

Though these places were remote and weren't particularly likely to spawn cursed spirits, their isolation had its advantages.

Few jujutsu sorcerers came here to exorcise cursed spirits. As they accumulated over time, there were enough here to keep him absorbing them for quite a while.

His only regret was that most of these cursed spirits weren't strong. Even grade 1 cursed spirits were rare.

A full half month had passed, and he had only absorbed one grade 1 cursed spirit. Most were grade 3 and grade 4 cursed spirits.

Sometimes he even ate cursed spirit orbs in place of meals. After all, with [Cursed Spirit Manipulation], Suguru Geto only needed to swallow them to grow stronger.

And there were no limits to that growth, meaning he could keep growing stronger without any upper limit.

Shoko was fast asleep in the dissection room when she suddenly sensed someone coming in.

When she turned her head, still bleary-eyed, she found Masamichi Yaga standing behind her with a stern expression and a cursed corpse in his arms.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

Shoko gave Masamichi Yaga a reproachful look. She had stayed up all night yesterday and had barely fallen asleep before someone startled her awake.

"Ahem. Shoko, an urgent mission came in today, and you need to go."

Masamichi Yaga maintained a perfectly straight face as he spoke. He took his role as a teacher far too seriously to let himself grin and joke in front of his students.

"Me?"

Shoko pointed at herself uncertainly. She was support staff.

"That's right, you. I can't reach the other two right now. I'll go notify Sukuna in a moment."

Shoko silently grumbled that it would have been stranger if he had managed to reach Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.

But hearing that Sukuna would be going along made her even more puzzled.

"Sir, are you sure you haven't made a mistake? Sukuna is so strong. Why would he need me to come along?"

"This is a mission!"

Masamichi Yaga continued putting on the air of a stern teacher.

Hearing him say that, Shoko knew there was no room for negotiation and could only agree reluctantly.

"All right, go make yourself presentable. You don't look like a girl at all in that state."

Masamichi Yaga couldn't help frowning at Shoko in her white lab coat. There was quite a bit of animal blood staining it.

Anyone who saw her at night might think she was a vengeful female ghost coming for their life.

"I know, sir. And I don't normally look like this."

Shoko nodded indifferently, then walked straight past Masamichi Yaga and headed to her dorm to change into her uniform.

After all, wearing a uniform was best when going on a mission.

Seeing Shoko leave the dissection room ahead of him, Masamichi Yaga didn't linger.

He turned and left as well, heading straight toward Sukuna's room.

"Ahh..."

Having just woken up, Sukuna stretched lazily. He planned to get a late-night snack at the cafeteria, then come back and sleep some more.

After all, it was getting dark. Once night fell, it was naturally time to sleep, and no one was allowed to disturb him.

Knock, knock, knock.

Just as he finished dressing, someone knocked on his dorm room door. He opened it to find Masamichi Yaga, whom he hadn't seen in half a month.

Before Sukuna could speak, Masamichi Yaga explained why he had come.

"An emergency has come up. You and Shoko need to exorcise a cursed spirit. The Window will brief you on the way."

Sukuna looked up at the sky and saw that it hadn't gone completely dark yet. He could only curse the old bastard inwardly.

If he had come just a little later, Sukuna would never have gone out on any mission.

"All right, all right. I'll go now. Where's Shoko?"

Sukuna spoke impatiently, intending to get there and back quickly. He still needed to eat his late-night snack and go to sleep.

"I'm here."

Shoko's voice came from behind him.

Sukuna turned to see Shoko with a cigarette still between her lips, but a sweet smile on her face.

"All right, let's get going."

Sukuna beckoned to Shoko, leaving Masamichi Yaga standing there alone.

"Haha, I didn't expect us to be going on another mission together so soon."

Shoko smiled as she spoke to Sukuna on the way.

"It's been several months. It only feels like time passed quickly."

Sukuna chatted with her on and off.

Soon, they reached the exit of Jujutsu High's barrier.

A black sedan was already waiting for them. A mature, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman stepped out.

"Hello. I'll be taking you to the site this time."

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman smiled warmly. Another Window operative had originally been responsible for the area around Jujutsu High.

But she had heard that he had offended three special grade sorcerers at once, so she had taken over this area.

This was the best area to be assigned to. Right next to Jujutsu High, it simply wouldn't spawn powerful cursed spirits.

Her main job was merely to drive these people to the site.

Seeing that this mission's Window operative wasn't the foolish man from last time improved Sukuna's mood a little.

After all, who didn't enjoy looking at a gorgeous blonde with blue eyes?

Especially one with long, wavy hair, which made her look particularly sexy.

"Please, get in!"

He had to admit that the newcomer knew how to read the room. At the very least, she took the initiative to get out and open the car doors for them.

"Shoko, take the passenger seat. I'm sitting in the back."

Shoko offered no objection. She simply strode over on her long legs and settled into the passenger seat.

As the doors slammed shut, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman began explaining the situation.

"My colleague discovered this cursed spirit in a large hospital in Tokyo. Everyone else in the hospital has already been evacuated."

"Since it was discovered so promptly, no one has gone missing yet."

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman paused briefly, then added, "According to my colleague, it's very likely a special grade cursed spirit."

"The cursed spirit's presence was so powerful that my colleague didn't go inside to investigate. They contacted Jujutsu High immediately."

"That's right. You did the right thing. If it's a special grade cursed spirit, going inside would only get you killed."

Shoko seemed quite taken with the woman. At the very least, she willingly joined in when the woman spoke.

"All right. Sorry for the trouble, you two."

"It's no trouble. This is our job."

Shoko wasn't like Suguru Geto, who devoted himself to growing stronger for the sake of helping the weak.

But she still followed the basic principles of a jujutsu sorcerer. At the very least, she didn't dislike exorcising cursed spirits.

Still, Shoko clearly wasn't suited to the front lines. Any random cursed spirit could kill her one-on-one.

Without another jujutsu sorcerer protecting her, Shoko would struggle even against a grade 2 cursed spirit, and it might kill her instead.

Although the odds weren't particularly high, there was no telling what might happen if she encountered a cursed spirit with unusual abilities.

Some cursed spirits had incredibly bizarre powers. One careless mistake could leave someone caught in their trap.

Sukuna, meanwhile, sat in the back with his eyes closed, resting. So what if it was a special grade cursed spirit?

At worst, he wouldn't be able to kill it in one hit. Sukuna genuinely didn't think much of these ordinary special grade cursed spirits.

Only special grade cursed spirits capable of human speech would give Sukuna trouble now that he had just one-twentieth of his strength.

Before long, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman drove into the city. After all, the special grade cursed spirit had been discovered at Tokyo's largest hospital.

Even though the area had been sealed off promptly, it wasn't possible to clear everyone out immediately.

The government had mobilized a great deal of manpower to disperse the ordinary citizens who had gathered to watch. After all, jujutsu sorcerers still needed to keep their existence hidden.

If ordinary citizens discovered them, the entire world would descend into chaos.

The resulting public panic could shake the very foundations of Japan.

Once panic broke out, looting would be the least of their problems. Plenty of terrorist organizations would surely seize the chance to stir up trouble.

That was something Japan's entire leadership absolutely did not want to see.