Breaking ties with the Zenin Clan

At Kyoto Jujutsu High, two little tagalongs followed behind Naomitsu. Nanako and Mimiko looked around the campus like a pair of curious children.

"Honestly, I went out once and came back with two more troublemakers. And troublesome ones at that."

Their cursed techniques weren't strong. They would hardly stand out at Kyoto Jujutsu High. Even Kasumi Miwa could probably deal with them easily.

One took photos with a phone, and the other hanged people with a doll. Both were support-type cursed techniques that relied on tools, while their own strength was roughly equivalent to an ordinary person's.

Otherwise, the villagers wouldn't have been able to lock them in a wooden cage to await death.

Fortunately, Kyoto Jujutsu High had student dorms. Otherwise, Naomitsu really wouldn't have known where to put them.

There were plenty of dorm rooms anyway, so Maki and the others might as well stay too, without having to go home. They could live at Kyoto Jujutsu High from now on. If that bastard Ogi Zenin couldn't find him, he might take his anger out on Maki and the others.

Naomitsu found Maki and the other two girls. As it happened, Maki had just received a phone call and was about to take Mai home.

Seeing this, Naomitsu stopped her on the spot and told them about his falling-out with Ogi Zenin.

Now, Naomitsu gave the three girls before him two choices.

The first was to go back and continue living under Ogi Zenin. The second was to stay with him from now on and cut all ties with the Zenin Clan.

Naomitsu would give Megumi Fushiguro the same choice later.

The first to choose was neither Maki nor Mai, but Zhenwei, who had remained silent all this time.

"Naomitsu, I'm definitely staying with you. My parents are dead, and everyone in the clan just bullies me. You're the only one who matters to me."

Zhenwei spoke from the heart. To her, nothing mattered more than Naomitsu.

Immediately afterward, Maki and Mai also stated their decisions. They had only hesitated because their mother was still in the clan.

"Stay with me from now on. Don't go back to the clan anymore."

Naomitsu had considered rescuing their mother too, but given how jujutsu clans in this world usually operated, leaving didn't seem that easy.

Especially since that woman wasn't even a jujutsu sorcerer. Even if Naomitsu went and spoke to her, she probably wouldn't want to leave.

Of everyone who heard the news, no one was happier than Naoya Zenin, who was currently at Kyoto Jujutsu High.

Now, his position as the next clan head couldn't have been more secure. Especially after Naomitsu's special training, which had made him far stronger than before.

Once he graduated, he could easily succeed the old clan head and become the new one.

"Naoya, what are you snickering about over here? You haven't finished today's training. Don't slack off."

Naoya Zenin was seized by the scruff of his neck and dragged from the gates of Kyoto Jujutsu High back to the playground. His smile vanished. A whole pile of hand-to-hand combat training still awaited him.

Meanwhile, Naomitsu was making arrangements for Nanako and Mimiko, along with his two older sisters and Zhenwei.

Originally, Naomitsu had intended to have them stay in the dorms. But Utahime Iori said there weren't enough rooms, since all the dorm rooms at Kyoto Jujutsu High were single-occupancy.

With no other choice, Naomitsu took the five girls out, planning to rent a detached villa near Kyoto Jujutsu High where they could all live together.

Through a rental agency, Naomitsu soon found a nice little villa.

The villa had three floors and ten rooms in total. If anyone came to visit later, they could set aside some rooms for guests.

Naomitsu was very satisfied with the rooms, and the price wasn't expensive for them either. After all, he had been working for several years, and Kyoto Jujutsu High paid him well.

After he signed a one-year lease, the five girls began a thorough cleaning. Naomitsu, despite being the one renting the place, was sent out by the girls to buy household supplies.

"That's finally settled. Once I've bought the supplies, I'll go find Megumi Fushiguro and his sister."

At the supermarket, Naomitsu unexpectedly ran into Megumi Fushiguro and Tsumiki. That saved him some trouble. He could explain the situation to them directly.

The three of them discussed the Zenin Clan as they shopped in the supermarket.

Megumi Fushiguro didn't object to the idea. In fact, he welcomed it. He felt no sense of belonging in the Zenin Clan, and everyone around him treated him as an outsider.

He felt deeply uncomfortable in the Zenin Clan.

So, when he heard they could live elsewhere, Megumi Fushiguro agreed immediately. The two of them didn't even want to go back to pack their bags, buying their daily necessities right there in the supermarket instead.

That evening, the detached villa was bustling with life.

To make sure everyone had enough to eat, Naomitsu prepared a hot pot, buying soup bases and plenty of ingredients to cook in it.

Maki and the others certainly couldn't handle a spicy hot pot, so Naomitsu used a divided pot.

One side had a tomato broth and the other a spicy beef-tallow broth, accommodating everyone whether they ate spicy food or not.

That night was the happiest they had all been in a long time. The last time they had been this happy was at the Summer Festival fireworks display.

After eating, everyone returned to their own rooms.

Naomitsu stood on the roof, letting the cold wind cool his cheeks, flushed red from the hot pot.

"In this world, there probably won't be many more safe, peaceful days like this."

The number of cursed spirits nearby was visibly increasing. Originally, Kyoto had possessed a few thousand at most, but now their numbers were approaching ten thousand.

There would probably be even more in the future.

"But what does that have to do with me? Now that I've left the Zenin Clan, I've effectively broken away from the higher-ups of Jujutsu Society too."

Those old men could forget about ordering him to run all over the place again. For the next few years, Naomitsu planned to stay in his own little home and wait until his strength reached its peak.

As long as they didn't interfere with his normal life, however many cursed spirits appeared, they were Satoru Gojo's and Jujutsu Society's higher-ups' problem.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's that?"

Within his field of vision, a blaze shot into the sky. And it came from precisely where the Zenin Clan was located.

An enormous wave of cursed energy spread outward. Naomitsu estimated it at somewhere between two hundred thousand and four hundred thousand.

The disturbance immediately alerted every jujutsu sorcerer across Kyoto Prefecture. Almost everyone turned their gaze toward the Zenin Clan.

The commotion was comparable to a small atomic bomb.

"No way. Is it a special grade cursed spirit? Or an ancient jujutsu sorcerer?"

While Naomitsu was marveling at it, Maki and the others heard the commotion and all climbed up to the rooftop. Between the shadows of the buildings, he could also see Naoya Zenin running.

"The Kamo Clan and the Gojo Clan have sent people too. Looks like that thing won't get away this time. As long as they hold out until Satoru Gojo arrives, it's as good as dead."

The battle began, but Naomitsu didn't take the girls to join it. He watched from a safe distance, gazing with a cold smile as the Zenin Clan was engulfed in flames.

"Nao-chan! Mother..."

"Don't worry. The second- and third-year students have all gone over. I just contacted them on my phone and asked them to bring Mother out," Naomitsu reassured her.

Within the Zenin Clan, Maki, their mother, and the other girls were the only people Naomitsu felt any affection for rather than disgust.

As for Ogi Zenin, he had never once treated his children as human beings. In his eyes, they were nothing more than tools, either useful or useless.