A month after the Star Plasma Vessel Incident.
"You're saying the students from Kyoto Jujutsu High are coming here for the Goodwill Event today?"
Satoru Gojo lay on a classroom desk, questioning him listlessly.
One classroom, four desks. The boy who had awakened Limitless brimmed with confidence, while Suguru Geto stared blankly at Satoru Gojo-
He felt as though he had been left behind.
Ze Zenin, meanwhile, was distracted, constantly going over the hazy memories in his mind.
There had been four reasons for Geto's defection... misguided advice, Haibara's death, and the daily grind of exorcising low-level cursed spirits and swallowing cursed spirit orbs.
And he had already dealt with the biggest reason by saving the Star Plasma Vessel, Riko Amanai.
Shoko paused at the sight of her distracted deskmate, Ze Zenin, then poked him.
"What are you thinking about, Ze?"
Ze Zenin snapped out of his thoughts. Looking at Shoko's bright smile, he replied impassively, "Nothing."
"Still playing the aloof type?" Shoko arched an eyebrow and reached out to pinch his waist.
"Shoko, stop messing around. I'm thinking about something serious..."
Watching the students below him, Masamichi Yaga's eye twitched. He resisted the urge to give them a beating.
Ze, Shoko, and Geto are good students. I need to be patient...
He coughed, then announced clearly, "This time, your jujutsu sorcerer grades will be assessed based on your performance in the matches..."
"And they also have a young clan head from the Three Great Families..."
"Clan head?" Suguru Geto glanced at Ze Zenin out of the corner of his eye. If he remembered correctly, both Ze and Gojo were clan heads...
"It'll be fiiine..."
Looking completely relaxed, Satoru Gojo rose from his seat.
He walked between Suguru Geto and Ze Zenin and draped his arms over their shoulders. "The three of us... are the strongest!"
Masamichi Yaga could only hold his forehead at the sight. Of all the second-years, the troublemaker Satoru Gojo worried him most.
"Ze, keep an eye on this guy. Don't let him underestimate his opponents!"
"Yes, sir."
Ze Zenin sighed helplessly. Why did he always feel like he was both Satoru Gojo's father and mother...?
"All right, get yourselves ready."
Masamichi Yaga looked at the three boys and one girl in the classroom, sighed, and walked out.
"Hey, hey, hey, Ze! I saw that look just now!"
Satoru Gojo complained loudly beside Ze Zenin's ear:
"Why do I keep feeling like you're trying to distance yourself from me?"
"You're imagining things." Ze Zenin stared coolly ahead.
Ze Zenin couldn't go without the Uchiha Clan's hereditary tendency to hide affection behind a prickly attitude.
Shoko quietly stole glances at Ze Zenin from beside him. As though she, too, was savoring the joys of school life, the corners of her lips gently lifted.
A day slipped quietly by, bringing them to the day of the Goodwill Event.
"I wonder if we'll get to see Utahime-senpai!"
Shoko looked around curiously and said:
"I heard she's applied for a teaching position at Kyoto Jujutsu High. She's getting ready to teach there."
"And Miss Mei Mei has already gone off to earn money as a freelance jujutsu sorcerer..."
"Huh?" Satoru Gojo scoffed. "Utahime's so weak, and she still gets to be a teacher?"
"Gojo, you shouldn't talk about the weak like that!" Suguru Geto said with a perfectly serious expression.
"Satoru Gojo! Suguru Geto!"
Utahime stepped forward in her red-and-white shrine maiden outfit, her face furious. She glared fiercely at Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto. "Neither of you has changed at all! You're both absolute scum!"
"That's only because you're too weak, Utahime~" Satoru Gojo grinned obnoxiously. "If you're too weak, you'll get weeded out!"
"Satoru Gojo! Aaargh, you bastard!"
Utahime shouted in frustration, then turned to Ze Zenin. "What would it take for you to help me teach Satoru Gojo a lesson?!"
"Honestly, all he has to do is get on my nerves." Ze Zenin stretched, then walked into the shade.
It was midsummer. Cicadas droned endlessly around Jujutsu High's sports field, and the sun blazed so fiercely that no one could close their eyes.
Satoru Gojo hurriedly laughed it off and casually changed the subject:
"Are only us second-years here today? Where are the first-years?"
"Over here!"
The enthusiastic Yu Haibara immediately ran over, but he didn't speak to Satoru Gojo:
"Are you Geto-senpai? You're my idol!"
"Ahahahaha, you're too kind, you're too kind..."
Satoru Gojo suddenly realized that Yu Haibara wasn't talking to him. His mouth twitched, and he felt as though his sincerity had been betrayed.
"You piece of scum, hahahaha..." Utahime mocked Satoru Gojo mercilessly.
"I've had my moments of glory, unlike little Utahime!" Satoru Gojo shot back.
Suguru Geto stared blankly at his best friend without saying a word. There was no telling what he was thinking.
"Utahime-senpai~ Who's coming from your school for the event this time?"
Shoko sidled up to Utahime, looking so sweet and adorable that Utahime lost all interest in cursing Satoru Gojo.
Utahime thought for a moment, then said:
"I remember there's someone from the Zenin Clan... and another from the Kamo Clan. I don't think any of the others are particularly strong."
After Utahime finished, Shoko turned and winked at Ze Zenin, as if to say-
"I helped gather some intel. How did I do?"
Ze Zenin smiled at Shoko's little gesture and winked back.
Who's that guy from the Zenin Clan?
How come I didn't know someone else from our clan had secretly enrolled at Jujutsu High?
As he pondered this, a group approached from nearby.
At their head was a hunched little old man carrying a strange black case on his back.
Beside him was someone with a braid at his temple, dressed in traditional clothing.
The other was an old acquaintance of Ze Zenin's-Naoya Zenin.
"Naoya? Why are you here too?"
Ze Zenin gave Naoya Zenin a puzzled look. "What are you doing at Kyoto Jujutsu High?"
Naoya smiled amiably. "Training at home was too boring. Then I remembered that you were at Jujutsu High too, cousin, so I went to school in Kyoto."
"Then you'd better pray you don't face me in the matches." Ze Zenin glanced casually at Naoya Zenin, then closed his eyes.
"Come on... cousin!"
Yoshinobu Gakuganji walked over. First, he glared at Utahime and snapped:
"Don't walk so fast next time! Breaking away from the group-what kind of behavior is that?!"
Utahime smiled awkwardly without answering Gakuganji's reprimand.
Then Gakuganji approached Ze Zenin. "Has Masamichi Yaga not come? Is he afraid to face me?"
"That's not it..."
Ze Zenin was about to explain, but Satoru Gojo jumped into the conversation:
"Our teacher's away on business. Besides... after today's matches, we'll see who's afraid of whom, won't we?"
"You..."
Gakuganji felt as though his heart might give out from anger. Telling himself not to quarrel with youngsters, he snorted and walked away.
Ze Zenin: "..."
Ze Zenin realized that, apart from himself, whom Satoru Gojo couldn't outargue, everyone else seemed to be left speechless whenever Gojo opened his mouth.
"Wait..." Satoru Gojo called after Gakuganji.
"What? Do you want to anger me some more?" Gakuganji asked, trembling all over.
"Not at all..." Satoru Gojo smiled sheepishly. "I just wanted to go over the rules."
"We'll draw lots to decide the matchups, with one point per match. Best two out of three wins. How does that sound?"
"Then that's what we'll do."
Gakuganji spoke flatly. He didn't want to exchange another word with Satoru Gojo, for fear of being provoked into a heart attack.
"That little old man is so petty..." Satoru Gojo muttered, curling his lip.
Gakuganji, who happened to hear him: "..."
Ze Zenin, standing beside Satoru Gojo: "..."
Ze Zenin looked at Satoru Gojo with the concern of an elder and said earnestly:
"You should be grateful the world isn't full of Ze Zenins. Otherwise, that mouth of yours would definitely get torn apart."
"Hahahaha, what are you talking about, Ze?"
Satoru Gojo laughed. "That could never happen!"
The two sides then drew lots. Ze Zenin would fight in the first match, and his opponent was...
Kamo Sheng of the Kamo Clan!
Before you continue