Dancing on Their Bottom Line

I admitted it: I had indeed entertained the idea of taking his eyes.

But I really hadn't meant to say that out loud.

After all, asking someone for their eyes while they were still alive and well was awfully presumptuous.

Yet in that instant, my mind went completely blank, and I couldn't see anything but those eyes.

It happened so suddenly. My mouth seemed to slip out of my control and blurt out exactly what I was thinking.

I was a little embarrassed, too.

Fortunately, Satoru Gojo didn't seem to take it seriously. He even made a similar joke in return.

He had such high emotional intelligence. Clearly, he was an easygoing kid to get along with. (Not.)

The Zenin Clan's jujutsu sorcerers went out on a simple mission empty-handed and returned with one tiny wielder of the Ten Shadows Technique.

My father in name only had probably received word early, because not long after I returned to my courtyard, his new maid came to summon me.

I couldn't have been less willing.

But the maid forced me to comply by making it clear that if I didn't do as asked, she would stick to my side and refuse to leave.

...It felt like she'd pinpointed exactly what got under my skin.

All right, I really didn't like that kind of overly close contact.

The same gloomy, oppressive setting. The same people.

The only difference was that Naobito Zenin, who had only been able to sit off to the side last time, now occupied the seat of honor reserved for the clan head.

The moment the elders in the Reception Hall saw me arrive, they began pointing right at my nose and berating me in a frenzy.

"Kamu Zenin! How could you leave the Zenin Clan on your own without the clan's permission!"

"This is utterly disgraceful!"

"As the wielder of the Ten Shadows Technique, you should stay home and receive proper instruction!"

Those three sentences sent what little goodwill I had plunging into the negatives.

"So what?" I said.

The bunch of old fossils seemed to grow even angrier. The wrinkles on their aged faces deepened as they pointed at the girl before them who clearly didn't know her place, nearly choking with rage.

"You, you..."

"No respect for your betters... utterly absurd!"

No respect for my betters?

How strange.

"Aren't I the superior one here?"

Surely the jujutsu sorcerer who brought me back had already told them about the strength I'd displayed. Were they still refusing to face reality?

Perhaps my tone was too matter-of-fact. The elders' faces alternated between livid and pale. Several times, they tried to speak, only to stop, until they were finally too angry to get a word out.

...The logic was sound, but why did it feel so damn humiliating!

With an attitude this infuriating, how could they not wonder what she'd experienced while she was away...?

Wait, could it be... because she'd met the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes?!

Damn you, Gojo Clan!

It had to be because our Zenin Clan's Ten Shadows Technique was so powerful that she could handle a special grade mission alone shortly after awakening it. They were jealous!

So they'd encouraged the Six Eyes to lead our Ten Shadows wielder astray!

The Gojo Clan was truly despicable and shameless!

Actually, that was just my personality.

At first, I had no interest in the Zenin Clan-I even despised them-so I couldn't be bothered to make their lives difficult.

That didn't mean I was obedient.

After all, judging by what had happened to my parents and younger sister in my previous life, I really wasn't easy to get along with.

Perhaps because of my experiences at the orphanage, my personality was also a little twisted.

Of course, only a little.

Now I knew how the Zenin Clan felt about the Ten Shadows Technique, and I happened to have awakened their most revered jujutsu while embodying everything they were least willing to accept: a girl, born out of wedlock, with a lowborn mother...

It couldn't have been easier to guess how they would react.

With such perfect conditions already laid out for me, I'd be letting down my fun-loving heart if I didn't do something.

Watching those old Zenin fossils grit their teeth and accept it despite their obvious displeasure, I admitted... it felt pretty damn good.

So much so that I couldn't help taking things further and further, repeatedly tap-dancing all over their bottom line.

I'd skipped Etiquette Class a while ago, and now I'd run away from home. Their reactions were already this entertaining...

-Then what expressions would they make when I did something even worse in the future?

I was starting to look forward to it.