A squishy summoner

Whatever I thought of Satoru Gojo's challenge, the old fossils seemed delighted by it.

In the time it took me to doze off in a lounge chair, word had already reached the elders.

The Seventh Elder hurried over and said with a genial smile, "Then allow this old man to serve as witness."

As though he was afraid Satoru would back out on the spot.

...Wait, was no one going to speak up for me?

The Seventh Elder turned to me and said pointedly, "Miss Kuang Wu, as the young heir of the Zenin Clan, you must obey the clan's orders."

Me: ?

"An... order from Father?" I couldn't believe it. Wasn't he supposed to have all sorts of things to deal with now that he was clan head?

-Why did he have to meddle in something this trivial, too!

"This is indeed your father's order, and of course, the result of unanimous deliberation among the elders."

The elders had wanted to know the answer to this question for a long time.

Which was stronger-their clan's Ten Shadows Technique or the Gojo Clan's Six Eyes?

The Six Eyes and the Ten Shadows Technique were said to arise together, but which was stronger had remained an unsolved mystery throughout history.

The only exception was a duel before the sovereign five hundred years ago, when the wielders of the Six Eyes and the Ten Shadows Technique had killed each other, ending in a draw.

Seven years ago, when they learned that a child with the Six Eyes had been born into the Gojo Clan, the Zenin Clan had sunk into gloom, convinced they would spend the future beneath the Gojo Clan's heel. Fortunately, Miss Kuang Wu had awakened her Cursed Technique.

What was more, Miss Kuang Wu's cursed energy was the strongest of any wielder in history. They didn't believe she would lose to Satoru Gojo.

Even if she lost, it wouldn't matter. Miss Kuang Wu had only recently awakened her jujutsu abilities, and she was a year younger than Satoru Gojo besides. It would simply be a matter of insufficient experience.

There was another reason, too, born of the Seventh Elder's own agenda-

After all, he had spent the most time with Miss Kuang Wu and knew better than anyone how lazy she was.

Outside the missions and lessons the clan required of her, the little girl acted as though all her strength had suddenly been drained away. She would never sit if she could lie down, and she refused to do even the tiniest bit of extra training on her own.

Now that such a perfect opportunity had come along, with the Six Eyes himself issuing a challenge, how could they not seize it?

The Zenin Clan's swordsmanship training grounds.

We had agreed to compete in hand-to-hand combat.

The Seventh Elder had cleared the place out beforehand, leaving only a ring of guards around the perimeter. I changed into my usual training clothes and pulled a sharp, long sword from my shadow.

This Special Grade Cursed Tool came from my bargain-bin father's private collection. Its name was Hidden Light.

My bargain-bin father must have really loved that sword, because the reluctant look on his face when I took it was hilarious.

Satoru Gojo had come fully prepared, with a sword of his own.

The moment the elder called for us to begin, he charged straight at me like a blade drawn from its sheath, his expression brimming with confidence and arrogance.

At that moment, his eyes were especially beautiful, startlingly bright.

I hurriedly raised my sword to block and stepped in to meet him-I had thought I could easily fend off the strike, but I hadn't expected him to be so strong.

As I'd mentioned before, I was lazy.

Naturally, there was no way I would take it upon myself to train in hand-to-hand combat.

In the internet slang of my previous life, I was nothing more than a frail, squishy summoner.

So when he sent my sword flying after we had fought for only a short while, I wasn't surprised at all.

Satoru Gojo tossed his sword to a guard, immediately losing interest. "Boring..."

Then, as though something had occurred to him, he suddenly asked me with great enthusiasm, "I heard you take hand-to-hand combat lessons... How did you manage to study for so long and still be this weak? Is there some secret to it?"

Me: "..."

He always knew exactly how to get me riled up.

Looking at his face, which held no hint of mockery and seemed merely curious, I smiled faintly. "Satoru Gojo, let's have a jujutsu match."