Jujutsu Headquarters' Scheme

Before we parted, I gave Suguru Geto my contact information, and we agreed on a time for our next meeting.

After that, I went to the counter and bought a strawberry parfait with plenty of extra sugar as Satoru Gojo had requested. Then I contacted the Zenin Clan and waited for the car to pull up outside the dessert shop.

An attendant opened the door, and I got into the car. Watching Tokyo's bustling streets through the window, I sank into thought.

Something was wrong with today's mission.

I hadn't thought so at first, but there were far too many coincidences.

Why had such a serious oversight occurred on the very first high-level mission the Zenin Clan's Ten Shadows Technique user accepted from Jujutsu Headquarters?

First, there was a grade one cursed spirit whose strength approached special grade, and that very cursed spirit happened to possess a special domain that only special grade cursed spirits could deploy.

And the three students who had wandered into the domain and been missing for an entire day and night were somehow still alive. One of them was even a young jujutsu sorcerer who had awakened his cursed technique...

None of this had been mentioned in the information Jujutsu Headquarters provided.

If not for Rabbit Escape's ability to eavesdrop, she might have ended up bearing responsibility for three deaths because of her own "reckless" actions-including the death of a jujutsu sorcerer.

Although her backing from the Zenin Clan meant she certainly wouldn't face any serious consequences, that would still have given Jujutsu Headquarters enough ammunition to constrain her and exert influence over her.

What a... clever scheme.

Once I returned to the Zenin Clan, I headed straight for my father-in-name's quarters.

Naobito Zenin said, "You're back, Kuang Wu. Your first high-level mission seems to have gone fairly smoothly?"

He hadn't expected his daughter to drop a bombshell on him out of nowhere.

"Father, Jujutsu Headquarters wants to kill me."

Naobito Zenin: !

Then I told him what had happened that day, embellishing the story just a little-well, pouring it on-and added at the end, "I almost didn't make it back."

Then I lowered my head, pretending to be upset, and stared at the tips of my shoes.

Although Naobito Zenin knew his daughter was putting on something of an act, he still felt that she had genuinely been wronged. He crouched down, patted her head, and promised, "I understand. The Zenin Clan will handle this."

Then he convened a meeting of the Zenin Clan's senior leadership that very night.

After the meeting ended, without even waiting until the next day, the Rabbit Escape rabbit I sent out on its daily stroll overheard the Third Elder and Fourth Elder storming out with a large group of jujutsu sorcerers.

So I had that rabbit quietly slip into the Third Elder's shadow.

After several long hours of travel, I finally heard what I wanted.

-The Third Elder and Fourth Elder were absolutely furious this time. They immediately launched into a blistering tirade against the higher-ups at Jujutsu Headquarters, abandoning every scrap of their usual dignified composure. It was downright astonishing.

At first, Jujutsu Headquarters stubbornly denied everything, repeatedly accusing the Zenin Clan of making baseless accusations against innocent people. Then the Zenin Clan held up the mission information Headquarters had originally provided and slammed it onto the table with a bang.

A brief silence followed.

The evidence was irrefutable. Jujutsu Headquarters finally admitted that they had been "careless and overlooked it, but it absolutely wasn't intentional," then surrendered a considerable share of their interests.

The next morning, Jujutsu Headquarters made an outward show of great sincerity, sending two higher-ups to the Zenin Clan bright and early to apologize... except that they asked to see my father-in-name.

When Naobito Zenin received word that the higher-ups from Jujutsu Headquarters had brought gifts to make amends, he narrowed his eyes and leisurely took a sip of tea.

He neither agreed nor refused to see them, merely instructing a servant, "Go fetch Kuang Wu."

Only after I was seated beside my father-in-name did he casually say, "Our guests from Jujutsu Headquarters must be getting impatient. Have them come over, then."

He struck just the right pose.

And however displeased those higher-ups from Jujutsu Headquarters might have been, they could only put up with it, since they were the ones at fault.

"Clan Head Zenin," the higher-up leading them began. "Miss Zenin's mission was an oversight on the part of Jujutsu Headquarters. We deeply regret it. We offer five grade one cursed tools and one special grade cursed tool as compensation, and ask that you bear us no ill will."

Naobito Zenin remained perfectly composed, smiling with utmost friendliness. "Not at all, not at all. Everyone makes mistakes, after all. They're unavoidable. But this was my daughter's very first high-level mission, and she is still quite upset."

My father-in-name really did know how to handle things.

The faces of the people from Jujutsu Headquarters darkened.

-Did Naobito Zenin actually expect them to bow their heads and apologize to some wet-behind-the-ears little girl?

The atmosphere froze for a moment.

Seeing their faces turn livid put me in an excellent mood. I said pointedly, "What? Is apologizing to me beneath you? Don't forget, I haven't settled accounts with you over Suguru Geto yet."

What had happened to Suguru Geto gave me the perfect pretext to go after them.

"How did you kno-"

"Sato!" Their leader cut him off, then finally bowed to me with a look of stifled indignation. "Young Master Zenin, the fault with your mission was ours. Please let bygones be bygones and forgive our mistake. We guarantee that nothing like this will ever happen again!"

Their behavior left me considerably more satisfied, but it also confirmed something.

-Sure enough, Suguru Geto's encounter with that cursed spirit hadn't been a mere accident.