Mai

"Ring, ring..."

But just then, her phone suddenly rang!

She stopped in her tracks and answered it, looking a little annoyed.

There was no telling what she discussed with the person on the other end, but by the time the call ended, the smile had returned to her face!

"Sorry, your big sister can't keep you company anymore. Have fun without me. I've got a job, so I'm heading off!"

The higher-ups had just assigned her to keep an eye on a Curse User, with double the pay!

Of course, she wasn't about to pass up such easy money, so she accepted.

Whether Mei Mei stayed or not didn't matter much to Yuanfang, so he didn't mind her leaving.

He took Maki toward the areas with more Cursed Spirits.

Out of everyone's sight, Yuanfang's domain had now become a circle fifteen meters in diameter, rapidly absorbing the surrounding cursed energy.

It had grown by five meters in such a short time because Yuanfang had set aside strengthening himself and put his cursed energy into expanding his domain first.

"Even though I've suppressed them, you still need to be careful. Don't get too far away from me!"

Watching Maki charge excitedly toward the Cursed Spirits, Yuanfang couldn't help reminding her.

He didn't want the Sorcerer Killer to die here before she had even reached her full potential.

"Quit nagging. I know!"

Despite saying that, she didn't stop and charged toward the Cursed Spirits ahead.

These scraps wouldn't scare me even if they used their Cursed Techniques.

Yuanfang shook his head helplessly and followed behind her, blasting Cursed Spirits apart with punch after punch.

With so many Cursed Spirits around, Yuanfang's domain slowly expanded at a visible rate.

While Yuanfang was growing stronger, the original story's "true love versus duty" plot was also playing out at Jujutsu High.

Only this time, Maki wasn't there.

"Twenty meters. Not bad, but still not enough!"

Seeing his domain expand to twenty meters in diameter left Yuanfang far from satisfied, because his target this time was forty meters!

Otherwise, carrying out his next plan would be difficult.

"Hey, what are you muttering about?"

After finishing off a Cursed Spirit, Maki saw the rare change in Yuanfang's expression and wanted to know what had happened.

"Nothing. Let's keep going!"

"Yeah, let's keep going!"

Although Maki had already burned through most of her stamina and was almost running on empty, she had no intention of stopping.

Every fight made her feel that she was getting a little stronger.

Meanwhile, some distance away from them...

"Mai, isn't that your sister?"

A girl with sky-blue hair and a katana spoke to the girl beside her, who had short hair, held a handgun, and looked somewhat like Maki.

"She's so weak, yet she dares to take on such a dangerous mission. She's asking to die!"

Mai's face was full of scorn, but a closer look would reveal a trace of worry in her eyes.

"Who's that guy beside her? He looks pretty strong!"

Watching Yuanfang blow apart a Cursed Spirit with one clean punch, Kasumi Miwa grew curious about who he was.

Of course, it wasn't because Yuanfang was handsome or because that gentle smile on his lips had caught her eye.

"He looks like Todo, another guy who's good at hand-to-hand combat. Come on, let's go see my useless sister!"

Mai noticed Maki panting heavily, looking as though her stamina was failing.

She wanted to go over, see how pathetic her sister looked, and mock her a little.

"..."

Behind her, Kasumi Miwa wanted to say that this probably wasn't a good idea, but ultimately decided not to speak.

She knew enough about the relationship between Mai and Maki to understand that trying to persuade her would be pointless.

"Rest here for a bit. Leave the Cursed Spirits around us to me!"

Yuanfang had also noticed that Maki was running out of stamina and urged her to take a break.

"All right!"

Looking at Yuanfang, who still seemed full of energy, Maki felt reluctant, but agreed anyway.

She wasn't the kind of woman who stubbornly pushed on despite knowing she couldn't manage, only to cause trouble for others.

"Oh, Maki, worn out already? Looks like you're still weak!"

The instant Maki sat down, Mai's mocking voice came from behind her.

Maki frowned and glanced at her, then paid her little further attention and continued recovering her stamina.

She did, however, nod in greeting to Kasumi Miwa, who was waving at her from behind Mai.

Yuanfang heard them too, but ignored them for now, intending to finish clearing out the nearby Cursed Spirits first.

"Hmph, don't even have the strength to talk anymore?"

Seeing Maki ignore her only made Mai angrier.

"..."

At that moment, Maki dearly wished she could have the obedient little sister from her childhood back.

"Hello, I'm Yuanfang, a Grade 4 Sorcerer!"

Having cleared out the surrounding Cursed Spirits, Yuanfang greeted the two girls with his customary smile!

Mai had intended to ignore Yuanfang and continue mocking Maki, but the words "Grade 4 Sorcerer" made her turn toward him.

She could hardly believe her ears.

"You're so strong. How could you be a Grade 4 Sorcerer?"

Kasumi Miwa was equally puzzled. How could Yuanfang only be Grade 4?

The fight they had just witnessed made it obvious that he was much stronger than they were.

Someone like that couldn't possibly be Grade 4. Had the higher-ups made a mistake?

"That's right. Since they can't detect my cursed energy, they only gave me Grade 4!"

Yuanfang had no interest in pretending to be weak to catch people off guard, but unfortunately, the old fossils at Jujutsu High were far too rigid.

Anyone with eyes could see that he was strong enough to earn Grade 2 or higher.

Yet simply because they couldn't measure the strength of his cursed energy, they had refused to give him a higher grade.

Now that Yuanfang mentioned it, the two girls noticed something strange.

Despite standing so close, they couldn't sense even the slightest fluctuation of cursed energy from him.

It made them even more curious about how he did it.

Boom!

Suddenly, a huge Cursed Spirit began wreaking havoc nearby, and Yuanfang stopped chatting with them!

"I'll go deal with it. Please look after Maki for me!"

"I'm not..."

Without waiting for either girl's agreement, Yuanfang vanished in a few leaps.

The words on the tip of Mai's tongue were left hanging, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.

Kasumi Miwa walked over to Maki and started chatting with her!

She wanted to find out from Maki what sort of person that handsome young man was.

Maki didn't shut her out and answered every question.

That left Mai standing some distance away, unsure what to do.

After thinking for a moment, she walked over to them anyway.

Maki was a little surprised to see that her sister hadn't left and was coming over to them instead.

As though afraid Maki might get the wrong idea, Mai immediately said with some impatience:

"Don't get any ideas. I just didn't turn down his request, so I couldn't exactly leave!"