Taking action

Before long, the group arrived in front of an apartment building that looked as though it had been abandoned for years.

"This is the place."

"There's a Large Cemetery nearby, and with this abandoned building here too, a curse formed!"

Megumi Fushiguro began explaining the place to everyone.

After hearing him, Yuji Itadori immediately asked in confusion:

"Wouldn't curses be more likely to appear in the cemetery?"

"The problem isn't the cemetery itself, but the minds of people who think cemeteries are scary! You don't even know that?"

Eager to show off her knowledge in front of Yuanfang, Nobara Kugisaki hurried to explain it to Yuji Itadori.

At the same time, she was baffled that Yuji Itadori didn't even know such basic facts.

"So that's how it works..."

Megumi Fushiguro had no choice but to explain Yuji Itadori's situation to Nobara Kugisaki.

"What? He swallowed a Special Grade Cursed Object! That's disgusting! That's terrifying! Yuanfang, let's stay away from him!"

Nobara Kugisaki could no longer maintain her ladylike demeanor and cried out in shock. At the same time, she clung to Yuanfang's arm and moved a little farther away from Yuji Itadori.

"Hey, you're not doing that on purpose just to get close to him, are you?"

Yuji Itadori couldn't shake the feeling that Nobara Kugisaki was putting on this act just to take advantage of Yuanfang.

"I think so too!" Megumi Fushiguro agreed with Yuji Itadori, a hint of disdain in his voice.

"All right, this test is meant to see what you can do. Kugisaki, Yuji, go exorcise the curses inside the building!"

Yuanfang smiled, unbothered by Nobara Kugisaki holding his arm, and gave them their assignment.

"Huh? Didn't you say curses can only be exorcised with curses? I don't know any jujutsu, so how am I supposed to do that?"

Yuji Itadori was thoroughly confused. How was he supposed to exorcise a curse as he was now?

"You're practically a curse yourself, with cursed energy inside you. But controlling cursed energy isn't something you can master easily! Use my Tang Dao!"

With that, Yuanfang handed Yuji Itadori the Tang Dao he had been carrying at his side.

He generally didn't like using the blade. He only carried it around for show.

"This weapon contains cursed energy, so it works against curses too."

Yuji Itadori took the Tang Dao, overjoyed, and immediately drew it to examine the blade closely.

"Damn it, he actually got the prized blade Yuanfang carries on him!"

Nobara Kugisaki muttered unhappily beside them.

"All right, get going. Oh, and don't let Sukuna out!"

"Okay, got it! I won't let him out!"

Yuji Itadori started walking forward, then couldn't resist turning back to say:

"Hey, how long are you going to keep holding him?"

"None of your business!"

With that, Nobara Kugisaki reluctantly let go of Yuanfang's arm, feeling even more annoyed with Yuji Itadori.

After watching them go inside, Yuanfang raised the Curtain.

"Huh? What are you doing, Yuanfang?"

Megumi Fushiguro suddenly noticed Yuanfang slowly fading from view and asked in bewilderment.

"I'm going in with them, just in case. Stay here and keep watch!"

As his words faded, Yuanfang vanished completely.

"How on earth did he do that?"

Seeing this, Megumi Fushiguro finally understood how Yuanfang had suddenly appeared behind him before.

He was intensely curious about this ability. After all, Satoru Gojo could only move extremely fast; he couldn't disappear completely and become undetectable the way Yuanfang did.

Yuanfang couldn't care less what he was thinking. Once inside, he tracked down Nobara Kugisaki like a hunting dog and quietly followed behind her.

Of course, he wasn't following Nobara Kugisaki because she was wearing black stockings. The point was to prevent anything from going wrong because of his interference! If things didn't follow the original plot and she died here, that would be a disaster.

Before long, Nobara Kugisaki found the Doll Curse, just as she had in the original story.

She easily finished it off with two nails and also discovered the child behind the cabinet.

"All right, it's safe now. Come on out!"

The child trembled all over and shook his head, refusing to come out.

Nobara Kugisaki thought the child disliked her and felt deeply dejected. But before she could dwell on it, a hand reached out of the wall.

A whiskered, frog-like curse grabbed the child and pulled him in front of itself, pressing its sharp nails against his neck to threaten Nobara Kugisaki.

"Damn it, damn it! This curse is nothing special, but it's actually using a person as a hostage! That's despicable!"

The curse's intelligence shocked her. For a moment, she didn't know what to do, and anger erupted inside her like a volcano!

After thinking for a moment, she ultimately chose the most irrational course of action.

She discarded her weapon and raised both hands, hoping the cursed spirit would spare the child.

Unfortunately, the cursed spirit didn't do as she wished. It lifted the child and instantly charged at her. Its sharp black claws shot toward her chest like lightning.

Nobara Kugisaki closed her eyes in bitter resignation.

Boom!

An explosive crash rang out. Realizing that she didn't seem to have been hit, Nobara Kugisaki couldn't help opening her eyes.

Beside her stood a smiling man with his right fist raised. His punch had blasted away most of the cursed spirit's body like a cannonball.

"That wasn't quite a passing grade!"

Yuanfang turned his head and said it with a faint smile.

He silently congratulated himself for coming inside. Otherwise, the plot would have veered off its intended course.

Then the story would have become a runaway horse, making it hard for him to predict what came next and extremely difficult to carry out his plans!

"Yuanfang, what are you doing here?"

Nobara Kugisaki's face lit up with delighted surprise, and her confidence in her own judgment grew.

She had known that a man with this kind of big-brother personality would care more about others and think things through more carefully. He would never let anyone he cared about fall into danger.

"I was worried about you two, so I followed you in! All right, let's head outside!"

With that, Yuanfang picked up the child lying on the floor and strode outside.

They only ran into Yuji Itadori on the stairs. He seemed to be doing all right.

"I'll take the child home. You three head back and get some rest!"

After rejoining Megumi Fushiguro, Yuanfang gave them those instructions and left with the child without waiting for a reply.

"Nothing's wrong, is it?"

Seeing Nobara Kugisaki staring blankly at Yuanfang's retreating back, Megumi Fushiguro asked in concern.

"No, nothing. By the way, does Yuanfang have a girlfriend?"

Nobara Kugisaki shook her head to show that she was fine, then changed the subject and asked curiously.

Megumi Fushiguro was somewhat speechless, wondering whether this girl was simply boy-crazy.

"Hey, you haven't actually fallen for him, have you? It's only your first day! Is he really that charming?"

Yuji Itadori, who had never had any luck with girls, was deeply unconvinced.