Yuta Okkotsu

In November 2016, a boy named Yuta Okkotsu crippled four students at an ordinary technical college. While being bullied, he had unconsciously triggered the cursed spirit haunting him to attack ordinary people with a curse.

He apparently called this entity [Rika]. The cursed spirit had no special cursed technique or domain, but possessed an utterly terrifying reserve of cursed energy.

Moreover, her cursed energy regenerated almost as quickly as she used it. She was practically an inexhaustible curse!

After deliberating, the higher-ups classified her as a special grade cursed spirit.

And sentenced Yuta Okkotsu to death...

At least, that was how it should have gone...

Satoru Gojo: Bullshit. This kid's a prime prospect! Mine, all mine!

Then, right in front of all the Jujutsu Higher-Ups, that white-haired bastard announced on the spot that Yuta Okkotsu would come under Jujutsu High's supervision.

And so~

"Wow, what's this little thing?" Satoru Gojo held a peculiar little gadget between two fingers. It had clearly been bent and mangled by tremendous force, and someone had even thoughtfully tied it into a knot... Was it a knife?

The little lump of iron, which no longer resembled a knife, reflected an eerie sheen as Satoru Gojo fiddled with it. Still, it wasn't nearly as eerie as his smile.

Directly opposite Satoru Gojo, a kid curled up on a chair with a lifeless expression. "I tried to kill myself... But I was stopped. By Rika..."

Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips, silently griping about the boy's gloominess.

With a clang, he casually tossed the knotted knife aside. It hit the floor and bounced off somewhere.

Then Satoru Gojo delivered Yuta Okkotsu's final verdict. "Starting today, you'll be under Jujutsu High's supervision. There are plenty of new classmates there, and new..."

"I'm not going."

Interrupted, Satoru Gojo fell quiet and waited for the boy to tell him what he was thinking.

These days, he was more willing to listen to what others had on their minds, and wanted to understand their suffering a little better.

Ten years had passed. He was no longer the spirited youth he had once been. Now he had become a teacher at Jujutsu High, something like a [teenage babysitter].

So mental health mattered too. He would listen.

"I don't want to hurt anyone else. I'm not going anywhere..."

The boy had given up on himself, describing the disasters his power had brought about. It also showed just how deeply the burden he carried had affected him.

A curse...

Satoru Gojo watched the boy before him. With his six eyes, he knew who had caused the curse haunting him, but seeing such a young boy endure so much without knowing why...

That was precisely why he didn't like babysitting kids.

He sighed. "You'll be lonely on your own, you know. If you use the curse you carry properly, it can also become a power that helps others."

"Come to Jujutsu High. Learn how to control your power."

"If you really want to abandon everything, you can decide that after you've given it your all."

Early the next morning, Yuta Okkotsu woke to his alarm. All the setbacks he had suffered had left him exhausted, and his sleep was atrocious.

He climbed out of bed with dark circles under both eyes and his shoulders slumped, looking just like a ghost wandering the world.

Taking in the unfamiliar surroundings, he instinctively looked around. Only after a while did he remember that the man named Satoru Gojo had coaxed him into coming here.

Head lowered, he slowly shook off his drowsiness, dressed, and washed up...

This was a separate courtyard inside Jujutsu High, not a dormitory. Apparently, they had isolated him out of fear that Rika, who accompanied him, might lose control. There was only one bald attendant in the spacious courtyard.

The attendant prepared breakfast for Yuta Okkotsu, then personally escorted him to the gate.

The two said goodbye. On his way to school, Okkotsu met Satoru Gojo, who had been waiting for some time. Seeing the man smiling and waving at him, he still couldn't quite get used to him.

Out of politeness, he bowed in greeting, then walked alongside him.

Satoru Gojo strode along with his hands behind his back, perfectly at ease. He barely spoke to the boy, simply baring his teeth in a goofy grin.

Until...

"Now! Allow me to formally introduce our new transfer student!"

Satoru Gojo instantly showed his true colors, flailing around like a shaman performing a ritual, flecks of spit flying from his mouth in his excitement.

"Everyone, give him a big round of applause!"

Silence...

The three students below looked thoroughly unimpressed. Some did him the courtesy of watching their teacher's performance as though he were a monkey.

Another simply crossed her legs and looked away, treating this as a time-wasting formality.

Seeing his ungrateful students ignore him, Satoru Gojo felt twice as wounded as any reasonable person could, muttering about their coldness.

"Show a little enthusiasm~"

All three were currently first-years: Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, and Panda, the ultimate three-in-one furry.

The three had heard rumors about Yuta Okkotsu beforehand. After learning that he had stuffed four people into a locker like compressed files before enrolling, they unanimously concluded that this guy was no ordinary student. He had to be an arrogant bully!

Of them all, Maki was the most disdainful.

"I'm not cheering for some arrogant scumbag. Gross."

Looking at the students he had raised, Satoru Gojo could only sigh inwardly. What went around came around. Was this the kind of little demon Masamichi Yaga had dealt with back then?

He sighed, silently gave himself a thumbs-up for being a teenage babysitter, then spread his hands.

"Whatever. Come on in, my Pokémon."

Outside the door, Okkotsu had already been feeling awkward about the atmosphere. Hearing that made him question even more whether enrolling had been the right choice.

Sigh... I'm already here.

He slid the door open and awkwardly walked into the classroom...

Tap...

In an instant, the students who had intended to ignore him to the bitter end could no longer remain spectators.

It was cursed energy!

So dense that it felt like being at the bottom of the ocean. Suffocating. Oppressive!

Tap...

Everyone stared fixedly at that almost frail figure, their thoughts churning far more violently than their grave expressions suggested!

Tap!

He stepped onto the platform and stood beside Satoru Gojo. That immense, unconcealed cursed energy bore down on them like a mountain, as though it would crush them flat against the floor!

And behind him...

Was a cursed spirit!

Shing!

"My name is Yuta Okko... Eek!"

Before Yuta Okkotsu could finish introducing himself, a sudden flash interrupted him. It was sunlight reflecting off a blade-and danger planted right beside his head.

"Hey, what's your deal? Is this a test? Or are you picking a fight?"

Maki Zenin was the one demanding answers, her pretty face glaring straight at the innocent-looking boy drenched in cold sweat.

Beside her stood Toge Inumaki, ready to act, and Panda, whose fist was already right up close.

Yuta Okkotsu was feeling the pressure. Why was he getting bullied at school again?!

Only then did Satoru Gojo finally tell the unfortunate boy what this school was for.

Teaching students to exorcise cursed spirits, dispel curses, and find and seal cursed tools-that was Jujutsu High.

[Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu Technical College!]

Yuta Okkotsu: ...

Maki Zenin: ...

Toge Inumaki: ...

Panda: ...

Why hadn't he said that earlier? Why tell them only now?

Satoru Gojo, on the other hand, showed absolutely no awareness that he had done anything wrong. Faced with students so speechless they wanted to swear at him, he simply raised his hands.

Sorry, my bad~

That was it.

Ah... Well, not quite. Afterward, Satoru Gojo did tell the kids to stay away from Yuta Okkotsu.

But again, he hadn't said it soon enough...

A few minutes later, Rika settled down.

Panda and Inumaki were the worst off-one lacked stamina, while the other was weak at hand-to-hand combat. Maki, the most physically skilled, had suffered the least, but all of them were injured and bedraggled.

"Ah~ To put it simply, this young fellow is an unlucky kid who's been cursed. If you attack him without permission, [Rika] will consider you an enemy."

The unreliable adult scumbag grinned, admiring his students' sorry state while formally introducing Yuta Okkotsu.

I feel like this is all this adult's fault...

That was what Yuta Okkotsu thought, already beginning to distrust this teacher.

"Oh, right. This is Maki Zenin, this is Toge Inumaki, and this is Panda. Now that you're acquainted, shake hands~"

He hadn't explained the part they were most concerned about!

Well, that settled it. Yuta Okkotsu was now absolutely certain that the man before him was unreliable.

Inside an elementary school, Satoru Gojo strolled leisurely with his hands still behind his back. Classes had been suspended, and the school had been forced to close.

"My, my. What a lovely place, full of memories. Don't you think?"

Maki Zenin: ... (Her family had looked down on her, and she'd never attended school.)

Yuta Okkotsu: ... (He'd been bullied right up until now.)

"You guys have no appreciation for the mood... Whatever. Your assignment is to find two kids. Bring them back alive, or bring back their bodies. Other than that, have fun catching cursed spirits."

Satoru Gojo waved a hand and immediately retreated. Before leaving, he showed off by dropping a Curtain, then made his escape, leaving the young pair speechless...

"That white-haired idiot!" A vein bulged on Maki Zenin's forehead as she cursed angrily, giving the nice little Okkotsu quite a fright.

And so the two abandoned students began their mission for the day...

Satoru Gojo watched what was happening inside from outside the Curtain. His partly loosened eye bandages revealed one eye, light shifting within it. He had already activated his six eyes.

He claimed not to care and looked casual, but in truth, he valued his students more than anyone.

Yet even while concentrating so intently, he suddenly opened his mouth and offered a smiling greeting.

"Well, what a rare visitor. If it isn't our very busy man. How'd you find time to watch me teach the kids?"

He turned to look at the newcomer.

A black trench coat wrapped his upper body, though its collar hung wide open, partially revealing the close-fitting combat suit underneath. It was also jet-black and outlined his sharply defined chest muscles.

His trousers, by contrast, were loose, their cuffs tucked into a pair of boots. Quite a few lingering bloodstains marked the boots, the sole blemish on his outfit.

That looks hot.

That was Satoru Gojo's thought as his gaze slowly moved to the spiky-haired man.

"Asahi, long time no see."

The newcomer was Kamo Xu. He was back on his feet now, with Reverse Cursed Technique running around the clock to restore his brain. The dead brain cells were gradually being replaced.

Three years earlier, his brain's signals had resumed transmission. When they traveled down his nerves to his legs, he sprang to his feet. At long last, he felt solid ground beneath them again, but he had no time to celebrate.

After spending a few days adjusting, he went straight to Masamichi Yaga, who had already been promoted to principal, and asked to take on most of the cursed spirit exorcism assignments.

From that day onward, Satoru Gojo's workload eased considerably. Meanwhile, a blood-red figure began appearing throughout Japan.

Kamo Xu slaughtered cursed spirits across the country, even crushing three special grade cursed spirits to death with his own hands.

As for Jujutsu High, he had returned only twice in three years.

The first time, his assignment happened to overlap with Satoru Gojo's. That guy had dragged him back to school and forced him to share a meal.

The second time was now.

"Long time no see, Satoru. You're as unreliable as ever."

"Thank you for the compliment. For Mr. Cursed Spirit Killer to keep little old me in mind-what an honor."

Kamo Xu smiled, walked over to Satoru Gojo, and leaned against the black sedan with him to watch the carnage before them.

At that moment, Rika was tearing a cursed spirit apart with her bare hands. Satoru Gojo watched with great interest.

"Wow, what a spectacle~" Satoru Gojo said. "Asahi, she's giving you a run for your money."

Kamo Xu said nothing. He never gave cursed spirits a chance to destroy buildings.

Because he destroyed the buildings first!

Whatever he ran into, he opened with a Maximum Technique.

After all, he had learned Reverse Cursed Technique now. Blood was no longer in short supply.

Unfortunately, the total amount of his soul remained the same. It didn't increase along with his blood.

But once, when he encountered a cursed spirit that targeted souls, most of the soul fused with his blood had been extracted and swallowed. The blood generated by Reverse Cursed Technique had actually replenished the missing soul automatically.

That had been quite a pleasant surprise.

Ever since then, he had stopped worrying about his blood entirely. He opened every encounter with Piercing Blood, followed by Red Emperor Blue Star.

If he was lucky, Piercing Blood alone finished off the cursed spirit. If he wasn't...

He blew away the cursed spirit and the building together!

Back to the matter at hand, Yuta Okkotsu had brought out his future wife along with the two children. Satoru Gojo couldn't help praising him. "Nicely done."

Kamo Xu, meanwhile, carefully studied the kid who might kill his friend.

Yuta Okkotsu... And the special grade cursed spirit Rika Orimoto.

They were Suguru Geto's primary targets...

Yes, the reason Kamo Xu was slaughtering cursed spirits so frantically now was to prevent Suguru Geto, that Pokémon master, from collecting too many of them.

Kamo Xu didn't want his old friend to launch the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, not even on the smallest scale. After thinking it through, he promptly decided: wouldn't killing all those cursed spirits solve the problem?

How the hell could he launch a Night Parade of a Hundred Demons without cursed spirits?

So those brainless things were the ones suffering for it.

As for Rika...

Kamo Xu looked at the monster dismembering the other cursed spirits, his gaze turning cold.

Especially with that scarlet gleam in his pupils, it was obvious-he intended to kill.

He and Yuta Okkotsu did not know each other yet, so killing him would leave him with no guilt. And beating Rika was not entirely impossible, either.

As long as...

"Asahi~" Satoru Gojo held out a hand, blocking his line of sight.

"You can't treat my student like that."

"You really do look after your own. Don't worry, I won't make a move for now."

Satoru Gojo did not lower his hand. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Kamo Xu and spoke seriously, enunciating every word.

"Promise me you won't hurt him."

Only then did Kamo Xu look away. He closed his eyes and smiled. "Fine... I promise I won't lay a hand on the special grade cursed spirit-[Rika Orimoto]."

The binding vow was established. Whoever broke it would be punished.