Enrollment (3)

Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High School.

This school and another in Kyoto were the only two educational institutions in Jujutsu Society. To the outside world, they were recognized as establishments for spreading a legitimate religion.

Here, the primary focus was learning about jujutsu, but Jujutsu Society existed within ordinary society, and jujutsu sorcerers could not afford to lose touch with it. They therefore also had to study a certain amount of mathematics, English, and other subjects.

Not much, though-only about two hours a day.

At that moment, in one of the school's classrooms, Masamichi Yaga sat in front of the blackboard, tapping away at it with a piece of chalk as he wrote and taught English.

He was their homeroom teacher, and teaching English was not part of his duties. The English teacher had simply had something come up, leaving Yaga to fill in temporarily.

"All right! Everyone, turn your English textbooks to page two. This sentence isn't difficult. The important thing is to identify its key point..."

But while he earnestly delivered his English lesson with chalk in hand, not a single student below was paying attention.

Suguru Geto had already mastered everything taught in a normal first year of high school. With his head lowered, he was reading a textbook he had bought himself to get ahead on the second-year material.

Satoru Gojo's lips moved as he blatantly let out an enormous yawn. He had not been sleepy to begin with, but the moment he heard those English sentences, he could barely keep his eyes open.

His lips shifted, and he brazenly opened his mouth wide for another yawn. At the sound, the chalk in Masamichi Yaga's hand involuntarily snapped with a crack!

Chinatsu was in much the same state. Although she had prepared herself mentally, the moment she entered this familiar yet unfamiliar classroom routine, her brows involuntarily drooped.

Dozing off in class had been a bad habit of Chinatsu's in her previous life, and its severity varied depending on the subject.

Among those subjects, English was the undisputed champion. Those strings of English words were like spells that tugged at her nerves.

No... no... no...

Stay awake!!!

Just as she was about to fall asleep, Chinatsu's will briefly triumphed over her drowsiness. She lowered her head and kept her breathing steady, adjusting her state.

After a small exhale, Chinatsu raised her head again and entered the "acting mode" she had once used to defeat several private tutors.

Suguru Geto and Shoko Ieiri, sitting on either side of her, both clearly sensed the sudden change in Chinatsu. Their eyes widened involuntarily.

Suguru Geto was particularly shocked. Having met Chinatsu several months ago, he knew exactly what kind of person she was.

Her whole demeanor changed... it was like she became someone else...

With that technique, history repeated itself, and Chinatsu successfully made it through class. Satoru Gojo, on the other hand, received one of Yaga's "iron fists of love" for sleeping in class, leaving him questioning his life for a moment. Even after class ended, he was still holding his head.

Had Yaga's fist bypassed Limitless Defense?

Not quite. The main reason was that using jujutsu at Jujutsu High was prohibited except under special circumstances. Besides, neither Chinatsu nor Satoru Gojo could yet maintain automatic defense twenty-four hours a day.

After class.

Chinatsu instantly dropped the act. Utterly exhausted, she slumped over her desk and let out a long breath.

Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko rose from their seats and gathered around Chinatsu to chat.

"Shoko! Shoko! Reverse Cursed Technique!!!"

Satoru Gojo spoke pitifully as he raised a finger and pointed to the spot on his head where Yaga had punched him.

With a smile, Shoko extended her palm toward it. Under the effects of Reverse Cursed Technique, the faint signs of a bump forming on Satoru Gojo's head vanished instantly.

So this is Reverse Cursed Technique...

Feeling the energy of the Reverse Cursed Technique Shoko was using on his head, Satoru Gojo could not help marveling at its power. Yet he still could not figure out how it actually worked.

After healing Satoru Gojo's head, Shoko let out a soft breath and gave her outstretched hand a slight shake.

Although Reverse Cursed Technique was powerful, it also consumed a great deal of cursed energy. At this point, neither Shoko's cursed energy reserves nor her precision in controlling it were particularly high.

In the future, she would be able to heal a whole crowd by herself. For now, however, she could only treat minor injuries, and even that was not especially easy.

She looked down at Chinatsu, who was still sprawled across her desk. The dangling earring on Chinatsu's right ear caught her attention.

"Chinatsu, your earring isn't just an ordinary accessory, is it?" Shoko asked curiously.

Only after hearing Shoko's question did Chinatsu slowly sit upright again. She instinctively reached up to touch the earring on her right ear, then nodded.

"Yeah, it's a cursed tool."

Cursed tools were a general category of weapons imbued with cursed energy or even cursed techniques. Like jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits, they followed a strict grading system. Using them properly could effectively increase a jujutsu sorcerer's strength.

The earring Chinatsu currently wore on her right ear was something the Gojo Clan's Elder had won at a Jujutsu Society auction a few years earlier.

Chinatsu had initially refused it, but the Elder had pestered her relentlessly. In the end, she had accepted the cursed tool and put it on her right ear.

If Shoko had not just asked about it, however, Chinatsu herself would almost have forgotten she was wearing it.

Once Suguru Geto and Shoko heard that the earring really was a cursed tool, their interest was piqued, and both stared intently at it.

Not wanting to deal with the hassle, Chinatsu removed the earring and simply placed it on her desk, letting them examine it as they pleased.

"If you concentrate, you can definitely sense cursed energy in it, but it's so faint..."

"If the cursed energy is that faint, then it must have some really powerful cursed technique imbued in it, right?"

Suguru Geto and Shoko examined the earring carefully, until Shoko suddenly had a flash of inspiration and asked another question.

"Chinatsu, how expensive was this cursed tool?!"

"It wasn't that expensive, I think. It was something like..."

Chinatsu lowered her head, searching her memory. Since the Elder had bought it for her, she had no direct recollection of its price, but she vaguely remembered him mentioning it once.

After a dozen or so seconds, Chinatsu slowly raised her head from her contemplation, her arms folded across her chest. When she spoke, her tone still carried a hint of uncertainty.

"I don't remember the exact amount, but I'm pretty sure the unit at the end was [hundred million]."