Enrollment (4)

Shoko and Suguru Geto both froze when Chinatsu told them the cursed tool cost over a hundred million. They could hardly believe it was that expensive.

In fact, cursed tools were generally expensive. Chinatsu remembered that Toji, the Heavenly Tyrant in the original story, had possessed a whole arsenal of them.

Setting aside the special grade cursed tools, the Inverted Spear of Heaven and the Chain of a Thousand Miles, his arsenal had also included a special grade cursed tool called Playful Cloud. At an auction house or on the black market, it could have fetched five hundred million or even more.

Chinatsu could no longer remember the price of her earring-shaped cursed tool. All she could vaguely recall was that its price had been measured in hundreds of millions.

Suguru Geto and Shoko were jujutsu prodigies born into ordinary families. Having only just enrolled and officially entered Jujutsu Society, their understanding of cursed tools was still rather limited.

"This little thing... costs that much?"

Shoko bent down to examine the cursed tool up close. But she did not have the Six Eyes, and no matter how hard she squinted at it, she could not see what made it worth that price.

They continued chatting about cursed tools for a while, but neither Shoko nor Suguru Geto took the initiative to ask Chinatsu what the cursed technique imbued in hers actually did.

Mostly, that was because they had only just met and were not close yet. Once they grew close, shyness and embarrassment would be out the window. Every last one of them was a little menace in disguise.

Still, this incident planted the same seed in both their hearts: I'm going to buy a cursed tool of my own someday!

Shoko: For now, I'll aim for a cursed tool with good defensive capabilities. I'm a healer, so I don't need to fight cursed spirits head-on at the front line, but everyone knows you target the healer first in a team fight. Even some random elementary school kid could tell you that.

Suguru Geto: My [Cursed Spirit Manipulation] is like playing Pokémon. But no matter how much I train my hand-to-hand combat, there's still a gap between me and cursed spirits or jujutsu sorcerers who specialize in close combat. A cursed tool that boosted my close-combat abilities would be nice.

Making money was not particularly difficult for high-level jujutsu sorcerers, much less someone as gifted as Suguru Geto or Shoko, whose Reverse Cursed Technique had earned her the title of Jujutsu Society's treasure.

Over the following days, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto became best friends, just as they had in the original story, and formed the "strongest duo."

One had "no upper limit."

The other had "Limitless."

The strongest duo stunned Jujutsu Society almost as soon as they formed, completing a large number of difficult missions in a short time. Suguru Geto was soon promoted to Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer as well, filling him with confidence in his abilities.

"Ahh, another mission finished without breaking a sweat. Geto, did you know people on the official mission website are complaining that we're working too hard? They say we're leaving them with nothing to do!"

"Then we should slow down a little. Some jujutsu sorcerers do rely on missions to support their families, after all."

"All right, then. I'm very generous, after all."

After completing their last outstanding mission, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto returned to Jujutsu High with smiles on their faces. Their walking styles differed, but both swaggered as though they owned the place.

One leaned backward, looking like a drunk who might topple over at any moment. The other leaned forward, looking like a badly hunched old man who might throw his back out and become unable to move.

Soon, they arrived at Jujutsu High. But the moment they returned, their stomachs began rumbling in unison, proving beyond a doubt that no matter how tough you were, you still needed to eat.

"Should we head back out and find a restaurant?"

"No need to go to all that trouble. Give me a second."

Satoru Gojo pulled his phone from his pocket. After a flurry of tapping and a series of changing expressions, he finally breathed out and gave Suguru Geto a thumbs-up.

"All sorted. Let's go to the cafeteria!"

"The... cafeteria?"

Suguru Geto froze in confusion. Although Jujutsu High did have a building that appeared to be a cafeteria, it had never actually operated properly. It existed in name only.

Faced with Suguru Geto's confusion, Satoru Gojo merely chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, then continued swaggering toward the cafeteria.

Suguru Geto shrugged helplessly and hurried after Satoru Gojo toward the cafeteria.

But the closer they drew to it, the more Suguru Geto, following behind Satoru Gojo, felt that something was off.

He took a deep sniff, and his mouth began watering of its own accord.

"That smells amazing..."

At Suguru Geto's reaction, Satoru Gojo lifted his chin slightly, a faintly smug look appearing on his face.

As they entered the unlocked cafeteria, Chinatsu happened to emerge from the kitchen carrying two bowls of steaming soba noodles. She shot Satoru Gojo an annoyed glare before setting both bowls on the table.

Satoru Gojo swallowed audibly, bounded over to a seat, grabbed a pair of chopsticks from beside him, and began wolfing down his rice... no, his noodles.

Suguru Geto, meanwhile, looked rather surprised. He glanced at the soba noodles on the table, then quickly turned his gaze to Chinatsu.

Although Suguru Geto said nothing, his expression and the look in his eyes were enough for Chinatsu to tell that he was marveling at the fact that she could cook, too.

In truth, she was surprised that she could cook herself. She had only picked up the skill recently, and the problem was that before then, she had never so much as touched a kitchen knife or cooked a single dish.

The moment she entered the kitchen and picked up a knife, she felt like a seasoned veteran, as though it all came naturally. Even calling it "beginner's protection" would not have made it any less absurd.

Satoru Gojo, who had been home at the time, had been utterly shocked. He had assumed his older sister would never set foot in the kitchen in her entire life, and that even if she did, anything she made would be a culinary abomination of the highest order.

But reality was just that absurd. No matter how little Satoru Gojo believed it at first, he had ultimately been forced to accept it.

"Geto, what are you spacing out for? Your noodles are going to get cold!"

"Oh, r-right."

Suguru Geto nodded dazedly and hurriedly sat down beside Satoru Gojo. Picking up his chopsticks, he lifted a generous helping of noodles and put them into his mouth.

In that instant, Suguru Geto felt as though he had entered Cooking Papa, or even Food Wars! His eyes went wide, and all the stress buried inside him came spilling out.

"Delicious!"