Enrollment (5)

Although Chinatsu had no idea why she had such a gift for cooking, she took it in stride. Having another skill was always a good thing, after all.

As mentioned before, part of the reason Suguru Geto would suffer a mental breakdown in the future was the stress he accumulated from constantly eating utterly disgusting cursed spirits.

This problem had troubled Chinatsu for a long time. That was simply how Suguru Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation worked; she could hardly stop him from consuming cursed spirits.

But thinking along those lines was actually a mistake. Just as this world was inherently imperfect, Suguru Geto would inevitably have to eat things that tasted awful, but delicious food was hardly off-limits to him.

If he ate one foul-tasting cursed spirit, he could treat himself to ten delicious meals. All he needed was to release his stress in time, rather than let it build to a dangerous threshold.

People who did not know how to treat themselves and relieve stress would eventually reach their breaking point, even if that stress built up very slowly.

Now, watching Suguru Geto focus on devouring his noodles, Chinatsu stood with one hand on her hip and a faint smile on her face, looking like a proud mother.

Shoko Ieiri stood beside her, and the sight of Chinatsu's expression left her momentarily stunned.

At first, when she saw Chinatsu watching Suguru Geto, she had secretly chuckled, thinking she had stumbled upon some juicy revelation. Who knew a single expression from Chinatsu would leave her at a complete loss?

Suddenly, the phone in Chinatsu's pocket began vibrating. Puzzled, she took it out and opened it, only to find a text from the Elder.

[Chinatsu, there's a cursed tool auction in Kagoshima a month from now. Would you like to come along and take a look?]

Inside the Gojo Clan residence, the Elder exhaled after typing those words and quietly waited for Chinatsu's reply.

Chinatsu paused briefly when she read the message. She raised her head, told everyone there about it, and asked whether they wanted to come along.

Satoru Gojo: "Can't be bothered."

Suguru Geto: "I'd like to go, if that's all right."

Shoko: "I want to go too! I want to go too!"

Satoru Gojo: "Uh... then I'll go too."

Seeing the other two take the opposite stance, Satoru Gojo suddenly found that even the noodles in his mouth had lost their appeal. If everyone leaves, I'll be all alone. He hurriedly changed his answer.

Chinatsu nodded, then lowered her gaze to her phone again and quickly tapped out a reply to the Elder.

[Satoru's coming too, along with two classmates from Jujutsu High.]

[No problem!]

The Elder replied immediately. There were few people in Jujutsu Society to begin with, and even fewer attended its auctions, so many of its gatherings placed no restrictions on how many people each faction could bring.

Take this cursed tool auction, for example. The Elder said that in all his years, he had never seen every seat filled. Most of the time, nearly half remained empty.

Once their trip to the cursed tool auction in a month was confirmed, Suguru Geto and Shoko were both thrilled. Neither was particularly worried about money.

Although Chinatsu's cursed tool earrings were worth over a hundred million, not every cursed tool was that expensive.

One of them had been specially recruited into Jujutsu High from an ordinary family because of his exceptional talent, while the other was treasured by the school-and even by all of Jujutsu Society. Both had plenty of money in their personal accounts.

They could not afford anything priced in the hundreds of millions, but they could still try for items in other price ranges. They were determined to get their hands on cursed tools that enhanced close combat or provided defensive protection.

A month later.

Suguru Geto and Shoko climbed into the Gojo Clan's private car and traveled with Chinatsu and Satoru Gojo to Kagoshima, where this year's cursed tool auction was being held.

Satoru Gojo seemed rather uncomfortable throughout the drive, because Kagoshima was where he had gone for his very first jujutsu mission.

The whole experience of "two hours on the road, two minutes for the exorcism, and my big sister already asleep in bed before I even reached the destination" had practically left him traumatized.

Chinatsu quietly watched the scenery outside the window. Though the journey appeared peaceful, cursed spirits were everywhere.

Grade 4, Grade 3...

In the world ordinary people could not see, these cursed spirits embodying humanity's negative emotions were far too numerous.

The Grade 4 and Grade 3 ones were manageable. Most were so weak and timid that they dared not attack humans directly. But once they reached the special grade threshold, they would cause one major disaster after another.

Jujutsu sorcerers quietly exorcised cursed spirits for humanity in this hidden world, yet some foolish humans still feared children who awakened jujutsu talents as monsters, insulting them and even resorting to violence. This was another reason behind Suguru Geto's mental breakdown.

Ultimately, the problem lay with this country, and even the entire world. Jujutsu Society could not remain this corrupt. It needed sweeping reform.

While Chinatsu was lost in thought, the private car passed through city after city before finally arriving in Kagoshima, one of the cities at the far edge of the country.

People from all the major factions of Jujutsu Society had gathered in the city. The many cursed spirits hiding there trembled in fear, terrified that a single peep would get them exorcised by some passing jujutsu sorcerer.

After arriving at the jujutsu auction venue, Chinatsu scanned her surroundings and spotted both Naobito Zenin and the Kamo Clan Head.

At this point in the timeline, Megumi Fushiguro and Noritoshi Kamo, who had inherited their respective clans' Ten Shadows Technique and Blood Manipulation, had already been born. However, they were still too young to have awakened their cursed techniques, so neither had been discovered yet.

As Chinatsu's gaze settled on Naobito Zenin, the stern-faced man soon noticed and turned to look at her.

Their gazes met. In that silent exchange from a distance, it was as though a heated conversation had broken out, sparks flying between their eyes.

"What a grudge-holding little girl."

Naobito Zenin gave a cold snort, then turned and headed into the auction venue. The corners of Chinatsu's mouth lifted slightly, a hint of smug satisfaction appearing on her face.

She was no longer the six-year-old child she had once been. Though Naobito Zenin was the "Strongest Grade 1," if she really took him on, that title might not remain his.

Watching Chinatsu's rather childish display and the sight of Naobito Zenin being driven away in irritation, the Elder beside her could not help lowering his head with an amused chuckle.

"All right, all right. Let's head inside too."

With a smile on his face, the Elder led everyone into the auction house...