Watch what you say

Miwa Riona looked at the utterly unmoved Miwa Chisei, took a deep breath, and asked with a dark expression.

"So in the end, you still intend to enter Jujutsu Society?"

Miwa Chisei paused. Really, all of Miwa Riona's anger came back to this one issue. It seemed that her entering Jujutsu Society was not something Miwa Riona wanted to see.

Miwa Chisei had no interest in why Miwa Riona felt that way. She generally only considered her own needs.

But she felt that her father's death was connected to this.

"Would the Main Branch's return to Jujutsu Society get in the branch family's way?"

Miwa Chisei spoke slowly, making sure Miwa Riona heard every word.

Sure enough, Miwa Riona took a step back. Her face went pale, but she struggled to maintain her composure.

Just as I thought.

Miwa Chisei followed her retreat with a step forward, her eyes utterly serious.

"Some things aren't yours to covet. Do you understand?"

"But the Main Branch is so cowardly, always hiding among ordinary people and refusing to make a name for itself! The Miwa family is supposed to excel at Jujutsu!"

Miwa Riona could no longer contain her anger. She could not understand why Miwa Chisei remained so timid despite possessing such power.

Some had nothing, while others had more than they knew what to do with. That was probably what this amounted to.

"Don't act so righteous. You just want to make yourselves the new Main Branch."

Miwa Chisei cut straight through her pretense.

"That's why you want the Sun and Moon Charm. If all you wanted was to make a name for yourselves in Jujutsu Society, it wouldn't matter where the Sun and Moon Charm was, would it?"

"You're just like your father. Full of ambition, but spouting lofty nonsense."

Miwa Chisei had never met Miwa Riona before, but she had stumbled upon a conversation between her own father and Miwa Yuto. That day, she had been sent home early because of a fight at school and happened to overhear them.

The two had broken into a heated argument. Three months after that conversation, her father's organs had rapidly begun to fail. The doctor had said it was late-stage cancer that had spread.

But her father had undergone a medical checkup every year.

After her mother died in a traffic accident when she was little, she and her father had only had each other. If this was why her father had died, Miwa Chisei could not forgive them.

After all, the Miwa family had been expelled from Jujutsu Society five hundred years ago. The ancestors of the Main Branch had passed down the injunction never to return to Jujutsu Society. They must have had their reasons.

If the branch family had harmed her father for the sake of status and ambition, then even if it meant wading into this mess, Miwa Chisei would not let them get their way.

Besides, she had only just survived that man with the "Heavenly Restriction." It seemed the bounty would not be as easy to deal with as she had thought. A wise person knew when to adapt.

Her reasons for joining Jujutsu High now extended beyond decent pay and free room and board.

"Miwa Chisei, you're completely unreasonable..."

Hearing that, Miwa Chisei could not help laughing.

"I can do plenty of other unreasonable things. Aren't you afraid I'll come enroll at Jujutsu High tomorrow?"

Miwa Riona's expression was spectacular. She looked both agonized and ready to murder someone.

How amazing. Human expressions really can be that complicated.

Just as Miwa Chisei was wondering how many muscles there were in a human face, someone's menacing voice came from behind her.

"Miwa Chisei, I heard that. Get your ass to Jujutsu High tomorrow."

Miwa Chisei: ?

She turned and saw Satoru Gojo, his hair disheveled, sauntering toward her. Then he reached out his wicked hand and planted it on her head.

"I hear you borrowed a hundred thousand from Miss Mei? Pay it back yourself if you've got the guts."

Since he had started speaking, Satoru Gojo had not spared Miwa Riona so much as a sideways glance.

Feeling the weight on her head, Miwa Chisei thought for a moment and connected Miss Mei to the woman with gray-blue hair.

Then she gave Satoru Gojo a speechless look.

"Are you trying to scam me? I only borrowed ten thousand yen."

Satoru Gojo had taken the blame for nothing. No wonder Miss Mei had suddenly been so generous. She had been loan-sharking without the slightest scruple.

"That woman..."

Satoru Gojo's tone was dangerous. He would settle things with her later. Right now, there was something more important.

"Report tomorrow. You hear me?"

Miwa Chisei choked. Sure enough, you had to watch what you said. Sometimes it came back to bite you.

"Actually..."

"Hey, Miwa," Satoru Gojo interrupted before Miwa Chisei could finish. "For your own safety. You don't want to die young before you can have kids, do you?"

He really had used her own words to shut her down.

Miwa Chisei looked utterly speechless.

"I don't have time to go out and collect your corpse every few days."

Hearing that, Miwa Chisei realized she might not be so lucky next time.

Satoru Gojo leaned a little closer, apparently not wanting Miwa Riona to hear what he was saying.

His warm breath brushed Miwa Chisei's face, carrying the clean, fresh scent of a teenage boy.

"If the bounty requires taking you alive, pulling it off at Jujutsu High will be hard. After all, they can't actually go for the kill."

Capturing someone alive was much harder than killing them, especially someone who had already reached Miwa Chisei's level.

Miwa Riona could not hear what Satoru Gojo and Miwa Chisei were saying. She only saw a measure of acceptance appear on Miwa Chisei's otherwise emotionless face.

As though she had come to terms with something.

Miwa Riona immediately plastered on a smile and spoke somewhat stiffly.

"I'd be very happy if you came to Jujutsu High, Miss Qianxing."

"After all, we're both members of the Miwa family."

Miwa Chisei had to marvel. This girl really was a master of changing faces.

Satoru Gojo, who had only caught Miwa Chisei's final remark earlier, patted her on the shoulder.

"Well, well. Someone's happy for you."

Miwa Chisei looked at Satoru Gojo with a complicated expression. In the end, she could only sigh.

"You really are an idiot."

After all, his sensitivity to the scheming between girls was practically nonexistent, because he had absolutely no interest in it.

Having been insulted for no apparent reason, Satoru Gojo reached out and knocked Miwa Chisei on the head. Of course, he held back.

Miwa Chisei covered her head expressionlessly, then looked seriously at Miwa Riona before her.

"Really? Then I'm looking forward to life at Jujutsu High too."

Miwa Riona felt as though a mouthful of blood had lodged in her throat. If she kept facing Miwa Chisei, she might spit it out.

She gave an awkward smile. "Then I'll head to class. Goodbye, Miss Qianxing, Gojo-senpai."

Satoru Gojo was very pleased to be called "senpai" and waved her off in satisfaction. Only once she was far away did he ask Miwa Chisei curiously.

"Has that branch-family brat ever had some kind of facial disorder?"

"Hm?"

"Her expressions are super-weird."

Miwa Chisei burst out laughing and gave Satoru Gojo a thumbs-up.

You really are a bastard.