My fists hit hard

The next day in class, Miwa Chisei watched Miwa Riona sitting primly in her seat.

She had already been treated, but unfortunately, her hair was still slightly frizzed. It looked like it would need a long time to recover.

"Good morning, Qianxing!"

Yu Haibara greeted her, his round eyes curving into a smile, and Miwa Chisei raised a hand in response.

Her gaze met Kento Nanami's, and they exchanged polite nods by way of greeting.

Miwa Chisei had just pulled out her chair to sit down when she felt the somewhat resentful gaze of the girl beside her.

She found it baffling. Satoru Gojo was the one who had beaten Riona up, so how had the blame landed on her?

When he had called out "Miwa," Riona had eagerly shown her enthusiastic side, hoping to demonstrate her strength through a sparring match-she probably hadn't expected Satoru Gojo to show no mercy.

It had been over in an instant. Forget showing off her strength; Miwa Riona hadn't even managed to use her jujutsu.

"Good morning, big sister Qianxing." Despite her resentment, she still forced a cute smile onto her face and greeted her.

After all, there were other classmates around.

Looking at that face plastered with a smile, Miwa Chisei replied on a whim.

"Good morning. Have all your injuries healed?"

Miwa Riona shuddered, an unpleasant sensation crawling up her spine.

Had that damned Miwa Chisei gone mad? She was actually greeting me. Had she taken the wrong medication?

Satisfied by the fear and unease in her eyes, Miwa Chisei looked away.

Eikura Yohei soon appeared in the classroom, flipping through several documents in his hand. Seeing all four students present and accounted for deeply moved him.

They were all such good kids!

"Today's lesson will be practical combat. We had one last week too, but you didn't participate, did you, Qianxing? This time, it's a Grade 3 mission, and I'll be coming along."

This was Miwa Chisei's first exposure to how missions worked in the Jujutsu Society, so she listened closely.

"This mission takes place in an abandoned old house in Nerima Ward. A woman was last seen entering that house before she disappeared."

"The Assistant Managers have already investigated. The cursed spirit is somewhere around Grade 2 or Grade 3. You're all very capable, so relax."

The negative emotions that spilled out of humans were called curses, and the inhuman monsters formed from those curses were called cursed spirits. People without cursed energy couldn't see them, so some of their actions appeared to ordinary people as paranormal incidents.

Designated personnel in the ordinary world would pass these incidents on to the Jujutsu Society, which would then assign suitable jujutsu sorcerers to handle them.

Both jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits were ranked by strength, on a scale from Grade 4 to Special Grade.

Except for Special Grade, however, a jujutsu sorcerer could generally defeat a cursed spirit of the same grade with ease.

"Sir, sir! What grades are the second-years?"

Yu Haibara raised his hand curiously. Apart from Miwa Chisei, all the first-years had already completed their initial grading assessments, and the results would come out the following week.

Eikura Yohei answered with a smile. "Gojo and Geto are both Grade 1. Ieiri's jujutsu isn't combat-oriented, but judging by her healing ability, she's certainly Grade 1 too."

Miwa Chisei reflected on the enormous gulf between Grade 1 and Special Grade. She certainly didn't think Grade 1 was those two's ceiling. They both had far too much room to grow.

Yu Haibara already wore an admiring expression. Their upperclassmen really were incredible!

Eikura Yohei drove the four of them to the mission site in Nerima Ward. An elderly resident had once lived in the old house, while the children had moved to more prosperous areas. After the resident's death, the house had rarely been cleaned and gradually fallen into disrepair.

"Your first priority is finding the missing woman. If the Curtain hasn't broken within half an hour, I'll go in to help you. Don't worry."

Eikura Yohei was a very responsible teacher. He extended his hand and cast a Curtain, sealing the old house off from the outside world to keep ordinary people from seeing the strange phenomena occurring there.

The gray-green surroundings were rather dim, so Miwa Chisei had to take off her sunglasses to look around.

It was the first time Yu Haibara and Kento Nanami had seen Miwa Chisei without her sunglasses, and Yu Haibara couldn't help exclaiming.

"Your eye color is so cool, Qianxing!"

It was the first time anyone had said that to her. Miwa Chisei blinked but didn't reply.

"Let's go in. The cursed spirit should be inside."

Miwa Riona didn't want to hear anyone praise Miwa Chisei, so she quickly brought up the mission.

Between the old house, its courtyard, and the storehouse out back, there was quite a bit of ground to cover.

The four split up. It was clear that the elderly resident had appreciated the finer things in life, having collected quite a few beautiful vases.

They were simply covered in a thick layer of dust.

Miwa Chisei looked at a photo frame on the dressing table and wiped its surface with her thumb. It held a photo of two people.

A middle-aged woman and a little girl posed together. They were probably mother and daughter.

Miwa Chisei put down the photo and continued searching, then sensed an intense, sinister aura coming from inside a built-in cupboard.

A hoarse voice seemed to be muttering something. Only when Miwa Chisei drew closer could she hear it.

"Why... won't you come see me..."

It repeated that single sentence over and over, brimming with resentment.

It seemed the cursed spirit was hiding inside this cupboard.

Miwa Chisei clenched her fist and swiftly opened the cupboard. But once she saw what was inside, she held back the punch she had readied.

The cursed spirit had long hair and a deformed face shaped like a plate. It was no different from any other bizarre cursed spirit.

But it held an unconscious young woman in its arms. The curse's corruption had caused blackish-purple blotches to form on her body, and seven or eight tiny eyes had sprouted from those marks. It was utterly revolting.

Those eyes kept blinking and blinking.

They had found the missing girl. Fortunately, she hadn't been swallowed whole. Cursed spirits were naturally aggressive toward humans, and the higher their grade, the greater their intelligence. Some cursed spirits also liked eating people.

This cursed spirit didn't seem interested in eating people. It was merely holding her captive.

At the sight of Miwa Chisei, the cursed spirit let out a piercing, ear-splitting shriek.

Hearing the commotion, the other three quickly approached the room. Kento Nanami had already drawn the short cleaver hanging behind him, and Yu Haibara pulled the two daggers from his waist.

All of them were cursed tools.

The instant they entered the room, they saw the slender girl drive her clenched fist into the cursed spirit's head.

Purple blood splattered onto Miwa Chisei's dark kimono. That single punch cracked the entire cupboard.

Kento Nanami moved quickly, snatching the missing woman from the cursed spirit's arms.

Miwa Riona, meanwhile, had gone deathly pale.

The Miwa Family Jujutsu centered on divination and judgment. What was wrong with this woman? She hadn't used judgment to strengthen her body, yet she had thrown such a powerful punch with cursed energy alone?

And she had pretended she couldn't fight in front of me. Wasn't that blatant mockery?

Struck in a vital spot, the cursed spirit soon dissolved into black mist and vanished. With the cursed spirit inside it exorcised, the Curtain quickly disappeared too.

Eikura Yohei, who had secretly lit a cigarette out of his students' sight, ground the finished butt into the dirt just as the Curtain before him broke.

He stared, dumbfounded.

It had only been five minutes, hadn't it? Sure, they'd sent four students because this was a practical combat lesson, but Grade 2 cursed spirits had seriously tough bodies!

Tough, huh?

Miwa Chisei thought her fists were pretty tough.