This was a game of strategy

The April evening breeze still carried a chill.

But Miwa Chisei didn't feel cold. Her apartment in the depths of winter, when she couldn't afford heating, had been far colder than this.

A silver-haired boy and girl in sunglasses abruptly appeared at an upscale Wagyu sukiyaki restaurant. The young waiter froze for a few seconds before enthusiastically greeting them.

"Welcome! A table for two?"

Satoru Gojo gave a cool nod, and the waiter immediately led them to an empty table.

The prices on the menu proved Satoru Gojo hadn't been bluffing. It really was a very upscale restaurant, at least in terms of cost.

"This..."

"One of everything from here to here."

Before Satoru Gojo could speak, Miwa Chisei's finger had swept across the dishes marked "Popular" and "Rare" on the first page. Then she even turned the page and slid her finger down again.

The whole performance was flawlessly smooth. She looked exactly like a starving ghost who hadn't eaten meat in eight hundred years.

"I'll have an oolong tea, and he'll have orange juice. That's all. Please bring the food out quickly."

Miwa Chisei closed the menu and handed it back to the young waiter, her pale face expressionless.

Satoru Gojo, on the other hand, snapped his menu shut, clearly displeased. "Hey, I haven't ordered yet."

"I ordered enough for you too, so don't worry. If you're treating someone, shouldn't your guest get to order?"

Miwa Chisei picked up the white towel and wiped her hands, her defense airtight.

Satoru Gojo really wanted to punch that expressionless face until she cried, but then he remembered the black-and-white charm and deflated.

"Add a pudding."

The waiter immediately took the menu from Satoru Gojo, bowed, and fled.

Those two had such intimidating auras. Were they siblings from some terrifying yakuza family?

Miwa Chisei took a sip of oolong tea, then stared intently at her tableware, lost in thought.

Satoru Gojo simply draped half his body over the table and began prattling away, without a shred of decorum.

"So, what are you planning to do from now on?"

It was a rare serious question. Miwa Chisei looked up at him in puzzlement, but since they had met once as children, she gave him a serious answer.

"I'm not planning to go to high school. Once I'm an adult, I'll find a job and set up a fortune-telling stall on Fortune-Telling Street on weekends. Date, get married, have kids like anyone else, and then..."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Satoru Gojo interrupted. "You're only fifteen! What the hell are you talking about? Did you tell your own fortune?"

Miwa Chisei took off her sunglasses, rubbed the indentations they had left on the bridge of her nose, and sighed. "Read your history properly. Jujutsu sorcerers from the Miwa family can't tell their own fortunes."

After saying that, she seemed to remember something and gave a self-mocking smile.

"I forgot. The Miwa family's history has all been destroyed, hasn't it?"

Satoru Gojo pouted and spoke indignantly.

"That pisses me off. Your dad clearly said back then..."

"Stop."

Miwa Chisei raised a hand to cut him off. She had lost count of how many times she had interrupted him, but then again, nothing good ever came out of this guy's mouth.

"That was a joke between our fathers. You didn't take it seriously, did you?"

Black undercurrents seemed to stir in the girl's blood-red eyes. The color really was irritating just to look at. If it hadn't been paired with that reasonably pretty face, wouldn't she get beaten up just walking down the street?

Satoru Gojo gave a quiet snort. "I was worried you'd take it seriously."

Miwa Chisei didn't get angry. Instead, a faint smile appeared on her face, carrying something like the joy of being set free.

"Then rest completely assured. I've always treated it as so much hot air."

Satoru Gojo had never seen the girl smile like that. Even as a child, she hadn't been one to smile much. One of his few memories of her was that this little brat had a vicious tongue.

Truly vicious. Such nasty words came out of those pretty pink lips.

The ingredients were gradually brought to the table. Preparing sukiyaki hot pot involved a precise sequence of steps.

Miwa Chisei took a deep breath of the Wagyu's aroma, reverently beat the pasteurized egg, and waited obediently with her chopsticks in hand.

A light of anticipation seemed to sparkle in her red eyes, lending her a touch of childlike sweetness.

Yet Satoru Gojo found the sight irritating... She looked as though she hadn't eaten meat in eight hundred years. She was short, her wrists were pitifully thin, and her slight frame looked malnourished. She would definitely be flat as a board when she grew up.

"Satoru Gojo."

"Huh?"

"Isn't it rude to stare at a girl's chest?"

The waiter cooking the meat froze, feeling as though he had turned to stone. What outrageous things was this girl saying, all while looking so bland and indifferent?

Wouldn't a normal girl angrily call him a pervert?

Satoru Gojo had already reached out, ready to crush Miwa Chisei's shoulder blade, his bared grin taking on a sinister edge.

"Miwa, how about I cut out your tongue?"

"If you dare, you'll never taste anything sweet again."

"You damn brat..."

Satoru Gojo gritted his teeth. The Miwa family's powers really were incredibly annoying. He fully believed that if he actually cut out the girl's tongue, he would never taste sweetness again for the rest of his life.

One of the Miwa family's powers was:

"By sacrificing bodily tissue, the Miwa family can use jujutsu to pass a delayed sentence on a person or cursed spirit. The cost of the sacrifice depends on the amount of cursed energy on both sides."

Miwa Chisei ate a bite of Wagyu coated in pasteurized egg and let out a pleased sigh. In her excellent mood, she took the opportunity to share a secret with the person treating her.

"That water the lady at the entrance to the alley splashed on you cost me five fingernail clippings."

As she spoke, she held out one soft pink hand. Her nails were visibly freshly trimmed, beautifully rounded.

That was another condition: the tissue had to have been separated from the body only recently and still be "alive."

Satoru Gojo felt that the girl across from him was mocking him.

"Fight me, Miwa Chisei."

At those words, an unusual gleam flashed through Miwa Chisei's eyes, but she hid it well.

She wasn't mocking him at all. At her current level of cursed energy, one fingernail clipping could sentence a semi-grade 1 cursed spirit to death. But against this guy, five had only been enough to splash him with water full of vegetable scraps.

Even at his age, the Gojo Clan's "six eyes" had already displayed striking cursed energy density and control. What heights would he reach in the future?

I really don't want anything to do with a guy like this. He's nothing but trouble.

So Miwa Chisei politely bowed her head in apology.

"I fought you in my head, and I already lost. Satoru Gojo really is amazing."

Soulless words, delivered in a tone as calm as still water.

The corners of Satoru Gojo's mouth curled into a strange smile, and he struck back without mercy.

"One day, I'm going to make you praise me and mean it."

Don't jinx it. This could get really bad.