A grand game of chess

"My younger brothers... are dead."

Choso crushed the chess piece in his hand. His voice was calm, but the fury in his eyes could already kill.

As the eldest of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, Choso had been duty-bound to shoulder the responsibilities of an [older brother] from the moment he was born.

Yet now, the blood ties he sensed with Kechizu and Eso had vanished in an instant. Clearly, something had happened to the two brothers Kenjaku had sent to Yasohachi Bridge on a mission...

"You lied to me, Geto."

Choso raised his head, his face expressionless, but cursed energy was already stirring throughout his body.

If Kenjaku couldn't give him a satisfactory answer, he would immediately fight both of the others present...

Beep, beep, beep-beep, beep, beep-

The phone rang. As Kenjaku answered the call from his pawn among the Jujutsu Higher-Ups, a sinister smile appeared on his handsome, cold face.

"The intelligence has been confirmed."

"The ones who killed your brothers were the first-years from Jujutsu High, led by Yuji Itadori."

At the familiar name, Mahito, who had been quietly fiddling with board game pieces beside them, smiled almost instinctively.

Clearly, he was more than happy with this development...

"So... you really aren't going to execute them?"

Outside the entrance to the Tombs of the Star Corridor, Satoru Gojo, having finished sealing Kechizu and Eso, ran into Hajime Kashimo and Itadori, who had been waiting there for some time.

According to Shoko's assessment, both were indeed human. However, owing to the peculiar nature of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, they also carried the presence of cursed spirits.

Since he needed to extract information from them, and had also taken Hajime Kashimo's advice into account, Satoru Gojo had privately detained the two in a sealed chamber that blocked all forms of detection.

Officially, he had simply classified the incident involving Kechizu and Eso as a cursed spirit attack and fabricated reports of their "exorcism."

"Fushiguro already told me about the resonance. As for your claim that they're related to Itadori by blood, we can't confirm that yet."

After sending Itadori away with a few brief words, Satoru Gojo exchanged their current intelligence with Hajime Kashimo.

What they could confirm was that Suguru Geto/Kenjaku currently had three intelligent special grade cursed spirits serving as his main operatives. Hanami, Jogo, and Mahito had all fought personnel from Jujutsu High and had been entered into its database.

As for Thousand Fangs and Dagon, the former had already fought Itadori and Hajime Kashimo, who had submitted a report, but they knew nothing about the latter.

And apart from the special grade cursed spirits, according to the captured curse users, Suguru Geto likely had quite a few curse users working under him.

Together with the various cursed spirits he had collected in recent years, Suguru Geto's strength was probably already on par with his peak during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons...

If that was true, things would be very difficult indeed...

"So just what other secrets are you hiding?"

Satoru Gojo turned toward Hajime Kashimo. He didn't remove his blindfold, but his tone had already taken on an interrogative edge.

Kashimo could precisely describe the personnel and fighting strength on Suguru Geto's side, right down to whether each individual possessed a domain and what their cursed technique could do...

Satoru Gojo couldn't understand how a mere "martial artist" had obtained such classified information.

But if he was a "double agent," then all of it would make sense...

Still, if Hajime Kashimo was a double agent, what was the purpose behind his training Megumi Fushiguro and the others, or saving Kugisaki when she was on the verge of death...?

Satoru Gojo couldn't figure it out, and Hajime Kashimo had no intention of explaining.

"Let things take their course. We'll both get our answers."

Hajime Kashimo waved goodbye to Satoru Gojo, who stood outside the Tombs of the Star Corridor. Tomorrow was one of his rare days off, and he had no intention of staying here playing guessing games with him.

The Shibuya Incident had to happen.

The Culling Game had to begin.

All he could do was minimize casualties on Jujutsu High's side without interfering with Sukuna's rebirth.

That was already the greatest kindness he could offer...

And speaking of which, judging by the timing...

[Mechamaru] should be contacting him soon.

"So that's why you came to us, Ms. Utahime."

In an underground parking garage, Utahime met with Itadori, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki.

Ever since they had parted after the Goodwill Event, she had been investigating the "mole" Satoru Gojo had mentioned.

Based on the intelligence she currently possessed, one higher-up had definitely betrayed Jujutsu High and allied with Kenjaku for personal gain.

But a traitor among the higher-ups was beyond someone of Utahime's standing to deal with.

Dealing with the higher-ups could only be left to people on Satoru Gojo's or Principal Yaga's level.

The one Utahime needed to handle was the person feeding information to that traitor-

"Mechamaru."

Kasumi Miwa entered the lounge carrying some documents. Inside, the puppet controlled by Mechamaru sat quietly in a chair, as still as a machine that had been switched off.

In response to Kasumi Miwa's questions and conversation, Mechamaru merely raised a hand and pointed at the workbook on a nearby table, signaling for her to take it herself.

"His Heavenly Restriction allows him to easily extend his cursed technique's range across all of Japan. Combined with his unregistered puppets, passing along information would be child's play."

"Although we don't have conclusive evidence yet, we have to take him into custody as a suspect before the situation gets worse..."

Under Utahime's guidance, the three first-years arrived in front of a tightly shut, rusted door. The heavy smell of rust and the dampness in the air made them uncomfortable all over-

They couldn't imagine what kind of Heavenly Restriction could make a living human willingly resign himself to living in such a dark, damp basement.

"Divine Dog: Totality!"

Fushiguro formed a hand sign and summoned a Divine Dog from his shadow.

The Divine Dog's claws, powerful enough to tear apart a special grade cursed spirit, slashed across the steel door protected by cursed energy. Sensing that it had loosened, Itadori immediately drove a powerful kick into it.

Crash!!

The heavy door fell, kicking up choking dust...

In a bathtub filled with nutrient solution, Yu Xingji, who had been resting with his eyes closed for some time, opened them and stared at the intruders with a trace of anger...

"It still reeks of mold. How disgusting."

"Can't you at least clean the place?"

Mahito pinched his nose and sneered. Even as a cursed spirit, he felt genuine revulsion at such appalling living conditions.

And beside him, entering the hidden chamber with him, was the ancient monster who had lived for thousands of years and made a binding vow with Yu Xingji-

[Kenjaku].

"Tch. He's an enemy anyway. Why don't we just kill him?"

Dark purple cursed energy surged in Mahito's palm. Rather than fulfill their promise to Yu Xingji alongside Kenjaku, he would much rather devote his energy to dealing with Yuji Itadori as soon as possible.

"No can do~"

Kenjaku slowly walked forward in his wooden sandals, his gaze fixed on Yu Xingji's repulsive body, with parts of his limbs missing and bandages wrapped all over him.

To answer the confusion on Mahito's face, Kenjaku began explaining the characteristics of [binding vows]:

"A binding vow made with someone else is quite different. Even if you break one you've made with yourself, all you lose is the enhancement you gained."

"But breaking a binding vow with another person can severely damage your soul at best. At worst, it can trigger a punishment whose meaning is unclear or which is utterly impossible to predict..."

"Especially when it involves a special constitution like Heavenly Restriction. You know perfectly well how powerful that constitution is."

Mahito narrowed his eyes, then curled his lips into a smile, his tone turning obnoxious.

"Even if we're going to kill him, we have to wait until we've healed him first."

"What a pain... You'd better thank me properly, you human trash..."

Mahito approached with a resigned expression. To avoid violating the binding vow, he placed his palm on Yu Xingji's forehead and activated [Idle Transfiguration]...

As blue cursed energy surfaced over Yu Xingji's body... amid the wet sounds of flesh fusing and growing, the binding vow that exchanged intelligence on Jujutsu High for healing his Heavenly Restriction also came to an end...

Now, what came next...

Was a jujutsu sorcerer's proper work.