Arrogance

Everyone turned to look in unison.

Yagami Jue strode toward them with an arrogant swagger, his hands in his pockets.

Behind him followed a boy and a girl-Junpei and Asakura Yuki-with their heads lowered but determination in their eyes.

"Gasp!"

The moment they saw Yagami Jue, the students from Kyoto Jujutsu High collectively sucked in a breath.

Even Noritoshi Kamo, usually the most composed of them, had a slight tremor in the hand holding his bow.

"Th-this is the guy with zero cursed energy?"

"This pressure... you've got to be kidding. Is he really human?!"

Momo Nishimiya sat astride her broom, her palms slick with sweat.

"Yagami Jue!"

Mai Zenin's eyes instantly reddened at the sight of him, her rage born of hatred pushed to its limit.

"You monkey! You actually dared to show your face in front of us!"

She whipped out her revolver and aimed it at Yagami Jue.

"Today, I'm going to turn you into Swiss cheese!"

"Mai, stop."

A deep, resonant voice rang out.

Aoi Todo ripped open his shirt, revealing muscles like an iron tower.

He stepped past the others and stared fixedly at Yagami Jue, his eyes burning with a fervor that could only be called "bromance."

"My best friend! You really have gotten stronger again!"

"I can feel it. There's a beast inside your body now that could devour the world!"

The corner of Yagami Jue's mouth twitched at the sight of Aoi Todo.

"Fuck off. Who's your best friend?"

"These clothes cost a fortune. Keep your sweaty stink away from me."

He looked at old man Gakuganji and tilted his neck, producing a series of sharp cracks.

"What did you just say, you old fossil?"

"You want me to answer to you?"

"Yagami Jue, don't push your luck!"

Noritoshi Kamo stepped forward, his tone icy.

"You destroyed the Zenin Clan and killed a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer. These crimes-"

"Fuck your crimes."

Yagami Jue cut him off.

"Did you bring the Zenin Clan's billion in compensation?"

"If you didn't, shut your fucking mouth and crawl off to lick your wounds."

"You...!"

Noritoshi Kamo trembled with rage, crimson blood already seeping from his fingertips.

"Now, now. You're all fellow students. Let's not talk money the moment we meet."

Satoru Gojo stepped in at just the right moment to smooth things over, though his smile looked suspiciously like he was enjoying their misery.

"Principal Gakuganji, let's head inside first. The Goodwill Event's drawing ceremony is about to begin."

"If we miss it, things will get rather awkward with the higher-ups."

Gakuganji snorted coldly, his eyes fixed on Yagami Jue.

"Yagami Jue, you will pay for everything you've done during the Goodwill Event."

"I'll be waiting."

Yagami Jue sneered and gave the old man a perfectly executed middle finger.

"Let's hope your guitar can play a little louder later."

Half an hour later, in the Jujutsu High conference room.

The students from both schools sat in separate rows, the atmosphere so awkward it made them want to squirm.

Satoru Gojo bounced around the center of the room with a drawing cylinder in his hand.

"All right! The team competition for day one will be-"

"A regional curse-exorcism battle!"

"We've released plenty of Grade 3 and Grade 2 cursed spirits into Jujutsu High's forest."

"There's even an extremely rare fragment of a Special Grade Cursed Object."

Satoru Gojo deliberately lowered his voice, his tone enticing.

"Whoever exorcises the highest-grade cursed spirit or obtains the fragment wins."

"The winning team can make one 'reasonable' demand of the losers."

Satoru Gojo looked at Yagami Jue.

"For example... making the Zenin Clan pay another few hundred million."

At those words, Mai Zenin nearly flipped the table in fury.

Yagami Jue's eyes, meanwhile, lit up.

"Now that's good. I fucking like that."

He turned toward the Kyoto Jujutsu High students, looking at them as though they were banknotes with legs.

"You hear that, you little brats?"

"Make sure you bring your most expensive cursed tools."

"I'll be coming to take them, one by one."

"Arrogant bastard!"

Even a good-tempered girl like Kasumi Miwa couldn't help muttering.

"He may be handsome... but he really deserves a beating."

"All right, off you go!"

Satoru Gojo swept his arm outward.

"The Goodwill Event officially begins!"

Deep in the woods on the mountain behind Jujutsu High.

The curtain had descended, and the sky had taken on an oppressive dark purple hue.

Yagami Jue walked through the forest alone rather than staying with Itadori and the others.

Junpei and Yuki have already gone off to farm those Grade 3 mobs.

I'll leave those small fry for them to practice on.

Yagami Jue worked out his plans in his head.

My target is that hidden Special Grade.

Just then, the bushes beside him suddenly shook violently.

A black blur shot out like lightning!

It was Mai Zenin's constructed bullet!

At the same time, Momo Nishimiya's shrill laughter rang out overhead.

"Yagami Jue! This is where you'll be buried!"

More than a dozen wind blades descended from the sky, cutting off every escape route.

"The same old tricks again. Aren't you sick of them?"

Yagami Jue stood where he was without so much as lifting his eyelids.

He abruptly reached out with his left hand and casually pinched two fingers together in midair.

Clink!

The cursed-energy bullet, powerful enough to pierce a steel plate, was caught firmly between his fingers.

Then he snapped his right hand upward in a chopping strike.

"Break!"

The terrifying gust from his palm formed an invisible wall of air.

The seemingly deadly wind blades shattered the instant they touched it, like soap bubbles hitting a rock.

"What?!"

Momo Nishimiya's eyes widened as she sat on her broom.

"Those wind blades were at full power! He just waved his hand and..."

"Stop spacing out! Dodge!"

Mai Zenin cried out from below.

She had seen Yagami Jue vanish from where he stood.

"Trying to fly above me?"

"Did you ask my gravity for permission?"

Yagami Jue's voice suddenly sounded above Momo Nishimiya's head.

He moved so fast that a chain of afterimages trailed through the air.

Momo Nishimiya stiffly raised her head.

All she saw was the rapidly growing sole of a foot, stomping down with air pressure that threatened to destroy everything.

Bang!

Yagami Jue's downward kick slammed squarely into Momo Nishimiya's broom.

Crack!

That broom, a Special Grade Cursed Tool, snapped clean in two under a single kick!

"Aah!"

Momo Nishimiya screamed as she fell from dozens of meters up like a kite with a severed string.

She slammed into the dirt and couldn't get up for a long while.

"Nishimiya!"

Mai Zenin was just about to fire in support.

Suddenly, a fierce gust swept toward her neck.

Yagami Jue appeared behind her like a phantom, clamped a hand around her throat, and lifted her into the air.

"Miss Mai, your bullets aren't worth much."

Yagami Jue sneered as he snatched her revolver with his other hand.

"This gun should fetch at least five million, right?"

"I'll be taking it."

"L-let... go of me..."

Mai Zenin's face flushed crimson as she desperately struck Yagami Jue's arm.

But his arm seemed cast from iron and didn't budge.

"Yagami Jue! Let her go!"

Noritoshi Kamo emerged from behind a nearby tree, his expression utterly grim.

Mechamaru followed behind him, dark red light already gathering in the cannon barrel in his hand.

"Oh? Two of you came to bring me money together?"

Yagami Jue casually tossed Mai Zenin to the ground like a torn sack.

"The Kamo Clan's legitimate son. I hear those blood cursed tools you carry are worth quite a bit?"

"And you, the tin can. I should get a decent amount if I dismantle you and sell you for scrap, right?"

Yagami Jue licked the corner of his mouth, the greed in his eyes as he surveyed his prey sending chills down both their spines.

"Such arrogance!"

Mechamaru let out a mechanical roar.

"Great Purification Cannon! Fire!"

Boom!

An enormous dark red beam tore through the entire forest in an instant, bearing a destructive aura as it hurtled straight toward Yagami Jue's chest!

An attack that powerful could kill a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit in an instant!

"Decent power, but it's too slow."

Rather than dodge, Yagami Jue reached his right hand straight toward the oncoming beam!

"Fucking... scatter!!!"

Over twenty-five thousand points of strength erupted!

The instant Yagami Jue's palm collided with the beam, a blinding burst of light flared in the air.

Zzzzt!

Under Mechamaru's disbelieving gaze.

Yagami Jue actually caught the beam in one hand and squeezed hard!

Crack!

He crushed the beam by sheer force as though it were solid glass!

It scattered into countless red motes of light that vanished into the air.

"Th-this is impossible!"

A stream of scrambled code flashed through Mechamaru's electronic eyes.

"His flesh... forcibly crushed a mass of cursed energy?!"

"That completely defies the laws of physics!"

"My fists are the law!"

Yagami Jue let out a wild laugh.

Whoosh!

He turned into a streak of black lightning and appeared before Mechamaru in an instant.

He drew back his right fist, gathering power.