July 15, Kyoto.
The afternoon sun spilled like molten copper over the flagstone streets around Gion.
Occasionally, tourists in yukata walked past beneath parasols, their footsteps completely drowned out by the cicadas.
But in a vacant lot south of Sanjo Street, enclosed by a Curtain, the atmosphere was another matter entirely.
"So weak."
"Come on, baby!"
Aoi Todo drove a fist into the cursed spirit's face, the shock wave from his punch sending the surrounding pebbles flying.
"You call yourself a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit?"
The cursed spirit looked like a monster stitched together from a mass of mangled stuffed toys.
Five or six arms of varying thickness sprouted from its bloated torso, each ending in twisted claws.
Todo's punch sent it flying backward, snapping two utility poles before it barely managed to steady itself.
"Hisss..."
The cursed spirit crawled out of the rubble, a low, sandpaper-rough growl rising from deep in its throat.
A slit opened across its indistinct face, dark red light gathering deep within as though it were charging some kind of attack.
Aoi Todo stood in the middle of the lot, hands on his hips and chin slightly raised.
He wore a dark Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High uniform, his jacket zipped to his chest, revealing the tight black shirt underneath.
The contours of his powerful muscles showed clearly through the fabric, making him look like an iron statue heated by the sun.
Watching the cursed spirit roar in fury, he grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth.
"Angry?"
He tilted his head, his smile filled with pure, unadulterated delight.
"But you're too weak."
With that, he struck an outrageously exaggerated pose.
His knees bent slightly, his body leaned back, his right hand drew in beside his waist, and his left extended straight ahead, fingertips tilted slightly upward.
Then he exploded into motion.
The ground cracked beneath his feet, shattered bricks and dust bursting out to either side.
His figure became a dark blur, appearing before the cursed spirit almost instantly.
One punch.
Before the cursed spirit could even scream, the brutal force hurled its entire body backward, embedding it in the second-story wall of an abandoned machiya townhouse beside the street.
The wooden structure cracked with a teeth-grating sound, dust and splinters gushing from the breach.
Aoi Todo held his punching stance.
He slowly drew back his fist, glanced down at his knuckles, and looked satisfied.
"Too weak."
He landed back on the ground and dusted off his hands, though there was no dust on them.
But the instant he landed, a distinctly displeased female voice came from behind him, sharp as a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Todo, what are you doing?"
Mai Zenin stood on the steps at the edge of the lot, holding an elegantly crafted revolver.
Sweat had pasted strands of her long black hair to her temples, and her expression looked unpleasant from the heat and something closer to irritation.
A faint wisp of gun smoke still rose from her muzzle.
She had fired at least twice just now, but the broad, indiscriminate blast from Todo's punches had knocked both shots off course.
"When you fight like that,"
she said in a low voice, through gritted teeth, as though she had finally run out of patience, "I can't hit anything."
Aoi Todo turned at her words.
Seeing the look on Mai's face that practically said, You're an idiot, he showed no restraint; instead, his grin grew even wider.
He strode toward her with long, heavy steps, each footfall thudding against the ground.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
His laughter echoed through the empty street, making the nearby windowpanes buzz.
"Mai, this won't do!"
He stopped in front of her and looked down at her, hands on his hips, wearing the smug expression of a senior instructing a junior.
"If you keep this up, when the Goodwill Event with Tokyo Jujutsu High comes around in September..."
He raised a finger and wagged it in front of Mai.
"They're going to beat you badly."
Mai Zenin's expression grew even uglier.
Her fingers tightened slightly around her gun, her knuckles paling.
Those words, They're going to beat you badly, struck precisely at the vulnerability she least wanted mentioned.
She opened her mouth as though to argue, but in the end, she merely snorted and returned her gun to the holster on her outer thigh.
"...Could you stop saying things like that so casually?"
Aoi Todo failed to notice the change in her expression entirely, or rather, he noticed but did not care at all.
He turned his back to Mai and began straightening his slightly disheveled cuffs.
"I'm just stating facts."
"I heard from Ms. Utahime Iori that a powerful newcomer recently showed up over in Kyoto."
"Really powerful!"
"You struggle even against cursed spirits. When you face that kid from Tokyo, Yuta Okkotsu..."
He suddenly stopped halfway through.
A faint, distorted ripple had passed through the air.
In the ruins behind Todo, the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit embedded in the second-story wall had somehow freed itself from the broken wood and bricks.
Seven or eight splits had opened across its swollen torso, dark red light seeping from each crack like a furnace about to overload.
It lunged out silently.
All six arms spread at once, its claws gleaming dully in the sunlight. It moved more than twice as fast as before, a shrill whistle slicing through the air.
Mai Zenin's pupils abruptly contracted.
"Todo!"
Her right hand was already on her gun's grip, cursed energy gathering into the shape of a bullet in her palm.
But it was too close, and Todo's body completely blocked her line of fire.
"Watch out!"
Aoi Todo did not turn around.
He did not even make any unnecessary movements, merely turning slightly sideways and swinging his right arm backward at an angle that required barely any effort.
His fist collided head-on with the cursed spirit.
The shock wave from the impact exploded outward in every direction from the two of them.
Loose stones rolled far across the ground, and a nearby streetlight swayed violently, groaning with metal fatigue.
The cursed spirit's body hung motionless in the air for a fraction of a second.
Then, like a lump of rotten mud crushed apart, it began to crack from the point of contact with his fist, crumbling into a wisp of dark ash that the hot afternoon breeze scattered until nothing remained.
Aoi Todo withdrew his fist and remained silent for two seconds, still holding that sideways punching stance.
Then he turned around, looking as though he had only just come back to his senses.
"Huh?"
He scratched the back of his head, looked at the dissipating ash, then at Mai, standing stiff-faced on the steps.
"Where was I?"
Mai Zenin opened her mouth.
Her hand still gripped her gun as though she were about to draw, her entire body frozen in place as if someone had pressed pause.
Several seconds passed before she slowly lowered her hand and took a deep breath.
"...You."
"Hmm?"
"...Never mind."
She pushed the gun fully back into its holster, turned, and walked toward the edge of the Curtain, her steps quick and hurried, her skirt tracing a sharp arc around her knees.
Aoi Todo watched her retreating back, tilted his head, then strode after her.
"Mai, why are you walking so fast? We haven't reported on the mission yet."
"You can report it yourself."
"Huh? But Ms. Utahime said we had to do it together."
"You go."
"Okay, okay. So what are we eating later? I want ramen, with extra..."
"Whatever."
"Chashu sound good? There's a place around there where the chashu is really..."
"I said whatever."
Aoi Todo followed behind her with long strides, chattering away about ramen toppings.
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