Escape to safety

Maki charged through the tear, finally escaping the cursed spirit's stomach, and spoke viciously.

"Eeeeyaaaah~~~"

Driven completely mad by the pain, the cursed spirit kept howling.

The cursed spirit reached out to grab Maki, but with a single slash, she severed its ugly arm at the shoulder.

Maki crouched slightly, her leg muscles swelling as she pushed off. The fierce wind billowed her skirt as she shot toward the cursed spirit clutching its arm and wailing. Maki turned her blade upright and drove it straight through the cursed spirit's head.

Maki slowly descended, landing on one knee with her long sword supporting her body. The light streaming in traced a clear outline of her profile, and a final wisp of black smoke still clung to the blade. As Maki landed, the cursed spirit whose head she had pierced also collapsed to the ground and turned to ash.

Akutagawa Shang and the two children also escaped from the cursed spirit's belly.

"...What did you just do to me?"

Akutagawa looked up at her. "I told you, you have cursed energy."

Maki fell silent for a while, looking down at her hands before raising her head to look at Akutagawa Shang again. She said nothing, but her gaze was a little less heavy than before, as though something that had always been taut had finally loosened a tiny bit.

"You'd better explain everything later. Let's go. Get those two kids outside." She crouched and lifted one of the children onto her back.

"What are you doing? Hurry up. Do you expect me to carry you too?"

"Oh? Can you?"

Akutagawa Shang's eyes lit up, but when he saw the long sword in her hand still trailing black smoke, he promptly backed down. Forget it. I can't beat her right now.

Akutagawa picked up the other child and followed her outside.

When they left the school building, with no Curtain blocking it anymore, sunlight spilled down over them, dispelling the foul air of the curse.

Satoru Gojo leaned against the car door and watched them emerge. His gaze lingered on Maki for a moment before turning to Akutagawa Shang, and he chuckled with delight.

"This is so interesting. A rookie sorcerer who can absorb cursed energy and someone with an incomplete heavenly restriction can produce this level of destructive power together. What a niche combination. Terrifying stuff. Looks like I've recruited one incredible student."

By the time Akutagawa Shang caught up, Maki had already settled into the back seat with the child.

Pulling open the rear door, Akutagawa Shang practically lunged into the back seat, then slumped across it in a boneless sprawl.

"Ah~ feels so good. I survived." Playing dead really is the best. School really isn't for me.

The sound of breathing came from their arms. Both children had fallen asleep, and all that remained was to take them back to Jujutsu High and hand them over to Shoko Ieiri for comprehensive treatment.

Maki sat on the other side without speaking. Suddenly, she nudged Akutagawa Shang lightly with her lower leg, then pointed at the sleeping children and waved her phone, seemingly reminding him to check his messages.

Akutagawa Shang picked up his phone and turned on the screen. With a vibration, a message popped up.

"What exactly happened back there? Why did I suddenly turn into that?"

"Ummm."

"How should I put this? You've always thought you had a heavenly restriction and were born without a trace of cursed energy in your body, but that's actually a misconception."

"?"

"You have a younger sister, right? The curse of twins treats the two of you as a single whole, which means some of your sister's cursed energy has remained in your body since birth."

"A true heavenly restriction is actually very powerful, just like what happened earlier. You must have felt it, right?"

"But that little bit of your sister's cursed energy makes your heavenly restriction incomplete. That's why you can't break through your limits no matter how hard you train."

"How do you know my sister?"

"Don't underestimate my intelligence network." Akutagawa braced both hands on his knees and spoke meaningfully.

"Then what did you do back there?"

"At the time, I suddenly realized my body seemed capable of absorbing cursed energy. So I wanted to try absorbing that little bit of cursed energy inside you and see if it could temporarily free you from your limits and let you transform into your complete form."

"..."

Maki fell silent. She stared at her phone, and after a long while, another message came through.

"So you succeeded?"

"Yes."

Maki suddenly leaned all the way over and grabbed his collar with both hands.

Her eyes were right in front of him. Behind her lenses, they shone startlingly bright, her pupils slightly dilated, as though they could lay the girl's thoughts completely bare.

"Really? Can you really make me like that again?"

Maki Zenin had been born into the Zenin Clan, one of Jujutsu Society's Three Great Families. Her father was Ogi Zenin, the younger brother of the current Zenin Clan head, Naobito Zenin.

To outsiders, her background could certainly be considered illustrious. But only Maki herself knew just how suffocating life in the Zenin Clan was.

The Zenin Clan could be called the most feudal and corrupt of the Three Great Families. "Those who are not of the Zenin Clan are not jujutsu sorcerers; those who are not jujutsu sorcerers are not human." The Zenin Clan's guiding principle placed jujutsu above all else, with an extreme reverence for cursed energy and cursed techniques. Those without cursed energy could be said to have no human rights whatsoever within the Zenin Clan.

And Maki not only lacked cursed energy, but was also female, placing her at the very bottom of this feudal clan. Her foolish father blamed his failure to become clan head entirely on her and her sister Mai, and had even wanted to kill them both. They had grown up living at others' mercy, and even the lowest servants could bully and humiliate them at will.

If she stayed in the Zenin Clan, her best possible outcome would probably be to use her reasonably attractive face and figure to become someone's concubine as a tool for a marriage alliance. That was not what she wanted. She wanted to return in triumph and humiliate the entire Zenin Clan.

So she sought out the clan head, Naobito Zenin, and made him a promise. She would leave the Zenin Clan, but only temporarily. One day, she would return and become its head. That drunken old man could be considered one of the few normal people in the Zenin Clan. Although he burst out laughing on the spot, he unexpectedly agreed to her request. After entering into some sort of pact, Maki left the Zenin Clan alone and headed for Jujutsu High.

But even after she left, the Zenin Clan continued putting obstacles in her path behind the scenes. That was why she was still only a Grade 4 Sorcerer.

So she needed strength. More strength.

And Akutagawa Shang had given her a chance to grow stronger, the only chance she currently had. She had to seize it firmly.

Maki stared intently at Akutagawa Shang, because this truly mattered to her.

They were far too close, their faces almost touching. Maki could even feel Akutagawa Shang's hot breath against her face.

"What are you doing?"

Akutagawa Shang was hardly doing any better. As someone who had been single his entire life, he had no experience dealing with girls.

He could smell Maki's scent-a mixture of sweat and the fresh fragrance of laundry detergent, tinged with dust, washing over him in a warm rush. At that moment, his heart was pounding wildly too, and his cheeks began burning despite himself.

Just then, however, a young voice from the back seat broke the atmosphere.

"Big sister, big brother, what are you doing?"

Maki's movements had been so forceful that she had woken the sleeping children. Seeing the two of them so close together, a child voiced the question.

Maki abruptly let go and sprang back into her seat. She turned to look out the window, tucking a fallen strand of hair behind her ear with one hand, seemingly trying hard to pretend nothing had happened.

Akutagawa Shang also turned his face the other way. The window reflected his own face-red all the way down to the base of his neck.

"Nothing. Just go back to sleep." Akutagawa Shang turned back and forced a smile for the two of them.

"Oh." After hearing that, they murmured a response and fell sound asleep again.

The car grew quiet again. Outside, the shadows of trees slipped backward in stretches, and sunlight leaked through gaps in the canopy, flickering across Maki's profile.

Akutagawa Shang watched her reflection in the window for a while, then lowered his head, took out his phone, and began typing.

"It's true. As long as you still want to get stronger, we can do it anytime from now on."

"Also, you really looked pretty cool back there."

After sending the messages, he turned off the screen.

Soon, his phone vibrated. Maki had sent only two words.

"Get lost!!!"

But a moment later, another simple message popped up, so short it was only one word.

"Okay..."

"Okay." At the same time, she spoke in a voice so quiet that only she could hear it.

Akutagawa Shang turned his head slightly, wanting to see Maki's expression. Although he could not make it out clearly from the side, he could clearly see the pronounced upward curve at the corner of her mouth.

Akutagawa Shang simply watched her, the corners of his own mouth lifting slightly too.