Abandoned Hospital

The three arrived at the school gates, where Ijichi had already been waiting beside the car for quite some time.

Before Satoru Gojo could greet him, Akutagawa Shang darted out from behind him.

"Mr. Ijichi, you're finally back! Do you know what my life was like without you? Satoru Gojo-he's not even human!!" He rushed to Ijichi's side, wrapped both arms tightly around him, and burst into loud sobs.

"Huh?" Ijichi froze on the spot, at a complete loss as Akutagawa Shang hugged him. His hands hovered in midair, and he had no idea where to put them.

Akutagawa Shang clung to Ijichi like a koala, his face streaked with tears. His tears and snot were just about to rub off on Ijichi's suit.

"Did... Mr. Gojo do something else that defies common sense?" As someone who ranked among the people who knew Satoru Gojo best in the world, Ijichi could guess without even thinking that Gojo was up to something bizarre again.

"It's all right, Akutagawa-kun. Don't worry. I'm back."

"Mr. Ijichi, what do you mean by 'else'?" Satoru Gojo's voice suddenly drifted eerily from behind him.

Ijichi instantly straightened his back, reflexively assuming the defensive posture of a corporate drone. "N-no, G-Go-Go-Mr. Gojo, that's not what I meant. I just-"

"Don't be afraid, Mr. Ijichi. We're your staunchest supporters. Right, Yuta?" Akutagawa Shang pulled the bewildered Yuta Okkotsu over to his side. Yuta still had no idea what had happened and could only nod instinctively.

Akutagawa Shang lifted his tear-streaked face from Ijichi's shoulder and pointed a finger at Satoru Gojo, his gesture so sweeping that he nearly poked Ijichi's glasses. "Starting today, your days of absolute control are over! Starting today, I'm overthrowing the White-Haired Great Demon King's tyranny! Ow!"

A sharp flick landed abruptly, striking Akutagawa Shang squarely on top of the head.

"Resistance is futile, because the Gojo Great Demon King is invincible right now. Come back when you can beat me." Satoru Gojo answered him with a smile.

"Sss-ow, ow, ow!" Akutagawa Shang clutched his head and wailed. Taking the opportunity, Satoru Gojo simply tossed him into the car.

"All right, enough wisecracks. Yuta, get in. Ijichi, drive." Satoru Gojo opened the door too and sat in the front passenger seat.

"Yes, Mr. Gojo." Already in corporate-drone mode, Ijichi pressed the accelerator with practiced ease, and the car slowly left Jujutsu High, heading toward the mission site.

The drive lasted twenty minutes, and Akutagawa Shang spent nineteen of them complaining about Satoru Gojo. He spent the remaining minute explaining things Yuta Okkotsu did not understand.

"Um, Akutagawa-senpai, what do we do in practical combat class? Drills?" His knowledge of Jujutsu High was practically nonexistent, so he nervously asked Akutagawa Shang.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Remember what I told you? The students at Jujutsu High all have a talent for jujutsu, and most of them will become jujutsu sorcerers after graduating. Tens of thousands of people in Japan go missing or die because of curses every year. Jujutsu sorcerers fight curses to protect ordinary people. So, as the name suggests, practical combat class means fighting curses." Akutagawa Shang spoke casually, as though describing something perfectly ordinary.

"Fighting... curses?" Yuta Okkotsu was a little stunned.

"All right, we're here. Get out." Ijichi stopped the car, and Satoru Gojo's voice came from outside the window.

The car had stopped in front of a dilapidated building on the outskirts of town. It looked like an abandoned hospital.

All the surrounding buildings had been demolished, leaving only this hospital standing alone, as though someone had deliberately overlooked it. The dense ivy covering its outer walls had long since withered, adding another touch of eeriness instead.

"This is it. Our target for this mission is in here."

"It's so creepy." Yuta Okkotsu swallowed as he looked at the sinister building.

"Here's the information for this mission. The abandoned Horikoshi General Hospital was built in 1986. Six years ago, excessive medical lawsuits and poor management forced it to declare bankruptcy. However, in the six years since it closed, this building changed hands four times, but almost none of the developers lasted more than a month. Gradually, it was left completely unused, and the surrounding buildings were demolished one after another. Occasionally, homeless people tried to shelter here, but it seems they never came back out after going inside. Three months ago, a construction crew wanted to demolish this building, but of the three demolition workers who tried to enter and survey it, two vanished completely. The one who escaped suffered a mental breakdown, and there appeared to be traces of cursed energy on him. According to Jujutsu High's intelligence, a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit seems to be dwelling inside. Your mission is to exorcise this cursed spirit, then see if those two unlucky workers are still alive and rescue them if they are. Understood?" Satoru Gojo told the two of them.

Yuta Okkotsu nodded, seemingly digesting the information.

"A Grade 2 Cursed Spirit? You're really that confident? Aren't you worried it'll exorcise us instead? I'm just a lowly Grade 4 Sorcerer." Akutagawa Shang looked at Satoru Gojo with tearful eyes.

"It's fine. Our Yuta here is a genuine Special Grade Sorcerer." Satoru Gojo pulled the pondering Yuta in front of him.

"But he only enrolled yesterday. He might have even less practical combat experience than I do."

"That's a good thing. It means you can show off in front of the new student. I believe in you. You know how to lower a Curtain by now, right? I'll leave it to you this time. Do a good job, and once this is over, I'll put in a word with the higher-ups about promoting you to Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer." With that, Satoru Gojo retreated at lightning speed, opened the car door, and climbed back inside.

"Tch. Emerge from darkness, darker than darkness. Purify all that is impure." As Akutagawa Shang recited the incantation, a pitch-black barrier slowly descended from the sky, firmly enveloping the entire abandoned hospital and completely isolating this eerie place from the outside world.

"Huh? It got dark?" Yuta Okkotsu was very curious.

"This is a Curtain. It keeps ordinary people from learning that Jujutsu Society exists. Let's go inside first. If you have any questions, just ask me." Akutagawa Shang walked toward the building.

"Oh, okay." Yuta Okkotsu answered and followed him.

"There's cursed energy everywhere. Looks like this thing's been here a while." Akutagawa Shang glanced around and frowned slightly. Almost every part of this hospital gave off cursed energy.

"Then what's a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit? Can we beat it?" Yuta Okkotsu asked shakily.

"Uh, theoretically, if it's an ordinary Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, it shouldn't be a problem. I even borrowed a cursed tool from Jujutsu High specifically for this. It should do more damage than punching. And with a Special Grade Sorcerer like you here, nothing too bad should happen... probably?"

"Um, Akutagawa-senpai, I keep hearing you all say 'Special Grade.' What exactly does that mean?" Yuta Okkotsu's eyes were full of confusion.

"Let me put it this way. Grade 4 is the lowest rank for jujutsu sorcerers, and Grade 1 is generally the highest an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer can reach. Special Grade Sorcerers are beyond that scale. They even have the power to destroy a country single-handedly. Right now, there are only four living Special Grade Sorcerers in all of Jujutsu Society. The first is your homeroom teacher, Mr. Gojo, the strongest sorcerer of the modern age. He's also the most active. Another is Suguru Geto, a curse user who defected ten years ago. Yuki Tsukumo spends most of her time overseas and won't obey the higher-ups' orders, so you can basically treat her as nonexistent too."

"What about the fourth?" Yuta Okkotsu asked.

"The fourth is you, Yuta. One of the four Special Grades." Akutagawa Shang poked his head.

"Huh? Me? Isn't there some mistake?" Yuta Okkotsu pointed at himself. Clearly, he did not believe he had the power to destroy a country at all.

"Relax, there's no mistake. Do you know why those Old Oranges are so determined to sentence you to death? Because you're too strong. So strong they can't control you. You and Rika killed at least three high-level jujutsu sorcerers who came after you. Only then did the job fall to Satoru Gojo, because so far, he's the only one capable of suppressing you. In other words, you could finish off every living jujutsu sorcerer in Jujutsu Society except Satoru Gojo."

"So theoretically, you're the main force on this mission."

"No, all of that is... Rika-chan's..." Yuta Okkotsu lowered his head again. Yes, he was afraid of Rika. In his memory, after Rika passed away, she had cursed him. Whenever he encountered hostility, Rika would appear of her own accord and protect him through extreme measures. As a result, he had been ostracized and become a monster, so he had always instinctively resisted using Rika's power. He did not dare summon her himself and could only passively accept her existence.

Seeing him lower his head, he could tell he was starting to torment himself again.

"Stop-no beating yourself up, Yuta!" He immediately grabbed Yuta Okkotsu by the shoulders and shook him furiously until he was dizzy, forcibly putting a stop to his spiraling thoughts through physical means.

"Stop overthinking. Let's finish the mission first. The cursed energy is thick near the basement. That thing should be down there." Akutagawa Shang called Yuta Okkotsu over to follow him to the basement.

"Tch... looks like his psychological problems are pretty serious." He was no therapist, and his own mental state was not exactly normal either. He could only take things one step at a time.