Yuta Okkotsu's eyes widened as he lowered his head and stared blankly at his clenched fist.
The strange sensation of that punch still lingered in his hand, refusing to fade.
Just now... did I do that?
"Clap-clap-clap-Good job, boy. Congratulations, Yuta Okkotsu, on successfully grasping one of the core elements of jujutsu-Black Flash." Aoi Todo walked toward him, applauding with admiration on his face.
"Black Flash? What's that?" Yuta Okkotsu's little head was full of questions. Clearly, his meager knowledge of jujutsu included nothing about Black Flash.
Aoi Todo walked up to him, bent down, and picked up a splinter from the shattered wood scattered across the ground. He studied it closely in his hand as he began explaining Black Flash:
"Black Flash is a spatial distortion triggered when a jujutsu sorcerer compresses the interval between a physical strike and the release of cursed energy to within 0.0000001 seconds during combat. Its most obvious visible manifestation is the black lightning accompanying the attack. Black Flash raises the power of a normal attack to the power of 2.5-because it's an exponential increase, the greater the base damage, the more destructive Black Flash becomes."
"Also, Black Flash isn't a technique you can master through study. Rather, it's more like an accidental occurrence under natural conditions. It can only happen when your body and cursed energy achieve the utmost synchronization."
"Nobody can deliberately unleash Black Flash at will. At least, nobody can right now, not even Satoru Gojo. Many jujutsu sorcerers spend their entire lives without ever even reaching its threshold."
"At the same time, Black Flash isn't simply a damage boost. After successfully landing one, a jujutsu sorcerer's body enters a mysterious state similar to being 'in the zone.' Their entire mind and body become intensely focused, and their cursed energy flows as naturally and smoothly as breathing or drinking water, without obstruction. Their overall condition improves dramatically, even allowing them to perform at 120 percent of their usual strength. There's a consensus in Jujutsu Society that a decisive gap exists between sorcerers who have landed a Black Flash and those who haven't. Black Flash can also help sorcerers understand the core of cursed energy."
Yuta Okkotsu listened, dumbfounded. He had never imagined that the punch he had casually thrown held such profound intricacies.
He flexed his hand, feeling the cursed energy flowing inside him.
The cursed energy inside him, whose flow he had previously needed to control, now ran completely automatically, just like breathing. Everything around him seemed exceptionally clear, and his perception felt as though it had entered another dimension.
He was absolutely riding a high now ╰(‵□′)╯!!!
He could feel that if he kept fighting in this state, the improvement it could bring him was immeasurable.
So he held out his fist toward Aoi Todo:
"Todo, still want to fight? Can you still fight?"
At that, Aoi Todo merely smiled helplessly:
"There's just no saying no to you."
He pressed his fist against Yuta Okkotsu's.
"In that case, let's do this!!!"
Meanwhile, in front of the large screen in Jujutsu High's monitoring room.
"Great job, Yuta!!!" Satoru Gojo sprang out of his chair and shouted excitedly at everyone beside him.
"Did you see that? That was Black Flash-Black Flash!!!"
"My student actually landed a Black Flash! I knew I was right about him." Satoru Gojo broadcast the news throughout the monitoring room in an endless, all-directional loop, wishing he could grab a megaphone and shout everywhere that his student was a genius.
"All right-Satoru Gojo, I know your student's amazing, okay? I get it. Could you quiet down a little?"
Utahime merely waved a hand helplessly at Satoru Gojo. This time, she wasn't angry-after all, as a teacher, feeling joy over a student's accomplishments was only natural. She hated Satoru Gojo, but that didn't mean she had to find fault with everything he did for no reason.
Of course, if someone really could furiously beat Satoru Gojo up for no reason, that would be another matter. She guaranteed she would raise both hands and feet in support.
Gakuganji, on the other hand, wore a much less pleasant expression.
His face had darkened completely, and he was close to snapping the cane in his hand.
If Yuta Okkotsu and Aoi Todo kept fighting like this, forget exhausting him so a cursed spirit could finish him off. At Yuta Okkotsu's current rate of growth, those two might end up stepping on each other's feet and climbing straight into the sky.
This assassination plan looked utterly hopeless now.
He could only sigh inwardly. Forget it. If it failed, it failed. He was only a middle-ranking official anyway. It wasn't his place to worry the most. He would leave that to the people above him.
By this point, as time passed on the competition grounds, Tokyo Jujutsu High had already cleared out nearly all the cursed spirits Jujutsu High had released.
As for Kyoto Jujutsu High's contestants, after retreating from Yuta Okkotsu, they turned their attention back to the Goodwill Event's objective and began searching all over the grounds for cursed spirits.
But even after scouring the entire venue, they found nothing beyond a few scattered grade 3 cursed spirits-not so much as a trace of any others.
Everyone from Kyoto Jujutsu High was baffled. What on earth is going on? Where did all those big cursed spirits go? Did Jujutsu High deliberately release fewer of them to make the competition harder? Surely Tokyo's people couldn't have exorcised them all? That's impossible. That would be way too fast.
During Kyoto Jujutsu High's search for cursed spirits, a few interesting little incidents also occurred.
While flying at low altitude, Momo Nishimiya unexpectedly encountered Kinji Hakari, Kirara Hoshi, Toge Inumaki, and Panda traveling together.
After spotting them, she wanted to quietly fly away before they noticed her, but the sharp-eyed Panda caught her out of the corner of his eye and immediately alerted the group of four.
"Hey, look at that person flying up there. Isn't she from Kyoto Jujutsu High?" Panda pointed at the sky and spoke to those beside him.
"Huh? Let me see. Looks like she really is. So what do we do? Should we bring her down?" Kinji Hakari held a hand above his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the figure flying in the sky.
"Salmon." Toge Inumaki answered, unzipped the collar covering his mouth, and immediately activated Cursed Speech.
"Fall down."
I'm done. I heard it.
Before the words had finished sounding, Cursed Speech reached Momo Nishimiya's ears. Wanting to flee, she already realized she couldn't get away. However she struggled, it was useless now.
Momo Nishimiya felt an enormous pressure bearing down on her, and she plummeted straight out of the sky along with the broom between her legs.
She landed in a tree and became firmly wedged between its branches, while her broom fell to the ground.
"Ooh, a broom. Finders keepers. An unexpected bonus just for competing. This broom's mine now." Grinning, Kinji Hakari picked up the broom. Now, even if Momo Nishimiya wanted to take off and escape, she couldn't fly.
I'm screwed. They took my broom. Now I really can't get away. Momo Nishimiya crouched on a branch, her eyelids twitching wildly.
"Hey, Kyoto girl, what was your name again?" Kinji Hakari scratched his head, wanting to say something, only to realize he apparently hadn't remembered her name.
"Momo Nishimiya," Kirara Hoshi quickly reminded him from beside him.
"Oh, right-Momo Nishimiya-I heard you guys wanted to kill my junior?"
What? How do they know about that? Have we been exposed? Momo Nishimiya's heart lurched, but outwardly, she pretended to know nothing.
"What are you talking about? I don't understand."
"Hey-enough, enough, enough. Stop pretending. Do you take us for idiots? All five of you ganged up on one person. Even an ass could figure out what you were trying to do."
Seeing that the plan had been exposed, Momo Nishimiya simply dropped the act.
"Th-then, what do you want to do?"
"Huh? What do we want to do?" A wicked grin suddenly appeared on Kinji Hakari's stubbly face, making him look like a creepy older man coaxing a little girl into accepting a lollipop.
"The same thing you did, of course. Have a fair, impartial, righteous four-on-one fight with you," everyone said in unison.
"Five of you ganged up on Yuta alone, while only four of us are fighting you. How's that? Pretty fair, right?" Panda said with a wicked grin of his own.
"All right, come down and let us get nice and close." Kinji Hakari called up to Momo Nishimiya, who was clinging tightly to a branch, and flashed a "nuclear-friendly" smile.
"No way!!! Who wants to get close to you?!!!"
And so, the poor little blonde girl was surrounded by four burly men with ill intentions, her wails echoing throughout the valley.
Before you continue