Bean
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Chapter 28: Gathering doubts
Inside the clean, bright hospital, Kento Nanami slowly opened his eyes. "Mr. Chingetsu."
Kento Nanami looked at Chingetsu, who was teasing a kitten beside his hospital bed, then at the casts on his body. "I see. I was saved."
Kento Nanami did not dwell on how Chingetsu had rescued him from such a powerful curse user, nor did he ask.
He and Chingetsu had both survived unharmed in the end. That was enough.
"Yo, you're awake, Nanami. How about it? Want a taste of the strawberry crepe I just bought?"
A cheerful voice rang out. Holding an enormous strawberry crepe, Satoru Gojo suddenly appeared in the doorway of the ward.
"You were hurt pretty badly this time. Luckily, Chingetsu got you treated in time. Otherwise, I wouldn't get to drink Nanami's special coffee anymore."
Satoru Gojo lowered his head and took a bite of his crepe, casually setting a basket of fruit on the bedside cabinet. "Well, Chingetsu? Did you find out who the attacker was?"
"Yeah, more or less." "Was it someone from the clan?"
"No, another group lurking in the shadows." Chingetsu's voice was distant.
Considering Chi's earlier reaction to seeing Killer Queen and his identity as a curse user, it was hard not to connect him to the Q Organization.
Satoru Gojo let out a sigh of relief.
He truly feared that those people in the clan would provoke Chingetsu. They had no idea how frightening Chingetsu was.
Although Satoru Gojo was nominally the clan's next head, he had little say in the Gojo Clan.
Those old men only valued his potential. They had even split into several factions within the clan, each controlling its own share of the clan's power and armed jujutsu sorcerers.
So Satoru Gojo would not have been surprised if some clan member with a death wish had provoked Chinsei. Still, Chingetsu was truly angry this time.
Feeling the faint chill emanating from Chingetsu,
Satoru Gojo could not help silently mourning the people who had provoked him. Meanwhile, at the Gojo Clan.
"You're saying Gojo Chingetsu may have awakened a cursed technique?"
Listening to his subordinate's report, the old man in lavish robes looked slightly surprised.
Gojo Chingetsu, who had not inherited the clan's cursed technique at birth and had been deemed an ordinary person, might actually have awakened a cursed technique.
"Yes, Clan Head. Our intelligence agents happened to learn that someone resolved the cursed spirit incident at Yamada Hospital, and that person was very likely Gojo Chingetsu."
A middle-aged man in a black suit knelt respectfully on one knee before the old man, reporting intelligence on Gojo Chingetsu.
"Furthermore, three members of one of the clan's Cursed Spirit Hunting Squads have also lost contact. Records show that they disappeared after accepting a mission related to Gojo Chingetsu."
The man in the suit paused, then added,
"Besides, we've never heard of anyone awakening a cursed technique later in life." "I suspect Gojo Chingetsu may have..."
The man in the suit did not voice his conjecture, but the Gojo Clan Head already understood what he meant. Incarnation!
"We'll consider this matter carefully." "But, Clan Head..."
The man in the suit wanted to say more, but a glare from the Gojo Clan Head stopped him. "I know you belong to the Elder's faction, but I haven't fallen yet." "For now, I still have the final say in this Gojo Clan."
"Without my approval, no one is to take action concerning Gojo Chingetsu."
The richly robed old man's tone was distant.
The man in the suit heard something meaningful in it. Was the Clan Head going to protect Gojo Chingetsu?
He dared not think further. After bowing, he withdrew. Now, only the Gojo Clan Head remained in the room. "Satoru Gojo, I hope your judgment is right."
"The Gojo Clan is weathering a storm. So many people can barely hide their true colors anymore." "I don't know whether my decision was right or wrong..."
The Gojo Clan Head let out a long sigh. The scene shifted to the hospital.
Chingetsu had already left the hospital to take care of matters at the bar.
Only Satoru Gojo and Kento Nanami remained in the ward. "You're saying you want to enroll at Jujutsu High?"
Satoru Gojo looked at Kento Nanami on the hospital bed in surprise. "What made you think of that?"
Why?
Perhaps he did not want to be a burden and wanted to become someone dependable like Mr. Chingetsu. Kento Nanami did not answer.
Satoru Gojo fell silent for a moment, then suddenly broke into a smile. "All right, I understand."
"Admission to Jujutsu High is extremely strict. Apart from the Three Great Clans, outsiders generally have to undergo an entrance assessment.
"So, if you're confident in your cursed technique, recruitment is also a good option." Satoru Gojo wanted to say more, but his suddenly vibrating phone interrupted his thoughts.
"Hello? Hello, hello!"
Satoru Gojo answered the call, his flippant expression gradually turning grave. "All right, Mr. Yeyu, I understand."
"I'll contact Geto and Shoko right away."
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Chapter 29: Utahime Iori's despair
Hirahara Mall, the busiest supermarket in Sendai City. Chingetsu was shopping for necessities for the bar.
During Kento Nanami's fight with Chi, many items in the bar had suffered collateral damage. Kento Nanami was still lying in a hospital bed, so Chingetsu, as the owner, could only do the shopping himself. "Day one of missing a lively Nanami."
"Lucky me. The last pack of dark beer."
Seeing the lone pack of beer left on the shelf, Chingetsu reached for it. "Ha, lucky me!"
A slender, fair hand beat him to it and took the last pack of beer off the shelf. "Utahime Iori?"
Looking at the girl before him with long, straight black hair and that distinctive bow, Chingetsu called out without thinking. "Huh? Gojo, you idiot?"
Seeing Chingetsu's face, which closely resembled Satoru Gojo's, Utahime Iori blurted out her usual way of addressing him.
However, after noticing Chingetsu's flowing long hair and pitch-black eyes, which differed from Satoru Gojo's, Utahime Iori immediately realized she had mistaken him for someone else.
The person before her was not Satoru Gojo.
"S-sorry. I mistook you for someone else."
Utahime Iori's face instantly flushed as red as a boiled shrimp. At heart, she was still a very shy young girl.
Having mistaken someone for another person and even called him an idiot in public, Utahime Iori wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Chingetsu could not help smiling at her reaction.
He was about to say something else.
Utahime Iori's phone suddenly rang. "Yes, yes, teacher. I understand."
Utahime Iori answered the call, and her face, flushed with embarrassment a moment ago, suddenly turned pale. After hanging up, she put the beer back and hurried toward the supermarket exit.
Clearly, something unexpected had happened, so much so that Utahime Iori had abandoned even her beloved beer without hesitation.
Considering the teacher Utahime Iori had mentioned, Chingetsu guessed it was probably an incident involving cursed spirits. A strange feeling suddenly welled up in him. Chingetsu took out his phone and found that it had lost its signal. "Interesting."
Chingetsu closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings. An invisible barrier cut off his perception of the outside world. Without a doubt, someone had cast a "Curtain," and an extremely sophisticated one at that.
"What's going on? Why doesn't my phone have a signal?" "Huh? Mine doesn't either."
"Do you smell something?"
With the signal cut off, the crowd inside the supermarket began to stir.
A thick black mist spread through the supermarket. Without exception, every ordinary person who came into contact with it succumbed, collapsing unconscious.
Now, in the vast supermarket, only Utahime Iori and Chingetsu remained standing. "Was I still a step too late?"
Utahime Iori's expression looked grim.
She had already tested it just now. This Curtain targeted jujutsu sorcerers, allowing them in but not out.
The sudden black mist and the Curtain that had descended both indicated that an extremely powerful curse user was hiding somewhere in the supermarket, carrying out some secret activity.
Crackle.
The supermarket's power was cut, plunging the mist-filled store into darkness. Someone suddenly patted Utahime Iori's shoulder, and she warily pulled away.
"It's you?"
Utahime Iori got a clear look at the newcomer's face.
"My name is Utahime Iori. I'm a student at Jujutsu High and a Semi-Grade 2 jujutsu sorcerer."
Utahime Iori took the initiative to introduce herself and express her goodwill, while looking intently at Chingetsu. Someone who could remain conscious in the black mist was probably no ordinary person.
Perhaps he could help her. "Chingetsu. Gojo Chingetsu."
Chingetsu surveyed their surroundings and answered casually. His surname was Gojo too?
What was his relationship with Satoru Gojo?
A flicker of curiosity arose in Utahime Iori's heart, only to be immediately extinguished. This was not the time to dwell on that.
Their most urgent task was to find the curse user who might be hiding somewhere in the supermarket, defeat them, and then save the people inside.
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