"The last Goodwill Event..."
Nobara Kugisaki gently nudged Megumi Fushiguro with her elbow and asked in a low voice, "Isn't Jujutsu High a four-year school? Why did he say 'the last one'?"
Megumi Fushiguro kept his wary gaze fixed on Aoi Todo as he answered quietly, "Fourth years can't participate in the Goodwill Event."
"Oh..." Kugisaki nodded thoughtfully, but the confusion in her eyes did not entirely fade.
Aoi Todo seemed to be growing impatient.
He rolled his thick neck slightly, his bones giving a soft crack, a dangerous gleam flashing in his large, round eyes.
"Since we're already 'friends,'" Todo said, his voice dropping low with an unquestionable sense of pressure.
"I'll leave you half alive, at least. So hurry up and answer me, Fushiguro."
He took a step forward, and the ground trembled slightly.
"Just what kind of woman-is your type?"
Megumi Fushiguro felt the veins in his temples throbbing.
He took a deep breath, trying to use reason to suppress the irritation churning inside him.
"What is this supposed to mean?" His voice was still fairly calm, but obvious impatience had crept into his tone. "Are you trying to force an answer out of me?"
Beside him, Nobara Kugisaki seemed to have momentarily detached herself from the tense atmosphere.
Her gaze fell on Mai Zenin's well-tailored black uniform, and a trace of envy flashed in her eyes.
"A summer uniform?" Kugisaki muttered. "It looks pretty nice. Why does Tokyo Jujutsu High only give us this one style..."
Fushiguro ignored Kugisaki's muttering.
His mind raced as he analyzed the situation: Kugisaki had not brought her hammer and nails; she did not have her weapons with her.
Two against two, and their opponents were third-year seniors from Kyoto Jujutsu High whose strength was unknown.
They could not fight them head-on.
At least, not now.
Just as Fushiguro found himself at a complete loss, almost cornered by Todo's burning, stubborn gaze.
That gentle face suddenly surfaced in his mind of its own accord.
Megumi Fushiguro took a deep breath, raised his head, and looked straight into Aoi Todo's eyes, which burned with fanatical flames.
"I don't have any particular preferences." His voice was calm, but he enunciated every word clearly.
"As long as that person has enough individuality, that's enough."
Hearing this, Nobara Kugisaki raised an eyebrow beside him, her expression saying, "Not bad."
"That's a pretty good answer~" She glanced at Fushiguro, a hint of teasing in her voice. "If you'd dared say you liked big boobs or something, I'd have killed you already."
The corner of Fushiguro's mouth twitched. "Shut up..."
Aoi Todo's reaction, however, was completely different from what either of them had expected.
An unmistakable look of disappointment appeared on his rugged face.
It was the disappointment of opening a long-awaited treasure only to find a rock inside.
The disappointment of posing a carefully prepared riddle, only for the other person to give the most boring answer.
Aoi Todo's eyes actually began to well up.
Tears of disappointment rolled down his face.
"I'm disappointed, Fushiguro." Todo's voice was frighteningly low, carrying an almost mournful emotion.
"You really are... a boring man."
The moment those words fell, Megumi Fushiguro's pupils abruptly contracted.
He saw the muscles in Todo's legs tense in an instant, the ground bursting beneath his feet as that burly figure shot toward him like a cannonball.
But his body could not react as fast as his eyes could track.
Todo's fist was already swinging toward his face.
Megumi Fushiguro instinctively raised and crossed his arms to block, cursed energy instantly coating them to form the simplest defense.
Bam-!!!
The dull impact sounded like a heavy hammer striking a sandbag.
Megumi Fushiguro felt a sharp pain shoot through both arms, as though his bones were about to crack.
Then that terrifying force lifted his entire body off the ground and sent him flying backward.
He barely managed to adjust his posture in midair before his back slammed heavily into the corridor wall with a dull thud, and he slid to the floor.
"Fushiguro!" Nobara Kugisaki cried out.
She wanted to rush over, but Mai Zenin had silently drawn close to her at some point.
The muzzle of a handgun pressed lightly against Kugisaki's waist.
"Don't worry," Mai's voice sounded beside Kugisaki's ear, soft but carrying an icy chill.
"You can comfort him afterward. Even Fushiguro, who enrolled as a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer, is just a junior in front of Grade 1 Todo-senpai."
She paused, the corners of her lips curling into a mocking smile.
"So please be good and stay still~"
Nobara Kugisaki froze.
She could feel the cold metal against her waist and the malice radiating from Mai.
Meanwhile, Megumi Fushiguro struggled up from the floor.
He shook his numb arms, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
Even with his cursed energy defense, that punch had injured his internal organs with its impact.
Only then did a forgotten memory suddenly become clear in his mind.
Aoi Todo.
He had heard that name before.
About half a year ago, during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons launched by the Special Grade Curse User Suguru Geto, five Grade 1 Cursed Spirits and one special grade cursed spirit had appeared simultaneously in the Kyoto area.
At the time, Kyoto Jujutsu High's teachers and most of its upperclassmen had been away on missions, leaving the school's defenses thin.
Then one student had faced those six cursed spirits alone.
Five Grade 1s, one Special Grade.
All exorcised.
That person was Aoi Todo.
Megumi Fushiguro's heart thumped hard.
He raised his head and looked again at the burly figure slowly approaching him, his gaze completely changed.
Wary and grave.
This Todo was the very Todo from those stories!
"Although judging people by their appearance is wrong," Aoi Todo said as he approached step by step, his footsteps heavy, each one seeming to make the ground tremble slightly.
"From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were a very boring man, Fushiguro."
He stopped three meters in front of Fushiguro, looking down at his junior, and shook his head.
"You wasted my kindness."
Enduring the dull pain in his chest, Megumi Fushiguro slowly straightened.
He stared at Todo and suddenly asked, "I heard you exorcised cursed spirits during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons without using your cursed technique?"
Aoi Todo raised an eyebrow, seemingly a little surprised by the question.
He thought for a moment, then waved a hand.
"No, I did use my cursed technique against the Special Grade, at least." His tone was casual.
Megumi Fushiguro's pupils contracted slightly.
Doesn't that mean he didn't even use his cursed technique against the five Grade 1 Cursed Spirits?!
That realization sent a chill through him.
Aoi Todo rolled his neck, making it crack.
He looked at Fushiguro, his mouth spreading into a wild grin.
"What's wrong? Scared?"
Megumi Fushiguro took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He slowly assumed the opening stance of the Ten Shadows Technique, and the shadow beneath his feet began to writhe and expand like boiling water.
"Then that's perfect!"
He shouted in a low voice, forming hand seals in front of his chest.
"Nue-plus Toad, Well's Unknown Bottom!"
Several oddly shaped shikigami emerged from the shadows.
A few emerald-green frogs with white wings on their backs leaped out of the shadows.
They puffed out their cheeks and croaked.
Aoi Todo watched these shikigami without any change in his expression.
He did not even take a fighting stance, simply loosening his shoulder and wrist joints as though the shikigami before him were beneath his notice.
Megumi Fushiguro's mind raced.
He's an expert in close combat, and his speed and strength completely outclass mine. I have to put some distance between us, use my shikigami to interfere with his movements, then find an opening...
But a sudden sense of danger interrupted his thoughts.
Aoi Todo moved again, even faster this time.
So fast that Megumi Fushiguro did not even see him take a step; he only felt a terrifying blast of wind pressure rushing toward him.
The wind pressure was so powerful that the shikigami he had just summoned were actually sent tumbling backward, their formation collapsing instantly.
Fushiguro's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
So fast! He wasn't even moving at full speed with that punch earlier?!
The thought had barely formed when Aoi Todo appeared behind him.
Cold sweat instantly soaked Megumi Fushiguro's back.
Oh no!?
Before he could even turn around, Todo's fist was already poised to strike, about to slam into his back.
If that punch landed squarely, he would be seriously injured at the very least.
Perhaps he really would be left "half alive," just as Todo had said.
But just as Todo's fist was about to touch Fushiguro's back-
A light, airy voice rang out in the corridor.
"Todo..."
The voice was calm, but everyone present heard it clearly.
"Are you bullying my dear junior?"
As the voice rang out, a black-clad figure appeared like a phantom between Megumi Fushiguro and Aoi Todo.
No one saw how he appeared.
It was as though he had been there all along, and no one had noticed him before.
Black hair, a black uniform, and a calm gaze.
Madara Uchiha.