"Hurry and get off me!" Mai complained as Maki, seeing the situation was under control long before she got involved, relaxed her guard.
"Tch. You were the one talking trash and can't back it up!" Nobara said with annoyance. It would be fine if it was just some bruises, but her new tracksuit was ruined in the scuffle, too.
"I'll be taking your uniform as compensation for my tracksuit," Nobara said with a demanding tone as Mai scoffed.
"Your legs are too short to look good in my uniform. Now get off me!" Mai tried to stand as Maki covered her mouth at Mai's situation, finding it somewhat funny.
"Mai, we're leaving," Todo said, approaching from down the hall and scratching his head languidly as Nobara stood off Mai, who got up, dusting herself off.
"Where's Fushiguro?" Nobara asked as Maki answered.
"Don't worry, Panda and the rest are with him."
"You look like you had fun," Todo said to Mai, making her annoyed.
"As if!"
"I just let down my guard is all, and I was just getting started to boot," she said, reloading her gun as Todo wasn't buying it.
"Forget it. Unlike you, I've got somewhere important to be in Tokyo right about now." Todo reached into his pocket, pulling out a pristine ticket.
"TAKADA'S MEET-AND-GREET EVENT!" he said with conviction, his expression serious.
"Huh?" The three girls deadpanned at his enthusiasm.
"What if I miss the train and don't make it on time? Who knows what I might do...?" Todo suddenly became frantic.
"Let's go, Mai," Todo said, thinking about his misfortune at missing the Kyoto event.
"Sheesh! You're such a pain!" Mai complained, following Todo as the two left.
Before they got too far, however, Mai turned to give some advice.
"Hey, everyone. We won't take it so easy at the Goodwill Event."
"You already lost, idiot! And I said leave your uniform!" Nobara shouted back, irritated, as Maki was indignant.
"Yo, idiot. Shut it."
"What happened today doesn't matter. We'll stomp 'em at the event," she said as if it were obvious.
"Maki, during our fight, Mai said you don't even have cursed energy. Is that true?" Nobara suddenly asked, looking over at Maki.
"It's true. Can't even see cursed spirits without these glasses. I use tools that have been imbued with cursed energy, too. I can't manipulate my own cursed energy like everyone else."
'Oh, something similar to that knife that Itadori got from Gojo-sensei,' Nobara thought before asking.
"Then why did you become a sorcerer?"
"To piss people off." Maki smirked, amused.
"Think about it. What if someone who's looked down on like me became a great sorcerer? How would my family react?" Maki said as if she could see their faces now.
"You know, I really respect you," Nobara said as Maki started walking.
"Good for you."
———————————————————
Sitting in one of the many rooms within Jujutsu High, an old man sat holding his cane.
"Yaga's still not here?"
"Time comes at a high price for an old man who doesn't have much time left," he said, as a familiar voice spoke suddenly.
"Principal Yaga won't be here for a while. We forced (scared) Ijichi into giving you a fake schedule. Let's talk about it," Gojo said with a casual smile.
"It? What are you talking about?" The old man, named Yoshinobu Gakuganji, principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High, said, tilting his head.
"Don't play coy, old man. This is about Yuji Itadori. A conservative like you has to be involved for sure." Gojo leaned to rest his elbows on his knees as his smile annoyed the old man.
"Well, I'll be. The youth these days... don't even know how to speak with respect." The old man sighed.
"I don't intend to. It pisses me off how high-and-mighty old folks are these days," Gojo said, his smile vanishing as if he was ready to kill the old man.
"Hey! How dare you?" Miwa Kasumi said, standing off to the side.
"I'll be sure to tell the people in charge about this," she said, although inside she was fan-girling about how the Gojo Satoru was sitting in front of her in person.
"Go right ahead. I won't be long." Gojo waved her off dismissively.
'He talked to me! He talked to ME!' she cheered in her mind despite keeping her outward expression collected.
"Last night, we were attacked by two unknown special grade curses," Gojo said, surprising Gakuganji.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Save it. That happens all the time to me. It's like getting flyer handouts on the street."
'Wow, he's so cool!' Miwa thought.
"Those curses were able to communicate. I bet there are more out there on their level. And it's not just enemies. Hakari, Okkotsu, and Todo from your school—the students these days have gotten much stronger," Gojo said, setting the picture.
"Then there's the Suguru Geto incident from last year, as well as a vessel of Sukuna appearing."
"What're you trying to say?"
"Don't you get it?" Gojo laughed.
"The wave of power that you guys have been ignoring to maintain your status and in the name of stupid traditions... has gotten huge and is approaching."
"The new generation won't be limited to special grade. If you think I'm the only one who's gonna question your authority, you're gonna be in for a world of hurt, old man." Gojo grinned.
"You've got quite the mouth," Gakuganji said, releasing his cursed energy as Gojo leaned back, unaffected.
"Yikes."
"I've said my piece, so I'm outta here," Gojo said, getting up and leaving the room before he popped his head back through the doorway.
"Oh right, Principal Yaga should be here in about two hours or so..." he said quickly before leaving for real this time.
"Miwa, please go and buy some tea," Gakuganji said, honestly a bit relieved that Gojo had left.
"Right away!" Miwa said, rushing outta the room; however, tea wasn't even on her mind at the moment.
'If I hurry, maybe I can still get a selfie with him!' she thought, immediately seeking out Gojo.
———————————————————
'Hmmm, I guess nothing interesting will be happening for a while... time to gain even more power in the meantime,' Sukuna thought to himself as he saw Itadori sparring with Gojo yet again.
He knew he had about one month before both the arrival of Mahito and the start of the Goodwill Event. Meaning he could set up a few things before then to further enhance his body and possibly his soul.
'I still need to get that finger from Gojo and find the rest of them, so I don't leave myself vulnerable to long-range attacks from Nobara that got the original Sukuna killed,' Sukuna muttered before he got an idea.
He remembered that [Search] quirk from that hero anime. Not only did it allow you to track up to 100 concurrent targets at a time, but it also let you know their weak points and store information on them in your mind. It was great utility and support during combat and outside of combat. However, he'll need to tweak it a bit as well, since nobody in this world has a quirk factor, which may render it useless.
'Ah, I'll just let it track their souls as well as their identity instead; therefore, so long as they aren't soulless, I can track them.'
Sukuna then opened the system and entered the combat space. Unfortunately, even with the buff she gained due to him editing the quirk, Tomoko Shiretoko's stats were so weak that he instantly diced her into ribbons before she could make a move.
'I feel kinda cheap for doing that, but at least I didn't need to battle All for One or Shigaraki just because they had the quirk after stealing it. Otherwise, I wouldn't get this anytime soon.'
Sukuna shook his head as his pupils became rainbow-colored, as the first thing he searched for was himself.
He saw it immediately; 18 crimson stars of light shined in different directions from his location within Yuji. Six of them were stored relatively close here at Tokyo Jujutsu High, one was on Gojo's person at the moment, and there was a cluster of 10 far away, too—and the last one was moving around on its own, likely within some cursed spirit at the moment.
'How interesting, to keep that many fingers so close to me despite knowing the threat I pose. Maybe your arrogance does blind you, Gojo Satoru.'
Sukuna smiled but decided he'd wait and focus on building his strength and planning the perfect exit from this vessel. Using the system again, he decided to retry a certain challenge he tried when he first used the system. That's right—he'll be getting that Heavenly Restriction he wanted earlier.
Setting the same parameters as before, he set his reward as gaining the full power of the physical Heavenly Restriction, plus retaining his ability to use the full capabilities of his cursed energy without either restraining the power of the other.
Entering the system space once again, he found Toji standing there, but instead of blitzing at him like the last time, he reached a hand towards the mouth of the cursed spirit wrapped around his torso. From the mouth of the creature emerged the easily recognizable Inverted Spear of Heaven. The Toji standing before him gripped the handle of it tight and crouched down, ready to use brutal speed to kill the opponent before him.
Just as Toji was pushing off the ground at full force, a hand was already grabbing the back of his shirt, catching him mid-air.
"How could I have forgotten... you're weaker than the current Satoru Gojo," Sukuna said as Toji slashed at his hand, aiming to sever it from his body.
BANG!
Sukuna moved faster, slamming a fist into Toji's face and driving him through the simulated terrain. Toji bounced through many buildings before catching himself and using his own speed to leap between and through the buildings to try and lose Sukuna's gaze and regroup. Yet, as he rounded the corner of a building, Sukuna burst through the wall beside him, grabbing his face and slamming it into the ground so hard the building they were in collapsed on top of them.
"I would end this fight sooner, but I was kinda embarrassed the first time around, ya know."
Sukuna released a barrage of hundreds of small slashes that cut shallow enough not to kill but deep enough to slow this Toji's movements. Toji stumbled, still clutching the Inverted Spear, as he tried to block as many slashes as he could by hitting them with the weapon, but there were too many of them and they were too small to accurately target enough to make a difference.
"It really brings everything into perspective. One moment you're at the top of the world, and the next you're nothing at all."
Sukuna appeared in front of Toji before he could even register, and a violent kick caved in the Sorcerer Killer's chest as he vomited blood from the organ damage.
"I do appreciate this gift, however. Despite your own weakness, Heavenly Restriction is a useful physical trait to have."
Sukuna then stopped with the theatrics, and in an instant, Toji went from injured to blood mist as Sukuna found himself back in his innate domain, his body undergoing another powerful change.