What had happened in the morning felt as though it belonged to a long-distant past.
At lunchtime, Asou Akiya woke beneath the alarm, his mind still weighed down by the dull exhaustion that followed excessive thinking.
He savored the sense of ease that came from having defused a ticking time bomb, and, indulging in a rare moment of idleness, did not get up right away. Hugging the little cat that kept him company, he rubbed his cheek against it, then reached under his pillow to fish out his phone. By habit, he began scrolling through social news.
[September: Remember Disaster Prevention Day* and strengthen public disaster-awareness efforts.]
*{Note: In Japan, September 1 is Disaster Prevention Day (防災の日, bousai no hi). This day commemorates the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and is a day on which disaster preparations are taken nationwide, especially in the Kantō region.}
[According to reports revealed today by overseas media, Microsoft's second-generation home game console, the "Xbox 360," will be released by the end of the year.]
[Sony Corporation has disclosed that next year it will launch the highly anticipated third-generation game console…]
[Due to the outbreak of mad cow disease this July, the government urges citizens to view the situation rationally and states that imported beef remains safe for consumption. The ban is expected to be lifted in December, allowing imports of U.S. beef. Since the outbreak of mad cow disease in 2001, Japan has suffered economic losses totaling 365 billion yen…]
[Beef Crisis! As of late September, multiple yakiniku restaurants in Shizuoka Prefecture have gone out of business…]
"Mad cow disease?"
Ever since he'd gained access to the Gojo family's black card, Asou Akiya rarely paid attention to such matters.
He always bought the finest ingredients for Gojo Satoru, placing orders through the Tokyo Jujutsu High supply channels, where inspections were strict. At the very least, the higher-ups of the jujutsu world could be trusted to show some conscience in this regard—after all, they ate the same food themselves. So when mad cow disease broke out in July, he and Gojo Satoru continued eating beef as usual, paying little heed to the panic among ordinary civilians.
They could all afford the freshest, highest-quality imported beef.
Unless a "mad cow disease" cursed spirit were to be born, this sort of affair should have remained forever unrelated to jujutsu sorcerers.
"…Mm… so it's this, huh…"
Asou Akiya rolled over, lying flat on his back as he continued staring at his phone.
Once that keyword tugged at his memory, he finally recalled what this July's "mad cow disease" was connected to: in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, multiple branches of a yakiniku chain went bankrupt. The restaurant owner, together with his wife and child, committed suicide. The suburban villa where the family had lived became a notorious haunted site, famous far and wide; several people went missing there, and the rumors spread rapidly online. In September 2006, the Jujutsu Headquarters dispatched Grade 1 sorcerer Mei Mei and Grade 2 sorcerer Utahime Iori to investigate. The two were trapped inside the villa and went missing for two days.
This was the opening of Jujutsu Kaisen Season Two, Episode One. After the two upperclassmen disappeared, Tokyo Jujutsu High sent Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, and Ieiri Shoko on a rescue mission, during which Geto incidentally absorbed a quasi–Grade 1 labyrinth-type cursed spirit.
Although the incident itself would occur next year, the fuse had already been lit by the mad cow disease outbreak in July of this year.
The yakiniku restaurant owner had been buried under crushing debt. Anyone who wanted to change the fate of that family of three would need an enormous sum of money.
Asou Akiya pulled out his bank passbook. His balance is roughly 700,000 yen. A Grade 4 sorcerer didn't earn much, and expenses were high, leaving his savings at just over thirty thousand yuan when converted to RMB.
"So poor."
In his heart, Asou Akiya shed the tears of the impoverished.
This year had been relentlessly busy. He was underage, unable to take part-time jobs, unable to trade stocks, unable to invest in real estate…
Lacking both capital and a justifiable reason, Asou Akiya refused to ask anyone for a loan. He also kept his distance from the money-loving upperclassman Mei Mei; to this day, he had yet to strike a deal with Miss Mei Mei to have her write a love letter for Gojo Satoru.
At the latest, by March next year, he would definitely strike it rich!
Asou Akiya was firmly convinced of this. After all, not long after transmigrating, he had already wracked his brain over every ownerless treasure at home and abroad after 2005, laying down a whole series of preparations for his future fortune.
Foreign treasures were out of reach for now.
But in 2006, within Japan itself, there was an ownerless treasure waiting for him to find a way to claim it.
That was fifty million yen in cash.
It was known, from a Xinhua News Agency exposé in his previous life, that somewhere in Owari-Asahi City, Aichi Prefecture, beneath an open plot of land at a depth of ten to twenty centimeters, there lay a suitcase. The suitcase was made of plastic, and inside it were fifty million yen in cash. After construction workers accidentally dug up this plastic suitcase, no one came forward to claim it for six months. It was obvious that it had been buried there for a long time, that the origin of the money was unclear, and that its original owner had long since cast it from their mind. In the end, the cash was split evenly between the construction workers and the real estate company.
Asou Akiya pounded his bed—if only he had been born with the "Six Eyes," his dream of sudden wealth would already have come true.
The deposit for the Time Vessel Association's bounty on Amanai Riko had been only thirty million yen.
Rounded up, fifty million yen was enough to buy a single job from Fushiguro Toji—to have him kill someone!
He couldn't go to Aichi Prefecture this year, but he could go next year. He was determined to get his hands on that money. He had already expressed concern about the Aichi Prefecture fire incident back when he was at the Yokohama orphanage; using that as a pretext, he could easily justify a "trip" to Aichi.
"Ahhhhhh!"
After venting his madness, Asou Akiya calmed himself, got out of bed, tucked Mii-chan* in properly under the covers, and left it behind to guard the house for him.
*{Note: I just realized that the cat cursed puppet is named after Natsume Souseki's cat form nickame in BSD. Yeah, i'm stupid.}
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he went berserk knocking on doors.
"Geto! Gojo! Wake up! You're going to be late—you all overslept!"
In the afternoon's first class, the three habitual night owls arrived late together.
Yaga Masamichi could only sigh at their exhausted state. There was no point holding a hand-to-hand combat lesson; none of them had their minds on physical training.
Ieiri Shoko suggested, "Sensei, why don't we just play on our own?"
Yaga Masamichi agreed.
As he left, he scolded them nonstop: "Stop staying up so late. You're still growing."
The four students, suddenly freed from their homeroom teacher's supervision, instantly perked up and cheered. Gojo Satoru squatted on the edge of a flower bed and said cheerfully, "Geto, we've got nothing to do—why don't you let out a special-grade cursed spirit for us to play with?"
Geto Suguru protested verbally, but the speed at which he released the special-grade cursed spirit did not slow in the slightest. A black vortex formed at his side.
The special-grade imagined cursed spirit, "Kokkuri-san," appeared.
"Geto, are you insane? Next time you release something like that, let me get away first—" Ieiri Shoko's breathing hitched, discomfort plain on her face, but then Asou Akiya caught her by the arm, and the suffocating sense of unease—as if encountering a natural predator—vanished at once.
Ieiri Shoko blinked. "Asou?"
There was no doubt about it: Asou Akiya had no cursed technique and possessed no ability that could dispel pressure of this kind.
Ieiri Shoko turned her head to look—and good grief. The white-haired boy who had been squatting on the flower bed pulling weeds a moment ago was gone. In the blink of an eye, he had flashed to Asou Akiya's left side, pulling him within the protective range of the "Limitless" technique.
Ieiri Shoko fumed inwardly: [Gojo and Geto—both of them are scum!]
Once he was under protection himself, Asou Akiya hurriedly reached out and touched Ieiri Shoko as well, extending that protection to safeguard his female classmate's physical and mental well-being.
Ieiri Shoko thought silently: [Asou really is the best.]
As the female student who was so often overlooked, Ieiri Shoko's usual response in situations like this was to stay as far away as possible. This time, however, Asou Akiya's intervention gave her the chance to remain and watch from up close; he had taken her feelings into careful consideration.
Gojo Satoru looked eager, brimming with anticipation. "Geto, have you got it under perfect control?"
Geto Suguru replied, "That's right. It's already one of my shikigami now and will obey my commands."
Then, with ill intent, Geto Suguru added, "Gojo, Asou—would you like to experience its Domain Expansion?"
That morning, Geto Suguru had been left with stinging eyes and a terrible taste in his heart by Asou Akiya. He had drifted through the entire morning in a daze, only to have Gojo Satoru take a commemorative photo of him on top of it all. Afterward, he had forgiven both Asou Akiya and Gojo Satoru without ever saying it out loud, bottling everything up inside. Coupled with oversleeping at noon, his emotions swung erratically, and he couldn't shake the feeling that the two of them deserved to suffer a little for it.
"I'll pass, thanks." Asou Akiya jolted and waved his hands frantically, instinctively recoiling.
"How can you refuse something this fun?!" Gojo Satoru seized Asou Akiya tightly and refused to let go. "Geto! Shoko's here anyway—let it use its Domain Expansion! I want to know what Akiya's greatest wish is right now!"
Asou Akiya: "..."
"You guys go ahead and play!" Ieiri Shoko wrenched herself free from Asou Akiya's grip and bolted off into the distance in a blur.
Do not drag her into a Domain Expansion!
What does it feel like to have two scumbag classmates? Asou Akiya had thought he wouldn't be unlucky enough to get dragged into a domain, but Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru made their stance unmistakably clear: if we have it, then you have to have it too!
Within a vast, seemingly boundless illusory realm, Asou Akiya thought he heard a voice, cold and eerie, whispering in his ears.
[Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, you are my past life, and I am your present one… If you wish to continue our bond, then speak your desire.]
Asou Akiya's scalp went numb in an instant.
A domain like Kuchisake-onna's? One that demanded an answer before it could proceed?
No, no, no, absolutely not—he didn't want to voice a single one of his wishes, and he certainly didn't want these two to hear them!
Without another word, Asou Akiya turned around and clutched Gojo Satoru tightly instead, determined not to be separated from the technique, startling the other boy.
Gojo Satoru flailed wildly. "Geto, help! He won't let go!"
To Asou Akiya, it felt like he was hugging a long, ferocious beast—slender at the waist, bristling the instant he was touched. The sheer force of the struggle knocked the wind out of him, leaving his head spinning, and he felt as though his ribs might break from the impact alone. Seeing the two of them overreacting so violently, Geto Suguru smiled pleasantly and said, "Gojo, you can release the technique and let the two of you enter the domain together."
Gojo Satoru thought there was nothing wrong with that at all. With malicious cheer, he began counting down. "Akiya, you heard that, right? If you don't let go right now, I'm going to deactivate the 'Limitless' that's covering the two of us. Three, two, one… released!"
Asou Akiya felt an icy chill wash over his entire body.
The instant his grip loosened, Gojo seized the opening and darted away from the embrace that had nearly strangled him to death.
Gojo rubbed his waist, planted his feet firmly on the ground, and activated his countermeasure against domains—the New Shadow Style: Simple Domain.
At that moment, the white-haired boy bared his teeth, while the bun-haired boy curved his lips into a shadowed smile.
"Akiya~."
The "sure-hit" effect of the domain struck straight at the heart.
When a jujutsu sorcerer is trapped inside a domain, their desires are magnified, and the very first wish they speak is often the simplest, most plain thought buried in their heart.
Their reason usually remains intact; they rarely voice wishes that are too lofty or extravagant.
Akiya's face flushed crimson. The urge to speak surged higher and higher, completely overwhelming him, until he could no longer resist and his first, truest wish spilled out.
"My… wish… is… to earn… fifty million…"
Backlash—minor injury, passed.
Akiya believed he could obtain it. A small wish. And the unseen rules of the domain, somewhere in the shadows, acknowledged the legitimacy of his desire.
Geto's eyes went wide and round. "Huh?"
Gojo put on a ridiculous expression. "What? Only fifty million? Your wish is so pathetic, Akira!"
Mocked by Gojo, Akiya's face burned even redder. He roared back in furious embarrassment,
"Do you believe or not that fifty million is enough to buy your life?!"
Gojo Satoru pulled a ridiculous face as he laughed at him.
"My head carries a bounty worth hundreds of millions of dollars, idiot!"