[Above!]
"Swoosh!—"
The scythe-like tentacle flashed a cold light.
Almost the instant Sukuna warned him, Yuji Itadori immediately raised his knife and severed the tentacle reaching down from the ceiling.
He quickly retreated two steps, watching warily as the Curse slid down from the ceiling.
This was an extremely disgusting and hideous Curse.
Its tiny head was covered in fleshy patterns, and two enormous eyeballs grew on top. Its bloated body was layered like the abdomen of an ant queen, with several scythe-like tentacles, densely covered in black spots, extending from its sides—one of which had just been severed and lay on the ground, oozing foul blood.
Its head trembled, emitting a harsh, meaningless sound like a stuck radio, piercing the mind like a knife.
Sukuna held his breath.
This was the first time since his revival that he had truly faced a Curse head-on.
It's... it's truly so... so ugly!!
He felt like he almost couldn't catch his breath.
This is a Curse... this is actually a Curse??
This is beyond just being an eyesore, alright?
Help... Sukuna closed his eyes in despair.
King of Curses, my foot... he just wanted to quit right now.
[Yuji, you handle it yourself...]
Sukuna's voice was extremely weak, as if he might pass away the next second.
"Huh?"
Yuji Itadori, who was thinking about how to deal with the Curse, felt slightly confused hearing Sukuna's unprecedentedly weak voice.
But he didn't have time to dwell on it; the Curse opposite him had already attacked. He immediately rushed forward, quickly killed the opponent, and then finally had time to ask.
"Sukuna, what's wrong?"
[Nothing much... I just took 10,000 points of internal damage... Please leave me alone.]
Yuji Itadori: "...?"
With Sukuna offline, Yuji Itadori had no choice but to continue the mission upstairs alone. Passing a corner, he happened to see a Curse phase through the wall to the other side.
"Ah, found it!"
He quickly chased after it, and upon realizing there was no door to enter the room, he simply punched straight through the wall.
Although it was a flesh-and-blood fist, it easily smashed through the wall. On the other side of the wall, Nobara, the Curse, and the child hostage captured by the Curse all stared dumbfounded at the breached wall and the fist protruding from it.
The three of them shared the same thought—
This guy is definitely not human!
The rest of the process was very simple. With Yuji Itadori's help, Nobara used Resonance to finish off the Curse and together they rescued the hostage.
The two tentatively established a revolutionary friendship built on mutual recognition and mutual disdain... "Good job," Gojo said, raising a hand to greet them. "Let's go eat later. What do you want?"
"Steak!—"
"Sushi!—"
The two locals with differing opinions glared at each other.
"Ladies first, don't you know that!"
"Ha, does that even matter?"
"Then let's play rock-paper-scissors! One round decides it!"
"Fine!"
"I'm going to throw paper!"
"Ah? Eh? Wait..."
"Rock, paper, scissors! Hahaha, I won!"
Nobara laughed triumphantly, looking at Yuji Itadori, who had thrown scissors.
Yuji Itadori looked at his scissors and painfully clutched his head.
How could he have trusted her... How could he have trusted her!
He knew this woman was unreliable, yet he still listened to her deceitful words... Couldn't he have easily won a normal round of rock-paper-scissors using his dynamic vision!
"OK! Then sushi it is. Let's go~"
Gojo, standing nearby, made the final conclusion.
The group took a taxi to the conveyor belt sushi restaurant that Nobara had been longing for.
Inside, there was a separate four-person table. In addition to taking sushi from the conveyor belt, they could also order à la carte.
Nobara, who had never eaten conveyor belt sushi, nervously stared at the rows of various delicacies automatically transported on the belt, her eyes practically glazing over.
Yuji Itadori quickly ordered two servings of chashu ramen for himself, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to dig in.
"Where's your Sukuna?"
Gojo suddenly asked. He found it strange that he hadn't heard Sukuna pop out to place an order.
"Well..." Yuji Itadori scratched his head. "He doesn't seem to have much of an appetite."
Gojo: "..." That's truly rare.
"...Gojo-sensei."
"Hmm?"
"That Curse..." Yuji Itadori struggled to gesture a few times, then finally gave up. "Do they all look so... distinctive?"
"Are there any Curses that aren't so strange?"
As he spoke, he secretly pointed his right finger towards his left hand, giving his teacher a look.
Gojo understood instantly.
"Hmm..." The irresponsible teacher propped up his hands, pretending to sink into memory.
"Actually, there are good-looking Curses too~"
The irresponsible teacher, who had only intended to casually make up a few Cursed Spirits, suddenly and involuntarily thought of his extremely familiar dearest friend when he said this line.
His words unconsciously took a detour, and his voice carried a sense of nostalgia and warmth that others couldn't easily detect.
"...I once saw a Cursed Spirit that looked like a dragon, with snow-white scales all over its body, extremely beautiful..."
He rested one hand on his chin, curled the corner of his lip, and lowered his head slightly, his expression obscured.
Yet he quickly reined in his emotions, reverting to his usual carefree appearance... Extremely beautiful?
Deep inside Yuji Itadori's heart, a figure curled up into a ball stirred, secretly pricking up its ears to hear Gojo continue.
"There are also humanoid Curses, like beautiful, long-haired older sister types, and cute little girls."
"In short, it depends on the type. Some Curses are in animal form, and some are humanoid."
"Just like Fushiguro's Shikigami are actually considered a type of Curse. Aren't his two Divine Dogs very cute?"
Yuji Itadori's eyes lit up, and he nodded frantically. He really liked those two Divine Dogs.
Fushiguro's eye twitched, and he looked at Satoru Gojo with a look of disbelief.
"Furthermore, the stronger the Curse, the closer its form is to its original self."
"For example, Sukuna was actually human a thousand years ago and the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer, only later becoming a Curse."
"Even after becoming a Curse, he should still look human, probably similar to his human form."
With every sentence, Sukuna's head lifted slightly.
By the last sentence, his eyes were shining again.
He hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly popped out from the back of Yuji Itadori's hand.
"...Are you telling the truth?"
Gojo said without blinking, "Of course it's true. Why would I lie to you?"
That's right, he has no reason to lie to me.
Realizing this, Sukuna instantly felt relieved.
He cheered up and regained his former vigor.
Even his voice sounded full of energy.
"I knew it! I am the King of Curses; how could I be like those common riff-raff?"
"Yuji, hurry, I want the grilled eel... and that Black Forest mousse cake. Be quick, it's about to pass by!"
Fushiguro, who had witnessed the entire scene: "..."
Sensei, is it really okay for you to openly lie to people... and to Curses?!
After they had eaten their fill, Gojo cleared his throat and started talking business.
"Starting tomorrow, you will officially begin classes."
Fushiguro, who had been attending classes for N years, calmly took a sip of tea.
The local Nobara was still slumped in front of the conveyor belt, continuing to stare.
Only Yuji Itadori obediently put down his chopsticks and honestly looked at Gojo-sensei.
What a good kid... Gojo sighed internally.
"Mornings will be for theoretical knowledge, and afternoons for physical training."
"Generally, all classes will be taught by your homeroom teacher, which is me. However..."
He picked up his phone and shook it.
"I have to go on a business trip soon. So, Fushiguro will teach your morning classes. For the afternoon classes, I'll call in the Second Years to train with you."
Fushiguro: Just as expected.
Yuji Itadori: "Wow! Fushiguro is going to teach us?"
Nobara: "To be precise, he's teaching you. You're the only one here who still knows nothing."
Yuji Itadori: "Who says? Sukuna doesn't know anything either!"
Nobara: "...?"
Sukuna: ...Ahem! Don't call me out right now, alright? Do you want to expose all my secrets?
Gojo: "In any case, you must attend classes properly. You need to know certain things."
"Especially Yuji, your close combat ability is good, but you don't know how to control Cursed Energy at all. I'll find you a tool later to help you train."
"As for Nobara and Fushiguro, you two should enhance your close combat abilities—Panda and Maki from the Second Years will help train you in this area."
The three people who were named immediately sat up straight.
Yuji Itadori's close combat ability left a deep impression not only on Fushiguro but also on Nobara. If an enemy like him got close, they might not be able to use their Cursed Techniques, no matter how many they had.
Yuji Itadori's weakness, however, was very obvious: he had no foundation in Cursed Energy application and relied solely on his innate physical abilities in combat.
"So, Sensei, when can we learn Cursed Techniques?" Yuji Itadori asked excitedly.
"Well... Yuji, you can't use Jujutsu."
"Huh?"
"A Jujutsu Sorcerer's Cursed Technique is engraved on their body from birth—Yuji, you don't have a Cursed Technique inside you, so you can't use Jujutsu."
Yuji Itadori stood frozen, eyes wide.
"So I can't summon Shikigami like Fushiguro, nor can I go 'bang bang bang' like Kugisaki?"
Kugisaki: What the heck is 'bang bang bang'?!
"That's right~, but you can focus on Cursed Energy control—your physical ability is already very special. If you add Cursed Energy reinforcement, you can surpass other Jujutsu Sorcerers by a large margin; it would essentially be like a finishing move."
Yuji Itadori didn't feel comforted. Heaven knows how much he wanted to be able to use all sorts of miraculous abilities like Fushiguro and the others.
Extremely disappointed, his face turned gray, and he slumped onto the table like a sheet of paper.
Gojo rubbed his forehead... He hadn't intended to tell him now. Ah, well... "However, there is one other possibility: you might still be able to use Jujutsu."
"Hmm...?" Yuji Itadori instantly snapped his head up.
"Although you don't have a Cursed Technique, Sukuna does, and he is currently inside you... which means, with luck, you might be able to use Sukuna's Cursed Technique."
Yuji Itadori: !!!
Sukuna: ???
That's possible?
"However—" Gojo drew out the word.
He looked at Yuji Itadori, or rather, Sukuna inside Yuji Itadori.
"The prerequisite is that Sukuna must be able to use his Cursed Technique."
"So, Sukuna..."
"Do you know what your Cursed Technique is?"
Sukuna: ...Hmm, that is truly an excellent question.
So, what was my Cursed Technique again?
The certain Curse frowned, sinking into deep thought.
Likely anticipating Sukuna's confusion, Gojo continued, "Based on records left behind, we speculate that Sukuna's Cursed Technique might be 'Cleave'."
"But whether that's exactly right, and what the specifics are, you'll probably have to figure out yourself."
"Considering your current situation, it would be best for you to recover your Cursed Technique sooner rather than later. So, Sukuna's mission going forward is to find a way to retrieve his Cursed Technique and use it skillfully~"
"Good luck! I'll support you spiritually!"
Sukuna: ...Suddenly called out and assigned a pile of homework.
"Sukuna! You can do it!" Yuji Itadori's eyes shone. "Remember to teach me once you can use it!"
Sukuna: ...Kid, is this Jujutsu school... appropriate for you?
Or should I just take over?