"Yo, Miss Makima—and An Xora, Seele—didn't expect the three of you to show up together."
Seeing them arrive, Gojo Satoru immediately greeted them from a short distance away.
Yes—An Xora and Seele were here today precisely because of Gojo's invitation.
"Gojo Satoru, it's a pleasure to meet you. Principal Yaga, Principal Gakuganji, Miss Utahime as well."
Makima nodded politely to the four of them, then turned to An Xora and Seele at her side.
"I happened to run into Mr. An Xora and Miss Seele on the way here. We found ourselves in pleasant conversation and headed for the same destination, so we decided to come together. I hope this hasn't caused any inconvenience."
"You're too kind, Miss Makima. As long as Mr. An Xora and Miss Seele don't mind."
Yaga Masamichi replied with his usual serious expression.
In truth, he had long been curious about Seele, the newly promoted Special Grade sorcerer who had forced even the ever-confident Gojo Satoru to personally admit defeat. Now that he finally met her in person, even Yaga couldn't help but marvel at the fact that someone so young could reach such heights.
Judging by appearances, she looked no older than a middle schooler. Although a sorcerer's strength was said to be eighty percent talent, Seele still completely shattered Yaga's long-held worldview.
Even Gojo Satoru back in the day had not possessed this level of strength at such an age.
"So she's the Special Grade who defeated Gojo?"
At the side, Utahime Iori was also carefully observing Seele. When she first heard that Gojo—that annoying man—had actually been beaten, her initial reaction after feeling satisfied was disbelief.
As Gojo's senior from their days at Jujutsu High, Utahime knew all too well just how monstrous Gojo's strength was.
It was hard to imagine someone like him ever losing, let alone to the petite, soft-looking girl standing before her—someone who at first glance even gave off a timid, delicate impression.
Perhaps noticing Utahime's gaze, Seele's eyes briefly met hers, and then the girl gave her a sweet smile.
Instantly, Utahime felt as though her entire being had been healed.
Compared to that awful Gojo, this girl was practically an angel. Utahime couldn't help but think—how amazing would it be to hug her, hold her close, and just… inhale?
If only such happiness were possible.
Of course, that was nothing more than wishful thinking. After all, this girl was a Special Grade sorcerer—someone who had defeated Gojo Satoru. She was probably, like Gojo, completely beyond the control of the higher-ups.
Who would dare do anything disrespectful toward someone like that?
And then—
Utahime saw someone actually do the very thing she only dared to imagine.
"Feels kind of boring. When's the exchange supposed to start?"
A pair of arms casually wrapped around Seele, pulling her small body into an embrace. An Xora leaned directly against her, using her as support.
Seele showed no sign of displeasure at all. Instead, she asked gently,
"Are you tired, An Xora? Then rest against Seele for a while."
…Who is this guy?!
Utahime desperately wanted to shout that out loud. But as she opened her mouth, she realized she didn't seem to have the standing to say such a thing.
In the end, she could only swallow her shock and silently close her mouth.
Yaga Masamichi, on the other hand, had already heard from Gojo about the relationship between Seele and An Xora. Still, seeing it with his own eyes left him just as surprised by how close the two were.
"Ahem. Since our guests seem to be getting impatient, I'll now explain the rules of this year's group battle for the exchange event."
The group battle rules were simple.
Second-grade cursed spirits, along with an unspecified number of third-grade ones, had been placed in a pre-prepared area within the school grounds. Students from both schools would enter the area.
Whichever side killed the second-grade curse first—or defeated more third-grade curses—would win.
After explaining the rules, Yaga gave the students some time to prepare. Soon after, Makima, the two principals, Utahime, Gojo, as well as An Xora and Seele all headed to the monitoring room.
Before long, it was time for the match to officially begin.
Gojo picked up the broadcast microphone and repeated the rules once more.
"Alright then—I hereby declare the match officially started!"
With Gojo's announcement, the screens in the monitoring room showed the students of both schools beginning to move.
Then, as expected, one section of the surveillance feed went dark.
Moments later, all of the Kyoto students—and Yuji Itadori—vanished from the monitors.
Anyone with half a brain could tell what that meant.
"Is this your doing, Principal Gakuganji?"
Gojo's smile had taken on a faint chill as he turned to the elderly principal beside him.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Gakuganji immediately denied it, showing no intention of admitting anything.
"Then is this the higher-ups' decision?"
Gojo shifted his gaze to Makima.
"The higher-ups would never harm students who are still in school," Makima replied with a perfectly composed smile.
"At the very least, I can guarantee that this is true on my end."
In fact, this operation to surround and kill Yuji Itadori truly had nothing to do with the higher-ups.
After all… the vast majority of the jujutsu higher-ups were already under Makima's control.
From the standpoint of her master's interests, gathering Sukuna's fingers to restore his power and then defeating him for points was the optimal course of action. There was no reason for Makima to prematurely eliminate Yuji, Sukuna's vessel.
In other words, Makima's stance represented the stance of the jujutsu higher-ups as a whole.
Which meant that this attempt to assassinate Yuji Itadori was entirely the personal decision of Gakuganji Yoshinobu, principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High.
Seeing that Makima didn't seem to be lying, Gojo tentatively accepted her explanation and prepared to turn his attention back to Gakuganji.
However—
At that very moment, every surveillance screen in the monitoring room went dark simultaneously.
And then—
BOOOOM—!!!
A massive surge of cursed energy erupted from the direction of the forest, accompanied by towering flames shooting into the sky.
"What—what happened?! That cursed energy…!"
Utahime covered her mouth in shock as she stared toward the forest.
Such an overwhelming scale of cursed energy—what on earth had happened over there?
"Someone has infiltrated the interior of Jujutsu High," Yaga said gravely.
"But why didn't the school's barrier stop them? It didn't even trigger the most basic alarm."
"To think Jujutsu High was infiltrated right under our noses…"
Gakuganji's already gloomy expression darkened even further.
"Principal Yaga, Principal Gakuganji—you two go check on Master Tengen immediately," Makima said, standing up.
"The rest of you, come with me to the forest. Our priority is protecting the students."
As the person with the highest authority present, Makima swiftly issued her orders.
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