"Okkotsu... Okkotsu..." Satoru rubbed his chin, seemingly deep in thought.
"With this, you first-years finally have four people, which is about the same as the number over at the Kyoto branch." Masamichi spoke.
Then, he took two pieces of paper from his pocket and slapped them onto the table.
Suguru looked toward Masamichi and asked, "Sensei, is this a new Cursed Spirit exorcism assignment?"
Masamichi nodded. "These are two Cursed Spirit exorcism missions. It's perfect, you can complete them in pairs. You'll set out in three days."
Masamichi tossed one paper to Suguru and another to Shoko.
Suguru looked down at the paper in his hand.
"A Grade 1 Cursed Spirit and... a Curse User?" Suguru smiled slightly, then tossed the paper to the still-thinking Satoru.
Satoru instantly caught the paper.
"I remember now! You must be my distant relative. A descendant of Sugawara Michizane, one of the Big Three Vengeful Spirits. I remember those old geezers in the clan mentioning this." Satoru laughed loudly.
In the original story, Okkotsu Yuta was indeed Satoru's cousin, and he even became the head of the Gojo clan after Satoru following the fight with Sukuna.
"I see." Renji nodded slightly.
He was still quite curious if he could get something from Satoru. After all, isn't that how it's written in those novels? Getting stronger by casually freeloading off others and such.
"By the way, sensei, is it necessary for me to take Okkotsu-kun along for this mission? I could solve it by myself, right?" Shoko, who was in the back, yawned and pointed at the mission paper in her hand.
The mission paper read: Deal with the Cursed Energy Plague currently spreading in a village that was ravaged by a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
Suguru and Satoru also looked at Masamichi. They had already been enrolled for half a year and knew each other's strength well. Although Shoko was a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer, she wasn't someone without combat means.
Compared to dealing with a village where the Cursed Spirit had already been exorcised, it would be much more interesting to have Renji join them in fighting Cursed Spirits. With so much Cursed Energy, he must be very strong.
"I know what you're thinking, but unfortunately, Renji has never exorcised a Cursed Spirit. He only just came to understand what Cursed Energy is a few days ago." Masamichi coughed.
"Therefore, he needs to go with Shoko to experience the residual Cursed Energy of a Cursed Spirit, in order to learn sensing abilities."
— — —
In a village outside Osaka.
Dilapidated walls and ruins were everywhere, with only a few houses still lit up, appearing exceptionally conspicuous in the village.
Gurgle... Gurgle...
A bizarre sound came from beneath the rubble of the ruins.
Then—
"Save me... save me... save me..." It was the tender cry for help of a child.
A middle-aged man passing by put down the pole he was carrying and looked around. As one of the few survivors in the village, he had taken on the heavy burden of temporarily caring for the injured. At this moment, however, he felt a bit strange.
"That's odd... aren't all the living villagers at my house? And this isn't the first time I've walked this path, why would there be a child's voice?" The man frowned.
Although he felt it was strange, his inner curiosity still pushed him toward the direction the voice was coming from.
Under the moonlight, the bloodstains on the ground that hadn't been cleaned in time had turned blackish-red, looking particularly striking.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
The man walked toward the pile of rubble.
The child's voice stopped abruptly.
"Strange? Did I hear wrong?"
The man looked at the pitch-black ruins in front of him, and a chill involuntarily ran down his spine.
Zzzzt... Zzzzt...
"You didn't hear wrong... hehehe." That tender voice rang out from behind the man.
...
Three days later.
Shoko and Renji were sitting in the back seat of a black sedan.
Driving in the front was the person in charge of Osaka for Jujutsu High, responsible for dealing with ordinary humans seeing Cursed Spirits and monitoring Cursed Spirit traces—Mitsuki Kumoko.
"Okkotsu-kun, do you smoke?" Shoko took a marlboro out of her breast pocket.
Renji shook his head. "Ieiri-san, I'm technically a minor right now."
As Shoko flicked the lighter, she lit the cigarette, and a wisp of smoke blew toward Renji.
"Satoru and Suguru don't smoke. Every time the craving hits, I'm the only one smoking. Think about it, Okkotsu-kun, isn't it a bit too lonely for me to smoke all by myself?" Shoko smiled, propping her chin up with one hand.
"That's still not a reason for you to entice me to smoke." Renji's lips twitched.
Although he didn't hate the smell of smoke, the scent on Shoko was a bit excessive.
"Sigh, what does it matter? Besides, I don't smoke just to feel good. It's not for self-interest, it's for the benefit of the group... well, it's to better sense the traces of Cursed Spirits' existence." Shoko explained.
Usually, she hung out with those two unreliable guys. Now that she'd finally met such a cute junior, it would be a waste not to tease him properly.
[Ding! Detected a target whose favorability can be increased: Ieiri Shoko (Tier 1)]
[Current Favorability: 10]
[When Favorability reaches 50/80/100, you can randomly extract this character's abilities. Furthermore, when character favorability breaks 100, you can use items to bring them into the Main God Space to accompany the Agent on their long journey.]
[Note: Except for major worlds like Naruto, One Piece, etc, other small worlds will only appear once among the Agents of the Main God Space. Only after the previous Agent dies will that world be redistributed.]
Oh? Favorability?
I can obtain Shoko's abilities? Doesn't that mean I can get the Reverse Cursed Technique?
That's good stuff. With that, as long as your body isn't completely obliterated, you almost can't die.
"Ieiri-san, Okkotsu-san, we have arrived." Kumoko gently stepped on the brakes.
The two opened the car doors and got out.
Renji was instantly jolted awake by a wave of Grade 1 Cursed Spirit aura hitting him in the face.
"Ieiri-san, is this the trace left by a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit?"
He looked toward the village, seeing the residual Cursed Energy like irregular ribbons tightly surrounding the entire village.
Shoko glanced at the sky, then at the soil beneath her feet, and spoke somewhat seriously, "Okkotsu-kun, how does it feel seeing residual Cursed Energy for the first time? Do you feel dizzy?"
Renji shook his head. "I don't feel much of anything."
Shoko said, "That's good. It means this Grade 1 Cursed Spirit hasn't evolved into a Special Grade yet."
"Evolving into a Special Grade? Didn't people from Jujutsu High exorcise this thing?" Renji was a bit puzzled.
According to Jujutsu High's nature, it was absolutely impossible for them to allow an aggressive Grade 1 Cursed Spirit to run rampant in a place where humans lived.
Shoko walked toward the village. As she walked, she tossed her cigarette butt on the ground and extinguished it with her brown leather shoe.
She said, "Okkotsu-kun, this Cursed Spirit was only wounded. We're here to erase the traces it left behind so that it cannot follow its residual Cursed Energy back here again."