Bad news had arrived. Or rather, news even worse than the bad news she had braced for.
Mahiru had assumed that the Tengen sealed in the Tomb of the Star Corridor here was in the same state as in the "past world" — simply locked inside, then watched from a distance by Sukuna through the Culling Game.
But when she cut open the Barrier of the Tomb of the Star Corridor with the Inverted Spear of Heaven in hand and stepped through, she found otherwise.
"There's… nothing here?" Itadori's eyes went wide.
Nothing. Not a thing.
The sealed, unbreakable Barrier outside was only an illusion. Everything within it, Tengen included, had been moved away by Sukuna through some unknown means, to some unknown place.
"Where would they have taken Lord Tengen?" Miwa asked.
"Into the future world, most likely." Mahiru surveyed the traces of Cursed Energy at the scene and reached her verdict.
It was a verdict born not from what she found, but from what she didn't. Mahiru could see no obvious sign of spatial displacement anywhere, which left only movement through time.
"…Tch." The girl clicked her tongue.
And by the look of it, the transfer had happened a while ago.
A month ago at the very least.
That Tengen would be moved at all — thinking it through seriously, she could have guessed. There was no way Sukuna would leave Tengen sitting here.
But that meant they now had to force their way into the "future world," where Sukuna had spent all this time laying out his preparations. That was not good news.
"So what now?" Fushiguro asked at her side.
"Let's track down Satoru Gojo," Mahiru said. "See where he got sent."
They were a four-person team: Fushiguro, Itadori, Miwa, and Mahiru.
They had shared a heartfelt reunion at the hot spring inn, then rushed straight here without stopping to breathe.
And the moment they stepped beyond the grounds of Jujutsu High, the aura of the Culling Game across all of Tokyo — no, across all of Japan — stirred awake.
Far off, against the vault of the sky, a huge blue apparition took shape.
The four of them looked up, stunned.
That smiling face was so familiar. And so instantly, thoroughly infuriating.
"Greetings, players of the Culling Game. I am the system administrator of the Culling Game. I may be dead, but I'm delighted to meet you all in this form." The apparition beamed down at them. "Especially Mahiru, and everyone from Jujutsu High — did you miss me?"
Itadori's jaw dropped. "That's…"
Kenjaku?
Kenjaku's apparition was greeting every last person taking part in the Culling Game.
"He left an AI of himself inside the Culling Game?" Mahiru murmured, staring up at the projection.
"I'm so glad you could all join this game," the apparition went on. "I trust you've had a wonderful time these past weeks? I know how deeply you all love this game, and we'll keep working hard for you."
"And now, we welcome Season Two."
"Season One had its problems." Kenjaku admitted it without a flinch. "We provided you a shop and all manner of items, expecting you would eagerly become Jujutsu Sorcerers and throw yourselves into player-versus-player combat. That isn't how it went. Players didn't seem to enjoy becoming Jujutsu Sorcerers, and didn't seem to enjoy fighting one another either."
"It troubled us for a long while. We turned it over and over, and in the end we found the cause: far too many of you simply lack sufficient starting points. Ordinary people struggle to defeat Cursed Spirits, which makes earning those first points impossible."
"So for Season Two, we have decided to mend our ways and optimize this."
Optimize? Optimize how?
Mahiru, Fushiguro and the rest of them all blinked.
"He's fixing the fact that people don't have points…" Itadori wasn't following. "Is he going to hand out points to everyone in the Culling Game?"
Fushiguro's jaw tightened. "Not a chance."
Kenjaku smiled, and his voice rolled out across the land. "From this moment on, I'll be providing all of you with a [Loan Service]."
As the words fell, right on cue, the system panel unfolded on its own before every pair of eyes in the country.
On it was the loan page.
"Players may apply for a loan and borrow points, and after a fixed term the system will collect interest. Naturally, each person's borrowing limit is capped — but don't worry, this first loan we bring you will be more than enough to purchase a Cursed Technique skill… Quite the generous benefit, wouldn't you say?"
So that was his angle.
Mahiru's mouth twisted.
Of course Kenjaku wasn't doing anyone a kindness.
Adding a loan option to the Culling Game was, beyond any doubt, a vicious scheme played in the open — a trap everyone could see coming and nobody could refuse.
Just as Kenjaku said, ninety-nine percent of ordinary people, once dragged into the Culling Game, had chosen not to become Jujutsu Sorcerers. And that was purely because their starting points fell short.
If they'd had enough starting points, Mahiru would not have been the least bit surprised to be flung into the past, return over a month later, and find every last person in Japan turned into a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Nobody could refuse the temptation of that kind of power. Least of all the countless bad actors who had been itching for an opening long before this, nursing their ugly intentions in silence.
The loans Kenjaku had just unleashed would push a legion of people with criminal hearts into taking the plunge. And to answer those people — or simply to hold power of their own — decent, ordinary citizens would have to borrow as well. An arms race.
All of Japan would be sucked into the whirlpool.
And while the loans handed out points, they did nothing to relieve the macro-level System Points pressure crushing Japan right now.
Because of the interest. The borrowing wave that the chaos would spawn could only, in the long run, leave the whole country buried under a far heavier point burden.
"Of course, this season's update isn't only the loan service," Kenjaku added. "We've also expanded the range of skills and items available to you. I hope you'll all find something you love in the shop."
He smiled and waved down at them.
"Well then… have fun out there, everyone."
With that, Kenjaku's apparition dissolved, and the blue motes of light in the sky scattered with it. In the distance, the city erupted into noise.
There was no need to guess.
The riots had begun.
"Ring, ring, ring…"
The phones of Mahiru, Fushiguro, Itadori and Miwa all blew up at once with calls from Jujutsu High, the urgent ringing echoing the clamor rising far away.
Mahiru frowned, reached out, opened the panel and scrolled. The shop carried a little red badge reading "99+."
A flood of new items and techniques had been added.
Through the racket of the ringtones, Itadori's lips trembled. "So… what do we do now?"
There was no question the situation had hit rock bottom. The loophole in the Culling Game's rules had just been sealed for good.
"What comes next… is a battle royale with tens of millions of people across Japan, isn't it?" Miwa's voice shook.
"It's honestly not that grim," Mahiru said, rubbing her chin.
"Why not?" Fushiguro asked.
"Because it's also an opportunity." Mahiru scrolled through the shop, thoughtful. "We're all starved for points, right? Now everyone's got a loan, and everyone can fight Cursed Spirits. This might turn out to be a good thing."
A low rumble rolled across the sky.
An explosion, somewhere out there. Someone had already bought a skill from the shop and started swinging.
The teenagers looked toward the blast, then at the system panel in Mahiru's hands.
Was this really a good thing?
"Relax, relax." Mahiru waved a hand, smiling easily.
BOOOOM!!
Another mushroom cloud swelled up in the distance, and several rooftops went spinning into the air.
Was this REALLY a good thing?!
"…We're deploying the other Jujutsu Sorcerers to stabilize the situation for now. Let's hope our people can hold the line in these early hours." On the phone, the Assistant Supervisor spoke quickly. "Miss Mahiru… we're counting on you to think of something."
"Sure thing, sure thing." Mahiru flashed an OK sign, flipping through the system panel with genuine interest. "First, let's study exactly what the new Culling Game rules are."
Then she spun on her heel, leveled a finger at Miwa Kasumi and declared at full volume, "You! You're going to test out the loan!"
"Huh?" Miwa made a shocked, baffled noise and pointed at herself. "Me? I'm the test?"
Mahiru nodded hard.
"We've already decided to ride the current and arm the public with the Culling Game's power, so obviously someone has to try it first," she said. "Out of everyone present, you're the closest thing to an ordinary civilian, so naturally we're relying on you."
"Ah…" Miwa's mouth opened and shut, the corner of it twitching.
It's true that I'm a total weakling, but did you have to say it like that?
Mahiru swept her arm out and shoved the system panel in front of Miwa. "Here! Take a look! Imagine you're just an ordinary person. Browsing this shop, which skill or product grabs you the most?"
With no escape, Miwa leaned in and studied it closely.
If the question was which product or skill appealed most, then it came down to first impressions.
First impressions…
And looking closely, the names of these products and skills were all deeply unserious.
"Mm…" Miwa stroked her chin, mulling it over, then pointed at one. "Then I'll go with this — [Instruction Manual for the Must-Know Skill with a 99% Appearance Rate in Jujutsu Sorcerer Combat]."
"That's a mouthful of a name," Itadori remarked from the side.
"Why that one?" Mahiru tilted her head.
Miwa blinked at her.
"Because most people know perfectly well they're beginners," she explained. "Rather than grabbing some flashy, complicated Cursed Technique they don't understand and can't use properly, a broadly useful skill that lays a foundation and gives you real fighting ability first seems like the better fit."
Mahiru's expression turned a little odd at that.
"And what do you think that manual teaches?"
"Do you even need to ask? It has to be about circulating Cursed Energy, or reinforcement with Cursed Energy — the most basic and most important fundamentals, right?" Miwa said it like it was self-evident. "It says the appearance rate is ninety-nine percent."
"Uh…"
Mahiru smacked her lips, then transferred Miwa some points and let her buy the manual from the shop herself.
Miwa made the purchase.
The book materialized out of thin air in her hands.
"Actually, sometimes I do wonder if the reason I can't keep up with all of you is that I don't work hard enough, that my fundamentals aren't solid." Miwa weighed the book in her palms, her eyes flickering. "So maybe this really will be useful to me…"
The blue-haired girl opened the cover.
On the second page, the subtitle stared back at her in bold print: Basic Boxing Training Manual.
Miwa: …
Mahiru scratched her head. "Oh. Yeah. It really is that."
"Why is it THIS?!" Miwa slammed the book onto the ground with a slap and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Punching people counts as a skill with a ninety-nine percent appearance rate in Jujutsu Sorcerer combat?!"
Ugh!
Come to think of it — it really does!!
But putting something like this in the System Shop, wasn't that just fraud?!
The points! Our precious points! We spent points for THIS?!
"We got scammed!!" Miwa howled.
Mahiru pushed the system panel over to Itadori. "Here. Your turn, Itadori. Pick one."
Itadori rubbed his chin and scanned the list up and down.
"I'll take this one." He stretched out a finger and pointed. "[Same As Used By Jujutsu High's Strongest Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer]… If I were an ordinary guy, I'd definitely pick the strongest, right?"
The word "strongest" was where the hype lived, and picking "strongest" was clearly the better deal. After all, a Jujutsu Sorcerer with a powerful Cursed Technique wasn't necessarily strong — but a strong Jujutsu Sorcerer's Cursed Technique was guaranteed to be something special.
Who was the strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer? Nanami? Nanami's Seven-Three Critical Strike Art really was formidable. And if not Nanami, then possibly Mei Mei, whose Black Bird Manipulation rolled reconnaissance, offense and defense into one package.
However you looked at it, there was no way to draw some garbage Cursed Technique out of that!
"So who exactly is Jujutsu High's strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer?" Fushiguro wondered, hand on his chin.
"Ah, forget it, doesn't matter who, they're all about the same!" Itadori raised his finger high and jabbed the purchase button with total confidence. "This one it is!"
Beep, beep.
Purchase complete.
A warm current flowed into Itadori's body like sudden enlightenment poured over his head, and the boy froze on the spot, dumbstruck.
"What did you learn?" Fushiguro asked, slightly tense.
"Uh… didn't manage to stop him in time." Off to the side, Mahiru covered her face with one hand.
Itadori stood there blank. "…New Shadow Style…"
"New Shadow Style?!"
Why the New Shadow Style?! What happened to the super-powerful Cursed Technique?! How was it this sorry, third-rate thing they only hand out to people who don't have a Cursed Technique at all?!
What strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer fights with the New Shadow Style?!
"So Kusakabe-sensei is Jujutsu High's strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer?" Itadori felt his entire worldview shake loose. "That guy… who slacks off nonstop, start to finish…"
"No, I've got it." Fushiguro, of all people, stayed calm, rubbing his chin. "The Culling Game's administrator must have mixed up the strongest Grade 1 Sorcerer with the weakest Grade 2 Sorcerer."
"You've got absolutely nothing!" Miwa had lost count of how many times she'd screamed today. "Even if you refuse to believe Kusakabe-sensei is the strongest, do you have to drag me down as the weakest?! Does my self-esteem mean nothing to you?!"
Miwa had the distinct feeling she was being bullied by all of them at once.
"And how do you even mix up something like that?! That administrator is way too pathetic!!"
Still, Mahiru had noticed something. Kenjaku really did seem intent on steering Culling Game players into spending their points wrong in the shop. He couldn't deceive them outright — the condition for forcing the public into the Culling Game was that he could never lie to them. So all he could do was build his traps out of wordplay.
____
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