Another day passed.
In the sky, clouds were gathering.
In the air, the humidity was rising.
It was the rainy season, and Tokyo saw rain around this time every year — nothing unusual about that. But last time it rained, Cursed Spirits had started falling along with the raindrops, so this time the Jujutsu Sorcerers were all on edge again.
Still, vigilance was a sorcerer's business, and it had nothing to do with Riko Amanai.
Right now, the girl was still lost in a wave of joy and emotion.
"I did it!" the girl cried, overjoyed, staring at the little rubber duck that had appeared in her palm. "Teacher Jogo! Look! Look! I did it!"
"Good, good, congratulations — that shows real talent." The girl's reaction drew a small laugh from Mahiru. As she spoke, she noticed the dark circles under Riko Amanai's eyes. "So, shouldn't you be off to bed by now?"
Riko Amanai felt a little embarrassed at being seen through, but she was in far too good a mood to care. "Hehe... I was just too excited last night..."
There was no way she couldn't have been excited.
Last night, the moment Riko Amanai heard that Mahiru could teach her Contractual Re-Creation, she'd asked to be taught with barely a moment's hesitation, and promised to keep the secret forever.
Mahiru finished carving the Cursed Technique's imprint in thirty minutes. She knew Contractual Re-Creation inside and out, so the engraving came effortlessly.
Once the imprint was done, Mahiru told Riko Amanai to go to sleep, promising to continue teaching her the next day.
But when Mahiru got up the next morning and saw Riko Amanai running over with dark circles under her eyes and a rubber duck cradled in her hands, she knew at once the girl hadn't slept a wink — she'd clearly stayed up all night poring over her new technique. It left Mahiru not knowing whether to laugh or scold her.
Was it really worth that?
The fact that Mahiru could teach Riko Amanai Contractual Re-Creation had to remain a secret — letting it slip would expose her identity. She couldn't even let other Jujutsu Sorcerers know that Riko Amanai's new power was Contractual Re-Creation at all. So Mahiru had made [modifications] to the ability she gave her.
Miwa Ran's Contractual Re-Creation used things like "receipts" and "contracts" as its medium.
Riko Amanai's version, by contrast, used a magic wand and cards as its medium — the cards were made from things like receipts and contracts, while the wand was a cursed tool that suited her Magical Girl persona and reinforced her Cursed Technique.
To activate Contractual Re-Creation, she basically had to throw out a card, chant an incantation, and tap the card with the wand — that would manifest the contents of the "contract" once more, just like in an anime Mahiru had watched in her previous life called Cardcaptor Sakura.
Unless someone could reverse-engineer the cards back into receipts, no one would ever discover the truth behind Riko Amanai's ability. And to use her power, Riko Amanai had to rely on the cards and the wand — she couldn't simply activate it at will the way Mahiru could.
"So, still not going to sleep?"
"Hehehe... okay..."
She agreed out loud, but Riko Amanai suspected that even if she tried, she wouldn't be able to fall asleep — she was simply too excited.
Time and regret have a way of gilding even the most ordinary things.
Death and parting magnify every inch of a person's — and a memory's — weight.
For all sorts of reasons, "Miwa Ran" no longer occupied a place in Riko Amanai's heart that could be simply summed up as "a dead best friend."
Just being able to gain the same Cursed Technique as "Miwa Ran," to draw even one step closer to the person she remembered, was enough to move Riko Amanai to tears.
In her eyes, the Cursed Technique of Contractual Re-Creation was far more sacred and important than Limitless or Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
But drowsiness was catching up with her now, and the girl let out a yawn. She stood, thanked Mahiru once more, and turned to head back to sleep.
But when the door opened, the person standing outside caught Riko Amanai completely off guard.
"Suguru Geto?" The girl blinked.
"Hm?" Suguru Geto looked at Riko Amanai, puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
Just then, Mahiru stepped out of the dorm. "Heading out already, this early?"
Suguru Geto looked at Mahiru. "Yes. The incident seems to be a tricky one."
Blue hair, again...
Suguru Geto thought to himself.
The long blue hair brought his dead best friend to mind unbidden. His mood sank a little, just for a moment.
"Are you heading out on a mission with Suguru Geto, Teacher Jogo?" Riko Amanai asked curiously.
"That's right." Mahiru stepped out of the dorm and tilted her head back to look at the ashen sky. "Being a teacher at Jujutsu High really isn't easy."
The mission, of course, was to deal with whatever Kaori Suo had stirred up. The location was outside Tokyo.
It looked like rain again.
The most sensible choice for Jujutsu High would have been to keep Suguru Geto and Mahiru here, in case it rained Cursed Spirits again.
But on one hand, whatever Kaori Itadori had set in motion, though it looked minor on the surface, was making a great deal of noise underneath — Jujutsu High really couldn't afford to delay.
And on the other hand, Satoru Gojo, who had been away on a mission, had made it back to Tokyo in time — so whether Suguru Geto and Mahiru stayed or not no longer mattered. It seemed Miwa Ran's death had struck a nerve in Satoru Gojo; his strength had been skyrocketing lately, more than enough for him to handle a Cursed Spirit rain by himself.
So Mahiru actually rather liked this rain.
Because it guaranteed Satoru Gojo wouldn't come and stir up trouble.
With just Suguru Geto alone, she'd have him in the bag without any trouble.
The mission's target location lay deep in a dense mountain forest, and that was exactly where Mahiru had set her trap.
A fine, misty drizzle had already begun falling from the sky.
The soil was soaking through, turning to mud.
Suguru Geto walked ahead of Mahiru.
For no clear reason, Mahiru noticed that Suguru Geto kept avoiding her, as if he didn't want to look at her.
She wasn't worried about being found out.
Even though they shared the same blue hair, her presence was nothing like Miwa Ran's. Miwa Ran had been more forceful, more confident, and far more monstrous in presence.
The persona she was playing now — "Magical Girl Jogo" — was gentle and graceful, more like the archetypal "big sister" character from children's shows.
A sudden sense of something made Mahiru turn her head. She looked off toward distant Tokyo. "Looks like it's about to rain Cursed Spirits again?"
Even at this distance, she could faintly sense Cursed Energy stirring within the clouds far away.
"Mm." Suguru Geto didn't even turn his head.
"Aren't you worried?"
"...With Satoru there, there's nothing to worry about."
Mahiru frowned. "Is that so..."
Something felt off.
But Mahiru couldn't put her finger on what exactly.
By all rights, she should have been feeling at ease. This trip's target was Suguru Geto's Cursed Technique, and with Satoru Gojo handling the Cursed Spirit rain over Tokyo, there was nothing to worry about there either.
All she had to do now was lure Suguru Geto into her trap, spring the Barrier, knock him out cold, spend a few hours copying his Cursed Technique, and everything would be settled.
Everything was going so smoothly.
And yet, she still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
From far away, she could faintly sense something brewing within the clouds — something ominous, something out of the ordinary.
Surely nothing would go wrong... right?
Without realizing it, Mahiru's brow had furrowed tight.
____
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