Kanagawa Prefecture, Enoshima.
A yacht race was taking place at Enoshima's marina. The audience seats were sparsely filled, with a few scattered spectators watching the boats chase each other across the water.
Among them, a muscular man in a black T-shirt held a betting slip in his hand, watching the race with a bored expression.
He had short, messy black hair and a noticeable scar near the corner of his mouth. His powerful muscles stretched against his black T-shirt.
"So this is where you've been hiding."
A middle-aged man in a formal suit, sporting a rough beard, approached Zenin Toji.
"You took the job, yet here you are, just lazing around."
"Hmm? Ah." Zenin Toji glanced at the man beside him before turning his attention back to the boat race in front of him.
The man sat down next to him, looking confused. "What were you thinking? You threw the entire advance payment from the Star Religious Group into this—thirty million, just like that."
Aside from Sonoda Shigeru, the only sorcerer they had recruited in recent years, the Star Religious Group had spent a fortune hiring people to assassinate the Star Plasma Vessel.
And the one who took the job was Zenin Toji.
The scruffy-looking man next to him, acting as his broker, not only reported Toji's work to the clients but also handled some small tasks for him.
Like taking the thirty million advance payment from the Star Religious Group and dumping it into the dark web often used by curse users, placing a hit on the Star Plasma Vessel, Amanai Riko.
In other words, outsourcing the job.
"The opponent is the Gojo family's golden boy. Running in blindly would be pointless," Toji waved his hand dismissively, a grin forming at the corner of his lips. "First, let the idiots wear him down."
"Oh, by the way, that watchdog raised by the Star Religious Group? It's been taken care of," the broker said, sharing the intel he had gathered. "Also, aside from the two guards sent by Jujutsu High, there's now another girl with the Star Plasma Vessel. She's probably a sorcerer too. That part wasn't expected."
"A sorcerer girl?" Toji raised an eyebrow, then shut his eyes again. "Doesn't matter. The only one worth paying attention to is Gojo Satoru."
"You're really full of yourself. So, other than Gojo Satoru, no one else is even worth considering?" The broker smirked.
Just then, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and his eyes lit up.
"Oh? They didn't go straight back to Jujutsu High. They went to the Star Plasma Vessel's school instead."
"Hah, now that's lucky." Toji raised an eyebrow. "Looks like the ones biting at the bait will go from completely hopeless idiots to idiots with at least a little bit of sense."
"But if the Star Plasma Vessel gets killed, that thirty million advance payment is gone. You might not even get the full reward," the broker reminded him. "The Star Religious Group can just act like they never hired you. The bounty is technically from them, not you."
"That won't happen." Toji didn't look worried at all. As far as he was concerned, the chance of those low-level curse users killing the Star Plasma Vessel while Gojo Satoru was around was exactly zero.
"We're talking about Gojo Satoru here. He's got both Six Eyes and the Limitless Technique—abilities that only show up once every few hundred years. If he's around, killing the Star Plasma Vessel is impossible."
The broker tilted his head, intrigued. "Even for you?"
"Who knows?" Toji chuckled. "Anyway, there's a time limit on the job. Those idiots are just there to drain Gojo Satoru and his allies. They won't kill the target. They're just free labor."
"Setting a deadline was a smart move," the broker agreed. "Curse users don't exactly gather quickly."
"That's not the main reason."
The boat race had reached the middle stage. The boat Toji had bet on, Number 3, briefly took the lead but fell behind at the final turn, finishing in fifth place.
The black-haired man clenched his betting slip in frustration and clicked his tongue.
Annoyed, he crumpled the slip and tossed it aside before getting up to leave.
"Anyway, I'll make my way over soon. You better do your job properly."
Watching Toji walk away, the broker chuckled to himself.
"I'm doing it right now, idiot."
Gojo Satoru kicked open the chapel doors, his voice ringing through the hall.
"Riko!"
"Huh?"
The sudden intrusion of the white-haired boy interrupted the school's choir practice.
A group of bright, energetic middle school girls stared at him in shock.
Standing at the front of the group, Amanai Riko looked at Gojo in surprise. Her cute face flushed red in an instant.
"Ahhh!!!"
After a brief moment of silence, a wave of screams filled the room.
Riko was quickly surrounded by her classmates as excited whispers and chatter erupted all around her.
"What's going on?!"
"Riko, is that your boyfriend?!"
Her friends started teasing her immediately.
Riko's face turned even redder as she frantically waved her hands.
"No! That's my… cousin! He's my cousin!"
"Yeah, right, Riko! We're not buying that!"
"I'm serious!"
After teasing Amanai Riko, the girls turned their attention to Gojo Satoru. Their eyes lit up with excitement, sparkling like stars.
"Wow, he's so tall! Is he a high schooler?"
"Big bro! Take off your sunglasses!"
The swelling on his face from Hayashizaki's punch had already gone down, so he had put his sunglasses back on.
Hearing the girls' excited shouts, Gojo Satoru playfully removed his sunglasses, striking a pose as he did. This instantly sent the girls into another frenzy.
"Ahhh!!! So handsome!!!"
"His eyelashes are so long!"
"Big bro, do you have a boyfriend?!"
"Hey! Don't get carried away!"
Amanai Riko's protest was quickly drowned out by the excited screams of her classmates.
"Class, settle down!"
The music teacher, who was in charge of the lesson, clapped her hands and walked over. "This is very rude, you know."
"Teacher, you're curious about him too!"
"Yeah, you totally are!"
Ignoring the students' teasing, the music teacher pretended to be troubled as she walked up to Gojo Satoru.
"Please don't cause a disturbance. Even if you're family, you can't just barge into class like this."
"Ah, I had something urgent to take care of. Sorry about that," Gojo Satoru said, scratching his head with an apologetic smile.
"If it's urgent, then I guess there's no helping it."
The teacher let out a small sigh, then quickly pulled a notepad and pen from her pocket. She scribbled down a number, pressed the note into Gojo Satoru's hand, and said, "Also, this is my number."
Her sneaky move instantly sparked outrage among the students.
"Hey! Teacher, that's totally cheating!!!"
"Shut up! Do you have any idea how small the dating pool is for teachers?!"
"Our dating pool is small too, you know!"
"Teacher, I can't believe you'd go for someone younger than you! We misjudged you!"
"Hah?! Are you all looking down on Genji from 'The Tale of Genji' now?!"
As the teacher and students argued, Gojo Satoru quietly slipped away to Amanai Riko, who was watching the chaos with a blank expression. He took her by the arm and led her away, muttering,
"What a lively school."
"Where's that Yukinoshita brat? Wasn't she sticking with you?" Gojo Satoru asked.
"Haruno-nee was just here… huh?"
Riko looked around, but Yukinoshita Haruno was nowhere to be seen in the chapel.
"Ugh, so unreliable. Forget her. We need to go!"
Gojo Satoru clicked his tongue in frustration.
"What's going on? What happened?" Riko asked.
"Cursed users are attacking. Do I really need to explain the rest?"
Gojo Satoru grabbed the girl by the back of her uniform. Though he barely touched her, Riko suddenly floated into the air.
With ease, he leapt onto the roof and began running at high speed along the ridgeline.
Carried effortlessly by Gojo, Riko let out a startled cry.
"Whoa!"
"We're heading straight to Jujutsu High."
This time, Gojo Satoru's voice was firm, leaving no room for argument.
"You don't want your friends to get caught up in this, do you?"
Riko lowered her gaze, looking dejected. She knew he was right, so she didn't argue.
She just stayed quiet, her eyes full of sadness.
"Well, well… that must be the 30 million bounty. And with her, either a bodyguard or an ally."
Inside the prestigious Jujutsu girls' academy, a strange man with a paper bag over his head had slipped in. From the plaza, he spotted Gojo Satoru and Riko running along the rooftops.
"Heh, what an easy payday. Just kill one middle school brat who isn't even a sorcerer, and I get 30 million yen."
Through a hole in the paper bag, a greedy eye gleamed with excitement.
"Guess I'll have eel rice for dinner tonight. Nothing beats a good meal after a kill!"
But just as he was about to give chase, footsteps and a loud conversation suddenly sounded behind him.
"So, have you decided what to do?"
"What do you expect me to do? Stop Riko from merging with that old monster? And what if something really goes wrong and it affects the peace and stability of society? I can't take responsibility for that."
"So you're just going to stand there and watch?"
"I don't want to watch!"
Yukinoshita Haruno and Hayashizaki walked toward the bag-headed monster while talking.
Even though they were approaching to fight, neither of them paid much attention to the creature with a bag covering its head.
"So you're just planning to run away?" Hayashizaki raised an eyebrow.
"…You're so annoying."
Yukinoshita Haruno bit her lip in frustration. Her voice was filled with helplessness and irritation. She was already struggling to make a decision, and now she had someone nagging her about it.
As if this kind of decision was easy to make!
"Huh? Students? No, wait… sorcerers?" The bag-headed monster squinted at the short-haired girl in front of him. Her beautiful face had an extra pair of eyes and a second mouth, making her look both eerie and terrifying.
"Amateurs? If you're going to fight, then get on with it." He let out a low laugh, cracking his thick neck.
"Ugh, what's with that weird getup? Is your face so ugly that you have to hide it under a bag?"
Yukinoshita Haruno was already in a bad mood. Seeing the bag-headed monster gave her the perfect excuse to vent, so she mocked him without hesitation.
"You little—I'll tear you apart!"
The monster's face twisted in rage beneath the bag. Clenching his fists, he charged straight at her.
The size difference between them was massive. When he lunged at Yukinoshita Haruno, it was like a raging bull charging at a fragile girl.
Having already fought earlier that morning, Yukinoshita Haruno had gained some battle experience. She didn't rush forward recklessly.
Instead, she leaped back, and in the blink of an eye, three afterimages flickered into existence, rushing toward the bag-headed monster.
"Clones? Oh, so you use the same type of technique as me." Despite saying that, the man didn't create clones of his own. He simply threw a punch at the closest copy of Haruno.
His huge fist, the size of a kettle, shot forward like a cannon, aiming straight for the clone's face. But she dodged it nimbly.
At the same time, the other two clones flashed again, creating two more copies. In an instant, five Harunos surrounded the bag-headed monster.
Blueish energy flared up around her small, pale fists like flames, and all at once, the attacks landed on the monster's body.
A muffled grunt escaped him as the five clones' strikes left deep dents in his flesh.
His body began to shrivel, just like the bag over his head, collapsing like a paper doll onto the ground.
A strange chuckle echoed from him.
"Heh heh heh… You think I'd waste time fighting you? My real target is thirty million!"
Since his cursed technique involved clones, he knew better than anyone how troublesome it was to fight someone with the same ability.
It wasn't that he thought he would lose to this short-haired girl—he just knew the fight would drag on for too long.
Losing thirty million just to kill this woman? Not worth it.
"He ran?" Yukinoshita Haruno frowned. "Is he going after Riko?"
"No worries. Amanai Riko is with Gojo Satoru. If that guy goes after her, he's as good as dead," Hayashizaki explained.
"Oh. Then it's fine." Yukinoshita Haruno nodded.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind her.
"Miss Yukinoshita."
Kuroi Misato and Suguru Geto arrived after finishing off another enemy.
When Geto saw the shriveled, dissolving body on the ground, he immediately understood that the enemy had been dealt with—at least for now.
"A clone?" Geto murmured, deep in thought.
"Yeah, looks like he escaped," Yukinoshita Haruno replied with a nod.
Letting the enemy escape wasn't a big deal, and Geto didn't dwell on it.
He simply pulled out his phone and called Gojo Satoru.
"Satoru, things just got more complicated. Someone posted a bounty on an underground site that curse users frequent—30 million yen to kill Riko. The deadline is 11 a.m. the day after tomorrow."
After sharing the intel with Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru glanced at the short-haired girl, who seemed lost in thought, then said, "We need to catch up with Satoru and Riko. Miss Yukinoshita, do as you please."
With that, he turned and left quickly. Kuroi Misato bowed slightly before following him.
Yukinoshita Haruno paid no attention to them. Her brows were furrowed, as if deep in thought.
A moment later, her expression relaxed, and the corners of her mouth lifted into a bright smile.
"So that's it… You just want me to stop Riko-chan from merging, right?"
…
(End of Chapter)
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