Shoko Ieiri

"Strawberry-flavored chips," Ren said, looking at the pink bag in his hand. "Heresy."

"Heresy."

A clear girl's voice spoke at almost the same time.

Ren turned.

A girl in a black tracksuit stood nearby, long hair falling around her shoulders. Dark circles sat under her eyes, as if sleep had been avoiding her for a very long time. She glared at the bag in her hand with genuine disgust.

"You agree strawberry chips are heresy, right?" she asked, eyes bright as if she had found one of her own.

Ren rubbed his nose.

"Strawberry and chips don't belong together. Cucumber flavor is the proper one."

"Exactly!" The girl's eyes lit up. She grabbed a green bag from the shelf. "Cucumber flavor is the only true..."

Her phone rang.

The sharp tone cut her off.

She gave Ren an apologetic look and answered.

She said nothing at first, but her expression shifted from lively to grim.

Ren did not notice.

Or rather, he had already returned his attention to the shelf, slightly worried she might take the last few bags of the flavor he wanted.

After hanging up, the girl looked at him seriously.

"Sir, you need to leave this supermarket as quickly as possible."

"Huh?"

"I can't explain the details," she said quickly, "but something extremely dangerous is about to happen here. If you don't want to be caught in it, please leave right now. Otherwise, you might..."

"Die."

Ren smiled.

Then he appeared beside her so quickly she could not react, leaning close enough for his voice to brush her ear.

"Don't be so tense, jujutsu sorcerer."

"Ah!"

The girl stepped back like a startled cat, one hand covering her mouth.

Ren chuckled.

He had remembered who she was.

The calm, mature woman he remembered from another world was still just a teenage girl here.

Shoko Ieiri.

The lights went out.

Darkness swallowed the supermarket.

Ordinary shoppers cried out in confusion, asking for staff and wondering if the power had failed.

Ren sensed the real cause immediately.

A curtain.

A barrier used by jujutsu sorcerers to separate a space from ordinary people, usually before fighting cursed spirits. Curtains were only deployed when the situation was serious.

"I'm Shoko Ieiri," the girl said once the curtain settled. "A soon-to-be first-year at Jujutsu High."

Since Ren was clearly a sorcerer, she revealed her identity at once. In a situation like this, any sorcerer could become an ally.

"Ren," he said lazily. "Small business owner."

The lights returned.

Every ordinary person in the supermarket had collapsed.

High above them, a huge womb-like mass floated near the ceiling. Cursed energy wrapped around it like nourishment, feeding the ugly infant curled inside.

Thud.

Thud.

The sound of a powerful heartbeat filled the supermarket.

Shoko's face tightened.

She had only recently become a sorcerer, and she was still sixteen. Her official grade was only Grade 4.

This was not something she could handle.

She had only come here to shop. By the time the Windows contacted her and told her to evacuate, the situation had already changed too quickly.

The curtain had been placed almost the moment the cursed womb formed.

From outside, the supermarket looked normal.

Inside, terrifying cursed energy wrapped around the entire building.

That was the most dangerous part.

Ordinary people walking past the entrance would see nothing unusual. They would not hear the heartbeat above the shelves, would not feel the cursed energy pressing against the walls, and would not know that everyone inside had already been dragged into a sealed space.

"What grade is that curse?" Shoko asked, hands clenched. "Just forming was enough to knock ordinary people unconscious."

Ren stayed relaxed, as if nothing could hold his interest for long.

"That ugly thing? Special grade."

"What?"

Shoko's voice cracked.

Special grade.

The words meant destruction, power, and terror beyond the scale most sorcerers could imagine.

Her teacher had told her that if she ever encountered a special grade, there were only two choices.

Run or die.

Yet for some reason, standing beside Ren made her feel a strange sense of safety.

She could not sense his strength clearly, but her instincts told her something simple.

This careless, frivolous boy possessed power beyond her imagination.

"A special-grade curse," she said. "You're not scared?"

Ren tore open a bag of chips.

"Terrified," he said naturally, pouring chips into his mouth. "I'm about to die of fear."

He watched the scene as if he were enjoying a show.

In a supermarket wrapped by a special-grade curse, Ren looked more at home than anyone else.

No.

It felt as if he were the owner of the place.

A wild thought flashed through Shoko's mind.

Is he special grade?

Outside the curtain, on the roof of a nearby building, a tall man in sunglasses looked down with a grim expression.

His large body gave off a pressure that made the air feel heavy.

"A special-grade cursed womb appeared out of nowhere?" he snapped into the phone. "What are the Windows doing?"

"This is not the Windows' fault," the cold voice on the other end replied. "The cursed womb appeared suddenly. They reacted quickly as soon as they detected abnormal cursed energy, contacted us, and sealed the area with a curtain."

"Unfortunately, we also reached a sorcerer trapped inside. She is one of your students. Shoko Ieiri."

"What?" Masamichi Yaga's voice rose. "Why is Shoko there?"

"Calm down, Masamichi. Remember your position."

"How am I supposed to calm down? You know Shoko's technique. If anything happens to her, it will be a loss for all of Jujutsu High. No, for the entire jujutsu world."

Yaga was furious.

Compared with the two problem boys in his class, Shoko was not suited to combat. But a girl who could use Reverse Cursed Technique at her age was priceless.

Even Satoru Gojo had not learned how to use it yet.

And even if Shoko had not been that valuable, Yaga could not stand by while his student was trapped in danger.

Shoko was still a child under his care.

The jujutsu world loved to speak in terms of assets, rarity, and usefulness. Yaga understood those calculations, but at this moment, all of them mattered less than one simpler fact.

His student was inside.

"The Zenin boy is also in Osaka and has been notified," the voice said. "Your other two students are on the way as well. You know Gojo's speed."

"I am not waiting. My student is in there."

"You..."

Yaga hung up.

"What kind of curtain is this?"

He spoke as if to himself.

A voice answered from behind him.

"Entry allowed. Exit forbidden."

"Good."

Yaga turned and headed for the stairs. The tiger-shaped backpack on his shoulders exuded a wild aura, its eyes flashing with violent murderous intent.

If the curtain allowed entry, then hesitation was meaningless.

Even if the special-grade cursed womb hatched before he arrived, even if the situation was worse than the report, he would go in first and think afterward.

Inside the curtain, Ren stretched and sat on the floor.

He ate chips beside Shoko as if nothing had happened. Perhaps influenced by him, Shoko was no longer panicking, though she was nowhere near calm enough to eat.

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