Preparations

Chapter update is here.

Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥

✦

"A humanoid cursed spirit that can talk and communicate?"

Ren looked away from the steaming hot pot on the table and toward Satoru Gojo across from him. Then he nodded with certainty.

"I talked with him for a while. He is almost like a person with something wrong in his head. He calls himself Mahito, and his technique is related to the soul. Most of my attacks did not do much to him. That is how he got away."

Gojo rubbed his chin. An unrecorded Special Grade cursed spirit, and one this unusual. Had it just been born, or...? The Windows did not have any information either.

"Gojo-sensei, do you know any cursed tools or methods that can attack the soul?"

Gojo came back to himself and thought for a moment. "Things like that are extremely rare. I have seen a similar cursed tool before, but I do not know where it is now."

Ren nodded, then asked, "What about Naone? She is still with Miss Shoko and has not woken up?"

Gojo slumped back in his chair and said helplessly, "That is one of the things I wanted to tell you. Soul-related matters are much more complicated than we thought, and the Gojo family has not done much research in that area."

After a pause, Gojo continued, "Kyoto's Kamo family, along with some of the higher-ups, proposed a condition. They will provide some of their soul-related records for our research and help until we wake her."

Ren raised a brow. "What do they want? They are not the type to do good deeds without leaving their names behind."

Gojo chuckled. "Their condition is that Naone enrolls at the Kyoto branch of Jujutsu High."

Ren did not answer immediately. He considered it. On the surface, the request looked simple. It only meant going to school on the other side. But were they really willing to offer precious records just to have Naone attend Kyoto Jujutsu High?

After a while, Ren spoke. "They want Naone, or the Minamoto family behind her, to join their faction?"

Gojo clapped his hands. "Correct!"

The smile on Gojo's face faded slightly as he continued, "They value Naone's talent, and also the main Minamoto family that has already started paying attention to her. Whether in terms of jujutsu or social influence, that is a useful force."

"So the Minamoto family had to agree."

Gojo sighed. "Yes. I was hoping the next first-year class would be livelier too..."

Ren said casually, "Who can say what will happen in the future? Waking Naone is obviously a good thing. Let's eat first. The beef will overcook."

The two ate hot sukiyaki while chatting about other topics.

"You are going to reveal your technique to the higher-ups and apply to become a Special Grade jujutsu sorcerer?"

Ren ate smooth slices of beef and fish balls while answering, "More or less. I can already keep technique reversal active around the clock without direct control. And after becoming Special Grade, I should have access to more resources."

"The jujutsu world is not only those traditionalists at headquarters. A Special Grade title should also add a little prestige to your side, right, sensei?"

Gojo laughed and scolded him. "You brat. What kind of nonsense do you think about all day? I will arrange it. They will probably send someone to record your technique later. After that, your missions will become heavier too, unless you do not want any rights."

Looking at Gojo gloating, Ren ignored him and focused entirely on eating. Soon, Gojo joined him and started eating happily too.

When Ren returned to Jujutsu High, he saw Megumi looking exhausted. Megumi accepted the hot drink Ren tossed over, sat on the steps, breathed out, and took large gulps to replenish sugar and water.

"How is training going?"

Ren sat beside him and asked. Megumi's expression barely moved as he calmly said, "Good. Maki-senpai is very strong with weapons. I learned a lot too. If this keeps up, I should be able to tame my next shikigami soon."

"Why don't I see Yuta or Toge?"

Only Panda and Maki were sparring on the training ground. Hearing the question, Megumi looked that way too. "Yuta-senpai is preparing to go overseas. Inumaki-senpai seems to have taken a mission and is not at school."

Maki saw the two sitting on the steps and stopped beating Panda. She raised the wooden spear in her hand and pointed at them.

"You two. What are you sitting there slacking off for? Get over here."

Ren patted Megumi's shoulder and smiled. "Want to spar?"

Megumi's expression shifted slightly. "Sure."

The two walked to the training ground. Hearing that they wanted to spar, Maki raised a brow and showed the expression of someone ready to watch a show. Panda, who had been on the ground, sprang up too.

"Hand-to-hand and weapon sparring. No technique, no cursed energy. Only skill. Stop when the point is made."

Maki stood in the middle and announced the rules. Both sides held wooden swords and took their stances. Panda cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Loser treats everyone to food!"

Without turning back, Ren waved. "No problem. Megumi will treat everyone."

The trash talk did not distract Megumi in the slightest. Ren spun the wooden sword in his hand, smiled, and began circling him. The magatama earring by his ear swayed with each step.

Megumi kept a flawless guard from beginning to end, always facing Ren directly, even though the distance between them could be closed in only two or three strides.

Seeing Megumi defend tightly, Ren smiled. "Then I will attack first."

The figure in Megumi's eyes suddenly blurred. He instinctively raised his sword to block the direction of the fierce wind striking toward his chest.

The next instant, a heavy force slammed into his hands and made them go numb. Megumi had no time to breathe. The experience Maki had drilled into him over these days made him quickly block a sweeping kick.

'Ren is this fast even without his technique?'

Thinking that, Megumi followed the motion of his wooden sword and slashed toward the smiling figure in front of him. But every slash was dodged or blocked in turn.

Hearing a whistling sound by his ear, he tilted his head aside. A section of wooden blade passed before his eyes. Megumi immediately let go of his sword, collided forward with his whole body, and coiled both hands around Ren's sword arm like a hunting snake. Wrap, twist, and the wooden sword was in Megumi's hands.

"Oh..."

Ren watched Megumi use a no-weapon capture to seize an opening, take his wooden sword, and throw it aside. Then Ren hooked his foot and flicked up the sword he had dropped earlier, catching it steadily.

"Now this is getting interesting."

Even without a weapon, Ren attacked first. Relying on speed higher than Megumi's, he constantly avoided the blade, then countered Megumi's offense with fists, feet, fingers, and elbows, every part of his body moving smoothly.

"No-Weapon Capture? I can do that too."

When Ren caught an opening and controlled Megumi's blade, he used the limits of Megumi's joints to successfully seize the wooden sword. But he did not use it. He casually tossed it aside as well.

Ren clenched his fist and grinned wickedly. "Megumi, if you admit defeat now, you only lose half. Speaking of which, ever since we were kids, you have never beaten me in a fight, right? If you do not surrender, today we are going to have a long-awaited fist-to-flesh session."

Megumi's face darkened. How childish. Ever since childhood, Ren had used fighting experience from who knew where and a body far stronger than his peers to suppress every delinquent in their school.

When they argued, Ren often ended up tangled with Megumi, the two of them rolling on the ground in a fight. Usually, it ended with Ren pinning Megumi down while they repeated, "Do you give up?" and "I do not." Then Tsumiki would arrive and stop them, gently persuading both of them until they squinted at each other, shook hands, apologized, and forgave one another.

Thinking of Tsumiki made Megumi's thoughts blur. In that moment of distraction, he realized his hand had been locked, and the figure close before him filled his vision.

'Not good.'

Megumi, tightly restrained, could only struggle in vain. Heaven and earth flipped, and then he saw Ren smiling at him upside down from the lower edge of his view.

"Woohoo, I win!"

Lying on the ground and looking at the clouds moving leisurely across the sky, Megumi showed no obvious frustration. He braced both hands against the sandy ground and was about to stand.

When he raised his head, he saw a hand held before his eyes. Looking up along it, he saw that smiling face. After a brief pause, Megumi took Ren's hand and stood. Then he heard Ren talking to Panda.

"Let's go eat sushi. That Fujiwara place..."

Megumi's face darkened. If he remembered correctly, that branded restaurant was ridiculously expensive. Seriously...

Even so, when he saw Panda shouting "Yay," and then Maki, whose brows rose as she grabbed her wooden spear to chase Ren after whatever he said, warmth quietly flowed through Megumi's heart.

'Tsumiki, I will work hard, become stronger, and wake you up.'

In the end, they did not go to that sushi place. Instead, they bought ingredients and cooked in the dorm. Ren was the chef.

"What is this called? Hot pot? Isn't it just sukiyaki?"

After Ren explained the difference between this kind of hot pot and sukiyaki, everyone could distinguish the two just by looking.

"Are you trying to burn us alive with spice?"

Maki looked at the red, churning broth and felt a little uneasy. The heat seemed to carry the spiciness through the steam.

Ren said with complete confidence, "Relax. It is not spicy."

The fragrance made everyone start eating despite themselves. At first, it really was not too spicy. Layers of aroma, wrapped in just the right heat, exploded across the tongue. The freshness of the ingredients mixed with the different seasonings, making it impossible to stop.

But before long, the situation changed. Maki's face was flushed. She had taken off her glasses because of the steam. While breathing out, she opened a carton of milk, drank deeply, and glared at Ren.

"Did you not say it was not spicy?"

Megumi silently drank milk beside her. Panda, meanwhile, did not react much and kept eating happily. After finishing a bite, he even commented on Maki's fragile sense of taste.

"Uh... maybe everyone ate too fast? How about you rest for a bit, Maki?"

Maki watched Panda finish what was in the pot and start adding more. She silently took another drink of milk. "No need. This much is nothing."

Ren, trying not to laugh for fear of being hit, stood and went to fetch several cans of cola from the fridge. Yes, even in winter, he loved cold drinks too. Especially at a time like this, they were simply refreshing.

"Hm? What are you doing in the dorm? I smelled something when I passed by."

Masamichi Yaga opened the door and saw several people sitting around the steaming pot. Ren immediately welcomed him warmly.

"Principal Yaga, perfect timing. You have not eaten yet, right? Come eat with us. I made a lot."

"Uh... maybe not. I still have some things..."

"Masamichi, come eat. Ren made it, and it is delicious!"

✦
✦
✦

Ready for more?

The next chapters are already waiting on my Patreon, along with early access, previews, and extra story updates 🗝️

www.patreon.com/c/EmberHollowFanfiction