Yuji Itadori

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"Max Elephant!"

Megumi Fushiguro bent his fingers with both hands, forming the shadow of an elephant's head. The shadow in front of him surged like a fountain, shooting high into the air, and something massive smashed through the obstruction and burst out.

With a long, resonant cry, an elephant marked with curse seals revealed itself. Like the other shikigami Megumi had summoned, its forehead bore the pattern of one of the Ten Sacred Treasures.

The moment the violent Max Elephant appeared, it raised its thick forelegs and stomped toward Megumi. Prepared for that, Megumi had already summoned Nue. He jumped back, avoiding the flying chunks of stone, then let Nue carry him into the air and out of the torrent of water that came surging from Max Elephant's trunk.

"Nue!"

Once the two Divine Dogs drew Max Elephant's attention, Megumi landed on ground the water had not reached. Under his command, Nue spread its wings, casting a shadow over the ground. Its sharp cry was swallowed by thunder, and snakes of lightning stabbed into the water around Max Elephant in the blink of an eye. The Divine Dogs, perfectly in sync with him, had already leapt away, leaving Max Elephant wrapped in crawling electricity.

The Divine Dogs dissolved into shadow where they stood and sank into the ground. Megumi immediately formed another sign with his right hand and summoned Great Serpent. The serpent coiled around Max Elephant's enormous body, gathered strength for a brief moment, and hurled the still-paralyzed elephant into the air.

Nue crashed down from the front, its flashing lightning working with Great Serpent to suppress Max Elephant completely. The shikigami had tremendous strength, but it could not bring any of it to bear, and it had no chance to use the water it condensed from cursed energy.

After only a few exchanges, Max Elephant collapsed under the pressure. Megumi, who had been carrying a heavy burden himself, let out a breath. Then he activated his technique and drew the successfully tamed Max Elephant back into his shadow. Nue and Great Serpent vanished as well.

"Nice! Good work, Megumi."

Megumi turned and saw Panda and the others watching from the side of the training ground. There was no point in them joining a shikigami taming ritual, so they had only watched him complete it alone. Fortunately, Megumi's control over the coordination between his shikigami was excellent. In a two-on-one situation, Max Elephant had barely been able to fight back, and the taming was a success.

Since the New Year had only just passed, the lower mission frequency had left everyone with far more free time. The occasional missions they received were also light curses they could handle without much trouble, and Yuta had already left for his overseas assignment.

The missions Ren received were mostly Grade 2 or Grade 1 as well. Honestly, they were boring. He would go out, finish the job, return to his dorm, play games, and read the books he had borrowed from Gojo on jujutsu, domains, barriers, and related subjects.

There was plenty of reliable information in them, but also a fair amount of speculation from previous generations, imaginative theories, and conclusions based only on guesswork and observation. Domain Expansion was a good example. Not many people could use it to begin with, and those who could were not necessarily able to turn their understanding into something teachable.

So Ren had been studying in pain for a while. Barrier techniques were a little better. Those were more straightforward, like one plus one equals two. They were not especially hard to learn, and improving only required a small amount of talent.

Since he happened to be free today, he had come to watch Megumi tame his shikigami. Over there, Megumi raised a hand as if he wanted to cover his face after Panda's shout, then gave up and kept his expression calm.

"Beep, beep."

As they walked together along the stone path, the phone in Ren's pocket buzzed. He took it out and saw a message from Satoru Gojo. After a quick glance, Ren stopped and called to Megumi.

"Megumi, Gojo-sensei gave us a mission. He wants both of us to go."

"Then go handle your mission first. See you." Panda waved goodbye to them.

Once Ren and Megumi reached Gojo, he explained the details.

"Simple mission," Gojo said. "One sealed Sukuna finger has been confirmed. You just need to go recover it. The only thing to watch for is cursed spirits that may have been drawn to it. There probably won't be much danger, but it is still a Special Grade cursed object, and one of Sukuna's fingers at that, so you two should go together."

Gojo spread his hands. That was more or less the situation.

After listening, Ren honestly did not think there was much of a problem. Even if a cursed spirit had fused with Sukuna's finger the way one had during a previous mission, that would not be too serious. If anything, it might make things more interesting.

Still, this mission felt familiar somehow...

Thinking that, Ren asked, "Where is the mission site?"

Gojo pulled out his phone and checked. "Hmm... Sugisawa Third High School, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture."

It took only a moment of memory for Ren to understand why the mission had felt familiar. A high school, Megumi Fushiguro, Sukuna's finger...

Was he about to meet Sukuna's vessel, Megumi's future classmate, Yuji Itadori?

That boy was special enough to become the vessel of Sukuna, the King of Curses. Grade 1 or Special Grade, cursed spirits could not actually absorb Sukuna's fingers. They simply could not withstand them.

The cursed spirit from the earlier mission had only swallowed the finger. At most, it had used some of the aura leaking from Sukuna's finger, which was why Ren had still been able to recover the finger intact after exorcising it.

Yuji Itadori, whom Ren had not yet met, would be able to keep his own consciousness and control over his body even after becoming Sukuna's vessel. It was almost unbelievable. Maybe that was what people called protagonist privilege.

Beyond that, Yuji had impressive talent. Although he also lacked an innate technique, his gift for physical combat was astonishing.

Not long after enrolling, he would easily learn the knack of Black Flash under Aoi Todo's instruction and become Todo's best friend. Right... because the two of them had the same taste in women.

As for Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses whose evil was pure to the bone, his first appearance would unfortunately be at less than one-tenth of his full power. Ren would not be able to see the full presence of that legend right away.

...

Sugisawa Third High School, Sendai.

"Kokkuri-san, Kokkuri-san, please tell us: what animal is the student council president afraid of?"

Yuji Itadori, with his pale pink hair, sat around a table with Sasaki and Iguchi from the Occult Research Club. The three of them pressed their index fingers against a coin together. Beneath it lay a paper covered in characters. It was an old occult game, something like a spirit-board ritual.

The idea was simple. When the person asking the question pressed the coin, the characters it moved to and stopped on would form the answer. Of course, it was just a harmless game most of the time. Without special factors involved, no curse was going to show up and play Kokkuri-san just to scare you.

The coin's movement might come from unconscious pressure caused by nerves, or one of them might be moving it on purpose. Right now, when Yuji and the others connected the characters where the coin stopped, the answer was "sea angel," a kind of floating mollusk nicknamed the ice sea angel.

While the three of them burst into laughter, the door of the dim clubroom, its windows covered by curtains, slammed open with a bang. The target of their laughter, the student council president, appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, hey, President Sea Angel. What brings you here?"

With irritation practically written across his face, the president adjusted his glasses and said sternly, "I have already told you, haven't I? This school is not spacious enough to let a club without even an activity report occupy a clubroom forever. Starting today, this room will be the girls' track team's changing room. Please leave immediately."

Smack.

Sasaki, the short-haired girl from the Occult Research Club, slapped a thick notebook onto the table. Yuji raised one finger and spoke with a serious expression.

"Don't underestimate my senpai, President."

The president was unnerved by the strange looks on all three of their faces, but he still asked, "What... is that?"

A sinister smile appeared on Sasaki's face, though on her it was not especially frightening. "This is precious information we uncovered through research. And it concerns this school."

Lowering her voice on purpose, Sasaki began a dramatic explanation. "You know our school's rugby field was closed, right?"

Of course the president knew. He had been there when it happened. He was even the one who gave the order. He nodded. "Of course. Many of the people who used the field were hospitalized after feeling ill."

"Heh heh."

With a trace of pride, Sasaki continued, "Doesn't that make you curious? Those rugby players were all in excellent shape, and suddenly they were sick enough to go to the hospital."

"In fact, before they started feeling physically ill, all of them heard strange noises."

Sasaki opened the notebook on the table and pointed at a newspaper clipping pasted inside. "Look at this newspaper from thirty years ago. It reports that a construction company employee named Yoshida went missing. According to the last witness report, he disappeared right here, at Sugisawa Third High School, while it was still under construction!"

Emotion rose in her voice. Her eyes stared forward without focus, as if she were gazing at the truth hidden behind it all. "At the time, Yoshida had been borrowing money from all over, and he had even caught the yakuza's attention. In other words, the murdered Yoshida was buried by those criminals under the unfinished Sugisawa Third High School. And the place was beneath the rugby field!"

"All of this is the work of Yoshida's lingering vengeful spirit!" Sasaki clenched her fist, her face full of proud confidence. In her mind, her deduction was perfect.

"No."

After listening to Sasaki, the president pushed up his glasses. The lenses reflected a pale, cold light, as merciless as the words that followed.

"It was ticks. The rugby field had ticks. That is why they went to the hospital."

Sasaki visibly withered, falling from the peak of confidence into silence. The plain, unromantic truth left all of them speechless. In the end, Yuji was the first to rally.

"So what? My senpai worked hard to solve a paranormal phenomenon. These investigations and deductions are the best possible activity report, aren't they?"

The president refused to yield an inch and snapped, "This is not children playing pretend. You spend every day making up bizarre rumors, and the biggest problem is..."

"You are Yuji Itadori, aren't you? Aren't you in the track team? In that case, your little hobby club does not even meet the minimum number of required members!"

Yuji froze with innocent confusion. Sasaki and Iguchi looked at him with resentment.

"Huh? Didn't I put down the Occult Research Club?"

In truth, Yuji did not care much which club he joined. Aside from finding the occult somewhat interesting, the most important reason he had joined the Occult Research Club was that it let him leave school at five o'clock sharp. Most other clubs had too many members and were busy to death. None of them suited him.

But... when had he become part of the track team?

"It was me!"

A burly man with a buzz cut pushed open the clubroom door. Coach Takagi from the track team stared at Yuji with an expression of absolute seriousness.

"I changed it for you, Itadori. To conquer the nation, we need you."

Yuji clearly knew this man. He pointed at him in disbelief and shouted, "You again? Can you please stop chasing after me like this? I've already turned you down several times. I do not want to join the track team."

"Impossible!"

Takagi cut him off with overwhelming force. Then he proposed a wager with a solemn expression.

"Itadori, compete against me. We will settle it on the track field. If I win, you will obediently join the track team."

"If I lose, I promise the track team will never bother you again."

"Deal!"

A supremely confident smile appeared on Yuji's face. "Then let's go now. I have something to do later."

The track field.

In front of a sand pit, the match between Takagi and Yuji drew everyone's attention. Students gathered around to watch. Both of them were famous at school. One was the track team's coach, a professional athlete who had recently retired and been invited to work there.

The other was the "Tiger of West Junior High," whose reputation needed no explanation. He had appeared on one of those obstacle-course TV shows and been called the reincarnation of some legendary figure or another. His fighting... no, athletic ability, was outstanding, so naturally everyone was curious.

"Takagi is getting serious. Itadori might be in trouble."

Looking at Takagi in a sleeveless shirt that revealed his dense muscles, the surrounding students began talking. Two shot puts lay in front of them, and Takagi explained the rules.

"Simple. Shot put. Whoever throws farther wins. One round decides it."

Yuji agreed without complaint. "Who goes first?"

"I will."

Takagi stepped up to the white line, lifted the shot put with ease, and took the most standard stance. In that moment, he felt as if he had returned to his prime. His condition felt better than it had in years. After gathering power, he sent the shot put arcing perfectly through the air, where it slammed into the distant sand.

"Fourteen meters!"

The person measuring called out the result, drawing another wave of admiration.

"Takagi's still got it! Itadori! Do your best!"

Takagi did not look smug. With his arms folded and a faint smile on his face, he watched Yuji, who clearly had no idea how to throw a shot put, pitch it forward like a baseball.

In his heart, Takagi silently said, 'Sorry. Matching strength against a sprinter like you is unfair, but maybe this will show you my resolve. Itadori, your talent deserves a bigger stage.'

Clang!

A sharp metallic impact snapped Takagi back to reality. When he looked over, his eyes and mouth opened wider than ever, just like everyone else's. The shot put Yuji had thrown was embedded in the iron post of the goal at the far end of the sand field.

The goal was roughly thirty meters away.

"That is absurd. He can do that barehanded without cursed energy?"

Ren and Megumi stood on the sports field, watching the scene. They had not found Sukuna's finger at the confirmed location, so they had followed a vague cursed presence around the school and ended up witnessing this.

Megumi also looked surprised. "It is impressive. A little like Maki-senpai."

Ren chuckled when he heard that. "Are you saying Maki has monstrous strength? I will tell her when we get back."

Megumi gave Ren a flat look, then turned and signaled White Wolf to continue searching. "Boring. Hurry up and find the cursed object. It is almost dark."

Over there, after finishing the match, Yuji seemed to have something to do. He said goodbye to the others and ran toward the school gate like a gust of wind. The instant he brushed past Megumi, the cursed presence that appeared right beside him nearly made Megumi's hair stand on end.

"Wait-"

Megumi had only just turned around when all he could see of that figure was his back. He could not help muttering in amazement, "Is he a car that gained sentience or something?"

Then he looked at Ren beside him.

Ren spread his hands. "Didn't Gojo-sensei say this mission was mainly yours?"

Megumi sighed and turned to ask about that person so they could find him quickly. No wonder White Wolf had led them here. He must have sensed something too.

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