The Goodwill Bet

At Jujutsu High, Nobara's injuries had already been healed.

She crouched on the steps near the school entrance and looked toward Megumi.

"Fushiguro, what is wrong with Gojo-sensei?"

Her face was full of resentment.

"He is supposed to be our teacher. Why did he throw all three of us to the second-years?"

Before coming to Jujutsu High, she had heard that the teacher was Satoru Gojo, the man known as the strongest.

After arriving, she found that he barely had time to teach.

What was that supposed to mean?

"He was never suited to stay here as an idle teacher," Megumi said. "Making him teach classes would only waste time."

Megumi had long been used to it.

When he had followed Gojo before, they were either on missions or on the way to missions. The only real rest time had been eating and sleeping.

"Your face is still ugly, Megumi," Maki Zenin said as she walked over. "Are you in mourning?"

"Zenin-senpai."

"Do not call me by that surname."

Maki instinctively raised her head and voice at the name, clearly rejecting it.

"Hello, Megumi, and hello to the Grade 3 first-year."

Panda and Toge followed behind her and greeted them.

"Who are they?" Nobara asked.

"Zenin-senpai is a close-combat specialist. In cursed tool usage, she is among the best here. Her physical ability is probably only matched by Itadori."

Megumi continued, "The one with the high collar is Inumaki-senpai. He is a Cursed Speech user."

Before Megumi introduced the last one, Panda stepped forward.

"I am Panda. I am a cursed corpse and your upperclassman."

"A cursed corpse?"

Nobara stood beside Panda and touched his fur.

"Wow. It feels real."

Megumi ignored the childish behavior.

"We also have one upperclassman worthy of respect, Yuta Okkotsu. He is traveling right now."

Nobara heard that and instinctively imagined Gojo's face saying hello.

She shook her head quickly and drove the thought away.

"This is Nobara Kugisaki," Megumi said. "She is a Grade 3 sorcerer."

With that, the five of them had met.

"I heard there were three first-years," Maki said. "Where is the other one?"

"Gojo-sensei said his foundation is too poor, so he sent him elsewhere for training."

The second-years paused but did not ask further.

"The main point today is that we want you to take part in the Kyoto Goodwill Event with us," Maki said.

"Aoi Todo will come too."

Megumi smiled faintly when he heard that name.

Last year, Todo had been beaten badly.

"Starting today, we are your temporary teachers."

At the same time, inside a fast-food restaurant in Tokyo's business district, Jogo looked at the two special-grade cursed spirits beside him.

"These are the helpers you found? They look ordinary."

"Ordinary?" Hayato Godo said softly. "They are both Special Grade. Not bad."

His voice was low enough not to attract attention from the other customers.

"Special Grade, perhaps." Jogo frowned. "But are you planning to use only us to seal Ren Zenin?"

Jogo did not trust Hayato.

Even now, that terrifying figure remained in his mind like a shadow.

With only these few people, he would not act.

"I recently obtained two good collections," Hayato said. "When the time comes, they should be enough to restrain Ren Zenin."

"As long as we seal Satoru Gojo with the Prison Realm, no one else can stop the plan."

Those words fired Jogo up. Steam rose from the small volcano on his head.

"Really?"

Then he shook his head.

"No. Impossible. If you had something like that, you would have used it already."

"My two treasures are corpses," Hayato said. "The corpses of two strong people."

Jogo stared at him.

"What kind of corpses give you that confidence?"

"The previous Six Eyes user and the previous Ten Shadows Technique user."

Jogo's volcano erupted, turning the restaurant into a sea of fire.

Hayato waved away sparks with a helpless expression.

"Do not get so excited. It was not easy to find a place to sit, and now we need to change."

Jogo looked him up and down.

"If you have those bodies, then why..."

Hayato understood the meaning.

"Without this body, I would not have found those two collections."

"Since you have good things, give me the Prison Realm. I will handle Gojo myself."

"Oh?" Hayato smiled. "He is known alongside Ren Zenin. Are you certain?"

Jogo's eyes filled with contempt.

"When two people are named equal, one of them must be overrated. I will deal with Satoru Gojo."

In a village on Tokyo's outskirts, miasma filled the air. The place was dark, wet, and abandoned, with animal skulls floating above a swamp.

A ripple spread across the swamp.

A fish-like creature swam through the mud.

Suddenly, the swamp exploded.

"Tch. That thing hid deep."

Haibara jumped back to the bank and stared at the swamp.

Something dangerous was still below.

"There."

A deep-sea-fish-like cursed spirit burst from the swamp and dove at him.

Haibara did not retreat.

His eyes flashed with resolve.

"Good chance."

He gripped his sword and pushed off the ground.

In a flash, he appeared behind the cursed spirit.

When he landed, the cursed spirit turned to ash.

"Hello, Haibara."

"Gojo-senpai? Who is this?"

Haibara looked at Yuji, whom Gojo was carrying by the back of his collar.

"My student," Gojo said. "You could call him your underclassman."

"I came today because I want you to teach him about jujutsu before the Goodwill Event."

"Me?"

Haibara pointed at himself, confused.

"Yes, you. Itadori had no contact with jujutsu before, so his understanding is still at elementary-school level. You only need to take him along on missions and explain things to him. How much he learns depends on him."

Gojo said it casually.

"Hey," Yuji protested. "You are my teacher. Can you really say that in front of me?"

Haibara looked at Yuji and remembered his past self.

"All right. I will take care of him."

The next morning, Gojo came to the agency with a piece of drawing paper.

"Ren, have you seen these two cursed spirits?"

Ren looked at the paper.

The drawing had the quality of a kindergarten champion, but he could roughly identify Hanami and Jogo.

"No. New cursed spirits?"

"Yes. Two unrecorded Special Grade cursed spirits."

Gojo put the paper away.

"Troublesome."

He still had to record them afterward, and thinking about it already annoyed him.

"You did not kill them?"

"Almost. I wanted to play for a bit, but the one with flowers on its shoulder used a technique that temporarily erased my will to fight. They ran."

Interest flickered in Ren's eyes.

Very few techniques could erase Gojo's will to fight.

He had thought the original incident came from Gojo being careless. It seemed Hanami did have some ability.

Gojo knew what Ren was thinking as soon as he saw those bright eyes.

Being targeted by Ren was worse than dying by Gojo's hand.

"By the way," Gojo said, "the Goodwill Event is coming soon. Want to go?"

Ren looked at him strangely.

This man was persistent. He had been refused many times and still asked.

"No."

"Last year, Yuta swept the entire event alone. It was quite exciting. Are you sure you do not want to watch? If you miss another great moment, it will be too late for regrets."

Gojo gestured in the air as if he could replay last year's scenes.

"Would that not be the same as when you join the event?" Ren said. "A one-sided slaughter."

Gojo thought about it seriously.

"Not the same. Yuta had Rika then, and the effect looked better. From a viewing perspective, it was more entertaining than me joining."

Ren shook his head.

"How about a bet?" Gojo asked.

He still remembered being mocked for the last incident.

That had been an accident. This time, he had to prove himself.

Ren's narrow eyes reflected Gojo's serious expression.

"What bet?"

"This time, we both watch from outside. If anything unexpected happens, I will..."

Gojo paused.

He had almost said he would wear women's clothes, but seeing Ren's mocking expression made him lose confidence.

Ren's perception was almost prediction. Was betting with him truly appropriate?

"You will what?"

Ren smiled. He knew this Goodwill Event would have a real problem. He wanted to see how large a pit Gojo could dig.

"I will give you ten million yen."

Money was the safest option.

"That is all?"

Gojo scratched his hair.

Ren had more cursed tools than the entire Gojo clan. Status, fame, money, women...

Gojo suddenly hit his fist into his palm.

"I will introduce you to a girlfriend. How about that?"

His suggestive expression looked like he was promoting an indecent service.

"Get out."

The short voice sent Gojo back into his chair.

"Then you decide. Money is the only thing I have plenty of."

Ren looked at him.

"If something unexpected happens this time, do not attend these Goodwill Events again."

"Deal."

Gojo stood quickly.

"It is getting late. I still have work. Bye."

He shut the door and fled.

At the same time, on a beach, Hayato Godo lay on a chair wearing sunglasses and enjoying the sun.

"Hayato Godo," Jogo said, "do you have nothing to say to me?"

"No. I warned you. You insisted on going. What could I do?"

Hayato drank from a coconut.

"You are interesting," Hanami said. "If I did not know your identity, I would think you were more like us."

"Is that so? I only consider people in the same boat as me my kind."

Beside him sat a blue-haired cursed spirit covered in scars, quiet and detached from everything.

"Can you stop making sarcastic remarks?" Jogo snapped. "Satoru Gojo is that strong. How are we supposed to seal him?"

Hayato closed his eyes and enjoyed the sunlight.

"Ren Zenin has no weakness I can find. The Prison Realm is not useful against him, so force is the only option. Gojo is also invincible, but handling him is much simpler."

He opened his eyes.

"The right time. The right place. The right advantages. Then we seal him."

Pain flashed through his eyes.

"Two good puppets may end up as one-use pieces."

"When do we act?" Jogo asked. "If it is too early, I may not recover."

"October 31. Shibuya."

Hayato smiled.

"Before that, we still need a few things. Things that can help us build an advantage."

The cursed spirit beside them closed a book and stretched. Its mismatched eyes shone with excitement.

"That is still so far away. I will go play first. Aside from my first few years among humans, I have been stuck here. It is boring."

It smiled.

"Do not worry. I am not stupid enough to challenge those two."

Jogo heard the mockery and became furious.

"You are only a brat. How dare you mock me? When I recover, I will burn you."

"Then recover first. Bye."

The door closed.

The domain returned to quiet.

Hayato's mouth curved with contempt.

Every step in his plan was important.

And every step had a backup.

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