“—You want to ask about Toge?”

It was the beginning of August.

Panda returned the question with his head tilted to Kugisaki who had crash landed into one of the trees in their school with her face planted and legs in the air.

Including Fushiguro, the first year students were undergoing strict training in order to prepare for the battles during the sister school exchange event.

Currently, they were practicing hand-to-hand combat which was also a battle training under the premise that their opponents are human jujutsu sorcerers.

Even though it was considered practice, the current Kugiasaki was still at the point where she would be sent flying just from one attack from Panda and she was repeating this process over and over again.

However, her fighting spirit was high. Basically, it was all thanks to the taunting challenge from Toudou and Mai.

“That’s right. I already know now that Maki-san is a person worthy of admiration and Panda-senpai is also a jujutsu sorcerer worth his salt.”

“Why don’t you just address me the same way you address Maki?”              

Kugisaki got up and replied as she patted off the leaves that got caught on her P.E. attire.

“I respect you but if I was to address you as Panda-san, doesn’t it sound like I’m calling a character from some fairy tale?”

“In any case, you can still chat with me even after being tossed around by me, that’s praiseworthy.”

“I got flung by you plenty of times. Of course I’ll learn how to take it.”

“Then back to the topic….”

Panda looked around and made sure that Toge who had gone to the drug store had not returned yet.

Then, he easily broke through the skill that Kugisaki used to attack again and then continued to speak, composed.

“What do you want to ask about Toge?”

“I just want to know what kind of senpai is he?”

“Eh, you still don’t know what he’s like after speaking with him?”

“It would be great if I did. Even though I know he’s not a bad person, when he talks, he only uses onigiri fillings, so what I can glean from it is limited, right?”

“Seems like we’re too used to his way of speaking. Don’t you think so, Maki?”

Maki spun her staff shaped cursed tool and effortlessly avoided Fushiguro’s attack, knocking his head lightly with a “donk”.

“Ouch…”

“You are overthinking things again.”

Maki glanced at Fushiguro who was groaning and joined in the conversation between Panda and Kugisaki. Her breathing showed no sign of being ragged and she looked even more relaxed than Panda.

“Among the few of us, Toge could probably be considered the best at taking care of others.”

“Toge is actually quite a cheerful guy, even though he might look like that to you. Putting Yuuta aside, he’s probably the nicest person in our level.”

“His only downside would probably be that he likes messing around.”

“Does he like messing around?”

“Because you are always his partner in crime when he’s up to something, so of course you don’t feel it.”

“It’s not like that~ In what way are we messing around, it’s just that we do stuff like those together when we see that the tension is right.”

Thanks to the training she had received, Kugisaki still had the strength to chat with others. Even so, to the current her in this month of August, that second year female senior of hers who could talk about normal stuff leisurely was still a target that was out of reach.

Once she noticed that Panda was slightly distracted from chatting with Maki, she immediately feinted with a left and right hook, putting an upper cut in between.

“In any case—”

“Ugh.”

Panda shifted to the side and easily evaded the upper cut, following which, he performed a move that looked like a spinning kick and swept Kugisaki’s feet.

Losing her centre of gravity, Kugisaki tumbled to the ground but she had already positioned herself into the best defensive posture. This was a reflex action she picked up lately in these few weeks.

However, even though she could position herself into a fighting pose, she still could not beat Panda.

Panda looked down at Kugisaki who had disappointment written all over her face and said:

“Toge is an extremely good person. You would understand after some time.”

“…Ah, right.”

Rather than understanding Toge’s personality, what bothered her now was her aching back thanks to the fall. Even though she got into a defensive position.

In these summer days, Kugisaki’s worries were having to spend money to buy a new jersey if she did not find a way to decrease the frequency in which she fell to the ground

*

It had become autumn.

After the incident at Yasohachi bridge, the students of the technical school had a brief break.

That day, Kugisaki went to Shibuya alone.

Because Fushiguro was exhausted to the bone after the fight, he stayed in the dormitory to read.

Itadori went to non-franchise cinema to watch an indie film that was showing.

Maki was busy with missions that were different from that Yasohachi bridge, so they were not able to meet up for a while. Without planning a route, Kugisaki went out to buy cosmetics, clothes, daily necessities and so on. After all, it would be awkward to buy these things with guys accompanying her.

“I managed to get winter wear, winter appropriate shoes as well as underwear and foundation…”

Kugisaki raised the paper bags in both her hands and confirmed her spoils of battle.

She did not think that she bought too much, but she did feel that she walked more than she had expected and it was a mistake on her part to wear the stiletto heels that she bought a few days before to go shopping.

However, since this was a rare chance for her to go shopping, of course she felt like she could continue.

While walking amongst the crowd, Kugisaki thought, “I guess I should go look at some bags.”

When she just came to Tokyo, she found the sights and sounds around her curious, unusual, dazzling and moving beyond words. However, after three months, she got used to what she had seen and even her ears treated the sounds she heard around her as normal.

Even so, this also confirmed the prosperity and vitality of this place. It could be considered the air one would feel of the city.

“Seriously, that’s really super crazy.” “This really pisses me off.” “Miss, Miss, are you alone right now? Are you free?” “Sorry, I’m rushing off somewhere.” “Salmon.” “Our store has reopened once more after its refurbishment, welcome~” “You don’t want any?” “How much do you want to eat?” “I’m dog tired, don’t you also think today is just shit?” “Mommy, buy that one for me!”

At the cross walk where the voices of people welled up and the various lives of others crossed each other.

There were as many different daily lives as there were people and there were very different lifestyles just as how there were different people. There was sure to be people who hated such thoughts of streets where voices mixed together, but Kugisaki was not one of them.

For someone as self-aware as herself, the noise of the city was like a badge that anyone could live as how they are and she even found such noise melodious.

When she thought to this point – Kugisaki’s hometown, a countryside town, made her chest feel breathless.

The people of that town were old fashioned, xenophobic, did not see people as individuals and in the long run, established their own ecosystem. That place was just a closed up world that was slowly becoming rotten.

In contrast, the city’s hustle and bustle had freedom with substance.

People said that city folks were cold and apathetic towards others.  But Kugisaki laughed instead, saying that that was a good thing. This this way, there was no one who could deny the true her and she was able to rely on her own steady steps to move forward with courage.

Kugisaki truly enjoyed the complex life of the city.

However, the fate between people was amazing beyond words. She came to this busy place on her day off and then—

“Hmm?”

As Kugisaki was heading for the direction of Shibuya’s Hikarie mall, she noticed a familiar face on the opposite side of the road. Among all the people whom she knew, there was only one person would use such a closed up collar to hide the bottom half of his face where his mouth was.

The person in front of her was Inugam Toge.

Beside him was someone who Kugisaki obviously did not know and looked to be a blue eyed man who seemed to be a tourist from overseas. She was extremely interested in the conversation between that foreigner and Inugami.

“I wonder what they are talking about?”

Kugisaki changed directions and crossed the road that had just switched to the green pedestrian light and walked towards Inugami. As the distance closed between them, she started to hear the conversation between the two.

“I’d like to go to Shibuya109.”

“Sha-ke, sha-ke.”
(T/N: Salmon)

“Could you tell me where I can get a taxi?”

“ Sujiko.”

“Ah….which way should we go?”

“Kombu.”

“Ah…..ikitai…..109. Please. Ok?”

“Sha-ke.”

“Shake?”

“….Salmon.”

“…..Salmon?! Why?!”

“Okaka….”

“Excuse me~~……”

Seeing how those two were, the situation was ten times more troublesome than what Kugisaki had imagined.

She knows that Inugami, as a cursed word user, only spook using the names of fillings in onigiri when he talked in order to prevent the curses from getting out of hand. Now, for some unknown reason, there’s this foreign tourist who went to ask Inugami for directions.

However, who knew what was going through Inugami’s head, he actually started to point around and gestured to give directions to the other party. Kugisaku thought to herself, no wonder the foreigner got more enthusiastic the more he asked. So she decided to stick her nose into the situation.

“Senpai, what are you doing?”

“Tuna Mayo.”

“What tuna mayo, seriously.”

“Oh! Geisha girl!”

“Who is a geisha girl.”

From the conversation between the two earlier, she already pretty much figured out where the foreigner wanted to go, then using the four words “left”, “right”, “straight” and “goddamn”, together with pointing out the direction, she finally succeeded in telling the other party that Shibuya 109 Mall was on the opposite side of the bus stop.

And the foreigner who finally understood which way he should go, waved his hand and said “This one is ever so grateful for your assistance!” before he left. Kugisaki could not help but feel that this person was a weirdo as well.

“Sha-ke.”

“Senpai, aren’t there many ways for you to tell someone which way to walk? You could write on a piece of paper or you could just show them a map on your phone.”

“Sujiko.”

(T/N: Salmon roe still in the egg sac)

“…..”

Kugisaki had known Inumaki for about three months but even now, she still had difficulty understanding his language of onigiri fillings.

Fushiguro seemed to get the gist of it while Itadori could tell based on feeling.

The seniors in the second year need not be discussed, of course they understood. And when Kugisaki was getting trained, Inumaki would go and act as her sparring partner, so it was not as though Kugisaki knew nothing about him.

She knew that during the plan by the Kyoto sister school to kill off Itadori—without leaving evidence—Inumaki was rather worried about Itadori who he did not know for long, so from there, she realised that Inumaki “was not a bad person”. But just from listening to his words that were made up of only onigiri fillings, it was hard for her to thoroughly understand him as a person.

Kugisaki felt that Maki was without a doubt a senior worthy of her respect and Panda, who was willing to be her training partner, was also extremely reliable. And these two people had praised Inumaki at the same time, calling him “a good person”.

Regardless—Kugisaki still felt that Inumaki senpai was a hard one to grasp.

Simply put, the problem was that there was a clash in how these two got along with others.

Kugisaki placed importance in communicating through words and she basically never kept quiet and said whatever she thought, so to her, Inumaki, whose replies were in terms of onigiri fillings, was a troublesome opponent.

But she was not going to talk freely just because Inumaki was someone she knew.

After all, she would only speak frankly to the people close to her if she trusted the other party. So to put it more accurately, Kugisaki was just not good at dealing with people like Inumaki who she could not have a smooth conversation with.

However, it was not as though she disliked Inumaki, so she did not want to appear cold towards him.

In the end, Kugisaki became careful about the words she used for some reason, but at the same time detested herself for being bothered about such trivial things. The words used in conversation were meant to show what she felt in her heart after all, so Kugisaki was not willing to unintentionally warp the inner thoughts that she had.

Being tugged between reason and feeling, Kugisaki’s good mood was fouled in the end.

“Sigh, never mind. Next time someone who seems troublesome strikes up a conversation with you, just brush them off as fast as you can. I still have stuff that I need to buy so I’ll be going off first.”

“Takana.”

(T/N: A type of vegetable)

“Right right right, takana takana.”

Kugisaki had absolutely no idea what “Takana” was supposed to mean so when Inumaki said that to her as she left, she just replied with the same terms.

However, just as she was about to step away, Inumaki stopped her from leaving by grabbing her shoulder.

“….What, what now?”

“Okaka.”

(T/N: Dried bonito flakes)

“Even if you say Okaka to me, I don’t even know what that means.”

However Inumaki also added an action which was shaking his head.

From his actions and behaviour, Kugisaki could guess that he was trying to stop herself from continuing her shopping trip. As to why, she had no clue.

If she had to force herself to think of the most obvious reason, perhaps Inumaki wanted her to “go home before it gets dark”? Just from the word Okaka, Kugisaki could only implied that was what he meant but she could not understand completely what Inumaki was trying to express.

However she knew Inumaki was concerned about her so she replied him with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m not so dumb that I’ll loiter around when it’s late in the night.”

“Takana.”

“I know, I know. Senpai, don’t you stay out too late as well.”

Inumaki tried to call Kugisaki but she ignored him and once more, stepped into the crowd that was passing by.

“Okaka….!”

Inumaki stretched out his hand but he was bumped into by an old lady who walked beside him. Fortunately, no one got hurt but just as Inumaki was helping the old lady cross the road, he completely lost sight of Kugisaki.

*

Kugisaki went through a tall building and made a turn.

She leisurely walked through the bustling sea of humans.

Occasionally, she would encounter someone trying to talk to her to give out flyers or tissue packets and Kugisaki would deftly and in an experienced manner, evade them. In her heart, she would mumble “these part-timers sure are having a tough time” then she would turn a blind eye to them and continue walking.

However……

“Miss, Miss, excuse me but can I take up some of your time?”

“What do you want?”

Suddenly a painfully pesty man showed up.

He was wearing a suit, had a beard on his chin, and slightly long blonde hair. He blocked Kugisaki’s path directly, not allowing her to move forward.

He had a lanky build and his tanned skin was firm making the pearly whites he flashed with a smile look strangely dazzling.

“What? If you are looking for someone to be a model then you got the right person.”

“Please allow me to explain. Here, my name card.”

Kugisaki used her right hand which was holding paper bags to receive the name card the man held out. When someone held out a name card, the other party would accept it subconsciously. In the Japanese culture, this had become a reflex action deep rooted in many.

“Just as what’s written on the name card, I’m Tsurube Kaya. I work at the modelling section of H agency.”

“You’re from H agency….in charge of the models?”

Kugisaki looked at the name card, then at the man who called himself Tsurube and back at the name card again.

“Eh? Are you serious? You’re a talent scout?”

“You could consider me a talent scout. I know what I’m doing right now is very disrespectful, but the competition in the modelling world to get talents is fierce…So when I see someone with your qualities, it’s like seeing the potential of a diamond that has yet been polished. Of course I wanted to find some way to get your time.”

–H agency, model, unpolished diamond.

After this man by the name of Tsurube threw out words that would let people have delightful fantasies after listening to them, he continued to speak:

“Now, “cute and energetic” is the core image that our agency is going for the next generation of models and you fulfil the conditions of our agency.”

“Oh, oh do I—You have a good eye.”

“If you have the time now, I really hope you can take up some of it so I can explain to you some of the ideas my agency has. To me, you are a diamond in the rough. I know you probably have some matters to attend to but if you could just spend a bit of time listening to me, this is all for the sake of your bright future mind you, it will definitely not be of any disadvantage to you. I’m very sure that you can become the next Jennifer Lawrence.”

“Well….well then….since you are so sincere, then I’ll hear you out.”

“Great! I just know you’ll make a smart choice.”

–It felt like the man was putting Kugisaki on a high pedestal intentionally.

Even so, when Kugisaki heard the staff member of a famous company sing praises of her, she felt happy; Furthermore, she was found by a talent scout while walking in the streets of the big city, so it could be said one of her fantasies have come true and the other party was exaggerating so much making her think, on the contrary, “Maybe he is telling the truth.”

“I see that you have many bags on you and it doesn’t seem right to do my explanation on the streets. How about you come with me and let’s go over there to have a seat and chat.”

After Tsurube motioned her to hurry, for some reason, Kugisaki took leisurely steps and followed him.

A model of H agency—what a bright sounding title.

In reality, even though it would  be impossible for her to handle the two identities being both a Jujutsu sorcerer and a model, to reject this chance that was handed to her without missing a beat would be a pity and who knows, she might be able to use this matter to show off.

Now Kugisaki had strangely started to feel that everything said by this man “could be trusted”.

Her thoughts were in an unusual mess. She shook her head and with the man leading the way, entered a small alley.

Even with this being the case, she still thought that her own two legs were being controlled by her own consciousness.

*

After more than ten minutes, Kugisaki’s thoughts became un-fogged.

Because she realised that both her hands were tied behind her back.

At the same time, she finally noticed that something was wrong—she found herself sitting in the room of some high-rise building. There was nothing in sight that indicated it was a talent agency.

There was only a simple desk and document cabinet.

There were layers of talismans stuck all over the walls and the floors. Just a glance and one can tell that this place was decorated by someone who knew about cursed techniques.

“….Bastard, what did you do to me?”

“Ah, you’re awake? You sure have a rough way of talking.”

Tsurube sat on the table as he used a small knife to cut a cigar while he looked at Kugisaki. Then his line of sight moved to behind her.

“Hey, Koizumi, didn’t I tell you to be more careful? If you’re too careless when you tie someone up then the person who’s tied up would be able to tell that something isn’t right.”

“Sor, sorry, Tsurube-san. It’s just that this woman is too scary, she actually has a hammer on her.”

The man who was standing behind Kugisaki should be the person who Tsurube called Koizumi.

The man was built like a brick wall and just his build alone should be burlier than that of Toudou from the sister school in Kyoto. Yet, the man’s seemingly timid personality was a stark contrast to the muscular body of his that looked like it belonged to a professional wrestler.

“I was just worried if the situation decided to go south but I had no idea this little girl would regain her consciousness so easily. You’re called Kugisaki right? How strong is that self-awareness of yours anyway, it’s so tough that even I’m feeling a bit frightened.”

“What are you up to?”

A vein popped up at the edge of Kugisaki’s forehead but she understood that she was in a dangerous situation at the moment.

Currently, she was forced to sit on a chair and both her arms were pulled behind the back of the chair with her hands tied behind her. The feeling within her sleeve told her that it was empty. It seems like her hammer, nails and straw doll have all been taken away.

“Wait, why do you know my name….!”

“You just told me yourself. But you just forgotten about it.”

The man named Tsurube sat on the table and looked down at Kugisaki. The light of the setting sun shone in from the window so it was hard to tell what expression he was having but he was probably had a flippant smile plastered on his face.

“Kugisaki, relax. The two of us do not have the intention of harming you. We would just like to have a chat.”

“Hah?! Who would want to have a chat when you’re talking like tha—”

“Just trust me.”

Kugisaki wanted to voice out her angry protests but at the same time rage filled her up, the anger just dissipated completely. Just as what Tsurube had said, she felt at ease and “wanted to believe” Tsurube’s words.

But her reason told her that this situation was abnormal.

Still, despite raising her guard, Kugisaki could not doubt Tsurube and she went down to a mental state that even she herself could not believe.

However, she successfully managed to awaken the will the fight within herself.

“What the hell are you grinning about………!”

Kugisaki noticed that her legs were not tied and without hesitation, she braced herself up and used that force to make herself stand up.

However, the upper half of her body was still tied to the chair so her movement was extremely limited. Even so, she could use the chair tied to her body to attack them so it was like killing two birds with one stone.

Kugisaki spun her body and used the chair’s legs to attack Tsurube. But—

“I, I’m not letting you get your way.

With a bang, it felt like she struck something hard but the only thing damaged was the chair.

The man called Koizumi stood between Tsurube and Kugisaki. Kugisaki used all the force she could to swing the chair but Koizumi received not even a scratch.

“Tch.”

The end result was instead Kugisaki, with a small build, falling onto the ground. Even though she wanted to get up immediately, the chair was in the way and she could only struggle while on the ground.

“Kugisaki, you’re too rash. Koizumi’s only strong point is his physical abilities. Even though he’s unable to control complex techniques, with this body of muscle, as well as the technique to strengthen his skin with cursed energy, he’s basically a high-grade shield.

“Then let me just break open your skull first.”

“Oooo, I’m so scared. But you’re not going to be able to do it.”

Just from listening to this phrase, Kugisaki felt her will to resist become fainter. She had to use so much force just to fill her own gaze with animosity, but she was thoroughly unable to imagine herself “defeating” the two men in front of her.

With a “keh keh keh”, Tsurube laughed and he waggled his finger like he was waving a conductor’s baton.

“You should listen carefully now. My technique is “cursed words”.”

“—Cursed words….”

Inumaki’s image appeared in Kugisaki’s mind. She was clear that cursed words was a skill that was difficult to go up against. Koizumi who had an overwhelming advantage in melee attacks combined with a Cursed Words sorcerer, this combination put her in a deep peril.

“That’s right, it’s just that our clan is not as elite as the cursed word sorcerers of the Inumaki family. The strength of our skills and the functionality pales in comparison to theirs. If I did not have an amplifier, I’m of no threat at all, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Amplifier….?”

“I gave you a name card, didn’t I? That’s actually a talisman that is made from the wood of a century old tree by the name of “Tsurube Otoshi”. It’s connected to the cursed mark that’s on my tongue. In this room, I also pasted talismans made from the same tree all over like wallpaper, basically wherever the eyes can see. These talismans are like my tongue…in other words, this room is a barrier painstakingly put up by me so the effect is pretty much like a domain. And my cursed words—”

(T/N: A tsurube(釣瓶 – literally means hanging bottle) refers to a bucket used for drawing water from a well while a Tsurube Otoshi (釣瓶落とし) refers to Youkai that lives in trees and drops buckets on people. Of course, this man called Tsurube (鶴瓶 – Heron bottle) – his name has the same reading)

The sense of danger appeared Kugisaki’s confused mind at this moment.

Tsurube was “declaring his technique”.

The man who called himself a Cursed Words user was intentionally revealing the techniques that he used. The fighting instinct that Kugisaki had as a Jujutsu Sorcerer was ringing alarm bells telling her that she definitely could not continue listening but she was unable to move her hands to cover her ears.

Just as Kugisaki’s frantic gaze rose up, Tsurube spat out the decisive words.

“It’s rather inconvenient to use my cursed words but the effects are simple. As long as I say something, the people who hear it will “completely believe” them.”

“—Ugh.”

Kugisaki immediately realised she was in the worst situation.

The man’s cursed words would only make his words credible, but together with his “technique declaration”, it will add up and multiply its dangerous effects.

Announcing one’s techniques was a “binding contract” to increase the techniques’ skills and with cursed words that were “completely believable”, this was a combination that had no holes for breaking through.

Once Tsurube explained that the effect of his cursed words were to make the listeners “completely believe”, Kugisaki “completely believed” everything he uttered. And after adding the amplification of the talismans within the house, her emotions calmed down.

Most importantly, she was unable to determine how many subtle hints Tsurube had dropped on her before she woke up and how many things she was made to believe.

“Kugisaki, don’t worry. As long as you listen to me obediently, I will guarantee that you will not come to any harm.”

“….What the fuck are you saying? I’m tied up by you.”

“Really, you can trust me. Besides, you should believe me already, right? You now have complete trust in me.”

“…..!”

Under the effect of the cursed words, just as per Tsurube, she, who had “completely believed” him has “already believed” him If this goes on, it would only be a chain of negative effects and she would lose her self-awareness even more quickly.

“Kugisaki, relax. I do not have the intention to kill you, I just want you to answer some of my questions—about that Jujutsu Technical College that you’re in.”

“….Why do you know that I’m a student of Jujutsu Technical College?”

“Ah—People like us also have our own information network. Such as there are only three people enrolled in the first year and the skills of these weak rookies are only around the level of grade three sorcerers, as well as what they look like. I have ways of finding information like these. We bought these information and from these calefare rookies, we’re going to get even deeper layers of reports about this technical college and sell them out for big money. This is considered business.”

“……I see.”

Kugisaki was initially worried that these two were related to the group of Jujutsu sorcerers who joined forces with special grade cursed spirits but it looked like the chance of that was not high. After all, those people were so strong that they were able to infiltrate the technical college so until now, they do not have the need to use roundabout methods like this.

However, she still had to think of something to prevent them from getting any information about the technical college.

The facilities of the school, the nature of the barrier and information about the staff.

The Technical College was the base of activities for Jujutsu Sorcerers as well as a place to train up their fighting abilities. Even a miniscule trivial piece of information should not fall into the hands of sorcerers who had obvious animosity towards the College.

Kugisaki felt that as long as this went on, her sense of reason was going to be controlled by the cursed words and she was going to play right into their two hands and hand out all she knew on a silver platter so she had to come up with a counter strategy before that happened. At the very least she had to quickly do something while “she was able to think on her own like this.

In the worst-case scenario, she would consider severing her own tongue.

….Wrong, if this current situation went on, her consciousness would end up being controlled by the cursed words. If she unable to make decisions as “Kugisaki Nobara”, she might as well end it all right now—

At this moment, the cursed words have already affected Kugisaki but she grasped only her persevering self-awareness that had yet to be completely destroyed and prepared to make a decision.

Then, a loud “bang” came from outside the room.

“Ah?”

Tsurube and Koizumi, the attention of these two enemies, were taken away. Kugisaki felt that this was a great chance bestowed from the Heavens but now she could not even get up so she could only grit her teeth and regret.

After Tsurube thought for a short stint, he gave Koizumi instructions.

“Is it an unwelcome guest? ….Koizumi, go take a look. In any case, this brat can’t even harm a hair on my head. It would be safer if you go have a look. You should be able to block stuff like bullets, right?”

“I’ll, I’ll get going.”

This cowardly man by the name of Koizumi nervously headed to the exit of the room.

However, he was too big so it looks like he needed to bend over before he could head through the door. At the same time Koizumi opened the door, he lowered his head in preparation to step out.

“—Sleep—”

“Eh.”

The sound last uttered by Koizumi was just that one word.

After that, as though he was a puppet that had its strings cut, that bear-like stocky body of his weakly collapsed onto the ground. His body became a huge obstacle to the door and he lay horizontally across the exit.

Tsurube felt that something was off and before Kugisaki noticed the same thing—A shadow dashed straight at Tsurube.

In a blink of an eye, Tsurube saw someone send a knifehand strike towards his face and he immediately and instinctively raised both his arms to defend himself, but in the next second, the other  party’s fist had landed heavily on his sternum. A dull sound rang out.

“Ugh, ah!”

Tsurube’s body bent over and he collapsed to the ground.

Even though Kugisaki was still on the ground herself and the sun’s rays shining into the room made her vision blurry, she immediately knew who was it that barged into the place.

“……Inumaki……senpai?”

“Sha-ke.”

Inumaki fastened his collar, covering the cursed mark that was tattooed in his mouth and turned around.”

“Kombu.”

“….I feel like I can’t exert any strength.”

“Ikura.”                        

“Just joking. Senpai, thank you.”

“Sha-ke, Sha-ke.”

Inumaki nodded his head and went to get the small knife that was used to cut cigar and sliced off the ropes that tied up Kugisaki. The marks that were caused by the ropes were throbbing slightly but still managed to find a way to get up.

She was completely saved by Inumaki.

Kugisaki really wanted to ask Inumaki what he was doing here but she also felt that if she asked him to explain, she would just be listening without comprehending so she decided to deduce the reason on her own.

In the end, she got the answer pretty easily.

When Inumaki was roaming the streets on his own, he warned Kugisaki about some things. After that, Kugisaki fell into the enemies’ traps on the streets. Now she thought about it carefully, Inumaki was a semi-grade one sorcerer who could go on solo missions. So it was likely that he had been tasked with the mission of investigating Tsurube and his team from the start.

Kugisaki thought—if only she heeded Inumaki’s warning back then, but it could not be helped since she could not understand his meaning just from listening to the names of onigiri fillings. In any case, from now on, she should at least remember that “Okaka” and “Tanaka” represented negative things.

“Anyway, let’s get out of here quickly…no wait, we should tie up that fake talent scout and his buddy before we leave.”

“Sha-ke.”

“Sha-ke means OK?”

“Sha-ke.”

“I really don’t know if I should say that your words are easy to understand or difficult to understand—look out!!”

“Sujiko?”

Kugisaki was only halfway through her words when her expression shifted drastically.

Inumaki knew that Kugisaki was warning him to “Look out”.

But at the same time, he sensed a killing aura. Just as his brain was starting to analyse the words that entered his ears, he first reacted to the killing aura that his body felt.

There was a giant dark figure standing behind Inumaki.

The man by the name of Koizumi had already awoken from the sleep induced by Inumaki’s cursed words. Inumaki immediately revealed his mouth, about to open it but Koizumi already had his fist raised high above him.

“Out of the way!”

Kugisaki dashed out as though she was launched forward.

She pushed Inumaki out of the way and dashed straight for Koizumi.

Even though Koizumi had already lashed out, Kugisaki who did not hesitate to take action was even faster. She did not have her hammer with her so she was not able to use the straw doll technique which she specialised in, but this did not mean she was unable to fight.

Furthermore, she had long already gotten used to taking on opponents larger than herself.

At the same time Kugisaki expressed her gratitude to Panda within her heart—she concentrated the weight of her body on her elbow and viciously struck at Koizumi’s sternum.

But “the feeling of the strike was too solid”.

“….eh?”

Koizumi fell over at a surprising speed.

Kugisaki completely did not feel the tightening of Koizumi’s abdominal muscles in order to protect himself as though he did not even have the intention of going on defense. The large body just collapsed onto the ground.

This feeling that something was off quickly transformed into a heightened sense of danger. And at the same time—

“—cough! Cough, gasp, cough, cough!”

“Inumaki-senpai?!”

Kugisaki turned her head to find out where the coughing sound was coming from and reflected in her eyes was Tsurube, standing straight up and staring at her….as well as Inumaki, collapsed on the ground, clutching his throat while being stepped on by Tsurube.

“….Aren’t you two brats looking down on me a bit too much?”

Tsurube’s face no longer had the flippant smile he had earlier.

His eyes which were wide open were full of animosity and in order to strike fear in Kugisaki, he opened his mouth, sticking out his snake like forked tongue. On top of it looked like images of what should be cursed marks.

“Koizumi is merely bait. I already hinted at him that even if he lost consciousness, he would move at the right timing….thanks to him, I’m able to take care of the more troublesome fella first. Looks like one has to prepare for anything after all.

“You piece of shit, what did you do to senpai?”

“The Inumaki clan is famous after all and I also knew that the technical college had a cursed words user, so of course I thought of a counter strategy.”

Tsurube picked up a wet piece of cloth from the floor and waved it like he was showing off.

“This is a tear gas that I concocted myself. Well, between cursed word users, they know how to resist the opponent’s cursed words…but they don’t seem very good at dealing with such physical attacks. Never mind about cursed word users stronger than me. Once he says something, he’ll hurt his throat, right? This is karma, karma.”

“What? How can senpai fall for such underhanded tactics….”

“Kugisaki, that’s all thanks to you. If he sees me suddenly throwing some unknown object at his junior, he is surely going to step out to block it without any thought. Fortunately, he was just as I had expected. What a good senpai.”

“…..—”

Something “snapped” within Kugisaki’s heart.

What ticked her off the most was that her own actions were too careless and this fiery rage had transformed into a passionate fighting spirit.

She had already caused trouble for Inumaki twice.

As a cursed words user, Inumaki would be the most familiar in dealing with cursed words and was the ideal candidate to carry out this mission so he went to investigate Tsurube on his own. If it was just him, he should be able to completely this mission in a jiffy. Tsurube was just some small fry after all.

But Kugisaki fell into the enemy’s trap twice and caused Inumaki who specially arrived to assist her to put himself in danger.

Right now she only felt one kind of emotion, all the thoughts that originally filled her brain were swept aside and all distracting thoughts were wiped clean.

Her heart was only left with rage. It was full of rage.

That was pure anger directed at the enemy and mostly at herself.

The room, bathed under the rays of the setting sun, gradually became red. Whether it was the table, the walls or the floors, everywhere the eye could see was dyed red but to Kugisaki, only the “person who needed to be taught a painful lesson” was clear to her.

However, she did not go berserk and lose her sense of reason.

Her heart was free of distracting thoughts. Just rage. And she quietly steeled her will.

“Oh, Kugisaki, you better not attack me. After all, you already told me your techniques….it’s called a straw doll cursed skill, right? But your hammer is with me so you should have no way of activating it. Give up already, don’t try racking that brain of yours to find some way of getting at—”

“Shut up.”

“….What did you say?”

Tsurube was in shock that Kugisaki actually interrupted him.

Until just now, Tsurube assumed that Kugisaki’s mind was still under the influence of his cursed words so there was no way she had the thought of interrupting him as he spoke. Furthermore, she was just a delicate girl, a brat with no experience, a mere third grade sorcerer who definitely could not possibly possess the mental spirit to resist his amplified cursed words.

But there was something that Tsurube was not aware of.

He had no idea that this young lady before him was not some “delicate girl” or a “brat with no experience”, much less a “mere third grade sorcerer” – she was “Kugisaki Nobara”.

“I can’t listen to the words that come out of your mouth anymore. Even the sound of someone puking sounds more melodious.”

Kugisaku took out the name card that Tsurube had passed to her earlier.

Because she knew she was under the influence of the cursed words, she had truly experienced the dangers of cursed words—

Cursed words, curses that were executed just from using words alone, even a whisper could threaten others.

In order to prevent using cursed words to hurt ordinary people, Inumaki usually did not use words that had any meaning. From there, one could tell that he was extremely kind. The reason why Inumaki threw himself out to block the tear gas meant for Kugisaki was because….

He was unable to warn her.

He was unable to use that mouth of his that made everything he said come true to shout those two words “look out” so he used himself as a shield without hesitation.

Inumaki spoke to help others. He also gave up on speaking to help others.

In comparison to Tsurube’s words—just one sentence from Inumaki held so much value.

After Kugisaki flung Tsurube’s name card on the floor, she raised one of her legs.

“Kugisaki, it’s not like I didn’t tell you already….”

Tsurube only grinned at Kugisaki’s actions of looking like she was about to step on the name card at first, thinking that she was just finding something to vent her anger on.

But in the next second, he thought back to Kugisaki’s techniques.

–Straw doll technique. This was a skill that allowed the user to remotely inject their cursed energy into something using a doll as a medium.

However, Kugisaki’s hammer and doll have already been confiscated. The current her was unable to use the straw doll technique.

Kugisaki’s actions were just an act to vent her emotions.

Tsurube made such a conclusion, yet—

There was a “small doll” that fell from Kugisaki’s other hand onto the name card.

That was the rope that was used to tie up Kugisaki’s arms.

In an exceedingly short span of time, she had weaved the cut rope into a simple doll.

Kugisaki was well aware that since she was a Jujutsu sorcerer that required a medium to activate her skills, she would be in trouble if her medium got taken away by the enemy so she had always trained up the ability to use whatever she had around her to create a medium.

Now she had the doll, then as for the nails that were used to inject cursed energy……-Kugisaki’s “stiletto” heels reflected in Tsurube’s eyes.

“….Hey, hey, hold on—”

However, Tsurube was unable to think of cursed words that could turn the situation around before Kugisaki’s foot hit the ground.

His cursed words were unable to control the listener’s actions. At the very most, he could only make them “completely believe” so command phrases such as “hold it” and “stop” were meaningless.

Tsurube’s words needed to be elaborated to a certain level, to be structured to meaningful phrases before they could exert their effects.

But even in this situation, his mindset still lacked urgency.

Because Kugisaki should only be planning to use that name card to activate her straw doll technique to attack the talismans in the room that came from the same cursed tree.

If so, then the targets were too spread out.

A mere third grade jujutsu sorcerer’s cursed energy spread out all over the numerous talismans that were stuck across the room would surely only do a little damage.

No problem, it’ll be fine—Tsurube took the situation in his stride, telling himself not to worry.

However, while being brainwashed by his cursed words, Kugisaki was only forced to reveal the details about her techniques.

So Tsurube was not sure, could not have known—

That she was no “mere third grade sorcerer’ or some “rookie newbie”.

Much less an existence that people could simply evaluate.

“Damn brat, stop wasting your energy! Stop struggling—”

“Didn’t I ask you to shut up?”

She was “Kugisaki Nobara”.

“Ugh—Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

The slim heel on Kugisaki’s boot pierced through the doll and name card at one go.

In that instant, the razor-sharp curse energy burst out and all the talismans started to burn. Not only that, Tsurube’s tongue which was linked to all the talismans also ruptured in a miserable manner.

“Ah! Ahh, ahhhhh! Augh! Hya! Hwaaaaa!“

The ruptured tongue was just like a blooming flower and Tsurube writhed painfully, rolling on the ground.

Kugisaki lowered her head to look at Tsurube than calmly opened the drawer and took back, as expected to be in there, her hammer, nails and straw doll.

“Ahhh, ahhhhh, ahhhhh! Ah——-Ah——!“

Tsurube crawled on the ground and it looked as though he was going to collapse and never get back up, but he was still using all his strength to drag himself to the exit. It looked like he was in immense pain and once someone felt that their life was threatened, they would think of ways to escape.

Kugisaki felt that this person was living such a miserable existence.

But, she was not going to let him off.

After all, during the time she was under the influence of the cursed words, who knew how much information she divulged to him.

She might as well “finish him off”. Perhaps that would be the better choice.

Kugisaki threw her nails in the air and raised her hammer.

“……”Don’t….kill him”.”

Just before the hammer hit the nails, she heard a painfully hoarse voice speak.

“Ahh, hwaaaa, ah!”

And so, the nails that shot out only injured Tsurube’s ankle, immobilising him. However, that was already sufficient. Tsurube was unable to escape.

After Kugisaki made sure that Tsurube could not move…she moved her gaze to Inumaki who was lying on the ground with his hands to his throat.

“……….Okaka….”

“…I don’t really want to say this but…”

When Inumaki spoke, the words he used was back to their usual onigiri fillings.

But Kugisaki knew that Inumaki was surely not worried that Tsurube would lose his life which was why he used his injured throat to force those normal words out.

The reason why he spoke those words was because he did not want Kugisaki to bear the burden of killing someone.

The job of a Jujutsu sorcerer made it impossible to avoid killing others or they might be killed first.

“All of you senpais are Jujutsu sorcerers but aren’t you all too nice?”

Kugisaki felt that when Inumaki said Okaka—it was a phrase to show his concern after his companions went through a battle, disregarding all else.

Earlier she had felt the same sort of concern so she could understand Inumaki’s meaning.

And she also understood that Inumaki’s words were full of warmth.

*

Kugisaki and Inumaki handed Tsurube and Koizumi to the technical college and reported the details of the incident. It was only till the next day when they were able to get some silence and catch their breath.

“Whether it’s Nobara or Toge, both your rest days become such a disaster.”

“Sha-ke, Sha-ke.”

After Panda said his part, Toge added on.

Kugisaki just slumped her shoulders as though she despised the word and replied.

“It’s a total wreck, I didn’t get my bags and I broke the heel of my boot.”

Currently they were in the lounge of the technical college.

Kugisaki had a cup of hot tea in her hands while the second years were standing around her. Panda and Maki had come over to meet up with Inumaki who had finished writing his report. Kugisaki was now pincered between the two and at the same time, she thought, compared to the first years, the second years seem more united.

“…Speaking of which, perhaps it’s due to the time I had to work, it feels like it’s been a while since I had a face-to-face chat with Nobara.”

Kugisaki looked at Maki who had her hand on her own chin and was staring at herself. Kugisaki then nodded.

“It has really been a while but we only haven’t seen each other for one or two weeks?”

“Well, it is just one or two weeks….”

Maki understood just from looking at Kugisaki. Actually Panda and even Inumaki were sure to understand as well.

Kugisaki blinked as she noticed she was being stared at by the second years.

“…Is there something on my face?”

“We only haven’t met for a few days but it looks like you’re looking better.”

“Ah, you can tell? Actually I bought this really awesome foundation.”

“I mean you are looking more and more like a Jujutsu sorcerer. If we have a one-on-one battle now, the end result might be vastly different from before.”

At the same time Maki retorted Kugisaki’s statement, she did indeed feel her change.

Before the summer ended, anyone would have thought she was just this junior who was a fledgling sorcerer.

However, perhaps she had a flash of inspiration or she awakened after being put in danger or it’s due to the people she interacted with, the training she accumulated earlier had finally come to fruition.

The current her still had some air of immaturity, but one could not deny that she improved by leaps and bounds in a short amount of time.

The second years had always helped Kugisaki train, so they could detect her growth easily.

After Kugisaki heard Maki’s praise, for an instant she had an expression of joy and shyness but once she saw Inumaki who was next to Panda, she lowered her head slightly.

“But I still think it’s too early to be happy.”

“It’s rare of you to be this humble, did you eat something wrong?”

“Because of what happened this time—”

“Okaka.”

Kugisaki looked at Inumaki as she spoke but Inumaki himself cut off her words.

After all, the one who saw witnessed Kugisaki growing to “the current Kugisaki” was Inumaki himself so of all the people here—he was the one who hoped that Kugisaki could accept the praises of others with her head held high the most.

“Inumaki senpai.”

“Kombu.”

“…I know, then I shall not be modest about this.”

“Sujiko.”

“You’re right, even I felt what I did just now was too cringey, it’s not like me. But aren’t you going too far by saying that?”

“Mentaiko.”

“Eh, it is like that but I never said you could put me down like that!”

Inumaki seemed to have stopped holding back his words and this made Kugisaki angry and for an instant, the lounge became noisy.

“….Nobara, we only haven’t seen each other for a short while but why does it feel that now you’re able to understand what Toge is saying?”

Panda tilted his head, not understanding, but this could be considered growth for Kugisaki as well.
The few seniors showed gentle gazes as the watched their noisy and adorable junior.