*The Kanji for Dance is pronounced the same way as Mai’s name in Japanese

History was full of colour.

So was life, culture and the climate.

A country, a city forms its colours after years.

In comparison to Tokyo that had a fast rate of metabolism, the ancient city of Kyoto could be said to have profound colours.

Located next to a cluster of high-rise buildings that could be classified as a metropolis, this city kept accumulating traces of the city which permeated everywhere. No matter what word was used, remnants of history or natural scenery, these remnants can be seen everywhere and people called them tradition.

Because of that, Kyoto’s landscape was beautiful.

However, Zen’in Mai knew that Kyoto was not just something beautiful.

Under the influence of its long history, kindness and evil things lived alongside each other, dyeing this land a complex tone. In the midst the colour of beauty was the undertones of filth.

Tradition and perplexity, family status and conflict or Jujutsu Sorcerers and Curses.

For people who could see these evils, they would not just sing praises of the beauty of this city.

Mai absolutely detested the colours of this city and the tones—so she had a face of unhappiness since returning from Tokyo.

“This year’s exchange event sure is rushed, can’t we stay in Tokyo a bit longer?”

Right now, they are inside the commercial building which was next to Hachijoguchi of Kyoto Station.

If this was summer, these girls would head for a crepe shop that specialized in its ice cream, but now the autumn wind brought some chill so they chose to sit in the corner of a café.

“This can’t be helped. After all, some curse users and cursed spirits caused trouble and even caused some causalities.”

Miwa replied as such as she used her mobile phone to take photos of her latte that had a heart shape drawn on with foam.

She takes pictures every time, then where does she upload it to?—Mai pouted and drew circles around the rim of her cup, thinking about this pointlessly.

“But don’t you think we came back too quickly? I wanted to find time to roam the streets and shop around.”

“Yeah, I wanted to go have a look at the flea markets too.”

With a small pitcher of honey in her hand, Nishimiya drew circles as she poured it into her latte and joined in the conversation. The amber coloured honey plus the foamed milk made the appearance of the latte look especially fragrant and sweet.

Mai and Miwa were close, and even though Nishimiya was their senior, they did not seem to mind the hierarchy as senior and juniors.

The Tokyo branch students tend to go out as a group with their classmates of their level but for the Kyoto branch, it was more common to see these three girls made up of second and third years having fun together.

If this was a normal school, there was a large gap preventing students of different levels from getting along.

But in the first place, the number of students in the technical school were few and female Jujutsu Sorcerers were even more rare.

Compared to the Tokyo school, in the Kyoto branch which is more conservative, the girls would naturally form a small gang with other girls. This was one of the reasons these three people were close.

“Speaking of which, where’s this flea market you were talking about?”

“In Harajuku, near Takeshita street.”

“Momo, you really like Harajuku, don’t you? I’m so envious you can pull off those cute styles.”

“I’m the one who’s envious of types like you and Kasumi. The two of you are more suitable for dressing in the mature beautiful woman style compared to me, the senior.”

“You have no idea how good you have it. If you’re too tall the number of choices you can dress in goes down.”

“Ah, I hear lots of people say that. Seems like among us, Kasumi has it the easiest to dress up. I mean, she usually wears a suit without looking weird, that’s illegal.”

“I only wear a suit because I won’t be able to do my sword drawing technique if I was wearing a skirt Also, even if I have a lot of choices when it comes to clothing, the prices of the goods in Tokyo is beyond my means.”

“Kasumi, don’t talk about the harsh reality.”

“Tokyo also has good quality stuff that are cheap.”

Mai sipped a mouthful of the store’s signature coffee and after slowly swallowing the bitter taste, she lightly let out a sigh.

Ripples formed on the black surface within her cup.

“I was so miserable during this exchange event.”

After hearing Mai’s muttering, Nishimiya and Miwa both showed a shocked expression.

“Mai, why do you say that, no one there had results that were amazing.”

“You’re already loads better than me who just slept like a log. My sword got lost too.”

“But it’s not just that….”

Mai placed her hand on her chin and frowned. If felt like she was unhappy from the bottom of her heart.

“Maki not only did outstandingly well in terms of battle skills during this exchange, she also helped to buy time while fighting a special grade and even provided weapons. She had so much contribution. Now there are rumours that she’s being recommended for a promotion. This news should reach my home as well, I think.”

“………..”

Miwa shot an awkward look at Nishimiya while Nishimiya returned a hopeless expression.

Mai lowered her head and continued to speak as though she was mocking herself.

“I’m different from Maki. I can used cursed techniques but when we face each other, I was utterly trashed. I wonder how the others would ridicule me……”

“……Mai.”

Being born in a Jujutsu Sorcerer family with reputation, actual results were everything.

And being in famous family where patriarchal roots run deep, female Jujutsu Sorcerers faced all kinds of resistance. And if the family was one of the big three sorcerer families, the entire environment was even more unfriendly.

Mai lived in this kind of world, so who knew what kind of heavy burden she had to bear.

Nishimiya and Miwa were close to Mai so they more or less empathised with her feelings.

However, as the actual person involved, she was the one who understood this weight the most.

Because of this, she was unable to stop the sudden shaking of her fingertips as she sighed but was unable to stop her mouth from complaining either.

However, she could just be venting what she felt so her feelings became lighter and she shook her head and changed her expression

“Anyways, I’m just ranting at this point. Besides, even if I really defeated Maki, it’s not as though I would get heaped with praises, so she’s not even worth mentioning at all.”

“Liar! She’s falsely reported her grade!”

Miwa retorted without thinking but she shut her mouth after Mai glared daggers at her. Nishimiya immediately tried to soften the situation and at the same time, resolved the trouble Miwa was in.

“Alright alright, but Mai really is better than the two of us, she won one person. That first-year girl who has not a shred of cuteness.”

“Ah, you mean that brunette girl I took down in one bull’s eye.”

“Yes yes yes, the one who calls herself the Northeast general.

“She got retorted by her own teammate, didn’t she?”

“I remember her name was what again? Kugisaki….Obama?”

“I don’t remember, who wants to remember that kind of calefare with short legs and a mean mouth.”

“That girl is mad and not cute and she even hit me with a toy hammer.”

“Don’t say such harsh things….”

Miwa, who could not listen any longer mumbled and the conversation between the three came to a halt.

After which, the three of them let out lamenting moans.

After all, the three of them were utterly defeated. Now that they think about it, it was really depressing.

Even though they managed to get a cathartic release from the baseball match the following them and their feelings were no longer than down, all of them were still vexed.

 Even with that said, having feelings of vexation after a battle of defeat held meaning.

Though the exchange event this round had an interlude of Itadori getting attacked, the fights between the students had no need for them to fight as though their lives depended on it. Unlike battles against cursed spirits, the results of the battles can become the nutrients for the next battle.

Regret will aggravate the hearts of the ones who lose and promote their growth.

So right now, regret was their valuable resource.

—However the ones who liked this kind of theory was probably just people like Todou. Right now, what occupied their hearts was just pure fury.

Just when these emotions of frustration were converted to complaints and were on the verge of spilling out of their mouths.

A visitor who completely ignored this heavy atmosphere came over.

“Mai nee-san.”

(T/N: Because I’m translating from Chinese, I’m not sure how this new character addresses Mai. Is it Ane? Aneki? Nee-chan? It’s some older sister term. If someone can enlighten me, that would be good.)

“Ara.”

Mai heard someone calling her, turned her head to look and realised that there was a young girl waving at her.

The young girl had her hair dyed slightly red and she was wearing a khaki coloured blazer. She did not give off the feeling that she was from the Technical College, she felt like a normal student who came over to meet someone while on the way home.

After Mai saw her, the frown on her forehead relaxed a bit.

“Yuu, your classes are finished?”

“Yup, because there are no club activities today.”

“It’s autumn after all, so those sports clubs have nothing to do after the competitions are over.”

Mai affectionally spoke to this girl who was called Yuu.

Nishimiya tilted her head as she watched the two and then asked Miwa:

“Is she Mai’s friend?”

“Uh huh, she is—”

“I’m so sorry for only introducing myself now. The two of you are students from the technical college, right?”

Before Miwa could explain the situation, Yuu said something first.

“My name is Makimura Yuu, I’m based in Higashiyama and I help to provide information to the Jujtusu Sorcerers.”

“When you say provide information….so you’re one of the supporters from outside, a “window”?”

“Yes! That’s the term.”

“I see. Hello, I’m a third year, Nishimiya Momo, nice to meet you. Hearing what you said just now, I take it that you, Mai and Kasumi are acquainted with each other?”

“That’s right. Rather than me, she’s more familiar with Mai.”

After Miwa looked at Yuu, Yuu showed a temperament as though one could hear her make a “hmph” sound through her nose and she puffed out her chest.

“Of course! Because Mai-nee san is my onee-sama!”

“Pfft.”

NIshimiya moved her face away from her latte and laughed.

“Mai, did you straighten her crooked scarf or something?”

“What kind of troupe is that? I already told her not to call me onee-sama a while back but this kid would not listen.”

Mai shrugged her shoulders and Miwa who knew the details of what happened explained in her stead.

“I heard that Yuu was able to see curses since she was born so she’s been bothered by cursed spirits for a long time and just when she was extremely bothered by them, it was Mai who stepped in to save her. And since then, she voluntarily assisted the technical college.”

“Yes! Mai-nee san is my saviour!”

“Even the person involved says so. Mai, you’re amazing.”

After Mai heard Nishimiya’s straightforward praise, she frowned.

“I was only exorcising fly heads that time so this kind of praise just sounds like mockery.”

“But you saving me is a fact so I became a “window” to help you. If there’s anything I can help you out with, just say the word.”

“Then help me buy that box of scones that’s displayed at the cashier.”

“Alright!”

After Yuu gave her reply, she went to the cashier in high spirits.

Miwa and Nishimiya watched the interaction between the two and both of them had expressions that said, “are you serious?”

“Anyway, she enjoys it.”

“Mai, sometimes you really know how to tease girls.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

A vigorous and lively atmosphere gradually returned to this corner of the café.

In the end, Yuu also bought back Churros that Mai did not ask for.

*

“That is to say, you are currently investigating this cursed spirit that’s wandering around the area.”

Mai said softly as she sipped her coffee that was getting slightly cold.

Yuu joined the three in conversation and they spoke about all kinds of things, from the happenings within the technical college to the incidents that happened during the exchange event.

Right now the topic was focused on a cursed spirit that recently appeared in Kyoto.

“Yes. It was about June this year when there started to be casualty reports related to it. However, whether it was the scene of the accident or the victims, none of them had any connection so it took a while before anyone was able to detect traces of the cursed spirit. Recently, they finally realised that this was the work of the same cursed spirit that had a large area of action and attacked humans.”

“For a window, you sure know all the small details.”

“He he, this is because the area I’m in charge of had too high a frequency of victims so I went to ask Auxiliary Manager Tanabe.”

“Uh-huh…..I see…….”

Nishimiya was a bit worried “This girl can’t seem to keep secrets, would it be alright?”

Other than exorcising curses, Jujutsu Sorcerers also need to have sufficient skills to adapt for them to face various supernatural phenomena.

Killing or getting killed were common occurrences. Even as they were leisurely having tea, somewhere in this peaceful city, there was still some curse running rampant and someone getting cursed.

Tomorrow someone would get sacrificed or they themselves might pay with their lives.

Jujutsu Sorcerers have to accept this reality and live…borrowing the words from Gojou Satoru, they had to be “crazy”.

In other words, the important point was whether they had resolved themselves and were able to change their way of thinking during a sudden incident or attack.

Even if they were not the Jujutsu Sorcerers in the frontline, as long as there’s a chance of encountering cursed spirits, they should be alert.

However, they could not feel any kind of resolve from this girl who went by the name of Yuu.

Even someone like Miwa who got head hunted to becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer, being out of the sorcerer circle, could feel that this girl called Yuu was exposing herself to danger.

She had a look in her eyes that said “This girl has no awareness to danger” as she looked at Mai. Mai raised one of her eyebrows, as though expressing “I understand the severity of the problem”.

“Yuu, you just said that there were casualties around you?”

“Yup.”

“Then if you encounter that cursed spirit, you need to inform the Technical College immediately.”

“Of course I will. I can’t handle cursed spirits after all so I will definitely inform you as soon as possible.”

“How can you possibly inform me, you have to inform the teachers or the auxiliary managers.”

“Because I hope that you can exorcise more cursed spirits. Then as you get more results, this should also help with your recommendation to get promoted right?”

“Mai, she really respects you.”

Nishimiya’s tone sounded a bit teasing but she still had a rather relieved expression.

The girl in front of her was trying to understand Mai’s situation and struggles. She also wanted to become Mai’s support—even though her actions do tick her off – Nishimiya was still extremely happy.

However, Mai still waved her hand as though to say “she’s really annoying”, not wanting Nishimiya to watch any further.

Just as Mai was starting to feel that “This trouble can’t go on any further”, Yuu checked the time on her phone and hurriedly stood up.

“Ah, sorry, I have to leave soon?”

“Are you meeting a friend?”

Mai asked and Yuu intentionally turned around and shook her head.

“Nope, I have to work. The cursed spirit I was talking about, appeared a few days ago at Fushimi Inari and before that, it appeared on the Meishin expressway. The timing was all during the evening…at dusk. I deduced that it might appear around Tofukuji temple.”

“Deduced….You can’t be investigating on your own accord, are you?”

“That’s too dangerous. If you want to seriously track down traces of a cursed spirit, you have to get a Jujutsu Sorcerer to do it.”

Miwa could not help but interject, however Yuu did not seem to pay any heed to what they said and showed a refreshing smile, replying:

“Yup, I’m just going to confirm if there are any remnants. I am clear on what terrifying existences cursed spirits are after all….”

When Yuu spoke to this point, she immediately shifted her gaze to Mai.

“If I fall into any danger, please come save me again.”

Then she winked.

Miwa and Nishimiya also looked and Mai and realised that the latter had impatiently narrowed her eyes.

“I will, on the account that you bought me scones and churros.”

“Got it!”

Mai shrugged her shoulders at the same time she sighed and Yuu left with a heartfelt smile on her face.

Mai thought, she had really been completely relied on by a duckling.

“Seems like you’re going to save her again.”

“It’s just pleasantries.”

Mai moved her gaze away from Miwa who was smiling as she spoke and looked towards the exit of the shop.

Until Yuu completely vanished form their sight, she was still waving at them respectfully.

“Honestly, I’m surprised. Mai, you saved her before, didn’t you?”

After hearing Nishimiya’s question, Mai closed one of her eyes.

“Didn’t I say so just now? The opponent was a fly head.”

“If it’s just a fly head, there should be no problem leaving it alone. I never thought you would go out of the way to save that girl.”

“Even if a fly head is harmless, those people who can see that kind of disgusting thing would feel uncomfortable right? Truth to be told, I seriously regret saving her.”

Mai finished her cold coffee and furrowed her brows.

“Thinking that she has someone to rely on is something that could endanger her life.”

Nishimiya and Miwa looked at each other and both of them seemed to feel that Mai was speaking while looking in the distance.

A week after that, news reached them – Contact with a Window located near K Women’s University was lost.

*

“It should be too late.”

The auxiliary manager who went by the name of Tanabe came to such a conclusion flatly.

He did not come over to pass on an order for a mission.

It was uncommon for students to contact auxiliary managers on their own accord to seek out information on disasters related to cursed spirits and it was hard to handle them. However when Tanabe heard the details, he told the trio the details he was allowed to reveal.

Tanabe looked at Miwa who had the face of “Aren’t you being too unkind” and added on, explaining—Makimura Yuu overstepped her boundaries and investigated without approval.

The enemy was a vengeful spirit that wandered around a wide area.

From their estimation, its grade was a level two.

Most cursed spirits would be bound to a certain area and on the contrary, the cursed spirit this time, exactly like its reputation, would roam around a large area in the city but it was not as though there were no tracks they could not trace.

It was said that this cursed spirit had a significant response to being in someone’s line of sight.

Even though most cursed spirits would react to being looked at, the one from this cursed spirit was particularly obvious. Perhaps it was like this because of the original personality of the person who this curse was formed from, however this point should not pose too big of a problem when it comes to getting rid of it.

Even though there are some people in this world who do not have the constitution to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer, they were still able to faintly feel the presence of cursed spirits, so-called “People with a strong sixth sense”.

The cursed spirit this time specially attacked such humans.

They attacked humans who could detect them yet were powerless to defend themselves.

For these cursed spirits who were extremely sensitive to gazes, not only does this ability allow them to pick their prey, once they felt the gazes of Jujutsu Sorcerers who were able to fight, they would flee immediately and with their cunning, harm the masses.

And Makimura Yuu obviously had this special trait.

And thinking that as a “Window”, an observer, even if she had no way to fight, she could draw the attention of the cursed spirit to show up.

It seems like she even offered to do so.

“Of course I rejected her at once. Because the cursed spirit this time had such a characteristic, we were more cautious when proceeding with investigations with the hopes that we would not drag in any of the “windows”.”

Tanabe’s tone was clearly frustrated.

“What did you say? Rescue mission? There won’t be one. Only first grade Jujutsu Sorcerers would be able to settle this kind of cursed spirits easily and we don’t have enough of them. Furthermore, this window knew how dangerous this this cursed spirit was and she went after it without any concern for her own safety. I don’t care if you call me heartless….You say that I’m turning a blind eye to children? To us adults, you students are also children, how can we send students who are only at the level of Third grades to handle a cursed spirit that we have not investigated thoroughly?”

What Tanabe was implying was even more apparent. This girl called Yuu lacked consideration.

She decided to encounter an enemy that was estimated to be second grade cursed spirit on her own.

No matter what was said, there was not a shred of anything about Yuu that was worth sympathising with.

But when Tanabe was done with his explanation, Miwa was still unsatisfied and Nishimiya just sighed helplessly saying “looks like this is all we can do”. The two of them left the office one after the other with different expressions on their face.

Mai left last.

*

Ever since she was born, Mai lived in terror.

This world was full of filthy things called “curses”. Who knew how many time Mai resented those eyes of hers that were naturally able to see these filthy things.

The blue sky was beautiful, the colours of the streets were vibrant, but there were not only beautiful things in front of her.

If Mai had not been born in a Jujutsu Sorcerer family and did not know that the world had been cursed…those eyes of her, perhaps, would only know how to appreciate beautiful tones.

She understood well how terrifying it was to be able to see curses.

How was it possible to not be afraid.

How was anyone supposed to get used to it.

“Please come save me again”, these words kept reverberating within Mai’s ears.

“….Ridiculous.”

This promise that was made casually in the midst of a conversation….

There was no reason to need to stick with it.

Just as what Tanabe said, it was Yuu’s own fault that she got into a dangerous situation. Also Mai’s relationship with her was not familiar to the point that she could step out to rescue the girl without reconsideration. Furthermore the enemy was a second grade, Mai was only a third grade. This was already a case that was out of her calibre.

“How could I save her?”

Right now was the middle of the night and Mai stayed in her own room by herself.

Her surroundings were silent and she closed her eyes, covering her ears.

It was correct just to observe like a bystander.

She was not going to blamed by others anyway.

Even so, all she felt was extreme displeasure. As such, Mai searched within herself to find out what was causing this turmoil within her heart.

–Liar.

At this point, a familiar voice rang out in her mind.

She suddenly thought of a face—It was Maki’s.

Mai raised her hand and waved at the air, Maki did not disappear and just stared at her, not blinking.

“What do you want to say? Why aren’t you speaking?”

Mai whispered as though forcing her voice out ….she finally realised something.

When she checked within her heart more carefully, she realised that the face before her was not Maki’s.

It was her own, as a child.

“—Liar.”

This time Mai heard the words clearly.

The one who was speaking softly –was herself.

She flipped through her memories and various scenes played out.

Her older sister who was holding her hand; her older sister who promised that they will never be apart; her older sister, all grown up, leaving their home by herself.

The younger sister blamed the older sister, calling her a liar.

The one who was about the cry was always herself.

“….Me.”

Mai breathed very, very hard.

She tried her best to form words and finally the left her mouth.

“I am not like you.”

Mai stuck her pistol into her holster and wore her coat.

She did not even use her brain to understand what she was doing but she was sure that she was probably going to do something foolish and it will not end well.

All because she was unable to tolerate it so this intolerance was put into action.

That girl treated that small promise as her spiritual support and believed in it completely. Mai was unable to let go of that stupid girl….

So she was going to save her.

Mai knew she was able to prove that it was meaningless to keep promises and promises were meant to be broken—except doing so would just make her unhappy.

As though she was sleep walking, her body, driven by her sub consciousness turned the door handle on its own.

Two shadows stood in the dim corridor.

“Kasumi, Momo….why are you two here?”

“Because we guessed that you would want to go rescue that girl.”

Nishimiya tapped her broomstick against the floor with a thump and spoke.

“But you actually want to go on your own? Aren’t you being too much of a stranger?”

Miwa said, putting her hand on the grip of her sword.

“….You’re both so nosy.”

Mai came back to her senses as though she had been startled awake.

When she stepped out into the corridor, the footssteps of three people started to ring out on the spot.

Nishimiya and Miwa followed Mai as if it was natural and the latter just spoke while facing forward:

“You won’t get any results or money out of this.”

“I just like doing things with you and Kasumi.”

“I’m troubled that there’s no pay out of this so let’s try our best not to cause any damages.”

–Seriously.

They were going to be embroiled in a dangerous situation that was worthless, that would not give them any benefits.

They were not going to get any acknowledgement. Most likely, they would get harshly criticised instead.

Even so, her own feet continued to move forward—

“Mai, are you that worried about that girl?”

“Who says I am, she’s just a foolish brat.”

“Then why are you going to save her?”

“I—”

Mai was unable to reasonably think of a complete answer.

So, she just directly said the words that appeared in her head. However, when she finished, she felt a pang of regret in her heart.

“I do not want to hate myself, that is all.”

Twinges of pain formed on her bitten lip because of the cold night air.

*

Going south from K Women’s University, they reached a cemetery.

The three of them deduced that the route taken by this cursed spirit should cross the cemetery and after that, as expected, they were successful in tracking down its remnants.

They continued south from the cemetery, crossed a rail track and through some temple grounds and followed a decaying wooden wall that separated the ancient streets.

In the midst of this, there was an empty space full of weeds and a ‘Mud storehouse’ covered in algae as well as a park and ticket.
(T/N: The so-called mud storehouse refers to a building which is built by applying plaster onto wooden walls.)

Mai felt that the road here was full of horror factors and this street was too suitable for the existence of this cursed spirit.

The three of them headed for where the remnant curses were the densest and followed the road, heading forward continuously…finally they reached a dead end, coming to a stop in front of a large building.

“….This is a school, right?”

“It used to be, now it’s just empty.”

Nishimiya muttered in reply to Miwa.

In the eyes of a Jujutsu Sorcerer, the larger the facility, the easier it was for it to become a hot bed for curses.

Even more so if it was a school and as an abandoned school campus in an old street, it was literally a living place made to measure for curses.

Curse remnants extended into the school facility.

Shining the way in front of them with the flashlight on their phones, they found that next to this straight track of curse remnants was fresh blood.

“Mai, what do we do now? I feel that it’s too dangerous for us to just head on in.”

“Momo, Kasumi, the two of you wait here first. Come over when I call you.”

“Do you plan to go in by yourself?”

“You both heard about it as well, right? This cursed spirit is very cunning. It only attacks humans who can detect spirits but yet have no ability to fight back. If the two of you look at it, it’s going to flee.”

“But if that’s the case, isn’t it the same for—”

Miwa had not finished speaking and Mai had already quickened her pace.

She turned her head after taking a few steps away from them and a self-deprecating smile formed on her face.

“I can make myself very weak.”

These words made them realise what Mai planned to do.

She was going to activate her construction skill.

This was a skill that allowed her to build something out of nothing. Just the effect itself, and one knew how shocking the possibilities were. However, as such, it expanded a large amount of cursed energy as well as caused a huge burden on the body.

One bullet a day was her limit.

For Mai who was a grade three Jujutsu Sorcerer, if she used construction from a start, how was she supposed to fight after that–?

“Mai, that’s too dangerous.”

“I have already mentally prepared myself before I came here, I’ll be fine. I will confirm the routes that can be taken inside the campus before sending a LINE message to the two of you. Later, please follow my instructions.”

Mai stepped into the gate of the pitch back school compound.

“I helped you two loads during the exchange event, pay me back well later.”

Her black clad figure steadily vanished into the darkness.

*

Curses were originally existences to be feared.

They would harm people and even take away their lives. For humans who boast about being the wisest of all creatures, they were a natural enemy.

However, it could be because Jujutsu Sorcerers had the abilities to fight back and because they were too used to fighting against cursed spirits so they let down their guard….

Sometimes Jujutsu Sorcerers forget something as obvious as cursed spirits being their natural enemy.

Whatever the actual reason was, many Jujutsu Sorcerers believed they knew what they were getting themselves into but that was not the case.

Even Mai herself who knew she was not some great Sorcerer, overestimated herself just because she had the ability to take down cursed spirits.

Even so, she had acknowledged what was reality.

She employed a strategy to drain all her cursed energy beforehand to bait the target.

After Mai activated her technique, the amount of cursed energy left within her was definitely not enough to go up against a Second Grade cursed spirit. Not only that, her body was exhausted to the limit, her pulse was uneven and blood flowed from her nostrils.

She was covered in injuries.

As though she was an injured rabbit.

Even exorcising fly heads was going to take a considerable amount of effort.

And in this state……Mai arrived at the third floor of the school campus, the end of the corridor.

When the cursed spirit came within her sight—she remembered.

She remembered terror.

“——I found you.”

Its appearance was extremely freakish.

Upon its charred and necrotic skin were six long and thin arms with obvious joints.

Its face was swollen, resembling a volleyball. After its four eyeballs spun around a large span within its unusually long horizontal eyes, they all turned towards Mai.

It had no lips and with a grinding sound, its teeth clashed against each other as they formed a smile. A human could not make such an expression, but it looked it compressed together the negative emotions of humans.

Despite the cursed spirits ugly and deformed appearance, its curly long hair was just barely able to give it the impression of a young girl. It was definitely not a human yet felt like one—this appearance triggered a physiological reaction of disgust.

Just its appearance alone was enough to understand how different it was from a human.

This was a curse.

The natural enemy of humans. The enemy that corroded this world.

–Disgusting.

Disgusting, so disgusting. It’s so frightening, too frightening. I don’t want to get hurt anymore. I don’t want to work hard anymore.

Jujutsu Sorcerers were only dealing with trivial matters.

Her sincere words spilled out from the depths of her heart.

The terror seemed to have caused her blood circulation to freeze and cause a maddening ring in her ears.

“….Ah….”

Even if she made a sound, her parched throat could not secrete even a drop of saliva.

However, Mai still took in a deep breath and gritted her teeth.

She noticed that Yuu was next to the cursed spirit.

Yuu was still breathing but she could not be considered unscathed. Her eyes and face were bruised and swollen. Her cheeks seemed to have been corroded by the cursed spirit and the ulcers there had formed thick scars.

Her right leg was also twisted so it seemed yelling at her to run was useless too. There was nothing below her left elbow and even if the blood flow was not a lot due to the corrosion from the cursed spirit, she was not far from bleeding to death.

Rather than saying that she had come to harm, it was more like she was broken from….being roughly played with. From Yuu’s predicament, one would know how cursed spirits treated humans.

To a cursed spirit, Yuu was just a toy that could be replaced anytime.

And now, this cursed spirits focus was on the new toy in front of it—on Mai.

“……Mai….Nee-san….?”

As Yuu opened her swollen eyelids, Mai’s figure was reflected in her eyes.

And whether the tears that spilled out from the corner of her eyes was due to fear or relief, it was not known.

However, after meeting Yuu’s eyes, Mai had to show an attitude of fearlessness.

“Close your eyes, if you can’t see them, it’s as if they don’t exist.”

She made a stupid decision.

She came to a place where she had no escape.

Therefore, at this moment, she could only rush forward courageously, holding a sense of unease that she had never felt before.

Mai held the revolver she always brought with her—and undid the safety with a clean movement.

“Ugly hag, get your ass over here.”

The light from the shot emitted from the muzzle of the gun illuminated the dark campus.

As though the bullet got sucked in by the cursed spirit, it hit the cursed spirit right in the centre of its forehead.

If only she could laugh and say, “This cursed spirit is all bark and no bite”, that would be great, but in reality, Mai’s attack did not cause even a scratch. To the cursed spirit, this attack did not need to be avoided.

Because Mai’s bullet had no cursed energy at all.

“I’m looking at you! Can you see me? You can see me? You can? Are you looking at me?”

The cursed spirit waved its spindly arms and move forward with slow motions.

The speed was like that of a snail.

Gradually and slowly, it increased its speed and cackled as it went towards Mai.

Once Mai confirmed that the cursed spirit had left Yuu, she pointed the muzzle of her gun at the cursed spirit and backed up, not taking her eyes off it.

The pressure exuded by the cursed spirit was so strong that just looking at it caused her the sweat endlessly.

Mai used her trembling finger to press the trigger and another bullet was fired. Continuing with these seemingly useless attacks not only decreased her firepower, her spirit was weakened as well.

In the end, the bullet went off course and hit the wall. When the cursed spirit saw the situation, it started to run.

Mai also used whatever energy she had and started to sprint down the corridor. However, her goal was not to escape so she turned her head around frequently to look, using herself as bait to lead the cursed spirit forward.

She stepped on the old tiled floor an used her hand to press against the wall that was covered with spotted and torn wallpaper. With a huge leap, she crossed several steps, dashing down the dust covered.

As she turned round the staircase landing, she turned her head and noticed that the cursed spirit was utilising its six arms and throwing itself over with skidding noises, as though it was a spider.

“It’s arms look like it can reach pretty far.”

The cursed spirit used its arms to move but the length of its arms, when stretched out, was longer than it looked, she needed to pay attention to the distance between it and herself.

She could not get herself caught but she could not move too far away either.

It was as though Mai was playing tag, not allowing herself to get too near or too far, and desperately kept a certain distance.

“I’m looking at you!”

“Ugh—”

The hem of her coat was suddenly grasped by the arm that reached over.

In an instant, Mai’s hairs stood on their ends and she felt terror. She bit her lip, steadied her shaking arm, and fired a shot to tear the coat, ripping off the hem and continuing to run.

This extreme feeling of terror, nervous feelings and fatigue that had accumulated for a while whipped her to sprint at top speed.

Her lungs cramped with pain and her legs became heavy as though they were chained up. All the signals that came from her body were ridiculing her for her reckless attempt.

Even so, Mai did not stop her steps.

She was unable to leave Yuu in the lurch and she could not allow herself to die.

She will not allow anyone to sacrifice themselves over this.

However, she was not doing this out of the goodness of her heart and it was not because she wanted to rescue Yuu.

After all, if she was not able to return alive or rescue Yuu safely, she would just become a liar who broke her promises.

Just for the sake of doing what she said she would do, she ran without stopping.

“I’m looking at you! Are you looking? I’m looking at you! Do you want to look at me?”

“Stop prattling on and on!”

Mai forced her steps that were at the brink of stopping to move and pulled about their distance by a few metres.

However—this was the end of the corridor of the second floor.

There was only a blank white wall in front of her and the road reached its end.

Mai had nowhere to run.

“Guh……!”

“————-I found you.”

When she turned around, the cursed spirit was right in front of her eyes.

It spread its six arms across the width of the corridor, blocking the way.

In this situation, there was no way she could worm past it and run.

Her revolver only had three shots left and she could not use her construction to form one bullet.

If she forced herself to make ammunition with cursed energy, she would use so much cursed energy that even walking became a problem. Even if she did managed to successfully create one and fire it, it should not be able to cause lethal damage to this cursed spirit.

When faced with a second grade cursed spirit, battling and escaping were both fraught with obstacles.

She was basically a sitting duck.

She was surrounded from all sides.

Based on her current position and the laws of physics, Mai had no hope of escaping.

“I found you, found you, found you.”

 The cursed spirit’s mouth split open, baring its teeth and smiling.

It was said that the action known as smiling came from a predator baring its fangs. Now Mai could really understand that kind of saying.

To the cursed spirit, Mai was on the “verge of death”.

So the cursed spirit was not frantic. On the contrary, it inched closer to Mai, as though it was enjoying the period of  extreme terror it caused by pushing its prey to the edge.

The foul aura emitted by the cursed spirit became clearer, like a scorching flame.

The cursed spirit in front of her was sure to not kill its prey at once.

This also explained why Yuu, who got captured, was still alive now.

It was sure to toy with, torture and manipulate the body of the humans it captured and then “accidentally” break them.

Yuu’s unbearable appearance appeared in Mai’s mind. She felt that she was going to end up like that as well.

With her current power, she should be unable to turn the situation around, right?

That’s right, being alone was so powerless.

“Earlier, even with a conservative estimate, it was said you were a second grade…but you’re actually still licking your lips in front of your prey, you’re just some second-rate character.”

“Huh?”

The cursed spirit blinked and narrowed its eyes as though it was feeling puzzled.

Mai backed up and pushed her back against the “pure white wall that had nothing”.

Afterwards, she stuck her hand into the pocket of her coat.

“You are too reliant on your own eyes.”

She used her thumb to operate her phone and made a call.

Mai had intended for this to be counted as the signal but when she realised it, she had shouted out loud.

“—Momo!”

Mai then immediately lowered her hair and squatted down forcefully.

A part of the “white wall” was torn open in an instant, revealing a window. A strong wind blew in through the window.

“Woahhhhhhhhhh?!”

What got peeled away was a fake wall that Mai made using construction.

For someone like her who was limited to making one bullet a day, she was not able to construct a firm and solid wall.

However if she just had to hide a window in the dimly lit corridor, she was still capable of doing it.

Even though Nishimiya was unable to use her eyes to confirm the location of the cursed spirit but as long as Mai gave the signal, she could use her gale to open the windows.

The gale that blew in was unable to disperse its powers in the narrow corridor so it blew away the cursed spirit at one go.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

The cursed spirit extended its long arms against the wall, trying to stabilize its body.

Mai was right under the window, where the strong wind could not reach. She stabled her feet and gripped her revolver tightly, putting in all the cursed energy she had left into the remaining bullets before pulling the trigger.

The first shot rang out.

Her body made a groan as it was overexerted.

Mai felt her head feel like it was going to split open and blood tears came out from her eyes. However, she did not even blink.

A second and third gunshot followed.

The bullets that found their target made the cursed spirit draw its arms back but was not enough to cause lethal damage.

The cursed spirit got blown to the other end of the corridor by the gale.

Even so, the force of the attack was not enough. Just depending on the strong wind and bullets were not enough to take care of the enemy. Right now Mai was only lacking the power to deal the enemy a lethal blow.

In the first place, she never planned to depend on her own ability to win.

Because from the start, someone was already standing by on the other end of the corridor.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Kasumi.”

“—New Shadow style – Simple Domain.”

A simple domain made of a circle of a radius of 2.21 meters emerged from Kasumi.

This was a counter technique that was fully automated and she closed her eyes. It would activate even if she did not rely on her sight.

The strong winds produced by Nishimiya, the bullets shot by Mai, the narrow corridor that had no escape route as well as the cursed spirit that had lost its balance.

The three of them, one after another, created a situation that was beneficial for them.

With such an upper hand, the only path left for the cursed spirit was death.

Miwa used her specialty for straight on assaults – the New Shadow Style’s fastest sword draw – “Batto”.

“Ahhhhhhh! See! I found you! I found! Found—”

A silver gleam flashed through the darkness.

The grotesque figure being split into two followed.

*

The next day, in view of Makimura Yuu having aftereffects both physically and mentally from the corrosion by the cursed energy and her external injuries being too serious, it was decided that she would be sent to the Tokyo college and left to be treated by Doctor Ieri.

And from there, one would know that the doctor in the Kyoto school who should be able to treat similar injuries was currently too busy to deal with her.

However, the school never intended to rescue Yuu in the first place and this person was already treated as dead.

After all, she was only an external helper so there was no need for her to return to her post. Furthermore, she did something foolish which put her in unnecessary danger.

And she was not a Jujutsu Sorcerer so it was alright to abandon her.

To put it another way, treating her at this point of time could be considered an act of generosity.

After Yuu received emergency treatment, she was now in the clinic of the Kyoto branch, waiting for transport.

Outside the window was the clear sky of autumn.

The clouds that were far in sky drifted slowly.

The air outside was bright and cool, vastly differently from what was happening in Yuu’s heart, however, Yuu felt that breathing the air outside for a while could at least distract herself a bit so she used a hand to open the window.

Once she opened the window, a warm wind blew in as though caressing her face—then a witching riding a broom stick descended from the sky.

“Hello, it looks like you can walk now.”

Yuu raised her head to look at Nishimiya who was seated sideway on the broom and she used her hand to hold down on the other arm that was missing a part.

“….The medical staff used Jujutsu techniques to stop my bleeding so it does not hurt anymore.”

“I heard that the missing arm was found so as long as the stitching goes well, your arm can be attached back. Also, the doctor who can use curse reversal techniques to treat you will be the one doing the diagnosis so it will likely be successful. That’s great.”

“….Sorry, I caused trouble for all of you.”

Nishimiya spoke in a straightforward manner but she had no intention of chiding the latter.

She was petite but her face had the smile of helplessness while looking at a child who had played a prank. She still maintained the image of a third-year senior who was an independent sorcerer. At that moment, Yuu found her dazzling.

“Mai wanted me to help her tell you something. She hopes that after this stint of trouble, you won’t bother her anymore. She does not want to see you again so the next time you want to put your foot in the grave, just die and don’t let her know.”

“……Mai-nee san is such a good person.”

“After hearing this, you think that she’s good?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Since she felt this way, that means that while her actions were thoughtless, she really looked up to Mai.

Because Nishimiya knew this, so she was unable to treat Yuu coldly. She felt that Yuu was a companion who messed up more than she helped, but a companion nevertheless.

“You have to live healthily or else there’s no point to us working so hard to exorcise the cursed spirit.”

“….Alright.”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry. If you continue to cry, your eyes are going to become swollen and that cute face of yours will become ugly.”

Nishimiya gave Yuu a handkerchief that had lace sewn onto it and lightly floated into the air.

Her broom rode the autumn wind and drew a large arc.

Birds that had a pattern on their chest that made them look like they were wearing a tie flew slowly past her. Nishimiya tilted her head thinking “What birds are those?”

(T/N: It’s a bird called the Japanese tit.)

When her broom reached the height of being the same level as the trees, she went cross the tiled roof and leisurely flew forward.

She saw someone standing at the school gate and started to lower her altitude.

“Taxi, here~”

“My meter starts at 800 yen.”

“That’s too expensive.”

Mai lightly jumped onto the back half of the broom.

It felt like this small broom had a lot of burden carrying two people, but it should be fine if it slowly returned to the dormitories.

Nishimiya slowly increased the altitude of the broom.

If they wanted to have a conversation without interruption, the sky was better than the corridor.

“Momo, your hair is a bit in the way.”

“I like it. And don’t you dare treat my hair as handlebars like you did last time.”

“Alright, alright, alright. By the way, where’s Kasumi.

“She went to find Tanabe to explain what happened this time. The auxiliary manager seems to have a rather good impression of her.”

“I see, looks like we have to treat her properly later.”

The conversation between the two continued and stopped for a while, just like the rain that started.

They flew to quite a height so they could see far. Mai’s gaze was directed at somewhere far away.

The school’s gate had a black car drive in and they could see someone getting on the car. Even though they could not see that person’s expression, his footsteps were extremely stable.

“You really don’t want to see her?”

“No.”

“Ok.”

A very short conversation.

Nishimiya did not probe any further and Mai did not continue to say anything.

Mai kept her promised and saved someone.

Just based on her own judgement, Mai went to exorcise a cursed spirit without any request. Not one person would praise her for this and her rating as a Jujutsu Sorcerer would not go up.

Perhaps the gossip about her among the Zenin family would increase and perhaps the resistance that she got at home would go up another level.

Even so, Mai was unable to ignore herself who wanted to save someone.

Even if the process made her bothered and disgusted as usual, deep in her heart, she felt more cheerfulness than before.

If she just peered at where she was standing and looked at things from a different angle, the scenery around her became even more vibrant.

“Momo, I can see really far now.”

“Right?”

“If we tried hard and flew higher, I wonder if I can see even further.”

“It would be pretty tiring to go even higher.”

Somewhere far, far away, the scenery reached its end.

However, the colourful world continued to extend forward.

The world was sure to have filthy colours but beautiful colours existed among them as well.

Just as usual, a Jujutsu Sorcerer could still live in this cursed world today.