The sun was setting.
Yukio rode his beloved little motorcycle down the road after school at an easy pace.
A bag full of snacks from the convenience store hung from the handlebars.
He was in a good mood today, so he bought a few extra bags of chips.
Suddenly, he slammed the brakes.
The tires scraped a black mark across the ground.
“Hm?”
Yukio tilted his head and looked toward a nearby underpass.
A faint cold aura was drifting out from there.
A cursed spirit.
And…
a fight was happening.
“These things have been appearing more and more often lately.”
Yukio narrowed his eyes.
“Could it really be like some people say?
The stronger humans become, the stronger cursed spirits become too?”
He shook his head.
“The world really is f*cking strange.”
Normally, this kind of thing wasn’t his business.
Jujutsu High had its own mission system, and there were also organizations in civilian society that handled jobs for money.
He and Toji occasionally took this kind of work too.
The pay wasn’t much, but it was simple and easy to handle on the side.
Originally, he hadn’t planned to get involved today.
But mixed into that aura was a bit of…
familiarity?
“Tsk.”
Yukio hesitated for 0.3 seconds, then twisted the throttle and turned toward the underpass.
Stopping not far away, he saw the fight beneath the bridge.
A silver-haired figure was battling the cursed spirit under the moonlight.
Her movements flowed naturally.
Every dodge was perfectly timed, every counterattack precise and deadly.
Not the wild style of overwhelming force, but…
A kind of combat full of beauty.
“Mei Mei?”
Yukio raised a brow.
He originally thought this girl was just somewhat skilled in jujutsu since she came from a sorcerer family.
He didn’t expect her close combat skills to be this strong too.
One slash, two slashes, three slashes.
Before the Grade 3 cursed spirit even had the chance to show its abilities, it was cut into pieces and dissolved into black smoke.
Mei Mei sheathed her blade and breathed lightly.
As if sensing something, she suddenly turned and looked in Yukio’s direction.
Their eyes met.
Yukio leaned against his motorcycle and nodded at her as a greeting.
Then he twisted the throttle and left.
His back looked way too carefree.
Mei Mei froze in place.
Watching that figure gradually disappear into the night, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
“This guy…”
“Don’t tell me he got scared and ran?”
She lowered her head and looked at herself, then touched her face.
“Could it be that I’m not pretty enough?”
It actually made her lose confidence.
By the time Yukio got home, it was already completely dark.
Toji was sprawled on the sofa, lazily flipping through a magazine.
Hearing the noise, he didn’t even raise his head.
“Why are you back so late today?”
Yukio tossed the snacks onto the coffee table and dropped into the sofa.
“Watched a show on the way back.”
“A transfer student came to school, Mei Mei.
She’s a sorcerer too.”
“She’ll probably enter Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High.”
Toji responded with a disinterested “Oh,” and continued flipping through the magazine.
A few seconds later, he suddenly spoke again, “Get ready.”
“We’re picking up our cursed tool tonight.”
Yukio’s eyes instantly widened, “Finally?!”
“That old bastard Furui finally got the goods?!”
He sprang straight off the sofa.
“F*ck, how long has it been already?
I thought he was planning to skip town and avoid paying up!”
Toji curled his lips.
“Let’s go eat first, then we’ll get the item.”
But Yukio suddenly sighed, “Bro.”
“Yeah?”
“When are you gonna find me a sister-in-law?”
“I still want to be an uncle at least once in this life.”
Toji glanced at him, “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Haven’t met the right one.”
Considering various things.
“And we still haven’t completely cut ties with the Zenin family.”
“I don’t want my kid to have the surname Zenin in the future.”
Yukio rubbed his chin.
‘That really is a problem.’
After dinner, Toji drove Yukio toward Furui’s house in an off-road vehicle.
On the way, Yukio couldn’t help complaining, “Bro, I can actually drive.”
Toji lazily replied, “You’re only in your first year of middle school.”
“It’ll be troublesome if you get caught.”
“With you sitting in the passenger seat, at least I’ve got someone to chat with.”
Yukio, “…”
‘So you’re using me as a conversation partner?’
The guards at Furui’s residence had obviously already received notice.
The whole way was unobstructed.
In the reception room, Furui Ryunosuke sat upright.
When he saw the two enter, his eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Toji got straight to the point and couldn’t even be bothered with pleasantries.
“Where’s the cursed tool, old man?”
Furui Ryunosuke took a deep breath and waved his hand.
A burly man walked in carrying a long black box.
A gorgeous blade quietly lay on red velvet cloth.
The blade was long and slender, cold light flowing across it.
Golden vine and dragon patterns stretched from the edge to the handle, complicated and exquisite.
The guard and pommel were carved into fierce dragon heads and beast faces, every detail lifelike.
The sheath was fitted with bronze decorations in the same style, the patterns on the mouth and tip matching each other.
There were even black tassels and wooden beads attached, giving it a full classical feel.
Yukio’s eyes instantly went blank.
He couldn’t look away.
Furui Ryunosuke cleared his throat and started reciting like reading from a script, “This blade came from an ancient ruin.
A Grade 1 cursed tool.”
“Even though it’s only Grade 1, legend says that as long as it kills enough cursed spirits, or bathes in special curses…”
“It can advance to Special Grade.”
Looking at Yukio’s expression of “I want it I want it I really want it,” Toji couldn’t help laughing.
“You like it?”
Yukio nodded crazily, “I do!”
“Then it’s yours.”, Toji waved a hand carelessly.
Yukio didn’t act polite with him either.
He hugged the blade called Golden Scale and lovingly stroked the blade body.
“Oh right, old man.”
He suddenly looked up, “Does this blade have any special ability?”
Furui Ryunosuke’s old face stiffened, “Uh…
about that…
we haven’t had time to test it yet.”
“As soon as we got it, we notified you two.”
Yukio shrugged indifferently, “Fine, I’ll figure it out myself slowly.”
He lowered his head and looked at the blade in his arms, “Does it have a name?”
Furui Ryunosuke shook his head.
“The ruins were too heavily damaged.
No records were left behind.”
Yukio thought for a moment, then the corner of his mouth lifted.
“Then let’s call it…”
“Golden Scale.”
He sheathed the blade and stood beside Toji, his little face full of pride.
Toji patted his head and looked toward Furui Ryunosuke.
“If you get more good stuff like this next time, remember to contact us.”
After saying that, the brothers turned and left immediately, clean and decisive.
Only Furui Ryunosuke and the burly man remained in the reception room.
After a long while, Furui Ryunosuke let out a long breath.
“This matter is finally…
settled.”
He slumped into his chair and muttered to himself, “How can these two brothers…
be this terrifying?”
“Heavenly Restriction…”
“Could it really not be a curse, but instead…”
He paused, his expression complicated.
“A gift?”
Maybe in other people’s eyes, that powerful strength looked like a gift, but was that really true?
Only the people involved knew the answer.