Under Gojo’s arrangement, Ronawa entered the haunted house alongside Megumi Fushiguro.
Yes, she wasn’t exorcising cursed spirits alone.
She had Megumi tagging along.
Gojo’s idea was to forge a bond between the two of them.
After all, “bonds” were the most unbreakable things in the world.
Look at Naruto and Sasuke, or Gojo and Geto.
Even if their ideals violently clashed, as long as the bond remained, there would always be a chance to reconcile.
Based on this logic, Gojo arranged for them to take this mission together.
Unfortunately, in Ronawa’s eyes, Megumi was nothing but dead weight!
You couldn’t blame Ronawa for lacking tact; Megumi’s canonical combat record was honestly just a bit too pathetic.
A Grade 2 sorcerer who nearly got exorcised by a Grade 2 cursed spirit.
There was simply no defending that.
And that event wouldn’t even happen until next year.
The current Megumi was even weaker.
It was weird, honestly.
Logically speaking, Megumi shouldn’t be this weak.
He had known Gojo since he was a kid and had learned plenty from him over the years.
No matter how you looked at it, his strength shouldn’t be this lackluster.
Bear in mind, another student who grew up learning from a Special Grade sorcerer was Aoi Todo.
And that guy was an absolute menace who could solo Special Grade cursed spirits as a mere Grade 1.
Megumi also learned from a Special Grade—the strongest modern sorcerer, no less—yet he nearly got beaten to death by a Grade 2 curse.
The more you compared them, the more fraudulent Megumi looked.
Of course, maybe the problem wasn’t Megumi.
Maybe Gojo just absolutely sucked at teaching, and Megumi’s potential was being completely ruined by a terrible instructor.
It had to be one of the two.
Or, naturally, it could be that both Gojo and Megumi were the problem.
Back to the matter at hand.
Led by Megumi, Ronawa stepped into the haunted house.
From the mission briefing, Ronawa knew this place had been standing for over twenty years.
Rumor had it that a woman was brutally murdered here by her husband.
Ever since, strange things frequently occurred, making it one of Tokyo’s premier urban legends.
Plenty of thrill-seekers came here for urban exploration and tests of courage.
Everything had been relatively fine until a few months ago, when a string of “spiriting away” incidents occurred.
Over seven people had entered this haunted house and never come back out.
Once it was confirmed that a cursed spirit was involved, Gojo accepted the mission, using it as a training exercise for Ronawa and Megumi.
“Fushiguro Megumi.
That’s my name,” he whispered to Ronawa as they cautiously navigated the dark house.
He had already recognized her as the Special Grade cursed spirit from before.
Though he didn’t know why Gojo hadn’t exorcised her, Megumi obviously trusted his teacher.
He believed Gojo definitely had his own reasons.
Thus, his attitude toward Ronawa was fairly decent, even taking the initiative to introduce himself.
Ronawa paused for a second before replying, “Ronawa.” Then she asked, “Do you go out to exorcise curses with Gojo a lot?”
Megumi shook his head.
“This is my third time.”
In reality, Megumi had only recently graduated from middle school and was preparing to enroll in Tokyo Jujutsu High.
It was precisely because he was about to enroll that Gojo brought him out for real combat to rack up some experience.
Before this, Megumi had just been attending regular school.
Word on the street was that he had even been a schoolyard delinquent.
“So, have you ever exorcised a cursed spirit solo?” Ronawa pressed.
Megumi recalled his rather embarrassing performance the first time he faced a curse alone.
He shook his head somewhat stiffly.
Ronawa got the picture.
She nodded.
“I see.
No wonder you didn’t notice a thing.”
“Notice what?”
“Did you not realize you’re currently stepping on the curse’s face?”
Megumi froze, then immediately looked down.
Shockingly, at some unknown point, a contorted cursed spirit had materialized right beneath his feet.
A pale, terrifying maw filled with jagged fangs was staring up at him with a sinister grin.
The sight nearly gave Megumi a heart attack.
Fortunately, his reflexes were sharp.
He leaped backward to create distance and instantly activated his technique.
Ten Shadows Technique: Divine Dog!
A majestic, large wolf-like shikigami materialized from the shadows and lunged at the cursed spirit on the floor.
The two quickly became locked in a vicious, tearing brawl.
Megumi readied himself to assist.
But before he could make a move, two pale hands shot out from the wall behind him and grabbed his arms.
Before he could react, he was dragged directly into the plaster.
Witnessing this entire sequence, Ronawa didn’t panic in the slightest.
She even had the leisure to rummage around the room, seeing if she could find some potato chips or Latiao to snack on while she watched the show.
Very quickly, the Divine Dog ripped the cursed spirit on the floor to shreds. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Meanwhile, Megumi fought his way back out of the wall.
He looked much worse for wear, his clothes ruffled and dirty, but he wasn’t severely injured.
Evidently, he had won his fight against the ghost in the wall.
However, when Megumi emerged and saw Ronawa leisurely searching for snacks, he was highly displeased.
Are you here to exorcise curses, or are you here as a houseguest?
Make yourself at home, why don’t you.
Despite his annoyance, Megumi stated, “The cursed spirits have been exorcised.
We can wrap this up.”
Ronawa chuckled, confirming one thing once again: the current Megumi was a total noob.
Out of respect for Gojo, she told him, “Take a closer, more careful look around.
Tell me what feels wrong here.”
Megumi was confused, but he followed her instruction and expanded his perception.
Slowly, he realized something was fundamentally off.
“Is this…
a barrier?”
He could distinctly sense a difference between this space and the outside world.
The environment here was thick with negative energy, vastly more suited to cursed spirits than humans.
“Close enough!”
Ronawa had realized something was wrong the exact second she stepped into this house.
It felt like a ghost domain; the atmosphere was completely divorced from the outside.
Seeing that Megumi still didn’t grasp the severity of the situation, she had to spell it out.
“A cursed spirit capable of laying down a barrier like this…
do you honestly think it could be exorcised by you that easily?”
In the jujutsu world, Domain Expansion was the absolute pinnacle of sorcery.
But before reaching a full Domain, sorcerers and curses typically started with an incomplete domain—a barrier-enclosed space akin to this one.
In other words, a cursed spirit capable of manifesting a special environment like this…
even if it wasn’t a Special Grade, its strength was absolutely at the level of a Grade 1.
How could it possibly be killed that easily by a novice like Megumi?
Megumi figured this out as well, but it was already a little too late.
Because in the very next second, a round object was violently hurled straight at him from the shadows.
Megumi instinctively reached out and caught it.
But when he looked down…
he was horrified to find that the object in his hands was a dog’s head.
The severed head of his Divine Dog!