“So, what should I do?”
Once he reached the center of the training ground, Tōru Azuma asked eagerly.
“Don’t rush into it yet.
Before we officially begin, there are a few things I need to tell you.”
Utahime Iori picked up a twig from the ground beside her, apparently intending to use it as a pointer, and idly tapped it against her palm.
“Before putting up a Curtain, picture something in your mind first.
Imagine a complete hemispherical dome with clear, stable edges, enclosing both of us inside it.”
“If you can’t visualize it, don’t try yet.
You’ll only waste Cursed Energy.”
Listening to her instructions, Tōru Azuma closed his eyes and constructed the image in his mind.
A second later, he opened them again.
“What’s next?”
Utahime had long since grown accustomed to his astonishingly rapid progress, so she showed little surprise and simply continued in a calm, composed voice.
“Next, don’t channel any Cursed Energy.
Just copy my movements.
Do exactly what I do.”
After Tōru Azuma nodded, she repeated the motions from before.
“Emerge from the darkness.”
Their right hands rose from their chests.
“Blacker than darkness.”
Their fingers passed over the highest point, then slowly traced downward, neither too fast nor too slow, like a stroke of ink painting through the air.
“Purify that which is impure.”
Tōru Azuma’s fingers reached the bottom, and he gently drew his wrist inward.
Watching him, Utahime Iori nodded in approval.
“Not bad.
You copied the movements almost perfectly.
Even some assistant managers couldn’t perform them more precisely than that.
Next, add the process of channeling Cursed Energy into it.”
Halfway through, she deliberately stressed one point.
“Remember, keep your hand signs steady and your incantation synchronized.
Let the Cursed Energy flow out through your fingertips instead of erupting and expanding the way it does in combat.”
With Utahime’s instructions accompanying the incantation, Tōru Azuma began his first attempt.
His movements and words were flawless, but the flow of Cursed Energy contained several obvious imperfections and gaps.
As a result, a crack appeared at the top of the Curtain spreading outward from him.
It widened instantly, and the incomplete Curtain dispersed altogether.
“Don’t rush.
Remember how it felt when you were training your Cursed Energy control before.
This is the same kind of exercise.
The important thing is to keep the entire process as stable as possible and minimize fluctuations.”
Utahime’s voice came from beside him, not in rebuke, but in guidance.
Tōru Azuma settled his mind, regulated his breathing, and began his second attempt.
This time, he deliberately steadied his movements and slowed the rate at which his Cursed Energy flowed outward.
It was almost as though he had returned to that afternoon when he first began learning to control his Cursed Energy.
This time, the Curtain took shape.
A pitch-black dome suddenly expanded outward with him at its center, enclosing everything within a ten-meter radius.
There were no cracks or gaps, though certain areas trembled and rippled faintly.
Utahime Iori stared at the sight, already beginning to feel numb to it.
It was happening again.
His progress wasn’t limited to Cursed Energy control.
He was learning the Curtain just as quickly.
After only one failed attempt, he had already come close to succeeding.
At this rate, it probably wouldn’t take him many days to master both the use of Barriers and their advanced techniques.
And precisely because of that, she had no intention of lowering her standards or relaxing her vigilance.
“Do you see this spot?
There was a slight fluctuation while you were controlling the flow of your Cursed Energy, so this area is unstable.
You need to correct that next time.”
She walked to the edge of the Curtain and pointed at an area where the color was visibly thinner.
Still, she gave him the praise he deserved.
“But reaching this level on your second attempt really is impressive.”
Tōru Azuma smiled and was about to respond when a somewhat flippant, curious voice sounded from nearby.
What are you two doing…
Are you learning how to put up a Curtain?”
Both of them turned toward the voice.
Standing at the edge of the training ground was a white-haired boy dressed in a black kimono, round sunglasses covering his eyes.
Utahime Iori frowned at the unfamiliar face.
She was certain there had never been a student with such distinctive features at the school before.
Tōru Azuma, however, widened his eyes slightly.
The Curtain he had only just formed immediately lost its stability and vanished into nothing.
The boy blinked at the sight, then burst out laughing.
“Hahaha!
What are you doing?
You can’t even handle something this simple?
It fell apart just because someone looked at you.
If all the students here are like this, I’m seriously going to question how competent Jujutsu High is.”
At the undisguised mockery, a certain senpai immediately bristled.
“What the hell are you talking about?!
Do you even know how long it took him to learn this…?
Wait, who are you, anyway?
Why are you inside Jujutsu High?!”
At her question, the smile abruptly disappeared from the boy’s face, as though she had asked something he found irritating.
A moment later, however, his carefree grin returned.
“Me?
I’m Satoru Gojo, the genius of the Gojo Clan and its future heir.
Well?
Ever heard of me?”
The moment he finished speaking, Utahime Iori, who had still been glaring at him a second earlier, froze.
Her expression immediately became complicated.
When she had been teaching Tōru about the basics of the Jujutsu World, she had naturally mentioned its major clans.
Setting aside the less notable families, the most prominent were the three great clans.
Gojo, Zenin, and Kamo.
They ranked among the three most powerful clans in the entire Jujutsu World, wielding tremendous influence.
It would not even be an exaggeration to say that more than half of the higher-ups in the Jujutsu World belonged to their factions.
So no matter how annoyed she was, she understood exactly what kind of status the boy before her possessed as the genius of the Gojo Clan.
Seeing Utahime suddenly fall silent, Satoru Gojo found himself losing interest.
So it was the same again.
Another person intimidated by the Gojo Clan’s reputation.
If everyone at Jujutsu High was like this, the next few years would probably be pretty boring.
With that thought, he shifted his gaze toward the other boy his age, the one who had apparently been startled badly enough by his presence that he could no longer maintain his Curtain.
Now he was curious what kind of expression the other boy was making.
Would it be shock at meeting someone important?
Or would he shrink back in fear after realizing he had just clashed with the future Clan Head of the Gojo Clan?
But when their eyes met, Satoru Gojo froze.
Those eyes were far too calm.
Tōru was looking at him as though he were nothing more than an ordinary person.
There was even something else in his gaze, something Satoru couldn’t understand.
Sympathy?
Looking at the young Satoru Gojo before him, Tōru Azuma had complicated feelings.
He knew that if events followed the story he remembered, the two of them would meet sooner or later.
He simply hadn’t expected to encounter, on such an ordinary morning, the boy who would one day bear the title of the strongest.
Right now, before his near-death awakening, before his closest friend’s betrayal, before his sealing within the Prison Realm, what kind of first impression did Satoru Gojo give?
He was definitely a little annoying.
But that wasn’t really his fault.
“I think family and bloodline are only a person’s starting point.
What truly shapes someone and determines their future are their own choices and beliefs.”
As he spoke, Tōru Azuma looked at the boy in the distance with a faintly amused gaze and, for the first time, gave voice to his desire to change this world.
“Maybe you really are powerful.
But if you put aside everyone else’s expectations, do you actually know who you are and what you want?”
At those words, Satoru Gojo’s ever-present smile stiffened, then vanished completely.
Because in that instant, he felt as though the person in front of him had somehow seen straight through him.
And that feeling was, frankly…
pretty annoying.
Tōru Azuma met his gaze.
It looked displeased on the surface, but beneath that displeasure was a trace of curiosity and scrutiny.
He was just about to reply when a nervous male voice called out from nearby.
“Young Master Gojo!
Why did you suddenly come to Jujutsu High?
Please notify us before an inspection so we can properly prepare to welcome you!”
A middle-aged assistant manager hurried over, drenched in sweat.
Satoru Gojo finally pulled his gaze away from Tōru and resumed his lazy expression.
“Sorry.
I wanted to see what Jujutsu High was like ahead of time, so I decided to make a surprise visit.
But…”
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“There really are some interesting things here.”
The assistant manager had no idea what had happened, but he could only keep smiling deferentially through his sweat.
“Please come with me.
Yaga-san and the higher-ups have already prepared the conference room and are waiting for you.”
Hearing that, Satoru Gojo showed no intention of prolonging the exchange.
He gave Tōru Azuma one last long look, then followed the assistant manager away from the training ground.
Only after the two of them had completely disappeared did Utahime Iori finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Then she turned toward Tōru Azuma with a complicated look.
She opened her mouth several times before finally asking in confusion.
“So…
why did you say all that just now?”
“Hm?
Say what?”
Seeing him deliberately play dumb immediately got on her nerves.
“Don’t play dumb with me!
I’m talking about all that stuff you said about family and bloodline!
Aren’t you afraid he’ll hold a grudge and come after you later?!”
As she spoke, a note of concern slipped into her voice without her even realizing it.
Tōru Azuma merely smiled as though it were nothing.
“No particular reason.
I just thought that arrogant attitude of his was pretty annoying.
Besides, if he dismissed me the moment he showed up, wasn’t he also dismissing you, the person who’s been working so hard to teach me?
“How could I just ignore that?”
Once Utahime Iori processed what he meant, her ears instantly turned red.
She froze as though she had just been struck by a Black Flash, then abruptly turned her head away, her voice rising half a pitch.
“W-Who asked you to stand up for me?!
And besides, I wasn’t angry because he mocked me!
I was angry because…”
She stopped halfway through.
It seemed even she had no idea how to explain the complicated emotions she had felt at the time.
In the end, she simply gave a cold huff, crossed her arms, and turned away.
Tōru Azuma didn’t expose her.
He simply stood beside her and watched.
After a few seconds, Utahime Iori finally regained her composure and shot him another glare, though there was now something subtly different in her eyes.
“All right, stop standing around like an idiot.
You still haven’t mastered the Curtain.
Keep practicing!”
As she spoke, she picked up the twig she had dropped earlier, the one she had been using as a pointer, and lightly tapped it against her palm.
“That last attempt was good, but there’s still room for improvement.
Do it again.
This time, I’ll watch every bit of your Cursed Energy flow.
The moment you make a mistake, I’ll stop you and make you start over.
Be ready.”
“Got it.”
Tōru Azuma answered without hesitation and resumed his practice.
“Emerge from the darkness…”
At the same time, behind a window in the school building overlooking the training ground, Satoru Gojo stood watching the figure below, his expression impossible to make out.
Only when the assistant manager appeared before him again did he finally withdraw his gaze and head toward the conference room.