Tokyo, in front of Harajuku Station.
The area in front of the station was packed with people.
Conversation and laughter mixed with the whoosh of traffic along the road.
Trendy stores and all kinds of dessert and snack shops could be seen everywhere.
Almost everyone in sight was a young person overflowing with energy.
Jin leaned against a roadside railing, his right foot crossed in front of his left as he stood there loosely.
He looked down and played with the cigarette pack in his hand, pushing the lid open with his thumb and closing it again.
The foil made tiny rustling sounds beneath his fingertips.
He repeated the motion several times without actually taking out a cigarette.
Smoking in public places was prohibited in Japan, and violators could be fined.
“Is there a smoking area around here?”
Without raising his head, Jin asked lazily.
Megumi stood beside him with both hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead at the flowing crowd.
“No idea.
High school students don’t normally pay attention to places like that, do they?”
Jin squeezed the cigarette pack and shoved it back into his pocket.
He raised his head toward the sky, looking utterly dead inside.
“This is what I hate about crowded places.
So annoying.”
“Jujutsu High is much better.
There are barely any people around, and nobody cares if I smoke wherever I want.”
Jin’s nicotine addiction actually wasn’t that bad.
He was simply bored out of his mind.
And because he hated waiting for people, time felt unbearably slow and torturous right now.
Yuji pulled the popsicle from his mouth and turned toward Jin.
“Jin, you’re still underage too, right?
Is smoking really okay?”
Jin looked sideways at Yuji, the corner of his mouth unconsciously curling upward.
‘You, a high school student who likes playing pachinko, have the nerve to lecture me about smoking?’
‘I’m only breaking the law.
You’re committing a crime!’
“What?
Are you a good little boy like Fushiguro too?”
After receiving Jin’s meaningful look, Yuji somehow felt inexplicably guilty.
“Of course not.”
He gave an awkward laugh, turned away, and continued eating his popsicle.
Gojo had one hand in his jacket pocket while that same arm carried a bag filled with sweets.
He waved toward the people waiting by the road.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
His gaze fell on Jin and Yuji in their new uniforms, and he looked the two of them up and down.
“Looks like your uniforms were finished too.”
Yuji sat on the railing with one leg crossed over the other and grinned.
“Yeah, it fits really well.
I like the hood too!”
Following Megumi’s advice, Jin had added a tight black tank top underneath his uniform today.
Even so, he had still attracted plenty of attention along the way.
He raised his head toward Gojo, a hint of certainty in his voice.
“Everyone’s uniform is different.
Custom modifications…
that was your idea, wasn’t it, Gojo-sensei?”
Gojo smiled and gestured casually in the air.
“You got me.
Young people should have a little individuality.”
“Even if they’re uniforms, it’d be way too boring if everyone wore exactly the same thing.”
As he spoke, he stepped closer to Jin, tilted his head, and lowered his voice slightly.
“Speaking of which, I have some interesting news for you.”
“Oh?”
Jin froze for a moment and made a curious sound.
Gojo didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he first glanced at Megumi before returning his gaze to Jin.
“When I first saw your fire technique, I thought it felt familiar.”
His gaze lowered, as though recalling something.
“In the entire jujutsu world, the only other person with a technique related to fire is Ogi Zenin of the Zenin clan.”
(Example: Ogi Zenin’s technique, Blazing Courage.
Simply put, it lets him create fire.
He once used flames to replace the broken blade of his sword and wounded Maki Zenin.)
“Your abilities are similar, and even some of the applications overlap…
It didn’t feel like pure coincidence.”
Gojo raised his head and stared directly at Jin.
“So afterward, I had someone investigate your family background.”
His identity had been arranged by the system.
What could possibly be unusual about it?
Jin’s lips moved slightly.
“And?”
Gojo grinned at him, looking exactly like someone who couldn’t wait to watch the fun.
“As expected…
you have Zenin blood.”
He paused and raised one hand.
First he pointed at Jin from a distance, then turned his finger toward Megumi beside him, his voice suddenly rising.
“In other words, you and Megumi are relatives!”
The air fell silent for roughly two seconds.
Yuji continued eating his popsicle while his eyes moved repeatedly between Megumi and Jin.
Megumi turned toward them, a faint crease forming between his brows.
The corner of Jin’s mouth twitched.
He nearly failed to keep a straight face.
“Megumi and I…
are relatives?
Seriously?”
“Of course.
Megumi’s biological father was also from the Zenin clan.”
Gojo leaned back slightly, laughing at the three of their reactions.
“Your surnames may be different, but the bloodline is the same.”
“They’re still investigating the exact family relation, but one thing’s certain.
Go back a few generations and the two of you absolutely share the same ancestor!”
Megumi’s brows furrowed deeply, and his expression turned unpleasant.
“Why bring that up now?”
He looked at Gojo with his arms crossed, undisguised disgust in his voice.
“Having anything to do with that rotten family is awful.”
Seeing Megumi suddenly become so negative, Yuji looked at Gojo and asked curiously,
“What’s wrong with the Zenin clan?
Are they really powerful?”
Gojo glanced at the silent Jin, then slowly explained,
“A thousand years ago, during the Heian era, the golden age of jujutsu…”
“Three particularly prestigious families that survived all the way to the present became known as the Big Three Sorcerer Families.”
“They are the Gojo clan, which I belong to; the Zenin clan, which Megumi and Jin are connected to; and the Kamo clan.”
He paused there, raised a hand to his chin, thought for a moment, then continued,
Yuji nodded thoughtfully.
Knowledge of the jujutsu world +1!
“They’re that powerful?
But judging from Fushiguro’s reaction, the Zenin clan doesn’t seem to have a very good reputation.”
Gojo chuckled, his voice carrying obvious mockery.
“They really don’t.
Among the Big Three Families, their reputation is probably the worst.”
The Zenin clan possessed an almost fanatical worship of cursed energy.
Family members with low cursed energy, or none at all, suffered severe discrimination and bullying.
If you were a woman, add another debuff on top of that.
Your status in the family wasn’t even as high as a dog’s.
You were basically something lying by the roadside.
Jin didn’t have any positive feelings toward the Zenin clan either.
That whole family was full of lunatics.
But lunatics or not, they were still one of the Big Three Families, and their influence couldn’t be underestimated.
If he had the Zenin clan backing him, getting promoted to Grade 1 would probably become much easier.
And their usual flaws didn’t even apply to him.
From his perspective, they were practically advantages.
Whether it was cursed energy or technique, he wasn’t lacking in either.
He could even say he surpassed ninety-nine percent of Zenin clan members.
Compared to his personal likes and dislikes, Jin cared far more about the benefits that kind of background could bring him.
He raised his head toward Gojo, his gaze flickering.
“Gojo-sensei, what you’re saying is…”
Gojo tilted his head, that half-smiling expression hanging on his lips.
“It’s your choice.”
After saying that, he turned toward the station entrance and suddenly raised his voice, waving in that direction.
“Oi!
Over here!”
The three followed his gaze.
An orange-haired girl wearing the female Jujutsu High uniform and carrying a pink backpack was currently gripping a middle-aged salaryman by the collar with one hand, aggressively questioning him about something.
Hearing Gojo’s voice, the girl glanced over, snorted lightly, and released her grip.
The middle-aged salaryman dropped to both knees with a smack, his knees striking the concrete with a dull thud.
Ignoring the pain, he scrambled up on all fours, practically rolling and crawling into the crowd.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared among the people.
The girl dusted off hands that weren’t actually dirty, turned around, and walked toward them at an unhurried pace.