Knock knock knock, knock knock knock…
Hearing the knocking from outside, Kenjaku put down the ancient book in his hands and turned his head halfway toward the entrance.
“Who is it?”
Click.
The door lock twisted by itself, and the door was silently “picked” open.
Mahito stood outside with a beaming smile.
He waved toward the inside and casually called out,
“Yo.”
“I did not say you could come in… Never mind. What do you want?”
“Nothing~ I just happened to bring a new companion over recently, so I wanted you guys to meet each other.”
As he spoke, Mahito took half a step back and patted the short, plump figure standing beside him.
The latter wriggled forward twice, its figure entering the range illuminated by the lights and revealing a distinctly inhuman red silhouette.
It was less than a meter tall, looking like a short, plump octopus standing upright like a human.
Its two arms and head were tucked beneath the white cloth draped over its body.
At this moment, it met Kenjaku’s gaze…
“Pfft!”
This guy apparently could not speak yet.
It merely waved its two thick arms vigorously twice, as if it had some sort of speech impediment.
Kenjaku’s head tilted slightly backward, his eyebrows rising as he revealed a somewhat peculiar expression.
“This is… a new cursed spirit? Something related to the ocean… I see. It is about time for it to have taken shape.”
Although its strength was not particularly impressive, for the current villain faction, even having one more maggot was already a wonderful thing.
Moreover, Kenjaku’s current body possessed Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
Looking at this group of cursed spirits now was essentially like the Pokémon trainer seeing a Suicune.
“Welcome. And… it is fortunate that you managed to find it. Well done, Mahito.”
“Ha, you flatter me! Also, compared to that…”
Mahito very familiarly poked his head inside, like an unruly child entering someone else’s house, and began looking around the living room.
Kenjaku sat in a chair, lowered his head, and continued flipping through the ancient book in front of him without even looking up.
“Muku went out on a mission. He is not here.”
“Huh?! What a coincidence!”
Mahito stood there with his hands on his hips.
His head suddenly stretched and elongated like dough being flattened by a rolling pin, becoming long and slender.
It traced a winding parabola through the air before finally landing on Kenjaku’s left shoulder.
“I heard from Hanami that he has been staying here for the past half month, supposedly training? I was actually hoping to see how much he had improved… What a shame.”
Kenjaku continued turning the pages as though Mahito did not exist, his tone completely devoid of emotion.
“There will always be another opportunity. There is no need to rush.”
“Ah, then never mind… Speaking of which, is there anything that needs my help lately?”
Kenjaku stopped moving, slightly raised his head, and adopted a thoughtful expression.
“For the time being… no. Spend some time acting freely. You can also take this opportunity to focus a little more on improving your abilities.”
Kenjaku rested his chin on his right hand and looked at Mahito with an ambiguous smile.
“You are a cursed spirit born from humanity’s malice… To be honest, I am also looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish.”
If Kamo Shizumi had been listening nearby, he probably would have found this amusing.
Looking forward to it?
Oh, he was definitely looking forward to it…
In the original story, the fundamental reason Kenjaku did not turn Mahito into a cursed-energy pill and swallow him ahead of time was that this guy had not fully matured yet.
If Kenjaku extracted its Cursed Technique in advance, Mahito’s abilities would also become fixed at that point, directly affecting the subsequent jujutsu battle royale.
“My progress? Haha, to be honest, I do not really have any opportunities or ideas at the moment.”
Although Mahito spoke as though he did not care, that was not actually what he was thinking…
He definitely wanted to find some kind of breakthrough.
Otherwise, he would not have been so interested in Yuji and Nanami in the original story.
After all, he improved every time he fought.
By the end, his birthday was practically the same day as his death anniversary.
Mahito shrugged, and the expression on his face suddenly became somewhat bored.
If he could not find anything interesting to do, there was no reason for him to stay.
“Then I will leave for now… See you later, Kenjaku.”
“Mm. Hopefully, I will hear some good news about your improvement next time.”
“By the way, where is Muku now?”
Kenjaku thought for a moment before quietly answering,
“Kyoto… the Cursed Warehouse.”
Almost at the exact same time.
Kamo Shizumi, traveling by Bullet Train, was staring blankly at the scenery outside the window.
After the train began moving, he withdrew his gaze and spoke with great emotion.
‘The experience really is different when you spend money…
Night buses are garbage.’
Although taking a bus was theoretically cheaper, after confirming the balance in his bank account, Kamo Shizumi had decisively chosen to upgrade his travel experience.
What a joke.
Was he supposed to risk his life for someone else and save them money at the same time?!
After confirming his arrival time, Kamo Shizumi collected his thoughts and began organizing the purpose and progression of this trip.
First of all, it had to be emphasized that he was definitely not going to Kyoto just to get himself killed…
Using his head to rub against Gojo’s soles was fine as a joke, but after finally becoming a “human” again, Kamo Shizumi wanted to struggle his way to the very end while staying alive.
So, at its core, his special trip to Kyoto was also intended to increase his strength.
As for his destination…
The Cursed Warehouse.
After silently repeating the name in his mind, Kamo Shizumi let out a soft breath.
Although this place received relatively little attention in the original story, it was actually a rather important location.
The Cursed Warehouse was a place where various Cursed Tools and Cursed Objects were stored, meaning that its very nature involved sealing and storage.
Within certain organizations, the Cursed Warehouse also served a function similar to a dungeon.
Yuji and Yuta, two unfortunate comrades in the same boat, had both once been brought into a room covered in talismans.
In terms of its nature, that could probably be considered one type of Cursed Warehouse as well.
The Death Paintings in the original story were also stolen from here, while Maki returned to the Zenin clan specifically to retrieve usable Cursed Tools and other items from the Cursed Warehouse…
It could be said that this place was essentially a concentrated repository of Cursed Objects.
So what was Kamo Shizumi’s purpose this time?
‘Recover the Six Paths Cursed Tools…’
Although he had absolutely no idea where they had gone, considering that the Cursed Warehouse itself housed a large number of Cursed Objects, perhaps he might get lucky and stumble across them by sheer chance.
Even simply trying his luck was worthwhile.
Furthermore, the Cursed Warehouse did not refer to a single building complex.
In fact, based on what was currently known, Jujutsu High and the Zenin clan each had completely separate Cursed Warehouses under their control.
The Three Great Families were theoretically on equal footing.
Following that logic…
‘Kyoto Jujutsu High and the Kamo clan must also have their own Cursed Warehouses for this purpose.’
That was precisely Kamo Shizumi’s objective.
Sneak inside and see whether my “six roots” have been sealed in there!