"The prohibition on using Cursed Techniques during duels means Taijutsu is fair game, right?"
Riko Amanai tried to play it smart, though she knew cleverness could go either way depending on who decided to press the issue.
These Kyoto students had been arrogant from the moment they arrived—on someone else's turf, no less. They hadn't taken them seriously at all, and now they even dared to provoke Sōjun Minamoto. That crossed the line.
She needed a chance to teach them a lesson.
But she wasn't about to act recklessly. First, she had to find someone strong to lean on, in case things got out of hand and she ended up being thrown under the bus.
Sōjun Minamoto was a solid choice.
She shot the male student a look full of provocation, then ignored him completely. Instead, she crouched down beside Sōjun Minamoto and whispered, "If we win using Taijutsu, that's not a violation, right?"
Sōjun Minamoto glanced at her but said nothing.
He let them do as they pleased—they all knew their limits. As for whether they could win... who among them hadn't taken down a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit before?
The trio had trained under him long enough. Their strength spoke for itself.
Riko caught his silent approval and felt reassured. She gave a quick signal to Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara. The three of them stepped forward together, squaring off against the male student. They didn't strike first but stood with deliberately provocative expressions, goading him to make the first move.
With Sōjun Minamoto backing them up, even without a solid reason, they had the confidence to act bold. And if they did have a reason? Then they'd strike hard and still take the moral high ground.
But unexpectedly, the male student, flushed with rage a second ago, suddenly composed himself. The three Kyoto students nearby moved to stand at his side.
Four versus three.
Kiyotaka Ijichi glanced around, then mustered his courage and stepped beside Kento Nanami.
Now the entire student roster for the exchange event was assembled. Four versus four.
They stared each other down, mutual disdain simmering. Old grudges mixed with new tension—things were about to explode. But still, no one made a move.
The standoff was thick with tension—a perfect atmosphere.
Sōjun Minamoto, seeing that no fight was breaking out and the higher-ups from both schools had already talked things through, decided it was time to move on.
He first exchanged a few words with Yoshinobu Gakuganji.
The man had already shown interest in backing them. The band idea was just a personal request, unrelated to his support for Masamichi Yaga. Sōjun Minamoto didn't rush to reply, and Gakuganji wasn't in a rush to hear one.
"Alright, let's eat."
He called out, and Riko Amanai and the others immediately dropped their intimidating act and followed him. As they passed the male students, they threw them scornful looks and even let out a soft, mocking scoff.
It hit a nerve.
And just like that, the "friendly" first meeting between the two schools came to an end.
With the tour done and no one offering feedback or objections, Sōjun Minamoto assumed everyone was satisfied. His part in organizing the venue was finished.
As for safety, the only real concern was making sure no one died.
These days, exchange events were still pretty...wild. As long as no one died, anything went. That's why safety was always emphasized.
Jujutsu sorcerers were rare. If anyone ended up dead or crippled over a school event, it'd be a massive loss for the Jujutsu world.
But for Sōjun Minamoto, this wasn't much of a problem. That's why he didn't set many rules—he was unusually lenient.
As a result, Jujutsu High became lively.
There were still nearly two weeks until the official start of the exchange.
A bunch of headstrong sorcerers thrown together—none of them willing to back down. It was only a matter of time before sparks flew.
He stopped micromanaging these teenagers.
At first, the students—no, sorcerers—tried to restrain themselves. No one wanted to be the one to start a fight. But as tensions rose, they gradually shifted to using only Taijutsu... and eventually, cursed techniques started slipping in.
They figured that if no one saw them using a technique, it didn't count. Little did they know, Sōjun Minamoto was watching everything.
Inside the Jujutsu High barrier, any cursed energy activity triggered an alert. Only those with official credentials could move freely, or those approved by the barrier's caretaker.
Sōjun Minamoto oversaw all of that. He didn't care if things got chaotic—unless there was an irreversible accident, no one else would intervene either.
In a way, this whole situation was his doing.
He had his reasons. Better to let them blow off steam now than have that energy erupt in more dangerous ways later.
So the days passed—calm on the surface, but bubbling underneath.
Then one day, in the cafeteria, things escalated again. Right in front of the teachers, the students began provoking each other. At first, both sides held back. But when Riko Amanai successfully goaded the other side into attacking first, she nimbly dodged and took up a pre-planned position—then casually stepped on her opponent's shadow.
It was the same male student who had provoked Sōjun Minamoto last time.
Riko Amanai only locked him down for three seconds. But this guy had no spiritual defenses. Truth be told, most sorcerers in the Jujutsu world neglected their soul defenses and couldn't guard against that kind of attack effectively.
The result, unsurprisingly, was that he had no recollection of what happened during those three seconds. When he came to, all he felt was a pounding pain from a few hits to the head.
Fuming, his face flushed red with rage, and all he could do was seethe helplessly. Riko Amanai was still quietly stoking the fire, and in the end, he snapped and unleashed his technique in plain sight, throwing the entire cafeteria into chaos.
It was enough to ruin everyone's appetite.
Sōjun Minamoto checked the competition schedule—just two days left. If anyone got seriously hurt now, they might not recover in time. He decided to step in and shut it all down, sealing everyone's Cursed Energy with a single move.
That brought immediate silence. Jujutsu High returned to its usual calm.
...
Two days later, the exchange event finally began.
Sōjun Minamoto regurgitated dozens of undigested Cursed Spirit Orbs from his stomach—most were Grade 2, with a few Grade 1s mixed in.
The Cursed Spirits returned to their original forms, crowding around him. None of them moved. They stayed perfectly still, intimidated by a presence from higher up the food chain.
Even as Orbs, they retained their senses. Watching their kind being digested bit by bit was pure terror. Immobilized, they could only wait as death crept closer.
Thankfully, stronger spirits were digested first. The ones left were either mindless or barely rational—otherwise, they'd have lost it long ago.
Still, even those remaining were ruled by instinctual fear. Before this man, none dared to stir.
Sōjun Minamoto pointed a finger, and the cursed spirits surged toward the team battle arena.
He fully released the Barrier. An invisible wall spread outward, forming a massive spherical dome over the battleground.
At the apex, a golden eye cracked open—like it had appeared out of nowhere on the canvas of the void. It wasn't fully open, just a narrow slit, staring down at the field with cold indifference.
Sōjun Minamoto returned to the surveillance room. Everyone was already gathered.
He gave a small nod to the students, focusing especially on Riko Amanai and her group.
"Go win."
With that, the exchange event officially began.
...
Riko Amanai had been particularly active leading up to the event—but not just to stir up drama. She had already pieced together most of the enemy team's techniques.
Kento Nanami found this kind of thing bothersome and preferred to stay out of the spotlight. So his techniques—and even the technique extensions he'd developed—remained mostly unknown, with only surface-level intel exposed.
Yu Haibara's Five Senses Cursed Technique was also difficult to detect. The enemy probably still thought he didn't have a technique at all.
As for Riko Amanai herself, though she often used her technique around them, she was always cautious. The enemy only knew she could restrain opponents—but the activation conditions and true effects remained a mystery.
With strength relatively equal on both sides and limited open usage of techniques, intel had become a decisive factor.
They were confident heading into the exchange, especially the team battle. After all, their usual sparring partners had been Special Grades. Sure, they hadn't won, but they'd passed the trials of Grade 1 missions.
Taking on these guys—who prided themselves on exorcising Grade 1s? That'd be easy, right?
Riko Amanai glanced at Kiyotaka Ijichi and thought, "Oh right, I keep forgetting he's even here." His presence was so faint that she often overlooked him, but he had made significant contributions in their intel work. He was an irreplaceable part of the team.
The enemy was in the light while they remained in the shadows. The advantage was theirs.
Still, they kept Sōjun Minamoto's words firmly in mind: Treat the enemy with contempt strategically, but respect them tactically.
So while they might wear smug expressions, inwardly they were already preparing to go all out.
Riko Amanai nodded at Sōjun Minamoto with a wide grin.
"We'll win."
Sōjun Minamoto gave a nod in return, then glanced over to see Principal Gakuganji still quietly instructing the Kyoto students.
He waited patiently. The classroom wasn't large, with a few teachers seated around. Masamichi Yaga sat in a corner, making it look like he was the one leading the team.
It didn't take long. Once Gakuganji was done, Sōjun Minamoto gave a quiet reminder—and before the students could react, a black vortex opened beneath their feet, instantly teleporting them into the arena's Barrier.
At the same time, high above the forest, the golden eye embedded in the Barrier slowly opened. The battlefield came into clear view.
Snap—
He gave a soft snap of his fingers. Though quiet, the sound triggered a shared projection of the battlefield directly into the minds of the teachers in the room—vivid and direct.
This was a perception interference technique cast by Sōjun Minamoto. It lightly affected the cerebral cortex to transmit a mental image of the scene.
Of course, the technique wasn't overpowering. The recipients could perceive its presence and choose to reject or accept it freely.
With Masamichi Yaga, Yuki Tsukumo, and the homeroom teacher of Riko Amanai's class setting the example, the others followed suit and began observing the exchange remotely.
...
The rules of the match were simple: eliminate all students from the opposing school within a set time or gain an overwhelming lead by exorcising cursed spirits.
Sōjun Minamoto scattered the eight participants across the battlefield.
Some students looked momentarily confused by their sudden appearance in the forest, but they quickly regained composure.
Riko Amanai and her group had anticipated this scenario and were well prepared. In fact, it was exactly the kind of setup they were hoping for.
Yu Haibara, with his sensory expertise, was responsible for locating teammates and helping the four regroup. Two others would move around slightly to exorcise cursed spirits and gain points, while Kiyotaka Ijichi's main priority was to stay safe until the rest reunited.
Once regrouped, the plan was to take down the Kyoto students one by one.
They could have gone with a four-on-four straight fight, but this approach was more efficient—and with an intel advantage thanks to uneven information about techniques, it was the smarter play.
Time was critical.
As expected, the trio's coordination was flawless. They may have shown restraint around Sōjun Minamoto, but against their peers, they struck with full force.
One by one, the Kyoto students were eliminated from the Barrier—until only the last, the provocative one, remained.
That was by design.
Yu Haibara could now identify specific sorcerers based on their cursed energy signatures.
The group strolled calmly along a lake.
Kiyotaka Ijichi cautiously scanned the area. He wasn't fond of fights between sorcerers. Even at full effort, he could barely exorcise a Grade 3 cursed spirit. Lacking natural talent, he was already preparing for a shift to a support or supervision role.
Still, he had worked hard to pull his weight for this exchange. He had gathered intel and pushed his strengths to the limit.
"This last guy's technique involves water. Are we sure it's okay to walk this close to the lake?"
"Relax, there's four of us," Riko Amanai said, waving him off casually. Her body was loose, as if she had completely let her guard down.
She tapped her fingers one by one, making soft "clickclick" sounds—just like she had when eliminating the neighboring school's students earlier. No one had escaped her grasp.
Suddenly, she paused, her expression tightening. She hadn't tapped her left pinky.
Right then, the water at her feet rippled. A wet hand shot up and grabbed her ankle.
But Riko Amanai smirked. She shifted her upper body just enough so sunlight fell at an angle, casting a shadow of the hand on the shore. Her toes moved, tapping on the dark patch—got you.
She waited a moment, then grabbed the limp, unmoving head of the last Kyoto student and yanked him out of the water. His shadow stretched long along the bank, growing larger beneath her feet.
If he'd still been conscious, he might have noticed something strange: his shadow, which should have fallen over her foot, was instead pinned beneath it.
Not an obvious anomaly, but noticeable—if you were paying close attention.
Too bad for him, Riko Amanai never gave him that chance.
Not once.
Her earlier nonchalance had been bait, meant to lure him out. The team had followed Yu Haibara's sensing to the lake and had already detected something was off in the water. But instead of rushing in, they led him out into the open.
They'd been hiding the details of her technique since before the event, keeping it under wraps.
Now, holding the drenched and subdued opponent, Riko Amanai recalled something Sōjun Minamoto once said:
"Your Shadow Fixation Technique can restrain the body, soul, and cursed energy. But the day you can isolate and bind all three separately—that's the day you'll stand on your own as a sorcerer of our school."
Just now, she had restrained only the body, letting him experience the suffocating dread of nearly drowning.
Only after pulling him out did she immobilize his soul, cutting off his ability to think—still careful not to reveal her technique's specifics.
As for his cursed energy, leaving it free actually reduced the technique's cost.
She was thrilled inside but stayed alert.
With a sharp chop to the neck, she knocked him out cold, then had Kiyotaka Ijichi tie him to a tree safely away from the water.
Everything was settled. Kyoto had no chance of turning the tide now.
At that moment, the victory announcement from Sōjun Minamoto echoed silently in their minds.
Riko Amanai let out a soft breath of relief. She had held her tongue the whole time, afraid of becoming the kind of chatty villain Sōjun Minamoto warned about—the kind who gets outplayed at the last second… Was that really her?
She grinned up at the golden eye in the sky, her lips moving soundlessly.
Back in the classroom, Sōjun Minamoto smiled faintly too. What she had said was:
"Standing on my own now."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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