[The moment Yuki Tsukumo’s instincts locked onto the figure on the windowsill and confirmed that the endless pressure pouring from him belonged to Satoru Gojo, her expression changed with almost theatrical force.]

[One second ago, your endless methods and mysterious trump cards had her blood up, battle hunger burning so hot it bordered on mania. The next, once she confirmed that the real monster with the Six Eyes had entered the field, that boiling will to fight was doused as if someone had dumped ice water over her head.]

[She rolled her eyes hard and clicked her tongue in open irritation.]

[Against the unfathomable you, plus Suguru Geto ready to erupt at any moment, plus Yu Haibara, Tsukumo’s bones could still call the situation challenging and keep fighting. But now that the genuine strongest sat smiling on the windowsill, this fight was finished.]

[Set aside the fact that your counterfeit Limitless, copied through Phantom Night Parade, had already stopped her terrifying attack with ease. Now the rightful owner of Limitless had arrived in person.]

[Worse, that rightful owner also possessed the Six Eyes, which could see through every flow of Cursed Energy and reduce his own Cursed Energy consumption to almost nothing.]

[Two users of Limitless plus Cursed Spirit Manipulation. Faced with such a hopeless configuration, even a Special Grade would struggle to manage the most basic war of attrition.]

[Tsukumo was a pure seeker, but she was not an idiot who enjoyed pain.]

[Without hesitation, she lowered both hands. The Cursed Energy surging through her body vanished in an instant, and she pulled herself cleanly out of combat.]

[She rubbed the cheek you had punched, which still ached faintly, then turned toward the motorcycle helmet that had landed nearby and somehow escaped the fight untouched.]

[Bending down, she picked it up and tucked it beneath one arm. With a helpless sigh, she called to you from a short distance away.]

["Fine, fine. Release the technique. I’m done. I only came to say hello, and now look at this mess. What a mood-killer."]

[In truth, Tsukumo was not completely without options. As a Special Grade, if she truly needed to deal with the troublesome Limitless, she naturally had trump cards and methods that could break convention.]

[But once she had to pull out something on the level of mutual destruction, the nature of the fight would change completely. It would no longer be a spar or a test. It would be a real battle to the death.]

[The current situation had not reached the point where she needed to reveal that hand.]

[Once Tsukumo backed down, you quietly let out a breath and released the effect of Flowing Corridor. The endlessly stretched corridor space twisted once, then returned to normal.]

[And so the dangerous farce stirred up by Yuki Tsukumo’s sudden visit came to a temporary end.]

[Though, as Yuki Tsukumo made her way toward the school gates, Gojo followed her the whole way with both hands in his pockets, grinning like the ringleader of some street gang collecting protection money.

He watched her climb onto that heavy motorcycle with his own eyes and roar away from the Tokyo Jujutsu High barrier. Still, he respected your wish not to escalate the matter and did not start any actual conflict.]

[Not long after the disturbance settled, Masamichi Yaga, who had heard the tremendous noise, hurried over.]

[When he saw the wrecked corridor and the splinters scattered across the floor, Yaga’s face darkened like the bottom of a burned pot. In a stern voice, he demanded to know what had happened.]

[After Suguru Geto and the still-rattled Haibara explained the whole sequence of events in detail, Yaga unexpectedly did not blame you for damaging the school building.]

[Instead, the homeroom teacher, who had always protected his students, drew his brows tight and said in anger that he would lodge a serious protest with the jujutsu higher-ups, accusing Yuki Tsukumo of ignoring the Tokyo Jujutsu High barrier and launching a dangerous, inexplicable attack on enrolled students.]

[You stopped that proposal in the end.]

[You knew you did not want the matter to grow too large or attract too much unnecessary attention.]

[Tsukumo was an unstable factor outside the system. Based on the clues you currently had, there was still a chance she did not belong to the camp of that guy with stitches across his forehead. The fewer people who knew about this, the better.]

[As for why you were raising Toji Fushiguro’s child, Yaga had learned through Tokyo Jujutsu High’s background investigation when you enrolled that your family had complicated overseas, underground, and Zenin Clan connections. Because of that, he did not doubt your explanation that you had been entrusted by a friend of your father’s and paid to handle it. He only warned you to get involved with dangerous people less often.]

[Once the crisis passed, Geto and Gojo, two men who feared the world being too peaceful more than anything, developed a deep interest in Yuki Tsukumo, their fellow Special Grade.]

[They were extremely curious about the terrifying effect of that woman’s Innate Technique, which had allowed her to release, in an instant, a pressure strong enough to make even Geto’s heart tighten.]

[Since they were that curious, you did not hide it. You shared the information on Star Rage that your mind had just analyzed in detail.]

["It grants virtual mass to herself...?"]

[After listening, Suguru Geto pinched his chin in thought.]

["No wonder that raw physical destructive power was so absurd."]

[While they were both marveling at the simple, brutal, and terrifying power of Star Rage, Satoru Gojo’s clever mind quickly spotted another blind spot.]

[He leaned in sharply. Even through his sunglasses, you could feel the strange light flashing in those sky-blue eyes.]

[Pointing at you, he shouted in a tone reserved for looking at monsters.]

["Hey, hey, hey, wait a second! If that’s the case, counting my Limitless, Geto’s Cursed Spirit Manipulation, and that female monster’s Star Rage... doesn’t that mean you’ve collected every Cursed Technique belonging to the current Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers?!"]

[Faced with Gojo’s noisy, exaggerated reaction and Geto’s suddenly complicated look beside him, you remained as calm as ever.]

["Probably. I happened to run into them, that’s all."]

---

[Time passed slowly inside the seemingly peaceful school. Around the third day after that testing incident, you were standing with Shoko Ieiri in a secluded smoking area at Tokyo Jujutsu High, chatting idly.]

[A cigarette rested between Shoko’s fingers. She was about to complain to you about how boring the recent anatomy classes had been.]

[Then your sharp hearing caught the sound of hurried footsteps.]

[You lifted your head. Over the shrubs, you saw Haibara racing toward you, filthy from head to toe, with clear bloodstains and scabbed scrapes at his brow. Both hands carried bulging paper bags from souvenir shops, each printed with loud, colorful logos. Beside him ran Nanami, no less battered, his clothes torn and a large piece ripped from his Tokyo Jujutsu High uniform jacket. He looked utterly miserable.]

[Haibara’s signature sunny voice rang out from far away, bursting with energy and excitement.]

["Senior Touma!"]

[Unexpectedly, even Kento Nanami, usually reserved and calm, his emotions rarely showing, had lost his usual composure.]

[He kept pace beside Haibara and called out as well, his voice carrying something deep and difficult to name.]

["Senior Touma."]

[Standing beside you, Shoko exhaled a stream of smoke and looked at the two first-year juniors, who seemed to have escaped from a refugee camp while somehow carrying a pile of souvenirs.] 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

[Amusement flickered through her lazy eyes. She nudged you with her elbow and teased.]

["Well, what’s this? Have you been bullying underclassmen behind our backs and forcing them to buy snacks for you while looking like that?"]

["Don’t be ridiculous. I wouldn’t do something that tasteless."]

[The words had barely left your mouth when Haibara blew in front of you like a whirlwind.]

[He had not even caught his breath. His chest rose and fell hard, yet he hurriedly shoved the heavy bags of local specialties into your arms.]

["Touma, look! This is wagashi the locals all said was super good! And this is old-fashioned dagashi from a long-established shop they strongly recommended! And this one isn’t exactly a traditional specialty, but it’s a limited rare flavor from the convenience store over there, and the reviews were great, so I bought it too! Also..."]

[Looking at the armful of bags now packed against your chest, you sighed and cut off Haibara’s sales pitch.]

["Stop, stop. Weren’t you two sent to the countryside for an ordinary Grade 2 Cursed Spirit extermination mission these past few days? How did you come back covered in wounds while also looking like you went on some insane shopping spree?"]

[At your question, Haibara, who had still been excited a moment ago, went quiet.]

[He and Nanami exchanged a perfectly synchronized look. The next second, both first-year boys wiped the smiles from their faces, and their expressions turned solemn.]

["Thank you so much for everything you’ve taught us, Touma!"]

[Shoko stood nearby, watching the abrupt and extremely formal display of gratitude with open interest.]

[She pointed at them with the hand holding her cigarette and deliberately dragged out her tone.]

["Oh my. Ignoring your homeroom teacher like this and running straight to your senior the moment you get back to give him such a grand bow? If Mr. Yaga heard that, he’d be so heartbroken he’d cry."]

[Teased by Shoko, the simple-hearted Haibara flushed red at once. He straightened quickly and waved both hands wildly in front of his chest, explaining in a panic.]

["No, no, no! Miss Ieiri, we don’t mean that at all! It’s only... it’s only because, during this mission, the New Shadow Style Senior Touma taught me in private is what let me survive that monster’s attack and come back alive to see you all!"]

[Nanami, steady as ever, straightened beside him. Relief from surviving and deep respect showed in his eyes as he added in a low voice.]

["The same goes for me. Touma, without your strict guidance on how to apply my Cursed Technique in real combat and how to use Cursed Energy, my own shallow strength would never have been enough to endure that hopeless situation."]

[As Nanami spoke, the dangerous fight from the mission site returned to him against his will.]

[That suffocating pressure, thick as a swamp. That terrifying Cursed Energy that had nearly torn them apart. Even now, the memory left a chill in his chest.]

[His fingers tightened on the handle of the last souvenir bag in his hand until his knuckles faintly whitened.]

[The two juniors’ unusual seriousness, along with Nanami’s unconscious tension, thoroughly stirred Shoko’s professional interest.]

[She narrowed her eyes, the unfinished cigarette between her lips, and questioned them like an interrogator.]

["Doesn’t sound like an ordinary Grade 2 mission. So what happened out there that left both of you this beaten up?"]

[Haibara drew a deep breath and steadied himself, then began explaining the full sequence of events to Shoko and you.]

[According to the higher-ups’ orders, the mission they had accepted should have been an easy Grade 2 Cursed Spirit extermination in a remote village. Nothing difficult. They were only supposed to clean up a few low-grade impurities born from the accumulation of the villagers’ negative emotions.]

[But once they investigated in depth and tracked down the target’s location, they discovered, to their horror, that the higher-ups’ intelligence contained a fatal misjudgment.]

[It was not a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit at all. It was a case of Ubusunagami belief, a Grade 1 Imaginary Vengeful Spirit created after long years of misguided local worship and diseased faith caused a terrifying mutation. The strength and difficulty of that Cursed Spirit had far exceeded what two rookies could handle.]

[Still shaken, Haibara said that if you had not put them through brutal, near-real combat training again and again on the practice grounds at Tokyo Jujutsu High, forcing the defensive counterattack of New Shadow Style Simple Domain into his muscle memory, they likely would have been crushed the moment that Grade 1 Cursed Spirit launched its first-kill attack. They would never have made it out of that village alive.]

[As for later, when they fought with everything they had and worked together to destroy the target and complete the mission, that would have been even more impossible.]

[After listening to Haibara’s account, a calm light passed through your eyes, the look of someone who had understood everything long ago.]

[Of course you knew about the tragic mission that should have taken Yu Haibara’s life. But under your intervention and teaching, fate had finally shifted course.]

[You looked at the two boys before you, their eyes full of gratitude and admiration. Then you shook your head slightly, a relieved smile at the corner of your mouth, and explained softly.]

["You don’t need to thank me like this. I don’t think I’m the one who saved you. I only taught you the skills meant to keep you alive. Whether they could help, whether you could swing that blade in a hopeless situation..."]

[You paused and looked at them with a gaze both gentle and firm.]

["That was decided by the blood, sweat, and effort you put into the process. So you were the ones who saved yourselves."]

---

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