Wait—a cursed energy surge!
Just as Suguru Geto reached out and took the cup from the officer's hand, he sensed a sudden burst of cursed energy from the rooftop of a nearby building, as if someone had just activated a technique.
The intensity of the surge made him instinctively overlook the faint cursed energy rising from the officer right in front of him.
The officer's eyes widened in shock. Bloodshot veins spread rapidly across the whites of his eyes, and confusion and fear flickered in them—but his face twisted into an eerie, almost fanatical expression.
Suguru Geto had just turned toward the source of the cursed energy surge when he noticed the strange look on the officer's face.
But it was too late.
The officer, as if no longer in control of his own body, pulled out the gun from his holster. Before he could even raise it fully, his finger had already squeezed the trigger.
The deafening gunshot echoed in the night. The sharp scent of gunpowder filled the air, mixing with the searing pain.
A bullet tore through Suguru Geto's left thigh, leaving behind a bleeding hole. The copper projectile lodged itself deep into his muscle.
His body staggered, but he quickly reacted. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a long, serpent-like cursed spirit. It lashed out, knocking the officer's standard-issue firearm to the ground and sending him flying backward.
On the rooftop, a cloaked figure—clearly a sorcerer—let out a chilling, cackling laugh while leaping between buildings.
"My job here is done! I have no interest in fighting a Jujutsu High student."
Realizing that the cursed energy source was moving away, Suguru Geto used his curse to pull the fallen officer back. Extracting the residual cursed energy left on the man, he then combined it with the four other samples he had collected earlier.
"Blood Spirit!" he muttered.
A ghostly, blood-red curse emerged from a swirling black ripple in midair, letting out a series of sharp, eerie giggles.
Suguru Geto fed the fused cursed energy to the spirit. Without hesitation, the crimson entity transformed into an arrow of blood and shot off into the distance.
The shot hit the curse user squarely in the chest as he was leaping between rooftops.
His face twisted in shock as an unfamiliar sensation spread from his heart to the rest of his body.
"This is… poison!?"
His technique only allowed him to manipulate and control those with weaker cursed energy than himself. But his own power wasn't strong to begin with, which greatly weakened the effectiveness of his ability.
At best, he could only prey on ordinary people with little to no cursed energy.
The job he took was targeting regular humans, and the employer was offering a generous reward. That was the only reason a weak curse user like him dared to take the risk.
But even so, things still went terribly wrong.
He couldn't neutralize the poison.
Veins bulged and twisted across his thin face as blood burst from his fragile eyes. The poison surged through his body, and in the middle of his jump between buildings, he lost his balance and plummeted toward the ground.
He crashed hard onto the concrete. The pain and toxins made it impossible for him to use cursed energy to soften the impact. And so, he hit the cold, hard pavement with nothing to protect him, dying in disgrace.
Perhaps even the blood curse spirit didn't expect its attack to be so effective. After finishing off the curse user, it returned to Geto Suguru's side, letting out a hoarse, triumphant laugh.
However, despite eliminating the curse user with the mind-control technique, Geto's expression remained serious.
Gunshots suddenly rang out from the entrance of the police station, yet not a single officer stepped outside to check. The entire area was eerily silent.
The bun-haired boy immediately summoned a slug-like cursed spirit to press against his leg wound, stopping the bleeding for now. Then he lifted his gaze, staring at the station's entrance with sharp focus.
Soon, steady footsteps echoed in his ears.
A short-haired woman, stained with fresh blood, stepped gracefully out of the police station.
A faint smile played on her lips, her half-lidded eyes glinting with amusement. A striking stitch line ran across her smooth forehead.
…Four.
…
Tokyo Jujutsu High.
"Today in Saitama Prefecture, two violent attacks resulted in three deaths. The suspect has been arrested and is awaiting sentencing…"
In the student dormitory, a white-haired boy lounged on a soft couch, watching the news with a bored expression.
Right now, Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru had both risen to the rank of special-grade sorcerers, making them two of the only three special grades in all of Japan. The third was Yuki Tsukumo, a sorcerer who rarely took on missions and spent most of her time overseas.
He had heard that she had returned to the school briefly not long ago, but that happened to be when he and Geto were traveling in Hokkaido with Yukinoshita Haruno and the others.
After becoming special-grade, their mission workload had increased significantly. Today was one of their rare days off, but with nothing to do, Gojo found himself at a loss. Aside from continuing his research, he had no way to pass the time.
His striking blue eyes reflected the news on the screen, but his mind wasn't really on it.
He murmured to himself, "Suguru's been investigating this case for days, but nothing's getting better…"
He recalled their last phone call. He had offered to help, but Suguru had declined, saying he could handle it alone. Still, Gojo couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in his chest.
If it were Suguru, seeing innocent people being manipulated by a curse user and forced to commit crimes—only for the situation to keep getting worse—he would definitely be anxious.
He'd probably start pushing himself harder, trying to speed up the investigation.
If it were me, I'd do the same.
Gojo rested his head against the couch, staring blankly at the familiar ceiling as his thoughts wandered.
His mind drifted back to the mission where they had to escort Amanai Riko.
He had gone two full days without sleep. In the end, his exhaustion made him let his guard down at the worst possible moment. That was how Toji Zen'in managed to catch him off guard when he deactivated his Limitless technique, landing a direct hit.
From the escort mission, his thoughts somehow shifted to the dreams he'd been having lately.
Dreams of Geto Suguru.
Ever since he had that dream of Suguru Geto slaughtering an entire village of innocent people, becoming a special-grade curse user, and getting a bounty on his head, Gojo Satoru had started paying close attention to his best friend's missions.
Even though this mission shouldn't have anything to do with the one in his dream, for some reason, he couldn't shake off a feeling of unease.
Tossing and turning on the couch, the white-haired boy suddenly shot up, ran a hand roughly through his soft hair, and shouted in frustration, "Ahh, whatever!"
With that, he grabbed his sunglasses from the table, put them on, and left his dorm.
…
(End of Chapter)
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