A cold, aged voice echoed in the ears of the battered Kyoto students.
Yoshinobu Gakuganji, leaning on his strangely shaped wooden staff, slowly walked into view.
The principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High.
At this moment, his wrinkled face was so dark it looked ready to drip with malice.
His gaze swept over Mai Zenin, who was slumped on the ground, her eyes still clouded with terror.
He then looked at Aoi Todo in the distance, who was casually brushing off dust as if nothing had happened, and a sharp glint flashed in the old man's cloudy eyes.
"Frozen in terror before the battle has even officially begun—is this the best the Zenin family has to offer?"
Gakuganji's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a suffocating pressure.
Mai trembled all over, biting her lip and lowering her head, not daring to argue.
In that moment earlier, the feeling of being stared at by that monster Yoru was more terrifying than facing a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
"Alright, old man, give it a rest."
Aoi Todo picked his nose nonchalantly, looking utterly bored.
"That guy is definitely strong. It's only natural for Mai to be intimidated."
"Even I was so excited just now that I almost couldn't stop myself from attacking him directly!"
Speaking of this, a fanatical fighting spirit erupted in Todo's eyes.
"Yoru... my best friend! I really want to have a clash of souls with him right now!"
"Shut up, Todo,"
Gakuganji interrupted him coldly.
"Your personal feelings are not needed right now."
By this time, the other Kyoto students—Noritoshi Kamo, Momo Nishimiya, Ultimate Mechamaru, and Kasumi Miwa—had all gathered.
Looking at this group of students, Yoshinobu Gakuganji took a deep breath, his eyes becoming as venomous as a viper's.
"Listen well. I have new instructions regarding tomorrow's Goodwill Event."
Everyone's expression tightened.
Gakuganji slowly raised his head, scanning the group, and spoke one word at a time.
"During the team battle, besides exorcising cursed spirits, you have one primary objective."
"That is to kill Tokyo's Yuji Itadori and the first-year student named Yoru!"
Dead silence filled the room.
Kasumi Miwa's eyes widened; she almost thought she had misheard.
"Kill... Kill them? Principal, this is just a Goodwill Event..."
"Yuji Itadori is Ryomen Sukuna's vessel. As long as he lives, he is the greatest threat to the jujutsu world."
Gakuganji's voice lacked any emotional fluctuation, as if he were stating something perfectly natural.
"As for that Yoru..."
A deep sense of wariness flashed in the old man's eyes.
"His existence is even more uncontrollable than Sukuna's vessel. He has no cursed energy, yet possesses such eerie power..."
"If he cannot be used by us, then he must be snuffed out before he fully matures!"
"This is the will of the General Headquarters, and it is for the future of the jujutsu world."
Miwa wanted to say more, but Momo Nishimiya pulled her sleeve from the side.
"But..."
Decisions made by the higher-ups were not for students like them to question.
"Ha? For the future of the jujutsu world?"
A sneer broke the heavy atmosphere.
Aoi Todo laughed toward the ceiling as if he had heard the world's biggest joke.
"Boring! This is absolutely boring!"
He suddenly turned around, waving a hand with his back to Gakuganji.
"You guys can play your boring assassination games yourselves. I only have one goal, and that is to enjoy the thrill of battle."
"If you dare disturb the reunion between me and my best friend, I don't mind beating you all up as well."
With that, Todo strode away without looking back.
"Todo! You..."
Gakuganji's beard shook with rage, but he knew the monster's personality well enough to know he couldn't be forced.
"Hmph, let him go."
Gakuganji turned to look at the remaining students, specifically the black-haired young man with squinted eyes.
"Kamo, you are the next head of the Kamo family. You should understand the stakes here, right?"
Noritoshi Kamo slowly opened his eyes, his expression calm and indifferent.
"Since it is the decision of the General Headquarters, the Kamo family will naturally comply."
"Very good."
Gakuganji nodded with satisfaction.
As long as Noritoshi Kamo was willing to act, combined with the cooperation of the others, killing two first-year students in the chaos of a team battle wouldn't be difficult.
"To ensure nothing goes wrong, take these."
Gakuganji took two items from his wide sleeves.
One was an ancient-looking longbow radiating dense cursed energy—the Special Grade Cursed Tool: Cloud Piercer.
The other was a short dagger wrapped in black talismans.
"Kamo, I will lend you Cloud Piercer. Its range and penetration are enough to take a life from over a kilometer away."
"As for this dagger..."
Gakuganji handed the dagger to Mai, his eyes dark.
"It is coated with a special cursed poison. Even a scratch that barely breaks the skin cannot be saved, not even by the Reverse Cursed Technique."
"Mai, this is your chance to wash away your shame. Do you understand?"
Mai looked at the dagger radiating an ominous aura, her fingers trembling slightly, but she eventually took it through gritted teeth.
"Yes... Principal."
Watching this scene, Ultimate Mechamaru remained silent in the corner.
As the possessor of a Heavenly Restriction, Kokichi Muta controlled this puppet while his heart struggled violently.
Kill Yoru?
The person who had unintentionally enlightened him in the chat group and given him new hope for a complete body?
Although Yoru didn't know his true identity, Kokichi Muta still held onto that sense of gratitude.
'Sorry, Yoru.'
The red light in Mechamaru's electronic eye flickered slightly.
'For that wish, I must fight with everything I have... but at least, don't die to these boring schemes.'
In the shadows, a miniature mechanical mosquito, smaller than a fingernail, silently detached from Mechamaru's main body.
Using the cover of night, it flew noiselessly out of the Kyoto School's resting area, speeding toward the Tokyo School's location.
...
Meanwhile, inside the Tokyo School's lounge.
Yoru was sitting cross-legged on a tatami mat, resting with his eyes closed.
Suddenly, his ears twitched.
His superhuman hearing allowed him to catch a faint, minute buzzing sound.
The next second, he snapped his eyes open, his right hand darting out like lightning.
Two fingers firmly clamped onto a mechanical mosquito just as it was about to land on his shoulder.
"This is..."
Yoru raised an eyebrow at the struggling mechanical creation between his fingertips.
The mechanical mosquito's abdomen suddenly lit up with a faint projection beam, projecting a line of tiny text onto the back of Yoru's hand.
[Tomorrow's team battle, Kyoto School's target: Assassinate Itadori and you. Watch out for Kamo and Mai. — M]
Looking at the text, the corners of Yoru's mouth slowly curled into an amused arc.
M?
Mechamaru?
It seemed the guy wrapped in scrap metal still had a bit of a conscience.
"Assassinate me?"
Yoru applied slight pressure with his fingers, and the mechanical mosquito instantly turned into a piece of scrap metal.
He turned to look at the pitch-black night outside the window, his gold-and-red eyes flickering with a heart-stopping light.
"That old orange Gakuganji certainly thinks highly of me."
"However..."
Yoru slowly stood up, his palm resting on the hilt of Shiranui at his waist.
"The roles of hunter and prey can switch at any moment."
"Since you want to play, I'll play along properly."
"I hope the Kyoto School can withstand the surprise I have for them tomorrow."
The night wind blew past, swirling a few fallen leaves.
A conspiracy to hunt down and kill Yoru and Yuji had silently bared its fangs in the dark.
But what they didn't know was that they weren't hunting a lamb led to the slaughter.
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