Slide—clack!
Right as we were laughing and chatting away, the front door of the classroom slid open. A man with a grim expression and dark sunglasses walked in. It was the first-year homeroom teacher, Masamichi Yaga.
His thick hands held a strangely cute wool doll, but the sheer pressure radiating from his entire body was reminiscent of a Yakuza enforcer.
Standing before the podium, Yaga scanned the four of us sharply from behind his sunglasses.
The young masters of the Gojo and Zenin clans, an outlier from a non-sorcerer background, and a rare treasure possessing the Reverse Cursed Technique. Deep wrinkles etched into his brow as he faced this unprecedented collection of problem children.
"I am Masamichi Yaga, the one in charge of you first-years."
Yaga's heavy voice weighed down on the classroom.
"I don't care what prestigious bloodline you were born into or what monster-like talent you possess out there.
Here at Jujutsu High, you are merely students.
Anyone who isn't prepared to put their life on the line as a sorcerer will be personally kicked out by me and this Cursed Corpse, so keep that in mind."
The intimidation factor was so intense that even Gojo and Geto shut their mouths for a moment.
Yaga snapped his attendance book shut and added,
"Today is the first day, so there are no special missions or curriculum.
I have an emergency meeting regarding the first-year class with the higher-ups, so wait here and study on your own. I'm warning you—do not do anything stupid and cause trouble. That is all."
Bang!
As Yaga heartlessly slammed the door shut and vanished, the heavy air suffocating the room finally dissipated.
"What's up with that guy? The boomer energy is off the charts from day one," Gojo grumbled, tilting his chair back precariously. I cracked my stiff neck and chimed in.
"Seriously. That atmosphere was suffocating. So, what are we supposed to do now? He said to 'self-study.'"
"Why don't we all just read books quietly?"
Shoko, sitting in the front, pulled a thick specialized textbook from her bag and spread it across her desk. The cover was covered in complex anatomical diagrams and dense medical terminology.
"Ehh? I didn't come here to read some gloomy books!
I came here to enjoy the peak youth of my high school years!"
While Gojo was whining, Geto walked over, looking interested in Shoko's book.
"What kind of book is this? It looks like a fairly professional medical text."
It was then.
A mischievous smirk spread across Gojo's face as he stared at the ceiling in boredom. Suddenly, he pulled his chair forward and lowered his sunglasses slightly, staring at me with his shimmering blue Six Eyes.
"Since we have nothing to do... how about we head to the gym?"
"The gym?"
"I've been curious for a long time," Gojo said, his voice laced with provocation.
"Gojo and Zenin, Zenin and Gojo. I want to see which family is truly the strongest."
With that confident declaration of war, the air in the classroom pulled taut instantly. I had no intention of backing down from his challenge. I let a corner of my mouth curl up and whispered,
"Ho. A Hierarchy Battle...?"
"Hey, Suguru. You're participating too."
Gojo jerked his chin toward Geto, who was still browsing the medical book.
"It'll be easier if we settle the first-year rankings once and for all right now, right?"
"Haha. And here I thought I was a pacifist."
Geto laughed like he was troubled, but his eyes were already burning with a competitive spark. Shoko, who had been watching the testosterone-fueled posturing, closed her medical book and stood up.
"Then I'm going too."
Gojo's eyes went wide at Shoko's unexpected comment.
"What? You're joining the fight?"
"No. I'm watching you guys fight!"
Shoko smirked and was the first to head out the classroom door. Me, Gojo, and Geto—three monster-tier students—began making our way toward the gym to determine who sat at the top. The homeroom teacher's warning about 'not causing trouble' was already long forgotten.
Inside the spacious gym.
We took our positions inside the large center circle drawn in the middle of the basketball court. The only spectator, Shoko, sat comfortably on the nearby podium, ready to enjoy the show.
"So, what are the rules?"
Geto warmed up, stretching his legs. At his question, Gojo and I turned our heads and shouted at the same time as if we'd rehearsed it.
"Innate Techniques are banned, obviously!"
"You want us to wreck the school on day one and get pummeled by Yaga-sensei?"
At my jab, Geto shrugged. Gojo pointed at the circular line we were standing on and added,
"Let's go with pure Taijutsu reinforced by Cursed Energy.
The rules are simple: anyone who gets pushed out of this circle on the court is eliminated."
"Hmm. It's like sumo where striking is allowed."
"Exactly!"
As soon as the rules were set, I strode toward Gojo.
"Hey, hold up."
Then, without warning, I thrust two fingers toward his blue eyes in a blatant eye-poke.
Snap.
My fingers stopped exactly a fraction of a millimeter before his eyeballs, merely brushing against his long eyelashes. There was no sensation of that sticky resistance in the air.
"Okay. You turned it off. Limitless."
"Of course~ It's a brawl. Using a cheat like that would make it boring, wouldn't it?"
Gojo grinned and swatted my hand away. All preparations were complete. The three of us kept our distance in a triangular formation inside the center circle, sizing each other up.
Shoko, sitting behind us, raised a hand high, acting as the referee.
"Is everyone ready?"
"Yeah."
"Certainly!"
"Okay~"
The moment our answers overlapped, Shoko's hand cut through the air.
"Then, start!"
Boom—!
As soon as the signal dropped, Gojo and I exploded off the ground. True to his nature as the Gojo heir, he immediately tried to bury a vicious fist into my face, the Zenin representative.
'But guess what. I was planning on hitting your face first, too.'
I didn't dodge. Following a trajectory that perfectly mirrored his, I threw a right hook heavily reinforced with Cursed Energy toward his face. It was the split second before our fists would collide in a mutual counter-hit.
Voom—!!
Accompanied by a terrifying sound of air being shredded, Suguru Geto's long leg flew in from the side, a heavy high kick aimed straight at Gojo's temple.
"Ugh!"
Unlike how he almost took my punch to the face, Gojo reflexively shifted his momentum, guarding Geto's surprise kick with a sturdy forearm.
'Now!'
I didn't miss that opening.
Since Geto was supporting his weight on one leg to deliver that high kick, his posture was inevitably unstable.
I twisted my hips without hesitation and threw a powerful straight punch toward Geto's wide-open midsection.
Thud—!
"...Damn it!"
Just as my straight was about to connect.
Gojo, who had twisted his body while guarding Geto's kick, used his free long leg to deliver a brutal kick into my ribs.
Because my balance was disrupted by Gojo's kick, the straight punch I aimed at Geto lost half its power and was deflected without causing a critical blow.
An insane high-speed exchange of targeting openings, blocking, and kicking.
Gojo versus Zenin—with Geto, who possessed incredible battle sense, thrown into the mix.
Inside the basketball court's center circle, it was the start of a battle that made it impossible to look away for even a second.