The classroom was wide and mostly empty.
A few desks were scattered around without much order. Three people - no, two people and a panda - sat in different corners of the room.
Akira stood in the doorway, his expression turning a little strange.
Across two lifetimes, he had only ever seen pandas on TV or online. The one in front of him was still black and white, sure, but there was one major difference.
This one talked.
"That's a cursed corpse," Yuji's voice came quietly from the shadows, low enough that only Akira could hear. "Principal Yaga made him. His name is Panda."
I know, Akira answered silently.
Anyone seeing a panda in person for the first time would probably freeze for a second, but this was different. The weirdness of it was impossible to explain to someone who had not lived through what he had.
He swept his eyes across the classroom.
Near the window sat a girl with her hair tied back in a ponytail, a wrapped cursed tool bag resting beside her.
On the other side, a silver-haired boy had his high collar pulled up over his mouth and was looking down at something in his hands.
Zenin Maki. Inumaki Toge.
Familiar faces from the original story.
Maki looked up and spotted Akira standing in the doorway.
"Oh, it's that guy." She remembered seeing him earlier at the school gate. "So you're the transfer student."
Akira stepped into the room and gave a small nod. "Hey. I'm Hayashi Akira, the transfer student. I'm also a jujutsu sorcerer."
"Hey." Maki's tone was casual, but her eyes gave him a full once-over.
"Kelp." Inumaki raised one hand, his voice muffled behind his collar.
"Oh, a newbie?" Panda stood up from his seat. His fluffy body had more presence than Akira had expected. "Welcome, welcome. Where're you from?"
"Tokyo."
"What part of Tokyo?"
"...Adachi."
"Oh! There's a ramen place out there that's amazing!"
Akira blinked. "You... can eat ramen?"
"Can't," Panda said matter-of-factly. "Heard about it from other people. Want me to take you sometime?"
"Sure... I guess."
Maki shot Panda a look from the side. "Don't scare off the new guy."
"I'm not!" Panda sat back down, wounded.
Akira took a seat toward the back. His mind was already racing.
This scene.
This exchange.
The way these people were positioned in the room.
A memory buried in his mind clicked into place.
This scene... did that mean...?
"Oh, Gojo Satoru's coming to teach today," Maki said without looking back. "And he's bringing another transfer student with him."
Akira sat down properly, then quietly scooted his chair a little farther back.
Panda lowered his voice and said to Maki and Inumaki, "You hear? That transfer student coming in today stuffed four classmates into lockers."
Maki frowned. "Killed them?"
"Tuna mayo?" Inumaki asked, meaning, Seriously?
"No, just badly hurt," Panda said, shaking his head. "All four got sent to the hospital."
Maki clicked her tongue. She was about to say something, but her eyes flicked toward Akira in the back row, and whatever she was about to say got swallowed.
After a pause, she said, "Fine. But if he really is that full of himself..."
She did not finish the sentence, but her hand had already moved to rest on her cursed tool bag.
"As long as he throws the first punch," she added. "Then I'll deal with him."
Akira pretended not to hear and lowered his head to adjust his uniform sleeve.
In the shadows, Yuji let out a soft laugh.
What are you laughing at?
"Nothing. Just remembered something from back then." Yuji paused. "The first time I met Maki, she was like this too. Sharp tongue, but she knows exactly where the line is."
A disturbance came from the doorway.
Not footsteps.
Teleportation.
A second later, a white-haired man appeared on the podium out of thin air. A black blindfold covered half his face, and the corner of his mouth was tilted in the kind of smile that practically said, Yeah, I know I'm cool.
"Now then, let's introduce the transfer student!" Gojo Satoru threw both arms wide. "Everyone, stand up!"
The room went so quiet Akira could hear crows outside the window.
Maki crossed one leg and made no move to cooperate. Inumaki looked down at his phone. Panda seemed like he wanted to cheer, but one look from Maki made him shrink back.
A single, lonely burst of applause came from the back row.
Akira was clapping, looking utterly sincere. "Oh, nice, nice. So there's someone else transferring in halfway through too."
Gojo brightened instantly. Even with the blindfold on, everyone could feel it.
"Ah! Thank you for the support! Everyone else, follow his example!"
Maki rolled her eyes. "I heard he's some arrogant jerk. I'm not hyping somebody like that up."
"Salmon." Inumaki agreed.
"Uh..." Panda looked trapped in the middle.
Gojo spread his hands and called toward the hall outside, utterly unbothered, "Alright then, come in!"
His voice was not loud, but it carried cleanly down the corridor.
The door opened.
First, a foot stepped in.
Then -
Akira's breathing stalled for half a beat.
It was not fear.
It was cursed energy.
No, not cursed energy.
A curse.
That presence was so thick it felt physical, like something had slipped through the crack of the door and settled onto his shoulders with crushing weight. The air seemed heavier. Even breathing took effort.
If he had not already known the plot, Akira thought he might have panicked.
No, not might.
He definitely would have.
The three in front had already moved.
Maki's hand clamped onto her cursed tool. Inumaki tugged his collar down slightly. Panda rose from his seat.
Not to welcome him.
On instinct.
The body reacting before the mind could catch up.
Then the presence exploded.
A pale hand stretched out from behind Okkotsu Yuta, fingers spread wide as if trying to seize something.
Maki had not even fully drawn her weapon before she flew backward. Not punched - shoved away by some invisible force, slammed hard into the wall with a grunt.
Inumaki had barely parted his lips before he was crushed flat to the floor, face pressed against the ground, unable to move.
Panda reacted the fastest. He threw a punch, but the hand was faster.
It caught him by the throat, lifted his massive body clean off the ground, and smashed him into a desk.
Crash!
The desk shattered.
The whole thing took less than three seconds.
Okkotsu Yuta stood frozen in place, trembling all over. He grabbed frantically at that hand, his voice breaking with panic. "Rika! Stop! Please, stop!"
The hand froze.
Then slowly withdrew.
The classroom was a mess.
Maki pushed herself upright from the wall, clutching her shoulder. Inumaki got up from the floor. Panda sat amid the splintered wood.
All three wore the same expression.
Shock.
And a little something else too.
Fear.
"That," Gojo announced from the podium in a breezy tone, like he was describing the lunch menu, "is what happens when Yuta gets attacked. He's cursed by the girl he loved most, Rika. This is Okkotsu Yuta!"
Yuta bowed deeply, head lowered.
"P-please take care of me."
His voice was tiny, like he was afraid of being heard.
Maki rubbed her shoulder and glared at Gojo. "You could've warned us!"
Gojo tilted his head. "Warned you about what?"
Then he smiled. "Didn't I mention it already? If you attack Okkotsu, there's a chance Rika attacks back."
"When did you ever say that?!" Maki snapped.
"Maybe I forgot. Oops." Pure evil, wrapped in fake innocence.
"Anyway, everybody just be careful, okay?" Gojo raised one finger like he was teaching kindergarten.
Maki was so irritated she could not even get the words out.
Inumaki silently pulled his collar back into place.
Panda dusted bits of broken wood off himself, looked at Yuta, then at Gojo, and seemed to think better of speaking.
"They're all in their rebellious phase," Gojo said with a sigh, using the tone of a long-suffering teacher. "Now then, let me introduce everyone."
The room went still for one second.
Maki, Inumaki, Panda, Akira, and even Yuta all had the exact same thought at once.
No, pretty sure the problem here is the teacher.
...
Akira sat in the back row, watching it all unfold.
In the shadows, Yuji was quiet for a long time.
"Yuji?"
"Yeah."
"You okay?"
Silence.
Then Yuji spoke, his voice very soft.
"Okkotsu-senpai... so this is what he was like at the beginning."
Akira waited for him to continue.
"When I knew him, he was already strong. Really strong. Special grade. The kind nobody could beat." Yuji paused. "I never knew he started like this. Scared, shaking, too afraid to even lift his head."
"And later?"
"Later..." Yuji's voice dropped even more.
"I owed him a lot."
Akira said nothing.
He looked at the boy on the podium.
Thin.
Frightened.
Shaking from head to toe.
Who would have guessed that this boy would one day become one of the strongest special-grade sorcerers alive?
"Yuji."
"Yeah?"
"This time, you won't owe him."
Silence.
A long silence.
Then Yuji laughed softly.
"Yeah."
...
Gojo patted Yuta on the shoulder and nudged him one step forward.
"Alright, meet your classmates. This is Zenin Maki."
Maki gave a cold snort and turned her head away.
"Inumaki Toge."
"Pollock roe." Which meant, Don't come too close.
"Panda."
Panda waved. "Hey."
"And in the back row, Hayashi Akira."
Akira stood and gave Yuta a small nod.
"Hey."
Yuta looked up and glanced at him.
His whole face was tight with nerves.
"...Hey."
Gojo slipped both hands into his pockets and looked around the classroom, a knowing smile on his face.
"Alright," he said. "A new life starts here."
Outside the window, the sunlight was perfect.