Oscillations and the Ninety-Nine Bases [Revision]

The next day.

Shoko Ieiri arrived late, and the bruises on her face seemed even more pronounced than yesterday. She yawned and said slowly, "Luckily, we took precautions yesterday. To be able to survive with her brain cut like that, I have to say the technique is truly amazing."

Tsurumi Kawakami was handing her a breakfast sandwich when he heard this and looked up in shock: "You, Shoko, are you alright?"

Ieiri Glass waved her hand dismissively and said, "What could possibly happen to me? Even if I were to become intelligent, it wouldn't change the fact that it was an anatomical instrument. Later, I threw it into the dirty water to soak."

Tsurumi Kawakami paused, taken aback: "Bad intentions?"

Ieiri Glass: "Oh, that's the common name for concentrated sulfuric acid."

For some reason, it felt strangely impressive. Tsurumi Kawakami nodded and handed her the sandwich. Gojo Satoru and Natsumi Yuuki happened to arrive, and upon hearing the last sentence, Natsumi Yuuki was also taken aback and asked, "What concentrated sulfuric acid?"

Tsurumi Kawakuri then told them about his brilliant brain-twisting skills.

Gojo Satoru commented, "Those brains are quite difficult to kill."

Xia Youjie's lips twitched, but he felt that Gojo Satoru was right. After learning that the brains had been soaked in bad water by Ieiri Glass, the group stopped paying attention.

Instead, they talked about what would happen to the Kamo family later on, and as the next head of the Gojo family, Gojo Satoru knew more about it than they did.

Even if Kamo Norihiro did not inherit the Kamo family's ancestral magic, he was still the eldest son of the Kamo family. The fact that a perfectly healthy person was suddenly rumored to have been cursed by a curse master, and that his dead body was parasitized, was such a disgrace that the Kamo family was immediately in an uproar.

Naojiro Matsumoto was furious when news broke that the curse master who parasitized Norihiro Kamo was the one who murdered Saburo Matsumoto last year.

In response, the General Management Department convened an emergency meeting, joining forces with the heads of the three founding families to discuss the matter. However, they still had no clue about Brain Flower's identity. Because of this incident, the three founding families and the General Management Department conducted a major internal purge.

Xia Youjie pondered for a moment and said, "The director's department is quite efficient."

Gojo Satoru, as if he had heard a joke, said with a mocking expression: "With old man Matsumoto as an example, it's no wonder the old tangerines aren't afraid."

Tsurumi Kawakami nodded in sudden understanding, "In that case, this matter is considered closed, right?"

Gojo Satoru: "That depends on what the old orange enthusiasts think."

-

On the other side, in the director's office.

The emergency meeting ended, and the exhausted executives had barely left the meeting room when representatives from the three main families arrived. Leading the group was the eldest elder of the Kamo family, who, in alliance with Zenin and Gojo, used this opportunity to launch an attack, attempting to seize control of the General Staff's power.

The General Headquarters was initially established to resist the power of the three great families that had been established since Heian-kyo. They went from being at a disadvantage and having to act subservient to the three great families to now being the only ones who have become dominant and squeezed the three great families out of the General Headquarters, making it a one-man show, in just over a century.

Although there are people from the three major companies among the senior management of the Directors Department, they only have senior titles and do not have much real power.

In the last ten years or so, or rather, since the birth of the Gojo family's Six Eyes, which disrupted the balance of the jutsu world, the General Supervisory Department has been constantly making underhanded moves.

The bounty that Gojo Satoru still has on the dark web may not be without the involvement of the General Staff.

The three major companies have different attitudes toward the Director's Office, and even their cooperation is unstable. The Director's Office takes advantage of the unstable relationship between the three major companies to sow discord and secure its own position.

These three families were all aware of each other's situation and were in a relatively balanced state. However, this incident shattered the long-standing balance. In reality, the Kamo family's losses were not severe. After all, the deceased Kamo Norihiro, apart from still holding the title of the eldest son, had been exiled from the Kamo family, and the position of the next head of the family had fallen to Kamo Noritoshi, who was born to a concubine and was now registered under the name of the principal wife.

The head of the Kamo family was not angry about Kamo Norihiro's death, but rather felt humiliated by the fact that the brain parasite had slapped Kamo in the face.

So, at the suggestion of the Gojo family and with the approval of the Zenin family, Kamo joined forces with them, with the aim of using this to strike at the General Directorate and seize some of the power from it.

The alliance of the three major families was unexpected, and the targeting came swiftly and fiercely, leaving the General Headquarters in a state of panic. They attempted to break the alliance, privately offering compensation to the Kamo family and conceding some of their branch authority.

The tricks that had always worked in the past failed this time. Although Kamo was tempted, the Director's Department's concession made Kamo realize that the piece of meat he was seeing was far more than just the benefits offered.

The Directors' Department was humiliated and left in disgrace. However, the pressure from the three major companies did not stop there; the division of power within the Directors' Department seemed inevitable.

The great upheaval in the Directorate General's office was also heard about by the top-level sorcerer Tsukumo Yuki, who was far away overseas. One afternoon, she flew back to Japan from abroad and secretly met with the senior management of the Directorate General's office.

After the talks, Yuki Tsukumo appeared at Tokyo College of Technology.

The turmoil within the administration department had little impact on Tsurumi River School, as assignments and classes still needed to be conducted. However, the difficulties faced by the administration department could be seen in Masamichi Yagami, the principal of the Tokyo campus, whose meetings had increased dramatically recently.

There are also more basic courses being taught by assistant supervisors.

After the bell rang, the assistant supervisor who was in charge of teaching arithmetic didn't linger for even a minute longer and hurriedly left with his textbook.

Tsurumi Kawakami's mind went blank, his eyes staring blankly at the blackboard, which was covered with a function problem written in white chalk, the solution process densely packed on the blackboard.

Tsurumi Nagaru stared at the function problem on the blackboard as if it were gibberish. He recognized the crooked characters, but he didn't understand them. Thinking about the function homework he had to do next, the black-haired, golden-eyed boy lay peacefully on the table, like a salted fish without any dreams.

Let's just give up.

"Ryu, what's wrong? Didn't you sleep well last night?" Gojo Satoru glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and asked casually.

Tsurumi Kawakami turned his head and said pitifully, "That question we just discussed was really hard..."

Gojo Satoru, who was playfully fighting with Natsumi Yuuki, turned around and replied, "Is it difficult? You can't just look at a question and know how to answer it."

Tsurumi Kawakami's eyes widened, and he stopped leaning on the table. He looked up, his eyes filled with shock, and said, "How is that possible? I've looked at it several times and I still can't understand it."

After saying that, he seemed to recover from the shock and stared blankly at Xia Youjie, "So this kind of question is so easy to answer with just a glance? You can do it too, Jie?"

Xia Youjie coughed. As a commoner sorcerer, he could understand Tsurumi Kawaru's thoughts and feelings. However, Xia Youjie's math grades were quite good, so he didn't have any worries in that regard.

So Xia Youjie could only stammer and vaguely say, "...Um, maybe."

Upon hearing his answer, Tsurumi Kawa lowered his eyes in disappointment. "So it was my problem."

Seeing his expression, Xia Youjie quickly comforted him: "Mathematics also requires talent. Some people are talented and learn quickly, while others are not good at arithmetic and learn slowly. You asked Xiaozi, but she didn't understand either."

Xia Youjie had noticed in class that Ieiri Shoko was pretending to listen to the lecture while resting her chin on her hand, but she was actually sleeping. She slept for two-thirds of the class and definitely wasn't listening.

Tsurumi Kawakami's eyes lit up, and he turned to ask Ieiri Shoko.

Shoko Ieiri had just woken up and was still a little groggy, but she nodded in agreement with what Natsumi Yuki said.

Tsurumi Kawa's mood improved immediately, while Gojo Satoru realized what was happening and was about to say something when Natsume Yuuki, quick-witted and agile, grabbed his neck, forcing him to swallow the words that were about to come out of his throat.

After the morning classes, the afternoon classes are practical.

There were no tasks today, and since the second-grade homeroom teacher was unavailable, Nightmoth Zhengdao assigned a few of them to lead the second-grade students in practical training.

When Gojo Satoru stepped up to crush the weaker opponents, Xia Youjie took over the task, completely dominating the two junior students while also pointing out their shortcomings.

Tsurumi Kawakami didn't play because of the special nature of the anti-armor. He stayed under the shade of a tree with Gojo Satoru and watched. After another complete defeat, Haibara Yu and Nanami Kento lay on the ground, panting heavily.

Xia Youjie was still standing opposite him. He shook his head with a helpless smile and said, "Let's call it a day. I'll go buy some water. What would you like to drink?"

Before the junior could even speak, Gojo Satoru raised his hand and loudly demanded, "Jay, I want grapefruit soda! I want it iced!"

Xia Youjie nodded, then looked at his two junior classmates and, before Haibara Yu could refuse, decided what he wanted to buy.

Tsurumi Kawaru looked around, stood up, patted his back, and walked to Xia Youjie's side: "Jie, I'll go with you."

Xia Youjie did not refuse, and the two went together to a coin-operated vending machine at the college.

The vending machines at the vocational college are restocked every few days. Since there aren't many students at the college, the machines are always well-stocked with a wide variety of items. Xia Youjie inserted several 500-yen coins into the coin slot, and a chilled drink rolled out from below.

Tsurumi Kawa took a bag, put the drinks in it, and the two of them were about to go back when they turned around and faced a woman standing against the wall at the entrance of the corridor.

The other person was wearing a black sleeveless top, dressed in a trendy style, and was a face I had never seen before.

"Oh, you must be third-year students at the vocational college," Yuki Tsukumo waved and greeted them.

Xia Youjie stared warily at the woman opposite him without making a sound. As a first-level sorcerer, he had not sensed even the slightest aura from her, which meant that she was stronger than him.

Tsurumi Kawakami, however, was not so cunning. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded honestly: "Yes, you are..."

"Ah, I am such a senior, but I was abroad before and only recently returned to Japan."

Xia Youjie paused for a moment, then immediately realized the other party's identity: the top-level sorcerer, Tsukumo Yuki.

Seeing Xia Youjie's expression, Jiujiu Yuki realized he had guessed her identity, so she smiled and said, "You're very clever; you guessed it right away. How about you sit with your senior for a while and have a chat?"

Xia Youjie was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

Yuki Kujukuri seemed to just want to vent about her damn life and didn't care about the two junior students sitting next to her. She talked on and on, including some of her experiences abroad.

"...There aren't as many cursed spirits outside, but the power dynamics are complex and they're constantly fighting each other. However, I still prefer life outside to life back home. At least there aren't those annoying old men in the General Headquarters who give me so many tasks as soon as I get back..."

"This place is rotten to the core. The only way to completely eradicate it is to address the root cause of the problem."

Tsukumo Yuki let out a long sigh of relief and turned to look at Xia Youjie and Tsurumi Kawaru: "What do you guys think of the vocational high school?"

Xia Youjie keenly sensed some danger from what the other party had just said. He cautiously remained silent and instead pretended to be deep in thought.

Tsurumi Kawa didn't understand what she meant by her last sentence, so he replied bluntly: "It's not bad. It includes food and lodging, money, and I've made some good friends."

Yuki Tsukumo was taken aback, seemingly not expecting his answer, and chuckled softly: "Is that so? But I don't like high schools."

She didn't explain why; perhaps she felt it was pointless, or perhaps she felt that her self-analysis just now wasn't something she would usually do. But having vented her frustrations, Tsukumo Yuki, feeling somewhat better, got up, greeted the two of them, and turned to leave.