Chapter 186

"I... no, Mr. Shinmaru, my next mission is to go to Kanagawa, I'm leaving tomorrow."

The overly clever Yuuji Itadori's attitude towards the [beloved black Shiba Inu] entrusted to him by Gojo-sensei has undergone a complete transformation compared to their first meeting.

Even Kugizaki Nobara, who had just returned, was speechless and narrowed her eyes, "...Sir?"

What kind of person treats a dog with such utmost respect?

"Besides, why did you specifically tell it about the next mission? It can't understand." Kugizaki Nobara was quite puzzled. "Weren't you going with Fushiguro?"

But this comment earned him a shushing gesture from Hisahito Itadori, who raised his index finger to signal that his classmate shouldn't talk nonsense—this black Shiba Inu could genuinely understand!

"Don't say that! Mr. Mamaru is Gojo-sensei's favorite...dog!"

Remembering the smiling face of Gojo-sensei when he told him not to tell anyone, Yuji Itadori abruptly changed the subject.

However, Kugizaki Nobara didn't care about the slight pause in Itari Yujin's words.

She was more concerned about Shinmaru's position in Gojo-sensei's heart.

"It's Gojo-sensei's dog!"

Kugizaki Nobara clasped her hands together in anticipation, "If I can make Mahimaru happy, will Gojo-sensei introduce me to a modeling job...?"

After all, Gojo-sensei is that superstar who made a stunning appearance decades ago, and has remained as dazzling and radiant as a god ever since!

Even in her rural hometown, most of the younger generation have heard of Gojo-sensei's songs, and they have countless posters collected at home.

At the time, she didn't even realize what was happening when she answered the phone; she just felt that the voice sounded familiar. When Kugizaki Nobara finally arrived in Tokyo after a long and arduous journey, she was so shocked when she saw Gojo Satoru personally come to pick her up that she completely lost control of her facial expressions!

Putting aside the fact that she rushed up to Gojo-sensei on the spot and begged for an autograph and a photo with her super bright, sparkling eyes, she later heard that Nanako and Mimiko, who were her classmates, were actually people that Gojo-sensei and Hatori-sensei had watched grow up since they were little. She felt even more unbalanced and would secretly bite the corner of her blanket in the middle of the night out of envy.

She also wants a big star as an elder, how awful!

Before coming to Tokyo to study at the Jujutsu High School, she had thought about whether she should try being a model if a talent scout came knocking.

It turns out her teacher is a big star! And she's friends with Anri Saki, who's been super popular these past few years!

Thinking of this, Kugizaki Nobara reached out and made a sucking gesture towards Shinmaru, "Come here, come here, you can eat as much beef jerky as you want—"

Kazuma Hatake: "..."

Hisuhito Polygonum cuspidatum: "..."

Yuuji Itadori quickly pulled Shinmaru into his arms, almost screaming, "You can't treat Shinmaru-san like that!!"

Kugizaki Nobara blinked in confusion, "...Ah, I didn't realize you were such a hardcore dog lover."

Yuji Itadori remained silent.

Once you find out that this Mr. Makoto is actually another big star you admire, you won't be as calm as you are now...

"By the way, where are Nanako and Mimiko?" Yuji Itadori had no choice but to change the subject. "They went on the mission with Kugizaki, right?"

"Oh, they said they went straight home because their elders were leaving for a while, and they and Senior Yigu needed to go back and keep an eye on things during their rest time."

Kugizaki Nobara waved her hand, indicating that she hadn't asked for too many details.

Upon hearing this, Yuji Itadori couldn't help but glance at the black mulberry tree sitting upright on the desk.

He thought he probably knew where that elder had gone after leaving...

"Thank you, Mr. Kazuma."

Yuujin Itadori whispered to the incredibly reliable dog, earning a chuckle from its dark eyes.

Sometimes I feel that You Ren is so carefree that he has no sense of vigilance, while other times I feel that this kid is quite clever.

The day after Fushiguro Megumi returned from her mission, Itadori Yuujin took Shinmaru and rode with assistant director Ijichi Kiyotaka in his car to Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

There stands a movie theater called Kinema, where a mission, tentatively rated as Level 2, awaits them.

"It is said that the strange corpses of three male high school students were discovered by the film crew while cleaning up after the screening."

Fushiguro Megumi flipped through the report documents in a calm voice, showing no curiosity whatsoever about the black Shiba Inu that Itadori Yuujin was holding in his arms.

Or rather, when Fushiguro Megumi heard Itadori address it as Mr. Shinmaru and that it was personally delivered by Gojo-sensei, he basically guessed the other party's true identity...

"What kind of strange corpse is it?"

Yuji Itadori didn't have his hands to take the report yet, so he leaned over to look at it—Megumi Fushiguro turned the report slightly toward him so that the latter could see the photos clearly.

"Head deformity led to increased intracranial pressure and respiratory paralysis."

Megumi Fushiguro said, "The movie theater has been cordoned off, but [the window] only found remnants of cursed power at the scene, and no trace of the cursed spirit was witnessed. Therefore, the mission is initially set at level two, with the primary goal of finding the cursed spirit that caused this incident, and we will not insist on exorcising it."

Based on the differences in human negative emotions and consensus, the characteristics of the cursed spirits that are born are also extremely diverse. From high-level to low-level, the death scenes created by those cursed spirits are almost never exactly the same.

Therefore, they cannot deduce what kind of cursed spirit was responsible based on the victims' remains, and must rely on human search to confirm.

"According to the surveillance camera footage, another teenager was also in that screening room with the three deceased."

Before Itadori Yuuhito and Fushiguro Megumi got out of the car, carrying the real Mamaru, Ijichi Kiyotaka gave them special instructions.

"It's still unclear whether the culprit is a cursed spirit or a sorcerer. But either way, that boy is most likely a [witness to the incident]. I'll contact the police to confirm the boy's identity, so I'll trouble you to help me check the movie theater first."

The once bustling movie theater has now been emptied, with only two police officers sitting in a restaurant on the first floor, seemingly waiting for backup from their colleagues.

Fushiguro bowed slightly to them, briefly explained his purpose, and was then allowed to pass.

One of them was probably a newcomer. As Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Hisahito left, you could hear him asking his colleagues in confusion who they were.

Fortunately, the traces of the cursed power were very obvious. Compared to Yuujin Itadori, who was a bit inexperienced in this area, Megumi Fushiguro skillfully followed the traces and found two non-humanoid creatures that seemed to be cursed spirits on the roof.

The reason for using the adjective "a non-humanoid creature suspected to be a cursed spirit" is that during the battle, Fushiguro Megumi keenly noticed that one of the creatures was wearing a watch on its wrist.

The cursed spirit would not wear such a man-made object.

He took out his phone and discovered that the camera could also capture the appearance of the two creatures—something the cursed spirits couldn't photograph.

Even after confirming that they were completely still, the corpses did not exhibit the dissipation reaction that ordinary cursed spirits would show after death... Could it be that they were humans modified by magic?

Fushiguro Megumi then called Ijichi Kiyotaka and asked him to drive the two bodies back to the high school for autopsy and examination.

"Perfect timing. The police have already identified the boy—Yoshino Junpei, a student at Risaku High School, but he hasn't been to school for a long time. This is his home address; you can try to find him in the neighborhood and probe him."

After receiving an address and a photo of Yoshino Junpei, Ijichi Kiyotaka bid farewell to Itadori Yuujin and Fushiguro Megumi and returned to the high school.

"Okay, leave it to us!"

Yuji Itadori, holding Mamaru, waved vigorously at Mr. Ijichi with one free hand.

When he turned around, he saw that Fushiguro Megumi's brows were still furrowed, as if he was troubled by something.

"What's wrong, Fushiguro? Are you suspecting that Yoshino did it?"

"...I'm not sure."

After a moment of silence, Fushiguro Megumi decided to wait for the high school to issue a definitive assessment report before informing Itadori Hisahito.

"First, find Yoshino Junpei, and then use my Jade Dog to test whether he can see the cursed spirits."

Based on Kiyotaka Ijichi's information, they went straight to Yoshino Junpei's house, but no one answered the doorbell after ringing it several times.

Hisahito Itadori: "Ah, maybe he's gone to school?"

Fushiguro Megumi had no objection, and they then took a taxi to Rissaku High School—since it wasn't time for school to end yet, they sneaked in with Shinmaru by climbing over the wall.

However, instead of finding Yoshino Junpei in his class, they encountered even more malice from their peers.

"Yoshino? Is there such a person in our class?"

"Oh dear, I don't recognize you at all—"

"Haha, don't say that. Isn't that location Yoshino's?"

"He hasn't been to school in a long time, has he?"

"I heard they used to have a good relationship with Sayama and the others?"

“Sayama?” Hisahito Itadori blinked. “Sayama is one of the three people who died in the movie theater a couple of days ago…”

As the break was about to end, Yuuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro were about to leave to avoid being questioned by the teacher about where they came from, when they heard another voice from the corner, but they didn't even dare to raise their voices in rebuttal.

“It’s not that they’re close,” the boy sitting in the corner complained bitterly. “Sayama and the others have been bullying Junpei all along.”

Hisahito Itadori stopped abruptly and turned to the other person's table—before the latter could show a look of horror, he smiled brightly at him.

Could you tell me the specifics?

………

"Initially, Yoshino Junpei, who loved watching movies, formed a movie club with a few like-minded people. But soon, the club was taken over by Ito Shota, a rich kid from the same school, who gathered other delinquents. Yoshino Junpei was also beaten up and fell into increasingly serious school bullying... In addition to Sayama, Nishimura, and Honda, who often bullied him, there were several others."

Fushiguro Megumi slowly read the words aloud into her phone, then calmly looked up at the delinquents hanging from the horizontal bar in front of her, their eyes filled with terror, yet they dared not let go and put themselves down.

Do you know what the most basic principle of getting along with others is?

The person who tried to land on the ground was bitten on the butt by something, howling in pain as they scrambled up a bit more, and could only continue to hang on the horizontal bar, struggling to stay afloat.

Two jade dogs, one white and one black, lingered around the group of people like sharks with their dorsal fins peeking out from the sea.

Standing to the side, Yuujin Itadori stared in disbelief at the skilled stance of Megumi Fushiguro, his eyes almost turning into beady pupils just like the black pea-shaped Shiba Inu in his arms.

"Brother Fu Hei! Please! Please forgive us, Brother Fu Hei!"

When they found these delinquents loitering around the school, one of them actually recognized Fushiguro, who had once been infamous among the delinquents of Urami Higashi Junior High School. This caused Fushiguro, whose past had been exposed in a single sentence, to fall silent for a moment.

So, this group of people were interrogated by the legendary Fu Hei Ge using methods typically used against delinquents—for example, hanging themselves from a horizontal bar with their own hands and not being allowed to come down without his permission.

From these people, Yuji Itadori and Megumi Fushiguro learned roughly about the bullying Yoshino Junpei suffered at school—including but not limited to verbal slander and humiliation, extortion, physical assault, burning skin with cigarette butts, and being forced to swallow rhinoceros beetles and various insects alive… Just hearing this made Yuji Itadori clench his fists, clearly enraged.

"Whether you continue hanging on the horizontal bar for another two hours, or try to call Ito Shota over to replace you, choose one."

Fukuro Megumi spoke coldly—and the jade dog under his command bit one of them hard on the buttocks when the other couldn't hold on any longer.

"ah…!!"

Screams and pleas for mercy echoed throughout this beach paradise where no one dared to come, lingering for a long time.

………

When Yoshino Junpei returned home, he saw from afar the unusually obese teacher from another village sitting at his doorstep, constantly wiping away sweat with a handkerchief.

Did they come to find him so he could go to school...?

Yoshino Junpei didn't want to get any closer to the other person, but the teacher from the other village saw him at a glance and immediately got up and ran over to him, giving him no chance to dodge.

"Yoshino!"

"Teacher from the outlying village... what is it?"

The distance between the two continued to shrink, and Yoshino Junpei subconsciously wanted to step back, but the teacher from the other village grabbed his hand and held it, looking extremely flustered, with sweat pouring down his forehead.

"Ito and Oike were bullied by some unknown people from outside the school. They were forced to hang on the horizontal bar for an entire afternoon, and their butts were reportedly bitten raw! They even demanded that you come over before they would let them go!"

Yoshino Junpei: "..."

Yoshino Junpei: "Huh?"