Chapter 101 Chapter 101
Nobara Kugisaki missed the summer training and harvest festival, and returned to the village feeling quite upset.
But she had done a lot of things with her grandmother this summer, so she couldn't completely give up this opportunity. So she quickly gathered her composure and went to find Gong Zhili: "Sister Zhili, will there be fireworks this year?"
Seeing that she had grown considerably taller than she had been two months ago, Miya Chiri thought that letting her experience life outside was indeed effective. However, with so many children at home, she couldn't afford the kind of one-on-one tutoring that Grandma Kugisaki had—that's just the way it is with large families; it's more cumbersome to move around. Hearing this, Miya Chiri smiled and replied to Ye Qiangwei, "This is a decision made by the village chief and his team. If everyone's income and harvest increase by the end of this year, I'll propose it to him."
Nobara Kugisaki was very satisfied with this answer: the whole village belongs to Chiri-san, so what she said is equivalent to a guarantee!
So she went to the living room with some gifts for her friends. Today was the first day of school, and she had gotten up early to come here so she could ask Sister Zhili questions, give gifts to her friends, and even go to school with them!
After going to the living room, I found that there were two more children in Sister Zhili's house!
Looking at the unfamiliar faces of Yuuta Otsutsuka and Rika Inori, Kugisaki Nobara began to feel fortunate that she was carrying a bag of snacks instead of packaged gifts.
She put the bag in her hand on the table and said calmly, "Oh! I came back just in time for the start of school. These are the snacks I brought for you. Take them yourselves. I even missed the fireworks display. Damn it, I envy you so much!" She spoke quickly and loudly on purpose to draw everyone's attention to the snacks instead of focusing on the quantity.
Then, she turned to the two new faces very naturally and gave a hearty smile: "You are the new ones, right? I am Kugisaki Nobara! I am in the same class as Megumi Fushiguro and Yuji Itadori. How old are you?" She pointed to the side.
Yuta Otsutsukota seemed relieved and nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, I'm Yuta Otsutsukota, and this is Rika Norimoto. We just transferred here." Rika added: "We are in the same class as Nanako and Mimiko."
"What? So she's one grade higher than me," Kugisaki Nobara's eyes rolled. "But no one uses honorifics very often, so I don't use honorifics either," she pointed at Tsumiki. "But Tsumiki-nee is different. She's the older sister to all of us because of her ability."
After she said this, Rika and Otsutsuki actually felt relieved.
Perhaps Wild Rose has a magical power that can quickly break the situation and bring people closer together.
Tsu Miki smiled gently and said, "Wild Rose, how are you spending your summer vacation outside? Have you finished your homework?"
Kugisaki Nobara put her hands on her hips: "That's all, but I've grown taller! Fushiguro, you're the shortest among the three of us now~"
Fushiguro Megumi curled her lips, not wanting to argue with her about such a childish thing.
The atmosphere relaxed, and the children began to share snacks. Kugisaki Nobara also slipped some food into Otsutsuki and Rika's hands. It was almost time to go to school, and the children headed out in a large procession. The village school wasn't big. Kugisaki Nobara, Itadori Yuji, and Fushiguro Megumi were in the same grade and class, while Nanako and Mimiko were in the same grade and class as Otsutsuki and Rika.
On the way, Kugisaki Nobara came close to Nanako and lowered her voice: "Nanako, what's going on in your family? Where did these two people come from?"
Nanako replied in a low voice: "Chiri-sister brought them back. It seems something happened at home, so they will live here from now on. They can also see the curse spirits."
"Oh..." Nobara Kugisaki seemed to be lost in thought. When she arrived at school, she took advantage of the break to ask her familiar classmates, but everyone's understanding of Otsutsuki and Rika seemed to be only at the level of "new transfer students" and "seemed a little special". No one knew the more specific reasons. Nobara Kugisaki curled her lips and suppressed her curiosity for the time being.
After the children at home went to school, Miya Chiri also prepared to go out again. Gojo Satoru had mentioned before that there was a special-grade cursed spirit named "Hanami" who was related to forests and nature and whose whereabouts were uncertain. She planned to go to some remote ancient forest areas to look for clues.
She asked Togen to look after the house and left the village.
Because the journey was not urgent, she moved forward while sensing the changes in the land and plants, and was also able to detect the surging power in the earth. A few days later, in a remote mountainous area, she sensed violent fluctuations in mana ahead, two of which felt somewhat familiar.
Miya Chiri quickened his pace and soon saw two people fighting against a huge, segmented insect-like first-level cursed spirit - they were Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu.
Nanami Kento was a little embarrassed, but his movements did not change. Every blow he stabbed hit the vital points of the cursed spirit, but the cursed spirit's shell was extremely hard and its movements were swift, so he found it difficult to break the armor. Haibara Yu supported him from the side, with surging cursed power, trying to find an opportunity, but the cursed spirit's attack range was very large and its body was extremely flexible, making it difficult for him to get close to it.
Gong Zhili did not intervene immediately. She observed for a moment until the cursed spirit suddenly raised its tail and sprayed out a large amount of sticky, corrosive venom in a very wide range, about to cover the two of them.
She raised her hand.
The ground beneath their feet surged, and a solid and thick earth wall rose up in an instant, blocking Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu in time. The venom corroded the surface of the earth wall with a hissing sound, but failed to penetrate it.
Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu were both startled, and quickly stepped back, looking in his direction vigilantly.
"Chili?" Huihara Yu was the first to recognize the person and exclaimed in surprise.
Nanami Kento pushed his glasses and nodded slightly: "Thank you, Zhili."
"I just passed by here and it was just a matter of luck." Gong Zhili walked forward, his eyes fixed on the cursed spirit that was becoming increasingly violent because its attack was blocked. "Do you need any help?"
Nanami Kento glanced at the cursed spirit, then at Gong Zhili, and replied calmly, "If possible, please restrain its movements for a moment."
Gong Zhili nodded, and with a slight movement of her mind, the ground beneath the Curse Spirit's feet suddenly softened like a quagmire, instantly trapping its lower body firmly. The Curse Spirit struggled frantically but was unable to break free.
Nanami Kento wasted no time. "Spell—Ten Strokes Spell," he whispered calmly, charging forward. The blade in his hand flashed with light, slashing fiercely along the weak spot!
Haibara Yu cooperated almost at the same time, wrapping his fist with powerful cursed energy and hitting the shell of the cursed spirit that was broken by Nanami Kento.
With a loud bang, the cursed spirit completely dissipated.
After the battle, Nanami Kento sheathed his sword and meticulously adjusted his collar. Haibara Yuu let out a long sigh, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and smiled at Miya Chiri, saying, "Great to meet you! This guy is incredibly tough and cunning."
"Why are you here?" Gong Zhili asked. This place was quite remote. "Why would you come to the mountains to carry out a mission?" She remembered that they had been wandering around the city not long ago.
"A mission," Nanami Kento said succinctly. "Also, I'm picking up a child to go to elementary school on the way."
"Child?" Gong Zhili has been a little stressed out about children recently.
"Well," Huiyuan Xiong took over, his expression bright, "There's a child in the nearby mountains who seems to have a talent for sorcery. Window detected a weak reaction to his cursed energy. We're here to confirm it and take him to the Jujutsu Elementary School."
Gong Zhili raised her eyebrows slightly: "Do you find all your students one by one like this?" She imagined the scene of Gojo Satoru's sorcerers looking for children all over Japan like salesmen.
Nanami Kento pushed his glasses up, his expression serious. "We have more systematic channels for publicity and screening. These are primarily through referrals from cooperating sorcerer families, reports of unusual incidents from specific hospitals or institutions, and daily monitoring by 'windows.' However, these channels are nearly invisible to ordinary people, making them difficult to proactively access. For cases in remote areas like this, we need to send someone to personally confirm and guide them."
Gong Zhili understood: "I see, I'll go with you to take a look."
Nanami Kento did not object, and Haibara Yu nodded happily.
The three of them walked deeper into the mountains. They found a family living in a valley, almost isolated from the outside world. The child was a small, thin boy of about seven or eight years old, with a timid look in his eyes. His family looked like ordinary mountain dwellers, and they seemed wary and at a loss for words regarding the sudden arrival of someone in uniform (Nana and Haibara were wearing their high school teacher uniforms).
Nanami Kento stepped forward, showing some kind of ID and calmly explaining his purpose, including their child's "special" condition and the existence of a special school that could help him and provide him with food, lodging, and education. The process was not easy, and the family was filled with doubts and uneasiness.
Gong Zhili watched quietly from the side. She did not interrupt, but her calm and gentle temperament, as well as the way she walked with two teachers who looked very "serious", seemed to ease the family's tension a little.
In the end, under Nanami Kento's clear explanation and Haibara Yu's sincere attitude, the family reluctantly agreed to let the child go with them to "experience" it. It seems that they have encountered strange phenomena happening to their children before, but they have suppressed them. Now with Nanami Kento's explanation, the family's emotions seem to have some outlet. The boy packed a small amount of luggage and when he said goodbye to his family, his eyes were full of fear of the unknown and a little confusion of being chosen.
Miya Chiri looked at the thin figure, who was silently following Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu, walking out of the mountains step by step. She could indeed feel that under the impetus of Gojo Satoru, the world of curse arts was recruiting the young seedlings scattered among ordinary people in a more positive and systematic way.
They sent the children all the way to the Jujutsu Elementary and Middle School located at the former site of the Zenin family. The current atmosphere of the school was completely different from that of the ancient Zenin family. There were many children of different ages playing around among the green tiles and white walls, and some seemed to be doing simple exercises in manipulating the power of Jujutsu.
At the school gate, Gong Zhili encountered an unexpected, lazy figure.
Chanyuan Shen'er was leaning against the guard booth beside the school gate, holding a grass stem in his mouth. He was wearing a security uniform that was extremely ill-fitting and seemed to have been put on casually. His eyes were blank, and he didn't care about the people coming in and out. He exuded the air of "muddling through".
Gong Zhili paused and looked at him.
Kento Nanami and Yuu Haibara were obviously used to this and took the new child directly to the elementary school to complete the admission procedures.
Gong Zhili walked in front of Chanyuan Shener. The other party raised his eyelids and glanced at her, but did not react and continued to look up at the sky.
"Do you work here?" Gong Zhili asked.
Zenyuan Shener snorted in response.
"How much is the salary?"
This time, Zen Yuan was too lazy to even hum.
Just then, Huiyuan Xiong returned from completing some paperwork. Upon hearing the question, he scratched his head and laughed heartily, "Mr. Shin'er's salary...seems to have been directly deducted to pay off his debts. Gojo-senpai said he owed a lot of money, and working here is considered paying it off."
Miya Chili remembered that Gojo Satoru had indeed mentioned buying the land deeds at a very low price. It seemed that there were many "debt" disputes afterwards. She glanced at Zenin Shin'er, who still looked lazy and indifferent, as if what Huihara Yu said was not his business.
She didn't say anything else. It seemed that his ability to make full use of things had improved. He even brought the Zen temple into the school to "make use of his spare time" - although this "spare time" seemed to be almost nothing.
Before leaving the school, Gong Zhili glanced back. The new boy had been taken away by someone who looked like an upperclassman. Although he was still nervous, there was a hint of curiosity in his eyes. Zenyuan Shen'er was still leaning against the door, like an unqualified background board.
Miya Chiri turned around and continued her journey to find Hanamiya. The changes on this land were happening little by little, being promoted in Gojo Satoru's almost brutal yet somewhat imaginative way, and she seemed to have become a part of this change without realizing it.
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The author has something to say: I worked overtime both days of the weekend, and I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I typed a few words. I can’t quite remember if it was this painful when I last started working. I don’t remember, and I don’t know how long it will take me to adapt to the new job and environment. I’ve been thinking about quitting every day these days, but when I think about the days of studying hard to get this opportunity, all I can feel is absurdity. Working overtime, I wonder how long I have to live like this. Will it take a lifetime? It’s so long, I really want to take a break, but reason tells me that one year, two years, even five years, actually only accounts for a small part of my life, but the pain of work is eroding me every moment of every day, and if you count it by years, I’ll get used to this kind of life after five years anyway. A little bit of mumbling, getting ready to go to bed, I’ve been losing a lot of hair lately, it’s scary. Good night everyone~
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