Intrigue and the New World
Late at night, in a courtyard in Kyoto.
Unlike the brightly lit front yard, a small courtyard in the northwest corner was dark and gloomy, where a person sat under the long corridor facing the gate. His face was somewhat indistinct in the moonlight, but it could be vaguely seen that he was very young and rather thin.
A gust of evening breeze blew by, and the man couldn't help but cover his mouth and cough a few times. Then he picked up the teacup on the tea tray beside him and took a few sips to suppress the itching that followed.
At that moment, the thin clouds that had obscured the moonlight dispersed, and the bright moonlight shone down, illuminating the man's face. On the young man's still somewhat sickly face, a slightly grotesque suture line ran across his forehead, seemingly left by some kind of craniotomy.
"What a sorry sight." After recovering, the man looked down at his overly thin wrist and spoke in a gentle voice with a hint of coldness. "This is probably the most pathetic I've been in years. That kid's technique was unexpectedly domineering."
The young man muttered to himself, talking to himself.
-
Tokyo High School of Curses.
The four sat in a row, eyes downcast and mindful of their own thoughts. In front of them were several sheets of white paper and a black pen. In front of them, Moth was doing handicrafts with a dark expression on his face.
Seeing that they didn't move, he lifted his eyelids and glanced at them indifferently. The four people sitting in a row shuddered and picked up their pens to start writing their self-criticisms.
Writing self-criticisms was something that the other three, except for Shoko Ieiri, were already quite skilled at. They didn't even need to draft; they just pulled out the cap and started writing quickly.
The students were all convinced by their self-criticisms, since forgetting to let everyone know they were safe upon their return was indeed wrong, and they had also missed the afternoon class as a result.
After writing his self-criticism, Tsurumi Kawakami read it through from beginning to end, made a few changes, and then handed it to Yagami Masamichi with a humble and earnest expression.
Night Moth Masamichi had a sullen face. He carefully read the self-criticism and placed it on the table. He looked up at the obedient student with his eyes downcast and thought of the news that came from the director's office last night. His expression was a little complicated.
"...If you encounter any difficulties in the future, you can come to me for help. The decision issued by the General Administration is that you will be on a mission alone this month, and your Level 1 Spellcaster rating will be temporarily suspended."
With a stern face, Moth Masamichi took a green woolen doll from under the table and handed it to him: "This child is yours."
Tsurumi Kawakami's eyes widened in disbelief as he took the plush toy. Touching the fluffy creature, a bright smile spread across his face, and he exclaimed with delight, "Thank you, teacher!"
Seeing Tsurumi Kawaru return with the doll, Gojo Satoru blinked curiously, reached out and touched the doll's round ears, pinching them.
"Night Moth, you're so biased! You only gave Ryu a doll. We're both students, yet you're treating us differently." The white-haired man with sunglasses rested his chin on his hand, drawing out his sweet, cloying voice, as if afraid Night Moth sitting above him wouldn't hear him.
Xia Youjie glanced at Ye'e Zhengdao, whose face had darkened instantly, tugged at the back of the collar of the white-haired sunglasses person next to him, and added fuel to the fire by saying, "Wu, don't say that about Teacher Ye'e. Maybe Teacher Ye'e only brought one doll today."
Gojo Satoru slammed his hand on the table, making the pens on it bounce. His voice suddenly rose: "Hajime, what are you talking about? Moth isn't the best at handicrafts. There were at least a dozen dolls there last time I went to the office!"
Night Moth Zhengdao's face was dark and gloomy. The veins on the back of his hand, which was pressed against the table, were bulging. With a snap, the pen broke in two. He picked up a piece of chalk from the table and threw it at him.
"Gojo Satoru—!" he roared furiously, "You two, write another thousand words of self-criticism and hand it in!"
-
In July, as temperatures rise in Tokyo, the sound of cicadas begins to fill the air.
Tokyo Vocational High School is located on a mountainside, so the temperature is cooler than at the foot of the mountain. As soon as summer arrives, the number of cursed spirits suddenly increases throughout Japan. There are less than half a day of classes a week, and the rest of the time is spent traveling around to exorcise cursed spirits.
Tsurumi Kawaru is now a near-Level 1 sorcerer. Although his Level 1 sorcerer rating was suppressed by the Directorate General, his strength is more than sufficient. Because of the previous incident involving the Stardust Body and Matsumoto Saburo, the higher-ups have assigned him an unusually large number of tasks.
But as Tsurumi Kawaru watched the money slowly increase in his card, he squinted with delight and would urge the assistant supervisor who was sent to ask for more exorcism missions.
After working non-stop for more than half a month, most of the backlog of tasks was finally cleared out thanks to Tsurumi Kawaru's efforts, leaving only some scattered and not very urgent tasks.
Returning from the mission location, carrying local specialties bought for others, Tsurumi Kawakuri encountered first-year students Nanami Kento and Haibara Yu as soon as he got off the bus and entered the high school.
Hello, senior!
Haibara Yu, radiating enthusiasm like a little sun, waved to him. Nanami Kento, standing next to him, had no expression on his face, but his tone conveyed respect.
Tsurumi Kawakami hadn't seen them for a while, mainly because he was too busy. But for the friendly and polite junior, he took out two portions of beef jerky from a pile of local specialties and handed them over.
"Are you going on a mission?" he asked with a smile.
Haibara Yu nodded and said, "Yes, a level 2 cursed spirit has appeared in Chiyoda Ward. Nanami and I are planning to go check it out."
So, Tsurumi Kawakami didn't keep them any longer. After chatting for a few minutes, he waved goodbye to them.
Back in the dormitory, Tsurumi Kawaru first took a shower and changed his clothes, then took some local specialties and knocked on the doors of Natsuyu Jie and Gojo Satoru's rooms.
Before returning, he asked in their chat room what local specialties they wanted. It was a habit of Tsurumi Kawakuri to buy some local specialties to bring back from each place they visited. Fortunately, they had almost finished their tasks for the month, so they could finally gather together at the vocational high school.
Xia Youjie knocked on the door but received no response. Wujiao Wu's door opened after a while, but it was Xia Youjie who opened the door with his hair half-down and wearing casual clothes.
Tsurumi Kawakami was surprised for a second, then said familiarly, "Were you playing games late last night?"
Xia Youjie reached up and ruffled his hair back, his face still showing a deep weariness. He nodded with his eyes half-closed and turned to walk inside.
"Is everything going smoothly?" he asked.
This month, the tasks assigned to Tsurumi Kawaru by the higher-ups in the management department even exceeded those assigned to Natsuyu Suguru and Gojo Satoru, who were already first-level sorcerers. Both of them were dissatisfied with Tsurumi Kawaru being bossed around.
Tsurumi Kawakami nodded: "Yes, it's almost finished."
As he spoke, he carried the things to the refrigerator, opened it, put the things inside, and then glanced at the drawn curtains.
The room was dimly lit. Snacks and game controllers were scattered on the carpet where he usually played games. A blanket was on the sofa next to him. There was a large bulge on the bed, and Gojo Satoru was still sleeping wrapped in a thin blanket.
Xia Youjie walked to the bedside: "Wu, get up."
Tsurumi Nagare helped tidy up, putting the snack bags and game controllers back where they belonged, and also folding the blanket on the sofa and placing it aside.
At that moment, Gojo Satoru, who was wrapped in a thin blanket on the bed, turned over, pulled back the blanket, and poked his head out: "What time is it, Ryu? Why are you back?"
Tsurumi Kawakami stood up and greeted them: "There's some daifuku I brought back from the fridge, would you like to get up and eat some?"
Gojo Satoru, like a long-haired cat stretching, stretched his arms and legs and said in a lazy, slightly weary voice, "Hmm, eat up, I'll get up right away."
Sitting cross-legged in front of the sofa, Tsurumi Kawaru chatted with Natsumi Yujie about the things they encountered in the mission while unpacking the beef jerky and dried meat on the table.
"...I encountered a very interesting cursed spirit, and I thought Jay would definitely like it, but it's a bit of a pity that I couldn't bring it back." Tsurumi Kawaru said with some regret.
Xia Youjie paused for a moment, then said somewhat helplessly, "Don't talk about this like it's nothing special. I've subdued a lot of cursed spirits during this time, about three thousand in total."
Tsurumi Kawakami's eyes widened slightly, his beautiful golden pupils like flowing liquid gold. He said with some surprise and amazement, "Eh—! Jet has so many? That's amazing. He's commanding a sizable army."
There is no limit to the number of spirits that can be subdued and absorbed by the Spirit Manipulation Technique. In other words, if you can continue to subdue and absorb them, the subdued and absorbed spirits cannot grow and can only remain in a subdued state.
Therefore, after Xia Youjie increased the number of cursed spirits, he began to selectively subdue them. He would not subdue unnecessary or missing cursed spirits, but would directly exorcise them.
He currently possesses several top-tier cursed spirits, such as the flying Rainbow Dragon, the Slit-Mouthed Woman, and the Tamamo-no-Mae he subdued some time ago.
"What? What are you talking about?" Gojo Satoru washed his face with cold water, his cheeks, forehead, hair, and collar were all wet. He leaned in front of the two of them and asked, picking up a daifuku from the table and eating it.
Tsurumi River then recounted the conversation he had just had with Natsume Gaku. Gojo Satoru took a bite of daifuku, nodded, and said in a slightly muffled voice, "Gaku is really strong. His techniques are something everyone dreams of. After all, he's a Pokémon Master."
Tsurumi Kawakami: "
Having never read the manga, Tsurumi Nagaru blinked and asked bluntly, "What is Pokémon?"
Gojo Satoru looked at him in surprise: "Eh, you haven't read Ryu? Let me tell you, it's super, super good! I have every single volume! I even have a complete set, and all the related merchandise too."
After being enthusiastically recommended the manga by Gojo Satoru, Tsurumi Kawakami suddenly became interested in it, looking at him with sparkling eyes and asking Gojo Satoru for a copy to read.
Xia Youjie, standing to the side, watched the two of them huddled together, chatting about comics, and sighed helplessly.
Tsurumi Nagaru, who was exposed to manga for the first time, was completely captivated and successfully opened the door to a new world. He then became a regular at the bookstore and, after his love for eating, meat, and saving money, he developed a new hobby—reading manga.
And because of his own reasons, he has a special fondness for comics with tags like heroes, other worlds, adventure, and action.
Tsurumi Kawakami: I feel like I've learned a new skill/knowledge point/thinking approach today.
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