Aomori Prefecture, Japan.

Obatazawa.

The reliable adult woman, Kuroi Misato, drove the car and followed the instructions of the sorcerers into the increasingly dark forest.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Tenuchi Riko hugged her arms and shivered, "It's so cold."

It should have been a hot summer day, but she felt a slight chill that penetrated into her bones, making her shiver all over.

Xia Yujie handed her a piece of clothing from behind.

Kuroi Misato asked with some concern: "Mr. Gojo, are we really not lost? After turning a corner five minutes ago, I always feel like we have been walking the same route over and over again."

"Just repeat it." Gojo Satoru said in a relaxed tone, "Repeat it a few more times and you'll get there."

"...I see. Is this a maze or something like that?"

Kuroi Misato quickly accepted this statement and breathed a sigh of relief: "Indeed, if we hide in the maze, the possibility of being found will be reduced."

"This is more than just a maze." Gojo Satoru asked them, "Have you heard of Sugizawa Village?"

"Sugizawa Village?"

Kuroi Misato shook her head.

Tenuchi Riko also shook her head, "No, is that place famous?"

"Sugisawa Village is where we are going now." Gojo Satoru said excitedly, "Well, that's right. Sugisawa Village was already a thing in 1938. It's normal that you little brats haven't heard of it."

Amanouchi Riko & Kuroi Misato: "..."

Al & Summer Oil: "..."

Al kindly reminded him, "Wu Jun, if I remember correctly, you are only sixteen years old this year."

The oldest one here, Misato Kuroi, is already around 30 years old.

Since officially embarking on the road of "escape", Gojo Satoru has been very excited, just like a child who got a new toy, and once he gets excited, he can be very unforgiving with his mouth.

Tenuchi Riko was speechless and said, "Although I am a little curious about what Sugizawa Village is, but with Gojo's tone, I absolutely don't want to ask any more questions!"

Kuroi Misato was a little surprised and said, "So our destination this time is Sugizawa Village? But when I rented a car before, I didn't see a place called Sugizawa Village on the map."

Gojo Satoru said, "Of course. We spent half a month searching for Sugizawa Village. If we hadn't memorized the route by heart, we wouldn't have been able to drive in so early today."

Tenuchi Riko complained, "Wow. You call this early? It's been a long time. It's like being stuck in a maze. That place is too mysterious."

Xia Yujie smiled and asked her, "Well, Riko-sister, do you want to hear the story of Sugizawa Village? I promise you won't be sleepy anymore after you hear it."

Tenuchi Riko narrowed her eyes and said, "Okay, but I want to listen to Al!"

Al, who was suddenly CUEd, raised his eyebrows, thinking he had heard it wrong.

"I?"

"Yes." Tenuchi Riko said, "Gojo and Getsuyu would definitely scare me on purpose."

And Al, a clean freak who loves cleaning, looks very serious - well, although he is a "nurse" who carries a grenade and a pistol with him, Tenuchi Riko still trusts Al very much.

Al blinked in surprise, and Xia Youjie patted him on the shoulder and asked for his opinion: "How is it, Al? Can you tell a story?"

If it was the blond Al before, he wouldn't have asked unnecessary questions, but this Al now...

Al said, "I'll try my best. Mr. Jie, we are only talking about the legend of Sugizawa Village, not our last experience, right?"

Kagome thought for a moment and said, "Well...it's not that we can't tell you about our experiences, but there's no need to do so for now. Let's leave some surprises for Riko."

So Al nodded.

"I see."

In fact, the reason why they knew about Sugizawa Village was thanks to the rotten oranges in the high-level curse world. They gave the task of exorcising the "Sugizawa Village" curse to Al and his two companions, and Al and his two companions successfully completed the task - at least on the surface, they did complete it.

"Sugizawa Village was named after the stream that flows through the cedar forest. In 1938, the Tsuyama Murder Case occurred in Sugizawa Village."

Al narrated the story in a serious tone: "It is said that a man in the village took the army physical examination, but because he failed the physical examination, he was rejected by a woman he had once had a relationship with. In anger, he slaughtered the entire village with a pistol. Two hours later, he fled to the mountains and shot himself."

"Wow." Tenuchi Riko said in disgust, "What kind of loser is this? He wants to kill the whole village just because he is rejected by a woman?"

Kuroi Misato took advantage of the situation and taught her: "That's right, young lady, so you must be careful when looking for a boyfriend, especially a guy like this, who must have a tendency to violence."

Xia Yujie smiled and agreed, "Yes, that's right, and you must date for a few more years before getting married. Some scumbags are very patient and will pretend until after marriage when their true colors are exposed."

Kuroi Misato suddenly raised her voice and agreed, "That's right! I've seen this kind of scum in the news. He said he endured humiliation for a year before getting married, and after getting married he began to take revenge on his wife, often beating or threatening her. He is completely different from before the marriage. He is simply a deliberate pervert."

Facing this sudden sermon, Tenuchi Riko curled her lips and said, "How can I tell? I don't have the ability to read minds."

Gojo Satoru said confidently, "Even if you can't tell the difference between scumbags, you can always tell the difference between high-quality males, right? How does the saying go? Ugly people are always ugly in different ways, but handsome guys are all handsome in the same way. It's the same principle."

——What it means is: every scumbag has his own characteristics, but the image of a good man is quite unified.

Tenuchi Riko: “…”

Tenuchi Riko said painfully: "Gojo, I understand that you are very confident about your appearance. But, have you ever been pursued by a girl?"

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Gojo Satoru choked.

Xia Yujie laughed and said, "You are right, Riko-sister. After all, this guy has a big mouth."

Gojo Satoru was unconvinced and asked, "Do you want to fight, Jay?"

Tenuchi Riko murmured to herself, "Tsk, you are no better than me. This guy who looks like a good coaxer is also unreliable, like a liar..."

Xia Yujie: “…”

Kuroi Misato agreed: "I think so too, Miss. He is too good at making others happy. I think that's not good enough."

Xia Yujie: “?”

Who is this talking about? It can't be about him, right?

The reliable adult woman looked relieved. "That's great. I was worried that you would develop some inappropriate feelings during your escape... Miss, it's great that you are not interested in them."

Gojo Satoru & Kayuki Kagome: "..."

Tenuchi Riko said, "Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, no way, if I were to like someone, I'd like Al! After all, he's the one who protects me closely!"

Gojo Satoru snorted, "I tell you, Riko-chan, you will definitely regret this. You have never seen Al go crazy."

"How rude, Gojo! What do you mean by crazy? Even if Al is crazy, it must be because you are too unhygienic!"

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Damn, it's so hard to refute.

Al listened for a long time before he realized that Tenuchi Riko was praising him for being a "good man". He nodded seriously and said, "Thank you, but I am a non-marriageist, so it doesn't matter if they are not as good as me."

Gojo Satoru: “…”

Xia Yujie: “…”

"Huh?" Tenuchi Riko said in surprise, "Avoid marriage? Why?"

Others looked over as well.

Al said calmly, "Because a person's misfortune in life often begins with marriage."

Tenuchi Riko: “…”

Kuroi Misato: “…”

What a sobering speech!!!

Al said seriously, "Can we continue the story? After the incident in Shanze Village was discovered by the outside world, the person in charge of that area felt that this incident would affect his career, so he concealed the massacre of the village."

“…Huh?”

"They wiped the name of the village off maps and even deleted everything about Sugizawa from the official records of Aomori Prefecture, trying to erase the existence of the entire village."

"..." Tenuchi Riko commented: "This behavior is no different from a scum who kills people."

Al nodded: "So it's retribution."

Tenuchi Riko was interested and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Sugisawa Village really disappeared from its original location, leaving no remains. Later, officials involved in the operation to wipe out Sugisawa Village sent people to investigate, but none of them returned. After a few times, no one dared to look for Sugisawa Village anymore."

Tenuchi Riko was surprised and asked, "What happened? What happened in Sugizawa Village?"

Al shook his head. "I don't know. But for a long time after that, there was no news about Sugizawa Village in society. It was not until 1988, fifty years after the Tsuyama Murder Case, that a woman and two men who were traveling by car got lost here and accidentally entered Sugizawa Village."

Tenuchi Riko asked nervously, "And then?"

"Then, the next day, nearby villagers found the car and the unconscious woman on the bridge they had passed before. Her hair turned white overnight, and she was in a daze when she woke up. She said a lot of strange things, and she moved away from Japan not long after. As for the other two men with her... no one knows where they went."

“Is this true or false?”

"Really." Al said, "This is a case that has been filed in the archives of the Kyoto Jujutsu High School."

“Are there really ghosts in the world?”

"Miss..." Kuroi Misato called her helplessly. From the perspective of a sorcerer, she calmly analyzed: "I guess those people should have entered the birth domain of cursed spirits. I heard that high-level cursed spirits have the ability to expand their domains."

"Ha, you're right." Gojo Satoru said, "The villagers' resentment turned into a powerful curse. The incident in 1988 was an ordinary person who mistakenly entered the realm of the cursed spirit. Two men died in the realm, and although the woman escaped, she was too severely eroded by the curse."

Xia Yujie said: "She was sent to a hospital in Aomori Prefecture, but ordinary medical methods could not remove the curse in her body. By the time the Curse Master Association sent people, she was already dying, but fortunately she was saved."

“…”

Oh, it’s good that he’s been rescued, it’s good that he’s been rescued.

"After that incident, the Curse Master Association took over Sugizawa Village, but because they were unable to exorcise the cursed spirits in Sugizawa Village, all they could do was to try to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering this place and arrange for nearby villages to move away."

After learning that Al could remove the curse, the high-ranking rotten oranges gave them the mission of Sugizawa Village.

After all, curses are something that will always be a hidden danger if kept.

Tenuchi Riko was surprised: "Wait, is this the place we are going to enter? Isn't that very dangerous!"

The three technical college students said innocently, "Yes."

Tenuchi Riko: “…”

What do you mean yes!

She was shocked and said, "Even if you want to escape, you don't have to flee to a place like this, right?!"

"Don't be afraid, Miss." Kuroi Misato tried to remain calm and said, "Didn't Mr. Gojo just say that they are very familiar with this place? So the cursed spirits inside must have been exorcised. They are special-grade!"

"puff."

Gojo Satoru teased them deliberately: "That's not right. Because the cursed spirits in there are not ordinary cursed spirits, but curses. Think about it, if it was just an ordinary cursed spirit, no matter how weak the high-level officials were, they would not have allowed it to exist for so long."

Kuroi Misato: “!!!”

Curse!

Curse!

Is it the legendary curse? !

"Look." Xia Yujie said, "We're already there."

Kuroi Misato & Amauchi Riko: "!!!"

They saw a faint red torii in front of them... No, it couldn't be called red now. The torii in front of them was severely faded and seemed to have been decayed for a long time. There was a skull-shaped rock next to it.

The entire forest was silent. It was summer, but there was not a single sound of birds or insects. The whole world was silent.

"Get out of the car."

The three people from the high school opened the car door and got out one after another. Tenuchi Riko and Kuroi Misato had no choice but to follow them out of the car.

Al said calmly, "The torii with the skull-shaped rock is the entrance to Sugizawa Village."

Tenuchi Riko swallowed.

"Should we... take shelter inside?"

Al nodded and walked into the Torii first. Gojo Satoru turned around and said to them, "Follow me."

Riko Amauchi and Miri Kuroi looked at each other, then followed them into the torii. Geto Suguru walked at the end. The cursed spirits behind him opened the trunk and took out their luggage. Geto Suguru also released ten low-level cursed spirits to lurk around the car as spies.

They stepped into the Torii, and the moment they stepped over it, the surroundings suddenly became dark. They walked forward on the overgrown mountain road. After walking silently for about 100 meters, a large open space and several dilapidated houses appeared in front of them.

This is Sugizawa Village.

Shanze Village was silent. The houses were old and dilapidated, and the thatched roofs were stained with suspicious blood. There were many farm tools scattered around the houses, as well as the corpses of cows and horses. A large amount of dried blood formed winding trails. In addition, there were many... human corpses.

"Hello."

Amauchi Riko was shocked and hesitant, "These people... they don't look like they've been dead for decades, right?"

At most, he was dead for a few hours.

Al and Gojo Satoru walked into one of the rooms as if they were familiar with the place. Tenuchi Riko followed them reluctantly and looked back at Geto Suguru, who smiled at her as if to comfort her.

"Don't be afraid."

“…”

Tenuchi Riko took a deep breath and walked into the house.

"Just stay here for now." Al dug out a mop from the mess and said, "Let me clean up first. I cleaned the place last time, but after a month, there are bloodstains everywhere again."

Gojo Satoru put his hands in his pockets, not even trying to help with the cleaning. He said idly, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. If we don't set up the 'tent', this room will be reset along with the entire area..."

Tenuchi Riko murmured, "Is this... all the murder scenes from 1938?"

“I guess so.”

Gojo Satoru smiled mysteriously and asked Geto Kagome who just walked in, "How is it, Geto?"

"Ah..." said Geto. "The time in the realm should be before midnight now. It's not time to reset yet."

Tenuchi Riko said unhappily, "What do you mean? Hey, when I have money, I will definitely hire some bodyguards who can speak human language!"

Gojo Satoru: “Haha ...

Al and Geto couldn't help laughing, and Kuroi Misato couldn't help laughing either.

Gojo Satoru said, "Riko-chan, it's pointless to spoil the story in advance. Life needs lots of surprises."

"…Isn't it a shock?"

"Hahaha." Xia Yujie took the initiative to say, "Then I'll clean up the garbage here first. Just like last time, throw out all the useless things and use the bedding we brought with us, right?"

"Sure, I'm not the one doing the work anyway."

Kuroi Misato quickly said, "Please let me help too!"

Health Commissioner Al nodded and assigned her a task: "Then you can sweep the ground. I will go to the nearby stream to fetch water."

"OK!"

Gojo Satoru said lightly, "Yes, yes, yes, hurry up and clean up. After that, we can have the self-heating hot pot. This tomato-flavored hot pot is really good. It's a pity that we only brought ordinary instant noodles when we came last time. They taste terrible."

From the tone of his voice, it seemed as if he was here to camp.

Tenuchi Riko complained to him: "How can you say such things in this place full of corpses..."

Having said that, he sat down on the suitcase.

Xia Yujie: “…”

Xia Yujie said: "If you two have time, quickly set up a 'tent' and help me dress up Shirai."

Gojo Satoru let out an "oh", and soon, a translucent tent dropped from above their heads, covering the house they had chosen.

Tenuchi Riko asked curiously, "Why are the colors of your 'accounts' different? Oh, by the way, if you use the 'accounts', won't that person know about it?"

Gojo Satoru shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's okay. The domain itself is a very special space. Even if we use it, the old guy can't locate the exact location. As for what we said in the 'account'... Ha, what can he do if he hears it now?"

"……Too."

While Al, Geto, and Kuroi Misato were diligently cleaning the room, the idle duo found a bag of Christmas tree decorations from the suitcase.

This was something she bought when she was replenishing her supplies. Since it was something that had been unsellable, the owner only charged her a small amount of money. Tenuchi Riko thought it was cute and bought it.

Shirai, dressed in a butler's outfit, stood solemnly in front of them. Kagome, who could change his outfit with one click, explained, "It has worn all the clothes we bought, so we can only add some other Easter eggs to the same outfit."

Gojo Satoru and Tenuchi Riko wrapped Shirai around her again and again with small hanging lights and even stuck little stars on her clothes.

Gojo Satoru teased, "Now 'the cursed spirit operator likes to play dress-up with cursed spirits' has become a fact, right?"

Xia Yujie was speechless and said, "Isn't this your and Al's idea?"

"Hahaha, I didn't expect the mastermind behind this to be so powerful. Shirai was beaten to pieces every time he went there. If it weren't for the immortality of the curse, it would have been gone long ago."

To all conscience, they had no intention of harassing them once an hour at first, but after discovering that the so-called "mastermind" was strong enough to disperse a first-level cursed spirit, they began to seriously implement this "harassment" plan.

"Okay, Jay."

When Xia Yujie turned around, he saw a Christmas tree version of "Shirai" standing at the door.

“…”

He snapped his fingers and Shirai disappeared from where he was, going to harass the forum posters.

Gojo Satoru stretched his back lazily. "Anyway, let's stay here until the assimilation is complete and the Jujutsu world gives up on Riko-chan. Then we'll go out and settle accounts with the mastermind behind the Bankei Cult."

Al added, "By the way, Riko, the speed of time in this realm is different from that outside, so we have to stay here for many days. Although this is a murder scene that is difficult to clean up, there are many beautiful flowers in the mountains behind."

After a long while, Tenuchi Riko finally smiled from the bottom of her heart.

"Thank you for saving me - I'd better save that for after everything is over."

Gojo Satoru smiled and said, "If you're really embarrassed, you don't have to say it."

"Huh? Do I look like a coward? How disrespectful!"

"Isn't that so? As a star plasma body, you are actually afraid of ghosts."

"How can I be afraid of ghosts? I just walked in here by myself!"

Al: “…”

Wait, these two naughty kids not only can't help, but they are also kicking up clouds of dust at the door. This is really unreasonable.

Unfortunately, the two naughty kids had very poor eyesight and did not notice Al's increasingly hostile gaze at all.

"?"

Al turned his head as if he had noticed something and looked at Geto Suguru who had a serious expression.

"What's wrong?"

Xia Yujie came back to his senses and whispered, "Shirai was dispersed again."

Al was puzzled and asked, "Isn't it always like this?"

Xia Yujie shook his head. "The place where it was broken up is a little closer than it was an hour ago."

But logically speaking, since they had already run to such a remote place, they should be getting further and further away from the posters on the forum. An hour ago, he thought that the distance was not widened by chance, but now...

He said solemnly: "The enemy attack may come earlier than we thought."

“…”

Al glanced at Kuroi Misato who was mopping the floor, and Amauchi Riko who was arguing with Gojo Satoru, and whispered, "Tell Gojo-kun about this later."

"Um."

Outside, Riko Amanouchi suddenly screamed.

The world outside the "account" began to reset, the corpses on the ground and the blood around them turned into light spots and dissipated, the dead livestock stood up again, and everything in Sugizawa Village returned to the day of the "Tsuyama Murder Case", when the tragedy had not yet occurred.

Al said calmly, "It's midnight."