JJK: Chapter 7/9

Chapter 7: New Identity

After Nue appeared, the two of them circled around it for a long time, sometimes touching its wings, sometimes its body, playing with great enjoyment. When they had enough, each grabbed one of Nue's claws and experienced a low-altitude flight.

"Interesting. Hey, Eichi, why don't you be my driver from now on?"

Eichi rolled his eyes at Satoru.

"Go cool off somewhere. If you want to fly, work hard and get stronger so you can do it yourself. Nue is mine."

Recalling how Satoru later used his Technique to blast himself around the world like a cannonball, Eichi couldn't help but twitch his mouth.

He could guarantee that Satoru chose that method of movement not just for speed, but because it was fun, thrilling, and dramatic.

"Speaking of which, what about the thing I asked you for earlier?"

"Ah, that? It's been done for a while."

With that, Satoru casually tossed over a briefcase.

Eichi took out the materials inside and examined them carefully.

Name: Azuma Eichi
Head of Family: Azuma Sho (Deceased)
Address: XX-X, XX-chome, XX-ku, Osaka City

Inside were the new identification documents Eichi had asked Satoru to prepare.

"How about it? If you're willing to call me 'Onii-sama,' I'll let you be my little brother."

Satoru slung an arm around Eichi's shoulder with a mischievous grin.

"Huh? If anyone's calling anyone big brother, it's you calling me. I'm two months older than you."

"Too bad, you're younger than me now."

Satoru pointed at the date of birth in the documents.

It read December 8, 1989, exactly one day after Satoru's own birthday.

A vein bulged on Eichi's forehead. Then it bulged again.

"You should have other Shikigami, right? Call them out, and I'll help you tame them."

Seeing Eichi stay silent, Satoru muttered, "How boring," and switched topics.

"I really don't get whether you actually understand the Ten Shadows Technique or not."

Eichi gave him a speechless look. Sometimes this guy spouted detailed information about the Ten Shadows Technique, including Mahoraga, like he knew more about it than Eichi himself. Other times, what he said made no sense at all.

"Wait, you didn't just read Mahoraga's data and come here to show off, did you?"

Recalling how Satoru used to show off new knowledge as a kid, Eichi suddenly understood.

"How could that be? I also looked at Max Elephant's."

Satoru spread his hands, not even slightly embarrassed.

"Don't even think about it. There are restrictions on taming Ten Shadows Technique Shikigami. You can't help."

"Oh? What are the conditions?"

Eichi didn't hide anything.

"There are quite a few, but they can be summed up in two points. First, no existence other than the Ten Shadows Technique user's Cursed Energy can interfere with the taming ritual. Second, the taming location must meet certain conditions to ensure fairness."

The essence of the Ten Shadows Technique's taming ritual was for the user to subdue all ten Shikigami. But so far, the most powerful user in history had only managed to subdue nine.

"Oh?"

Listening to Eichi's explanation, Satoru thought for a moment, but gave up less than a minute later.

Eichi wasn't surprised. Satoru wasn't exactly the type who liked to think things through. Back in high school, he often relied on Geto's judgment.

For instance, during the Time Vessel Association incident, he'd asked for Geto's opinion, and when Geto said it was meaningless, he'd given up on killing those pawns.

"Simply put, there are two points: only my Cursed Energy can be present during the taming, and the taming location—at least the summoning point—must be fair."

Eichi pointed toward a structure outside the yard, crudely cobbled together from various materials.

"See that?"

"I see it. You like this kind of junkyard aesthetic?"

Another vein popped on Eichi's forehead.

"That's an iron cage I made from whatever I could find nearby. I planned to summon Nue inside to keep it from flying, but I was told the location didn't meet the ritual's conditions. So I had to go outside and perform the taming in an open space."

"Is that so? What a shame."

Eichi didn't mention that, although the Ten Shadows Technique had many rules, it also had loopholes.

This time, he'd exploited the second rule concerning location. He had prepared traps in the forest outside the ritual's judgment range. Then, he summoned Nue in the clearing at the forest's edge and immediately used the trees to block its dives and lightning attacks, finally using himself as bait to lure it into the trap and subdue it in one go.

As for the first rule, Eichi had an idea. On one hand, there were firearms—non-Cursed Energy weapons with great lethality—but he had no access to them now. On the other hand, there were cursed tools.

He discovered that some cursed tools possessed their own Techniques and Cursed Energy and were not recognized by the ritual. However, cursed tools like the Heroic Spirit chess pieces, whose Cursed Energy matched perfectly with the user's, were recognized by the ritual.

This meant some cursed tools could still be used during taming.

"Hey, why don't you call out Max Elephant? I'll help you test its strength. That thing looks pretty tough."

Barely a few seconds after being quiet, Satoru's lips curved mischievously again as he poked Eichi's shoulder repeatedly.

It felt exactly like an oversized white cat being annoying.

Confirmed—he was only here to mess around.

"Don't even think about it. You can't beat it right now."

Eichi swatted away Satoru's hand.

"Huh? Are you looking down on me? If you can beat it, how could I not?"

Satoru placed a hand on Eichi's head and started ruffling his hair.

I'll endure. I'll endure. I… can't endure it anymore.

"Perfect, let me show you who's boss here."

With that, the two of them started wrestling.

"Do you surrender?"

"Is that all you've got?"

"Do you surr… Ouch, that hurts!"

"My turn. Do you surrender?"

"You're not playing fair, are you? You actually used Limitless!"

"You have the nerve to say that? That dog almost bit my leg!"

"Whose fault is it that you stepped on Divine Dog's tail? Apologize to Divine Dog!"

"Huh? You want me to apologize to a dog? No way."

"Divine Dogs, bite him!"

After a chaotic brawl, both boys and both dogs lay sprawled out in the yard.

Although Eichi's Cursed Energy hadn't fully recovered, the two Divine Dogs he had summoned still held a good amount of energy, and with a three-on-one advantage, he gained quite a bit.

What Eichi didn't know was that while they were playing in the yard, the two bodyguards outside were sweating bullets, terrified that if the Divine Child got hurt, they'd be severely punished by the Gojo Family Head.

Fortunately, although the Divine Dogs looked like they were biting hard, they only went for the clothes. After all, it was just a playful fight between boys. Neither Eichi nor Satoru had any intention of causing real harm.

Moreover, Satoru was only seven years old, and his control over Limitless wasn't yet refined. Several times, he lost balance and unconsciously disrupted his own technique. Eichi had also told the Divine Dogs not to bite too hard, just tear Satoru's clothes to shreds.

You can endure pain, but can you still act tough when your clothes are in tatters?

Facts proved that Satoru was truly stubborn. Even if he were burned to ashes, his mouth would still be running.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 8: Suguru

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling~"

The melodious dismissal bell rang, and the students, who a second ago looked listless like invalids, instantly revived, turning into Olympic sprinters as they rushed out of the classroom.

The teacher, long accustomed to this scene, shook his head helplessly, closed his lesson plan, and followed the students out.

Eichi, who had been drawing and writing in the back row all day, also packed up to go home.

The year was 2003, and Eichi was already a second-year middle school student, two years away from entering high school.

As for why Eichi was attending an outside school?

The story goes back a few years.

It started when he was playing around with Satoru and, relying on fragmented knowledge from his previous life, mocked Satoru for a long time. Later, he suddenly received a notice that he had to go to elementary school.

"Gojo Satoru, this is your doing, isn't it?"

Upon hearing the news, Eichi immediately put Satoru in a headlock.

"Hmm, don't you like to study? I'm doing this for your own good. Besides, you're already old enough to go to elementary school."

Satoru forcefully pulled at Eichi's arm, while his other hand defiantly reached behind him, grabbing half of Eichi's face and pulling it outward.

"Ha, aren't you old enough too? Why aren't you going?"

His rare leisurely life was broken. The thought of having to go back to school and pretend to be young with a bunch of little kids made him blush.

"This old man attends family schooling. If you've got the guts, you go too."

Family schooling, the Zen'in Family's family schooling.

Eichi's fists clenched.

The courtyard got pretty chaotic after that.

Outside the courtyard, the two bodyguards no longer worried about Satoru. Instead, they skillfully lit cigarettes and drank tea, occasionally commenting on the two's moves.

Later, Eichi still went to school, but he chose the school himself.

"What are you thinking about, Eichi?"

A young man with long, narrow eyes, a bun, and a wisp of bangs over his left forehead placed a hand on Eichi's shoulder.

"Geto, I'm thinking about what to do after I go home later."

"There's still a long time until the commission. Do you want to come hang out at our club?"

Suguru smiled and extended an invitation.

Suguru's club was a music club formed in imitation of a famous rap band. Several boys in it were fans and dressed in a more alternative style.

This also told Eichi the origin of Suguru's odd bun and bangs hairstyle. It came from the lead singer of a band Suguru really liked.

"I'd rather not. After sitting in the classroom all day, I need to go out and move around, or my body will rust."

As he spoke, he put all his manuscripts into his school bag.

"Speaking of which, Eichi, if you like writing, why don't you join the literature club?"

After several years as classmates, Suguru already knew his best friend's hobby.

Eichi often wrote stories about historical figures being summoned as Heroic Spirits into certain events.

These stories, in Suguru's opinion, were all very exciting, but Eichi never published them, only kept increasing his backlog of drafts.

"Literature club? You know as well as I do there are more people there trying to flirt with girls than actually reading."

At first, Eichi was curious about club activities. In his previous life, because his PE teacher was often sick, he only had PE class a few times a year, so he envied such extracurriculars.

However, after joining several clubs in a row, he lost interest.

He found that these clubs were essentially just kids with similar interests playing together, or an instructor giving extracurricular tutoring to their favored top students.

The literature club was a bit special. Because it had many girls, it also attracted many boys.

Honestly, Eichi was surprised when he learned this. Don't the teachers crack down on puppy love?

Time quickly moved to night. After finishing their club activities, Suguru and Eichi arrived at an abandoned amusement park.

"Is this the commission this time? By the way, couldn't the client be more responsible? Unknown number of Cursed Spirits, unknown strength of Cursed Spirits. How can such a commission even be issued?"

Eichi mercilessly complained about the commission letter in his hand.

"It's precisely because there's no information that the price has increased three times in a row."

"Why are they so concerned about this abandoned land?"

"A big boss took a fancy to this cheap piece of land and bought it, planning to develop it. Later, when construction started, several workers died. To prevent the project from falling through, they begged for help everywhere. After learning about the existence of Cursed Spirits, they pulled some strings to find the Jujutsu World and issue a commission."

The speaker was Kong Shiu. The two met through Toji Zen'in.

After Toji left the Zen'in Family a few years ago, Eichi began to approach him under the guise of being a fellow member.

Perhaps because Eichi had also left the Zen'in Family, Toji's attitude wasn't too bad, but it certainly wasn't good either.

However, Eichi, who already knew his personality, didn't mind.

Later, when Shiu was looking for Toji, Eichi successfully obtained Shiu's contact information and, through him, took on some commissions related to Cursed Spirits.

"The people of the Jujutsu World aren't handling it?"

Suguru was a little curious.

"They think no one comes to this place anyway, so they are too lazy to deal with it. After all, the Jujutsu World is chronically short-staffed."

"I'll send a few Fly Heads in to check the situation."

His curiosity satisfied, Suguru prepared to act.

"No, I'll let Rabbit Escape go check."

Eichi rejected Suguru's proposal.

Although small Cursed Spirits like Fly Heads are easy to find and not a pity to lose, Eichi had noticed Suguru's obvious pain when replenishing Cursed Spirits in previous commissions.

The taste of Cursed Spirits was like a rag wiped with vomit.

Remembering this, Eichi proactively took on the reconnaissance duty, trying to help Suguru reduce how often he needed to consume Cursed Spirit Orbs.

Subsequently, a giant mass emitting countless red lights appeared in front of Shiyu, making him involuntarily swallow.

It was a small mountain made of Rabbit Escapes, the countless red lights being the individual scarlet pupils of the Rabbit Escapes.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Hundreds of Rabbit Escapes scattered, and Eichi quickly got the answer he wanted.

"Interesting. The Cursed Spirits' location is the office building on the west side of the amusement park and the adjacent dining area."

Eichi became interested.

"What's wrong, Eichi?"

Suguru was a little puzzled.

"Generally, the entities that would generate negative emotions in an amusement park should be clowns walking around giving out balloons, ghost employees in haunted houses, or ghosts on roller coasters and Ferris wheels, right? It's strange that the Cursed Spirits here are concentrated in the office building and dining area, isn't it?"

"It seems so."

Suguru thought about the amusement park ghost stories he usually saw and agreed with Eichi's statement.

As he pondered, Rabbit Escape brought the latest news.

"Target confirmed. There are a total of five Cursed Spirits, all above Grade 2 in strength and very aggressive. After discovering Rabbit Escape, they pursued it continuously until I dispelled the summoning."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 9: Suspected of Stealing Food from a Dog

After confirming the Cursed Spirits' locations, the two split up. Eichi went to the office building, while Suguru headed to the dining area.

Upon arriving at the office building, scattered newspapers and documents caught Eichi's attention.

"Shocking: Killer Dolls in the Amusement Park!"

"Vengeful Spirit-Possessed Dolls Bite Tourists!"

After a quick review of the news, Eichi understood the Cursed Spirits' intel.

A few years ago, an incident occurred at this amusement park where a mechanical doll in the dining area's pizza shop suddenly bit a tourist.

After the police investigated, the bodies of a security guard and five children were found nearby, leading to the park's closure due to sparse crowds.

Eichi recalled seeing this news a few years ago. It was widely circulated then, but it was quickly overshadowed by celebrity and gossip news.

Imaginary Cursed Spirit?

Eichi quickly dismissed this idea.

Although the news had been sensational for a while, its popularity faded too quickly to generate enough negative emotions to manifest five Cursed Spirits of Grade 2 or higher.

"Possessed Vengeful Spirits, then."

Eichi quickly found the answer.

Imaginary Cursed Spirits are formed from accumulated imagination imbued with negative emotions like fear and resentment. They are, in essence, monsters of imagination.

Possessed Vengeful Spirits, on the other hand, are Cursed Spirits born from the intense resentment of a cursed or high-Cursed Energy individual at the time of their death.

Examples include Rika Orimoto and Naoya Zen'in.

Rika Orimoto was naturally highly gifted and became a Special Grade Possessed Vengeful Spirit after being cursed by Yuta Okkotsu upon her death.

Naoya Zen'in's case was different.

Cursed Spirits are formed from solidified Cursed Energy generated by human negative emotions.

Jujutsu Sorcerers, due to their use of Cursed Energy, have a chance of becoming Cursed Spirits after death if their bodies are not properly handled.

The Cursed Energy used by Jujutsu Sorcerers is extracted and accumulated from negative emotions, so it is easy to understand why they are prone to becoming Cursed Spirits after death.

Naoya Zen'in was already a capable Jujutsu Sorcerer, and he was killed by a non-Jujutsu Sorcerer.

His internal Cursed Energy was not dispersed by other Jujutsu Sorcerers, and under its influence, Naoya eventually became a Cursed Spirit.

However, becoming a Special Grade Cursed Spirit is an exception among exceptions.

Rabbit Escape had detected five Cursed Spirits during reconnaissance, and the news reported that the security guard killed five children, so the answer became clear.

These five Cursed Spirits were Possessed Vengeful Spirits born from the children's deaths, afflicted by a curse.

However, this curser could not compare to the Blind-Eyed Cat's favorite son, Yuta Okkotsu.

He was probably an ordinary person with good Cursed Energy talent.

"Awoo!"

"They're here!"

Upon hearing the Divine Dogs' warning, Eichi immediately turned to face the enemy.

Three tall mechanical dolls entered his view.

"A bear, a fox, and is that a chicken?"

"Wouldn't these dolls scare children in an amusement park?"

After seeing the Cursed Spirits' appearances, Eichi could not help but complain.

Boom.

A reddish-brown mechanical bear punched toward Eichi.

Eichi dodged sideways, then kicked the bear's leg, noticing the name printed on its body at the same time.

Freddy.

Thud.

"It really is a machine."

Feeling the pain in his foot, Eichi immediately hopped back on one leg, retreating to the office building's entrance.

As Eichi regained his balance, Foxy the fox raised the hook in his hand and charged at Eichi.

"An eye patch and a hook? Were you a pirate before becoming a fox?"

Perhaps because he spent too much time with Satoru, Eichi felt he was complaining more and more.

He thought anyone who could resist complaining about Satoru was not normal.

Leaning forward, his Cursed Energy-covered left hand bypassed the hook and grabbed Foxy's forearm.

Then, using the momentum, Eichi adjusted his stance and kicked Foxy away.

"Orochi."

Eichi was standing with his back to the main door at the office entrance, his shadow stretched long by the moonlight streaming in from the doorway.

Orochi appeared from the shadow as Eichi intended, its jaws biting Foxy and then slamming its body wildly through the building, shattering wall after wall.

Sharp-eyed Eichi saw many parts burst from Foxy's body.

After Orochi smashed Foxy out of the office building, Eichi canceled Orochi's summoning, and the White Divine Dog continued the attack.

On the other side, Chica the mechanical chicken was repeatedly smashing a cake-shaped model at the Black Divine Dog.

Perhaps because it was not a meat bun, the Black Divine Dog was not falling for it, engaging Chica in a tangled fight with agile movements.

Seeing his companions tied up, Freddy could only swing the microphone in his hand and attack Eichi alone.

Eichi dodged Freddy's attacks while retreating toward the door.

"Nue."

The moment Eichi rushed out the door, Nue soared from Eichi's shadow.

Eichi turned to face the enemy, constantly attacking Freddy's joints with agile movements.

The unbalanced Freddy was met by Nue, who had been waiting. It swooped down, its talons fiercely piercing Freddy's body.

While Nue released lightning, its wings continuously flapped, carrying Freddy into the air.

Freddy, carried into the air by Nue, struggled constantly, but Nue, with its raptor instincts, was equally skilled in hunting techniques. It gripped Freddy's back with its talons from behind, making it difficult for Freddy's attacks to interfere with it.

After flying into the air, Nue adjusted its posture and rapidly descended toward the ground, performing an Earth Throw that slammed Freddy heavily into the ground.

With a loud crash, Freddy's mechanical body instantly shattered into pieces, and a black Cursed Spirit slowly emerged from a box inside the doll's body.

"This thing has a cockpit?"

Eichi's first thought was, do Cursed Spirits pilot Gundams these days?

However, now that the Cursed Spirit's main body had appeared, the rest would be easy.

"Nue, Thunderbolt."

Lightning fell continuously, and the black Cursed Energy on the Cursed Spirit's body grew fainter and fainter, until Nue stopped the electrocution when the Cursed Spirit was on its last breath.

Then, under Eichi's command, Nue went to the battlefield where the White Divine Dog was.

He himself entered the building to help the Black Divine Dog, who was still entangled with Chica.

After Eichi joined the battle, Chica found it hard to resist and was eventually torn into pieces by the two Divine Dogs.

Soon after, Eichi, with the two Divine Dogs carrying Cursed Spirits in their mouths and Nue by his side, found Suguru in the dining area.

The battle there had also ended quickly.

"A total of five Grade 2 Cursed Spirits, a good haul."

Suguru tossed a Cursed Spirit to the Divine Dogs, then turned and swallowed the remaining four Cursed Spirit Orbs one by one.

"Here, you must be thirsty after all that work."

After Suguru finished swallowing the Cursed Spirit Orbs, Eichi stepped forward and offered him a bottle of honey tea.

Eichi had heard that this tea was good at removing peculiar tastes from the mouth, and the subtle sweetness from the honey could relieve stress and relax the mind.

"Why don't you want that Cursed Spirit?"

Pointing to the rabbit Cursed Spirit being shared by the two Divine Dogs, Eichi was a bit curious.

"Forget that one. It had no respect for music."

"Cursed Spirits understand music?"

Looking at the rabbit-shaped doll remains and the matching electric guitar beside it, Eichi found his answer.

This rabbit would not have smashed Suguru with the guitar, would it?

The current Suguru was a chuunibyou and a rock fan. If this Cursed Spirit really used an instrument as a club to hit him, it certainly would not have a good end.

On the other side, Suguru's mood improved considerably as he watched the two Divine Dogs happily eating.

The first time Suguru saw the Divine Dogs eat Cursed Spirits, a strange thought emerged in his mind. Was he fighting with dogs for food?

It was not until Eichi mentioned that every household feeds its dogs leftovers that he recovered.

Eichi was right. He was feeding the Divine Dogs leftovers, not fighting with them for food.

The two left the amusement park, chatting and laughing.

The commission fee was split three-seven, with Eichi taking seven because Suguru felt that Eichi had found someone to take the commission, and Eichi also had to hold back to help him catch Cursed Spirits during the mission, so he firmly refused a fifty-fifty split.

Finally, after discussion, the two decided on the three-seven split.

(To be continued.)