Chapter 15: The Long First Night (I) (Patreon)

Chapter 15: The Long First Night (I)

...

"It's after work hours, Anjouin."

The voice on the other end of the line grumbled like a burned-out corporate drone.

"Heh, that's a strange thing for you to say, Mr. Nanami. In this island nation's current climate — where women get worked like men and men get worked like livestock — isn't unpaid overtime just part of every laborer's daily life?"

"If you don't do it, plenty of others will. Be grateful they're not making you pay to show up." Anjouin said it in a tone that was plainly joking.

"What a load of crap. That brings back terrible memories." On the other end, Nanami grumbled and cursed.

Certain experiences in his past had left him convinced that jujutsu sorcerers were garbage, so after graduating from Jujutsu High, he'd gone to work at an ordinary company instead.

As for what an ordinary company turned out to be — well, anyone who's lived it knows. He came to hate overtime and decided labor was garbage too.

In the end, having found both sides equally worthless, he'd quit and become a professional jujutsu sorcerer, a job that suited him far better.

"Why are you calling me at this hour?"

"It's only seven, Mr. Nanami." Anjouin smiled faintly, gazing out at the sea, now sunk into darkness after the sun had gone down.

"Though I do actually have something I'd like to ask of you."

Hearing Anjouin's tone turn gradually serious, Nanami sobered up as well.

"Anjouin, please don't tell me it's something troublesome again."

"If it weren't troublesome, I wouldn't bother asking you, Mr. Nanami. It's just that I'm a little worried about those benefits the state guaranteed during the interview..."

As he spoke, he laid out — one by one — both what he'd guessed himself and the worries other people had shared with him.

Nothing to be done about it. This country was garbage at its core, after all.

Though Anjouin put on the air of someone genuinely worried whether the state would honor its promises, Nanami could tell those concerns really belonged more to the ordinary students.

Anjouin, whom he'd already pegged as an insider, didn't seem like the type to care about such things.

Granted, if he was honest, Anjouin did worry about his own family — but if the island nation truly meant to cultivate state-sponsored jujutsu sorcerers, it would surely keep close watch over their relatives.

"Anyway, I'd appreciate the help, Mr. Nanami. When the time comes, I'll be counting on you to pass along whatever I want to say to my family."

"So it really is something troublesome."

Nanami had already decided this was something Anjouin was doing for the sake of the ordinary students.

"Have them write down what they want to say in a letter. I'll have someone mail it to their families, and set up a designated return address — every two months... no, every three months, I'll bring those letters to the school."

"Thanks, Mr. Nanami."

So this was what it meant to be the most reliable adult in all of Jujutsu Kaisen, huh?

"Well then, let me give you a piece of information for free, Mr. Nanami."

"I hope it's worth the overtime I'm putting in."

"Advanced Nurturing High School's original land area was six hundred thousand square meters. That's what's recorded in the student handbook and in the admissions materials alike."

The information Anjouin was about to reveal was exactly what Ryoko Nishikawa had brought him.

"But right now, Advanced Nurturing's land area is seven hundred thousand square meters..."

"Are you sure that's right?" A note of agitation crept into Nanami's voice.

"Of course."

Anjouin found nothing strange about that reaction.

"If the satellite maps still show Advanced Nurturing at six hundred thousand square meters... then there's really only one likely explanation."

"A Domain."

"A Domain."

Anjouin and Nanami, on opposite ends of the line, said the exact same word in perfect unison.

A living school with a Domain — the mere thought of it was frightening.

And if it wasn't a Domain, but Advanced Nurturing itself simply expanding on its own, that was a different kind of terrifying.

"Does the Strongest really not intend to do anything about Advanced Nurturing?"

"No — Satoru Gojo says Advanced Nurturing isn't the enemy."

On the other end, Nanami's mood was clearly unsettled. However you looked at it, Advanced Nurturing had undergone some kind of mutation and become a living school.

Sending so many ordinary students there was no different from delivering a flock of lambs straight into a monster's jaws.

As an honest and dependable adult, Nanami naturally opposed it.

But he had no way to change Satoru Gojo's mind.

And with the country's Cabinet Secretariat pushing things along behind the scenes, one man's voice and influence counted for next to nothing.

"It seems there are things the Strongest doesn't want to tell us. In that case, Mr. Nanami — let's work together."

Faced with Anjouin's proposal, Nanami thought it over for a long while.

"No problem."

"Oh? Agreeing just like that?"

"Of course. I have high hopes for you. I'd never heard of the Anjouin family before, but I don't think you'll stop here."

Nanami went on. "Satoru Gojo is interested in you too."

"...That's wonderful to hear. I just hope the Strongest doesn't give me too hard a time."

Gojo might be flawless in every other respect, but his personality really was terrible — the title of Strongest had stunted his growth.

But even a Strongest who'd stopped growing was still beyond ordinary people's reach. The only ones who could rival him were the Strongest of every past era.

What was a simple little test to him was a disaster for everyone else.

"That settles it, then."

"I hope you don't call me a third time today."

"Haha, can't make any promises there."

After ending the call with Nanami, Anjouin scratched his head and turned to head back toward the dorm.

That's when he heard commotion coming from behind the dorm building.

"Suzune, I didn't expect you'd actually chase me all the way here."

That stern, commanding voice sounded unusually familiar.

Did I just walk into this scene?

"I'm not the useless person you used to know, brother. I came here to catch up to you."

The striking black-haired girl from Class 1-D called out toward the figure behind the dorm.

"Catch up... to me?"

The figure let out a deep sigh.

Anjouin, unexpectedly, felt a flicker of sympathy.

He could understand the man's feelings to some degree.

If his own little sister were as stubborn as this Suzune Horikita, it would give even him a headache.

"This isn't a game. This school isn't as simple as you think it is — leave right now!"

There was no doubt about it: Manabu Horikita had a point.

In fact, his argument was even more convincing than it had been in the original story.

Compared to the old school — which had been little more than playacting — Jujutsu High, a place built to train jujutsu sorcerers, meant soldiers. It meant fighting against curses.

To walk alongside battle was to walk alongside death.

What brother would want his little sister thrown into danger?

Still, if it were up to Anjouin to choose, he'd actually want his own sister to attend this school.

No matter how much you protected your sister, you couldn't let her lose the ability to protect herself. Becoming a jujutsu sorcerer meant facing danger often, sure — but not being one didn't mean being free of it.

An ordinary person who ran into a cursed spirit wouldn't have the slightest power to resist.

Still, this was ultimately a matter between the Horikita siblings, and Anjouin had no intention of butting into someone else's family business.

"Ngh..."

Suzune flinched slightly, but pressed on stubbornly.

"I'll prove it to you, brother. I... I'll make it to Class A."

"You probably don't even know why you were assigned to Class D. You really haven't changed a bit since three years ago."

Manabu's composure was genuinely cracking, but he kept up his hard front. "All you've ever done is stare at my back, and even now you haven't noticed your own flaws."

"At this school, all you're going to do is suffer more."

"T-there must be some mistake! I'll get into Class A right away!" Suzune shot back loudly, though she sounded far from confident.

"Impossible. You'll never reach Class A."

After the school had become Jujutsu High, past evaluations couldn't necessarily measure the current students' talent anymore, which had given both the second- and third-years renewed drive to compete.

They hoped the new evaluation system might let them reshuffle the rankings among Classes A, B, C, and D.

But truly outstanding people stayed outstanding even on a different track, and outshone most others regardless.

Someone weak in academics and weak in athletics wouldn't be able to bring out an ounce of power even after awakening a formidable technique.

As Student Council President, Manabu had the authority to review surveillance footage and track the progress of special exams.

It was only because today was the first day of school that none of it counted toward an official special exam.

Otherwise, Class D's behavior alone at the entrance ceremony — discussing women's physical features in a public area, kicking over trash cans, littering — would have been more than enough to dock over a hundred Class Points, on top of a heavy expenditure of points besides.

Honestly, he doubted any Class D in the school's history had ever been worse than this year's.

Of course, Manabu didn't deny that Class D had a few monsters in it.

Why those monsters had ended up in Class D left him thoroughly puzzled.

But no matter how outstanding those monsters were, it would be hard for them to drag an entire class of deadweight up with them.

Having once single-handedly carried a class of thirty-nine others, Manabu understood that better than anyone.

Granted, his year's Class A wasn't as strong as it could have been, but it was still Class A — Classes C and D were no match for them at all, and only Class B warranted any real caution.

More often than not, what he was really fighting against was the school's expulsion system.

"I will — I will absolutely get into Class A..."

But in the face of Manabu's declaration, Suzune kept stubbornly pushing back.

"Didn't I just say it's impossible? You really are a disobedient little sister."

Manabu felt like his head was about to explode.

He didn't even know how to deal with his own sister anymore. At bottom, it was because she'd spent so long imitating him that she'd lost herself, and that only made him want to avoid her more.

Even now, he could still remember how adorable her smile had been as a child.

Gritting his teeth, Manabu decided that to keep his sister out of this dangerous school, he'd beat her badly enough to force her withdrawal.

The next moment, he grabbed the unresisting Suzune's arm and hauled her bodily off the ground.

Watching Suzune's legs dangle in midair, her whole body lifted by one of Manabu's hands, Anjouin cut in despite himself.

"Go easy on her. Hit her now, and it's your own heart that'll ache for it later, Student Council President."

"You?"

Hearing the noise, Manabu set his sister down and turned to see Anjouin stepping out of the shadows.

"I didn't even notice you. How long were you hiding there?"

"Don't play dumb." Anjouin rolled his eyes.

"You spotted me a while ago. You were trying to draw me in, weren't you?"

Manabu's behavior proved he really was a sister-complex case through and through — but not knowing how to handle her, he'd tried to lure an outsider in this way instead.

That way, the fact that the Student Council President had struck someone could later serve as an excuse for the outsider to demand hush money.

Then Manabu would have a perfectly reasonable pretext to pay that hush money, and get the outsider to look after his sister in return.

In short, it was all a setup.

"If I hadn't stepped out, were you really planning to keep hitting her?"

"..."

Manabu thought it over. If he was going to put on this act, he had to commit fully — but looking at his sister, her wrist still caught in his grip, he genuinely felt a pang of pain in his chest.

Yanked up so roughly, Suzune's wrist had been sprained.

"Hmph." Manabu said nothing more.

Couldn't win the argument, so he just scoffed instead.

That said, Anjouin had no intention of calling him out on it.

"Running into you here must be fate. I've actually been wanting to have a chat with you, Student Council President."

"If it's something I can answer..." Manabu said, his voice cold.