Jujutsu Kaisen: Wheel Of Time

Chapter 24: School Legends

Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, rumored to be the greatest masterpiece crafted by a master artisan named Yasutsuna during the Heian Era, later beheaded and annihilated Shuten-dōji, the Demon King of Ōeyama, in the hands of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, thus earning the blade the name "Totsuka-no-Tsurugi."

The blade before Kamihara Hajime was slightly long, estimated to be over a meter, with a black-wrapped hilt and a roughly circular tsuba with intricate openwork and beautiful patterns.

The scabbard was made of rosewood, and Kamihara Hajime felt a strange sensation; upon grasping Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, he sensed Cursed Energy emanating from it.

This meant it was indeed a cursed tool. Grasping the hilt, Kamihara Hajime slowly drew the blade.

A cold gleam then sprang forth in the room, accompanied by an even stronger aura of Cursed Energy.

It turned out the scabbard was for concealing its aura, and judging by its appearance, the scabbard wasn't that ancient, likely used by previous Minamoto Family members to hide Totsuka-no-Tsurugi's presence.

The blade shimmered with a cold light, giving a very dangerous feeling upon sight, yet large, faint blackish-brown patterns clung to its surface, looking very discordant and eerie.

"It is indeed a good cursed tool. Is the other party definitely after it?"

Minamoto Naine recalled and said, "That day, Grandpa brought me here to look for some books, just to read stories, and unexpectedly, I saw a merman-like monster crawling towards this blade."

"He probably didn't expect me to see him, but my attacks didn't seem very effective. That's when I remembered this blade, and I drew it out and instantly cut a large wound on that fish monster, then it escaped…"

Kamihara Hajime pondered inwardly, this shouldn't be happening. It seemed Totsuka-no-Tsurugi had been kept in its scabbard, its aura well-hidden, making it undetectable as a cursed tool unless one was very close.

This was even with the scabbard's effect gradually diminishing, and this being their ancestral home, where almost no one else could enter this room. This suggested the intruder knew of the cursed tool's existence through other means and came to steal it.

Kamihara Hajime thought for a moment and said, "The enemy came prepared. My personal suggestion is that this blade should not be kept at home if possible. It's best if Naine carries it for now, or it can be entrusted to the school for safekeeping."

"To you, it's just an inherited treasure blade, but now Curse Masters have set their sights on it. Those unscrupulous villains are capable of anything…"

Minamoto Masayoshi naturally understood this. To be honest, while he was somewhat reluctant to part with this ancestral blade, when it came to his family's safety, he wasn't so concerned anymore. After all, everything in this room was an ancestral item, and there were many other armors and blades, just none as famous as Totsuka-no-Tsurugi.

"Hajime-kun, you can directly deal with that scoundrel hiding in the shadows, right!" Minamoto Masayoshi asked.

Kamihara Hajime replied indifferently, "From the current situation, as long as he appears before me, I can instantly take his life. Curse Masters like him are generally to be executed."

Minamoto Naine, beside him, gasped softly, "Do Jujutsu Sorcerers also kill people?"

Kamihara Hajime thought for a moment and decided to explain, "Typically, Jujutsu Sorcerers only need to exorcise Cursed Spirits. Most Curse Masters can hardly be called human; indulging in all desires, they will eventually be devoured by darkness."

"A Curse Master I encountered before, relying on his superhuman strength, brutally tortured and murdered several innocent women. For people like that, death is just letting them off easy. What we do could be called the Jujutsu version of police work."

"We are on the side of justice!" Minamoto Naine's expression became firm, while Minamoto Masayoshi, beside her, looked at his granddaughter with a mix of affection and unease.

Kamihara Hajime didn't say much. In reality, being a Jujutsu Sorcerer wasn't that easy. He himself was fine, able to easily deal with most Curses, and at worst, he could escape.

More low-ranking Jujutsu Sorcerers weren't so lucky. If they encountered high-ranking Cursed Spirits, immediate death was a relief, not to mention the multitude of missions.

But she would have to adapt to all this slowly. Awakening a Technique meant that your life as an ordinary person had begun to drift further and further away. Even if you forced yourself back into an ordinary life, your essence would ultimately be different.

Moreover, Curses don't only target Jujutsu Sorcerers. Even if you become an "ordinary person," you can still encounter Curses, just like Minamoto Naine's parents, who knew something about this, but never expected their daughter to become one of them.

However, on the bright side, there are some jobs with less danger, such as teachers at Tokyo Jujutsu High and some back-office work, or striving to become a high-ranking official in Headquarters. Of course, that last one is just a joke.

Minamoto Masayoshi said to Kamihara Hajime, "Hajime-kun, could you temporarily keep this Totsuka-no-Tsurugi until that Curse Master is found?"

Kamihara Hajime thought for a moment and said, "Yes, in that case, this scabbard won't be needed to conceal its aura. If that person is still after this blade, I can use it to lure him out."

"It's just that the defenses here are quite strict, so I might not stay here, lest the Curse Master in the shadows be afraid to act."

Minamoto Masayoshi chuckled and said, "No problem, I will arrange for someone to prepare a residence for you outside. You can tell me directly if you have any requests, Hajime-kun. Naine's parents are quite busy, so you might not see them often, but you can also find Sugihara Riko."

Afterward, Kamihara Hajime placed Totsuka-no-Tsurugi into a new, ordinary scabbard. The cursed aura on the blade became even more noticeable, to the point that even Minamoto Naine felt a slight discomfort from the blade after staying near him for a long time.

"I plan to go out and walk around nearby to see if I can find anything."

Minamoto Naine, hearing Kamihara Hajime say this, quickly interjected, "I want to go too." Minamoto Masayoshi couldn't resist her plea and agreed to let her follow Kamihara Hajime, but he also requested that Sugihara Riko accompany them.

After leaving the Minamoto Family residence, the three, plus White Wolf, didn't take a car or anything, saying they would walk, which meant they would take a stroll. Sugihara Riko quietly followed behind the two; if one didn't look back, it would be easy to overlook her presence.

After walking for a while, Minamoto Naine couldn't help but ask, "Hajime-kun, aren't you curious about my Technique?"

Kamihara Hajime, while instructing White Wolf to pay close attention for any unusual Cursed Energy, replied, "Jujutsu Sorcerers can reveal their Techniques as a Binding Vow to enhance their Technique's effectiveness, but some Techniques rely on informational advantage, and once known, can put one at a disadvantage. So, I generally don't proactively ask about others' Techniques."

Minamoto Naine listened to this detailed explanation, then thought for a moment and said, "Then my Technique seems to be the former! I call it 'Spirit Body.' I can perform out-of-body experiences, just like the ghosts in horror stories!"

Kamihara Hajime paused. A Technique related to the soul? This was indeed very rare; he hadn't even heard of any similar Jujutsu Sorcerers, only vaguely recalling that a certain villainous Cursed Spirit's Technique was also soul-related.

"How deeply do you understand your Technique?"

Minamoto Naine's face crumpled into a bitter expression, "Not at all. I always thought it was just a superpower before, and I never told anyone or learned anything about it."

Kamihara Hajime nodded, "It's okay. If you can enroll, someone will teach you." Then Minamoto Naine curiously asked some more questions about Tokyo Jujutsu High.

"Panda! Is it a real panda?"

"No, it just has the appearance of a panda. It's taller than me, walks upright, and can talk, a panda, you know."

Minamoto Naine instantly developed a strong curiosity for the as-yet-unmet Panda. It was a panda, after all, how cute!

They continued walking for a while, and White Wolf still hadn't detected anything unusual. They reached a small river nearby, and a gentle breeze blew along the riverside, making it quite cool.

"Hajime-kun, if there are things that seem like supernatural occurrences, are they all Curses at work?"

Kamihara Hajime, who was communicating with Gojo Satoru on Line, turned his head to look at Minamoto Naine upon hearing her question, "Have you encountered other Curses?"

Minamoto Naine quickly waved her hands, "Not me, it's a friend of mine at school. She seems to have been in a bad mental state lately, and she's been evasive when I ask her. And she seems to be afraid of something."

Kamihara Hajime thought for a moment and said, "That's possible. Some urban legends or school legends can give birth to Curses. Your friend might have encountered something similar, but she hasn't suffered any physical harm yet. Are there any rumors of deaths at your school? The kind that are very bizarre."

Minamoto Naine thought for a while upon hearing this, then said somewhat uncertainly, "There are some horror legends, of course. Don't schools usually have similar legends? But regarding bizarre deaths, I'm not too familiar with that. However, I know someone at school who knows a lot about that."

Kamihara Hajime looked at Minamoto Naine and asked, "Are you very worried about your classmate?"

Minamoto Naine looked at the flowing river, "Yes, I am. Ayako usually doesn't have many friends. I might be one of her few friends. If I don't care about her, maybe no one else will."

Kamihara Hajime typed a string of characters on his phone screen and sent it to Gojo Satoru, then said to Minamoto Naine, "Then let's go to your school and take a look. If there's a Curse, we can just exorcise it."

A bright smile appeared on Minamoto Naine's face, "Thank you, Hajime-kun. Hajime-kun is truly a companion of justice. Of course, so am I!"

Kamihara Hajime looked at Minamoto Naine, his expression somewhat unreadable, "Oh no, she's a chuunibyou girl. She's not fantasizing about being a magical girl or something, is she?"

In reality, his suggestion to go to the school to investigate for Curses had other purposes. If there truly was a Curse, encountering the enemy could also serve to draw out the Curse Master who might be hiding in the shadows.

If not, he could still test the effects of Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. How did a Curse Master who manipulated Shikigami learn about the existence of this cursed tool? It all felt more complicated than it seemed.

"I say, don't you have school?"

"Huh? Of course, I took leave! Principal Uncle and Dad are quite close, and my grades are very good, so a few days off won't matter."

As their voices faded into the distance, only the ceaseless sound of flowing water remained by the river, trickling alone. After the group's figures disappeared, ripples suddenly spread across the calm river surface, and then a shadowy man rose halfway out of the water. He looked in the direction Kamihara Hajime and the others had left, revealing a troubled expression.

"Damn it, how did a Jujutsu Sorcerer get involved? That blade is still on that brat. I need to test that brat. If that happens, I'll kill them and take the blade. Lord Geto's mission cannot be abandoned halfway."

The man's body gradually submerged back into the river. Looking again, there was only the clear, flowing river water and the fish within it; no human figure remained.

Upon arriving at Minamoto Naine's school, it was clearly a high-end private school, likely a noble school. Originally, Kamihara Hajime, a stranger with a large dog, wouldn't have been able to enter, but for some unknown reason, Sugihara Riko negotiated, and Kamihara Hajime was allowed in without any hindrance, though White Wolf had to be left at the gatehouse.

After instructing White Wolf, Kamihara Hajime, carrying Totsuka-no-Tsurugi in a violin case, entered the school gate with Minamoto Naine. It was lunchtime, and many young boys and girls were coming and going. Surprisingly, upon seeing Minamoto Naine, almost everyone greeted her. Many seemed very familiar with her, regardless of gender.

"You're quite popular at school, aren't you?" Kamihara Hajime watched a few girls grouped together affectionately hug Minamoto Naine and whisper, then he gave a mischievous smile at the two before they were chased away by Minamoto Naine's embarrassed annoyance.

Minamoto Naine came back to herself, looking puzzled, "Hajime-kun should be very popular at school too, or have you only ever attended that one school?"

Kamihara Hajime, with his hands in his pockets, thought about the people he had beaten up in middle school and the female classmates who desired him, then said, "Half and half."

"Where's that classmate you mentioned who knows a lot of school rumors? We still need to see the person involved later."

Minamoto Naine thought for a moment and said, "He should be in his club right now. He joined that… Occult Club. He usually likes to talk about ghost stories and school gossip."

Led by Minamoto Naine, the two arrived at the Occult Club's activity room. It wasn't large, just a small room. Walking to the door, they could hear a hushed voice inside vividly narrating something.

"Knock, knock."

Minamoto Naine knocked on the door and then pushed it open, "Keisuke."

The voice in the room was interrupted. The boy in a school uniform with a buzz cut turned his head, looking at Minamoto Naine who called him, and said in surprise, "Naine, you're back at school!"

There were also two boys and a girl sitting in the room, who had been completely engrossed in listening to the rumors told by the boy named Keisuke. When they saw Minamoto Naine enter, they all smiled and greeted her. After some chatting, Minamoto Naine also introduced Kamihara Hajime to them, though with some reservations.

"So, you want to know if there have been any bizarre incidents at school before, or even deaths because of them?" Keisuke recalled with a serious expression. After a moment, he looked up, "It seems there really are some…"

"You've all heard of the school legends, right? Things like piano sounds in the classroom, the human mannequin, and Miss Hanako that every school has. But there's one that's very unusual, and that's the legend of the thirteenth step on the staircase…"

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