City Lights | Jujutsu Kaisen

Chapter Twelve

"Did you hear about the transfer student starting today?"

The four of us walked down a path outside the school, where the sun shone brightly.

Panda continued, "Apparently, he 'stuffed' four of his classmates into a locker."

"He killed them?" Questioned Maki.

"Tuna mayo?"

I stayed quiet, listening with curiosity.

"Nope. Word is they only suffered severe injuries," Panda explained.

I spoke up, "Hmm...Gojo-sensei told me to stick with him. Maybe he meant I should mess him up?"

"Hmph!... Well, if he's cocky, I'll wring him out," Maki said.

"Bonito flakes."

***

The air was tense as we sat at the front of the classroom. Based on the conversation the four of us shared on the way to class; it seemed as though we would have trouble getting along with the new guy.

My head was directed at the ceiling when Gojo seemingly appeared out of nowhere. I lazily tilted my head enough to watch him prance around the classroom as he spoke excitedly.

"I'll now... be introducing... the transfer student!"

He placed his hands in front of his face as he finished his sentence, "Everyone, get excited!"

"..."

He kept his arms up despite the silence that followed after his announcement. I threw my head back in boredom as his "new information" was already something we knew.

In a serious tone, Maki spoke up, "I heard he's an awfully sour one. I'm not going to create the mood for someone like that."

Although both Panda and Inumaki displayed their agreement with her statement, I continued to gaze at the ceiling as I had no opinion on the matter. Gojo sighed at our responses but quickly moved on.

"Oh, well. Come on in!" He announced.

The door slid open swiftly, and with it came the dread of a curse. Though my position prevented me from seeing it, the unpleasant voice was enough to display its danger. My eyes widened as I stared at the ceiling, yet I remained motionless even as the others readied themselves for an attack. It was only when the boy spoke his name that I swung my head forward.

"I'm Okkotsu Yut-" His words were cut off as we advanced towards him.

I was the first to approach him due to my technique. I stood to the right, a close distance beside him, my arm extended to the side, palm facing him to block his view; I was ready to blind him without hesitation. I saw his eyes widen in fear and then dart to the side as soon as Maki's blade struck the wall behind him.

"Is this some kind of test?" She asked, you could hear the distaste that laced her words.

Maki continued, "Hey."

I parted the fingers of my hand to unveil the one who was speaking to him. Through the gaps between them, he watched her as she spoke.

"You're cursed."

I kept my gaze on him along with the others.

"This is a place to learn about curses. Not a place for people who are cursed!"

Gojo finally spoke up, "Nationally, the average number of unexplained deaths and missing persons exceeds 10,000 annually. Most of those are casualties of curses born from the negative emotions of people. Among them are also malicious cases caused by curse users. Only curses can affect other curses. This is where we learn curses to exorcize curses: Tokyo Jujutsu High School."