"You know me?"
Tomie's tone carried a hint of displeasure, as if Eichi were a stalker who had secretly followed and investigated her.
Hearing that tone, a sudden urge to explain rose in Eichi's heart.
It was an urge to prevent Tomie from disliking him because of a misunderstanding.
Ding.
Faintly, Eichi seemed to hear the turning of a wheel coming from the shadows.
The impulse in his heart immediately vanished.
When he looked at Tomie again, Eichi returned to his stoic expression.
"I just think you resemble someone I recently met."
'Though I met her on a wanted poster.'
Eichi was not in a hurry to make a move.
In Mahoraga's perception, a vast amount of Cursed Energy was continuously spreading around Tomie, subtly enveloping the surrounding hundred meters.
If she were a Cursed Spirit, this Cursed Energy would likely have already begun to take shape, constructing the Cursed Spirit's innate Domain.
Moreover, Tomie was practically a treasure trove girl in Eichi's eyes.
There was a bounty on her from Jujutsu Headquarters, which meant she could bring in money.
She could help Mahoraga increase its inventory and assist Eichi in his Training.
She could even be given to Shoko as a gift.
Eichi remembered Shoko complaining to him last time that she had too few materials and could not fully enjoy her research.
Therefore, Eichi planned to package up this Tomie and send her to Shoko after he was done with her.
Ding.
During their casual conversation, Mahoraga's wheel completed its third rotation.
The first rotation adapted to Tomie's demonic charm.
The second rotation adapted to her ability to infinitely inflate desires.
The third rotation adapted to Tomie's ability to absorb Cursed Energy, converted from desire, from Eichi.
Thus, Eichi was willing, and Tomie was interested.
The two exchanged friendly words for quite a while.
Until Eichi realized he could not get any useful information from Tomie, and had nearly had information extracted from him by Tomie once, he finally ended the conversation.
Mahoraga's inventory was full, and no more information could be extracted.
This beautiful girl in front of him was now useless, so he should package her up and send her to Shoko.
With that thought, the dark shadows suddenly transformed into sturdy ropes, binding Tomie tightly.
"You..."
Tomie had not expected that they would be getting along well one moment, only for Eichi to turn hostile the next.
Her mouth was stuffed shut by the ropes made of shadow, allowing only muffled whimpers to escape.
Worried that the Assistant Supervisor might not be strong enough, and that he might be seduced by Tomie and betray him, Eichi chose to simply hang Tomie with shadows and fly back to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Early the next morning, when Shoko arrived at the laboratory door, she saw two unknown creatures writhing and crawling in the corner on the ground.
Two tightly bound Tomies, with what looked like rags or socks stuffed in their mouths and large bows tied onto them, were helping each other undo their restraints.
However, what bound them were special ropes with Cursed Seals, specially designed to deal with Curse Users.
The person who tied them up was none other than Satoru, one of the people in the world who understood Jujutsu best.
Under Satoru's technique, which conformed to both the aesthetics of the general public and human anatomy, the Tomies could only struggle against themselves.
The two Tomies twisted and squirmed in front of Shoko's laboratory all night without being able to break free.
After all, Satoru's methods had been repeatedly tested on members of the Kamo Family, they were absolutely professional.
"Kiyotaka, come help me."
Just as Shoko, Tokyo Jujutsu High's only weak woman, was wondering how to move these two long-desired complete specimens onto the experimental table,
Ieiri Kiyotaka, who wanted to "coincidentally" catch a glimpse of Shoko before heading out on a mission, happened to pass by.
That afternoon, something unexpected happened to everyone at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
The Jujutsu world's treasure, Tokyo Jujutsu High's most valued talent, the protected target in the eyes of her peers,
Shoko was attacked.
And she was attacked in her own laboratory.
Fortunately, Shoko, who had extensive experience in such matters and could even drag back a runaway corpse, did not panic and responded calmly to the attack.
Coupled with Tokyo Jujutsu High's various protective measures for Shoko, including but not limited to Medea's special multi-functional laboratory barrier, Eichi's specially approved cursed tools of various kinds, and Masamichi's Cursed Corpses, the attack was suppressed immediately.
"What exactly happened?"
After learning that Shoko had been injured, Satoru immediately returned to Tokyo Jujutsu High.
At the main gate, he ran into Suguru, who had also just flown back.
"I don't know. I heard it seems a Cursed Spirit appeared from Tomie's corpse."
Suguru told Satoru what he had learned over the phone.
"Did Shoko curse that woman? Could it be she's jealous of how pretty that woman is?"
If a Jujutsu Sorcerer's corpse is not killed with Cursed Energy, or if it is not handled by the relevant personnel after death, it can easily give birth to a Cursed Spirit.
Satoru believed Shoko would not make such a basic mistake.
"You just said corpse? Didn't the report say that woman couldn't be killed by cutting? Is she afraid of scalpels?"
As they talked, the two arrived at the principal's office.
Eichi and Artoria had already been waiting there for a long time.
"This is the report Shoko just finished writing. You two should take a look as well."
Masamichi handed them the prepared copies.
"How is Shoko?"
More than the report, they were concerned about Shoko's safety.
"She's fine. She's already gone to rest."
Masamichi gestured for them to relax.
"Is that so."
Satoru nodded and asked no further questions.
A brief silence fell over the principal's office.
Until Suguru let out a surprised cry.
"Tomie's true form is a Cursed Spirit?"
Suguru was somewhat surprised when he saw this conclusion.
Because when Satoru invited him, he had said, "The Jujutsu world has dispatched a large number of personnel to capture the Curse User Tomie, leading to a shortage of personnel for exorcising Cursed Spirits."
Therefore, Suguru, who preferred capturing Cursed Spirits over capturing Curse Users, did not participate in the search for Tomie.
"That's right. According to Shoko's research, Tomie's true nature has now been revealed.
Tomie is not a Curse User, as we initially judged, but an Over-Cursed Vengeful Spirit born from the curses of an entire class of students.
Based on the current information, it is inferred that Tomie can cause the desires of those around her to continuously inflate and eventually spiral out of control.
By absorbing the Cursed Energy from these ever-inflating desires, she increases her scale of existence and power.
Most importantly, Tomie can split and proliferate her existence.
If she is not dealt with promptly, this will cause unimaginable losses.
At present, the most effective way to deal with Tomie is Reverse Cursed Technique.
During her experiment, Shoko injected Tomie's corpse with Reverse Cursed Technique, accidentally forcing out Tomie's true Cursed Spirit form.
However, because Tomie's scale of existence is vast and she has extremely strong proliferative characteristics, ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerers find it difficult to completely exorcise her, and there is even a risk that they may turn against us.
Therefore, after discussions between Jujutsu Headquarters and the Tokyo Branch, it has been decided that you will handle Tomie."
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)