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Sorry for the delay, guys, was busy with some personal stuff. On that note, just giving a heads up, the upload schedule might be a bit inconsistent for the time being. So just keep that in mind and enjoy the chapter.
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The next morning arrived. Currently, all the students who were gathered in the Kyoto Jujutsu High were passed out in Naoya's room.
At some point during the night, things got a little too competitive, and they continued playing the whole night.
In the end, Naoya showed them how a true master plays and came out as the one with the most wins. Kuroko was second, but the difference in the number of wins between him and Naoya was too much.
Surprisingly, Mei Mei and Satoru came in a joint third place, much to Naoya's and Satoru's surprise. They were not expecting the freaky senior to be so good at games.
During the night after getting to talk with all of them, Naoya came to an understanding that even though, like most sorcerers, each of them had a few screws loose, they were all good people. Even Mei Mei. She was a very knowledgeable lady, especially in the field of money.
Shoko, true to her role as a healer, was very knowledgeable in the medical field. So much so that even Naoya, who prides himself on his knowledge in diverse fields, was not able to keep up with her.
Suguru was somehow similar to him, not just from the point of view of their techniques, but also their ideology of sorcerers being there to protect the weak and ignorant common folk. Naoya, too, believed in that since he was young, and though that feeling had weakened quite a bit, he still had some belief regarding that.
"Agh. Good morning~" muttered Utahime as she started waking up, though she still felt a bit groggy.
She rubbed her eyes and looked around,, feeling that the surroundings looked a bit strange.
She blinked for a while and then realised where she was.
She checked on the people around her; all of them were asleep.
Satoru, Suguru, and Kuroko were wrapped in a single sheet like a burrito, and so were Maki and Mai.
The rest of the girls were not wrapped up but still shared a sheet with their branch member.
She was partnered with Yuki, but the senior seemed to have slipped out of the sheet, giving Utahime the sheet all for herself.
Her gaze then moved towards the bed where Naoya was sleeping peacefully all alone.
'Must be him...' thought Utahime.
They didn't have these sheets on them last night, so someone must have brought them, and seeing that Satoru and the kids were wrapped up in a burrito while Naoya was sleeping freely, it was easy to guess who the culprit was.
Still, she didn't complain. The boy made sure that they won't get cold at night afterall when they intruded out of nowhere.
"Huh...what's this hard thing...wait, why am I stuck?"
Suddenly, a voice came, making Utahime turn towards the one who spoke, and she saw the white-haired Special Grade waking up.
"...Suguru! Oi Suguru! Wake up!" called Satoru in panic. He was feeling something hard around his thigh, and he didn't want to confirm what it was.
"What happened?" asked Utahime with worry.
"Who the f*ck is screaming this early in the morning?" asked Naoya, woken up by the commotion.
"Naoya! Did you do this?" asked Satoru.
"Huh? Yeah, we were short on sheets."
"You were sleeping alone!"
"Yeah. I didn't want to sleep under the same sheet with a man, Maki and Mai kick a lot in their sleep, so they too were eliminated," replied Naoya.
"...I am not going to complain....Just move these two away from me," said Satoru in a calm but serious tone.
"What happened?" asked Naoya.
Satoru didn't say anything and just stared at Naoya seriously before gesturing something to him.
Naoya thought for a while before realisation dawned on him,, and he immediately unwrapped the human burrito before spaying ice cold water at the two boys.
Satoru immediately opened the window and threw the two out.
Utahime blinked in surprise, not understanding what was going on.
Naoya and Satoru sighed, right now there were more than just boys present in the room and they didn't want the other two to be ashamed of popping a morning wood in front of the girls.
"Phew. Mission accomplished."
"Prevented lifetime trauma."
The two special grades fist bumped at the job well done, though to the others, their actions just looked weird.
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Later that day, outside the barrier where the 1st event occurred, the students of the two branches stood on opposite ends.
They had their team meetings and have submitted their respective team plan to the authorities. Now they were waiting for the announcement for the 2nd stage to begin.
"Here, Senpai, take this, best of luck," said Naoya.
The first fighter from Kyoto's side was Utahime. She didn't want to be an opener, but unfortunately, in the draw that they did, she was unlucky.
The order of the Kyoto side was as follows:
1) Utahime
2) Kuroko
3) Yuki
4) Naoya
Tokyo's order was not known to them, but if Gojo was not going to open, then Utahime was a good choice as an opener. She was quite an experienced sorcerer and could hold herself up pretty well even in dangerous situations.
"Why are you giving me a gun?" asked Utahime.
"To blow a hole in the opponent if needed," replied Naoya.
"AS IF I WILL USE THAT IN A FRIENDLY BATTLE!!!!" yelled Utahime.
"You complain so much. Alright, take this then," said Naoya, and this time handed a metal bat to her.
The bat may look normal, but it was actually a Grade-2 cursed tool.
Utahime took the bat from Naoya, thinking that it was all right to bring it to a friendly match and gave it a few practice swings.
"Hmm? It has a good feel...wait? You have a cursed tool shaped like a baseball bat?"
"Made it specially for you. Consider it a gift. Go smash some skulls," said Naoya and gave her a thumbs up.
She stared at the bat for a while and soon shook her head. She never knew that the first gift that she would ever receive from a boy would be a baseball bat to fight others.
She gave a nod and walked towards the barrier.
"Best of luck, Senpai," cheered Kuroko.
"Don't be back soon. Try to take them down," added Yuki. She was hoping that she could be the first one to enter just so she could beat the other side as soon as possible and have Gojo appear, but it seemed like that fate (a.k.a me, the writer) had some other plans.
"Attention to students. The 2nd event of the Good will event starts now. First participants from both sides enter the barrier."
Once the announcement was done, a small crack appeared in the barrier and a door like openeing appeared.
"Well, I am going." said Utahime and got serious.
The rest gave her a nod in return and Utahime got in the barrier.
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Once she went inside the barrier, the barrier closed again, preventing others from entering inside.
Utahime walked further, the place was huge considering that it was the same field that was used for the team event.
However, due to the destruction caused by Naoya and Satoru, the entire landscape was barren. There were no places to hide, most of the rubble was cleared but there was still many broken trees and rocks lying here and there.
"Hm? It's Iori senpai. Go easy on me."
Seeing the first year girl from the Tokyo branch as her first opponent, Utahime was slightly relieved. Sure, the girl was given Grade-1 status, but that was not because of her combat skill. She was given that status because of her capability to heal others using RCT and how useful it was for the society.
Still, she didn't let hwe guard down. She had not seen her fight yesterday, so there might be a chance that Shoko might be able to put up a fight.
1 minute later.
"I give up! Uwaa! Senpai! So strong!" cried Shoko who was defeated in a single light non cursed energy enhanced punch.
'Forget what I said. She is no fighter at all!' thought Utahmie and even felt bad for hurting her junior who could not fight at all.
"Winner Kyoto! 1 minute break starts now. 2nd participant from Tokyo be ready!"
The announcement came and Shoko looked at Utahime and gave her a bow.
"Well then senpai. I will go back now, best of luck."
"Ieri, do you know who will I be fighting now?" asked Utahime hopefully.
"Now now senpai, I can't be giving information to the enemies! That is a no no!" said Shoko and made a cross with her fingers and walked out of the barrier.
"Ugh! From now on whoever it will be it is going to be difficult!....Calm down Utahime! You can do it! Just think about how annoying that damn Zenin will get if you lose badly! Do your best!" yelled Utahime and cheered herself.
Soon the 2nd participant from the Tokyo branch arrived and Utahime got serious.
"Hello! Senpai are you surrendering?" asked Suguru Geto with a smile.
Utahime's grip around the bat tightend as she got ready to strike.
"Don't worry about me. I can handle myself pretty well." replied Utahime as the cursed energy coated the bat.
"Cursed Tool? Do you think just a bat would be enough to deal with all of us?" asked Geto as cursed spirits started pouring out of him.
He didn't summon any Grade-1 spirit or higher since he didn't want to be too much in front of a Grade - 2 sorcer like Utahime.
Utahime sized the spirits arround her and took a deep breath and focused intently at Geto.
'If I get entangled with the spirits, then there is no chance to win. I will need to aim for the summoner.' thought Utahime and started running towards Suguru.
Suguru looked at her uninterested. In his eyes, she was atleast not foolish enough to go for the spirits and aim directly for him.
'Not like I don't know how to deal with that kind.' thought Geto as cursed spirit emerged out of the ground and aimed straight towards Utahime.
However, the moment the cursed spirits got a bit close to Utahime, her hand moved swiftly and smashed through the cursed spirits using the cursed tool.
[Simple Domain]
The domain that she painstakingly learnt from Naoya was finally somewhat usable during a fight. She needs a lot of concentration to keep it active but it still it gave her a near perfect sensing in her domain. Any foreign cursed energy entering inside will get notified and she could react to that.
Suguru's eyes widened a bit in surprise. Still it only lasted a bit, and many more curses ran straight towards Utahime.
Utahime grabbed the bat with both her hands and gave a wide swing to it, using one of the cursed spirit's as the 'ball' and smashing it straight to the other cursed spirits, halting them for a bit and increasing her pace towards Suguru.
"You are good for a Grade-2. Looks like I shou-"
[Solo Forbidden Area]
Not even interested in the talk, Utahime activated her innate technique.
Solo Forbidden Area, a boosting technique of sorts, that amplifies the cursed energy and cursed energy output of any sorcerer, the user considers their ally, even themselves.
'Without the whole ritual it isn't much...but it should still...' thought Utahime with a smirk.
And true to her thought, Suguru was not able to adapt to her instant change in speed, thanks to the sudden increase in her cursed energy reinforcement output.
The cursed energy around the bat increased as well, and the amplified cursed tool struck Geto's waist with full force.
"HOME!!!!!!! RUN!!!!!!!" yelled Utahime as if giving a war cry and sent Geto flying.
Geto spat out as pain surged around his waist and started spreading. He glared at Utahime, and instantly, 10 Grade-1 spirits came out of him and launched towards Utahime.
"Huh? Nope! I surrender!!!!!" yelled Utahime and dropped the bat.
"Winner Tokyo! 1-minute break starts now. 2nd participant from Kyoto, be ready!"
The announcement came almost immediately, and a barrier surrounded Utahime and protected her from the Grade 1 spirits.
"Haah!!!! Almost got caught up with Grade 1 curses! Oi! Don't you know that it is a friendly spar! How dare you attack me after I surrendered!!!!" yelled Utahime.
Suguru looked at her with his brow twitching.
The people in the observation room looked at Utahime with a similar expression.
'...Does she get to say this after almost cracking his ribs?' thought all of them.
Even the students had a screen that was showing them how the fights were going on inside the barrier, and they too had a similar thought.
"...Is she getting more like us?" asked Yuki, and looked towards Naoya and Kuroko.
Both the first years looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.