Chapter 130 Because Emiya-sensei is Strong and Reliable
"So, saying that means... the spy is a student from Kyoto High?"
Even without saying anything else, Emiya knew that if the spy here referred to a high-ranking official, the actual capture plan would never be so simple.
"That's right. According to Satoru's conjecture, the spies include a high-ranking official—Principal level or above—and a student responsible for relaying messages to them.
As long as there is sufficient evidence, it's not impossible for me to take action against that kind of official... but such dangerous missions definitely require extra pay."
Mei Mei is indeed committed to making money as her top priority, but she's not foolish.
If she rashly took such action, at least there would be no place for her in the entire Japanese Jujutsu world. Giving up a lifetime of meals for a single full meal is obviously unwise.
Of course, if someone offered enough money to buy out the rest of her life, perhaps it wouldn't be out of the question?
"Alright, let's go find the contact person."
"...There's a contact person too?"
"That's a matter of course. Neither of us is familiar with Kyoto High. Did you really expect to sneak into Master Tengen's barrier in the dark?"
It's said that even those barriers have been casually invaded by the Cursed Spirit side, but in reality, very few Sorcerers can pull off a silent infiltration.
Rats in the gutter also have their unique rat talents, after all.
Emiya, moving along with Mei Mei, soon arrived at an abandoned building on the city's edge that looked severely dilapidated.
Utahime Iori, a person known to both of them, was already waiting at the main entrance, waving her hand toward them from a distance.
"Ms. Mei, Mr. Emiya, over here."
Utahime Iori led the two into this secluded spot. Since they had already communicated via phone before the meeting, she took them directly deep inside the building, explaining things to the two as they went—
"At this stage, it's only suspicion, so we just need to catch him for questioning. There's no need to be too harsh."
Utahime Iori clearly can't quite accept that her student might be the spy... Although, if the same thing happened to Emiya, he wouldn't believe it either.
"So, the object of suspicion is...?"
Emiya tried to ask.
"The spy is... Kokichi Muta, the Sorcerer who is the main body of Ultimate Mechamaru, who participated in the last exchange event." Utahime Iori responded, lowering her head slightly.
"Hmm... That one?"
Emiya's memory is certainly not so poor as to forget the Kyoto High students from just a few days ago.
However, it's difficult for Mechamaru, a student with such unique characteristics, not to be remembered clearly, especially the scene where Panda dismantled the machine with his knuckle blades.
"Mechamaru's main body... Kokichi Muta is located in this basement.
It's not that the child is suspicious; it's that besides him, the other students simply have no grounds for suspicion."
Do Jujutsu High students have no personal freedom? Not exactly.
But most people do indeed stay inside the school grounds, and even occasional outside assignments involve multiple students cooperating, accompanied by an assistant manager.
After describing these facts, Utahime Iori began to explain the reason.
"Mechamaru's Cursed Technique is [Puppet Manipulation]. Due to the influence of his [Heavenly Restriction], the range of his puppet manipulation can even cover all of Japan.
As long as there are unregistered puppets, he can move freely and carry out the spy's work.
The size of the puppets doesn't necessarily have to be as conspicuous as Mechamaru; they could be the size of a mosquito or a fly."
In fact, besides teachers like Utahime Iori, the other students have only ever seen his Ultimate Mechamaru form and may not even know his real name.
As someone whose body was left disabled by the [Heavenly Restriction], he probably wouldn't want to be recognized by his classmates anyway.
While explaining to Emiya and Mei Mei, Utahime Iori led the two to a certain location deep within the basement.
Since Kokichi Muta's Cursed Technique specialty means he cannot move autonomously, and he is not restricted by distance or anything, he only needs to consider security and concealment.
This kind of abandoned building not far outside the school grounds is even safer than the school interior, as the last invasion incident proved.
"This is the spot."
Utahime Iori finally stopped when they reached an inconspicuous, abandoned door, pointing to the doorknob.
This kind of inconspicuous place would indeed be impossible to find without an informed person like Utahime Iori.
Of course, that excludes any strangely dressed, crazy explorers.
After confirming that both Emiya and Mei Mei were ready for combat at any time, Utahime Iori nodded to them and quickly opened the door in front of them.
Screeech—
But when the rotten, old door was pushed open, what was revealed was a small, empty room, and a small mechanical device attached to the ceiling.
Clearly, they had found nothing.
"...Were we played?"
"But if so, wouldn't the identity of the spy be completely confirmed?"
Mei Mei, on the contrary, felt the mission was simpler.
After all, only suspicion requires investigation; counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency only require a list and coordinates.
"No... If it were just an exchange of benefits, I cannot imagine a reason for a Jujutsu High student to completely side with the Cursed Spirits."
"Is Kokichi Muta's [Heavenly Restriction] the type that leaves his body crippled? And the [Reverse Cursed Technique] can't heal it?"
Emiya surveyed the empty room, then asked Utahime Iori.
"It involves the physical loss of his lower limbs, right arm, and skin immunity. Even Shoko's [Reverse Cursed Technique] cannot heal it.
According to her, the effect of [Heavenly Restriction] on a Sorcerer's disability must act on a deeper level, like the soul. That is to say, even if forcefully restored, he wouldn't be able to control those limbs... assuming that humans actually have something like a soul."
Since the soul is something unseen and intangible, it can only be treated as a pseudo-proposition if it cannot be directly proven.
In any case, the theory is that even if it's not the soul, there's some other similar thing at work.
"A crippled soul, impossible to restore?
Wait...?!"
Emiya knows a Cursed Technique related to the soul, doesn't he? And it happens to be one from the Cursed Spirit side.
But how could that be? The opponent who was hit by [Unlimited Lost Works] at that distance was almost certain to have not survived. But if it wasn't him, what reason would the Cursed Spirit side use to turn a victim of a [Heavenly Restriction]?
"Mr. Emiya, did you discover something?
Or is there actually a possibility that he was coerced...?"
Even now, Utahime Iori is still thinking that her student might not be entirely bad, but was just threatened by the Cursed Spirit side.
After all, his main body wasn't at the school, making it difficult to detect if he had discovered something... it's also possible that his location was leaked by the higher-ups first.
Beep beep beep—
Before Utahime Iori could finish, and before Emiya could respond, the mechanical device hanging upside down on the ceiling suddenly made a sound.
"Can you hear me, can you hear me? This is Mechamaru."
"Mechamaru?!"
Utahime Iori immediately turned her head to look at the device they had thought was only a camouflage.
"I see, is that you, Utahime-sensei? But this is not Mechamaru; it is just a pre-set program.
If my main body dies or is cut off from all external communication, this contingency plan will be activated... there is also a secondary failsafe that detected Mr. Emiya's Cursed Power fluctuation."
The mechanical voice coming from the device replied.
"Ah, me?
Why such confidence in me?"
Emiya was surprised, as he hadn't formally met the other party, had he?
"That's correct, because Miwa mentioned that Mr. Emiya is absolutely trustworthy, and the Tokyo High students also expressed that you are a sufficiently strong Sorcerer."
As long as Mechamaru had not fully turned to the Cursed Spirit faction, he would have to choose a sufficiently trustworthy target to regain the Sorcerers' trust.
After all, if he had approached an absolute conservative or the other spy, the result would have been quite embarrassing.
"Hey! So why couldn't the target be me?"
Utahime Iori said, dissatisfied.
"Because it's impossible to judge the internal situation of Kyoto High, you, Sensei, could also be the spy. And even if you aren't, your strength is insufficient to solve the problem."
The small Mechamaru, which is intelligent but lacks emotion, spoke these irreverent words without a care.
"Hey, you little—!!!"
Utahime Iori would have rushed up and smashed the thing if Emiya hadn't quickly held her back.
How could there be a student who wouldn't trust the teacher who taught him for two years but would trust a Tokyo High teacher!
The small Mechamaru didn't care about her feelings, merely adding: "Originally, Gojo Satoru 's Cursed Power should also have been recognizable, but that's practically impossible.
That kind of person wouldn't come for this kind of mission, and although he is powerful, his reliability is not sufficient... so I didn't think this method would work."
In every way, Mechamaru had considered everything thoroughly.
"So, what makes you think your one-sided account can earn our trust?"
The two teachers might consider caring for their student, but Mei Mei, as a bounty hunter, wouldn't care about such things.
"That is true... so the main body didn't expect to regain trust this way.
The unchanging premise of a transaction is profit. My main body knows the plan and location that the Cursed Spirit side intends to carry out next, and the prerequisite for obtaining this information is saving him.
If the main body dies, this information will naturally be lost."
Now, both logically and emotionally, Utahime Iori has a reason to save her student.
"That's a good reason. Selling the intelligence to Jujutsu High can also bring in a large sum of money... I misjudged him. I didn't expect Kyoto High to have such a commendable student."
Mei Mei finally gently placed the weapon she had been holding down on the ground.
The only thing that can make her trust unconditionally is shared profit.
"So, you should know where your main body is, right?" Emiya asked.
He wouldn't necessarily develop a total aversion to a traitor who had no choice, but this level of intelligence absolutely couldn't be ignored.
"Of course, I haven't forgotten that, but you must be quick. The Cursed Spirits certainly won't let my main body hold out for too long.
The location is..."
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New Fanfiction!
Hachiman please tone down your Inner Thoughts
While waiting for Yukinoshita in the clubroom, he unexpectedly travels to the world of Classroom of the Elite and becomes the representative of Class B.
Initially, he only intended to keep a low profile while helping Class B escape its tragic fate from the original story, and incidentally saving Ichinose Honami.
However, why these girls seems to know what am I Thinking?
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting