August 2007, roughly one year after the Goodwill Event.
That summer, cursed spirits swarmed like maggots. The negative emotions of the people—bottled up due to the torrential rains that struck Kyushu the previous year, Typhoon No. 13 which was designated a severe disaster, and record-breaking heavy snowfall in Tohoku—erupted all at once as curses.
However, even taking this surge into account, one could say the jujutsu world in 2007 was relatively peaceful.
Two Special Grade sorcerers covered the entire country: Satoru Gojo, who had completely mastered teleportation via the application of Infinity, and Naoya, who could move at sheer super-speeds. They handled cases ranging from Grade 1 to Special Grade. For missions involving large numbers of targets, Suguru Geto would be called in to suppress the area with Domain Expansion and consume every single curse.
With this lineup of three Special Grade sorcerers—flawless, aside from the fact that they were all borderline overworked—the burden on ordinary sorcerers was kept to average levels, or perhaps even lower.
Currently, these high-achieving Special Grades were enjoying a brief respite in a cafeteria. They had expanded this space by pestering Yaga, who had begun taking over some presidential duties as the next Principal.
"Man, I expected this at the end of last year, but there are so many... Even though I can consume Grade 2s and below without a second thought now, just swallowing that many is exhausting. If it weren't for the edible film, I'd be facing a total mental breakdown right about now."
"Your technique makes that part a real pain, Suguru. I've got it easy since I just warp around and blast things. Well, I say 'blast,' but if I use anything other than Blue, everyone complains about the collateral damage."
"In your case, Satoru, your whole style is based on the insane high-level feat of constantly healing your brain with Reversed Cursed Technique. Isn't that just as tedious? Though, out of all of us, Naoya looks like he has it the worst."
Sipping his coffee, Geto looked toward Naoya, who was slumped over in a massage chair, his body being vigorously kneaded by the machine.
On the table next to him sat a half-finished cup of swertia tea—notorious for its intense bitterness—suggesting that the cause of his exhaustion was related to gastrointestinal distress.
"...Hey Suguru, does swertia tea actually work against overeating cursed spirit remains?"
"...I tried it once as a countermeasure for the aftertaste of the orbs. I felt like it might have done something. Or maybe it was just so bitter that the foul taste was simply drowned out."
As the two looked on with pity, Naoya was indeed suffering from the indigestion of cursed remains. His 'Heavenly Restriction'—which seemingly granted the useful benefit of increasing cursed energy the more remains he consumed—brought with it a disadvantage that far outweighed the perks: the fact that preying on the remains was 'mandatory.'
"I'm gonna die... Seriously gonna die... I'm dying..."
"He sounds like a broken record."
"At the very least, his vocabulary is dead," Geto remarked.
The two offered a mock prayer for him. Just then, a group filed into the cafeteria: Haibara and Nanami, their uniforms frayed and torn in various places, followed by a new first-year student.
"We're back! Wait, whoa?! Naoya-san is dead!"
"What on earth happened... Ah, cursed spirit indigestion. He has it rough."
"D-Did a cursed spirit appear that could actually weaken a Special Grade like Zen'in-san to that extent...!?"
"Oh, Ijichi. Naoya's just feeling sick because he ate about four Grade 1s at once. More importantly, why are you guys so beat up? Wait, right, you went on a mission with Nanami and Haibara. Wasn't that a Grade 2 case assigned to Nanami—a Grade 1—and Haibara—a Grade 2—specifically so it wouldn't matter if a Grade 4 like you dragged them down? Shouldn't it have been easy?"
"Haha! Just like Gojo-san said, we thought so too, but it didn't quite turn out that way. Right, Nanami!?"
"How can you stay so high-spirited, Haibara? Both your legs were cracked until a moment ago. We're lucky the assistant director, Kumagai-san, had the presence of mind to call the Kyoto school for backup, or we might all be dead."
"My legs are fine now that Ieiri-san healed them! We made it out alive, so we should be happy!"
"You're as positive as ever, Haibara. But it sounds like a real bone-breaker of a job. What happened?"
"Well, you see—"
With a sigh, Nanami began to recount the events that took place deep in the mountains of the Kinki region.
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