"Hey, are you from the Zenin clan?"
Toji raised an eyebrow, his gaze fixed on Maki. She flinched slightly at the question: it was clear she despised being associated with that name, even if it was legally hers.
"I am," she replied, her voice tight with caution. "Why do you ask?"
Toji's lip curled into a mocking smirk. "Life in that house isn't exactly easy, is it?"
Maki's brow furrowed as bitter memories flickered behind her eyes. "Watch it. What exactly are you trying to say?"
Toji shrugged, ignoring her defensive tone. His expression shifted, becoming uncharacteristically serious. "What are you doing here at Jujutsu High? What is your goal?"
Maki didn't hesitate. "I'm here to get strong."
"And once you're strong?"
Maki paused, her knuckles whitening as she gripped her polearm. She forced the words out, each one heavy with years of suppressed rage. "I'm going to tear that rotten tree down by its roots. I'm going to destroy the Zenin clan."
Toji stared at her for a long moment. Then, his shoulders began to shake. A low chuckle escaped his throat, building until it erupted into a boisterous, wild laugh that echoed across the campus gates.
"Hahahaha!"
He laughed without restraint, uncaring of the stares from Panda, Nanako, and the others.
"This old guy is weird," Nanako whispered.
"Is he having a breakdown?" Mimiko wondered.
"Salmon! Salmon!" Toge added, looking concerned.
Megumi quietly took two steps away from his father, looking like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole. Of everyone present, perhaps only Satoru and Suguru truly understood the source of Toji's mirth. Maki watched him, but instead of feeling insulted, she felt a strange sense of catharsis in his laughter. It sounded like the joy she felt in her own dreams of the clan's downfall.
Eventually, Toji's laughter died down. He looked at Maki, his eyes sharp and focused. "Listen, girl. Do you want to be my disciple?"
"Huh?" Maki blinked, pointing to herself. "Me?"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Satoru stepped between them, waving his hands. "Maki is a student of the High School. You're basically poaching talent right under my nose!"
Toji looked bored. "Fine. I'll work as a temporary instructor. I'll only teach her, and I don't want a salary."
"No salary?"
"Think of it as a whim," Toji said, a dangerous glint in his eye. "I want to prepare a little surprise for the Zenin family."
Satoru and Suguru exchanged a look. This wasn't a surprise: it was a looming catastrophe for the Zenins.
"I refuse!" Maki cut in, raising her hand. "Compared to some mysterious stranger, Mr. Gojo and Mr. Geto are obviously more reliable!"
She wasn't wrong. Satoru and Suguru were Special Grades. To abandon their tutelage for an unknown man seemed like a step backward on her path to power.
However, Satoru shook his head. "Maki, this man might actually be better suited to teach you than Suguru or I ever could."
"Why?"
"Because he is a bearer of the Heavenly Restriction, just like you," Satoru explained. "And his original name... was Toji Zenin."
Maki's pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Toji Zenin!
The name was a taboo within the clan, a secret whispered by the elders with equal parts fear and loathing. There was only one person who spoke of him openly: Naoya Zenin, the son of the current head. Whenever Naoya had tormented Maki during their "sparring" sessions, he would compare her to Toji, always concluding that she was nothing but "trash" compared to the man who had abandoned the family.
The same surname. The same restriction. The same history of misery. The only difference was that Toji had reached the peak, slaughtering half the clan's enforcers before vanishing into the night. Maki, on the other hand, was still struggling to grasp her own fate.
Toji looked at her. "Well? Ready to be my student now?"
Maki was silent for a breath. Then, a slow, wicked grin spread across her face. "Senior, you left the job half-finished back then. I'll make sure to clean up the rest of the mess for you."
Toji blinked, then let out another short, appreciative bark of laughter.
Satoru and Suguru sighed in unison. The Zenin clan were truly fools: they had managed to provoke yet another lunatic. It seemed that madness was simply a prerequisite for the blood flowing in those with a Heavenly Restriction.
Megumi watched his father and Maki, feeling his status in the family drop another notch. He began to seriously wonder if he was even Toji's biological son.
"Alright, don't look so glum," Toji said, ruffling Megumi's spiky hair and pushing him toward the group. "Go say hello to your classmates."
"Wait a second," Satoru interjected, holding up a finger. "They aren't Megumi's classmates yet. He's only thirteen. He has another year before he can officially enroll."
Toji and Megumi both froze. "Then why did you make me bring him here?"
Satoru rubbed his hands together, grinning like a shark. "Well, I just got this genius disciple, right? And I heard my brother also picked up a student. I brought Megumi here specifically to show him off and gloat!"
Toji: "..."
Megumi: "..."
Suguru covered his face with his hand. "That is exactly the kind of thing Satoru would do."
"And who exactly are you planning to gloat to?"
At the sound of that voice, Satoru and Suguru turned with bright, relieved smiles. "Souma! You're here!"
The others followed their gaze. Based on the reaction of the two Special Grades, there was no doubt who was approaching. The undisputed strongest sorcerer of the modern era, the head of the Gojo clan: Souma Gojo.
Souma appeared, wearing his signature sunglasses. From a distance, he and Satoru looked nearly identical, right down to the mischievous smirk. However, the group's attention was quickly diverted to the somber-looking teenager walking behind him.
Satoru, Suguru, and Toji all fixed their eyes on the boy. Their expressions shifted into looks of sheer disbelief.
It was one thing for Souma to possess a sea of cursed energy: he was the strongest. But this boy? The sheer pressure of his aura, the violent flicker of his cursed energy... it was barely a step below Souma's own.
Satoru's face went stiff. He held onto a last shred of hope. "Brother... who is he?"
Souma's grin was wider than a Cheshire cat's. "Oh, him? This is my disciple, Yuta Okkotsu."
"Yuta, say hello to everyone."
Yuta offered a polite, somewhat bashful bow. "Hello, everyone. My name is Yuta Okkotsu. Please, just call me Yuta. I look forward to working with you all!"
Satoru felt the soul leave his body. He slumped over like a deflated balloon. "No way..."
Suddenly, Satoru lunged at Megumi, grabbing the boy by the shoulders. "Megumi! You have one year of special training left! In one year, you have to find a way to beat Yuta!"
Megumi looked at Yuta, who was currently radiating enough cursed energy to power a small country, and blinked slowly.
"Wait... me?"
Read The Full Story at P@treon: P@treon .com/zefyrus