"Satoru is your handler," Panda said, grabbing a piece of fruit from a bowl. "Which means you probably won't have a real schedule. He'll just show up and drag you somewhere when he feels like it."
Right on cue, heavy footsteps echoed from the wooden hallway outside the kitchen.
"Good morning, my wonderful students!"
Satoru Gojo strolled into the kitchen, ducking slightly to fit through the doorframe. He wasn't holding any sweets today. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and his signature grin was firmly in place.
Maki let out a long, exhausted sigh. "What do you want, Satoru? We have morning training."
"You guys have training," Gojo corrected cheerfully. He pointed a long finger at Ren, who was standing by the toaster. "Ren-kun and I are going on a field trip."
Ren stopped opening the bread tie. "A field trip?"
"Yep!" Gojo clapped his hands together. "Since you have all this fun new strength, we need to see how you hold up in a real, live-fire environment. Nobara is waiting for us by the front gates."
Maki immediately turned around, stepping between Gojo and Ren. "Absolutely not. He doesn't have any combat experience. He barely knows what a curse looks like. You can't just throw him into a mission."
"Relax, Maki-chan," Gojo smiled, though his tone was final. "It's a low-level sweep in an abandoned building downtown. A standard grade three mission. Besides, I'll be there to make sure our new guest doesn't get a scratch on him."
Gojo lowered his head slightly, the black blindfold pointing directly at Ren.
"So, what do you say, Ren-kun? Ready to see the real Jujutsu world?"
...
Maki stood entirely still by the kitchen counter, her grip on the butter knife white-knuckled. She shot Ren a hard look that clearly communicated a threat: Don't do anything stupid.
Ren just offered a mild shrug, and followed Gojo out of the dorms.
The walk to the front gates was quiet. When they reached the imposing wooden torii gates, two figures were already waiting.
Nobara was aggressively kicking a loose piece of gravel across the dirt path. Megumi stood a few feet away, leaning against a wooden pillar with his arms crossed, watching them approach with his usual analytical stare.
"Look who finally made it," Nobara muttered. She pointed a sharp finger at Ren. "I thought you were supposed to be shadowing us, not getting personal escorts. Special treatment?"
"Just following the tour guide," Ren said, keeping his hands shoved deep in his pockets.
"Alright, kids, gather around," Gojo clapped his hands together. He reached into his dark uniform jacket and pulled out a hard plastic case.
Without warning, Gojo whipped it directly at Ren's face.
Ren let his hand snap up, catching the case right before it hit his nose. He kept his grip loose, actively suppressing the urge to crush the plastic. Megumi's eyes narrowed slightly at the quick catch.
"Open it up!" Gojo cheered.
Ren popped the latch. Inside sat a pair of thick, wire-rimmed glasses with slightly tinted lenses. They looked identical to the ones Maki wore.
"Since your cursed energy levels are practically zero, you're blind to the real world," Gojo explained, tapping the side of his own blindfold. "Put those on. They're infused with cursed residue. It'll let you see the ugly things we're about to hunt."
Ren slid the glasses onto his face. The tint barely changed the lighting, but it gave him the perfect way to react to curses without having to use Wraith's Fang.
"Perfect fit," Gojo grinned. He checked a sleek watch on his wrist and let out an exaggerated gasp. "Oh, look at the time. I have a very important, highly classified appointment to attend."
Nobara crossed her arms. "You're going to buy sweets, aren't you?"
"I am managing inter-school relations," Gojo corrected smoothly, already turning on his heel. "Anyway, the location is an abandoned building downtown. Standard Grade 3 sweep. Megumi has the details. You kids clear the area. I won't take much time. Catch you in a bit!"
Before any of them could complain, Gojo raised a hand and casually strolled down the mountain path, moving with his unnatural, gliding speed until he disappeared.
Silence settled over the gates.
Megumi pushed off the wooden pillar. "Let's go. We're wasting time."
He turned and started walking down the stone steps toward the train station. Nobara fell into step right beside him, deliberately leaving Ren to walk a few paces behind.
Ren adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Listen," Nobara said, not looking back at him. Her boots hit the pavement with heavy, aggressive thuds. "Just because you have strength doesn't mean you know how to fight. Stay in the back. If you get in my way, I'm using you as a human shield."
"Understood," Ren said mildly.
Megumi glanced over his shoulder, his dark eyes scanning Ren's relaxed posture. "Keep your guard up. A Grade 3 might sound low, but they can still tear a person apart. If you see something move, don't freeze."
"I'll do my best," Ren replied, offering a nervous, entirely fake smile.
The train ride into the city was short. By the time they reached the abandoned apartment complex, the afternoon sun was struggling to push through the thick, gray clouds.
Megumi pushed open the rusted chain-link fence. He formed a hand sign. Shadows bubbled at his feet, and a large black hound pulled itself out of the darkness.
"Stay behind the dog," Megumi told Ren, not looking back. "Don't wander off."
Ren adjusted the wire-rimmed glasses Gojo had given him. "Got it."
They walked into the ground-floor lobby. The air temperature immediately dropped. Through the tinted lenses, Ren saw ugly black and purple smears of cursed energy staining the peeling wallpaper and ceiling.
It didn't look like the faint residue of a low-level curse. It looked dense. Heavy.
Megumi stopped. The black hound let out a low, vicious growl, staring up at the ceiling above them.
"Something's wrong," Megumi muttered.
The concrete ceiling exploded.
A massive bulk of rotting flesh and bone dropped directly onto the black hound, crushing it back into shadows. Dust and debris blasted outward, forcing them to cover their faces.
Nobara coughed, waving her hand through the dust. "What the hell is that?!"