"Good answer…but you still have one last test before you can enroll." Hearing his voice take a serious tone, Kenshin, who knows the anime, prepared himself for battle.
Seeing him getting tense made Shoko raise a brow.
Does he know what is about to come? she wondered.
True to Kenshin's suspicions, the uncanny and easy-to-ignore stuffed bear on Masamichi's hands suddenly moved, its limbs mechanically jumping from his palm and landing on the ground.
"Defeat him." It's not known if Masamichi is talking to his puppet or to Kenshin.
The pink stuffed bear made a fighting stance and launched itself towards him.
Kenshin monotonously stared at such a cute yet terrifying bear that packs a heavy punch.
Dodging to the side, just as the bear flew past him, Kenshin delivered a high kick to its front—mid-air.
Bam!
The small pink stuffed bear flew away, clashing against the walls and bouncing all over the place like a ping-pong machine.
Eventually, this was part of the stuffed bear's plan as it bounced back to Kenshin with double the force from earlier.
This time, Kenshin didn't bother to dodge and took the hit head-on.
Bam!
Kenshin's forearms shook as the impact recoiled through every fiber of his muscles. But he just grinned, not an ounce of pain on his face nor a wound on his forearms.
"Kuuhhh…" The pink stuffed bear just tilted its head in confusion, wondering why its ultimate technique failed to do anything to its opponent.
Kenshin grinned, "My turn."
Cocking back his fist, the stuffed bear's eyes widened in fear and quickly tried to dodge but to no avail, something held it in place, making it unable to move an inch.
In the end, the stuffed bear could only watch as the raised fist descended on him, in its eyes, it even saw as if the air itself was being warped.
Boom!
Kenshin's fist, a pure physical form of destruction came in contact with the stuffed bear's plush form. The next moment, a loud explosion occurred, the ground caved in and a cloud of dust covered the area.
Both Shoko and Masamichi stared at the scene in surprise. Although they've heard of the boy named Kenshin from both Satoru and his personal student. Fushiguro's mouth, it's still unbelievable to see someone so young capable of such a feat in terms of physical ability alone.
Hate to admit this but Satoru might indeed have a great eye when it comes to taking in students, Masamichi silently grumbled under his breath, not wanting to admit it loudly.
Meanwhile, Shoko had a different opinion in her mind, He didn't use any cursed energy, that's a pure physical attack! Can a body reach such heights without using cursed energy?
In fact, after seeing Kenshin's fight, her mind wandered to one of their students in Jujutsu High, Maki Zenin, born without a hint of cursed energy in her body in exchange for heightened physical capabilities.
Does he have the Heavenly Restriction? But he can see Cursed Spirits according to the trio, she mumbled to herself, confused at the situation.
When the cloud of dust dispersed, there standing alone was Kenshin, his fist releasing a steam while the very ground he stood on caved in like a crater.
"So, did I pass?" Raising his head, Kenshin stared directly at Masamichi's sunglasses, peering through them and directly at his eyes.
"…Very well. Shoko, our school's doctor will see to your enrollment." The man then went back to his sitting position, minding his own business.
Shoko gestured with her head, "Come with me."
Silent, Kenshin replied with a nod of his head and followed her outside.
'What a monster…' Masamichi stared at Kenshin's departing back and mumbled under his breath. It feels like he's going to witness another birth of a new pillar of humanity like Gojo Satoru.
————
"The school uniform will be in your room. This is the room number, right next to Panda's room." Shoko gave him a key before waving him around.
"Oh and before I forget."
"Hmm?" Kenshin raised a brow and stared at her.
A soft smile crept up to her lips, "Welcome to Tokyo Jujutsu High."
With that being said, Shoko finally took her leave.
Kenshin simply watched her departing figure before tossing the key into his inventory. Turning around, a huge traditional Japanese building stood in front of him, an imposing presence of several Jujutsu students ranging from 2nd years to 4th years were roaming inside, some staying in their rooms to practice their Cursed Techniques while the rest were simply having a chat.
Not the talkative type, Kenshin kept his senses up while he navigated inside, purposely avoiding each student who might see a new face and interrupt him.
Gradually, he didn't encounter a soul on his way to the west wing of the building where the 1st years stay, or more specifically, Panda, Inumaki, and Maki as the three are the only first years of the year.
Just as Kenshin was about to twist the doorknob to his new dorm room, the door next to him creaked open, and a familiar figure of Panda emerged.
"Eh?" Panda stopped in his tracks, his pure black eyes staring at Kenshin's figure.
As Kenshin had removed his Oni mask during their last few minutes of encounter, Panda immediately recognized the familiar face.
"Yo, Panda. I guess we'll be classmates now, eh?" Grinning Kenshin greeted him.
Panda's jaw dropped and as if his reaction wasn't enough, the room next to Panda opened and Inumaki emerged while rubbing his sleepy eyes with a yawn.
He stopped in his tracks when he abruptly collided with Panda's back.
"Salmon Roe?" He mumbled but seeing that Panda's attention was elsewhere, he confusedly tilted his body to his side to see where his animal friend was looking at, only to freeze in surprise upon seeing Kenshin.
"Caviar?!" When he recovered, he accusedly pointed his finger at Kenshin.
Kenshin raised his hand and greeted the boy with a tease, "Yo, good morning, Zipmouth."
Why Zipmouth, you might ask? Well, not only because the boy barely speaks like his mouth is zipped but also because his uniform consists of having his mouth covered by an extended neck collar with a zipper. Combine the two and his Zipmouth nickname is truly deserving.
Inumaki just responded with dull eyes, clearly unamused by it.
"What do you mean by we're classmates now, Kenshin-san? Did you enroll here?" A nod of his head and Panda beamed.
"A new classmate! This is great news, I'm sure Maki-san would be happy to have you on the team." Panda's words were met with two stares from Kenshin and Inumaki.
Panda scratched his cheek and muttered, "What?"
"I don't know, Panda. But I don't think Maki-san would be happy to see me here, especially after what happened yesterday." Kenshin shrugged, opposing Panda's words.
Inumaki even chimed in, "Salmon!" He doesn't know what it means but Kenshin felt like he was agreeing with him as the zipmouth nodded his head.
"Oh…Well, whether she likes you or not, we're a team now and she should treat you like a fellow classmate. Speaking of being a team, I remember getting sparring with Maki just to get her recognition as part of the first year."
Panda then turned to Inumaki, "How about you, Inumaki-san?"
Inumaki shook his head.
"Really, how lucky…" Panda grumbled.
"Anyways, since you just got here, want us to tour you around?" Panda shifted the subject and offered to Kenshin.
"Sure." Kenshin shrugged his shoulders and agreed without hesitation. It's not like there's anything for him to do anyway. Might as well get to know the side characters of the Jujutsu Kaisen better.
————
"This is the open field. Sometimes, students spar here but nowadays, only Maki and a few students who specialized in close-combat train here. The rest just dedicated themselves to training their Cursed Techniques out in missions." Concidentally, right as Panda finished his explanation, another figure came walking in on the field.
"Ah! Maki-san over here, quick!" Kenshin's face twitched as Panda seemed to forget about the words he had just said earlier about Maki not liking him.
"Hm?" At first, Maki intends to just give him a side glance, enough to acknowledge his presence but upon recognizing the familiar face standing behind Panda, her expression froze before getting replaced by anger.
"Oi, you! Get over here!" Maki pointed her wooden Bo-staff at Kenshin before bolting towards him.
"Uh-oh…" A bead of sweat rolled down on Panda's cheeks as he finally realized his mistake.
"Take this, you bastard!" Jumping high up in the air, Maki brought her Bo-staff downwards on the top of Kenshin's head.
If he were a normal person, such an attack would be undodgeable and would permanently land him a free trip to the nearest hospital.
Fortunately, he's not.
A shimmering Naginata, standing taller than Kenshin appeared in his hands before blocking the Bo-staff with its shaft.
[Purifying Naginata
- A Naginata forged by the toughest steel, under the great flames of oblivion. Recently enchanted by Kuroki Kenshin to have extremely strong purifying properties. Increased durability, enhanced sharpness, and last but not least, allowing the holder to see Cursed Spirits with or without holding the weapon upon getting recognized as the new owner.]
"Tch!" Seeing the naginata and its blade gleaming under the sunlight made Maki click her tongue.
Is he purposely insulting me by using my favourite weapon to defend against me? Maki angrily glared at Kenshin before continuing her assault.
Blow after blow was thrown by Maki and yet, no matter what she does and how many times she uses different kinds of techniques, she just can't land a hit on him.
Eventually, Maki grew exhausted and her training hoodie is now damped in her sweat.
"Yield?" Kenshin asked calmly.
Seeing his face being like that, Maki gritted her teeth in anger. She felt like Kenshin was looking down on her by looking like he barely even tried. In their fight, he effortlessly dismantled all of her techniques that had been honed for years like it's nothing, not to mention, using a weapon of her specialty.
"I-I won't y—" Before she could refuse yielding, she was interrupted by Kenshin who suddenly flipped the Naginata and held the blade while the butt of the shaft was now pointed at her.
Kenshin smiled softly, "Here, this is for you. Consider it a compensation for destroying yours yesterday."
Maki looked at him stunned. Not just her, even Panda and Inumaki were surprised by the sudden turn of events.
"Take it, though it doesn't have a name yet. You can give it a name yourself." Kenshin informed her before explaining.
"This Naginata has very strong purifying property, to the point that with the right technique, even Special-grade Spirits would have a hard time contending with you." As if her face hadn't reacted enough, Kenshin dropped the big reveal.
"I also heard that you can't see Cursed Energy without your glasses. This Naginata will help solve that problem. Once the weapon recognizes you as its new master, you'd be able to see Cursed Spirits even without having the Naginata by your side, effectively allowing you to see them forever."
Everyone, including Panda, Inumaki, Maki, and even Masamichi who had just arrived was shocked by his words!
|-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_|
.
.
.
[Next Chapter: Ch. 45 - Encounter!]