Inside the Shinomiya residence, Miwa Kasumi soon met the God-Mother of Shitamachi, who had been invited over by Shinomiya Kaguya, in the reception room.
Sensing the spiritual power on the other woman, Miwa Kasumi gave her a friendly greeting.
Although the God-Mother of Shitamachi had only been a second or third-rate exorcist her whole life and had basically never fought against any high-level vengeful spirits or Cursed Spirits, for Miwa Kasumi, who had only just debuted a year ago, the God-Mother's decades of exorcism experience still had many things worth referencing.
And the God-Mother, relying on her many years of experience in trickery and deception, coupled with Shinomiya Kaguya's cooperation, quickly managed to probe out Miwa Kasumi's family information.
An ordinary person from a poor family, with two younger brothers at home.
The reason she chose to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer was that sorcerers could earn more money than ordinary people, and attending Jujutsu High also came with a decent monthly subsidy that could be used to support her family.
One could only say that this young woman was still a bit too simple. Shinomiya Kaguya merely had to order Hayasaka Ai to prepare some snacks and refreshments, and the girl completely let down her guard.
Of course, since it was still their first meeting, and the other party had the official status of Jujutsu High behind her, she wasn't like the God-Mother of Shitamachi, a semi-retired exorcist with few entanglements in the hidden world, who could be casually asked about certain things.
Regarding the matter of Sukuna, Shinomiya Kaguya did not plan to ask Miwa Kasumi about it for the time being.
After all, in the eyes of the Jujutsu world, she was not supposed to know about Sukuna.
She planned to wait until after she entered the Jujutsu world to find a suitable opportunity to investigate the matter of Sukuna.
And while the other girl was blissfully enjoying the high-class pastries she had never had before, Shinomiya Kaguya instructed Hayasaka Ai to satisfy all her needs and serve her well, then followed the God-Mother, who was gesturing with her eyes, out of the reception room.
"Kaguya-sama, that young woman should indeed be a student of Jujutsu High. Her katana also has a reaction of Cursed Energy; it should be a genuine Cursed Tool," the God-Mother said, a hint of envy in her eyes.
A Cursed Tool. This was something she had never come into contact with in her entire life. The things she used were either left to her by her teacher or were small trinkets she had cobbled together herself, completely unrelated to Cursed Tools.
"And according to her, she practices that Shinkage-ryū. I wonder if you have heard of this school, young mistress?"
Shinomiya Kaguya frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then asked, "Is it that Yagyū Shinkage-ryū?"
The Shinkage-ryū was founded by Kamiizumi Nobutsuna during the Warring States period and was popularized by his disciple, Yagyū Munetoshi.
It was one of the largest schools of swordsmanship in the Edo period, and even today, it has many dojos throughout Japan, with tens of thousands of disciples under its name.
The highest honor in modern kendo, the "Menkyo Kaiden," was spread from the Shinkage-ryū.
"Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is a branch extended from the Shinkage-ryū, a branch specifically open to mortals," Takeda Sae explained to Shinomiya Kaguya.
"In fact, the true Shinkage-ryū sword style requires the coordination of supernatural powers like spiritual or Cursed Energy to display its true effects. After hundreds of years of development, even in the hidden world today, the Shinkage-ryū is considered a force to be reckoned with."
Takeda Sae briefly explained some things she had heard about the Shinkage-ryū. Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes brightened slightly.
"So, in the hidden world, this Shinkage-ryū is the kind of power with many disciples, a relatively low entry barrier, and a decent upper limit, where one can learn real skills as long as they are willing to spend money?"
Takeda Sae shook her head uncertainly. "I'm not very clear on the specifics, but talent in swordsmanship is definitely required. I'm just a simple exorcist with no talent for practicing swordsmanship. They never even gave me a second look."
"Secondly, I've also heard that to practice the true Shinkage-ryū, it seems you have to enter into some kind of contract and Binding Vow with them to become an entry-level disciple. My lady, if you are interested in the Shinkage-ryū, you'd best be careful about them adding any extra conditions to the Vow."
The term "Binding Vow" was something the current Shinomiya Kaguya had little understanding of. At most, she thought of it as a rule preventing the disciples of Shinkage-ryū from casually passing on what they had learned.
If the so-called "Binding Vow" was only to that extent, she could accept it.
In her heart, with the support of the Shinomiya family, she should be able to solve the problem of this Vow by throwing money at it or using other resources.
Shinomiya Kaguya thought to herself.
Speaking of which, she had already started practicing swordsmanship since half a month ago, when the Mysterious Person mentioned in the diary the Demon Slayer Corps, an organization that slayed demons with swordsmanship.
If she could find their whereabouts, she should be able to master it quickly by investing a few Reading Value points into swordsmanship.
But until now, the Mysterious Person had not revealed any more information about the Demon Slayer Corps, leaving her with no way to find this organization that might have already disbanded a hundred years ago, or the descendants of the Demon Slayer Corps members who inherited those breathing techniques.
But since the Demon Slayer Corps couldn't be found, considering the Shinkage-ryū was not a problem.
"I understand. I will ask her about the Shinkage-ryū later to find out what that so-called Binding Vow is exactly before making a decision," Shinomiya Kaguya said, then looked at the slightly nervous God-Mother and waved her hand.
She knew why the God-Mother looked this way.
After all, for the past half-month, the God-Mother had indeed received many benefits from the Shinomiya family.
And now that she might be going to Jujutsu High for further studies soon, the God-Mother would naturally be worried about her own future.
However, Shinomiya Kaguya currently still had a certain respect for supernatural beings.
As the first exorcist to come under her command, even if the God-Mother's strength was a bit weak, she would definitely give her treatment that exceeded her strength as a benchmark.
"God-Mother, I will still have to trouble you to look after the Shinomiya family in the future. If any Cursed Spirits or vengeful spirits appear at home, I will still need your help to exorcise them when I am not around."
After reassuring the God-Mother with these words, Shinomiya Kaguya continued to contemplate her future development path.
Of course, these matters also had to be communicated with the girls in the group.
If she really were to go to Jujutsu High, whether it was the Tokyo or Kyoto school, Shinomiya Kaguya planned to tell the girls in the group and see if anyone wanted to go with her to give it a try.
This could be considered her preparing to pave the way for her future in the hidden world.
Other girls might not be able to make a decision so quickly, but Shinomiya Kaguya was just asking out of simple friendliness.
Her real target was only Yotsuya Miko.
After all, the biggest problem Yotsuya Miko wanted to solve right now was her Spirit Sight.
Even though she could currently get by by tricking the vengeful spirits with her diary as Bocchi suggested, if she could change this life of encountering danger every few days and having to rely on her diary to save her life, Yotsuya Miko would definitely seize the opportunity.
Although neither the Mysterious Person nor the God-Mother could clearly explain the origin of Yotsuya Miko's Spirit Sight, Shinomiya Kaguya was willing to bet that her eyes had more abilities than just seeing vengeful spirits.
If even Yotsuya Miko couldn't be valued by Jujutsu High, then the other girls would have even less of a chance.
After Shinomiya Kaguya shared her encounter of the day in the chat group and asked if anyone was interested in Jujutsu High, the chat group fell silent for about half a minute.
Immediately after, Umaru tagged Yotsuya Miko in the group for her.
After a while, Yotsuya Miko replied in the group.
Miko: Can I really go to that Jujutsu High?
It was clear that she was quite excited right now.
When the Mysterious Person had joked about her in the diary before, she had become interested in the situation of that Jujutsu High.
Although she had very good friends at her own school, if the problem of her Spirit Sight wasn't solved, she still had to live in fear every day and couldn't calm down to live out her high school life properly.
And her friend's constitution also made her prone to attracting those powerful vengeful spirits. Yotsuya Miko still remembered the last time her friend was entangled by a powerful spirit, to the point that she was almost guided by the map navigation to that extremely dangerous shrine.
So for herself, and also for her friend, she definitely had to give it a try.
By then, she could also tell her mother and younger brother the truth about her strange behavior during this period with peace of mind.
Kaguya: I'm planning to go and observe the situation at the two Jujutsu Highs in these two days. If you plan to go with me, I'll have Hayasaka come and pick you up later.
The situation in the chat group was about what she had expected. Apart from Yotsuya Miko, the other girls couldn't possibly make a decision so quickly.
And soon, the mood in the group changed again.
The reason was that Takanashi Rikka, the chuunibyou, expressed her interest after Yotsuya Miko and wanted to enroll in Jujutsu High together.
But just half a minute later, she sent a long string of question marks, along with a danger warning from her diary.
This seemed to be the first time she had triggered a danger warning since obtaining the diary, and the first warning directly deducted one Reading Value point from her, making her heart ache.
Goko Ruri, who had been having dinner with Yukinoshita Yukino in a restaurant and was struggling with whether to express her opinion in the group, immediately dismissed the idea after seeing this warning.
She quickly began to discuss the matter with Yukinoshita Yukino, who was sitting opposite her.
Yukinoshita Yukino frowned and thought for a moment, then came up with some ideas.
"Because we've all been practicing Hamon for about a month now, we should all be able to feel the physical changes it has brought us quite clearly."
"The only problem with Hamon is that the training speed is relatively slow, but we can rely on Reading Value to greatly speed up this process. One month of training is equivalent to more than a year of training for a normal person."
To this, Goko Ruri nodded.
She, who used to get out of breath after walking a few steps, could now run ten kilometers around the track.
Yukinoshita Yukino continued her analysis: "Originally, we were scattered in various regions of Japan and weren't conspicuous. Even if the two of us were to dine out together, no powerful figure would happen to pass by and notice that our physiques are much stronger than ordinary people's."
"But if a group of us who practice Hamon were to enter the Jujutsu world together, I'm afraid we would easily be noticed by those big shots in the hidden world."
"Just by breathing, ordinary people can obtain power close to the supernatural. What do you think those big shots would do after learning about this?"
"Don't forget what the Mysterious Person mentioned in the diary. The Jujutsu world is not that wonderful. Maybe those big shots will use some means against us to figure out the secret of Hamon."
Yukinoshita Yukino shook her head.
The Yukinoshita family was a prestigious family in Chiba. She had seen a lot of worldly wisdom since she was a child and had also experienced a lot of malicious treatment from others, so she had always detested these things.
She never thought from the beginning that she could avoid these disputes by going to the hidden world.
With supernatural powers, the struggles between those at the top would probably only be more ruthless and cruel.
Listening to Yukinoshita Yukino's analysis, Goko Ruri shrugged with some disdain.
"Those guys sound even less reliable than the Mysterious Person."
Although the Mysterious Person liked to expose some of their secrets that they didn't want others to know in the diary, he had indeed helped them, the diary holders, a lot, and had never used the fact that he knew many things to threaten them.
In their not-so-close interactions, the diary-holding girls could clearly feel that the Mysterious Person was still quite concerned about them... or at least some of them.
For example, Kasumigaoka Utaha, who was mentioned by the Mysterious Person every day, and the fatherly vibe he had towards Bocchi. Sending Jerry over to help her improve her home environment could probably also be considered his "concern."
Unfortunately, Jerry had gone back early this morning, and she didn't know if there would be a chance to meet again in the future.
"But why didn't Kaguya and Miko receive a warning?"
"Miko has been practicing Hamon for a shorter time, and she has also used fewer Reading Value points. Compared to the Hamon in her body, her Spirit Sight should be more likely to attract the attention of others. Maybe after she enters the Jujutsu world and figures out the situation with her eyes, she will soon become the strongest among us."
The Mysterious Person had also said in the diary that the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer might take Miko as his student because of her eyes.
Although it was just a casual joke from the Mysterious Person, it now seemed quite possible to come true.
"Kaguya is the young lady of the Shinomiya family. Her status is right there. Even if those big shots in the hidden world look down on conglomerates, they wouldn't do anything to Kaguya."
"And we, who have no status and no particular talent, are naturally soft targets."
Yukinoshita Yukino had been vaguely sounding out her parents during this period.
In front of the big shots of the hidden world, a councilman in Chiba Prefecture was indeed nothing, belonging to the group of people who were not even qualified to know about the hidden world.
"It seems that the only ones going to visit Jujutsu High this time are Kaguya and Miko. I wonder if they can take a few photos there and send them to the group to let us see what a school that specifically teaches Jujutsu Sorcerers looks like."
Goko Ruri picked up her phone and, after getting Yukinoshita Yukino's consent, sent her analysis to the group.
Kuroneko: In short, everyone should remain cautious. Although that guy, the Mysterious Person, has been hiding and refusing to show his face, this is indeed the safest approach.