Chapter 119: Fushiguro Megumi's Sister?
Because Ijichi had to stay on standby for an assignment, the one leading Itadori Yuji and the others to the mission location this time was not him, but another assistant manager, Nitta Akari.
Unlike the rough-edged office worker Ijichi, this assistant manager appeared to be a young girl only a few years older than Itadori, seemingly having graduated from the College not long ago.
That's right, Jujutsu High is not only training new Sorcerers; the position of assistant manager must also be taken up only after undergoing systematic study.
In fact, since they don't need to practice fighting techniques, the liberal arts courses there are much stricter than those for the Sorcery students.
After all, as support for Sorcerers, firmly remembering various pieces of knowledge about the Jujutsu world is just the basic requirement. Crucially, their execution ability and real-time analytical skills must both reach a certain acceptable level.
Of course, since it is a high-risk profession second only to Sorcerers, the salary and benefits are absolutely not skimped on.
Although assistant managers are required to frequently report their work status to the higher-ups and almost directly obey the mandates of the top brass, Sorcerers are, after all, their daily partners. What Emiya asks of them will still be carried out diligently.
For example, Emiya had actually partnered with all the assistant managers in Tokyo and had asked them to help look after his students.
After receiving Nitta Akari's call, Emiya immediately said goodbye to Yotsuya Miko and asked her to take him to the suspicious location.
As for the reason she said Itadori Yuji and the others received a questionable mission this time...
"June, Morioka, Kaneda Taichi; August, Yokohama, Shimada Osamu; September, Nagoya, Yamato Hiro... The cause of this mission is the strange, identical deaths of three victims who seemed to have no connection.
Before their deaths, they all complained to property management about automatic doors malfunctioning, and then they died a few weeks later... The probability of this being the work of a Curse is very high.
After investigation, it was found that the three deceased had all attended the same junior high school, indicating a high probability of having been affected by the same Curse. However, after our investigation today, it appears that the true number of victims is far greater than three."
Nitta Akari explained the current situation to Emiya while driving. She remembered all the causes and effects clearly, which was a fundamental skill for an assistant manager.
"Victims spread far and wide, yet possibly the work of the same Curse?
I see. Are you saying that the greater the range and number of people involved in a Curse, the more its inherent power exceeds expectations?"
Upon hearing this information, Emiya immediately analyzed it carefully.
Urban legends and other dark rumors can also transform into a 'Curse' through the accumulation of negative emotions and other factors. Such a 'Curse' not only transforms into the form of a Curse Spirit but also kills by following the rules of the original legend.
Unlike typical 'Jibakurei' (Earthbound Spirits), any rule corresponding to the rumor can become the condition for their killing, thus traveling thousands of miles to kill the person affected by the 'Curse.'
However, limited by the strength of the Curse Spirit, the range and number of targets locked by the Curse are also limited.
Most weak Curses can only be confined to a certain school or local area, and the harm to humans is not necessarily fatal.
But the three locations Nitta Akari just mentioned—Morioka, Yokohama, Nagoya... one can't even say they are relatively far apart; Morioka and Nagoya are separated by more than 800 kilometers, almost spanning half of Japan.
Under these circumstances, if the number of victims increases further, the strength of the 'Curse' can basically be confirmed as Grade 1 or higher.
"Exactly. This morning, I originally planned to go with Itadori-kun and the others to question an acquaintance of the three victims, but only after arriving did we find that person had already become a new victim. Later, with a deeper investigation into that junior high school, we found that all four people had visited an eerie location called [The Eighty-Eight Bridge] during their junior high years.
Because of its notoriety, Sorcerers have been sent there to investigate many times before, but no anomaly was ever found... If a Curse truly exists, it might have been born only this year.
If that's the case, the number of people who have been to that place is impossible to tally, and Itadori-kun and the others couldn't find a way to trigger the rule after testing... such a Curse would be very difficult to exorcise without finding its source.
The strength of the Curse is likely to exceed expectations. I originally wanted the students to evacuate first, but..."
At this point in her narration, Nitta Akari's tone suddenly paused.
"Did something happen?" Emiya quickly asked.
"But then a victim who was affected by the Curse provided information that Miss Tsumiki had also been afflicted by that Curse."
"Tsumiki?"
"Yes, she is Fushiguro-kun's older sister."
Sensing that Emiya didn't recognize the person, Nitta Akari immediately introduced her.
"Sister... Fushiguro never mentioned her to me. Did something happen to her?"
Although it would sound strange for his student to suddenly say, "Sensei, I have a sister, would you like to meet her?" it was also strange that Emiya himself didn't know until now.
Furthermore, Fushiguro Megumi is from the Zen'in bloodline himself, so is his sister the same?
"Miss Tsumiki was originally a student at the College, but she suddenly fell into a coma one year ago after being afflicted by a Curse. Because the source of the Curse could never be found, even the Sorcerers within the College were completely helpless.
Fushiguro-kun seemed to have become much quieter after that."
As a Sorcerer, merely falling into a coma is not considered too dangerous a situation.
But it would be very difficult for anyone to remain truly calm upon seeing their loved one in this state.
"There's such a thing?! That guy never mentioned this to me.
Seriously, he didn't even ask me to take a look or anything... What if I had a way?"
Emiya could vaguely understand that, given Fushiguro Megumi's personality, he probably didn't want to casually ask others for help and felt that since so many Sorcerers couldn't find a solution, he might not either.
After all, the most tragic thing is not having no hope, but being cruelly stripped of hope after obtaining it for a brief moment.
"So, Fushiguro Megumi is definitely going to secretly go and deal with this, right?"
Emiya was quite familiar with what kind of student he had.
"Not only that, Itadori-kun and Kugisaki-kun also said they would return to the College alone, but I couldn't find them later, so I suppose they went with him..."
Nitta Akari herself was completely helpless about this!
She, an assistant manager, couldn't genuinely restrain the Sorcerers, and if these students encountered any accidents while exorcising the Curse Spirit, she, the assistant manager, would definitely be held responsible!
She couldn't control them, yet she had to stand at attention when it came time to take the heat. She was actually quite desperate.
Having chosen the profession of assistant manager, she naturally had a lot of kindness and wanted fewer people to be harmed by Curses. She absolutely didn't want the Sorcerers to be in danger, but she really couldn't do much in this situation.
Her emotions were still relatively stable. If Ijichi were here, he might already be crying.
What fault does a middle-aged office worker who wants to care for his students and his family have?
The pressure is too great!
"It's okay. I'll take care of them."
As expected, a teacher like this is the most reassuring!!!
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