Chapter 356: 356 Jujutsu Kaisen 21
Once people had mostly finished eating, I brought out a karaoke machine, picked up the microphone, and said to everyone.
"I hope you all enjoyed the meal."
The middle school girls shouted enthusiastically.
"It was delicious~!!"
"Wow~ the Head Priest is handsome!"
"Now, time to digest. We’re going to play a game with prizes. The rules are simple. When a prize is announced, you can challenge it. Whoever gets the highest score on the karaoke machine wins the prize. However, once you win a prize, you can’t challenge again."
With that, I brought out the first prize: a PlayStation 3 with a game package. Uraume immediately raised her hand.
"I’ll, I’ll do it!"
True to her otaku nature, Uraume began singing the opening theme of Spice and Wolf, which was currently airing. But she had no singing ability—she only scored 72 points. Uraume returned to her seat with a gloomy expression.
"Anyone else?"
One of the middle school girls came forward and took the microphone, receiving enthusiastic cheers from her classmates.
"Ganbatte, Hana-chan!"
"Hang in there, Hana-chan!"
That middle school girl unexpectedly sang rock, and the funny thing was, she was quite good.
"Oh, 97 points! That’s unbeatable?"
"I know. She sang really well."
Everyone gave up, and the middle school girl took the PlayStation and game package. Her friends were overjoyed. The next prize was Chanel No. 5 perfume, worth about 30,000 yen. Another middle school girl won that one too. The school side didn’t even try. So to encourage more participation, I put out something more expensive.
"This prize is this year’s limited edition ’Macallan 50 Years.’"
Mei Mei and Yaga were so shocked they jumped to their feet. This whiskey was a limited edition, costing a whopping 4 million yen including tax. Mei Mei urgently asked Utahime.
"Utahime, you sing well, don’t you? Win that for me. We’ll sell it and split the proceeds."
"Huh? What? No, I can’t. Selling a prize is a bit much."
While they were talking, a middle school girl came out to sing. Yaga objected.
"A student can’t have alcohol—as a teacher, I can’t allow it!"
"It’s not for me to drink. I’m giving it to my dad!"
"Ngh..."
At that, Yaga had nothing to say. To be honest, rather than his position as a teacher, Yaga seemed to want the whiskey himself. Fortunately for him, that middle school girl scored 81 points.
"Alright, my turn!"
Thinking this score was beatable, Yaga stepped up and began singing. The song choice was enka (Japanese folk ballad), which was a bit unusual, but he sang quite well.
"Oh~ Sensei, you’re pretty good!"
"I know, I’m surprised too. Next time we go karaoke, we should bring Sensei!"
When the song ended, Yaga scored 83 points, winning by a narrow margin of 2 points. The school side applauded.
"Sensei, we see you in a new light!"
Embarrassed, Yaga scratched his head and returned to his seat.
"Anyone else?"
At my words, Mei Mei kept poking Utahime, urging her to go up.
"I recommended you for first grade, didn’t I? Hurry up."
"I said no. It’s a prize... oh, fine..."
Unable to resist Mei Mei’s urging, Utahime came forward and began singing ’One Love’ from the movie Hana Yori Dango Final. She sang even better than an average singer.
"Wow! A perfect score of 100..."
"Is she a singer?"
"Utahime, you’re the best!"
Mei Mei stood up, applauding enthusiastically. But I firmly said.
"No, that’s against the rules."
Both Utahime and Mei Mei were flustered. I looked at the middle school girls and asked.
"Proxy testing is disqualification, right?"
"Right!"
"Of course!"
"Then the prize goes to Yaga, who had the second-highest score."
At that, Yaga pumped his fists in victory, while Mei Mei’s face fell. Utahime sighed and said.
"I knew this would happen."
"Can’t be helped. Yaga, sell me that whiskey. I’ll give you 2 million yen."
Mei Mei still couldn’t let it go, but Yaga immediately refused.
"No, I can’t sell something I won as a prize."
Subsequent prizes included a laptop, a high-end fountain pen set, a 100,000 yen bookstore gift certificate, and various other items, most of which were won by the middle school girls. Then, when a LEGO set appeared, Maki, Mai, Mimiko, and Nanako came out together to sing. Everyone watched with warm smiles.
"This... we shouldn’t interfere, should we?"
"Right."
As if by silent agreement, no one challenged them, and the LEGO set went to the children. They were overjoyed, and everyone watched them with affectionate smiles.
"Next prize: Nintendo Wii with game package."
With another game console up, Uraume quickly raised her hand.
"I’ll sing."
This time, instead of trying to sing well, she focused solely on pitch and rhythm, singing like a robot. It was a calculated move to maximize her score.
"No matter how much you want the prize, that’s a bit..."
Seeing how desperate she was, no one else challenged her. In the end, Uraume won the Nintendo Wii. There was no cheering or applause, but Uraume was very happy. Her lack of social skills showed.
Although Uraume dampened the mood a bit, after a few more prizes were won, the atmosphere improved. Those who didn’t win any prizes received cookie sets. Afterwards, for dessert, we had ice cream, and then we sent the students home in the limousine.
"Have fun going back."
"The food was so delicious!"
"I’ll use the prize well~"
"See you at school, Riko-chan~"
After sending off the middle school girls, we sat down with the school group for a simple chat.
"Wow, the food was great, and it was fun. I wish my house were this fun."
When Satoru said that, Tsukumo replied.
"The Gojo clan, the Zenin clan, the Kamo clan... for them to change like that, it would take at least a hundred years, don’t you think? Or maybe even longer."
"That’s true. Anyway, congratulations on becoming first grade, Utahime. Now I can’t tease you about being weak."
At Satoru’s words, Utahime chuckled. Seizing the moment, I asked about Mei Mei.
"By the way, who is this young lady? I haven’t seen her before."
"Ah, that’s Mei Mei-san, a senior. She’s a first-grade sorcerer and quite skilled."
Mei Mei greeted me as well.
"Nice to meet you, Head Priest. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Mei Mei."
"Nice to meet you. I’m Hisakawa Jin, Head Priest of Taijin-kyo."
"Head Priest, I have a question. How did you make Utahime so strong? I’m also curious about her ridiculously increased cursed energy in such a short time."
Mei Mei asked what she was curious about directly.
"That’s thanks to our family’s techniques, so I can’t disclose them unless you’re a disciple or a member of our family. But I can give you advice."
"Then, could I please ask for your advice?"
I looked at Mei Mei for a moment, then spoke.
"Well, it’s a manipulation technique. But thinking it’s insufficient, you’ve been training your body quite a bit, haven’t you?"
"Oh my, how did you know?"
"I don’t know if you’ve heard, but my technique is to understand all phenomena. If you showed me your technique, I could tell you more, but for now, this is all."
At that, Mei Mei summoned a crow and immediately showed me her technique. Probably wanting more hints. I was lucky—I could acquire the technique right away.
"That’s right. My technique is Black Bird Manipulation—the ability to manipulate crows. I can control multiple crows simultaneously and also share vision with them. But since there are no other notable features, I had no choice but to use bindings for suicide attacks or train my body like this."
"Could you tell me more about the bindings you placed?"
"I used the crows’ lives as collateral to place a restriction that increases the cursed energy put into the technique. With that restriction, I managed to raise its power somehow."
"I see the problem immediately. The issue is that you view your own technique very pessimistically. That’s why you focus so much on physical reinforcement."
"Th-that’s right..."
I stood up and said to Mei Mei.
"Follow me for a moment."
At my words, not only Mei Mei but everyone from the school followed me. I moved to the end of the yacht dock at my mansion, which had a good view of the sea. In the distance, a small rocky islet was visible.
Upon arriving, I raised my hand toward the sky. Suddenly, the sound of crows grew loud from the surroundings, and dozens of crows began flying toward that rocky islet. Then, when I lowered my hand, the dozens of crows in the air simultaneously used Bird Strike, raining down on the islet like dozens of missiles.
KABOOOOM!!!
With a tremendous explosion, the rocky islet disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed. At the sight, not only Mei Mei but everyone from the school was greatly shocked.
"I-I can’t believe it!!! How did you..."
"It’s a good technique. I’ll use it well."
I said that and returned to the mansion. The school people, who had been watching blankly, followed along.
Once back in the mansion’s yard and seated, Mei Mei urgently began asking.
"You! How was it possible for you to use my technique? And what was that just now!? To control that many crows and use Bird Strike simultaneously—not just the cursed energy cost, but the amount of information would burn out your brain..."
Flustered, she even fumbled her words as she asked.
"I told you about my technique. I can understand and use any technique I see once. And as you said, controlling that many crows to use the technique would strain your brain, but if you have Reverse Cursed Technique, that changes things."
At that, Satoru seemed to immediately understand and clapped his hands.
"Ah! So that’s it. I see... When I use Limitless for a long time, it strains my brain too. So I use Reverse Cursed Technique to prevent brain burnout. It’s the same method, then."
"Correct, 100 points!"
This should be enough as hints to Mei Mei in exchange for her technique.
"Have you ever thought about the techniques of cursed spirits? A cursed spirit’s technique is connected to the very root of its existence. I think humans are no different. How well you understand yourself directly leads to how well you understand your own technique. Ultimately, I believe the key to a sorcerer’s strength lies here."
Just then, maids came out of the mansion and said to me.
"Head of the family, should we clean up? There was a lot of thunder earlier—if it rains..."
They seemed to have mistaken the Bird Strike for thunder.
"Yes, please do. Everyone, come inside. I’ll serve you some coffee."
At my words, everyone stood up and came inside. I brewed coffee and handed them each a cup. But some didn’t even drink their coffee, lost in deep thought. It was natural for Mei Mei to be pondering after my hints, but Suguru, Utahime, and even Satoru sat motionless, not touching their coffee.
Then Yaga clapped his hands and said.
"Alright, it’s getting late. Let’s all head back. We need to prepare for tomorrow."
Only then did people start getting up to go home.
"Congratulations on becoming first grade, Utahime. I look forward to your future success."
"Head Priest, the food was delicious today. Thanks for the meal."
I sent everyone off and helped the maids with the cleaning.
About two months later, I heard through Uraume that Satoru had mastered Domain Expansion. News also came that Suguru had learned Reverse Cursed Technique. My demonstrations and words seemed to have helped them greatly. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear any news about Mei Mei.
Time passed, and finally Maki, Mai, Mimiko, and Nanako entered elementary school. Utahime, Tsukumo, and I watched their entrance ceremony. Utahime couldn’t hide her tears, sniffling beside me as she watched.
"Master, I’m so proud. Those little children are already going to school! Sniff..."
"If I’d known, I would have bought more tissues. My mistake."
"I’m sorry, it’s just so moving."
Thanks to Utahime’s diligent teaching, the children seemed able to get by at school without major problems. Utahime had finished her role as a tutor, so she could have left, but she had nowhere else to live, so she stayed at the mansion and took on missions.
Meanwhile, Amanai Riko had graduated middle school and become a high school student. She didn’t enter Jujutsu High. She said she no longer wanted to be someone who needed protection, but wanted to protect herself, so she began learning swordsmanship from me. The experiences she went through seemed to have taught her a lot.
Amanai had cursed energy but no innate technique, so I began teaching her the basics of sorcery along with swordsmanship.
