NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 216
Chapter 216 – Chapter 25 – Entering Barrier 4000
“That being said, isn’t Mr. Morishita’s death unrelated to the Eighty-Eight Bridges?”
“Not related at all.”
At the specialty store owned by the Fuwa family, Kugisaki Nobara was chatting idly with Fuwa Shiomi, her voice dripping with insincerity.
Her attention was fully focused on sensing her surroundings.
There were various ways curses could be activated. In most cases, when a curse was launched, the cursed spirit would appear next to the cursed person and attempt to kill them.
As long as the cursed spirit appeared, Kugisaki Nobara would purge it.
This was also why she stayed close to Fuwa Shiomi.
But if a curse was activated from within one’s body, unless someone with the ability to perform a reverse technique was present, even Satoru Gojo couldn’t protect her effectively.
Yukinoshita Yukino placed Kugisaki here just in case the spirit appeared in the first scenario.
“Speaking of which, Fuwa-kun hasn’t changed at all, he still looks like he did in middle school,” Fuwa Shiomi reminisced, steering the conversation towards old classmates.
Kugisaki Nobara perked up, Fuwa Megumi rarely talked about himself to her or Itadori Yuuji. She knew only that he had been adopted by Satoru Gojo at a young age, so she and Itadori weren’t very familiar with him.
“I wouldn’t find this boring!” The flame-haired girl’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, “Tell me about Fuwa-kun’s middle school days.”
Fuwa Shiomi smiled wistfully, “‘His face always looked cold, showing no concern for anything.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
She visualized a shorter version of him, always scowling, and chuckled.
“Speaking of Fuwa-kun, remember there’s always gossip! You know what I mean,” Kugisaki winked at Fuwa Shiomi with a knowing expression.
“Loving rumors, huh?” Fuwa Shiomi grinned, “Actually, a lot of girls liked Fuwa-kun in middle school.”
“Really!?” Kugisaki Nobara’s eyes widened, “Really him?”
“While Fuwa Megumi maintains a distant and cold demeanor, many girls found him attractive,” Fuwa Shiomi continued naturally.
Then she suddenly remembered something else, “Speaking of Fuwa-kun, by the way, Jinika was with her brother at Eighty-Eight Bridges that night. I wonder how Jinika is doing now.”
“Who is Jinika?” Kugisaki Nobara’s heart raced.
“Jinika? You don’t know her? She’s… Fuwa-kun’s older sister.”
“Ah, about that… he never tells us much about himself,” the flame-haired girl giggled, “Fuwa-kun has to be interested in this, let me call him.”
Jinika? Fuwa’s sister? Does this mean Jinika was also under a curse and now in danger?
Kugisaki Nobara stood up and walked out to the shop, making a phone call to Fuwa Megumi.
…
“If jumping off the bridge isn’t the trigger for the curse, how can we locate that cursed spirit?” Itadori Yuuji scratched his head.
“Curses aren’t applied randomly; ultimately, curses are a form of techniques. To activate the curse, a medium or method must be used,” Fuwa Megumi explained.
At that moment, his phone rang, and he saw the caller was Kugisaki. He frowned, “Kugisaki?”
He answered it.
“Kugisaki, what’s going on? Anything strange happened over there?”
“All is well over here. How about you?”
The urgency was clear in Kugisaki’s voice.
“Failure, Itadori didn’t jump off the bridge, so not a trigger to the curse. Did you get any useful information from Fuwa?”
“Hmm… perhaps the cursed spirit might be near the bridge. Fuwa said the trials are down there and she went there too,” Kugisaki replied, scrunching her eyebrows.
“Under the bridge… We’re already under here.”
“Speaking of Fuwa’s sister—Jinika, right?”
Fuwa Megumi froze hearing Jinika’s name, “How did you know?”
“Fuwa mentioned that Jinika was there that night as well,” she explained.
“What!?”
His eyes narrowed, shock evident as he held his phone trembling.
“This is bad. Jinika could be in trouble at any moment,” Kugisaki worriedly stated.
“Relax, I’ll contact Mr. Ijichi and have a free-duty jujutsu sorcerer check on her,” Fuwa took several deep breaths to stay calm.
“Do it quickly. No need to worry over here,” she hung up.
Seeing Fuwa looking somber and sweating profusely, Itadori anxiously asked, “What’s up? Did anything happen with Kugisaki?”
“…Nothing,” Fuwa shook his head, “I’ll call Mr. Ijichi first.”
However, the situation did not improve as expected.
“I already know the situation. We’ll protect Miss Jinika, but only Grade 2 sorcerers are available. If the number of cursed people exceeds our expectations, curses may escalate,” Kiyotaka Ijichi replied while checking on idle jujutsu sorcerers.
“Though the task becomes more dangerous, Yukinoshita leading your team should mitigate it. For now, Grade 2 sorcerers will monitor Miss Jinika. Don’t worry too much.”
“Regardless of the curse, once the caster is eliminated, the curse ends. Concentrate on the task,” Ijichi assured them.
After hanging up, knowing Fuwa’s sister might be in grave danger, Fuwa Megumi felt determined, “Understood. Leave Jinika to me.”
“But that’s precisely my point.” Itadori looked at Fuwa Megumi with surprise, then turned and grumbled, “You act like this is only your issue! Lean on us, aren’t we friends?”
Fuwa remained silent, then slowly relaxes.
A slight smile appeared on his lips, “That’s because you’re not as skilled as Yukinoshita.”
“Itachi’s right, can’t argue with that! But I’m still helpful for things like bungee jumping!” Itadori defended lightly.
“Okay, now that the worry is settled, let’s focus on our mission,” Yukinoshita concluded.
Their goal was to locate the cursed spirit.
“Given the mediums for curses and the number of cursed individuals far surpass what was estimated, the techniques must now be clear,” Yukinoshita deduced.
“Sure? What techniques?” Itadori scratched his head.
“Barriers. A barrier infused with techniques would eventually collapse, similar to partial domains we’ve encountered before.”
Itadori nodded in understanding, “Got it, they’re hiding in their own domains!”
Just then, experienced assistant director Shindou Natsuki spoke up, “It’s a matter of sequence.”
“If the spirits are within the barriers, order is critical. At night, entering from below the bridge…”
She headed downriver towards the lower ground where a small meandering stream came into view.
“Predictably, another crossing!” Shindou exclaimed.
Crossing a river or boundary line held significant meaning in jujutsu.
“If they’re inside the barrier, no need to wait. I’m staying on the bridge, awaiting your return,” she smiled and waved to the group before heading back to the black car parked across the bridge.
Assistant directors weren’t combat-ready, thus they stayed out to wait.
Sometimes, she felt frustrated watching younger students fight.
But remembering how easily those kids outmatched her, she shrugged off the feeling.
“Alright, let’s go.”
A shallow river, little more than a brook, barely covered feet.
They stepped onto the opposite bank.
Instantly, the bridge’s barren gorge transformed around them into a dim cavern.
With a violent tremor, blood-stained bone spikes thrust from the ceiling and ground. They dodged as spirits resembling mole-like beings emerged from their underground lairs.
“They’re here – the cursed spirits!” shouted Itadori.
Fuwa extended shadows beneath him, drawing a curved blade from the darkness.
Yukinoshita casually remained in place with no battle stance needed, but the approaching spirit collapsed in two without her lifting a finger.
“Wow!” Itadori marveled at the speed it was sliced in half.
Such prowess!
Another tremor, not from the barrier itself but from external impact.
Yukinoshita, first to sense it, wheeled around.
Behind, a green spirit charged through bone stalagmites and sprang towards the ceiling, looping behind them, crashing down in front of them.
“Wait, someone got here first…”
Its bizarre features included an oversized mouth and a secondary, bloody head above it.
“Fuwa, does this one have anything to do with the curse?” Itadori asked.
“No, it doesn’t,” Fuwa confirmed.
With that, the boy’s palm ignited with a blue-green curse energy.
“I’ll handle this one. Focus on the other two.”
Itadori nodded, recognizing the lesser spirit’s ease and compared to the quick, efficient teamwork between them and the more skilled Yukinoshita and Fuwa.
Yet, Yukinoshita furrowed her brow, focused on a different threat.
Another articulate cursed spirit—perhaps allied with the ones in Shinjuku?
“Fuwa-san, could you control this spirit?” Yukinoshita requested, “I want to question it.”
“Sure,” Itadori stepped up.
Without delay, they charged towards their respective targets.
—
That noisy summer: