Once again, Akumu found himself in that familiar hospital bed.
'This is becoming a terrible habit.'
But this time, something felt wrong. His body was.. heavy? He slowly raised his blanket, only to see Yukiko sleeping just beside him. His face turned pink as he quickly put it back down and erased the sight from his memory.
He was glad to see she was safe at least, but what about everyone else?
'What even happened before I passed out... I was running from Mozu.. and then..!?'
A flood of memories sprang into him all at once. Despite attempting to kill his shadow, it seemed to have taken over his body instead. From there, it saved everyone, and even killed Mozu for him.
'But why?'
His stomach began to rumble from an immense amount of hunger. Hospital didn't really suit his fancy, but he didn't want to go to the cafeteria in a hospital gown. So first he decided to go take a shower, but when he saw himself in the mirror..
"Did someone dye my hair in my sleep???"
It had become completely white with only a thin strand of black remaining. He remembered it was very much the opposite when he came to Jujutsu high, but he didn't like the change very much,
"No way my cursed technique is something so stupid..."
After taking a quick shower, he was about to leave. But the moment he opened the door, Jihi screeched as she dropped a bunch of files she was carrying. Somethings just never change.
A little while later, Jihi quickly gave him a run down on what happened.
"You were in a coma for 6 days this time, are you sure your not narcoleptic?? And when we found you, your hair was already white, so you probably dyed it and forgot. You healed everyone with very impressive reverse cursed technique too, so everyone is fine if your wondering."
Akumu was a little unsure about that last part. It wasn't him that used it, but his other. Did that mean he could use it now too though? He quickly tried to manifest it, but nothing changed leaving him disappointed.
**
It was midday so most of the other students were out and about following their normal lives. Well, that was the case until Akumu appeared. In the beginning he could feel their whispers were filled with hate, and then after he 'beat' Kenji they were filled with respect, but now?
They were filled with caution, and maybe even fear.
But right now Akumu didn't care, he just wanted to slay the hunger demon hiding in his stomach.
Once he finally gained an opportunity to sit down and eat, he noticed that everyone had been avoiding the area he sat in.
'Did another nasty rumour start while I was gone?? Where are Hagone and the rest...'
Then right when he was about to eat, two people suddenly approached him. It was Yumeno Gojo, and her oranged haired companion.. servant? He was holding 2 lunch trays for each of them, so it seemed like that was the case.
"So the first thing that Jujutsu Highs next special grade sorcerer does when he wakes up, is eat food?"
"What!?"
The orange haired boy then shouted,
"Use your manners when you speak to Lady Yumeno like that! You filthy-"
Before he could finish, Yumeno quickly slapped him at the back of his head with slight reluctance.
"I'm sorry about Taro, he's meant to be my assistant."
Before Yumeno could say anything else however, Owari suddenly appeared behind Akumu making him jump. Being unable to bear his presence, Yumeno quickly stormed off while Taro desperately followed behind her.
Akumu looked at Yumeno at Yumeno one last time, before turning back to Owari.
"Sibling drama?"
"That's not even half of it."
Much like before, Owari brought with him a world changing amount of news.
He quickly grabbed him by the shoulder before teleporting away to the school's roof. He ended up up leaving all his food behind which forced a groan out of him.
The roof was empty and plain. Not only did it lay 400 meters above ground, but it also hid away a plain table accompanied by a pair of chairs. Naturally, the kind gentleman that Owari was, offered Akumu a seat."
"Are you caught up yet?"
"Not completely."
He wasn't exactly sure if he was promoted to special grade or not, due to the way Yumeno worded it.
"Since you don't use cursed techniques, it would be really difficult to track your cursed energy residuals unless you had my eyes. So when I saw that vessels corpse stained in your cursed energy, I was really surprised."
He then tilted his sunglasses in a way that made his azure eyes visible. They appeared to be glowing with a mysterious that made Akumu feel naked.
'Creepy..'
"Nonetheless, everyone is sure that it was you who killed that thing. It was you.. right?"
Akumu then muttered quietly,
"I'm not sure anymore."
A strange awkwardness then hung in the air. The strange answer was interesting, but it would mess up a lot of things if anyone else were to hear it. Owari just kept this info to himself.
"Anyhow, the promotion mission was meant to make you a grade 2 sorcerer upon completion, but due to the appearance of a special grade vengeful spirit, and a special grade vessel which were both exorcised by you, it has been decided that you would be promoted to semi-grade 1."
Semi-grade 1... if a grade 1 was the gold standard for Jujutsu Sorcery, then a semi-grade 1 would just be one step behind. What one step was Akumu missing to reach that level?
"Hang on.. I beat a special grade by myself, how come I'm not a special grade yet?"
"Well.. Sukuna's fingers are still considered a special grade cursed object, but if one of them were to incarnate like they did already, it honestly wouldn't be that big of a deal."
The standards for a special grade sorcerer, was the capability to overthrow a nation. This could include being able to capture one overnight, possess enough destructive power to rival its artillery, or have enough strength to take on an entire army.
But that was 100 years ago, when nations didn't have readily accessible cursed energy.
Nowadays, even non sorcerers could be armed with a cursed tool transformed handgun, and even other countries possed sorcerers in their armies capable of wiping out cities. As a result, the bar required for a special grade had risen, and now it was much greater than it was 100 years ago.
This also meant, that each special grade that exists in the current Japan, are much stronger than the special grades of the past.
If there were any special grades of the past that could rival today's, it would only be a fully incarnated Sukuna, and Satoru Gojo.
'So when Gojo.. Yumeno called me the next special grade, was it because I managed to kill one?'
While the two continued to talk, the silhouette of human far in the distance, blotted the sun casting its shadow on the two. It then appeared to shout,
"AKUMU! LET'S SETTLE THIS RIGHT NOW!"
That familiar voice.. it was Arthur.
Akumu barely avoided the attack as he quickly dashed out of the way. The greatsword plummeted into the ground, as it easily thrusted through the roof and into the poor janitors closet below them. The janitor in question received a great freight, as the blade of a sword appeared just inches away from his face.
"You killed a special grade! That makes you a worthy enough competitor for Yumeno at long last! Let us battle to decide this, here and now!"
"I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER CONSIDER HER!"
He then looked toward Owari who still said nothing about it. In fact he was just whistling as he pretended not to see the two.
"Well aren't you just enjoying this??"
Akumu quickly jumped over the schools Railing, while latching one of his dark whips on it to slow his fall.