"Tetsuya-kun, since when did you join a club? What's the club called? Hm… the Service Club?"
On the school rooftop, while eating lunch, Marin asked Tetsuya this question. As they spoke, perhaps because their relationship was clearly no longer just that of close friends, she was also diligently feeding him.
This scene was, of course, witnessed by Megumi, who was eating quietly. Her brown eyes moved back and forth between Tetsuya being fed and Marin doing the feeding.
Whatever she was thinking, Megumi formed her own guess.
"What? Kouhai, you joined a club?"
Utaha was there as well. She looked at Marin with raised eyebrows, a hint of hostility in her eyes. Hearing that her junior had joined a club, Utaha looked at him with suspicion.
After all, Tetsuya had never joined any club before. Utaha knew this because he never had spare time, he was always busy writing his novels.
And yet, her junior had joined a club? Utaha felt something was off.
And that club's name…
While eating the tempura Marin fed him, Tetsuya replied calmly, "Do you remember when Shizuka-sensei called me after class last Friday? Yeah, she's the one who forced me to join."
"Forced? That's not right! You should've refused, Tetsuya-kun!" Marin said. Now that she had a deeper relationship with him, she was clearly unhappy hearing that the man she loved had been forced into a club.
Even Megumi nodded. "Just because Tetsuya-kun didn't pay attention in class once doesn't mean a teacher can force a student to join a club. You could've refused, Tetsuya-kun."
Utaha frowned and said, "Shizuka-sensei? You mean Shizuka the Iron Fist? That suits her."
If Shizuka were here, she would definitely feel offended, and furious, hearing Utaha say that.
Tetsuya appreciated their concern, but he calmly replied, "It's fine. Actually, this way I won't be invited by other clubs anymore, and the Service Club doesn't have many activities anyway."
Since the one being forced said that, Marin and the others didn't argue further.
After lunch, Utaha left first. By the way, this black-stocking senpai kept stealing glances at Tetsuya's lips, only to hurriedly look away, blushing.
Clearly, she was thinking about the kiss from yesterday.
Marin and Megumi also returned to class afterward, but Tetsuya didn't go back right away. Instead, he headed to the Service Club.
The club's location was extremely remote. No wonder so few, almost no, people ever came here. Tetsuya even doubted anyone knew about this club if Shizuka-sensei hadn't told him.
Inside the Service Club room.
Tetsuya entered and saw Yukino sitting there, reading a book. The sunlight streaming through the open window behind her made the scene look like something straight out of a romcom manga. Tetsuya paused slightly, unable not to admire the beauty of a heroine-like figure.
"Good afternoon, Yukinoshita-san."
Yukino looked up from her book. "Good afternoon, Hiratsuji-san," she said, then returned to reading.
How many words does this girl even say in a day?
Tetsuya chose a chair and sat down.
The two of them remained silent for a long time during the break. There was no sound, only the soft flipping of pages as Yukino Yukinoshita read her book.
With nothing else to do, Tetsuya opened the chat group and saw the girls chatting.
===
[Erza: This is amazing. I've become much stronger after spending thousands of points on my magic. I already completed many S-rank missions today.]
[Shinobu: Is it really that incredible? Getting stronger with points… I want that too.]
[Saeko: Let's wait and see. Right now, besides missions, Group Points can also be obtained by killing zombies in my world. As for Shinobu-san's world… there are demons there, right? Maybe killing demons can earn points?]
[Shinobu: That's true! I think I should try hunting demons from now on.]
[Tetsuya: Try starting with weaker demons first, just to confirm whether points can be earned. We don't want trouble happening to a fellow group member.]
Even though Tetsuya was fairly sure that killing demons in Shinobu's world would grant points, there was no harm in being cautious. What if she accidentally ran into an Upper Moon?
[Shinobu: I understand, don't worry. Thank you for your concern, Tetsuya-san.]
Tetsuya chatted with the girls in the group for a little longer.
Yukino noticed Tetsuya sitting silently, staring ahead as if lost in thought. She frowned slightly but said nothing, continuing to read her book.
A short while later, the break ended. Tetsuya left the club room first and quickly returned to his classroom.
…
That afternoon, after school.
Tetsuya felt a massive fluctuation of energy coming from a certain direction. The energy felt suffocating, like a cursed nightmare.
"Hm?" Tetsuya wrinkled his nose and looked toward the source of the energy he sensed. "This feels really disgusting."
Even so, Tetsuya immediately moved in that direction at lightning speed.
Meanwhile, at a certain middle school.
"Itadori! No! Stop!"
A boy with messy black hair, covered in blood, shouted at a pink-haired boy who was in the middle of swallowing a finger!
The black-haired boy's eyes widened as he yelled a warning, but it was too late. The finger had already been swallowed.
At the same time, a large, grotesque creature approached the boy named Itadori. But before it could do anything, Itadori casually waved his hand, and an overwhelming force instantly obliterated the creature.
"I knew it! It always feels so good to see the sky the way it's supposed to be!"
He tore open his shirt, revealing a muscular body covered with black, tattoo-like markings. There were similar markings on his face, along with an extra small eye beneath each of his eyes.
The black-haired boy's pupils shrank, his expression changing completely.
'This is the worst. The worst possible outcome. That cursed object has taken over his body!'
That's right, he was Megumi Fushiguro, and the pink-haired boy was Yuji Itadori.
Megumi was a Jujutsu Sorcerer from Tokyo Jujutsu High, tasked with securing a cursed object, the finger that Yuji had swallowed. However, before he could secure it, the cursed object was taken and its seal released, emitting cursed energy that attracted cursed spirits.
The grotesque six-legged creature was one such cursed spirit, and Megumi had nearly died because of it. Now, however, the worst-case scenario had occurred.
The cursed object was one of Sukuna's fingers, Sukuna, the half-human, half-curse known as the King of Curses, who had brought a nightmare of destruction upon humanity a thousand years ago.
Sukuna looked out over the city before him. The corners of his mouth lifted into a cruel, savage grin.
"What a wonderful era. Children… women… crawling like animals," he spread his arms as if grasping the entire city. "How beautiful… it would be to commit a massacre here!"
"!!!"
At that moment, one of his hands moved on its own, grabbing his chin, surprising him. Megumi, watching, was also stunned.
"Huh?"
Not far away, Tetsuya watched everything with his hands in his pockets.
"Just as I thought. There's even Sukuna and jujutsu here?" he muttered. "Yeah, it wouldn't make sense if it were only the evil spirits from Yotsuya Miko's world."