JJK: Wheel of Time

"Max Elephant!"

Fushiguro Megumi's fingers bent into a sign resembling an elephant's head, and the shadows before him surged like a fountain. A massive figure burst forth, shattering through the shadows. With a resonant trumpeting sound, an elephant covered in curse marks materialized, bearing the symbol of being a Megumi's Shikigami on its forehead, just like the other shikigami Megumi had summoned.

The moment the aggressive Mastodon appeared, it raised its thick front legs and charged toward Megumi. Anticipating this, Megumi had already summoned Nue. He leapt backward to avoid the flying debris, and Nue carried him into the air, allowing him to dodge the deluge of water gushing from Max Elephant's trunk.

"Nue!"

As the two Divine Dogs distracted the elephant, Megumi landed on dry ground, away from the water. Under his command, Nue spread its wings, casting a shadow on the ground. A sharp screech, quickly followed by thunder, reverberated as lightning bolts shot from the sky into the water around the elephant. The Divine Dogs swiftly retreated, leaving Max Elephant entangled in the electric storm.

Megumi then summoned a giant serpent, and the enormous snake coiled around Max Elephant's body. Despite Max Elephant's immense strength, it was paralyzed from the lightning, and the serpent easily flung it into the air. Nue swooped down to strike with a powerful, lightning-charged attack, working in tandem with the serpent to suppress the elephant completely. Max Elephant's sheer strength was rendered useless, and it had no chance to use its cursed water attacks.

In just a few rounds, Max collapsed from exhaustion, and Megumi, who had been straining to keep the balance, let out a breath of relief. He activated his technique to seal the tamed Max Elephant back into his shadows. Nue and the serpent vanished along with it.

"Nice job, Megumi!"

Megumi turned to see Panda and the others standing off to the side, watching. Since the shikigami taming ritual didn't require their involvement, they had simply observed. Thankfully, Megumi's control over his shikigami was outstanding. In a two-against-one situation, Max Elephant stood no chance and was successfully tamed.

With the New Year just beginning, the frequency of missions had decreased, giving everyone more free time. The few missions they received were relatively easy, dealing with low-level curses. Okkotsu Yuta had already left for his overseas mission.

Shin Shuichi had been handling some second and first-grade missions, but to be honest, they were dull. He completed them quickly, then returned to the dorms to play games and read the books Gojo Satoru had lent him on jujutsu, domain expansion, and barrier techniques.

The books contained a wealth of solid information, but also plenty of imaginative theories and conclusions drawn from speculation and observation. For example, the information on domain expansion was limited. Few people mastered it, and even those who did weren't always able to teach it effectively.

As a result, learning was a struggle for Shin during this time. Barrier techniques, however, were more straightforward—almost like following mathematical formulas. They weren't hard to learn, and progressing just required a bit of talent.

Since he had nothing better to do today, Shin had come to watch Megumi tame his shikigami. When Megumi raised his hand to cover his face at Panda's teasing shout, he thought better of it and kept his usual calm expression instead.

"Beep beep."

As they walked along the stone-paved path, Shin's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out to see a message from Gojo Satoru. After a quick glance, Shin stopped in his tracks and called out to Megumi.

"Megumi, Gojo-sensei just gave us a mission. We're supposed to do it together."

"Alright then, I'll see you guys later," Panda waved as they parted ways. When Shin and Megumi arrived at Gojo's location, Gojo quickly filled them in on the details.

"It's a simple mission. A sealed Sukuna finger has been located, and you just need to retrieve it. The only possible threat is any curses it might attract. There shouldn't be any real danger, but since it's still a special-grade cursed object and one of Sukuna's fingers, you two should go together."

Gojo spread his hands, as if that summed up the situation. After listening, Shin didn't think there would be any problems. Even if a curse managed to fuse with the Sukuna finger, like in a previous mission, it would just make things more interesting.

Still, something about this mission felt familiar. Shin frowned and asked, "Where's the location?"

Gojo pulled out his phone and checked. "Hmm… Miyagi Prefecture, Suginawa Third High School in Sendai City."

As soon as Gojo mentioned the name, Shin realized why the mission felt familiar. High school… Megumi… Sukuna's finger…

Were they about to meet Sukuna's vessel? The boy who would become Megumi's classmate, Yuji Itadori? This young man, who would serve as the vessel for the King of Curses, Sukuna… It was impressive. No curse, whether first or special-grade, had been able to absorb a Sukuna finger; they simply couldn't handle it.

The last cursed spirit Shin fought had merely swallowed the finger and could only harness a fraction of its energy. After he exorcised the spirit, the finger remained intact.

But this yet-to-be-seen Yuji Itadori was capable of absorbing Sukuna's finger and still retaining his consciousness and control over his body. It was almost unbelievable. Perhaps… this was the power of the protagonist's aura.

Aside from that, Yuji Itadori also had remarkable talents. Even though he was a sorcerer without an innate cursed technique, his physical prowess was astonishing. Shortly after enrolling, he easily mastered Black Flash under the tutelage of Aoi Todo, becoming the latter's best friend. Yeah… because they shared the same taste in women.

As for Sukuna, the evil and pure King of Curses—it was a shame his first appearance wouldn't show even a tenth of his full power. Seeing his legendary might would have to wait.

…

Suginawa Third High School, Sendai City.

"Spirit money, spirit money, please tell us, what animal is the student council president afraid of?"

Yuji Itadori, with his pink hair, sat around a table with Sasaki and Iguchi from the Occult Research Club. The three of them pressed their index fingers on a coin resting on a paper covered in letters. It was a well-known paranormal game, similar to the Ouija board game.

The idea was that by pressing down together, the coin would move to letters on the paper, spelling out the answer to their questions. Of course, it was all just a game—no curse would come to play the role of "spirit money" and scare them.

Sometimes the coin moved from nervous hands, or because one of the participants was messing around. In this case, the coin stopped over letters that spelled out "naked sea butterfly," a species of soft-bodied creatures nicknamed sea angels.

As the three of them burst into laughter, the door to the dimly lit room slammed open, revealing none other than the student council president, their target of mockery.

"Oh, look who it is—President Sea Butterfly! What brings you here?"

The president, visibly annoyed, adjusted his glasses and said sternly, "I've told you this before: the school doesn't have enough space to allow a club without an activity report to keep using a room. Starting today, this is the track team's changing room. Please vacate immediately."

Slam.

Sasaki, the short-haired girl, slapped a thick notebook onto the table, while Yuji raised a finger, his face suddenly serious. "Don't underestimate my seniors, President."

The president was slightly taken aback by their mysterious demeanor but asked, "What… is this?"

Sasaki gave him an eerie smile, though it wasn't particularly scary on her. "It's valuable information we've gathered. And it's about this very school."

Lowering her voice dramatically, Sasaki began her explanation with intense emotion. "You know the rugby field was closed down, right?"

The president nodded. He knew all too well, as he had been the one to order the closure. "Yes, because many of the players fell ill and ended up in the hospital."

"Exactly."

Sasaki continued, with a note of triumph in her voice. "But don't you think that's strange? Those rugby players were all in peak physical condition, and suddenly they all fell ill?"

"Before they got sick, they all heard strange sounds…"

She opened the notebook and pointed to a newspaper clipping. "Look at this article from 30 years ago. It's about a construction worker named Yoshida who went missing while working at this very school."

Sasaki's eyes lit up as she gazed into the distance, as if peering into the truth behind the mystery. "Yoshida was deeply in debt and being pursued by the yakuza. That means his vengeful spirit must still be here—buried beneath the rugby field, where his killers disposed of him!"

"It's his angry ghost that's behind all of this!" Sasaki clenched her fists, beaming with confidence, convinced her theory was flawless.

"No."

The president adjusted his glasses, the lenses reflecting an icy white light, much like the cold truth of his next words. "It was ticks. The rugby field had ticks, which caused them to go to the hospital."

Sasaki's triumphant expression crumbled as the undeniable truth left everyone speechless. The room fell into an awkward silence, and Yuji Itadori, the first to recover, tried to rally them.

"So what? My seniors have worked hard to uncover these paranormal events, and their investigations and deductions are still solid! Isn't that the best activity report you could ask for?"

The president, unfazed, retorted loudly, "This isn't some childish game! You're just spreading baseless rumors, and besides—" He turned his gaze to Yuji with a sharp look. "You're Itadori Yuji, right? You're supposed to be in the track and field team! That means this club doesn't even have the minimum number of members it needs!"

Yuji looked confused while Sasaki and Iguchi glared at him. "Huh? I thought I signed up for the Occult Research Club?" In reality, Yuji didn't care much about which club he joined. He found the occult mildly interesting, but the real draw was that it let him go home at 5 p.m. Other clubs were far busier and had far too many members for his liking.

But how did he end up in the track and field team?

"It was me!"

The door to the clubroom burst open, revealing a muscular man with a buzz cut—Takagi, the track and field coach. He stared at Yuji with a serious expression. "I changed your club! Yuji, I need you to help us dominate the nationals!"

Yuji's face fell, recognizing the man immediately. "Not you again! How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not joining the track team!"

"You don't have a choice!" Takagi's intense gaze didn't falter. "Let's settle this with a competition. We'll go to the track right now. If I win, you'll join the track team. If you win, I'll stop bothering you."

"Fine!" Yuji said confidently, "Let's get it over with. I've got something to do after this."

---

At the track field.

A crowd of curious students gathered to watch the competition between Yuji Itadori and Takagi. Both were well-known around school—Takagi for being a retired professional athlete and coach, and Yuji for his incredible physical abilities that had earned him the nickname "The Tiger of West Junior High."

"Takagi's going all out—Itadori might be in trouble."

Murmurs spread through the crowd as Takagi prepared for the challenge: throwing a shot put. He took his position, muscles tensed, and hurled the heavy ball into the air with perfect form. It flew in a clean arc before thudding into the dirt.

"Fourteen meters!" announced the student measuring the distance. The crowd gasped in admiration.

Takagi crossed his arms confidently, but Yuji, seemingly unimpressed, picked up his own shot put. Instead of following proper form, Yuji simply threw it like a baseball.

Thunk!

The sound of metal crashing into metal shocked everyone. The shot put lodged itself into the goalpost at the far end of the field—an impossible thirty meters away!

"Unreal. He did that without using any cursed energy?"

Shin Shuichi stood watching from the sidelines with Fushiguro Megumi. They had been searching for Sukuna's finger on campus but were distracted by the commotion at the track. After not finding the finger at the designated location, they followed the lingering cursed energy, which had led them here just in time to witness Yuji's ridiculous strength.

Megumi, also amazed, remarked, "He's strong… kind of reminds me of Maki-senpai."

Shin smirked. "Oh? Are you calling Maki a brute? I'll be sure to tell her that."

Megumi shot him an irritated glance and resumed searching for the cursed object with his Divine Dog, ignoring Shin's teasing.

Yuji, meanwhile, after his incredible throw, said a quick goodbye to his friends and sprinted off toward the school gate. As he passed by Fushiguro, a powerful wave of cursed energy suddenly flared in Megumi's senses, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Wait—"

But Yuji was already gone, his figure disappearing in the distance. Megumi could only mutter in awe, "Is he a car or something? How can anyone move that fast?"

He turned back to Shin, who raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Gojo-sensei say this was your mission to lead?"

With a sigh, Megumi gave in and began inquiring about Yuji's identity. It seemed their search for the cursed object was just getting started.

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