Satoru didn't immediately give an answer, instead he grabbed another doughnut from his plate and devoured it hungrily.
"Maybe you're being ostracized?"
"Don't joke around, Satoru-Nii-san."
"Ck ck ck... You can't take a joke."
Ignoring Eiji's displeased look, Satoru stated the real reason.
"In fact, I'm closely monitoring Tengen-sama myself. Unfortunately, Principal Yaga doesn't believe I'm doing my duty properly. So not only is he participating in this mission himself, he's also asked Tsukumo to return."
"Sounds reasonable. With Nii-san's absurd personality, it's no wonder Principal Yaga is worried you might mess up the mission."
"Hey hey hey, you even think I'm unreliable. Onii-chan is very sad~"
"Nii-san still hasn't said why I'm not included in this mission?"
Eiji was too lazy to respond to his cousin's fake crying after hearing his words.
"You have a different task."
Satoru's emotional shift was faster than flipping a book page.
"Before knowing whether Tengen-sama successfully maintains her humanity, or evolves into a Cursed Spirit, barrier will become unstable. That's also why Tokyo and Kyoto Jujutsu High School students are temporarily suspended. During this period, the intensity of Cursed Spirit appearances will increase as Tengen-sama's barrier weakens. It's not just a matter of quantity; Cursed Spirits will become stronger, at least, Grade 1 Cursed Spirits, and even Special Grades are not uncommon."
Speaking up to this point, Satoru smirked meaningfully at his cousin.
"..."
Eiji wasn't foolish; instead, he was smart enough to understand the implications his cousin wanted to convey.
"Don't tell me... I'm the one who has to handle the Cursed Spirits?"
"Bingo! Just as expected from Eiji. Well then, I'll be off. See you next year~"
Not waiting for him to say anything, Satoru hastily ran off.
"..."
Eiji stared at the clear sky, but his mood wasn't as bright as the weather in front of him. He could already imagine how busy his future would be.
"Sigh... This time, I really fell into the scheme. No wonder Tsukumo Yuki was willing to return; turns out she's avoiding the mission to eradicate the continuously emerging Cursed Spirits."
According to his understanding of Tsukumo, she was a woman who did as she pleased regardless of others' opinions of her.
Although she was a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, she rarely carried out missions to eliminate Cursed Spirits, instead traveling to many places and abroad.
Initially, Eiji was slightly surprised to hear Tsukumo would participate in monitoring Master Tengen alongside his cousin and Principal Yaga.
Considering Tsukumo's free and wild personality, it's no wonder if she rejected the call back to Japan.
"She's likely being threatened. If she refuses to return, then she must be assigned to eradicate the increasing Cursed Spirits during this period. Thus, this task falls to me. Not only to eradicate Cursed Spirits, but I also serve as a deterrent if Geto Suguru takes action due to the absence of other Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers."
"This will take up a lot of my time..."
Eiji hoped for proper compensation. He didn't want to work overtime without reward.
...
Eiji's busy days began.
The next day, he went to Tokyo Jujutsu High School to meet Panda and the others. Unfortunately, he didn't find any of them.
It turned out he wasn't the only one busy; all Jujutsu Sorcerers, including the students, were just as busy as him.
After the process of Master Tengen's evolution began, the barrier that minimized the interaction between Cursed Spirits and humans began to weaken.
The result was predictable.
Cursed Spirits are metaphysical beings and cannot be seen or felt by normal humans. But in the eyes of Jujutsu Sorcerers, Cursed Spirits began to appear more frequently than usual.
For example, Fly Head (Yoto), a Grade 4 Cursed Spirit, was seen attached to everyone. Because Fly Head was very weak and didn't harm humans, Jujutsu Sorcerers ignored them and focused more on eliminating Cursed Spirits that truly posed a threat to humans.
Among the Jujutsu Sorcerers, Eiji was the busiest. Accompanied by his manager, Ijichi Kiyotaka, the two of them investigated many places with indications of Grade 1 or Special Grade Cursed Spirits.
As for handling Grade 2 Cursed Spirits, Eiji handed them over to other Jujutsu Sorcerers.
In just one month, he had exterminated dozens of Grade 1 Cursed Spirits and five Special Grade Cursed Spirits.
This data showed how beneficial Master Tengen's barrier was for humanity. This didn't include Grade 2 and below Cursed Spirits faced by other Jujutsu Sorcerers, which would be much higher in number.
Eiji also received reports of increased deaths among Jujutsu Sorcerers. After all, the profession of Jujutsu Sorcerer had been very dangerous from the start.
In a hospital.
"Die!"
With Leaf Sword in hand, Eiji moved as fast as sound and sliced through the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit in front of him.
"Siuuuuuu!!!"
Letting out a strange scream, the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit died.
"When will this all end...?"
Storing the Leaf Sword into the Storage Ring, Eiji sighed tiredly. After that, he exited the hospital building and went straight into the black car waiting for him.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kamiki-sama."
In the driver's seat, Ijichi glanced at the rearview mirror while starting the car.
"Oh."
Eiji had heard that sentence countless times, too lazy to respond to it.
Closing his eyes, he rested to recover from his exhausted mind.
Just today, he had exterminated six Cursed Spirits in various locations in Tokyo alone. Although his body was fine, his mind wasn't.
He hadn't even gone home to the Gojo Family Residence for several days due to his busyness. Usually, he would sleep in the hotel room provided beforehand.
(I should have insisted on refusing this task. Tsukumo Yuki should have taken on this task, considering she rarely carries out missions. There must be some dirty deal happening for her to throw this exhausting task onto me.)
After all this, there's no way Eiji wouldn't have complaints against Tsukumo.
He could imagine how relaxed his cousin and the others were there, while he was so busy that he didn't have time to enjoy his hobby of sightseeing. Plus, he couldn't explore other worlds for the sake of his power growth.
There was no other choice; he really didn't have leisure time like before!
(After all this is over, when I meet Tsukumo Yuki, I will settle the score with her.)
Eiji was still a teenager, even with alexithymia, he harbored resentment towards Tsukumo for making him a scapegoat for this task.
"Kamiki-sama, we've arrived at the location." Ijichi's voice woke Eiji from his reverie.
"Um."
Stepping out of the car, he waited for Ijichi to set up the Curtain to conceal anything inside from outside view. Then, Eiji entered the Curtain and walked straight into the shopping center while drawing his Leaf Sword.
Considering the destructive power of the Limitless Technique, he would confront the Cursed Spirits with his physical strength and swordsmanship to avoid damaging the infrastructure.
"Let's finish this quickly and go home."