"You're qualified."

"Huh?" Those words brought Isagi back to reality as his aura faded away and returned to his normal self. He genuinely meant what he said, though he didn't expect Yaga just accept him for just that. There must be more to it than it seems...

"You're not a Hero-wannabe who's ignorant to the cruel nature of humanity..." Principal Yaga became a bit somber due to him remembering a certain someone. He continued, "Yet, you're not a narcissistic monster with malicious intent whose sole reason for existence is pursuing power,"

Isagi had an imaginary sweat drop as he thought to himself, 'Well... It's not like he's totally wrong about it.' Best better keep this to himself, lest he wants another ass-whooping by those cursed dolls. He was then interrupted by the Principal before he could monologue any further,

"Head to the dormitory and meet up with the second years. I doubt that buffoon ever considered informing them about your transfer, but if he did, I may consider suicide when he takes his job seriously for once," This intrigued Isagi to some degree as he did not expect that Gojo Satoru to be the supposed local clown here.

Anyway, without further ado, Isagi went toward his destination while humming his favorite commercial song.

Back with Rin...

Rin was heading to his house with his bag over his shoulder while ignoring any pedestrians staring at him. His family shrine wasn't that far away from his home, yet, despite that, he has no clear memory of him ever visiting that place either alone or with his Nii-chan. Although, he could recall some...

.

.

.

.

"̸̜͈͖͉̊̔̈́̓̏͝.̴̱͖̬̞̫͔̙̮̘̤̪̿͐͜ͅ.̵̤̠̪̪̘͑͐͒̈́́͛̌̚̚.̶͔̻̳̤̠̔͊̈́̔̍̇̐͂͒Ṗ̸̖̻̯͔̱͜r̵̫̓̉͒̿̍̆̏͛̊̌̈́͝͠A̷͎̳̗̺̿̈́̋̾̅̈̀͐́͛̍̀͠i̴̪̘͇̞̟̜̺͕̫͎͇̪̤̥͌͆̈́͆̓̎̇́̆͊̏̕͠s̸̘͙̘̱̯̙̻̍̀͒̏́̎̆̇́̄̏̉͂͘E̵̟̼̯̽̍͒̈́̐̅̊̅̓̐̈́̀̕͝ ̴̧̦̝͓̯͓̬͔̖̮̯̣͍͎̥̄B̴̙̩͈̞͍͎͍̂̈́̈́͠͝é̵̡̪̬̯̖̯̯͖͓̹͗̈́̚ ̷̢͚͉̗̗͇̙̬̼̣̈́̒̔̍͌̈́̎͛̄̈́̀̍͜͝͝t̶̘͕͉̯̠̪͍̫̞͔̞͙͔̝̓̽̐̆̈́̈̇̓̀̓Ǒ̴̠̣̙̱̼̲͈͔͕̗̖͛͛̅̃̉͌́͂̓̋̚ ̷̨̛̮̻̹̲̻͙̜̌͑̅̂́̄̅̍̎̐̏̔͑̕t̵͖̯̙̭͈̤̠͍̖͋̊͊̋̐̓̕͝H̶̝̯͈͓͓̟̦̜̍̑y̴̨̨̯̺̩̫͔̩̗͍̠̫̾̐͑̂̚̕͜͠͝͝ ̶̢̤̌̉̊̎̌͝͝͝L̶̡̺̥̤̲͚͇͎̻̦͔̄͐̓͐͌̑̐̾̀͛̒̚ơ̵̧̥͚̤͕͙͍͚̈́̇̾̀̿̍̿̌̓̀͛̈͘̚Ŗ̶̛͉͇͇̣͍̯̾͌̽̄͆̓͑́̓͜͠ḑ̵̧̩̻͓̱̤̪̯͈͕̜͚͔̭̄̃̾̎͝.̶̭͉̞̘͎̎̿͛̌̍͒͌͌͂.̷͔̰̳̝̳͍̙̘̱̂̿͘!̶̰̻̤͈̲͙̼̜̹͈̦̩̯̑̑̉̏̃̓͗͝͝"̴̙͚̌̊̉́̇̅̓̽͠ͅ

.

...interesting ones.

"Tch.." His eyes twitched as he held his head due to this nuisance of a headache. It was as if something in his mind was refusing to let him deep diver into his memories. However, all soon would be revealed when he stood in front of the abandoned shrine's gate while he had the key to it in his hand.

"Time to see what's this all about," Itoshi Rin, muttered to himself before he opened the gate and entered it.

Back with Isagi...

Well, the dormitory wasn't anything special. It was just like any other 'normal' building compared to the shrines & temples here. Without anything else to do, Isagi shrugged his shoulders as he said, "I mean, it can't get any weirder than this, right?"

All seemed normal until the Egoist opened the door...

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"Is that a fucking panda?"

"Yes."

The bipedal panda answered with such calmness as if the situation was normal. Meanwhile, his companion, a platinum-haired boy with purple-colored eyes who appeared to be the same age as Isagi and wore the Jujutsu High's uniform with a high collar that covered his mouth added to it.

"Kelp," The other human-looking boy aside from Isagi, greeted the new second-year sorcerer-in-training with his blank, yet friendly face.

Isagi was way too shaken from the panda's presence here that he couldn't care less about what the boy just said, and absent-mindedly greeted him back, "Hello, hope you didn't mind me intruding here."

The teen shook his head in denial as he responded with his sushi vocabulary, "Bonito flakes."

"Ah! I see," Isagi nodded in understanding, which caused the panda to blink in confusion as he didn't know where in the hell was this conversation going.

"Wait, you know what Inumaki-kun's saying?"

The Egoist got out of his stupor due to the panda's question. He nervously laughed and scratched the back of his head as he answered, "Eh... More like I could feel what he was saying; I have a bad habit of reading people's expressions too much. Hehe..."

"Hmmm..." The panda put his hand under his chin as he pondered to himself. Then, he stared closely at Inumaki's face and began examining it, "Weird, I can't read anything here." The latter looked at the panda with a look that screamed 'What the hell are you doing?'

"Ah... Mr. Panda, eh... That's not how it works,"

"How do you know my name?" Panda stopped examining Inumaki's face as he immediately faced Isagi with narrowed eyes and interrogated him.

Isagi answered with a deadpan face "Eh... because you are a panda."

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.

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"Huh? Guess I never thought about."

Isagi & Inumaki both blankly stared at this bozo's dumbassness.

One introduction later...

"So you're Panda, a Mutated Corpse with you as the main core, right?" Isagi held his chin as he processed the new information.

"Yup."

"And you're Inumaki Toge, the Cursed Speech user, that's why you can't speak normally because you're afraid of accidentally cursing them so you use sushi ingredients as a replacement..."

Inumaki nodded in response.

"Anyway, Isagi-kun, we've been waiting for you." Suddenly, Panda got serious and looked Isagi directly in the eyes. However, Isagi's mind went somewhere else when he heard they'd been waiting for him.

"I may consider suicide when he takes his job seriously for once,"

'Well, looks like you better start working on your suicide note, Yaga-san.' Isagi prayed that he wasn't serious when the Principal said that.

"From earth to Isagi." Panda brought back Isagi from his daze by boop-ing his nose.

"Ah! Sorry about it... You were saying?"

"Since you're a second-year and you have no knowledge whatsoever regarding Jujutsu Society, we were tasked with giving you a crash course of the first-year curriculum by Gojo-sensei."

"Then let's get to it!" Isagi couldn't wait to get to know more about Jujutsu as he bumped his fists together.

"But before that, let me first tell you about the Society itself,"

The Egoist wasn't disheartened any bit. After all, every single piece of information would prove to be useful to him. So he edged him to continue with a smirk on his face, "Go on." But what he'd hear from Panda would be very unexpected to him.

"There are four - now three - major sorcerer clans who rule over Japan's Jujutsu Society. These sorcerer clans all have a special Inheritable Technique that could be passed on to the next generations; however, it's not a guarantee whether you'd get the technique or not even if you have the clan's blood running through you. These clans are the Kamo clan, owner of the Blood Manipulation Technique. The Zenin clan, owner of the Ten Shadows Technique. The Gojo clan, owner of the Limitless Technique. And lastly..." Panda suddenly got serious before he could continue any further.

"Take a deep breath,"

"Why?" Isagi got confused and his expression said it all.

"Just do it."

Seeing no harm in it, the Egoist did as he was told. And, lo and behold, another bombshell just dropped on Isagi's poor psyche; how the hell did he manage to cope with everything that happened today is beyond me...

"...The Itoshi clan, owner of the Puppeteer Technique."

SHATTER!

It felt like something broke in his mind. If that bro-con edge lord was involved with all of this bullshit, why didn't he ever mention this at all? He began cursing Rin in such a way that'd put CoD lobbies in shame until Isagi realized something was fishy.

'Oh wait...!' He put the pieces together and caught on to what probably happened with Rin's family. The Egoist glanced at Panda as he asked,

"One of these families is done with all this Jujutsu stuff, right?"

"Yes."

"And this Puppeteer Technique can manipulate people's thoughts & feelings - possibly even memories?" Isagi didn't know the technical side of things, but he understood that these Techniques are just like special abilities in anime/manga; with these inheritable ones being extra special due to their nature.

"Uhuh... If used at a higher degree, it's certainly possible." Panda answered and thought afterward, 'I didn't even tell him what the hell happened to the Itoshi clan; how did he reach this conclusion without much else to go on? Gojo-sensei brought in a very particular this time. It feels like he's just Yuta, but way more confident from the get-go.'

"Then, is it possible that they didn't quit out of nowhere, but forgot they were even sorcerers, to begin with?"

Panda nodded and answered with dread, "Yes... because that's exactly what happened." He was shivering at the thought of the new head's prowess. One look from him, and your whole being is under his mercy with only the likes of Gojo Satoru & Okkotsu Yuta being able to shrug off his CT to some extent.

"*Gulp*...and who's this dreaded clan head we're talking about?" It was understandable that Isagi was nervous. I mean, can you imagine your biggest rival's background being this super scary and badass? Yeah, me neither.

"Mustard leaf..." Even Inumaki showed visible fear at the mention of that person. Although both of their CTs are similar at what they do, that guy's on a whole 'nother league when it comes to manipulation. Having your entire identity erased and replaced by a new one on a whim is pretty scary, after all.

Panda took another deep breath before he revealed the next bombshell.

"...Itoshi Sae."

"Eh? That Itoshi Sae?!"

Back with Rin...

The shrine looked practically abandoned. Cobwebs and the cracks on the walls gave it away that this building wasn't maintained for years. He almost doesn't remember anything at all about this place, and yet, why does he remember this place at all? When he tried to think of a way to help with Isagi's situation, this place immediately popped up in his mind, but he doesn't even know what was in this building that'd help him.

Ignoring all the nonsense bs going through his head, he walked past the garden without taking his eyes off the temple. Something was calling to him, and it awaited for his arrival with glee...

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.

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"The exact details are not known, but one day, Itoshi Sae just snapped and brainwashed the whole clan. The day after, every single member aside from Sae didn't remember they were Jujutsu Sorcerers at all. They also couldn't use Jujutsu after that incident for some mysterious reasons. But it is hypothesized that it's somehow related to their brains and his motive was due to the incident regarding his brother, Itoshi Rin."

Rin entered the spooky building with an apathetic face. It was pretty dark inside, so he tried to turn on the switch but to no luck. He then pulled out his phone and used its flashlight to be able to see through this place.

"What incident?"

The building was full of cobwebs and unused furniture that it made the place look creepier, but it did little to nothing to Rin who calmly went past them as if it was normal. After all, he was here for one thing, so he didn't bother with anything else.

"...It is said that Rin didn't receive the inherited technique, nor an innate technique as well. So they ripped off his whole Cursed Energy, and tied it to a Special-grade Cursed Tool."

He didn't where he was heading to, it was just that something was calling him to reclaim it. His origin.

"Wait, how bad is this supposed to be?"

Rin then reached a roadblock. Multiple stuff atop each other were blocking Rin from getting through, so he put back his phone in the pocket and tried to push away the blockade. However, to his surprise, he managed to shove away those with inhuman strength. Rin never wielded such power in his entire life, but he was too focused on his objective to ponder about this newly found strength.

"Very bad. Messing with someone's Cursed Energy could result in the subject's almost guaranteed death."

Minutes later, he reached to the object of his desire. It was on a rusty, ornate stand; while the item itself was covered by a dusty cloth. Rin didn't waste a moment as he pulled off the cloth and an aura of invisible malice burst out of it, yet, Itoshi Rin remained unfazed.

"So you're telling me that this guy pulled a non-lethal Itachi?"

The item was revealed to be a weapon - a katana to be exact. First off, its scabbard had engravings of fire & lightning crossing each other on it. The tsuba was the shape of an eastern dragon's head with a pair of demonic horns on it. And unusual for a katana, it also had an arrow-shaped pommel with a lightning motif.

"Yes/Salmon."

(Cue Last Resort - GhostFinal ft. Kinoko)

Rin continued to stare at the sword for quite a while. It was as if his mind was telling him that, if he grabbed that katana, the normal life right up till today would cease to exist. But what's the point of a normal life if his only rival wasn't there to accompany him to the World Cup? After all, Isagi was the sole reason he came to this place, to begin with.

"And what was this "Cursed Tool" they bound him to?"

He shook off any idle thoughts he had. There was no time to waste around thinking about trivial matters. What matters, is that he came to grab this tool and that's it. Reaching out to the sword, he took hold of the sword's handle; then the scenery changed...

"Trash!"

"Worthless piece of shit."

"They should've aborted you instead of giving birth to you!"

Were the insults that Rin heard when he was eight. He was isolated from the clan due to being born 'defective' with neither inheriting the Puppeteer Technique nor even an innate technique, and he was from the main family no less. However, he wasn't hopeless because he has met the conditions for 'that' weapon. And you may ask, what was the process of how he was bound to it? Well, that's a story for another time.

While Rin was regaining the memories that were once deleted by Sae, Panda began answering, "The trump card of the Itoshi clan-"

"Huff..." Rin took a deep breath as he just finished seeing whatever the hell that was. He then looked at the sword in his hand. The sword had already gave him the instruction on how to use it by feeding him memories of the previous users. Slowly unsheathing it, sounds of both lightning & fire crackling could be heard, ready to be burst out of the sword. At last, when he fully unsheathed it...

ZZAAAPP!

FWOOSH!

Azure lightning was blasted from his right side, immediately lighting up the whole place by powering it with his electricity; while violet flames burst out of his left side, burning all the trash that made this building dirty since years ago, effectively making it as good as new. Rin then sheathed the sword before the lightning & fire faded away. He looked at the renovated house with his still apathetic face, as his journey in the supernatural has just begun.

"-The Demonic Holy Blade, Muramasa."

 

AN: Sorry for the late update, been dealing with the new year stuff here (the calendar works differently in my country) and my finals are coming up in a month and a half, so expect some delayed updates.