Chapter 5 School Days

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'Classes come with knowledge, embarrassment, and classmates who think your life choices are questionable.'

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The morning sun filtered through Ryu's apartment window as he practiced his cursed techniques in the small room.

After the demonstration in front of Yaga Sensei, he'd realized he needed better control over his abilities.

'Shadow Grasp' responded more smoothly now, the dark tendrils emerging with less wobble. He could feel the improvement, small but real. The technique he'd absorbed from yesterday's hunt 'Slice' was trickier to control. The cutting attacks required precise cursed energy manipulation.

'Focus on the flow'

Ryu extending his fingers and used cursed energy. A thin line appeared in the air, cutting through a stack of old newspapers he'd set up as targets. Although only half of the newspapers were cut but it was undoubtedly an improvement.

'Better. But still not enough.'

His phone buzzed with a text from Haibara:

"Classes start in an hour! Don't be late, or Yaga sensei will make you run laps for the whole day.

Trust me, I've seen it happen."

Ryu smiled. Haibara's enthusiasm was subpar with Takeshi, maybe even higher.

"Sure, on my way."

Ryu typed back and started to get ready.

---

Tokyo Jujutsu High looked different in the morning light, less mysterious, more like an actual school.

Students moved between buildings, some students were practicing techniques on the training grounds, others engaged in normal conversations.

"Ryu!" Haibara's voice called out as he approached the main building. He was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Ready for your first official day?"

"As ready as I can be."

"Great! Oh, and I want you to meet someone."

Haibara gestured to a blonde student standing nearby, looking distinctly unenthusiastic about being dragged here, perhaps unwillingly.

"This is Nanami Kento, another first year. Nanami this is Ryu He helped me exorcise a Grade 3 yesterday."

"Wonderful." Nanami's tone suggested it was anything but 'wonderful'.

"Another person who thinks fighting invisible monsters is a reasonable career path."

"You don't?" Asked Ryu with amusement.

"I think it's insane," Nanami replied flatly.

"We are teenagers being trained to fight creatures that can kill experienced adults. The mortality rate is terrible, the working conditions are worse, and there's no pension plan."

Haibara laughed. "Nanami's got a different perspective on jujutsu sorcery."

"It's not different, it's logical," Nanami corrected.

"Any reasonable person would conclude that this profession is fundamentally flawed."

Ryu blinked. "Then why are you here?"

"Because apparently I'm not as logical as I thought."

Nanami adjusted his uniform. "I keep telling myself there must be some explanation for why I chose this over a normal education."

"I haven't found one yet."

"But you're still here," Ryu observed.

"Yes, I'm still here." Nanami's expression grew resigned like an old man.

"Which suggests that either I'm developing poor judgment, or this place has affected my decision making ability.

Neither option is encouraging."

Haibara grinned. "See? He questions everything about this place."

"I question everything because most of it doesn't make any sense," Nanami said.

"We're first years, which means we're supposed to be learning basics. Instead, they're preparing us to fight things that could kill us."

"You have a point," Ryu admitted.

"I have many points. Most people here ignore them because they prefer optimism."

Nanami checked his watch. "Speaking of which, we should get to class.

Being late is.... inconvenient."

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The classroom was a mixture of traditional and modern, wooden floors and sliding doors, equipped with whiteboards and projection equipment. About a dozen students sat in rows, mostly first years with a few upperclassmen mixed in.

Yaga Sensei entered the classroom with his usual stern expression, a stack of thick textbooks tucked under one arm.

"Today, we're covering curse classification and threat assessment," he announced, setting the books down with a thud.

"Since we've got a few new first years, we'll start from the basics."

He looked around the room, then gestured toward Ryu.

"Introduce yourself properly."

Ryu stood, every eye in the room suddenly on him.

"I'm Ryu," he began, keeping his tone steady.

"I… recently discovered I could see curses. My technique's still developing and can be unpredictable at times, but I'm here to learn."

"Unpredictable how?" asked a second year girl with short hair, resting her chin on her hand.

Ryu hesitated, then answered,

"Sometimes I gain aspects from curses I exorcise. But it's random. I never know what I'll get, or if I'll get anything at all."

That got the class whispering.

The short haired girl raised a brow, smirking.

"I'm Shoko Ieiri, second year. I specialize in healing… so I'll probably be patching you up."

"Comforting," Ryu muttered as he sat back down.

Yaga turned to the board and began writing in swift, sharp strokes. The chatter died down as the lesson shifted into a detailed breakdown of curse grades.

"Grade 4 curses could be handled by people with low cursed energy.

Grade 3 requires proper sorcerers.

Grade 2 are dangerous even to experienced sorcerers.

Grade 1 are serious threats that could devastate entire city blocks."

"And Special Grade," Yaga concluded,

"are natural disasters.

Fighting one without proper preparation is suicide."

"What about fighting one with proper preparation?" Ryu asked.

"Still suicide, but with better odds."

Nanami raised his hand. "Sensei, wouldn't it be more logical to focus on evacuation procedures?

If curses are that dangerous, avoiding them seems more practical."

"Because curses actively hunt humans, Nanami. Evacuation only works temporarily."

"Right. So we're essentially pest control for supernatural pests that want to kill us." Nanami slumped in his chair.

"And people choose this voluntarily."

"If you'd prefer," Yaga said dryly, "I can arrange for you to transfer to a regular high school."

"Don't tempt me Sensei, though regular high school probably has better safety protocols."

The lesson continued with practical examples through photographs and video footage of various curses, their behavior patterns, and effective countermeasures. Ryu absorbed the details, noting down information that would help him find curses effectively.

---

After theory came practical training. Yaga led them to an outdoor arena surrounded by protective barriers.

"Combat practice," he announced.

"First years need to understand their capabilities and limitations. Ryu, you'll spar with Haibara first."

"Go easy on me?" Ryu asked hopefully.

"Where's the fun in that?" Haibara grinned, but his stance was relaxed.

"Don't worry, I won't use my full technique. Just want to see how you fight."

They faced each other in the center of the arena, other students gathering to watch. Ryu activated Shadow Grasp, dark tendrils emerging from his shadow with much better control than during his demonstration for Yaga.

Haibara nodded approvingly. "Much better form than yesterday. Let's see how you use it in actual combat."

He began with basic cursed energy attacks, focused blasts similar to what Ryu had seen at the hospital.

Ryu used his 'shadow grasp' to deflect, the tendrils moving like a liquid shield.

"Not bad!" Haibara called out, increasing the intensity.

Ryu split his focus, using some tendrils defensively while other tentacles stopped Haibara from advancing near him.

It was harder than it looked, maintaining multiple shadow constructs required precise control.

Suddenly Haibara jumped over the tendril closing the distance rapidly, forcing Ryu into close combat.

But now in close combat, Ryu's street fighting experience shined. His movements were rougher but more unpredictable than martial arts.

"Interesting style," Haibara commented, dodging an elbow strike.

"Self-taught?"

"You could say that."

Their match continued for several minutes, neither gaining a decisive advantage. Ryu's shadows kept Haibara at distance, but his technique and energy control prevented any clean hits.

"Enough," Yaga called out.

"Good match. Ryu, your technique has potential, but your energy control needs work. You're forcing it instead of guiding it."

"I'll work on that."

"Nanami, you're next."

Nanami stood with obvious reluctance. "Do I have to? I was planning to review the probability of injury during training exercises."

"You can calculate while fighting."

"Fine," Nanami muttered, stepping into the arena with all the enthusiasm of a man clocking in for unpaid overtime.

"But if I get injured, I'm filing it under institutional negligence."

A vein twitched on Yaga-sensei's forehead.

"Do as you please."

Nanami's fighting style was completely different from Haibara's, it was efficient, and somehow precise. His cursed technique involved ratio based attacks that could target weak points.

Ryu quickly realized he was outmatched. Where Haibara had been testing him, Nanami was breaking his defenses with precision.

"Your shadow technique has a 7:3 weakness ratio," Nanami observed as he slipped past Ryu's defenses.

"Seven parts flexibility, three parts integrity. If I target the connection points..."

His attack struck the base of Ryu's shadow tendrils, causing them to collapse instantly.

"Fascinating," Nanami continued as Ryu scrambled to reform his technique.

"Most people don't think about cursed energy manipulation. They just throw power around and hope for the best."

"Are you analyzing me or fighting me?" Ryu asked, breathing hard.

"Both. Multitasking is an essential skill in this terrible profession."

The match ended with Ryu flat on his back, Nanami standing over him with the same bored expression he'd worn all day.

"Not bad for a beginner," Nanami said, offering a hand to help him up.

"Most first years last about thirty seconds against my technique."

"How long did I last?"

"Two minutes and fifteen seconds.

Still pathetic, but pathetic with potential."

"Thanks?"

"You're welcome. Try not to die before you improve." Said Namami before walking away.

---

The rest of the day passed in a blur of lessons, training exercises, and getting to know his new classmates. By evening, Ryu's head was spinning with new information and his body ached from combat practice.

As students dispersed, Haibara caught up with him.

"How was your first day?" he asked.

"Interesting. And painful."

"That's the Tokyo Jujutsu High experience in a nutshell." Haibara grinned.

"But you did well. Better than most new students."

"Nanami seemed to think otherwise..."

"Nanami thinks everyone is pathetic. Don't take it personally. He called Gojo 'an insufferable prodigy with boundary issues on his first day."

"Who?"

"Gojo Satoru."

"You'll know him when you see him. Trust me, no one forgets meeting him."

"Sure.." Said Ryu expecting another version of Geto.

"Haibara, thanks for helping me. And for getting me enrolled."

"No problem. We all need to look out for each other here." Haibara started to walk away.

After Haibara left, Ryu stood alone in the courtyard, processing the day's events. He'd successfully integrated into the school, learned valuable information about curse classification, and even made a few friends.

But as he looked up at the stars beginning to appear in the darkening sky, he felt something unexpected, a sense of belonging.

For the first time in years, he was part of something larger than just survival.

'Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought.'

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Status Update:

School Integration: Successful

New Relationships: Nanami Kento (friend possibly?), Shoko Ieiri (potential ally), Haibara Yu (Possible Besto Friendo?)

Combat Assessment: Above average for first year, significant room for improvement

Energy Control: Improving

Next Priority: Advanced technique training and hunting

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