Rebirth In The Days When Curse Gao Was The Boss Chapter 21

Day Twenty-One of the Crossing

Time flowed steadily, and the training grounds at Jujutsu High finally welcomed a long-awaited, powerful figure—Zenin Maki. Her injuries were completely healed, and she returned to the group with eyes sharpened by the tempering of life and death.

“Yo, Maki-senpai! Welcome back!” Itadori was the first to greet her enthusiastically.

Kugisaki also ran over, smiling: “Is your body fully recovered?”

Maki pushed up her glasses, a calm smile playing on her lips: “Ah, completely fine. As for you guys, it looks like you haven’t been idle.” Her gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Xue Yang, who was leaning against a pull-up bar, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth.

“Is this the new guy Gojo-sensei mentioned?” Maki scrutinized Xue Yang, her eyes holding no contempt, only a pure assessment of fighting potential. She could sense a dangerous and strange power contained within this seemingly casual young man.

Xue Yang spat out the grass and met her gaze, a curve of interest forming at the corner of his mouth: “Zenin Maki? I hear your physical combat is pretty good.”

“Want to test it out?” Maki issued a direct invitation. She needed to recover her peak condition quickly, and a powerful, unknown opponent was the best whetstone.

“Suits me perfectly,” Xue Yang accepted the challenge without hesitation.

The center of the training ground instantly cleared. Maki held her naginata, Soul Splitter, adopting a stance. Her aura was steady and contained, yet carried the pressure of a mountain. Xue Yang remained in his loose, relaxed posture, his hands empty, only a faint black Cursed Energy coiling around his fingertips.

The battle immediately entered a fierce stage. Maki’s naginata technique was broad and forceful, her strikes powerful, each blow whistling as it tore through the air, full of raw, aesthetic strength. Xue Yang, meanwhile, maximized his own set of tricky and vicious close-quarters combat skills. He was like a slippery eel, always managing to evade the naginata’s edge in the nick of time, closing in on Maki’s side or back. His targets were always the most vulnerable points: joints and pressure points.

“Tch, annoying fly!” Maki grew frustrated by her inability to land a hit and by Xue Yang’s insidious moves. She abruptly changed her technique, sweeping the naginata horizontally to force Xue Yang back, while simultaneously clenching her left fist and delivering a straight punch toward Xue Yang’s face!

The punch was lightning fast and incredibly forceful! Xue Yang’s eyes narrowed. He stopped dodging, instead focusing Cursed Energy into his own fist, choosing to meet force with force!

“Bang!”

The two fists collided with a dull thud. Xue Yang was jolted back two steps, his arm tingling, while Maki also staggered slightly, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. She hadn’t expected Xue Yang to be able to briefly match her in pure strength.

“Interesting!” Maki’s fighting spirit intensified. The naginata swung again, her assault like a raging storm.

Xue Yang no longer held back, combining the precise Cursed Energy control taught by Gojo Satoru with his own strange physical techniques. He was sometimes like a phantom, dodging, and sometimes like a venomous snake, launching sudden attacks. Occasionally, he would even use the power of the Stygian Tiger Seal to slightly interfere with Maki’s Cursed Energy flow, causing a momentary hesitation.

The spar lasted over ten minutes, finally ending in a draw. Both were slightly out of breath, bearing minor marks (Xue Yang had a shallow cut on his arm from the blade’s wind, and a corner of Maki’s uniform was torn by Xue Yang).

“You are strong,” Maki put away her naginata, looking at Xue Yang with undisguised approval. “Your fighting style… is very unique.”

Xue Yang licked his canine tooth, offering what could be considered a friendly smile: “You’re not bad either. Much tougher than that pink-haired kid and the loud girl.”

Itadori and Kugisaki nearby: “…” Hey!

After this battle, Xue Yang had thoroughly earned Maki’s respect through his strength and integrated into this small group where power spoke loudest.

To celebrate Maki’s return, and to make up for the welcome party Xue Yang was previously owed, everyone decided to have a lively gathering in the common room that evening.

When Xue Yang was half-pushed, half-dragged into the common room by Itadori and Kugisaki, it was already decorated. Streamers (a few of which Panda had accidentally ripped), balloons (one of which Maki had disdainfully popped), and a long table piled high with snacks, drinks, and several huge pizzas and buckets of fried chicken. Even Ieiri Shoko and Nanami Kento had been forcefully dragged along by Gojo Satoru, though Nanami Kento wore a look of “I wish I were back writing reports.”

“Welcome! Xue Yang!” Led by Itadori, everyone shouted in unison. Although the voices were uneven, the sincerity was clear.

Xue Yang looked at the boisterous scene, smelling the slightly sweet mixture of food and drink in the air, momentarily stunned. This kind of purely silly party, held just to welcome him, was something he had never experienced.

“What are you spacing out for? If you join the gang, you follow the rules. Three penalty drinks first!” Gojo Satoru grinned, handing him a cup of… juice (considering the minors).

Xue Yang snapped out of it, took the cup, and looked at the orange liquid inside, scoffing: “Juice? Who are you looking down on?” Despite his words, he tilted his head back and drank it. It was very sweet, similar to the drinks he usually had.

The atmosphere of the welcome party quickly became lively. Itadori and Panda were competing to see who could eat faster, Kugisaki and Maki were discussing which flavor of potato chips was best, Inumaki Toge sat quietly in the corner with a pile of rice balls with different fillings in front of him, and Fushiguro Megumi was in charge of pouring drinks for everyone, occasionally conversing quietly with Nanami Kento. Ieiri Shoko leaned against the window, holding a glass of alcohol, watching the young people with a rare softness on her face.

Gojo Satoru was in his element, at one moment forcing a piece of sickly sweet-looking cake into Xue Yang’s mouth, and the next running off to tease Itadori and Panda, further ramping up the atmosphere.

Xue Yang was initially uncomfortable, but he was soon infected by the relaxed (and noisy) environment. He sat on the sofa in the corner, surrounded by snacks others had shoved at him, holding a game controller that Itadori had forced into his hand, compelled to join a chaotic fighting game. His character was still ruthless, specializing in dirty tricks, causing Itadori to shout and yell.

Watching his character on the screen beat a Panda-shaped character (controlled by Maki) into submission, Xue Yang’s lips unconsciously curved into a genuine smile, devoid of any mockery.

This was… a welcome party? It seemed, not bad.

In the days that followed, Xue Yang’s life, besides taking on missions (when he felt like it), special training (being drilled by Gojo Satoru), and being forced to serve as a human pillow at night, gained an occasional new activity—being dragged out shopping by his classmates.

It was mainly Kugisaki Nobara and Itadori Yuji. Kugisaki was keen on uncovering Xue Yang’s “fashion potential,” always trying to style his slightly curly black hair in various ways, or dragging him to try on different styles of clothing (though Xue Yang mostly scoffed, he would occasionally give a second look to certain cool studded leather jackets or dark-style accessories). Itadori, on the other hand, had no resistance to all kinds of novel and interesting shops, and if he saw something fun, he would drag Xue Yang along to experience it, from gachapon machines to themed cafes.

Once, Kugisaki and Itadori forcibly dragged Xue Yang and Fushiguro Megumi (who was usually just collateral damage) to Akihabara. Xue Yang was uninterested in the streets full of maids and anime posters until they walked into a large model shop. Looking at the exquisitely crafted, detailed weapon models and mecha in the display cases, Xue Yang paused.

“Oh? Xue Yang, you like this?” Itadori asked curiously.

Xue Yang didn’t answer, simply pointing at a black longsword model with a ferocious, spiked design: “This, doesn’t it look like an enlarged Calamity?” (Although his Calamity didn’t look like that, he thought this one was cooler.)

Ultimately, amidst Kugisaki’s complaint that “This is too chuunibyou,” and Itadori’s praise of “Super cool!”, the card Gojo Satoru had given him paid for the expensive model. Xue Yang held the model box. Although his expression still suggested “barely acceptable,” his slightly brightened eyes betrayed his mood.

He even started getting used to being dragged to dessert shops to rest after tiring shopping trips. Although he would still criticize the sweetness and complain about the presentation, he always finished his portion completely.

One afternoon, Xue Yang had just finished a simple Grade 2 mission and returned to Jujutsu High when he was intercepted by Panda and Inumaki Toge waiting at the door.

“Kelp!” (Hurry!)

“Xue Yang, Xue Yang! We found a super delicious crepe shop, and the limited edition flavor is only available today!” Panda excitedly waved his furry paws.

Xue Yang looked at the expectant Panda and the bright-eyed Inumaki, then checked the time, finally sighing: “…Lead the way.”

Under the setting sun, a teenager, a panda, and a Cursed Speech user excitedly communicating using rice ball fillings walked toward the commercial street outside the school. Xue Yang walked in the middle, listening to Panda rambling about crepe flavors, with Inumaki occasionally interjecting an approving “Salmon!” Xue Yang kept his hands in his pockets, his face expressionless, but his steps were light.

This kind of ordinary, sometimes noisy life, where he was dragged into various boring yet somewhat interesting routines, was slowly eroding his past world of blood and darkness. He was still himself, the Xue Yang from another world with blood on his hands, but in this strange place, he seemed to have found another way… to live.

And this way of life had missions, battles, special training, desserts, an annoying yet powerful teacher, and a group of… not entirely unpleasant classmates.

It didn’t seem too bad. He squinted, looking at the evening glow staining the sky orange-red, and thought so.