Jujutsu Kaisen — Chapter 33 - Invasion of Jujutsu Headquarters

Kyoto.

Deep beneath Jujutsu Headquarters.

The alarm was piercing enough to rupture eardrums, and the red Barrier light strobed like a broken neon sign.

BOOM!

Two massive bronze doors, half a meter thick, along with the load-bearing walls on either side of the frame, were blasted into a shower of rubble by a force of pure, overwhelming brutality.

Gojo Satoru strolled through the wreckage with his hands in his pockets. He hadn't even taken off his sunglasses.

Behind him, Geto Suguru's hands were tucked inside his wide sleeves. A massive Cursed Spirit circled overhead, its eerie slit pupils fixed on the guards lining the corridor, every one of them clutching a Cursed Tool, every one of them shaking.

At the very front was Toji.

He'd been carrying a bronze door panel taller than he was. He tossed it aside. It hit the polished marble floor and gouged out a crater.

"The defense here is way too lax!" Toji's voice boomed off the walls of the long corridor. "Not a shred of youthful energy! How can a dead, stifling environment like this ever produce powerful sorcerers! This place needs a complete overhaul!"

The dozens of guards lining both sides of the corridor had gone pale as chalk. The hands gripping their blades were trembling. Nobody stepped forward.

The Sorcerer Killer. The Six Eyes. The Curse Manipulator.

Three calamities in one place. Forget a bunch of gatekeepers, you could summon every Grade 1 sorcerer in Japan and they'd still be on their knees.

"Fushiguro-sensei, you're leading the way, so can you stop running your mouth?" Gojo Satoru rubbed his ear. "Let's drag those old oranges out and get it over with. I need to be back in Tokyo for the limited-edition edamame cream daifuku."

Geto Suguru said nothing. He could feel his temple throbbing.

He'd imagined this as a weighty, serious rebellion. Toji had turned it into delinquents trashing a corner store.

Still, watching Jujutsu Headquarters' pride-and-joy defense system get trampled underfoot, miraculously, his stomach stopped hurting.

"No rush! Give the old geezers a moment to mentally prepare!" Toji flashed a grin and a thumbs-up. "Shock is part of taijutsu special training!"

The words had barely left his mouth when heavy footsteps echoed from the shadows at the far end of the corridor.

Accompanied by something completely out of place.

An electric guitar.

TWANG!

The distorted sound, saturated with Cursed Energy, became a visible semi-transparent sonic wave and came roaring along the floor like a tsunami.

Every wall lamp in the corridor exploded at once. Glass shards rained down.

"Oh?" Gojo Satoru stopped. His Six Eyes picked out the figure through his sunglasses.

A shriveled old man in a traditional kimono. Full beard. Withered frame.

Cradling a bright red electric guitar.

The principal of Kyoto Jujutsu High, Gakuganji Yoshinobu.

"Halt." Gakuganji's withered lips barely moved, but his aged voice carried the kind of authority that didn't invite argument. "I will not permit you brats to run wild on the sacred grounds of Jujutsu Headquarters." His fingers found the strings again.

BOOM!

The sonic wave surged, Cursed Energy condensing into solid blades that hurtled straight at Toji's face.

Toji didn't dodge.

He didn't even blink. He stepped directly into the wave, hand forming a blade, and drove it forward in one brutal downward chop.

RIIIP!

The raging sonic wave tore in half down the middle. Both halves dissolved into a pair of gentle breezes that ruffled Toji's spiky hair.

Gakuganji's gray eyebrows snapped upward.

"Whoa!" The cold killing intent evaporated off Toji's face instantly, replaced by pure manic excitement. His eyes lit up like someone had thrown a switch.

He closed the distance in 3 fast strides and jabbed a finger at the guitar. "Old man! Now that is class! I figured Jujutsu Headquarters was nothing but rotting timber ready for the coffin — I never expected to find a soul with actual rock-and-roll spirit in here!"

Gakuganji went still.

In all his years, no one had ever praised his rock-and-roll spirit in the middle of a fight.

"Preposterous!" He gnashed his teeth and shredded across the strings with furious speed. "You're nothing but a monkey with no Cursed Energy! Get out!"

TWANG TWANG TWANG TWANG!

Dense sonic waves crashed down like a violent storm.

Toji wove through the gaps, ducking and weaving, shouting the whole time. "Yes! That's the rhythm! Faster! Come on, old man — ignite this dead basement with your passion! Show me that unyielding rock-and-roll heart beating under all that shriveled flesh!"

Behind him, Geto Suguru put his face in his hands.

Hopeless.

This gorilla's brain could not be measured by normal human standards.

Gojo Satoru was doubled over laughing, pointing at Toji, who dodged sonic waves like he was dancing. "Suguru. Look at that idiot. I guarantee his head is completely full of how to recruit this old man as a cheerleader."

"Enough." Geto Suguru lowered his hand. A cold glint passed through his narrow eyes.

He stepped forward. The Rainbow Dragon roared out from behind him, its massive body slamming through the wall of sonic waves and coiling in the center of the corridor, wedging itself between Gakuganji and Toji.

"Geto Suguru!" Gakuganji's voice cracked like a whip. "You're joining them in this madness?!"

"Principal Gakuganji." Geto Suguru looked at him without expression. "I have always respected you. But this time, the higher-ups have gone too far."

"Their decisions are for the greater good!" Gakuganji didn't give an inch. "Sacrifices are necessary!"

"Don't talk about other people's lives like they're that cheap." Geto Suguru's voice went completely flat.

He glanced over at Toji, who was still wearing a forlorn expression over the silenced guitar. Then at Gojo Satoru, who had started yawning from boredom.

"Fushiguro-sensei, Satoru — go. Leave the old man to me." He raised his hand. Several Cursed Spirits built for close combat materialized from the shadows and sealed the corridor shut.

Gojo Satoru whistled. "Look at that, the honor student playing delinquent for once. Don't get beaten to tears."

"Move." Geto Suguru didn't bother acknowledging the dig. "Before I regret coming along."

"Well done, Suguru! That's the kind of responsibility youth is all about!"

Toji grabbed Geto Suguru's hand and pumped it twice, hard. Then he spun around and drove his foot into the load-bearing pillar.

BOOM!

The entire marble column exploded. The ceiling and the floor slab above it collapsed inward, opening a massive hole.

"Shortcut!" Toji bent his knees and shot upward like a cannonball.

Gojo Satoru was right behind him. Both of them vanished into the dust cloud swallowing the second floor.

Gakuganji lunged to block them. The Rainbow Dragon's enormous tail swept across and forced him back.

"Young man, do you understand what you're doing?!" He raked his fingers across the strings. The sonic waves drove the Cursed Spirits back.

"Perfectly." Geto Suguru pushed his hands into the wide pockets of his pants and looked at the wreckage around him. Somewhere in his chest, the stone that had been sitting there for so long, quietly, without announcement, finally cracked apart.

"We're just setting new rules for a system that forgot what rules are for."

➤ Next: A Taijutsu Special Training Session for the Old Fossils