Chapter 139 - Shibuya Incident, Commence

A piercing air-raid siren tore through the night sky above Tokyo Jujutsu High. In the conference room, red emergency lights strobed in a frenzy. On the giant screen, aerial footage of Shibuya flickered alongside dense columns of casualty data scrolling faster than anyone could read. Chaos. Total chaos.

Less than half an hour had passed since Mahito's live broadcast sent the world into a panic, and Kenjaku had already dropped a nuclear-grade Curtain over Shibuya. Too fast. It gave no one room to breathe.

Snap.

Suguru Geto crushed the pen in his fist. He forced himself steady and turned to the hospital bed in the corner, wired to a tangle of life-support equipment.

"Kokichi Muta." His voice was ice. "What trump card has Kenjaku hidden in Shibuya?"

Kokichi Muta shuddered violently. His fingers locked around the sheets.

"That Curtain..." He gasped, dragging in air. "It's meant to divide the battlefield. Kenjaku's goal is to peel your core combat forces apart and swallow them one by one. And..."

He paused, his gaze sliding toward the green figure standing off to the side.

"Specifically, to deal with Mr. Fushiguro, he resurrected a Special Grade Barrier Master from a thousand years ago. That Barrier Master has laid down an Absolute Barrier across Shibuya."

"Anyone with zero Cursed Energy in their body — a complete Heavenly Restriction — the moment they touch the Barrier, they get repelled instantly. It might even backlash and destroy them."

Dead silence. An absolute repulsion Barrier targeting Heavenly Restriction. That meant the most terrifying physical weapon Jujutsu High had, the man who could swing a Special Grade Cursed Spirit around like a sandbag, was forcibly locked out of the battlefield.

BOOM.

Half a wall simply ceased to exist. Toji Fushiguro's fist had punched clean through a load-bearing wall. Steel rebar twisted like wet noodles where it had been.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

The veins in Toji's forehead looked ready to burst. I drag myself up at three in the morning every single day to make those brats sweat it out, finally wait for a handful of Special Grade punching bags to show their faces, and now you're telling me I can't get in? The stage of youth isn't even built yet, and you're locking the main character outside!

"Are those sewer rats brain-dead or what!" Toji roared at the screen. "Come out and fight straight if you've got any spine! You don't even have the guts to stand in the open and take an iron fist to the face, what kind of real man pulls cheap tricks like this!"

Nobody said a word. Who would be stupid enough to go fist-to-fist with a monster that could tear apart a Domain with his bare hands? Kenjaku's open gambit had hit Jujutsu High exactly where it hurt. The silence pressed down, heavier and heavier, until nearly unbearable.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA—"

A completely unhinged laugh detonated through the conference room. Satoru Gojo was doubled over, shaking with it. He crossed the room in a few long strides, clapped a hand on Toji's broad shoulder, and spoke with the most obnoxious confidence imaginable.

"Well, well, well. Hear that, old man? They don't even want you in the game."

His grin stretched wide. "Honestly? Those clunky fists of yours have zero aesthetic appeal."

Toji cut his eyes sideways. "You want a taste of the iron fist of youth?"

"Relax." He slid both hands into his pockets, chin tilting up just slightly, his expression radiating the absolute contempt of someone who had never once questioned whether he was the strongest thing in the room.

"Since they went out of their way to build a door just to keep you out, you can sit outside this time and cheer us on like a good spectator."

"After all, the kind of blazing, world-saving glory that makes for a great story..."

He raised his thumb and pointed it at himself.

"Should go to the strongest, Gojo-sensei!"

Arrogant. Certain. Tinged with something that bordered on manic excitement. Suguru Geto looked at the two monsters in front of him, who at any moment might start fighting each other instead of the enemy, and pressed his fingers hard against his temple. No room for disorder.

"Satoru, enough." He moved to the holographic sand table, fingers moving quickly to mark several elevated positions on Shibuya's outer perimeter. "Kokichi Muta, a Barrier's keystones can't be suspended in midair. They have to be anchored somewhere."

His gaze sharpened. "If we find those hidden Barrier Keystones and destroy them by force, the Absolute Barrier targeting Toji collapses. That's correct, isn't it?"

Kokichi Muta's eyes lit up. He nodded hard. "Yes! Pull the keystones, and the Barrier falls apart on its own!"

"Now we're talking." Toji bared a grin, teeth white and stark. He slammed his fists together in front of his chest, the impact cracking the air like a gunshot crack.

"Dig out every last one of those keystones. I'm going in within three minutes, and I'm stuffing every one of those rats back down the sewer where they came from!"

Masamichi Yaga drew a long breath. His broad palm came down on the table like a hammer.

"Split up!"

His voice cut straight through the wailing sirens. He strode to the sand table and opened a direct line to the Kyoto school. On the screen, Yoshinobu Gakuganji's face materialized, grim and heavy.

"Kyoto school handles perimeter evacuation and support. All Tokyo school combat forces Grade 1 and above, breach Shibuya immediately!"

His gaze swept the room. He moved fast.

"Mei Mei leads a team in from Meiji-Jingumae Station. Mission: clear the Transfigured Humans on the outer perimeter and get civilians out!"

"Geto, you take a team through Dogenzaka. Use Cursed Spirit Manipulation to seal off every passage from the second basement level down to the fourth!"

"The Zenin Clan moves under Naobito Zenin personally. They hit hard from the east exit of Shibuya Station and tear the defensive line open!"

"Atsuya Kusakabe leads the remaining Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerers in a full sweep. Primary objective: locate and destroy the Barrier Keystones blocking Toji. Whatever it costs."

Four units. Four blades driving straight into the heart of Shibuya.

"What about me!"

A ragged shout from the hospital bed. Kokichi Muta was fighting to rip the IV line from the back of his hand, his eyes red and locked on Masamichi Yaga.

"I'm going to Shibuya too!"

"Don't be absurd!" His head snapped around. "In the state your body is in, you'll be dead before you get there!"

"I still have Mechamaru!" Kokichi Muta ground his teeth. Tears and cold sweat fell onto his blanket. "Ultimate Mechamaru can still move! The mistakes I made, I have to go fix them myself! Even if I've got one breath left, I want to spend it on the battlefield!"

"Good kid."

Toji's eyes went red without warning, and he sniffled.

"Now that is a real man!"

"Body broken to pieces, and still burning every last scrap of life to protect his comrades! That kind of resolve, that is the highest anthem of youth!"

Like a magician, Toji produced a wad of green fabric from inside his jacket and shoved it directly into Kokichi Muta's pale face.

"Kid. Put it on." Toji's eyes burned with pure fanaticism.

"This is the Jumpsuit of Youth, woven with indomitable will! Put it on and your latent potential gets pushed to two hundred percent! Tonight, let this spandex bear witness to every drop of sweat you shed for your atonement!"

Kokichi Muta got a face full of rough fabric and completely blanked out. What the hell is this? Why does it smell like a gym locker?!

"Mr. Toji, I really don't need,"

"Stop talking! Youth does not accept refusal!"

He shoved the jumpsuit into his arms and turned to Yaga.

"This kid's with me. I'm putting him and his scrap metal in the Reserve Support Unit. Anyone who tries to stop him is blocking a man's resolve to march to war, and I will not allow that."

Yaga waved a tired hand.

"Do whatever you want. Everyone moves out in half an hour!"

Under the night sky, Tokyo had become a carnival for monsters. Several Armored Jujutsu Vehicles tore through the darkness, launching forward like arrows off a bowstring into the silence waiting ahead. Inside the vehicle, Satoru Gojo leaned back in his seat and watched the massive black Curtain through the window, growing larger with every passing second.

A cold smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. His long fingers tapped a slow rhythm against his knee.

"Ready to tremble, Kenjaku?"

"This game, I'm here to clear the board."

➤ Next: Shibuya Melee — Clash