Chapter 58

I don't know what mindset I was in when I ran.

I don't know what mindset brought me to the school.

The only thing keeping Toji's mind anchored were the heartbeats of the children in his arms.

In front of the school's barrier, three figures appeared like black dots: Gojo Satoru, a curse sorcerer, and an unfamiliar female student sorcerer. Probably the reverse curse technician Gojo Satoru had mentioned.

Toji was in front of the reverse curse technician in the blink of an eye. The female student, who had been smoking, dropped her cigarette in surprise.

"Ah shit, you scared me."

"Zenin? When did you..."

"Hey, gorilla!"

Toji ignored the reactions of the kids and laid down the bloodied Zoro. Megumi and Tsumiki were also placed down.

"Ugh, ugh."

Perhaps because they arrived too quickly, Tsumiki covered her mouth with her hand and started to retch before running off to a corner. Toji felt sorry, but Zoro was more urgent.

"The kid's hurt. We need a reverse curse technician."

"What in the world— What happened to him? Why is he hurt?!"

Gojo Satoru looked at Zoro and started yelling in shock.

"He was attacked by a curse. Probably, a special grade."

"Special graaaade?! What happened?!"

"And the special grade curse?"

"Killed it."

"Who—"

"—Shut it, all of you."

Everyone fell silent at the grim words of Ieiri Shoko.

Shoko had been carefully examining Zoro even as the men spoke.

A curse's poison had seeped into his left cheek, there were several holes in his body, and he had lost a lot of blood. Honestly, considering the boy's weight and the amount of blood he could hold, it was a miracle he didn't die from excessive blood loss on the way to the school.

Shoko used a reverse curse technique on the wound on Zoro's stomach. The injury, which had been punctured and open, healed as if it had never been there.

Despite this, Shoko bit her lip hard.

"This is the limit of what we can do here."

"The poison—"

"All the antidote equipment is inside the school's barrier."

The situation was serious, but not so dire that nothing could be done. The medical equipment housed within the school could facilitate recovery, though it would take time. However, the problem was that people not registered with the school's barrier could not be brought in.

Deciding who enters the school's barrier wasn't up to Shoko. It was the higher-ups, particularly Tengen, who created the barrier.

"...Brother."

For the first time, Megumi reached out to the injured Zoro. The young Megumi, not fully understanding the situation, grabbed Zoro's fallen arm. As slick blood smeared his hand, he recoiled in shock from the cold wave of fear.

Why is it red? Why isn't he moving? Why does it smell like metal? I'm scared. Why isn't he hugging me? When I'm scared, my brother always hugs me. Why? Why?

His body trembled. Instinctual fear took over, rendering him tearless from head to toe.

And Toji was no different in his fear.

"If we bring the equipment,"

"There's not just sorcery equipment but also non-sorcerer stuff that operates on electricity. Do you think we have an extension cord long enough to reach from there to here?"

"Then, what do we do?"

What is the plan? Should we take him to a hospital now? Will Zoro last until then?

'...If the school's barrier were destroyed by natural disaster.'

Then maybe Zoro could be brought inside. After that, grabbing the reverse curse technician by the neck and demanding they save Zoro could work. Although reverse curse technicians were rare, the combat strength she sensed from her was weak.

'Just handle Gojo and the curse sorcerer, then we can deal with the rest of the school's forces.'

It was when Toji, almost crazed, was about to fetch the natural disaster from the armory curse.

"...What's that?"

Gojo Satoru grimaced. Looking back at the school entrance's torii (a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine), Gojo slightly lowered his sunglasses and stared into the void.

Though invisible to the eyes of a non-sorcerer, the barrier there was clearly visible to him.

"Is it changing?"

He could clearly see the barrier being overlaid with new layers of cursed energy.

Shoko looked back at Gojo and Geto with a troubled expression. Even if they were to send him to a non-sorcerer's hospital, they had to do everything possible beforehand.

"You all, head to the infirmary and gather all the devices you see—"

"That's okay, Shoko."

The three first-years turned their heads. Yaga Masamichi emerged from inside the school's barrier. Geto, surprised, asked.

"Mr. Yaga? Why are you here?"

Yaga glanced at Geto, then sidelong at Toji.

As a sorcerer with considerable experience, Yaga was aware of the existence known as a sorcerer killer. He had no idea that such an infamous killer in the underworld could be such a young man, and moreover, of the Zenin lineage.

However, he hadn't come here to fight this man. Likewise, the other party hadn't come to fight either.

Yaga looked down at Zoro, who was restlessly nestled in the arms of the sorcerer killer. On the surface, he seemed like a non-sorcerer child unlucky enough to be caught in a curse's attack...

'If that were the case, Tengen wouldn't have called me because of this child.'

Recalling the voice of Tengen on the phone, a voice he had heard for the first time in his life, Yaga spoke.

"Master Tengen has granted them permission to enter the school."

"...Excuse me?"

"It means they've modified the barrier to allow these people in. There's no reason to stay outside."

"Why?"

"...I don't know that, Suguru."

Toji blinked. Before he could fully grasp what Yaga was saying, he stood up, holding Zoro, Megumi, and Tsumiki, who had noticed and approached, under his right arm.

"Where's the infirmary?"

"That building!"

Following Ieiri Shoko's direction, Toji immediately picked her up on his back and, holding the three children tightly, dashed into the barrier.

"Ah, that crazy gorilla!"

"Shoko!"

Gojo and Geto also hurried in the direction Toji went. Along with a whooshing sound, the dust kicked up by their running spread out and hit Yaga's face.

"..."

Left alone without even a chance to speak to his guest, Yaga Masamichi dusted off the sand from his face.

With a heavy heart, Yaga headed to the infirmary. It seemed like the school was about to be turned upside down.

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