At a music restaurant, Yukinoshita Haruno had placed her order and was waiting for the food to arrive.
As she reached into her bag to grab her phone to kill time, she spotted the flyer she had casually stuffed inside earlier.
"Star Religious Sect… Japan really has a lot of weird religious groups."
She unfolded the crumpled flyer and started reading it as if it were a magazine.
But as she kept reading, her eyebrows knitted together. "This… this is a cult, isn't it?"
Since when were cults in Japan this bold? Recruiting people on the streets like this?
The Star Religious Sect worshiped a being called "Tengen-sama" an immortal existence. They firmly believed that through continuous evolution, Lord Tengen would eventually reach a perfect and transcendent form. In the end, he would merge with all of humanity, leading to mankind's evolution.
Just as Yukinoshita Haruno was about to crumple up the flyer and throw it away, a puzzled voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
"Huh? Wait a second… I think I've heard that name before," Hayashizaki said uncertainly.
Yukinoshita Haruno froze for a moment, an uneasy feeling creeping up inside her.
"You're not about to tell me that the god this cult worships is actually real, are you?"
Hayashizaki paused for a moment, then said, "Yeah… actually, it is."
"Calling him a god might be an exaggeration, though. He's more like a very special jujutsu sorcerer," Hayashizaki explained. "He has an immortality technique and is a top-tier barrier user—probably the best in the world. The guy's been alive for who knows how many years."
"…"
Yukinoshita Haruno was speechless.
She had just gone out for a walk, and somehow, she had ended up getting tangled with a monster-like existence.
So, does that mean this cult isn't actually a cult? She glanced back at the flyer in her hand.
No, it's definitely a cult. Hayashizaki replied. If these people know about Tengen, that means the idea of Tengen merging with all of humanity might actually be true. The problem is, we don't know how that would happen.
So, does that mean this cult's goal is to destroy the world? Yukinoshita Haruno suddenly tensed up.
Probably. Hayashizaki answered casually. But it's got nothing to do with us. Just stay away from them. Even if they're planning something, the higher-ups at Jujutsu High will take care of it. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.
Speaking of Jujutsu High, Hayashizaki couldn't help but think of that annoying white-haired guy.
By the way, Gojo Satoru should still be pretty young right now, right? Should I take a trip to Jujutsu High?
The place you mentioned—Jujutsu High—what kind of organization is that? Yukinoshita Haruno asked curiously.
It's a school that trains jujutsu sorcerers. They also handle curses that appear across Japan. If you're interested, I can take you there.
We'll see. I'm just a little curious, not enough to make a special trip.
The waiter brought the food she ordered and placed it on the table. Yukinoshita Haruno stopped talking about the jujutsu world and focused on eating her meal.
…
"I'm heading out."
"Take care, dear."
A brown-haired man in a suit and tie said goodbye to his wife before stepping out the door.
As he bent down slightly, he felt a soft, warm kiss on his cheek. A smile of pure happiness appeared on Sonoda Shigeru's face.
Sonoda Shigeru used to be a jujutsu sorcerer. But after barely surviving an encounter with a Grade 1 curse during a failed mission, he gave up his high-paying job without hesitation. He returned to normal life and chose to become an ordinary company worker.
The job was tough, and the pay wasn't as good as being a sorcerer, but at least he didn't have to face curses or curse users every day. More importantly, his life was no longer in constant danger.
For someone who had escaped from the hellish world of jujutsu, that was all that mattered.
After living as an ordinary person for a year, Sonoda Shigeru was completely sure—leaving was the best decision he had ever made.
Life as a normal person was really good.
Later, during a business trip, he met a beautiful client. That woman would eventually become his wife.
Just like his job at the company, his love life went smoothly. After a year of dating, they got married.
Six months after the wedding, his wife became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl.
A stable job, a happy family—Sonoda Shigeru had no doubt that he was winning at life.
The traces of his past as a jujutsu sorcerer had gradually faded from his life.
But maybe life isn't meant to be that easy.
Just when he was about to completely forget his bloodstained past, disaster struck without warning.
One day, while out shopping, his wife and daughter were attacked by robbers on their way home. His wife was killed, and his daughter was taken.
By the time Sonoda Shigeru got the call from the police after work, his wife had already died in the ambulance.
Three days later, the police still hadn't found his daughter.
Sonoda Shigeru knew better than to rely on the Japanese police.
He decided to take matters into his own hands.
After getting information on the criminals from the police, he spent two days tracking them down with the help of a jujutsu sorcerer skilled in tracking.
In Tottori Prefecture, he finally found the ones who had killed his wife.
And his daughter—who had been tortured to death at the age of fourteen.
What broke Sonoda Shigeru completely was that the criminals were just ordinary people.
He had already left the jujutsu world, so why did this still happen to him?
Then what was the point of quitting being a sorcerer?
After using the most brutal method he could to curse them to death, Sonoda Shigeru, having lost everything, became lost in his own life.
Until a religious group called the Star Religious Sect approached him.
An elderly man, smiling warmly, extended his hand toward Sonoda Shigeru.
The one who killed his wife and daughter, the one who destroyed his own family, wasn't a cursed spirit or a sorcerer—it was just an ordinary human. The very kind of human he had once sworn to protect.
Just as the old man had said, humanity was ugly. If true purification was possible, then why not join this religion?
After all, it was just picking up the skills he had once abandoned.
After months of despair, looking like an addict deep in withdrawal, Sonoda Shigeru finally took the old man's hand.
...
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