"Did you hear? At yesterday's court banquet at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Naoya-sensei actually tore Yuki Tsukumo apart! My god, that was a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer! And one of the jujutsu world's super senior veterans at that!"
"Damn. He really dared to talk to a Special Grade like that?"
"Why wouldn't he? My dad was there. Naoya-sensei said Yuki Tsukumo hides behind the title of Special Grade while loafing around, contributes nothing to the jujutsu world, sneers at Jujutsu High's rules and the order of the clans, then turns right around and shalessly enjoys all the privileges and resources that co with being a Special Grade. He was so aggressive my whole family went pale!"
"T-That's insane, isn't it? Yuki Tsukumo-sama didn't hit him?"
"Hit him? With that many nobles and higher-ups watching? Yuki Tsukumo got chewed out so badly she couldn't say a word for ages. In the end, an elder nearby had to step in and smooth things over before the scene was barely salvaged!"
"As expected of the Zenin Clan's next heir. If only we could beco nobles of the Three Great Families too..."
"Quit daydreaming! If you were Naoya-sensei, you'd probably have run over and started licking Yuki Tsukumo's boots already! I heard she's a total knockout, the kind that makes people stop dead in their tracks! Ugh, I thought Naoya-sensei was just the type who bullied the weak and feared the strong, but turns out he looks down on all won equally!"
"And Naoya-sensei is only in his early twenties, right? And he's already a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer. He really is a genius with a limitless future in the jujutsu world..."
As the students buzzed with envy, jealousy, and resentnt, a blue-haired girl nearby gazed dreamily ahead and said,
"Yeah. I wonder if Naoya-sensei would take on an assistant. If he would, I'd totally be willing to be his little sidekick for the rest of my life. And if that doesn't work, I'd be fine with the kind where he just supports for life too..."
"?"
No, wait. Has her sexual frustration really gotten this bad?
She's not even trying to hide it anymore?
The students stared at the drooling Kasumi Miwa in speechless disbelief. Apparently feeling the pressure of their stares, the poor student imdiately stamped her foot and protested, "What is with those judgntal looks?! Didn't you all see it?! During class, Naoya-sensei is always sneaking glances at . He definitely has a crush on . Waaah?!"
Before the delusional girl could finish, a broom swept rcilessly across the ground at her feet. The cloud of dust it kicked up made Kasumi Miwa start coughing.
"Gold-digger. You're just after money!"
Momo Nishimiya walked over with an annoyed look on her face and started scolding this lovestruck underclassman in her capacity as a senior.
"And what do you an he's always sneaking glances at you? There's got to be a limit to how shaless you can be. You look plain as dirt, and yet you spend all day fantasizing about this and that... Naoya Zenin's sneaking glances at Mai, okay?! It's only because you sit next to Mai, okay!!!"
"Senpai, that's so an. Can't you leave a little room to dream? Isn't this exactly how shoujo manga works? The domineering rich young master falls for the innocent, pure poor student, and then all kinds of unspeakable developnts start happening... ehehe..."
Watching this loser girl giggle creepily, Momo Nishimiya felt her scalp go numb.
No, seriously. Wasn't Kasumi Miwa the number one anti-Naoya Zenin vanguard just a few days ago? Wasn't she swearing on her katana that she'd fight Naoya Zenin to the death?!
How did she switch sides this fast?!
And hadn't she always been Satoru Gojo's number one fan?! Was defecting this quickly really okay?!
"Kasumi, can you wake up a little? Naoya Zenin is not a good person. I'm not asking you to beat him, but could you at least not surrender this fast?"
If surrendering only ans losing half, then Kasumi Miwa was absolutely the kind of player who'd get caught for match-fixing after the ga.
The way she threw both hands up in total surrender felt even more outrageous than building double Spirit Visage on jungle Skarner against a full AD team.
Momo Nishimiya felt utterly drained.
Never mind what Mai was actually thinking. As her good friend, Momo Nishimiya and Kasumi Miwa should at least have been standing together and presenting a united front.
Naoya Zenin was a complete scumbag, a brute, a violent maniac, a cold-blooded noble.
That was universally acknowledged. There was absolutely no way it could be wrong, and absolutely no room to whitewash it.
But Kasumi Miwa?
All it took was Naoya Zenin bringing her along to so upper-class banquet and letting her stuff herself at a buffet, and she turned into this bootlicking ss?
How were they supposed to get anything done working with a shortsighted rat like that?!
"Ugh, Nishimiya-senpai's here again."
"We should get out of here fast, or her disgusting virus will spread to us."
But when Momo Nishimiya showed up, a lot of the students suddenly frowned. As if they'd just seen a walking disaster, they imdiately scattered with disgusted expressions.
"Huh? Why's everyone leaving?"
Kasumi Miwa had barely blinked a few tis when she heard classmates in the distance shouting,
"Miwa! Class is starting! Why are you still standing over there spacing out?!"
"Oh, okay! I'm coming!"
Kasumi Miwa then waved at Momo Nishimiya.
"Then I'm off to class first. Bye, Nishimiya-senpai!"
"Get lost already."
Momo Nishimiya only gave a cold snort, picked up the broom, and silently started sweeping again.
But once Kasumi Miwa and the others had gone far enough away, the little witch finally slamd the broom to the ground and exploded, no longer able to hold it in.
"What disgusting virus?! They're all a bunch of psychos!!!"
The more Momo Nishimiya thought about it, the angrier she got, until the corners of her mouth were twitching.
Naoya Zenin had only been at Jujutsu High for a few short days, and yet for so reason, his reputation among the students kept getting better and better.
Obviously, as Naoya Zenin's reputation among the students improved, Momo Nishimiya's reputation, as the one leading the charge against him, naturally kept getting worse.
On top of that, Momo Nishimiya was mixed-race. In the jujutsu world, where blood purity was obsessed over, she had faced criticism the whole way and was often t with side-eyes and contempt.
That line Mai once used, "Western mongrel," was already about the nicest opinion the jujutsu world had of Momo Nishimiya.
Those tradition-obsessed conservatives would never allow a mixed-race girl like Momo Nishimiya to beco a prominent figure. By all rights, she should never even have been admitted in the first place. But her father's influence was simply too imnse, so imnse that even the jujutsu higher-ups who controlled [Jujutsu Headquarters] had no choice but to swallow their pride and show him so respect.
There was no helping it. When it ca to Aricans putting Japanese people in their place, the advantage was still just too overwhelming.
Inside the jujutsu world, you could call a mongrel all you wanted, and I wouldn't bother arguing with you.
But once you stepped outside the jujutsu world, would you even dare not kneel under my shoe?
Even so, at school, Momo Nishimiya was still that lone oddball.
The sharp-tempered, arrogant senpai nobody liked.
That was why she valued her friendship with Mai so much. Momo Nishimiya could truly empathize with that kind of misery. The little witch understood that feeling, that unbearable loneliness.
And so Momo Nishimiya's hatred for Naoya Zenin deepened with each passing day, until it reached the point where it felt endless.
Ever since she had fallen out with Mai, the little witch had been thinking constantly about how she could possibly nd that relationship.
Her original plan had been to use Kasumi Miwa as a go-between, letting that silly underclassman help patch things up between her and Mai.
But she had never expected Kasumi Miwa to switch sides and start leaning toward Naoya Zenin instead, and that irritated Momo Nishimiya to no end.
Because she could not just recklessly tell everyone about the awful things Naoya Zenin had done.
That would seriously damage Mai's reputation at school.
So she had to find soone who hated Naoya Zenin just as much as she did, build a real anti-Naoya Zenin alliance, and use a thod that would not hurt Mai to completely ruin that hypocritical scumbag.
But she had not expected Naoya Zenin's thods to be this underhanded.
By simply not assigning howork, he had directly won overwhelming support from the students, to the point that even if Momo Nishimiya wanted to tell the truth, no one would believe her when her own reputation was already bad to begin with.
What a bunch of shortsighted idiots.
If you didn't study properly at Jujutsu High, then one day Cursed Spirits would co give you a personal review session.
Naoya Zenin was trying to get you all killed.
A teacher who didn't assign howork had no professional ethics at all.
And all that nonsense about [Binding Vow]. It was really just him trying to send you all to your deaths.
"So annoying... We're all here to study... not to play house..."
Momo Nishimiya muttered under her breath, then walked over to the shoe lockers and bent her legs slightly to change into her indoor shoes.
Even though she loved floating around on her broom all day, school rules were school rules. It had felt awkward at first, but in the end Momo Nishimiya had gotten used to it.
The little witch's fingers were slender and delicate. Elegantly, she pinched the heel of her right shoe and slowly slipped off the white canvas sneaker.
Then Momo Nishimiya straightened up and lightly lifted her left foot, tracing a graceful arc in the air with her toe before flicking off the other white canvas shoe in a motion almost like dancing.
In the morning light, the girl's heel glead faintly, tinged with a pale pink that made it look especially alluring.
Momo Nishimiya gently nudged the pair of black leather indoor shoes waiting before her with her toes, straightened them out, then lifted both feet and slowly slid them inside.
After changing shoes, she stood upright and gave a slightly playful little sway. Feeling how snugly the leather shoes fit, a satisfied smile rose to the corners of her lips.
She enjoyed this process very much.
It felt like putting on crystal slippers that could transform you with magic.
Every girl had once wished to beco a magical girl.
Even the proud Momo Nishimiya was no exception.
But after she put her shoes away again and checked her locker, she discovered that there was actually a gilded envelope inside.
"What is this...?"
Momo Nishimiya's heart skipped a beat.
Could it be...
A love letter?!?!
The little witch imdiately looked around in nervous panic. Once she confird that no nearby students were paying attention to her, she held her breath and started opening the envelope with trembling fingers.
She had never imagined that one day even she would receive a love letter...
After all, Momo Nishimiya had always been difficult to approach, and on top of that she was not exactly well-developed, with a figure that still looked almost childlike. So ever since she was little, her father had always sternly warned her that if anyone ever confessed their feelings to her, she was to stop thinking and run straight to Dad as fast as she could.
Because anyone who liked his daughter had to be a lolicon.
But that had been back in Arica.
Things were different now.
And they were all the sa age, so surely it wasn't that kind of thing, right?
Full of anticipation, Momo Nishimiya opened the envelope, but when she checked inside, she found that there was no slip of paper covered in sweet words.
Instead, there was a card.
It was a black bank card used internally by Jujutsu High.
"Could this be... a sponsorship certificate?!"
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