Rebirth into the world of curses(JJK)

Yuta was pondering his life in this reality. He wanted to understand if there were differences between what he knew in the past and this world. Perhaps his life here had turned out better? But most likely not. His "other self" still lived in the dormitory, and the arrangement of things in the room was the same as he remembered from his past world.

He couldn't understand what that strange vision meant. Perhaps it was just a trick played by his exhausted mind. The day had been tough—training with Gojo had drained him completely, and he felt the mounting fatigue.

Lost in thought, Yuta tossed and turned for a long time, sifting through memories and hypotheses. He didn't notice how the night quietly passed midnight. Eventually, worn out and confused, he drifted into a sleep filled with hazy images and barely perceptible recollections.

---

Yuta stood in front of the Tokyo Magic Technical School building, gazing at it in awe. The complex was impressive: a tall main building in a traditional Japanese style with sloping roofs adorned with intricate carvings, surrounded by more modest but equally beautiful dormitory buildings. The sunlight reflected off the windows as if inviting him inside. However, Yuta's feet felt glued to the ground. He was nervous and couldn't collect his thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, he finally headed toward the main entrance. Inside, everything was even more impressive: dark wooden panels, refined patterns on the walls, and windows offering a view of the well-kept gardens. The silence in the corridor only amplified his apprehension.

Yuta approached a massive wooden door. Muffled voices could be heard from behind it. He immediately recognized one of them—it was Satoru Gojo, giving a lesson. However, Yuta felt a pang of shame: it was already 11 a.m., and he was three hours late. Although Gojo had assured him yesterday that it wasn't a big deal, Yuta couldn't help but feel anxious about how it would look to his future classmates.

As he stood gathering his courage, the door suddenly swung open. Standing in the doorway was Gojo himself, in his usual appearance—dark sunglasses, a carefree smile, and an air of calm, as if he owned the world.

"Are you planning to stand here all day?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Everyone's already felt your cursed energy, so stop hesitating."

Yuta blushed, realizing he had completely forgotten to suppress his energy. He mentally cursed himself for such a start. There was no undoing the first impression now.

"Sorry about that, Satoru-san," he muttered, lowering his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone already knows you're here," Gojo smirked and nodded, inviting Yuta into the classroom.

Yuta took a deep breath and stepped inside. The room was smaller than he expected but cozier. Four desks with wooden chairs were arranged neatly in rows before a green chalkboard with the lesson topics written in chalk. Sunlight streamed through the windows, softly illuminating the room. Three desks were already occupied, and their occupants were watching Yuta closely.

He approached the chalkboard, gave a slight bow, and said,

"Apologies for being late. I'm Yuta Okkotsu, a first-grade sorcerer and, as of today, a first-year student at the Magic Technical School. Nice to meet you all."

The first to speak was a girl sitting at the front desk. She gave Yuta an appraising look.

"I hope you had a good reason for being late," she began, crossing her arms over her chest. "We've already introduced ourselves, but I'll repeat for your sake. I'm Maki Zenin, a master of cursed tools and a fourth-grade sorcerer. Just call me Maki."

Maki looked imposing: tall and slender with striking golden eyes that seemed to pierce through to the soul. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail, and her glasses added an air of severity. Despite the standard school uniform, she exuded confidence and self-assurance.

"Nice to meet you, Maki-san," Yuta replied, trying to be polite.

Next, a large panda sitting at the second desk stood up.

"I'm Panda," he said, eliciting surprise on Yuta's face.

For a moment, Yuta was at a loss but decided not to comment. Apparently, such things were normal at the Magic Technical School.

"And this," Gojo said, pointing to the third student, "is Toge Inumaki, a Cursed Speech user. He only speaks in rice ball ingredients to avoid accidentally cursing someone."

Inumaki raised his hand slightly in greeting. His pale skin and short, spiky hair gave him a detached look, but Yuta noticed a faint interest in his eyes. The high collar of his uniform covered half his face, adding to his mysterious aura.

"Konbu," Inumaki said calmly, further confusing Yuta.

Yuta glanced around at the others once more. These people, so different, were now his new classmates. This meant he would share the next few years of his life with them.

Gojo's voice broke through Yuta's thoughts:

"So, today we were just talking about the basics of the sorcery world. So, Yuta, you haven't missed much." He looked at all his students, new and old, and announced:

"For today's theoretical part, I think we're done. Everyone outside." He energetically sprang toward the door, and noticing the students weren't following, turned around and added, "You'll be doing physical tests, so get moving outside!"

On the training field outside, the first-year students of the Magic Technical School stood ready. They had all changed into training attire.

Gojo scanned his students with a critical eye and said,

"First, we'll conduct a test of your athletic abilities without cursed energy." He looked around at them again and added, "The first test is a sprint."

Yuta was surprised. He hadn't expected such training on the first day. He had assumed that, as an educational institution, there would be more theory. Clearly, he had been wrong.

Each of the four students was tested individually; they weren't made to compete.

Yuta was up first. "I think Gojo-san is still a bit mad about my being late," he thought.

"You need to run to that point," Gojo pointed to a spot marked with chalk on the ground. "100 meters. Since you're not using cursed energy, we'll set the standard..." Gojo paused in thought and then said as if reaching a conclusion, "The Olympic one."

Yuta was indignant: "Is he just making this up as he goes?"

He approached the starting point and took the proper stance for running. Gojo raised his hand, mimicking a gun aiming at the sky, and began counting: "One, two..."

He made a sound imitating a gunshot: "Bang."

Yuta started running the 100-meter distance. He hadn't been into running and wasn't particularly good at it. He had experience running over 1,500 kilometers, but that was with cursed energy. Very few people could boast such an achievement, and Yuta thought that besides him, only Gojo could claim it. He had also heard of the head of the Zenin clan, "Naobito Zenin," called the fastest after Gojo. But Yuta doubted he could have covered such a distance; he was very skeptical.

Yuta gave it his all, and in his opinion, he ran quite fast.

"15.2 seconds—that's pretty slow, Yuta. You need to run a lot more," Gojo concluded, looking at the timer in his hand.

Yuta, out of breath, looked at his teacher and asked, "Does this test matter for anything?"

"Panda, you're next," Gojo said, summoning the next candidate, and answered Yuta, "Not really, actually. Usually, such tests are conducted at the end of each course, but I think to track progress, it's necessary to conduct them at the beginning as well."

Without cursed energy, Panda was very slow. Yuta had read somewhere that pandas could run at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour, but this Panda clumsily ran on two legs.

Yuta skeptically glanced at the teacher and asked, "He's..."

"Yes," Gojo interrupted Yuta, "he's a cursed corpse, so training without cursed energy is almost useless for him. Except for improving his combat skills, but that's something he should train with cursed energy. Without it, he's clumsy."

When Panda finished his run, Gojo looked at the timer and said, "27 seconds. Good run, Panda," he praised.

Panda smiled and gave a thumbs-up: "Thanks."

Yuta, paying no attention to this, asked, "Then why make him run?"

Gojo turned to Yuta, who was standing next to him, and asked in return with a smile, "Wasn't it funny to watch him run?"

Yuta looked at his teacher with a strange expression and said, "Not really."

Next was Toge Inumaki. His sports attire consisted of a dark collar under a short-sleeved white shirt, sports pants, and shoes.

He ran slightly slower than Yuta.

"16.5 seconds," Gojo said. "Good job, Inumaki."

Yuta twitched slightly at this.

Inumaki reacted to the praise with a reserved "Shake."

The last in line was the only girl in the group, Maki Zenin. She wore a purple sports jacket, a black T-shirt, and black shorts-leggings. She took an extremely professional stance for running: a straight back, relaxed shoulders. Her arms were bent at about 90 degrees, and her head was straight, with her gaze fixed forward.

Gojo gave the last command: "Ready... Go!!"

Her run was swift. Yuta had to use cursed energy to track her movements. She ran 100 meters in 4 seconds.

Her start was lightning-fast. As soon as Gojo gave the signal, Maki pushed off the ground as if launched from a catapult. Her legs moved with such speed and force that it seemed like she was slicing through the air. Every step was precise, honed, as if the result of endless training.

Yuta, standing nearby, instinctively tensed up. His eyes struggled to keep up with her movements. To catch even the basic details, he had to use cursed energy, enhancing his reflexes and vision. He noticed how her leg muscles worked perfectly in sync: every ounce of effort went into her movement.

The wind generated by her swift dash lifted a cloud of dust behind her. Gentle gusts tousled her hair, fluttering in time with her strides. She didn't slow down for a moment, crossing the finish line with ease and stopping as smoothly as she had started.

Gojo looked at the stopwatch and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Four seconds, Maki. That was an excellent performance."

Yuta stood in complete amazement, not believing his eyes.

"That's... impossible," he muttered. "She didn't use a single drop of cursed energy... but such speed..."

Maki, seemingly unaware of the commotion around her, calmly wiped her forehead with her hand. Her breathing was even, as if the run had been just a warm-up for her. She threw a quick glance at Yuta, hearing his words and noticing his reaction.

"What, surprised someone's better than you?" she asked nonchalantly, as if inquiring about the weather.

Yuta was puzzled: "What's with the sudden passive aggression?"

Trying to ease the situation, he replied, "You demonstrated an excellent result. I'm just seeing such a display of superhuman abilities without cursed energy for the first time."

She turned to him, slightly surprised, and quickly hid it before dryly responding, "I see."

Gojo, as if oblivious to the brief scene between them, loudly announced,

"The next training will be the 'Shot Put.'"