Chapter 28: Growth

“She’s a rare user of Reversal Jujutsu.”

“We have to protect her at all costs.”

“More importantly, can she heal us? It’d be great if she could reverse aging.”

“We’ll need to train her.”

“First, we should teach her as much medical knowledge as possible.”

“Right. And if we put her through enough real combat situations, maybe one day, she’ll even be able to extend our lifespans.”

And so, I ended up getting dragged into a van and brought straight to a place where it was obvious the people waiting were the rotten old higher-ups.

They sat in the shadows, not even acknowledging the child at the centre of it all.

They just discussed how to use me as if I weren’t even there.

It made me want to flip the whole place upside down.

But in truth, what they wanted was for me to grow stronger—so it wasn’t like it was a bad deal for me.

I just had to endure it.

Still, it left a sour taste in my mouth.

I scowled and stared them down, but they continued pretending I didn’t exist, deciding everything about my life on their own.

Eventually, the men in black suits escorted me to a residence.

From that day forward, I had no choice but to treat an endless stream of sorcerers.

And on top of that, study medicine.

Even for an adult, the schedule would’ve been brutal. For a child, it was pure overwork.

But hey, it was good for growth.

So I held my tongue and endured.

“Ah…! It hurts!! Help me!! Save me!!!”

“Shut up.”

As a result… within less than half a year, I had mastered Reversal Jujutsu to the point where I could regenerate severed limbs.

In the original story, Ieiri never reached the realm of regeneration.

It must have been thanks to the combined talents of Boa Hancock and Kocho Kanae.

Just for the record, within six months, I also managed to absorb some of the most advanced medical theories in the world.

Eventually, my study sessions stopped being about actual medicine and shifted into research into my technique.

After restoring a sorcerer’s severed limbs, I left behind the wide-eyed patient and shut myself back inside my room again.

Pretending to study medicine.

While secretly researching my own technique.

And the more I learned about it, the more I started to like it.

This technique had excellent synergy with the sword I was using.

It looked simple, but the ability to cut things opened up so many applications.

If I could perceive it, I could even slice through conceptual limits.

And right now…

I was attempting to slice through a limit line.

The limit of physical ability.

The limit of cursed energy.

I was carefully, bit by bit, trying to cut through both.

‘The body I trained as Boa Hancock got reset when I entered this world, but even so, it was adjusted to be near the peak of human potential.’

So no matter how much I trained now, I couldn’t improve my physical stats any further.

But now, using my technique to perceive those limits and slice through them—

I was slowly increasing my physical capabilities.

Just like Itadori Yuji, whose body was engineered from birth.

Just like Zenin Toji, blessed by a Heavenly Restriction.

My body was crossing beyond its natural boundaries.

But I wasn’t clearly perceiving those limits or deliberately manipulating them.

It was more like vaguely sensing an invisible wall and instinctively cutting through it with my technique.

That’s why the amount I could cut was so small. Just a sliver.

So the only way was to keep slicing.

Again. And again. And again.

It was a slow, grueling process.

‘That’s why I’ve stayed here, even though I’ve already gained everything this place has to offer.’

Originally, I would’ve thrown a fit and demanded to go out and experience real battle as a jujutsu sorcerer.

But thanks to this method, I could extend my physical limits, even increase the cursed energy I was supposedly born with.

It just took time.

I’d already experienced plenty of combat in another world.

So I figured I’d be able to adapt fairly quickly when the time came.

Right now, breaking my limits was more important.

And as far as that went, this arrangement—just healing people—wasn’t bad at all.

There were occasional outbursts from patients who demanded treatment for injuries even I couldn’t heal, but aside from those few idiots and the heavy workload, this place was safe.

A perfect environment for growth.

Even those nasty higher-ups mostly left me alone.

“…Guess I’ll stay here for now. Once I’m in high school, they’ll probably send me to Jujutsu High anyway.”

Based on the original story, I was bound to end up there eventually.

So until then, I decided I’d keep growing.

I would study my innate technique.

Expand the range of things I could affect.

Improve my cursed energy control.

Master Domain Expansion, the pinnacle of innate techniques.

Advance my Reversal Jujutsu.

Learn all the conventional jujutsu too…

There was so much I wanted to learn.

And so, I decided to spend my days quietly waiting for the main story to begin.

Heal, research, study, make requests, heal again, improve, progress, grow.

Those days repeated endlessly.

And aside from one particular incident—time passed without much trouble.

Then, when I turned fifteen—

“Ieiri Shoko. Starting today, you’ll be attending Jujutsu High.”

“Huh? These f*cking geezers seriously lost their minds? First, they dump me here and treat me like a healing machine, and now they want me to go to school?? F*ck off!!”

By that point, I was a delinquent chick with a foul mouth and a cigarette in hand.

After dealing with all kinds of crybaby losers sobbing for help, and old fossils begging me to cure their aging, I couldn’t help turning to cigarettes, alcohol, and colourful language.

I honestly considered blowing the place up several times…

The only reason I didn’t was because my growth was progressing far better than expected.

If it hadn’t been going so well, I probably would’ve snapped by now.

And because of that lingering resentment, even though I knew I was finally entering the original storyline, I couldn’t help but feel a little rebellious.

The man standing before me, the teacher assigned in the story—

Yaga Masamichi.

I answered him with a crooked smile, and he let out a quiet sigh before speaking.

“It’s an order.”

“Order, my a*s. You seriously think the same bunch of clowns who come to me for skincare can tell me what to do?”

“…The new students this year include a powerful outlier from a non-sorcerer family, a likely future special grade, and the heir to the Gojo family—the possessor of the Six Eyes, Gojo Satoru.

In other words, people who could shape the future.

Your Reversal Jujutsu is essential to keeping them alive.

That’s why your enrollment is a mandatory order.”

“Huh? So, because you’ve got two precious little prodigies, now you want me to babysit them with healing? What a joke.”

“If you refuse, we’ll be forced to treat you as a rogue sorcerer. Remember that.”

“Hah! You’d treat me like a rogue over one stupid order? You really think I’m that valuable, huh…”

Clicking my tongue, I couldn’t help but act all sullen.

But in the end, I had no choice but to nod.

I was planning to join the story eventually.

And I wanted to see Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru at least once.

For the sake of my technique, too.