Chapter 116 : No Friend

Chapter 116: Chapter 116 : No Friend

"No. Absolutely not. I don’t need a high school best friend. I’ve already met my quota for annoying teenagers," Mark deadpanned, shutting down the giant’s emotional awakening without a flicker of hesitation.

He glanced back at his three students. Yuji was still blinking like a confused owl.

Megumi looked like he wanted to sink into his own shadow. Nobara was staring at Mark with the kind of revulsion usually reserved for a maggot crawling out of a public toilet.

"What?" Mark raised an eyebrow. "Is it a crime for a man to have a little honesty in his life?"

Before she could tear into him, he grabbed the back of Yuji’s collar and dragged the pink-haired boy down the path like a sack of potatoes. "Come on. I’m getting a breakfast sandwich."

Behind them, Mai clicked her tongue.

She shoved her hands into her pockets, glaring at Mark’s back. She’d timed that cursed bullet perfectly to take out Sukuna’s vessel, and she hadn’t planned on a teacher stepping in the way. With her target now being hauled off toward the cafeteria, the ambush was dead.

She turned back to the Tokyo first-years, a smirk creeping back onto her face.

"Aren’t you a lucky bunch of freshmen," Mai sneered. "Enjoy breathing while you can. Once the Goodwill Event starts, I’ll beat you so badly you’ll be begging to go home in a body bag."

That did it.

"Who’s beating who, you cheap knock-off Maki?!" Nobara snapped, hammer already in hand, eyes lit with street-brawl fury. "Come here so I can nail your mouth shut!"

She lunged, but Megumi grabbed the back of her jacket and dug his heels in, holding her back with a long, tired sigh.

"Let go of me, Fushiguro!" Nobara kicked at the air toward the smirking Kyoto student, then jabbed a finger at the still-weeping, still-shirtless third-year frozen in the middle of the courtyard. "And take this half-naked freak with you before I call the cops!"

***

The paper door rumbled along its track. Inside the dim tatami room, Principal Gakuganji sat gripping his cane, his wrinkled face set in a permanent scowl.

"Masamichi, you’re late," he rasped, eyes narrowing at the doorway.

But it wasn’t Yaga who stepped through. It was the last person Gakuganji wanted to see.

Satomi strolled in uninvited and dropped onto the cushion across from him, chin in her hands, grinning.

In the corner, her blue-haired assistant Kasumi Miwa straightened up. Oh my god, it’s Satomi Gojo. She looks so cool in person, Miwa thought, cheeks warm, trying hard to hold her professional bodyguard posture.

"Oh, Yaga’s exactly on time — for the schedule I gave him," Satomi said. "Which is two hours from now. My finger must’ve slipped when I texted him. Oops."

Gakuganji’s eye twitched. "You insolent—"

"Save the outrage, fossil," Satomi cut in, her smile going sharp.

"You old-timers are all the same. You sit in your dark little rooms clinging to the status quo while the world moves on without you. Does it hurt, Gakuganji? Watching a wave of new power roll in, knowing it’s going to crush your brittle old bones?"

Gakuganji struck his cane against the floor, ignoring Miwa’s flinch. "Sukuna’s vessel is a walking calamity. It’s the duty of the higher-ups to eliminate the threat before it consumes Jujutsu society. That is the law."

"Yeah, yeah, big scary demon," Satomi yawned, picking at her nails.

"Which is why you cowards sent a handful of first-years to get slaughtered by a Special Grade at the detention center — too scared to come after Yuji while I’m around. Pathetic. This whole room smells like mothballs and desperation."

Satomi lowered her sunglasses, blue eyes locking onto the old man.

"So let’s get to it. If the higher-ups are cooking up another assassination plot for the Goodwill Event," she said, voice dropping, "I’d swallow it if I were you."

Gakuganji scoffed, gripping his cane to hide the tremor in his hands. "You can’t protect the boy forever, Satomi. You’re only one person. The moment you’re occupied—"

"When I’m occupied, the other guy takes over," Satomi cut in, a feral grin spreading.

"Friendly warning: you don’t want to poke that bear. I might play with my food. He doesn’t. Zero respect for your authority, zero morals when he’s annoyed, and honestly? A little unhinged."

Gakuganji’s knuckles went white around his cane. The insult, delivered so openly, in his own office, by a woman who treated Jujutsu society’s laws like a joke, was more than he could stomach.

"You arrogant wretch," he hissed. "You think you can bring some undocumented outsider into our ranks and threaten the higher-ups? You’re out of control."

Satomi just laughed — a bright, dismissive sound — and turned toward the door, hands in her pockets.

"I’m going to enjoy watching you try to do something about it," she said over her shoulder, grinning. "Have a bad day, old man."

She slid the door open, stepped out, and shut it behind her with a quiet click.

The room stayed silent for a few seconds. Then Gakuganji snapped.

"INSOLENT BRAT!" He grabbed the low tea table and flipped it, sending ceramic cups shattering against the wall and hot tea splashing across the mats.

"She mocks our traditions, harbors Sukuna’s vessel, and now brings in some foreign lunatic as her attack dog?" He paced the room, slamming his cane into the floorboards with each step.

"Who is this person? I’ll see them both dragged before the elders. I’ll have them executed."

In the corner, Miwa stood frozen.

She told the principal to have a bad day. To his face, Miwa thought, staring at the broken ceramics. She’s so cool. I can’t believe I didn’t ask for an autograph.