Tokyo: Proving one's position from behind the scenes

After waking up, Yuto Itadori stared at the ceiling for a long time, then stretched out his right hand from under the covers and raised it in front of his eyes.

He tried to circulate the wisp of magical power in his dantian as he had in his dream. His fingertips felt slightly cool, and an extremely subtle, almost invisible golden light flashed past his index fingertip, as fast as the tail of a shooting star streaking across the night sky, disappearing in an instant.

it is true.

"Could it be?" He imagined a shonen manga masterpiece, incorporating elements of urban life, superpowers, and family lineage.

"Ring ring..."

"Oh no, I'm going to be late!"

Now, our hot-blooded manga protagonist will face the first crisis of his protagonist career—being late for school.

It wasn't until the afternoon physical education class that Yuuto Itadori had the opportunity to test his extraordinary strength.

He stood in the corner of the playground, taking advantage of a break while his classmates were doing stretching exercises, and quietly circulated the golden magical power in his dantian. The magical power flowed along the route of the "Broken Edge Sword Manual" to his right hand, condensing into an invisible slash in his palm, like a blade compressed to its limit.

He found a secluded spot, aimed at the canopy of the roadside tree at the edge of the playground, raised his hand, and waved.

An invisible slash flew out from the edge of the palm.

He could feel the blow cutting through the canopy of the roadside trees. Several leaves with yellowed edges were cleanly severed, the cuts as smooth as if they had been razor-cut. The leaves twirled a few times in the air before gently landing on the track.

Then Yuto Itsuji's legs went weak, and he almost knelt on the ground.

Nearly 40% of the mana in his dantian was drained by that attack, and a feeling of soreness and distension came from his meridians after being emptied out, like being asked to do 50 push-ups after running a full-speed 400-meter sprint.

He held his knees and took a few breaths, a fine layer of sweat on his forehead. He silently did some mental calculations—the power of that slash, if it had hit an ordinary person, would probably have cut them in half at the waist, but it would have taken at least half a day to recover the mana it consumed.

That's not worth it at all.

The Broken Edge Sword Manual also includes techniques that can be performed with a tangible sword, but the Tiger Staff would likely consume a significant amount of energy.

By the way, can these magical powers...?

Yuuto Itadori straightened up and enveloped his fist with his magic. Golden light condensed into a thin, almost transparent membrane on his knuckles, and he lightly punched the barbed wire fence at the edge of the playground. His fist struck the wire, which emitted a dull hum, and a shallow dent appeared where it was hit, with several wires bending outward in a slight arc.

Absolutely feasible!

The mana consumption was almost imperceptible, yet the power of his punches was at least three times greater than usual.

Yuuto Itadori looked at his fist and suddenly realized—swordsmanship could wait; using this magic power to strengthen his body and practice boxing was the real priority. He tried clenching his fist again, then, as if remembering something, muttered something to himself.

"I just don't know if we'll have enough if a real fight breaks out."

After speaking, he looked up and left and right to make sure no one had noticed him. He then pulled down the sleeve of his tracksuit to cover his fist and walked back to the group as if nothing had happened.

Just as Yuto Itadori was engrossed in testing his abilities, something happened at the Supernatural Society.

The Paranormal Society's activity room is located at the end of the corridor on the third floor of the teaching building. It is an old storage room that has been converted into a club activity room.

The room was small, with several bookshelves crammed with old books and outdated magazines against the wall. In front of the bookshelves was a long folding table with a tarot deck, a crystal ball, and several open paranormal magazines on it.

Several maps of haunted locations downloaded and printed from the internet were pasted on the wall, with several well-known haunted locations in Tokyo—such as an abandoned hospital in Hachioji City and a supposedly haunted apartment building in Adachi Ward—circled in red.

During the afternoon's activities, the members of the Paranormal Club discovered something—the third-year student, Domyouji, hadn't come to school for almost a month.

Domyouji's senior is named Domyouji Chinatsu. She is the vice president of the Paranormal Club, a third-year student with short hair and black-rimmed glasses. She is always the first to arrive at the activity room and the last to leave.

She can pull out two or three paranormal magazines anytime, anywhere, and her phone's photo album is full of photos and information about paranormal locations all over the country.

The members privately call her the "encyclopedia of paranormal phenomena" because she can explain the ins and outs of a paranormal location from beginning to end without consulting any information.

It's strange that someone who never misses club activities suddenly hasn't come for a month.

The president of the paranormal club is a third-year boy named Abe, who is tall and thin and speaks slowly and deliberately.

He asked the homeroom teacher, who checked the attendance record and said that Chika's family had asked for leave for her, with the reason listed as "religious belief".

"Religious belief?" When Abe relayed the homeroom teacher's words to the club members, the activity room was silent for several seconds, filled with an atmosphere of doubt.

"When did Daoming Si-senpai ever become a believer?" A second-year girl spoke up first, still holding the paranormal magazine she had been flipping through. The magazine was on a page about "cursed dolls." "She was telling me just last month that she thinks all religions are essentially misunderstandings of the unknown by humans, ghosts and gods too, they are all misunderstandings of the unknown by humans."

"She certainly doesn't seem like the type of person who would suddenly become religious."

Abe picked up the conversation.

"I've known her for two years and I've never heard her mention any religious beliefs. She says she's an atheist—although she still goes to pray before exams."

Abe took out her phone and fiddled with it for a while before turning the screen towards everyone. The screen displayed Domyouji-senpai's social media account homepage. The last post was published two weeks ago, and it read, "I took a super clear photo in Yotsuya today!!!" It was followed by three exclamation marks and a blurry, dark blue photo that was so blurry that it was impossible to tell what it was.

Scrolling further down, the earlier posts were all very similar: either "Today's divination was so accurate" or "I discovered a new haunted location," perfectly typical of a young girl who loves the paranormal. None of the posts mentioned religion, and none of the photos showed temples, shrines, or any symbols related to religious beliefs.

"How could her family use 'religious belief' as a reason to help an atheist get leave?" another member said.

The activity room was quiet for a few seconds; the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

"How about this," Yuto Itadori stood up from his corner seat, "I'll go check on her?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Do you know where she lives?" Abe asked.

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be too far," said Yuuto Itadori.

The club members exchanged glances, and Abe nodded. "Then go ahead. Contact us anytime if anything happens." He took out a piece of paper, wrote something on it, and handed it to Itadori Yuuto. "This is her home address and the emergency contact information we left during the training camp. It should still be usable."

Yuto Itadori took the note, glanced at it, and stuffed it into his pocket.