Jujutsu Kaisen: Thorny Road at Dawn
Original Concept by Gege Akutami, Story by Ballad Kitaguni

A talent scout who approaches Kugisaki on a street corner turns out to be a Cursed Speech user with an ulterior motive. When Inumaki comes to her rescue, things don’t quite turn out as he planned… Then Mechamaru goes on a solo mission, Gojo and friends take a night off, and more chilling and charming adventures ensue in these five short stories set in the world of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Read an excerpt from Jujutsu Kaisen: Thorny Road at Dawn the new light novel from the hit manga!

“Toge?” Panda tilted his head as he spoke to Kugisaki.

It was the beginning of August. She was in the midst of rebounding off a tree in the Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School courtyard at a 180-degree angle. This was during grueling first year training as the school geared up for the upcoming Goodwill Event with their sister school in Kyoto. The focus was hand-to-hand combat  specifically battles between jujutsu sorcerers.

Or rather, it was supposed to be a training session, but not much was happening other than Kugisaki repeatedly rushing Panda, who kept sending her flying back, only to have her rush at him again, over and over. Todo and Mai’s role was to encourage her, and she did indeed appear motivated, so perhaps their efforts were having an effect.

“Yes. I can tell Maki respects him, and you say he’s a skilled sorcerer, Panda Senpai,” Kugisaki replied.

“You don’t use the senpai honorific for Maki, who’s also in a higher grade than you. You don’t have to use it for me either,” Panda said.

“I respect you,” Kugisaki said as she stood up again, brushing tree leaves off her tracksuit. “Besides, calling you Panda would feel sorta whimsical.”

“Well, your ability to engage in chitchat while getting knocked around is impressive, at least,” Panda said.

“Getting a thrashing like this will teach me defense,” Kugisaki said.

Panda looked around and confirmed that Toge, who had gone to the drugstore, hadn’t returned yet. He managed to do this while also defending against Kugisaki, who had rushed him again. He easily deflected her and continued speaking. “Anyway, what about Toge?”

“I’m wondering what he’s like as a senpai,” Kugisaki replied.

“Hm? Can’t you tell by talking to him?”

“Of course not! I mean, I know he’s not a bad guy, but I can’t tell much more since his vocabulary consists solely of rice-ball ingredients.”

“I guess we’ve gotten used to it,” Panda said. “Right, Maki?”

“Yeah,” Maki answered. “But I suppose I can understand her confusion.”

Maki spun a pole-like cursed tool, nimbly dodged an attack by Fushiguro, and—bonk!—scored a light hit on Fushiguro’s head.

“Ow!” Fushiguro exclaimed in pain.

Read more of Jujutsu Kaisen: Thorny Road at Dawn here.