Juchu Kaisen - 44

Chapter 44

Geto Suguru groped around in the dark forest blindly. The darkness of the pre-dawn, combined with his blindfolds and earplugs, ensured that he had zero access to his conventional senses.

Satoru grinned as he debated on when to approach him and poke him with his finger. The rules were simple: Satoru would still his cursed energy to a particular level, and then poke Suguru. Suguru was meant to block the poke. If he didn’t, Satoru would poke him again. If that went unblocked, then Satoru would punch him. And then again and then again until he figured everything out.

Shoko had already given him a private healing session, which meant that the bruises he had gotten from being beaten to a pulp by Teira, only to then be folded bodily by Ito Aoi, had mostly disappeared. Shoko’s power, combined with cursed honey, was a minor miracle in and of itself.

Since he was back to his physical peak, after a full night of sleep no less, Satoru would go all out.

Satoru wasn’t subtle as he walked up to his friend. He didn’t stretch his arm out to the limits of his reach—which would have made it harder for Suguru to detect him as most of Satoru’s cursed energy was obviously in the rest of his body.

He walked up to him until they were inches apart, subtly moving his body away whenever Suguru shifted closer. He looked decidedly oblivious to their proximity. What a dolt.

A strong dolt, but a dolt nonetheless. Satoru had to remind himself that the quality of the guy’s education was dogshit. School had tried to make a salaryman out of him while he was busy saving their lives from cursed spirits. Everything he knew, he had taught himself.

It was impressive, but nonetheless frustrating to Satoru. Self-education on that level was a double-edged sword, and it was prone to baking in the worst of habits that could take years to get rid of.

Satoru… didn’t have all that much time to wait around. He wanted himself and Suguru to both be the strongest before graduating. Before the responsibilities of adulthood came crashing down on them.

Poke.

Suguru whirled his arms and Satoru took a step back, escaping his reach smoothly.

With that poke, Suguru should learn to hone in on the energy that had touched him.

Poke.

Evidently not.

He still looked lost.

Satoru punched him. In the stomach.

He doubled over in pain, straightened in agony and ripped the blindfold off his face. “What the hell, Satoru?!” he wheezed. He took off his earplugs afterwards.

Satoru shrugged. “It’s good training, Suguru. Don’t be such a baby!”

“Don’t you think it’s hard for me to concentrate while I’m in pain?”

“Of course—that’s why we’re doing this. You already know how to sense cursed energy. Now, you need to sharpen the skill. Do you have any idea why you lost to Takahashi?”

He sighed. “Yeah. She used a technique to control my mind.”

At least he wasn’t that far behind.

“And when did you figure this out?”

“After Teira… removed the influence from my mind.”

“Which means?”

“Means what?”

“There was cursed energy in…?”

“…My brain?”

“Yes!” Satoru gestured wildly. “In your brain! Her technique is subtle, but you had no excuse to let that one fly under your radar. It points to a fatal weakness in your playbook. So? We’re training your cursed energy perception from the ground up. From kindergarten to high school.”

Suguru winced, but nodded. “And Cursed Energy Manipulation? I have yet to land a Black Flash.”

Satoru chuckled. What a cute view of Jujutsu. “Learn to walk before you run, Suguru. The way things stand, all you’ve got going for yourself is Cursed Spirit Manipulation. You didn’t beat Ito because you were strong—you beat her because you are Geto Suguru. You crushed her with the weight of your innate talent and nothing else.”

That wasn’t inherently a bad thing. Jujutsu Sorcery was all about results. Nobody cared if you ‘cheated’ through the luck of the draw to become as strong as you were, as long as you could do your job and exorcise curses. Suguru’s power was valid—as valid as Satoru’s, potentially.

But if he had even a crumb of ambition, Suguru would take Satoru’s statement as condemnation.

Satoru watched carefully for a reaction.

His eyes were downcast, and he gulped, as though swallowing a bit of unpleasantness. “I don’t believe I deserved that victory,” he went on. “Ito is… powerful. Does she even have an innate technique? If all she does is… something I could do, too, then I had no business being pressured to such an extent.”

Satoru nodded. “I’m thinking the higher-ups are putting you on the shortlist for Special Grade promotion. But between you and me, a Special Grade sorcerer who can’t fight like a Grade One without their technique is no true Special Grade.”

Suguru put the earplugs and his blindfold back on. “Let’s continue.”

Excellent.

Satoru walked up to Suguru until the tips of their noses were inches apart. Satoru had to hold his breath to prevent Suguru from feeling his warm breath. An easy start to kick off their training.

Satoru raised his hand to poke him on his temple.

Suguru caught the hand in the nick of time.

Satoru grinned, and patted Suguru’s shoulder. Good job, friend.

000

Shoko and I sat side-by-side on the dewy grass after our morning training.

She pulled out her mom’s box of cigarettes. There was only one left. As far as vices went, I still didn’t quite understand that one. Smoking seemed more like a performance to me than anything else. You did it to look cool—and influence the young into thinking that you were cool.

“Remember to detox, first,” I said to her as a Michiko portal opened over my hand, dropping a gourd of sake. She winced, her box-holding hand freezing in place.

“After this one?”

Well—it wasn’t like she was going to spontaneously develop cancer the instant she finished the cigarette. I shrugged as I took a swig of the sake.

As always, a satisfying way to begin the day.

She lit it, took a deep drag, and let it out in one long sigh. “I need an innate technique.”

“Ah? Sure! Just go to the ‘innate technique’ store and buy one. Easy.”

“You really shouldn’t be talking, miss ‘I control five million bugs’.”

I grimaced. “First of—it’s way more than five million, okay? Get your facts straight.”

“Ah, I’m sorry, your majesty, the queen bee.”

“You want pity? Go to the… uhh… the pity store and buy one. There’s a two for one going on.”

Shoko giggled.

“But… is it possible?” she then asked. “To get an innate technique?”

“Yeah, which one do you want? Limitless?”

“I’m serious.”

“Ah. Then no. Unless you’re Buddhist.”

“Huh? How does that work?”

“Well, if reincarnation is real, then you can be born with an innate technique in your next life.”

“So the answer is to die. Thanks, Teira—you’ve made me come to a very dark decision.”

I grinned, patting her on her shoulder. “You’re welcome.”

“You’re awful. Why does your sense of humor always get so twisted when you’re buzzed?”

“I don’t know, Shoko—I did tell you my entire life story, so why don’t you tell me why that is?”

She gestured her hand to the gourd.

I handed it to her. Would be good training for poison filtration, which was a complicated art.

She took a quick swig and made sure to swallow the moment the liquid hit her gullet. She hissed in pain and tilted her head forward. She then shoved the gourd back at me angrily. I chuckled and took a long gulp from it. “Lightweight.”

It took her a few moments before she was able to formulate a response. “Psycho.”

I frowned. “Hey, I just told you, I’m totally psychosis-free because of the Reverse Cursed Technique.”

“Psycho.”

“Oh no—your ears are damaged!”

She took a comforting drag of her cigarette, and grinned slightly. “These are so much better with alcohol.”

I snatched it out of her hand. “Hey!” she whined.

I took a drag for myself.

The ensuing buzz was… interesting. A bit of the old hypoxia mixed with the stimulating effects of nicotine—all combined with the depressant effects of alcohol. The trifecta was intriguing. I could see why Shoko thought the two went great together.

I gave her back her cigarette.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“It’s still too performative,” I said. I looked up, lost in thought. “And it doesn’t fit my vibe.”

“You’d rather smoke out from a kiseru, huh? You period drama queen.”

I grinned. “What can I say? I like presentation.”

She finally finished her cigarette, and stubbed it out on a dew drop on a tall grass blade. The drop absorbed quickly into the cherry of the cigarette, dousing the flame and emanating tiny trails of steam.

“Speaking of cursed techniques,” I said. “I don’t know how to give you one. Sorry. All I know is that you need to be born with one. Of course, anything is possible in Jujutsu, so there’s probably a way to implant one,” I shrugged.

“But you don’t know? Not even a story?”

I chuckled. “I know a lot of stories, Shoko. Each one increasingly wilder. I’ve read stories of the Christian God vanquishing powerful curses. Jesus incarnating at some point in history to save a Jujutsu Sorcerer in need. Buddha himself lending a hand to destroy a cursed spirit version of himself. Amaterasu incarnating to save the Imperial house from certain doom. Venerated saints and priests bringing the dead back to life. My point is: just because there are stories of something doesn’t make it true, nor should it ever be something to rely on.”

She groaned in disappointment. “That stinks.”

“Regarding your effectiveness, you might be even deadlier against cursed spirits than Ito is,” I said.

“Huh?” She whirled her head to look at me.

“The Reverse Cursed Technique is helpful to humans because it is a productive force, whereas negative energy is destructive. Cursed spirits can regenerate only using negative energy, however. They have no need for learning this complicated art. But! Positive energy is also extremely deadly to cursed spirits. Beyond just being a poison, the very substance of positive energy destabilizes and displaces cursed energy—the type that’s on cursed spirits, at least. My shikigami are more resistant than spirits, probably because the cursed energy is human in origin.”

All cursed energy was human in origin—even when it was inside cursed spirits—but during the merging process that created spirits, the energy becomes… purer. More purely malicious.

“So my output can…?”

“Destroy cursed spirits? Yes,” I nodded. “If you must, you should consider that to be your innate technique, in the context of battling curses. Yes, it’s energy inefficient. Yes, you can’t imagine using it to fight for very long. That’s fine. It’s because you’re a beginner. You’ll learn in time.”

Shoko looked down at her hands, seemingly with a renewed vigor for her job.

Then, she cracked a grin. “Cool.”

000

“As you all can imagine, you caused quite a stir yesterday,” Yaga-sensei said as homeroom began. From what I could sense, the entire class seemed ready to explode into activity at the drop of a hat. Yesterday hadn’t released tension so much as injected an incredible amount of restlessness into everyone.

The spirit of rivalry in our class had never been fierier.

Behind him, on the blackboard, was a vertical list of the six grades of Jujutsu Sorcerers. Grade Four, Three, Semi-Grade Two, Grade Two, Semi-Grade One and Grade One.

Grade One was at the top, and Grade Four at the bottom. There were no names on the blackboard, just ranks.

“In the interest of testing you out on the field, the administration has seen fit to finally assign preliminary rankings to this class. Rejoice—this is an honor that very few sorcerers-in-training are awarded this early on into their careers. Usually, we would wait a few months until we reached this point. Nowadays, with all the new numbers of sorcerers-in-training all being able to take on field work in your stead, you weren’t expected to be ranked until well after the mid-year. Yet, you impressed to the extent that the higher-ups saw no other choice but to rank you. Congratulations.”

The classroom broke into chatters of excitement.

“Grade One, baby!” Daiki grinned.

Aomori whimpered at the sight. She’d had a long yesterday and morning, getting drilled in Cursed Energy Manipulation by one of my Juchū. Still, that wouldn’t help her today, as she was still ‘unranked’.

“Please!” Suzuki shouted. “Ito will be Grade One, not you!”

Ito held her head low, but inwardly, I could sense that she was excited.

“I wonder what grade I’ll get!” Gojo said.

“I hope I’m Grade Four,” Shoko sighed. “I don’t wanna fight scary monsters.”

“Don’t be pathetic,” I said to Shoko.

She whimpered pathetically, just to annoy me. She couldn’t hide that little dumb grin on her face.

“I said! I wonder what grade I’ll get!” Gojo repeated.

“Everyone, let’s laugh at his joke,” I said. “I’ll start. Ha ha.”

“Ha ha ha—” Shoko echoed boredly.

“Ha ha—” Suzuki rolled her eyes.

“Ha ha—” Nakamura joined in.

That did nothing to shame him into silence. Instead, he bowed his head at me, and the rest of the class rolling their eyes at him. “I know, I know.”

“If I could make you Grade Four, I would,” Yaga-sensei said.

“Ouch, sensei!”

“But enough talk! Let’s begin the rankings. At Grade Four…”

The classroom looked around at one another suspiciously.

Aomori buried her head under her hands.

“No one!”

I let out a brief whistle. Aomori let out a sigh of relief.

Shoko whispered, “maybe I was too low to be ranked? I sure hope so.”

“Grade Three!” Yaga-sensei announced imperiously. “Ieiri Shoko!”

“Dammit,” she whimpered.

“Kobayashi Jun!” Kobayashi nodded. “Satoshi Ren.” Satoshi clicked his tongue. “Takahashi Hana.” Takahashi grinned proudly.

It wasn’t a bad rank for a first-year, certainly.

“Semi-Grade Two!”

The tension was palpable.

“Ishikawa Takumi.”

“Yes,” the big boy pumped his fist.

“Suzuki Yui.”

“Shit!” Suzuki shouted. Then her eyes widened and she bowed her head repeatedly in apology. Yaga-sensei glossed it over and continued.

“Grade Two!”

“Aw, hell yeah!” Nakamura cheered.

“Nakamura Daiki.”

His energy died down. He clicked his tongue and grinned slightly. “Damn. Thought I’d make Grade One at least.”

“Semi-Grade One!”

Only two left now. And it was obvious who this one would go to. “Ito Aoi!” Yaga-sensei said.

Suzuki cheered loudly. Shoko, Takahashi and I clapped our hands.

“Congratulations!” Suguru said to Ito, whose face was glued to the desk.

Semi-Grade One was… about right, in my estimation at least. Still, I could count several actual Grade One sorcerers that might have trouble against Ito. In the estimation of Jujutsu Society, she should be qualified enough.

Something was certainly going on behind the scenes to influence this decision. It was wrong, but I didn’t necessarily disagree with making Ito’s progression just a tad bit harder.

Semi-Grade One was more than I had expected of them in the first place. I had to ask Mukai if she had anything to do with it.

“Grade One! Geto Suguru!”

Despite my expectations, Suguru didn’t look smug at all. Instead, he seemed rather downcast. Maybe he was hoping for Special Grade? Seeing as the higher-ups didn’t know the specifics of his technique, it wasn’t tenable for them to give him that designation. They were waiting to see where his limits lay.

Perhaps it wasn’t that, but a general dissatisfaction with where he stood? He must have had a morning session with Satoru—I hadn’t listened in on them very actively, but I saw that it must have done wonders for his mentality.

Most of the class clapped politely for Suguru, Gojo and Nakamura hollering on his behalf.

“Thought you said he’d be Special Grade,” Shoko said quietly.

“All in due time.”

“Special Grade!” Yaga-sensei continued. Huh? “Class Two. Hibana Teira.”

…

Class Two.

Gojo turned to me from the front row, pointed and laughed. “I’m still a whole Class above you!”

“They made classes for you, you fucking baby!” I hissed. “It’s politics!”

“I can’t hear you over how high up in the Class rankings I am!”

As far as I was concerned, the Class-system was arbitrary nonsense made to put Jujutsu Society’s most special boy on a higher pedestal due to the influx of new sorcerers. It barely meant anything.

If it meant the manbabies leading the Big Three not throwing their toys out of the pram, I would happily accept the position of being ‘nominally’ beneath Gojo.

It didn’t matter to me at all. I didn’t care.

“Congratulations, everyone,” Yaga-sensei said. “I believe all these rankings were awarded correctly, and they display your skill and power as Jujutsu Sorcerers. However, know that the rankings are wide, and there is much room for improvement for all of you. Also know that these are not the rankings you will stay in forever, nor do they indicate your final potential. All of you can one day become Grade Ones.”

“But not Special Grades,” Shoko chuckled.

“I heard that,” Yaga-sensei said. “Yes. But not Special Grades. But it doesn’t matter!” he roared. “You all have a part to play nonetheless. Understood?!”

“Yes, sensei,” Shoko sheepishly said.

“Good. Now, class—it’s time for class photos. After going on your first mission, you will want physical evidence of what it was like for you before. Back when there was a cheerful innocence in your eyes.”

“So dark,” Takahashi shuddered.

 “I’ll be back in a minute with a camera,” Yaga said before leaving the room.

Instantly, Gojo appeared next to my desk, leaned down on it and rested his head on it while grinning. “You mad?”

I leaned closer to his face and gave him a placid grin. “Of course not,” I reached for his hair to brush it gently. After all, I only wanted what was best for my dear friend Gojo Satoru—

Infinity held me back from caressing him gently, which was all I wanted to do.

“You are mad.”

Michiko.

‘The solution is not ready.’

“Are you sure? Are you sure you’re not mad? Are you sure it’s not just eating you up from the inside to know that you’re beneath me, Teira? So?”

All I wanted to do—

ALL I WANTED. TO DO.

Was give him a headpat. That was it!

So, Infinity—let me through! I am not a threat!

“I’m sure,” I whispered. “I promise, I’m not mad. Why don’t I give you a hug? Dear friend?”

“A hug?” Satoru stood up. I followed.

“Yes,” I smiled charmingly. “A hug.”

“Hmmm,” he leaned close to my face. “Naaaah.”

I pouted. “Pretty please? For my sake?”

“I don’t think so.”

I nodded.

“Okay,” I nodded. “Okay. Cool. That’s cool. Michiko.”

A portal opened under our feet, sweeping over us and depositing us in the air a few thousand feet above the school.

I grew extra arms and clasped them all in mudras.

“Domain Expansion.”

Satoru’s panicked expression was a sight to behold.

000

Class photos had to wait until Satoru managed to filter out the paralytic that his body had been injected with from my Domain Expansion. Using the Juchū sure-hit technique to non-lethally take him out was something I had regretted since my draw against him. My only option at the time had been to either kill him or hold off, which had allowed him to get off his own technique. It would have been my victory if I hadn’t, in the throes of passion, decided to go for the suffocation method.

So instead of a Fertilized Juchū, I had ‘teleported’ a regular one, and used Cursed Technique: Reversal to inject a paralytic into his bloodstream. It was my intention to streamline the process so that I could just directly poison my enemies instead, using a variety of different kinds as the situation called for it.

“Does your pettiness know no bounds?” Yaga growled at me out in the hall.

“Sir, he provoked me.”

“So you use a Domain Expansion on him.”

“As I said—he provoked me.”

“You and Gojo are both tied for being the most frustrating students I’ve ever had.”

The hell? “Well, at least I don’t keep breaking the school all the time! Like Gojo does! Remember the wall? And remember how my Juchū repaired all the damage that I did?”

“I would argue that makes you even worse,” Yaga-sensei said. “You’re conscientious enough to regret your actions. Yet you still do them because you think you can just handwave the consequences away with your power.”

I blinked at him. “…But I can!”

He shook his head. “You can’t handwave a lack of respect and tact, Hibana-kun. One day, you’ll understand that. For your punishment: custodian duty. Two weeks. With your own body. I’ll have one of my cursed corpses monitor you as well, so don’t you dare try and sidestep this one!”

“And what does he get?” I asked.

“Seeing as he was a victim of your spite—that’s what he gets. And if you keep arguing, I will only increase the punishment!”

I nodded solemnly. When he finally turned his back, I smiled.

Worth it.

Once I re-entered the classroom, it was to find Gojo re-learning how to walk while Suguru helped him.

“Should have taken the hug, Gojo,” I said. “A maiden’s heart is quite fragile.”

He laughed and slurred out a response. “Nyou were mad!”

I grinned daggers at him. “Teira one, Gojo zero.” Keep that in mind, you stupid fucking—!

“Maaaad!” he laughed.

“Ignore the loser!” Shoko said to me, stepping between Gojo and I to drag me away. “Plus, I think I speak for the entire class that every time I see you two hate-flirt, chills crawl up my spine in fear of the carnage that might happen!”

I slapped Shoko’s arm lightly. “What?! Don’t go there, Shoko. I’m not in the mood.”

“Neither are we—we just had homeroom. You should wait until lunch at least to start picking fights, you delinquent.”

Whatever. At least I had finally established the hierarchy with Gojo. As long as he didn’t have an answer to my Domain Expansion, he was just not my equal. He could have Class Three if that made him feel better. He clearly needed the consolation prize, the little baby.

He was just laughing it up as he generated positive energy to heal himself from the paralytic.

Shoko and I took our seats once more, and for the next five minutes, we just watched and jeered as Gojo went through physical therapy with Suguru.

Just as Gojo had finally regained around ninety percent of his function, I received a text on my cellphone from a… particular individual who didn’t inspire much joy in me at all.

“Alright, class!” Yaga-sensei shouted. “All of you line up against the blackboard for the photo! Grab some chairs, too!”

As the tallest in class, Suguru, Gojo, Ishikawa and I sat on chairs in front of the row of others standing behind us, eight in number. Ito and Aomori were each at the opposite ends, as the shortest students in class. Shoko was standing next to Ito, and Kobayashi stood next to her.

Yaga stood behind the tripod-mounted camera, bent over as he positioned the image. Then, “smile, everyone,” he said in his trademark growl.

I tried.

“Class Two,” Gojo whispered a split second before the flash went off, during which my smile turned into a grimace of disgust.

Yaga looked at the picture, eyebrow raised, then at me! “One more time. And if you can’t smile, at least don’t look like you want to kill somebody!”

Dammit, Gojo.

000

Once homeroom was finally over, I took to the hallways to make a call.

“Oh, who’s that?” Shoko said as she stubbornly followed me. “Your secret boyfriend?”

I glared at Shoko. “You’re on thin ice, young girl. Thin ice.”

Finally, the phone picked up. “And what do you want, you prick?”

The prick in question chuckled easily, though there was a weight to it. “Charming as always, hime-sama. I…” he hesitated for several seconds. “I’m at the end of my rope, here. I need your help.”

“Help yourself. You’re strong,” I scowled. “What could possibly be giving you such a hard time?”

“It’s not… I’m not in danger. It’s… it’s my wife. She’s dying. I don’t know what to do.”

I sighed, unable to really muster any additional spite at the news. That sounded quite rough after all. “Alright. See you soon, prick.”

I then hung up on Zen'in Toji.

---

A/N: Fitting that chapter 44 (death-death) almost included Gojo's death. Really makes you think.

List of rankings in the First Year:

Special Grade

-        Class Three

o   Gojo Satoru

-        Class Two

o   Hibana Teira

Grade One

-        Geto Suguru

Semi-Grade One

-        Ito Aoi

Grade Two

-        Nakamura Daiki

Semi-Grade Two

-        Ishikawa Takumi

-        Suzuki Yui

Grade Three

-        Ieiri Shoko

-        Satoshi Ren

-        Kobayashi Jun

-        Takahashi Hana

Unranked

• Aomori Sakura