Chapter 139: This Is Their World
Back when she was dining with her mother, Mutsumi had been quite shy because her mother kept prying for details about Hachiman. Consequently, she had barely touched her dinner, spending the whole time being interrogated.
Now that Sakiko had invited her to sit, Mutsumi did not refuse. For Togawa Sakiko, it was just a matter of an extra pair of chopsticks and an extra chair. It wasn't as if one more Mutsumi would eat her into poverty.
Sakiko and Mutsumi had an excellent relationship; Sakiko, being the more mature of the two, had always viewed Mutsumi as a younger sister. Knowing her best friend's tastes, Sakiko didn't hesitate to order a 3,000 yen mango juice for her. In the past, that 3,000 yen would have covered several of Sakiko's lunches at school.
Mutsumi was very well-behaved, holding the glass with both hands as she sipped her juice.
"Actually, being able to see Curses isn't necessarily a good thing."
The method Hachiman used to let Sakiko see Curses was through a Cursed Tool. He handed a pair of glasses to her.
"Try wearing these and look at the two of us first."
These types of Cursed Tool glasses help ordinary people see Curses directly. They weren't anything extraordinary; Hachiman's other student, Zen'in Maki, wore similar glasses. Maki didn't wear them because of nearsightedness, but simply because she was affected by a [Heavenly Restriction] and couldn't see Curses, which made fighting them impossible without help. Such Cursed Tools weren't difficult to craft, and Hachiman, having plenty of miscellaneous items, happened to have them on hand.
"Oh."
Sakiko wasn't opposed to seeing Mutsumi's Cursed abilities. Theirs wasn't a "plastic" friendship; having grown up together, they were genuinely close. Seeing her friend enter the ranks of sorcerers, Sakiko felt more supportive than anything. Although she hadn't been a liaison at the Association for long, she understood enough about the industry to know that the casualty rate for sorcerers was incredibly high.
The fact that Mutsumi had joined the Jujutsu Association meant she would be involved in battles against Curses in the future. Sakiko held immense respect for those fighting on the front lines, even if they weren't her childhood friend. This was also why she respected Hachiman so much. The fact that he held the "001" code in the Association was proof enough of his monumental achievements. His reputation was built upon the blood of countless high-grade Curses.
Hachiman wanted Sakiko to see Mutsumi's technique partly to show off his teaching results. Since they already knew each other, Sakiko would be able to see more intuitively how Mutsumi had changed since entering the Jujutsu world.
Hearing that the item offered was a Cursed Tool, Sakiko took it very carefully. Cursed Tools are rare in the Jujutsu world; regardless of grade, each one was worth a fortune to her. It was said that Special Grade Cursed Tools could fetch astronomical figures at auctions—if they ever appeared at all. Sakiko had never seen high-level tools; after all, she was just a "working girl."
When Sakiko put on the glasses, she instantly felt the whole world change.
The world seemed covered in a blood-red haze, like a red filter had been applied. The bright and transparent world she knew became slightly dim and somber. She quickly discovered that the dark red shadows were the Cursed Energy on Hachiman's body.
"So beautiful..."
Sakiko's eyes slowly widened as she stared at Hachiman's Cursed Energy in disbelief. "Sensei... is glowing."
In her sight, Hachiman was completely enveloped in a magnificent, dark red Cursed Energy. It felt to Sakiko as if shimmering dark red particles were emerging from him, swirling around him like fireflies. It was gorgeous, possessing a sort of majestic elegance, yet projecting the inviolable domain of a powerful being.
Actually, Hachiman was holding back significantly; his current Cursed Energy output was only at the level of a Grade 3 sorcerer. He was mainly afraid of being too intense for Sakiko to handle. Only those with high spiritual vision could see the things hidden behind him.
"Now, look at Mutsumi."
Hachiman felt a bit helpless. He gave the tool to Sakiko so she could look at Mutsumi, but she was only staring at him. Sakiko felt embarrassed upon hearing this; she realized she really had been preoccupied with looking at her Sensei.
With Hachiman as the benchmark, looking at Mutsumi was less "breathtaking" and more... adorable.
Mutsumi's Cursed Energy was far cuter than Sakiko had imagined. On Mutsumi's head sat a very cute little fellow—fluffy, round, like a small ball of fur. Its tiny eyes peeked through Mutsumi's hair, stealing glances at Sakiko. Out of fear of Hachiman's Cursed Energy, the mischievous little bird was trying to hide its round body completely within its owner's hair.
Mutsumi reached out to pet it, and it finally hopped cautiously onto her hand. It tilted its head, its dazed and cute expression being a mirror image of Mutsumi's.
Sakiko couldn't help but smile. Now that it was on Mutsumi's hand, she could see the bird's full appearance more clearly. It wore a blue mortarboard, looking charmingly naive, but what
made her want to laugh the most was the text hanging around its neck: "A person who can talk wins as soon as they open their mouth."
Thinking of Mutsumi's personality and way of speaking, Sakiko instantly understood Mutsumi's inner conflict. They say Cursed Techniques are the manifestation of one's heart; it seemed Mutsumi also wanted to correct her unique "art of speech."
Sakiko laughed out loud. Mutsumi's eloquence was indeed powerful in its own way. Seeing Sakiko laugh, even though the "wooden" Mutsumi felt Saki was making fun of her, she didn't mind. A smile slowly appeared on her own face. Her joy was sincere because she saw Sakiko's life getting better.
When Sakiko disbanded the band, Mutsumi had been just as sad. When she said she "never found the band fun," she was trying to alleviate the pressure on Sakiko from their teammates. When Sakiko said she was ending the band, Mutsumi's "it's boring" was merely echoing her. Though it sounds pragmatic, from the start, Mutsumi only played in the band because Sakiko needed her. So, when Sakiko quit, Mutsumi essentially stopped playing too.
Mutsumi knew exactly what Sakiko was going through. As childhood friends, she knew Sakiko would never accept her charity. The issue between Soyo and Sakiko had been Mutsumi's biggest dilemma, haunting her for over a year and forcing her to pour her sadness and frustration into growing cucumbers. She looked like she was watering plants, but she was actually burying her sorrows. Even knowing Sakiko's troubles, she could only worry in silence, unable to help.
But now, it was fine. Sakiko's problems were being resolved. Mutsumi could see that the "low pressure" aura around Sakiko had vanished; she looked like she had returned to the happy times when they first formed the band.
As expected of Hachiman—he easily achieved what Mutsumi couldn't.
Mutsumi understood that even though Hachiman didn't say it, the issues with Soyo were likely being resolved quickly as well. While Soyo was the "idea person" of Tsukinomori, she would never have thought of finding a new place to play in a band to escape her current predicament. Hachiman must have helped there too. Mutsumi knew that when Hachiman helped a friend, it was always substantial.
"The greatest manifestation of Mutsumi's technique is this little bird," Hachiman explained as he watched Sakiko observe the timid creature. "In other words, Sakiko, the bird you see is her Cursed Technique."
Hachiman knew the little guy was usually mischievous when following Mutsumi around; it only acted well-behaved in front of him. He had thought about it before: if this "idiot bird" could turn into a sword, there was no reason it couldn't turn into a firearm. Firearms are only slightly more complex in structure than blades, but far more powerful. With a Gatling gun and
Mutsumi's technique effect of "four breaks per second"—constantly stacking passives—even a Special Grade Curse would be turned into a sieve.
Furthermore, Mutsumi had no defensive measures of her own unless her swordsmanship reached a level where she could parry any attack. But that takes time, and Hachiman didn't have "Imperial Black Technology" to flash-teach swordsmanship. Back when Hachiman was inspecting the Imperial Terra, he learned of a newly excavated STC module that could compress thousands of years of combat experience and input it into a human brain. It meant the mass production of master swordsmen and veteran Astartes. However, it was still in the experimental stage and hadn't been rolled out to the Legions yet.
This was why Hachiman felt he could retire in peace—he knew that even if the Empire lost its entire army, with its massive population and this technology, they could build an even grander Astartes Legion. Hachiman approved of "instant veterans"; the cost of training a recruit from scratch was just too high. Veterans who lived as long as he did were far too rare. Having been a drill instructor, Hachiman was passionate about training. Having all these students now felt like returning to those days.
To increase Mutsumi's survival rate beyond the "Pro-player carries Newbie" method, giving her long-range options was key. Even if it wasn't a Gatling gun, if the bird could become a sniper rifle, she could snipe targets from a building kilometers away, minimizing risk. Plus, her technique had armor-piercing and penetration effects, which would be devastating for bullets.
Perhaps letting Mutsumi understand the construction of firearms would allow the bird to transform into other things. Hachiman planned to let her handle real guns soon. She didn't need to be like a movie elite who could assemble a gun blindfolded; she just needed a general understanding of the principles and structures. As for the guns—while Japan has strict laws, it wasn't hard for sorcerers from the Big Three to obtain them. Firearms were mainly used against ordinary sorcerers, hence the strict control. Except for those like Gojo Satoru who had the [Infinity] active 24/7, very few sorcerers—even Grade 1s—could physically tank an anti-materiel rifle like a Barrett.
He didn't know if his hypothesis would work; the development of a technique depends on the user. No matter how practical Hachiman's ideas were, if the user couldn't grasp them, they couldn't be activated.
After dinner, Hachiman had said he would show Sakiko Mutsumi's level, and by extension, show her what the world really looked like. Since Sakiko couldn't see Curses, she didn't know that this world, polluted by Curses, was becoming increasingly filthy.
When Sakiko stepped outside and saw the world, she was stunned. While there weren't many riot-inducing Curses on the streets (this being the city center, any significant threat would have been cleared by sorcerers), what appeared before her were countless low-grade Curses
that were essentially harmless to humans but overwhelming in number. These Curses mostly just made people feel stiff shoulders, tired, or drowsy.
But for Sakiko, seeing them for the first time was simply disgusting. Blobs of mud-like monsters of various colors and grotesque shapes wove through the crowds. Sakiko felt as if the human population was so outnumbered that they were the ones who had trespassed into the monsters' world.
Mutsumi, following behind, silently placed a hand on Sakiko's shoulder to support her as she stumbled back. Hachiman used his hand to partially block the front of Sakiko's glasses.
"If you feel uncomfortable, you can take the glasses off and take a break. Sakiko, you're doing a bit better than Mutsumi; she almost vomited the first time she saw this."
Mutsumi had indeed nearly thrown up. Sakiko's endurance was better; since they had eaten before coming out, she didn't get sick.
"I'm sorry, I just have a bit of a headache," Sakiko said, feeling fear alongside her surprise.
If these were just the low-level ones, what kind of destruction would high-level Curses cause? And the fact that her mother's "Togawa Logistics" was already developing mecha to fight high-level Curses made her feel an even greater sense of lingering dread.
Read ahead and finish this fanfiction by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting