Kenjaku was stunned. Even a little lost.
But Jogo, up on that stage, was at least ten thousand times more miserable than he was.
"Thank you so much for supporting our group, 'Calamity Sisters~mo mo sisters'! Thank you all — and now, our next song is—"
On the surface, Jogo stood in front of the microphone, head tilted to one side, fingers forming a V, the corners of her mouth curled up into the sweetest, most devastating smile.
Voice soft and lilting. Eyes curving into little crescents.
Any normal person would have been completely melted. It was the kind of textbook, ultra-polished idol fan-service that looked like it had been practiced for years.
[STOP IT!]
Jogo was smiling.
The crowd below erupted.
[STOP IT!]
The girl held the perfect idol's pose — radiant as a star on that stage.
What no one knew was that somewhere inside her, this idol-girl's soul was thrashing, raging, fighting with everything it had against every single second of this.
[STOP IT ALREADY!]
[STOP IT——!]
Jogo was losing her mind.
Because she couldn't control her own body.
This was mortifying. Utterly, unbearably mortifying. She would rather be beaten to death than say these saccharine lines and perform these cringe-worthy, shameful dance moves. But right now, her body simply would not listen to her.
[Damn you, Mahiko, you little monster!]
[This is your idea of "helping us learn how to dance"?!?!]
Jogo, on the verge of a complete breakdown, locked eyes with Mahiko in the crowd below.
She wanted to scream her protest at her. She wanted to leap off the stage and wrench that blue-haired little gremlin's head clean off her shoulders.
But what came out of her mouth instead was—
"Aww, thank you all for your love~! I want even more and more of your votes, okay~? Thank you, minna~!"
And as she said it, she made a little heart with her fingers and blew a flying kiss with a soft "chu~."
[MAHIKO!!——]
Down in the crowd, Mahiko was laughing so hard her stomach ached.
So what exactly had Mahiko done?
Well, here's the thing — a Jujutsu Technique is fundamentally different from a skill like dancing or singing.
A Technique is part of the soul and the body. But dancing and singing are purely technical skills. Which means you don't need to carve them into your soul to learn them.
At the same time, Mahiko had never actually studied how to etch patterns into someone else's body to give them mastery over a particular skill.
So weighing her options, she went with a faster, more convenient method instead.
——Cursed Speech hypnosis.
The melody, the pitch, the rhythm, every chaotic little element of the song — she fed it all directly into Jogo's ears via Cursed Speech hypnosis, forcing the brain to memorize and internalize all of it. The end result was a near-perfect reproduction of the original audio track she'd found online.
In other words, what Jogo sang after being hypnotized was virtually identical to the melody she'd heard.
Well — not necessarily a full one hundred percent.
There's always some gap between what's stored in memory and what actually comes out of your mouth when you sing. That's just reality.
But Jogo and Hanami, as Special Grade Cursed Spirits, had extraordinarily precise control over their own bodies — including their voices, which they could manipulate far beyond human norms. Memorize the melody, and the execution was close enough that the difference was basically negligible.
So after a round of Cursed Speech hypnosis, their singing was essentially fine.
As for the dancing, Mahiko handled that the same way.
The only difference was that dancing was far more complex than singing — because it's nearly impossible to describe every specific detail of every dance move in precise verbal terms.
So it was plainly visible: on the main stage, Jogo and the others' dancing ranked on the weaker end compared to the other idol groups.
But honestly, it didn't matter.
They were a brand-new idol unit to begin with. Their whole appeal was cuteness — not technical vocal or dance skill. A few imperfections in the singing and dancing? The audience could absolutely forgive that.
Besides, they weren't here to win first place.
They just wanted to have fun with Lil' Dagon. That was the whole point.
"And let me tell you," Mahiko had said at the time, wearing that wicked little grin of hers as she wagged her finger, "in the idol industry, as long as you show the audience enough genuine love, you can recover from even serious mistakes in singing and dancing."
Maybe Jogo hadn't really understood what Mahiko meant by that at the time.
Now she understood.
Because that little monster Mahiko had snuck contraband into her hypnotic Cursed Speech!!
[You are the most adorable idols in the world...]
[You absolutely adore this idol stage...]
[You will show the audience your most precious, most adorable smile...]
Lines along those lines — Mahiko had poured them directly into Jogo's mind through Cursed Speech hypnosis, effectively and forcibly rewriting Jogo's behavioral patterns the moment she stepped on stage.
The result: Jogo had been instantly transformed into an absolutely precious little idol who bounced around on stage screaming "minna dasuki!" and was visibly having the time of her life out there.
Jogo was furious.
Absolutely furious.
She felt like she was about to blow her top so hard she could single-handedly trigger a volcanic eruption with sheer Cursed Energy alone. It honestly wouldn't have been surprising.
But Jogo couldn't really blame Mahiko.
Because Mahiko had told her everything before she started the hypnosis.
Jogo just hadn't paid attention at the time.
She trusted Mahiko. And she'd wanted a quick and simple way to learn singing and dancing. So when Mahiko hypnotized her, she'd willingly dropped her mental defenses.
That was exactly why Mahiko's Cursed Speech had worked so powerfully on Jogo.
One more thing worth noting: only Jogo had been given the forced "show love to the audience" hypnosis. Hanami and Lil' Dagon had received no such programming.
Because Jogo was the only one who would have stood on stage wearing a total deadpan expression.
That simply wouldn't do.
And here's the funniest part of all.
Even though Jogo had voluntarily opened up her mental defenses, her raw power was simply too overwhelming. Even with the other side completely dropping their guard — even with Mahiko able to bombard her with prolonged, repeated Cursed Speech — in the end, she only managed to hypnotize Jogo halfway.
Meaning: Mahiko's Cursed Speech had only hypnotized Jogo's body. Her soul and her mind remained completely untouched.
So while Jogo's body was out of her control — performing embarrassing moves, saying embarrassing things — her soul and consciousness were wide awake, watching every single second of it in crystal-clear horror.
Hahaha...
That was nothing short of absolute, unrelenting hell!!!——
Body on the job. Soul screaming into the void.
Powerless against the situation unfolding before her. Forced to watch her own body keep making adorable little gestures at the audience, one after another, in a never-ending shame parade.
Meanwhile, far away, in the mountains on the outskirts of Tokyo.
"Hey, are you okay?" Rime watched Kenjaku's face settle back into his usual serene smile, and felt a flicker of unease — and confusion. "What exactly did you just… see?"
Whatever he'd seen, it had been enough to make the sutures on his head pop open.
"I'm fine." Kenjaku's smile was exactly as calm as always.
But even as he said it, he reached up and pulled out the ring of sutures running across his skull — then hinged open the top of his own head.
Pffft—
Steam rose in a lazy plume.
The crown of his head swung open, revealing the pale, smooth brain within — which was, quite visibly, venting actual steam from its surface.
Rime stared, jaw on the floor. "So… what are you doing right now?"
"Nothing in particular. Don't worry about it." Kenjaku's smile didn't waver. "I saw something strange. Thought about too many things at once. I just need to let off a little heat, that's all."
----------
____
👻🔥Whant more?: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Arknights Endfield: Picked Up a Gugugaga
Let's reach these milestones together:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all readers