As the "key," Mahito naturally felt resentment toward this, but at the same time, thinking about it from another perspective, as long as Mahito's growth as a key exceeded Kenjaku's expectations—even far exceeding the limit Kenjaku could control—then Kenjaku, in order to complete his own ultimate goal, would instead become Mahito's support.
The status of the two sides would be instantly reversed.
Mahito intended to exploit this very difference in timing.
He turned to look at Yoshino Junpei.
He believed that the key to breaking this deadlock lay with Junpei—or rather, with what he intended for Junpei to do.
Placing a hand on Junpei's head, he gently stroked it.
During that motion, his soul-altering technique had already penetrated deep into Junpei's brain.
An immature Thought Steel Seal was slowly yet firmly reshaping his mind, ensuring that thoughts of betrayal could never take root.
Previously, Mahito had used this soul-altering ability without ever giving it a name.
Back then, he had regarded it as divine power, and divine power required no name.
But now, he understood that it was no such thing.
It needed a name.
Idle Transfiguration.
From this moment onward, his soul-altering technique would be known as Idle Transfiguration.
"Junpei, from this moment on, you will become my eyes.
Everything your eyes see will become nourishment for me.
I will transform you into half of my clone.
You will enter Tokyo Jujutsu High just like the many people tainted by cursed spirits and gather whatever knowledge you can.
I need information on any techniques you learn, the characteristics of your classmates' abilities, and any cursed tools that might strengthen you."
Junpei's expression had initially been tense, but as Idle Transfiguration took effect, his eyes gradually lost focus.
The brightness in them faded into vacancy.
His expression loosened unconsciously, his eyes rolling back until the whites showed, while his body trembled faintly.
Layer upon layer of cursed energy gathered and flowed within him, eventually swelling into a surging river that filled every part of his body.
Mahito was turning Yoshino Junpei into a jujutsu sorcerer.
It was even simpler than he had imagined.
Although he had yet to meet other sorcerers in person, he had long ago experimented with how to "transfer" his power to others.
In fact, traces of his cursed energy still remained in the body of that starving old man from his very first experiment, though it had been so sparse as to be nearly undetectable.
But this time was different.
He intended to transform Junpei into a genius among jujutsu sorcerers—
a vessel perfectly suited for his own incarnation.
That's right.
He was going to reshape Junpei's body into his future vessel.
Mahito spoke softly.
"From this moment onward, you will become a genius among jujutsu sorcerers.
You will possess an immense reserve of cursed energy.
This power will continuously reshape your body, allowing it to adapt to ever-higher intensities of cursed energy."
"I will modify your brain to maximize your focus, comprehension, and logical thinking.
As you continue to develop, your intelligence will rise even further."
"You will possess unparalleled learning ability and a talent for jujutsu far beyond what ordinary sorcerers can achieve."
"I will preserve your innate talent.
Although you are awakening to cursed energy late, you possess something that ordinary sorcerers do not.
You have your own Innate Technique."
"I won't tell you what that technique is.
You are about to enter the jujutsu world as a novice, and a novice should not know too much.
You only need to understand one thing."
"In the jujutsu world, talent accounts for eighty percent of a sorcerer's potential.
Effort is merely a supplement.
And you just so happen to possess exceptional talent."
If he could, Mahito would have loved to transfer Idle Transfiguration itself to Junpei.
Unfortunately, he couldn't.
He still did not fully understand himself.
Not only his current self—even Mahito from the later stages of the original work had been unable to achieve such a thing.
The original Mahito's understanding of the soul had allowed him to create transformed humans linked to his thoughts, but even then, those transformed humans could not use Idle Transfiguration.
Innate Techniques truly possess their own "black boxes."
Across the entire series, there were only a few situations in which such a black box could be broken.
Unfortunately, Idle Transfiguration could not yet accomplish that.
Mahito already had ideas regarding this issue, but now was not the time to act on them.
Aside from the Innate Technique itself, however, Mahito gave Junpei everything that a genius should possess.
This was also preparation for acquiring Reverse Cursed Technique.
Mahito, as a Cursed Spirit, could not learn Reverse Cursed Technique.
But Junpei, who was effectively equivalent to his clone, could.
Over the past month, Mahito's understanding of the human brain had reached an unquestionable level.
Junpei had already been intelligent to begin with.
After Mahito's modifications, he would reach an entirely new level.
The moment Mahito decided to send him to Jujutsu High, he had already made up his mind.
Junpei had to become a genius.
He needed to master every common branch of jujutsu—
not just Reverse Cursed Technique, but also shikigami manipulation, barrier techniques, Simple Domain, and cursed tool creation.
As long as it was not dependent on innate talent, Junpei had to be capable of learning it.
The more Junpei learned and the stronger he became, the more everything would eventually flow back to Mahito.
Just as everything learned by a god's follower ultimately returns to the god.
And now—
Mahito was Junpei's God.
From the corner of his eye, Mahito caught a fleeting change in Kenjaku's expression.
But it wasn't fear.
On the contrary, it was delight.
This was exactly the key Kenjaku needed—the ability to freely control the degree of incarnation within another person's body.
Mahito had just demonstrated that ability perfectly, and Kenjaku was practically ecstatic.
Now, it had become a race against time between Mahito and Kenjaku.
Either Mahito's growth would prove insufficient and he would eventually be reduced to a mere key in Kenjaku's plans—
or their positions would be reversed, forcing Kenjaku to crawl to Mahito's feet in order to achieve his ultimate goal.
Jogo couldn't help but ask, "What exactly are you planning to do? Are you going to cut off one of Yoshino Junpei-kun's arms? That alone won't be enough, will it? The people in the jujutsu world won't believe that a Cursed Spirit like you would let a human go in exchange for just an arm."
"Of course, losing an arm or a leg alone wouldn't be enough to fool the people of the jujutsu world," Mahito said calmly. "But as long as he becomes my twisted toy, those jujutsu sorcerers will undoubtedly let their guard down."
Jogo and Kenjaku exchanged a glance.
Kenjaku asked, "A toy? What do you mean?"
Mahito looked down at Yoshino Junpei, who was now completely relaxed and entirely at his mercy.
He smiled.
It was a smile as gentle as a spring breeze.
Then he said,
"It's simple. I'm going to turn him into a woman."
"…Huh?"
Kenjaku and Jogo spoke at the same time.
Junpei suddenly shuddered.
His previously relaxed body instantly tensed.
His eyes widened, bloodshot veins spreading through the whites like a crimson spiderweb.
Then he began to scream.
"Wait—you still haven't forgotten about that shrine maiden thing?! I don't want to be a shrine maiden! I refuse! I refuse—!"
"How could you do this?! How could you do this to me?!"
"Junpei, this is the best way, isn't it?" Mahito said gently.
"With your current level, there's no way you could possibly escape the pursuit of cursed spirits like us.
Theoretically, death should be your only possible outcome.
Any other result—even losing an arm, a leg, or an eye—wouldn't be something that could be explained away as simple luck.
A version of you like that would never earn the trust of the jujutsu world."
He spoke slowly.
"But becoming a girl is different—"
Mahito's smile remained soft and elegant, without showing his teeth.
He looked gentle and refined.
Yet the words he spoke were like the whispers of a demon.
He said softly,
"—this is my twisted hobby.
Go ahead and complain to the other jujutsu sorcerers about it.
No… you won't even need to say anything.
Turning a boy into a girl—
even if you remain silent, the people in the jujutsu world will naturally assume it was simply one of my twisted amusements and won't suspect you.
Surely that's far more believable than you coming back half-dead, isn't it?"
Yoshino Junpei roared with all his strength.
"No! Absolutely not! No, you can't do this to me! You can't do this to me! You can't—!"
He didn't even realize that within those short five minutes, his voice had already changed from a boy to a girl's.
He had already become one.