"So can I have one?"
A voice drifted up from the ruins below. Akira Zenin glanced around, then headed toward the rooftop where the others were gathered.
The school building was even more thoroughly destroyed than he'd expected. At this rate, who knew how many extra days off these students would end up with?
"Hey there~ Okkotsu, Satoru…"
Megumi Fushiguro had just stepped forward to greet him—it had been about half a year since they'd last met—when he realized Akira Zenin hadn't acknowledged him at all.
He froze awkwardly, half-risen, unsure whether to keep standing or sit back down.
Akira Zenin caught sight of his expression and laughed.
"Hmm… let me think. And you are?"
Veins practically popped on Megumi Fushiguro's forehead.
Satoru Gojo strolled over and casually high-fived Akira Zenin.
"Rare sight. You're looking pretty energetic today…Want to spar?"
Akira Zenin immediately shook his head and waved him off like he was shooing away a fly.
"Nope. Go play somewhere else. Find a cool corner and stay there."
"Oh? Scared?"
"Yeah. Terrified."
"…"
...
After a brief silence, Satoru Gojo's smile faded. His expression turned serious as he circled Akira Zenin, studying him carefully.
"Akira, something's off with you. Why is your Cursed Energy constantly leaking out?
Normally, a Jujutsu Sorcerer wouldn't release Cursed Energy this noticeably. I've never seen this before."
Akira Zenin couldn't afford to collapse.
Setting aside the fact that he was Satoru Gojo's friend and one of the rare Special Grade Sorcerers, he was also the bridge between the Zenin Clan and the Gojo Clan.
Right now, the two families were cooperating largely because of the relationship between Satoru Gojo and Akira Zenin. But the alliance was still shallow. There hadn't been enough time for real ideological integration.
If either of them ran into trouble, the two clans could easily return to their former hostility.
That would seriously disrupt the new generation's plan to unite and sweep away the old guard.
"The reason's simple. I just have too much Cursed Energy."
More Cursed Energy wasn't always better. And having more of it didn't mean a technique's power would increase without limit.
If he had to make a comparison, Cursed Energy was closer to a mana bar. It affected endurance, not raw output multipliers.
Of course, in reality, there were many more variables that required layered calculations.
"When did this start?"
"About two years ago. There were signs back then. But I started losing full control of it around last year."
"Wow. And it's still increasing, right? You're only in your twenties. At this rate, when you're old, won't you become a walking Cursed Energy disaster? A natural-born Cursed Object?"
Akira Zenin nodded without arguing.
In truth, given that his Cursed Energy almost doubled every year—and considering how absurdly flexible his technique was—he had his own suspicions.
Within the Jujutsu system, twins were sometimes treated as a single existence.
As someone who had transmigrated, perhaps he was being recognized as "two people."
And since his soul had already experienced death in his previous life, those "two people" existed in a state that straddled the boundary between life and death—impossible to categorize cleanly.
That created a kind of bug.
Every year on his birthday, the system would attempt to "evaluate" him, only to find it couldn't.
It was as if he died once and was born again.
Because he counted as "two people," his technique had effectively become another vessel for his soul.
That might explain why he differed from other Ten Shadows users, why he could develop it with such flexibility. Even his Shikigami—less "chimera" and more "fusion"—might not have originated from the same place as the others.
Akira Zenin lightly patted Satoru Gojo's shoulder, signaling him not to overthink it.
Then he turned to look at Yuta Okkotsu.
"What happened here? It actually left you looking a little roughed up…"
Yuta Okkotsu scratched the back of his head and smiled.
"I realized how important Domains really are. I should find a chance to study them more thoroughly."
Akira Zenin seemed to have already guessed the answer, but he deliberately asked anyway.
"You ran into someone with a Domain?"
Yuta Okkotsu nodded.
"Yeah. Most Jujutsu Sorcerers probably wouldn't stand a chance against it."
He paused, then added,
"And it could talk. Its intelligence was on par with a human's. The usual tactics you'd use against something beast-like didn't work at all."
Akira Zenin nodded again and continued his act of "asking what he already knew."
"What was its technique?"
"Hmm… It could manipulate blades. It also seemed able to control steel sand. Inside its Domain, it used corpses to fight. Oh, and once you enter its Domain, don't breathe. The air is filled with extremely fine steel particles…"
"Huh?"
Akira Zenin frowned slightly. That didn't quite match what he had expected.
But when he noticed the questioning look on Yuta Okkotsu's face, he quickly smoothed his expression.
"Ahem. I mean, it's fine.
A cunning Cursed Spirits that knows how to run? Let's leave that to our most mobile Gojo-sensei."
"Oh, please~~~"
Seeing Akira Zenin's reaction, Satoru Gojo stopped pressing him about his condition.
"If I run into it again, of course I'll exorcise it. But I'm not making a special trip just for that. I've still got a mountain of missions to deal with…"
Akira Zenin nodded. He had only been joking.
Jujutsu Sorcerers couldn't save everyone. Satoru Gojo was already exhausted as it was—he slept, at most, three hours a day.
Ever since he'd been stabbed in the head and learned to use the Reverse Cursed Technique to repair his brain, his physical structure and mental state had constantly hovered somewhere between perfectly fine and slightly unhinged.
Yuta Okkotsu, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke up. He looked at both of his teachers with steady determination.
"Since it was my mistake, I should be the one to handle it."
Akira Zenin couldn't help but sigh inwardly at that expression.
When did this kid start taking things so seriously?
Satoru Gojo waved a hand dismissively.
"Alright, alright. Young people should be out praising their youth, not wasting their best years.
Leave the rest to us old men~~"
As he said that, he bent forward dramatically, thumping his chest and coughing a few times like a frail grandfather putting on a show.