At eleven o'clock at night, the Sawamura residence was quiet.
Eriri's room was still lit. The warm yellow light of the desk lamp enveloped the corner of the desk. The tablet screen had dimmed, and the finished sketch from the afternoon lay quietly in its layer. Instead of staying up late to work on a manuscript as usual, the blonde girl sat cross-legged on the edge of her bed, hugging a fluffy feather pillow. Her brows were slightly furrowed, and her expression showed a rare hesitation.
In the air, two steps away from her, Genji floated cross-legged. His indigo hunting robes glowed softly under the desk lamp, and his deep indigo eyes calmly looked at her. He was holding a light novel from the study—the first volume of Utaha Kasumigaoka's "Love Metronome," the pen name "Utaha Kasumigaoka" on the cover clearly visible in the light.
"So…" Eriri finally spoke, her voice muffled, her face half-buried in the pillow. "What do you think… should I go to that… jujutsu school?"
Genji closed the novel, and with a light tap of his finger on the spine, the book silently returned to its original place on the shelf. He floated closer, still maintaining his hovering posture, his gaze falling on Eriri's face.
"What are you worried about?" He asked, his tone soft.
"I…" Eriri bit her lower lip. "I don't know either. I just think… that place feels completely different from my world. Sorcerers, cursed spirits, barriers, techniques… it sounds like settings from a manga. Will I really be able to adapt?"
"Yes," Genji answered briefly and affirmatively. "You already have the foundation. I've taught you the principles of cursed energy perception, cursed energy condensation, and even acquired techniques. The Technical College's system is nothing more than systematizing and standardizing this knowledge."
He paused and added, "Moreover, as the only formal educational institution in the jujutsu world, the teaching resources, teachers, and auxiliary facilities there should be far richer than me teaching you sporadically on my own. There are complete training grounds, samples of various grades of cursed spirits for practical practice, experimental fields for barrier techniques, and a large amount of research materials and classic texts on cursed energy theory, cursed spirit ecology, and technique development."
Eriri's eyes lit up slightly. As a creator, she had an instinctive thirst for "knowledge" and "information." But she quickly lowered her gaze again, her fingers unconsciously pulling at the fluffy pillow.
"But…" She whispered. "Will I go alone? What about Utaha and Kato?"
The question was a bit abrupt. Genji raised an eyebrow.
"Kasumigaoka and Kato?" He repeated the two names. "Why would they go?"
"Because…" Eriri's face flushed slightly, and she turned her head away. "They also know about the jujutsu world. And Utaha is so interested in this knowledge. Kato… is very special. If I were the only one going to the college, leaving them behind in the ordinary world, it would feel… unfair."
A typical Eriri way of thinking—arrogant in words, but more considerate than anyone else in her heart, unconsciously thinking about the people around her.
Genji was silent. He floated to the window, turned his back to Eriri, and looked out at the deep night. After a few seconds, he spoke slowly:
"You're right. If possible… I hope they can enroll in the Technical College as well."
Eriri looked up in surprise.
"Utaha-senpai?" She asked instinctively. "But… her cursed energy is very weak, isn't it? Does she want to study jujutsu too?"
Genji turned around, his deep indigo eyes flickering with a complex light.
"That Kasumigaoka girl," he said, rare admiration in his voice, "has shown great enthusiasm and talent in this field. Not combat talent, but talent for 'research' and 'understanding.'"
He floated back in front of Eriri, his fingers tracing in the air, indigo cursed energy outlining several basic runes.
"The questions she asks me are never 'how to use this technique' or 'how to kill that cursed spirit,' but 'what is the essence of cursed energy,' 'what is the specific mechanism of emotional transformation into cursed energy,' and 'what axioms form the mathematical foundation of barriers.' Many sorcerers never think about these questions in their entire lives, or even consider them."
Genji paused, his voice lowering slightly:
"And she learns quickly. I gave her those glasses. The principle involved visual simulation of cursed energy, information filtering, and neural signal deception. She understood the basic structure in three days and was able to propose improvements. With that kind of learning ability and thirst for knowledge, a thousand years ago, I would have definitely accepted her as a disciple responsible for organizing and researching theories."
Eriri was stunned. She remembered Utaha's recent frantic typing on her laptop, the special glasses, and the dense notebooks.
She knew Utaha was very smart, but she hadn't expected Genji to think so highly of her.
"But…" She still didn't understand. "Doesn't the Jujutsu Technical College only accept sorcerers? Utaha-senpai's cursed energy is so weak that she can't even learn the most basic techniques, right?"
"That's why I said 'if possible,'" Genji said calmly. "The current admission standards of the Jujutsu School are based on 'cursed energy' and 'innate techniques.' This is a selection logic oriented towards efficiency and combat. It might be reasonable in an era where cursed spirits are rampant, but in the long run… it's shortsighted."
He floated to the desk, casually picked up Eriri's pencil, and drew a simple diagram on a blank sketchbook—on the left, "Sorcerer (Combat-Oriented)," on the right, "Researcher (Theory-Oriented)."
"The study of cursed energy, the development of techniques, the optimization of barriers, and the exploration of the essence of cursed spirits… these tasks require not only combat ability but also wisdom, patience, creativity, and interdisciplinary knowledge."
Genji put down the pencil and looked at Eriri, his eyes growing deeper:
"I have always believed that cursed energy should be treated as a subject for collaborative research by all of humanity, not the private property of a small group of sorcerers. Cursed spirits originate from human emotions and affect the lives of all humanity. Therefore, the solution to the problem of cursed spirits should also gather the wisdom of all humanity."
He paused, a hint of helplessness accumulated over a thousand years in his voice:
"But look at the current jujutsu world. They monopolize knowledge, isolate non-sorcerers, and restrict their research to the tactical level of 'how to exorcise cursed spirits more efficiently.' As for 'what is cursed energy,' 'why do cursed spirits exist,' and 'how to fundamentally reduce the production of cursed spirits'… few people care about these more fundamental questions, and few are capable of studying them."
Genji gently shook his head:
"If the college only recruits sorcerers and only trains combatants, then the topics I left behind a thousand years ago—speculations on the nature of cursed energy, advanced applications of barriers, and the connection between the collective unconscious of humanity and the form of cursed spirits… will these topics ever make significant progress?"
Eriri opened her mouth, but no words came out.
Suddenly, she understood what Genji meant. A thousand years ago, the God of Curses never wanted a "world of only sorcerers," but a world where "everyone can understand, use, and ultimately control cursed energy."
"So…" She said quietly. "You want Utaha-senpai to go to the college because she… has the talent of a researcher?"
"Yes," Genji nodded. "And she represents a possibility—the possibility that non-sorcerers or people with weak cursed energy can also contribute to the field of cursed energy research. If the college can break the stereotype and accept students like her, perhaps… in the future, there will be more like her. Scientists, engineers, philosophers… people from different fields, using their expertise to study the subject of cursed energy from different perspectives."
He looked out the window, his gaze distant:
"A thousand years have passed. This is what I have been waiting for. Not waiting for a Ten Shadows user who can summon me, but waiting for… the research on cursed energy to finally break through the narrow circle of sorcerers and truly open up to all of humanity."
The room was quiet. Only the faint hum of the desk lamp and the distant sound of traffic outside the window.
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