Chapter 36: Construction, Manipulation, and Theft (Patreon)

Chapter 36: Construction, Manipulation, and Theft

…

[Intel One: In a luxury apartment in Tokyo, the lingering spirit of an idol murdered by an obsessive fan has, under the pollution of a curse, been gradually turning into a cursed spirit. Its technique, 'Lies,' meshes remarkably well with the 'Restriction and Vow' technique.]

[Intel Two: From what Satoru Anjouin let slip, Satoru Gojo has faintly sensed that his closest friend has met with misfortune.]

[Intel Three: Kenjaku, wearing Kaori Itadori's body, has taken Yuji Itadori to the 'White Room,' where he'll undergo a year of combat training before enrolling at Advanced Nurturing High School next year.]

Anjouin's eyes narrowed as he studied the fresh intelligence.

There was a lot to take in, honestly.

His gaze drifted to the nightstand.

The wooden box holding Sukuna's Finger now sat inside a small safe he'd bought from a convenience store, and that safe was tucked away inside the nightstand.

He suspected that, given Ai Morishita's knack for sniffing out treasure, she'd track the safe down before long — but if he explained things properly, she'd have the sense not to go poking at something so dangerous.

Given what the intel revealed, he really did need to prepare more.

—

The next few days went smoothly enough.

The cooperation between Class A and Class B was moving forward without a hitch. With the Student Council's approval secured, both the investigation into misbehaving faculty and the task of rooting out problem staff members were proceeding steadily.

And of course, the volunteer work Anjouin most wanted to push through had also cleared the application process without any trouble.

"Whoa, it's flopping around — so thick, so lively!" Ryoko Nishikawa called out in her bright, clear voice.

Whether she meant to or not, the way she said it left a little too much room for imagination.

A few Class A boys flushed red, and in the next instant the fish pinned under her hand lost its head to one clean chop.

"Beautiful," Asuka Shiraishi murmured, unable to hold back her admiration for the crisp motion.

"Fish are no problem for me," Ryoko Nishikawa said with a smile — she had some experience gutting live fish, and it wasn't long before she'd finished deboning it.

The boys, by contrast, were a complete wash. Some couldn't even pin the fish down, some didn't dare bring the knife down, and some went pale the moment they gripped the handle.

Smack— A loud slap rang out, drawing the attention of everyone in today's volunteer group.

Ryoko Nishikawa and Asuka Shiraishi turned to find Yahiko Totsuka, Katsuragi's hanger-on, down on his knees and hunched forward in utter dejection, a red welt from a fish tail still fresh on his cheek.

The very fish that had just left the mark — and the smell of raw fish — on his face had already flopped back into the tank, swimming about contentedly.

"Totsuka, you okay?" "You alright?" The other underperforming boys tried to huddle together for comfort.

Asuka Shiraishi paid no mind to the little farce nearby. She kept up her delicate act, looking every bit like someone who couldn't pin down a live fish either.

Across from her, Anjouin glanced at the fish on her cutting board — it looked like it had lost all will to live — and felt an odd stirring of sympathy for it.

Maybe you should just let the cursed energy go?

It looked like the fish's bones were about to be crushed to powder by this 'delicate' girl.

Slaughtering chickens, ducks, and fish to build up nerve by seeing blood only worked so well as training, and the boys' performance had left something to be desired.

Anjouin was glad he'd chosen the gradual approach.

Still, a certain impatience was creeping in.

The 'Gate of Trials' that Satoru Gojo had mentioned weighed on his mind. Given the entry requirements for the 'Secret Archive,' the Gate of Trials probably had similar conditions attached.

If there was also a cap on how many points one could carry in, would it be five million? Or ten million?

Either way, it wasn't a sum a first-year could scrape together right now.

"Class B agreed," Katsuragi said, coming closer. He pinned a fish down with one hand, showing off some decent knife work of his own.

Having lost both parents and grown up relying only on his twin sister, Katsuragi had matured faster than his peers, and it showed in his steadiness.

"Then let's max out the schedule — ten sessions a week," Anjouin said, focused on the fish in front of him.

"There's no classroom big enough to fit all of Class B."

"Just rent a bigger one — something that can hold eighty people. Once today's done, anyone who hasn't awakened a technique will have to wait until next year anyway."

Steady cursed energy gathered in his hand, pinning the fish on the board so it couldn't move at all.

Then he raised the knife and, in one quick motion, took off its head.

"Should we have the students share what techniques they've awakened?" Katsuragi asked, a little guiltily.

After all, his own Hair Manipulation technique couldn't control anyone else's hair — only his own — and he happened to suffer from alopecia, meaning he genuinely had no hair anywhere on his body.

He'd quietly asked around within the Katsuragi faction about what techniques people had awakened.

Because of that, his little class group chat was now down to just five members.

"A technique is personal. All you need to know is how many people have awakened one."

Anjouin, of course, already knew about Katsuragi's blunder.

He'd heard Sakayanagi's own class group chat was up to fifteen members now.

"...Hm." Katsuragi had nothing to say to that.

Anjouin understood exactly what Katsuragi was after — he wanted to justify his earlier mistake. If Anjouin, an insider, spoke up in support, and Arisu Sakayanagi backed it too, then his earlier approach would retroactively look right.

"Look at the state of you!"

"What's with those eyes, those tears?!"

"You think you can be a good jujutsu sorcerer crying like that?!"

Hands on her hips, Ai Morishita stood on a chair, scolding the boys of the volunteer group from above.

...Yes, she was wearing safety shorts under her skirt, along with tights.

Anjouin decided he couldn't let Ai Morishita get too full of herself.

So he pulled her down off the chair and pinched her cheek, soft as tofu.

"Gah." Caught in his grip, Ai Morishita blinked.

"Don't take it to heart. Just focus on improving yourselves," Anjouin said, offering the scolded boys some comfort.

Ever since he'd realized Satoru Gojo couldn't be relied on, he'd decided to build his own base of support. The Anjouin faction, which he'd hardly bothered with before, now needed proper cultivation.

"Don't push them too hard — a few of them are Anjouin faction members, after all."

"Isn't it the Morishita faction?" Ai Morishita gave him a look like he'd said something absurd.

Anjouin's fingers tightened slightly on her cheek, and Ai Morishita instantly put on a pitiful expression.

"F-fine, let's split the difference — the AnAi Faction, then."

"...?"

Was she expecting him to single-handedly carry Advanced Nurturing High School on his back, only to scream "Morishita, save me!" the moment things went sideways?

"Speaking of which, do you have time to be scolding people? How's your cursed energy condensation coming along? Stable yet? Can you guide the energy 'flow' smoothly now? How well do you know your technique?"

"Gah." Ai Morishita's face went several shades paler.

She looked exactly like a kid being forced by their parents to study, her small frame trembling slightly.

Beneath her skirt hem, her legs — made to look long and straight by the black tights — suddenly took a big step, and she darted behind Asuka Shiraishi.

Anjouin said nothing.

Was she planning to use Asuka Shiraishi as a shield against him?

Incidentally, the technique Ai Morishita had awakened was 'Construction.'

It was a technique that got considerable ink in the original story.

Using one's own cursed energy as the base, it built matter from nothing.

Whatever it produced wouldn't vanish once the technique ended, which meant it burned through cursed energy at a brutal rate and placed a heavy strain on the body.

In the original story, the sorcerer who used it — Mai Zenin — spent her own lifespan to construct a replica of the Special Grade cursed tool 'Split Soul Katana,' which could cut straight through the soul while ignoring physical defense, and gave it to her older sister, Maki Zenin.

There was also the ancient sorcerer Yorozu, who spent her life constructing a replica of the Special Grade cursed tool 'Kamutoke,' which could call down lightning, for Ryomen Sukuna.

Put simply, it let the user manufacture cursed tools.

Cursed tools didn't have much presence in the original story, but ordinary jujutsu sorcerers commonly used them to exorcise curses.

To Anjouin's eyes, Ai Morishita's technique had real potential.

Still, the most promising jujutsu sorcerer in Class A was probably Arisu Sakayanagi, who had awakened 'Human Manipulation' — a technique for controlling people.

On top of that, she had Heavenly Restriction, whose effect boosted the technique's range of influence.

She could also attach her own consciousness to whoever she was controlling.

Naturally, she was quite pleased with the technique.

Watching Masumi Kamuro — currently possessed by her and wandering the kitchen — Anjouin felt a headache coming on.

"Sakayanagi, stop puppeting Kamuro's body."

"Oh my, sorry about that~" A mischievous little grin spread across Masumi Kamuro's face.

It struck a lot of people as off. Masumi Kamuro was usually forceful and aloof, but classmates who actually knew her also knew she was warm underneath the cold exterior.

Going along with Arisu Sakayanagi came partly from a genuine wish to look after her.

Seeing a smile like that on Masumi Kamuro's usual face genuinely unsettled a lot of people.

"Sakayanagi, don't pick on Masumi too much," Asuka Shiraishi said gently, playing up her delicate manner.

"Don't worry, I won't make Masumi do anything weird."

"Weird things?" Anjouin blinked.

"Like, say, lifting her skirt with a look of disgust on her face?"

"..." Anjouin fell silent despite himself.

Honestly, he wouldn't have minded seeing that.

"Heh heh." The puppeted Masumi Kamuro suddenly let out a cold laugh.

Arisu Sakayanagi had clearly let go of her control, but while being controlled, Kamuro could still sense what was happening around her.

She'd even caught a faint glimpse of Anjouin's sudden hesitation.

"So even Anjouin is a guy after all."

None of the boys present could really argue the point — they'd have liked to see it too, if they were honest.

After all, the technique Arisu Sakayanagi had awakened was the kind that naturally led the mind astray — a technique that let her control someone else's body.

Even Anjouin had entertained the thought of thoroughly puppeting a cute girl's body.

"Of course I'm a guy," Anjouin said, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I'll head back now."

"Sure, but tell her to hold back — don't use the technique carelessly. It puts real strain on her heart," Anjouin said, seeing that Masumi Kamuro was about to return to Arisu Sakayanagi's side.

Arisu Sakayanagi's progress was fast — she could already condense cursed energy well — but what she condensed still wasn't stable enough.

And Human Manipulation was a technique that demanded precise control; one careless slip could easily hurt whoever she was controlling.

Incidentally, Masumi Kamuro claimed she hadn't awakened a technique.

But given the intelligence the Intel System had turned up earlier, she'd probably awakened some kind of theft-type technique — one that, once her understanding of it deepened enough, might let her steal her target's own technique.

"Got it," Masumi Kamuro replied, sounding a little annoyed.

Then she stormed out of the kitchen, heading for a private room on the third floor of the cafeteria to give Arisu Sakayanagi a piece of her mind.

"Damn Sakayanagi, dragging me all over the kitchen — now I reek of fish!"

She was so annoyed she wanted to grab Arisu Sakayanagi in a hug just to pass the smell onto her.

After Masumi Kamuro left, the volunteer group helping out in the kitchen also finished up their work for the day.

Since today was the last day, Anjouin found himself spending extra time in the class group chat comforting the classmates who hadn't yet awakened a technique.

He also told them to stay alert — if anything went wrong while awakening their techniques, they should come to him right away, and he'd do everything he could to help.