Chapter 42: New Intelligence × Marriage Bond × Surrendering Everything (Patreon)

Chapter 42: New Intel × Marriage Binding × Surrendering Everything

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[Intel One: Satoru Anjouin's 'Restriction and Vow' technique can be applied to a target's body, technique, and even soul—provided the target is willing to surrender everything.]

This intel was the source of Satoru Anjouin's confidence that he could fix Ryoko Nishikawa's problem.

That's just how an information hack works, plain and simple.

Now or in the past, information gained one step ahead of everyone else has always been the most powerful weapon.

Honestly, Anjouin half-suspected Ai Morishita had guessed something—maybe sensed that something was off with Nishikawa's awakened technique yesterday, noticed he himself wasn't fully confident about handling it, and that was why she'd told him to hold off action for a day.

Of course, if she really saw through it that clearly, then her perceptiveness was downright frightening.

Though it was more likely just coincidence, the fact that Ai Morishita was willing to reveal her strength meant he didn't have to work so hard managing the Anjouin faction for now.

Anjouin figured she was trustworthy, too.

Still, what Intel One revealed made Anjouin realize he'd underestimated his own Binding technique.

Even accounting for the fact that some techniques could naturally apply to unusual targets.

Take the Limitless, for instance—it already operated on space and distance.

He himself had no innate grasp of techniques or souls, and yet, as long as the target was willing to surrender everything, he could extend his own technique into the realm of techniques—even souls.

Next was the second point.

[Intel Two: The 'Marriage Binding' that Satoru Anjouin creates in the future allows him to share techniques with whoever he binds.]

This piece of intel carried even more weight.

An earlier piece of intel had shown that his Binding could be added to the package used to torment Haruki Yamauchi—meaning that at some point in the future, he'd master a Binding that could steal others' techniques.

And now, here was another one: a Binding that let him share techniques with someone else.

The other party could use his Binding technique, while he could use whatever technique the person bound to him possessed.

It really did sound a bit like marital community property.

When he'd first received this intel last night, the first thing on Anjouin's mind was how exactly this Marriage Binding would come into being—and when "the future" actually meant. Tomorrow? A month from now? A year from now?

And how many people this Marriage Binding could actually be tied to.

Did it really follow marriage law? If so, could amending the civil code to abolish monogamy remove the Binding's limits?

Or was it not bound by real-world marriage law at all, but subject to some kind of gender restriction instead?

His head was full of nothing but using the Marriage Binding to share other people's techniques.

Sure, the thought was more than a little mercenary, but the effect of this Marriage Binding was simply too tempting to pass up.

As for the third piece of intel, it wasn't especially important, so Anjouin didn't bother reviewing it again.

He didn't wander around the dorm room; he just lay there quietly, staring at the ceiling.

After a while, Asuka Shiraishi finally led Ryoko Nishikawa—her color somewhat better now—out of the bathroom.

Her hair had apparently been tended to as well, restored to its former smoothness. Since it wasn't braided today, it gave her a bit of a long-haired, literary-girl look.

The beauty mark at the corner of her mouth added a touch more charm.

But the curse marks near her lips made her look a little frightening.

Nishikawa opened her mouth on reflex, but something occurred to her—her face went pale in an instant, and she snapped it shut again.

"No rush, Nishikawa. From here on, just nod or shake your head."

Anjouin knew the blow she'd suffered ran deeper now, and that she couldn't communicate normally anymore—every word she spoke would trigger her technique and set off a curse phenomenon.

So he spoke to her in as gentle a tone as he could manage.

Nishikawa nodded softly.

Then, supported by Shiraishi, she sat down beside the low table in the room.

A few of the table's legs had been snapped off by some force, so several books had been wedged underneath just to keep it balanced.

"Nishikawa, you've awakened Cursed Speech, haven't you?"

At Anjouin's question, Nishikawa, leaning against Shiraishi, nodded gently.

There had already been plenty of evidence, but now he had confirmation straight from her.

Remembering the hint from Intel One—that as long as the target was willing to surrender everything, he could extend his technique's effect onto their technique, even their soul—he had to choose his words carefully.

Solving Nishikawa's problem clearly required her to be willing to surrender everything.

"Do you hate Cursed Speech, Nishikawa? Would you be fine even if you lost the technique entirely?"

The answer was yes.

Unable to answer, Nishikawa nodded hard.

The moment she opened her mouth, her Cursed Speech would activate—her words turning into curses that warped the air and became invisible shockwaves, wrecking the room.

Her once-clear voice, now serving as a vessel for curses, had turned hoarse, low, and terrifying.

That fact had left her crying all day—crying until her eyes were red and swollen, crying until she was utterly drained, crying until she no longer wanted to talk to anyone.

Crying until the thought of dropping out crossed her mind.

After all, dropping out would strip her of the technique entirely.

"Will you trust me?"

Anjouin asked again.

The answer, once more, was a nod.

"In that case, I'll help you take your 'voice' back."

"My technique is 'Restriction and Vow.' By setting up a Binding similar to a contract, I can trade some kind of disadvantageous condition for a desired result."

This was a public disclosure of his technique.

Binding-type techniques, in fact, feared information leaks the least—compared with the value of the technique itself, the countermeasure intel that could be extrapolated from it made revealing the technique an acceptable price to pay.

Shiraishi had already seen Anjouin set a trap for the former Student Council vice president back in the council office; she'd known then that his technique was something extraordinary.

"As long as you're willing to cooperate with me, I can use my technique to alter yours, take your voice back, and even try moving the curse marks somewhere else."

Sensing Nishikawa's first nod—her level of cooperation somewhere between Nagumo Miyabi's and Satoru Gojo's—Anjouin kept his tone gentle as he continued.

Hearing him say that, Nishikawa felt a faint sense of relief.

"Don't worry. Trust me—I won't fail."

"Besides, I know a Grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer, Kento Nanami. He's currently teaching Class 3-A, and he's acquainted with the strongest sorcerer in the jujutsu world."

"That Gojo?"

Being from a special agency, after all, Shiraishi had far more worldly knowledge than an ordinary person.

Nishikawa's expression flickered with curiosity, and seeing how confident and assured Anjouin seemed, some of her unease eased further.

At that, Anjouin quietly breathed a sigh of relief himself.

Nishikawa nodded again, and this time her cooperation level surpassed even Gojo's.

Through his sense of it, Anjouin found his consciousness could extend into Nishikawa's mind—just barely short of touching her technique.

At the same time, his own understanding was shifting, edging toward grasping the very concept of technique.

"Nishikawa, for my technique to succeed, I need you to trust me—to cooperate with my technique with the kind of trust that means surrendering everything."

"..."

Faced with the low weight of Anjouin's voice, Nishikawa flinched back a step on instinct.

Her cooperation level, which had just surpassed Gojo's, instantly dropped back down to roughly where his had been before.

Still, he could understand—not everyone had the courage to surrender everything.

Even Shiraishi looked rather startled at this, clearly not having expected his technique could go this far.

Nishikawa parted her lips, but before the words could leave her mouth, she remembered again that speaking now would only let curse-like words spill out.

A pang of bitterness struck her, and the unfairness of it all welled up even stronger.

Her school life had only just begun—she wouldn't have minded even if the place had turned into some kind of Jujutsu High.

So why did it have to take her voice away…

"Nishikawa, I promise—your 'voice' will come back."

Anjouin said it again to her, his voice serious.

His attitude never wavered, and he seemed utterly confident in his own choice.

Though Anjouin knew perfectly well that he wasn't actually confident at all—he was simply playing the part of someone who was.

Only that way would anyone believe what he said.

Only that way could a lie have any chance of becoming truth.

When you're lying, if even you don't believe it, who else would?

Even if Gojo had pointed out that no Anjouin clan appeared anywhere in the family's recorded lineage, Anjouin still carried himself with an attitude of "I'm from the Anjouin clan, a member of the jujutsu world—now pay up."

Believe it or don't, that was their call—either way, he'd already convinced himself.

Meeting Anjouin's gaze head-on, Nishikawa seemed to give up resisting and nodded gently.

In that instant, she chose to surrender everything of herself.

Anjouin felt his understanding of cursed energy climb a full level.

A Binding technique that shouldn't have been strong enough to touch another person's technique was now, in this moment, touching Nishikawa's Cursed Speech.

He recalled his earlier Binding templates—among them was one for altering a technique's underlying mechanism.

Right now, Nishikawa had opened up almost everything to him.

Anjouin could have issued nearly any Binding he wanted, turning her into a puppet obedient to his every command—at this moment, his technique could touch not just her technique, but her soul as well.

In this state, Anjouin's understanding of cursed energy, of his own technique, and of Cursed Speech kept climbing.

Cursed Speech in particular, being a Word Spirit-type technique, inherently carried a compelling force of its own.

It overlapped with Binding itself in more than a few ways.

Or rather, an agreement sealed through words was, in itself, a kind of Binding.

And Cursed Speech simply converted spoken words into a compelling force capable of interfering with reality, people, and things.

Anjouin felt his grasp of Binding techniques climb another level, and he could almost feel the concept behind the Marriage Binding taking shape in his mind.

It seemed the Marriage Binding wasn't necessarily something he'd have to wait until after his school years to complete.

Anjouin found himself looking forward more and more to the day that Binding would be finished.

After that, he began reworking Nishikawa's Cursed Speech, thoroughly changing the mechanism of the technique.

"There we go. Now it's just a matter of deciding how to reshape it."

"As techniques go, Cursed Speech isn't weak at all—erasing it outright would be a waste. If I just limit how long you can use it each day, I might even be able to boost its effects."

"Nishikawa, write down what you'd like your Cursed Speech to become, and I'll see if I can make it happen."

Lunch break still had plenty of time left, so Anjouin wasn't worried about missing afternoon classes.

If anything, his relaxed manner only made Nishikawa trust him more.

"So Binding techniques are actually this powerful." Shiraishi realized she'd still underestimated the technique's potential.

Shiraishi felt a stirring of ambition.

Anjouin, for his part, chose to ignore those eyes that looked like they were about to speak.

He had no interest in getting tangled up with whatever forces stood behind Shiraishi.

Sure, Gojo was unreliable, but life under his banner would clearly be better.

Of course, that was only true before Gojo got sealed away—and before everything fell apart.