Chapter 74: I Attained Enlightenment and the Regret of Non-Self (Patreon)

Chapter 74: I Am Enlightened, and Regret That Isn't Mine

…

A game of hide-and-seek began in the dark.

The library directors-turned-cursed spirits kept multiplying, but none of them could see Satoru Anjouin, who had loaned out his own presence.

Hidden away, Anjouin struck from ambush every now and then, driving his fist into those terrifying faces every single time.

Maybe it was because the routine had become so smooth.

Satoru Anjouin felt enlightened all over again.

No, it was more accurate to say he'd always known the answer.

The body is the heart's cage. The world is the body's cage.

And "the body" didn't just mean flesh and bone. It meant one's station in life, too.

Society, nation and environment decide what station you're born into and how healthy your body is. Your station decides the education you receive and the influence of your family, and in the end, that decides what kind of heart you have.

That was the world's shackles on the body, and the body's shackles on the heart.

The scene shifted, and he was cast as a new victim once more.

He felt the victim's regret and terror as death closed in, yet he watched it all like a bystander.

Even setting aside the fact that he'd temporarily loaned out his own remorse, the victim's regret still wouldn't let him truly feel it.

Anjouin swung a fist wrapped in cursed energy.

The killer, sent flying for breaking some rule yet again, turned into a cursed spirit and kicked off another round of chase and combat.

It was only thanks to the Bindings Anjouin had set in the past, which had vastly improved his body and given him athletic ability on par with a professional athlete, along with far greater stamina, that he'd lasted this long.

Otherwise, he'd never have survived this nonstop fighting.

"Is it finally the Grade 1 cursed spirit's turn?"

After a dozen-odd turns as the victim, the one who now appeared before him was that decent guy, Officer Takagi.

Looking at the black aura swirling around Officer Takagi, Anjouin felt an overwhelming tangle of emotions.

He'd had a premonition, but seeing a character he'd loved as a kid show up as a cursed spirit still made him a little sad.

…

The curse aura Officer Takagi carried far exceeded Grade 2 standards. It was on par with the idol vengeful spirit he'd fought before.

Azure cursed energy leaping like flames over his entire body, Anjouin turned and ran without a word, pulling a combat potion from his waist pouch, one that boosted his running speed.

He immediately struck a Binding, taking amplified side effects as the price in exchange for a longer duration and stronger effect.

Once the potion went down, his body's sensitivity skyrocketed.

It was a side effect, but heightened sensitivity also meant sharper senses.

Of course, it meant pain got a lot more painful too.

But after fighting nonstop until now, Anjouin had long since loaned out his pain, and he'd used up his healing medicine ages ago.

He was confident that he could now meet the standard of a Grade 2 jujutsu sorcerer.

Which was exactly why he was certain he couldn't beat a Grade 1 cursed spirit alone.

Unless, that is, he fired his subdued Grade 2 and Grade 1 cursed spirits like cannonballs.

The key was the cursed technique.

He had no idea what kind of technique Officer Takagi had.

If it was devious beyond all measure, Anjouin wouldn't even get a chance to resist.

In an instant, he ran the island nation's best 100-meter time.

The cursed spirit wearing Officer Takagi's face froze for a moment, but when it tried to give chase, it found that Anjouin was still accelerating.

One had to admit, he really had put his earlier experience to good use this time.

Arms pumping wide, body low, he kept accelerating, and accelerating again…

Then he stopped dead.

His heightened senses caught the whistle of wind rushing in from the side.

He drew the cursed tool sword from his back and caught the falling katana. A dark-skinned boy in a dogi grinned, drew his blade back, and rested it on his shoulder.

…

"So it's got brains."

"Of course. A cursed spirit with a cursed technique has gained intellect," the dark-skinned boy explained.

Moonlight poured down as the two of them stood facing each other on the rooftop.

"Come on, let's play a while. Kudo's pretty interested in you~ Got me curious too."

A single cherry blossom petal drifted slowly down, right in front of Anjouin's eyes.

The next second, the boy who'd just put distance between them was already in his face.

Most standard-issue cursed tools from Jujutsu High were Grade 4 and Grade 3. Against the boy's treasured blade, the cursed tool sword was instantly covered in scratches.

He had no choice but to remake his Binding on the spot, giving up the sword's sharpness to boost its durability.

Still, even with the sword barely holding its own, the boy's swordsmanship was extraordinary. His attacks came from left and right without pause, forcing Anjouin back and back.

Before long, he was cornered with nowhere left to retreat.

He glanced below the roof. Countless cursed spirits in demon masks, katanas in hand, dressed in dogi, filled the grounds.

After a look at the black miasma rising from below, Anjouin turned back to the boy. He could sense not a trace of curse aura from him.

That was worse, if anything.

"Is your technique one that works just by talking?"

"Ha! I don't have anything that outrageous."

The boy laughed. His Kansai accent was so thick that Anjouin couldn't quite catch everything he said.

Then sword and katana clashed again.

Clang!

Anjouin was forced back another step, and the boy surged a step forward.

Then a screw shot up from the ground and ran him through.

And Anjouin, who'd stepped back, didn't land on empty air. He landed on a long screw.

With solid footing, he seized the moment while the boy was stunned, closed in, and slammed the flat of the blade into him.

Cursed energy burst forth in that instant. The gap between it and his strike was closing fast.

Bam!

As if he'd been smashed by an iron bar, the boy flew a dozen-odd meters and barely managed to steady himself.

"Now that's a surprising turn of events… hm."

The moment the boy found his footing, he saw that Anjouin had already leaped off the roof of his own accord, pinned each cursed spirit down with screws, and bolted out of the temple without looking back.

"Domain Expan… never mind."

And Anjouin, now out of the temple, instantly felt a terrifying pressure that completely overwhelmed any Grade 1 cursed spirit.

Damn.

Special Grade.

Anjouin felt thoroughly numb.

Then the scene switched again. Anjouin skidded to a stop, and this time a silver-haired man in a black trench coat stood before him.

Even without any curse aura, those eyes that held life in contempt told Anjouin he couldn't win this by force.

Another one above Grade 1?

Fight? Flee?

Anjouin made his choice instantly.

But this time, the enemy wasn't the decent, slow-footed type like Officer Takagi. The moment Anjouin turned to run, the man whipped out a rocket launcher right there on the street, and then piloted an armed helicopter.

As for the pedestrians and cursed spirits on the road, he mowed them all down too. Rat-a-tat-tat.

—

"Huff, huff, huff…"

Anjouin leaned against an alley wall to rest. Loaning out his presence could only fool Grade 2 cursed spirits.

Against intelligent cursed spirits of Grade 1 and above, it did almost nothing. Yet the more he struggled and fought, the more active his cursed energy became.

It only proved that fighting was a jujutsu sorcerer's best way to grow.

At the same time, he'd grasped a property that extended from his own cursed technique.

Just as some people had dense cursed energy, some could convert theirs into electricity, and others had theirs come with a delay, Anjouin's cursed energy grew stronger the more Bindings he carried on his body.

The growth Binding he'd forged had become a late-bloomer version. Once it took hold, he'd layer an early-bloomer version on top of it.

It was only after he started forging Bindings this frantically that Anjouin had discovered this trait in his cursed energy.

He figured he'd had rotten luck, getting dragged into a domain beyond Special Grade. But his all-in fighting inside it had earned him far more than tagging along as a trainee with Maki Zenin and the others.

"So, what's next?"

Anjouin rested in the alley only a short while. To avoid getting dragged into yet another murder case, he hurried out.

And there he ran into a high schooler in a blue blazer uniform.

…

Anjouin instantly gave up on running.

The boss had come to hire him directly.

"I surrender."

Anjouin raised both hands.

"I'm curious whether you really have no regrets."

The high school detective said it casually.

"At least right now, I don't," Anjouin said, perfectly at ease.

Looked like he'd have to hand over this continue coin whether he wanted to or not.

"I'm curious about something. If I really died while playing the 'victim,' would that mean I'm trapped here forever?"

"Yes. Die once, and you can never leave."

The high school detective said it with a smile.

"That was my second-layer domain. Victim and killer swap identities, and the moment you feel even a trace of resonance with their regret while playing the part, you're trapped in that domain forever."

…

Anjouin suddenly realized that earlier domain was a little scary.

"Then when I'm playing the killer, if the detective sees through me, I get trapped too?"

"Criminals being judged by justice and thrown into prison is just common sense."

The high school detective's expression stayed mild as he walked Anjouin down the street. At some point, they were back in peaceful Beika Town.

"Yo." The dark-skinned boy from before was at the roadside too, waving at the two of them.

…

Anjouin watched the scene in silence.

The Grade 1 and Special Grade Cursed Spirits that had chased him were nearly all here in this peaceful Beika Town.

The silver-haired man in black, for one, was sitting by the road eating fish bento with his underlings. When he noticed Anjouin's gaze, he even flashed a sinister smirk.

"Let's talk about your earlier answer. I don't believe anyone has no regrets," the high school detective asked, curious.

"It's not that I have no regrets. If you're asking whether I regret anything, of course I do."

"It's just that the regret you made me feel has nothing to do with me. I played those killers, but in the end, that regret was never mine."

"Besides, I don't have time for regret. Rather than stew in it, I'd rather get on with what's in front of me."

While trapped in the domain playing killers, Anjouin had kept struggling and never given up on himself, to say nothing of picking up quite a few skills along the way.

…

The high school detective fell silent.

Because Anjouin really did live that way. He hated rules, yet he'd always lived earnestly by them, and the expectations of those around him were, in essence, shackles on him.

He wasn't lying.

But he was lying all the same.

At the same time, the high school detective felt a little let down.

Anjouin wasn't the person he was looking for. His answer couldn't set the detective free.

The next instant, Anjouin felt his body sinking. He dropped from Beika Town into the realm where countless cases lay, then plunged into a still deeper abyss.