Setting aside Gojo Satoru’s infuriating personality and borderline sadistic teaching methods, Sherlock had to admit one thing.
Gojo was actually a pretty good teacher.
And no, that wasn’t sarcasm.
Jujutsu High’s official textbooks covered little beyond basic information about cursed energy and curses.
Advanced subjects such as Domains were barely mentioned at all.
Gojo was the one who took all that closely guarded knowledge, broke it down into pieces, and patiently taught it to Sherlock one step at a time.
Reverse Cursed Technique.
Cursed Technique Reversal.
Expanding and developing an innate technique.
Domains.
Barrier techniques.
Even advanced applications of cursed energy such as Black Flash and Domain Amplification.
Gojo taught Sherlock all of it.
For things he could personally perform, like Reverse Cursed Technique, Cursed Technique Reversal, and Domain Expansion, he would demonstrate them himself.
For something like Black Flash, which couldn’t simply be produced on command, he would instead explain the underlying principles as thoroughly as possible.
Of course, none of this changed Sherlock’s firm belief that Gojo Satoru was an absolute menace.
Because while Gojo knew how to teach, some of his methods made Sherlock question whether the man understood the concept of mercy.
Since Sherlock had essentially no formal foundation, Gojo designed his training around three priorities.
First, physical conditioning.
Second, hand-to-hand combat.
Third, learning Reverse Cursed Technique.
At the same time, Gojo encouraged Sherlock to experiment with Flying Thunder God and develop new applications for it on his own.
In Gojo’s eyes, Flying Thunder God was an exceptional cursed technique.
In terms of how its ability functioned, it might even have advantages over his own Limitless.
Because of that, Gojo had apparently already decided that Sherlock possessed the potential to eventually stand beside him.
He simply never said it aloud.
Instead, that belief showed through in how seriously he trained him.
There was some good news.
Gojo’s explanation of Reverse Cursed Technique was far easier to understand than Shoko’s.
None of that: “First you go whoosh, then bam, then you kind of make it go fwoom.” Unfortunately, there was also bad news.
Gojo might have explained the theory clearly, but his practical teaching method was still absolute torture.
How exactly did Gojo teach Sherlock Reverse Cursed Technique?
Simple.
He used Shoko.
In the morning, Sherlock ran until he could barely stand.
Then Gojo carried him to Shoko to get patched up.
In the afternoon, they practiced close-quarters combat until Sherlock looked like he’d been thrown down a flight of stairs.
Then Gojo took him back to Shoko.
Gojo’s exact explanation was: “Your body needs to become familiar with the positive energy produced by Reverse Cursed Technique.
Once you understand what it feels like, learning to create it yourself will be easier.” Sherlock had only one response.
Bullshit.
He strongly suspected Gojo simply enjoyed beating him up.
Ironically, though, this was also one of the reasons Sherlock had to admit Gojo was a competent teacher.
Gojo knew exactly how Flying Thunder God worked.
Yet whenever they sparred, he completely disabled his automatic Infinity and fought Sherlock directly.
No protection.
No cheap tricks.
Just hand-to-hand combat.
Sherlock also understood that Gojo was genuinely training him rather than simply bullying him.
After all, Sherlock’s combat skills were terrible.
If Gojo actually wanted to knock him out, the fight would last about one move.
Instead, during every sparring session, Gojo deliberately adjusted himself so that he was only slightly better than Sherlock.
Just enough to pressure him.
Just enough to expose his mistakes.
Just enough to force him to improve.
Sherlock still lost every single time.
But he couldn’t deny the results.
He was improving at a pace he’d never experienced before.
In fact, just a few days of direct training under Gojo had done more for Sherlock than all the years between awakening his cursed technique and enrolling at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
That didn’t mean Sherlock suddenly liked him.
Absolutely not.
There were two major reasons for that.
The first was Gojo’s training schedule.
It was brutal.
Physical conditioning in the morning.
Combat training in the afternoon.
And Gojo wasn’t even kind enough to leave his nights alone.
He had borrowed one of Yaga’s cursed corpses and made Sherlock sleep while holding it, forcing him to maintain a steady cursed energy output throughout the night.
Did Gojo understand what several nights of barely sleeping did to someone who loved sleep as much as Sherlock did?
Sherlock spent those days walking around with enormous dark circles under his eyes.
His temper became so bad that every time he saw Gojo, he felt an overwhelming urge to punch him.
And Sherlock did, in fact, try.
Repeatedly.
Gojo never retaliated against those surprise attacks.
Sometimes he even had the nerve to calmly critique Sherlock’s approach.
“Too obvious.” “Your footwork gave you away.” “You looked at where you were going to strike.” Unfortunately, Sherlock never landed a single hit.
Every attack was stopped by Gojo’s automatic Infinity.
As for combat lessons?
Well…
Infinity was disabled during those.
But Sherlock had learned one very painful lesson.
Do not use Flying Thunder God during hand-to-hand practice unless Gojo gives permission.
The consequences were unpleasant.
Don’t ask.
Sherlock wasn’t discussing it.
The second reason he disliked Gojo was even less forgivable.
That damned white-haired menace had criticized Sherlock’s clothes.
He called his style outdated.
Outdated?!
What was wrong with Sherlock’s clothes?
He was training for a career where people regularly risked their lives.
A comfortable hoodie, athletic pants, and sturdy boots made perfect sense.
They were practical!
Easy to move in!
How did that qualify as bad fashion?
Besides, Sherlock firmly believed Gojo had absolutely no right to criticize anyone.
He had even sneaked into Gojo’s closet to investigate.
His conclusion?
Gojo’s fashion sense wasn’t much better than his own.
The bastard was simply being carried by his face, his height, and those ridiculously long legs!
Gojo strongly disagreed.
In fact, he became so offended that he cleared an entire day from their schedule and dragged both Sherlock and Shoko to a shopping mall for what he called a fashion showdown.
The rules were simple.
Gojo and Sherlock would each choose a complete outfit.
Neither could ask anyone for advice.
Neither could model the clothing themselves, since their appearances might influence the judgment.
Once they finished, Shoko would examine both selections and decide whose fashion sense was superior.
Gojo even paid for everything himself so that neither of them could blame budget limitations if they lost.
A perfectly fair competition.
At least in theory.
And the result?
According to Shoko: “This was a complete waste of my time.” Their fashion sense was practically identical.
Both of them were hopeless.
Neither had the right to criticize the other.
As far as Shoko was concerned, they were standing together at the bottom of the fashion world, arguing over which one was slightly less terrible.
And those casual outfits in Gojo’s closet that actually looked good?
Shoko didn’t say anything.
But Sherlock had a theory.
Suguru Geto had probably picked them out while he was still at school.
Because expecting Gojo Satoru to naturally possess good fashion sense was apparently asking too much.
There was a reason that after Geto left, Gojo seemed to wear almost nothing but uniforms and variations of the same simple outfit.
What was supposed to be a rare shopping trip with Gojo’s first student ultimately produced only one meaningful conclusion.
Teacher and student were equally hopeless when it came to clothes.
Watching the two idiots continue arguing in the middle of the mall, Shoko suddenly realized that her life had acquired another responsibility on top of studying for her medical license.
Apparently, she was now also responsible for preventing Gojo Satoru and Sherlock from dressing themselves.