“Your Cursed Technique…
really is powerful.”
Hajime Kashimo nodded as he bit into the meat patty in his hand.
“…But I have a question.”
“If it’s something like, ‘Why didn’t you kill me?’ then spare me.
Everyone I let go asks me that.”
Gen tossed Hajime Kashimo another homemade meat patty, then sat in the room that had been blasted open with a huge hole, looking out at the battlefield in ruins.
“…It was because of Kenjaku, wasn’t it?”
“You could say that.”
Hajime Kashimo took the meat patty and did not bring the subject up again.
He only thought back to the sensation he had experienced inside Chaos, where even time itself had been thrown into disorder.
“What’s the longest that technique can last?”
“A hundred years.”
“How long did I experience it?”
“Three months.”
Hajime Kashimo sighed.
If that was the case, then if he had taken the full effect of Chaos, he would probably have been paralyzed by the aftereffects for a long time afterward.
“What a terrifying move.
I never want to take that a second time in my life.”
Hajime Kashimo tossed the crumpled paper in his hand into the trash can nearby, then gripped his Nyoi Staff and looked at Gen.
“Your Cursed Technique isn’t limited to just those, is it?
If you kept bombarding me with those techniques one after another, I doubt I’d last even a second.”
“Don’t put it like that.”
Gen waved a hand.
“With your amount of Cursed Energy, it should be enough, right?”
“Maybe it wouldn’t be.”
Hajime Kashimo turned away without a word, supported himself against the bed, and lay down.
“Besides, I hadn’t used that move in ages.
What’s wrong with testing it out…”
Hajime Kashimo stayed silent.
After a while, he suddenly turned over, propped up his head, and looked at Gen.
“…I have a question.
It’s different from the one before.”
Gen nodded, signaling for Hajime Kashimo to go on.
“Were you born the strongest, or did you become the strongest later?”
“What kind of question is that?
No matter how strong someone is, if you kill them while they’re still an infant, they’ll die too.”
“…Then, as someone who became the strongest later in life, how do you get along with other people?”
A look of “anticipation” appeared on Hajime Kashimo’s otherwise calm face, and Gen, in turn, gave him everything he had without complaint.
“Normally.”
“…Even with ordinary people who could be crushed into dust with one pinch, or wiped out completely with one breath, you still get along with them normally?”
“You seem to be looking at this the wrong way…
We’re human first, and Jujutsu Sorcerers second.
If you lose the human side of yourself just because you’re too strong, how is that any different from being a curse?”
“…”
Hajime Kashimo fell silent.
“Even if you see the people around you as talking flowers, or as earth that answers when spoken to, you’re still living among people.
Just because you could kill them with a wave of your hand, does that mean you stop seeing yourself as the same kind of being?”
“Maybe…
so.”
Hajime Kashimo turned back around and stopped looking at Gen.
Gen kept talking as he leaned closer.
“You’re lonely, aren’t you?
I can smell it on you.
You reek like some wild man who hasn’t socialized with anyone.
Those questions, and that Cursed Technique, were all originally meant for Sukuna, weren’t they?”
Hajime Kashimo opened his mouth, thought for a moment, then closed it again without saying anything.
“Oh, come on.
Sukuna is someone who lived his life like a curse.
Haven’t you read anything about him?
Do you really think a guy who enjoys eating people would answer questions like that for you?”
“Do the strong not have to be lonely?”
Hajime Kashimo finally asked one last question.
“Why would they have to be lonely?”
…Why?
Hajime Kashimo lowered his head, his thoughts drifting back to that afternoon once more.
If he had lightly knocked on that door back then, could he have shared drinks and laughter with his friend again?
…Maybe.
Hajime Kashimo told himself that, then picked up his staff.
“Leaving already?”
Gen lay on his side on the bed, watching Hajime Kashimo carry his staff toward the hole.
“Little deer, make more friends and kill fewer people.”
“…Yeah.”
Hajime Kashimo still looked weighed down by his thoughts, but that was fine.
Of course, Gen knew perfectly well that he was the king of twisted logic, and he did not really expect Hajime Kashimo to take much of it to heart.
Hajime Kashimo sprang up and left through the hole.
A shadow flew out from Gen’s palm.
Nue flapped its wings and looked at Gen.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Ah…
right now is the time to do nothing at all.”
Gen took a bite of his homemade meat patty.
“And then?”
Nue folded its wings, its eyes beneath the mask watching the lightning flickering in midair.
“Right now…
I guess I should get out of the Culling Game first?”
Seeing Nue shake its head, Gen thought for a moment, then nodded.
“And I need to get the deer back.
Without the deer, my Reverse Cursed Technique’s output isn’t quite enough…”
“You barely used the Divine Dogs during that fight just now.
Those two dogs were barking their heads off in the shadows the whole time.”
“If I’d used them, it would’ve ended instantly…
Controlling my strength is hard.
If I killed him all at once, how was I supposed to test the Hollow Technique?”
Nue beat its wings and kicked Gen hard twice with its bird claws.
“Those two dogs and that tiger were annoying the hell out of this old bird.
And that Hollow Technique or whatever, what are you even researching that thing for?”
“Because it’s fun.”
Gen took a grape from the fruit platter beside him, bit into it, then spat it out with a pfft.
“Damn it, it’s rotten.”
Well, that made sense.
It had already been three days.
Most of the fruit that had not been put in the fridge was probably starting to rot.
Gen looked at the bowl of rotten fruit in disgust, rolled Cursed Energy around in his mouth, then spat forcefully again.
“So you’re not even going to use this old bird’s Cursed Technique?”
“What do you mean?
I’ve been using it the whole time.”
“Only for defense?!
Caw, caw!
You’re embarrassing me!”
Nue thrashed around on Gen like a deranged pheasant, while Gen shifted his hands to block its claw strikes.
“All right, all right.
Next time I won’t hold back, okay?”
Gen stood up and looked out from the hole.
He would leave this Barrier to Hajime Kashimo for now…
It would probably lure in people from Jujutsu High eventually.
Should he go find Hiromi Higuruma?
Was the average strength in Tokyo’s First Barrier a little too low…?
But he would probably be able to run into Megumi Fushiguro there.
Gen rubbed his chin, thinking about what to do next.
He had helped the main cast add a rule allowing movement between Barriers…
and then there was his agreement with Kenjaku.
Sigh.
He still had to keep the Culling Game running, so he could not really cut loose.
What a pain!
With that thought, Gen immediately beat his wings, lifted himself into the air, and shot toward the edge of the Barrier.
Round Deer, Piercing Ox…
then he could just unlock Mahoraga directly, right?
Without Mahoraga, his strength really was not that overwhelming after all…
If he were to face Sukuna right now.
Gen thought it over, combining Sukuna’s strength from his memories of his previous life with his own current condition and the information available here about Sukuna.
…It really was hard to judge.
Just like Satoru Gojo said, he should probably win.