Ino’s Point of View
I’m rushing downstairs.
Until a few seconds ago, the cursed energy coming from the special-grade cursed object placed it on the first floor, several meters above where it seems to be now.
“Number Two, Reiki.”
My cursed technique, Auspicious Beasts Summon, turns me into a medium capable of invoking the power of four supernatural beasts.
To use it, my face has to remain hidden beneath a piece of cloth or a mask.
In my case, I use a balaclava that I normally wear like a beanie.
Unlike shikigami, the beasts themselves aren’t summoned.
Instead, I manifest their powers by saying their name along with their corresponding number, from one to four.
Reiki, specifically, transforms cursed energy into black water that I can manipulate telepathically and submerge my feet into.
I can slide and glide across it, greatly increasing my speed.
Like I’m doing right now, it lets me race down the stairs, though I can use it across many different kinds of surfaces.
When I entered the building, I sensed two other presences besides the special-grade cursed object.Upstairs, one of them was probably the registered semi-first-grade curse I’d been warned about.
The other one seems human.
I accelerated, propelling myself with Reiki’s flowing currents and gliding down the stairs like they were a ramp without losing my balance.
The moment I reached the ground floor, I spotted a huge pile of rubble in the distance and a section of the ceiling completely torn open, revealing the restrooms above.
Probably the result of a fight between the curse and whoever that person is.
And judging by the state of this place, they probably aren’t having a great time.
Did headquarters screw up and send two sorcerers after the same objective?
Or maybe it’s a curse user looking for the cursed object?
I moved through a few hallways until I finally saw them both.
A tall guy with his face covered by a balaclava pretty similar to mine and a backpack strapped to his back.
Through the eyeholes, I could see his eyes shifting between black and a bright purple, almost like a traffic light stuck on amber.
He was still standing, but his head was lowered and his breathing was fast and uneven, both hands resting on his knees.His pants and sneakers were soaked too.
I don’t remember ever seeing him before.
At first glance, he looked pretty young, he definitely didn’t look like a curse user, more like a rookie sorcerer.
And standing in front of him was the curse, a pretty damn big one, and a dangerous-looking one at that.
It didn’t seem particularly mobile, but it looked tough and possessed a ridiculous amount of raw strength.
It was trapped inside some kind of purple sphere, surrounded by a ring marked with Roman numerals.
It wasn’t moving in the slightest.
A cursed technique?
His?
“Well…” I said, slowing down and coming to a stop near them.
“Looks like you beat me to it, man.”
Nagi’s Point of View
I spun around the moment I sensed another aura behind me.
For a fraction of a second, I thought it was another monster and that I was completely fucked.
I was already using Chronostasis to keep the big guy trapped, and I couldn’t create another sphere while that one was still active.
Fortunately for me, it was another person, a guy dressed almost entirely in black, wearing blue boots and a balaclava over his head.
At first glance, he looked like a burglar.
Although, now that I think about it, I’m dressed pretty much the same way.
Just as covered up…
“Well…” the man said as he stopped a few meters away from me.
“Looks like you beat me to it, man.”
I frowned slightly.
Beat him to what?
The stranger looked at me first, then at the enormous creature trapped inside Chronostasis.Surprisingly, he didn’t seem particularly impressed by the several-meter-long monster right in front of him.
“You look pretty bad, buddy,” he continued casually.
“Need some help?”
“Uh…
Looks like it,” I answered, not even trying to hide how exhausted I was.
“I’d appreciate it.”
Practically my entire body hurt, my legs were shaking, and I barely had any energy left.
Not to mention I’d been drenched in sewage less than a minute ago.Even so, I decided not to remove my balaclava, not even to breathe more easily.
I had no idea who this guy was or what he was doing here at this hour, I’d rather he couldn’t remember my face.
Shinkeigan.
Focusing on him, I could observe his body and movements much more clearly.
He didn’t seem to be preparing to attack me.
His posture was relaxed, and there were no signs of hostility.
The stranger tilted his head slightly.
“Your eyes are glowing purple…
Is that another cursed technique besides that sphere?”
…
A cold drop of sweat ran down my neck.
What?
He noticed my eyes changing?
So I’m not the only one…?
He’d called it a cursed technique.
“Hahaha, relax, man,” he laughed when he noticed me staring at him in confusion.
“I’ll handle this.
Uhh…
one thing.
If I hit it while it’s inside that sphere, will the attack still affect it?”
I glanced at the monster.
Chronostasis was still keeping it completely motionless, but I had no idea how much longer I could hold it.
The sphere was already consuming a good chunk of what little energy I had left.
My strongest punch had barely moved the thing a few centimeters.
What if whatever this guy does isn’t enough to kill it?
I don’t think I have enough energy left to trap it in Chronostasis again.
“Yeah.
Any attack you make will work normally.
The paralysis will just break immediately afterward,” I replied, preparing myself to run.
“You can attack now.”
“Perfect.”
The man spread his arms in front of him.
“Number One, Kaichi.”
The same kind of energy I possessed emerged from the man’s hands.
It gathered in front of him and took shape, forming a greenish-yellow horn covered in spiraling symbols.
It shot forward like a projectile and pierced straight through the sphere.
The instant it made contact with the creature’s body, it began spinning at a brutal speed.
The projectile drilled into it, tearing straight through its flesh as huge amounts of purple liquid splattered across the floor.
I let myself collapse backward onto the ground and stared at the ceiling while trying to catch my breath, completely drained of energy, my eyes returning to normal.
I turned my head slightly toward the stranger.
He could see those things.
He used the same energy I did.
And on top of that, he had powers completely different from mine.
So I’m not the only one, there are more people like me.
“Are you hurt?” he asked as he approached.
He pulled off his balaclava, revealing the face of a young man with somewhat long brown hair that reached roughly down to his neck.
Then he leaned forward slightly and offered me a hand.
“Just exhausted and covered in shit, but I’m fine.”
He looked me up and down for a few seconds before pointing at my balaclava.
“Take that thing off.
I need to check something.
Besides, wearing a mask is my signature thing.
Find your own.”
Before I could react, he grabbed my balaclava and pulled it up, exposing my face.
“You’re just a kid.
Nice to meet you.
I’m Takuma Ino.”
He looked at me for another moment before pointing at my backpack.
“By the way…
give me the cursed object you’ve got in there.
It’s dangerous.
Who assigned you this mission?
It was supposed to be mine, and no offense, but you clearly didn’t come prepared enough for this.”
I took off my backpack, opened it, pulled out the black box, and tossed it to him, Ino caught it in midair.
“Nobody assigned me any mission.
Honestly, I barely understand anything you’re talking about.”
Well…
clearly the plan didn’t exactly go the way I expected.
Now an entire floor of my father’s workplace was half destroyed, I’d found a mummified finger, and some random stranger was talking to me about missions like we were members of the FBI.
“Wait.”
Ino’s relaxed expression slowly disappeared.
“You do know what jujutsu is, right?”
“The what…?”
“Are you serious?”
A drop of sweat ran down his temple.
He looked at the black box in his hands, then slowly looked back at me.
“Wait here.”
He pulled out his phone and walked a few steps away.
I stayed where I was, lightly tapping the tip of my sneaker against the floor while trying to listen in on the conversation.
“Uh…
Principal Gakuganji,” he said into the phone.
“I’ve got a little situation here in Kyoto.
Yes, sir, the mission’s complete.
I’ve recovered the object and the curse has been eliminated, but…
I’ve found a teenager using sorcery who apparently has no idea what jujutsu even is.”
Jujutsu?
“Yes, sir,” Ino continued, glancing over at me.
“He can use cursed energy, and he has an innate technique.
He managed to keep a high-level curse completely immobilized for quite a while with it.”
He went silent, listening to whoever was on the other end.
“No, I don’t think he’s a curse user.”
Another short pause.
Then he hung up, slipped the phone back into his pocket, and walked toward me.
“Well, kid, you’re going to have to come with me to the Kyoto Jujutsu center,” Ino said.
“You’re not allowed to use cursed energy without a sorcerer’s license, so they’ll evaluate your situation, your abilities, and decide what to do with you.”
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