Chapter 15
After Josefu recovered from his escapade, he resumed his training, though Maki was harder on him as punishment for his perceived arrogance. The training would go on until September 8th, when everyone decided to rest and stretch in preparation for the Goodwill Event tomorrow. Josefu steeled his nerves, knowing he'd have to hold back a lot of strategy and ability to convincingly blend in with the other students. After all, he didn't want to be considered a special grade due to the constraints people with those powers possess. Furthermore, Josefu gained alternate perspectives relating to the special grade curses who were plotting their next move. Thanks to those perspectives, Josefu had a total of 17 weakened curse attacks that he could use to minimize damage and prioritize attacking as many curses as he could in the upcoming event.
The next day, the mood was tense, albeit momentarily comical, when Nobara came out with her luggage only to be told that the event would happen in Tokyo. Josefu looked up to the sky, sensing something in the air. Looking forward, he noticed the entirety of the Kyoto class approaching with Todo's eye on him, holding the same sensation he caught in the air. After some back and forth between the two groups, Utahime and Gakuganji emerged as Utahime questioned Gojo's whereabouts. As if on cue after Panda and Maki remarked on his lateness, Gojo ran in with Yuji in a trolly and some protective charms for the Kyoto students. Gojo didn't say anything about this to Josefu, which made sense to Josefu as he thought Gojo wanted to obscure Josefu's involvement in Yuji's revival.
After giving the Kyoto students their protective charms, Gojo unveiled Yuji, much to the delight of no one - Josefu feigned surprise to play along with the event. Yet, when Josefu noticed Gakuganji understood Yuji was still alive, he had to cover his mouth to hide the broad smile on his face when he saw Gojo interact with him as he held back his laughter at the situation. Josefu wiped the smile off his face as the teams converged to learn what the first event would be. After learning this, the teams got together to strategize.
Considering the threat Todo was, Maki concluded that Itadori would be a distraction, just like in the manga. The only difference is that Josefu would be with Megumi and Maki when the group splits. The event started, and both groups were off. As the Tokyo group ran in, Todo appeared and challenged everyone immediately, immediately forcing the plan into action. Josefu ran off with Maki and Megumi as planned, and the trio began hunting curses. Before they got far, Megumi noticed the odd behavior from the Kyoko group, leading Megumi to knock Momo out of the sky and a fight to break out. Josefu, knowing she would be a third wheel, offered to look for curses in the meantime, which Maki and Megumi agreed to so that Tokyo could win.
It was a long while before much else happened. Josefu knew that as the one-on-one battles between the two groups raged on, he had to avoid them to keep the narrative going. To keep things moving, Josefu scanned the battlegrounds, marking down locations of curses and general landmarks to develop possible strategies for any issue the forces could throw at him, trying to gleam every advantage. Better hurry~ The forces chortled. The main event is close at hand.
During the planning phase, Josefu happened across Mai as she sulked over her fight with Maki, stewing in hatred for her. Before Josefu could sneak away, Mai stared daggers at him. "What do you want, huh?" Mai questioned. "I'm just looking for curses," Josefu answered, though it wasn't enough to get Mai to give up. Mai's bad mood choked the air around her. Josefu found it difficult to leave due to the hostility he could sense from her. If Josefu made one wrong move, no matter how badly Mai was hurt, she would fight him out of spite, so he decided to stay put and keep an eye out for any curses that could approach.
NO!
Josefu's muscles tensed as he heard the cry of the forces, musing, 'Huh?' You always have an advantage or an even playing field! Not this time. We will have fun. 'How? You don't even have control over the basic concepts of this world/' Josefu thought. Oh? Did you forget about our techniques on those wandering ghouls? Josefu grimaced, which caused Mai to stand and get up in Josefu's face. "What's that look for?" Mai sneered, "You got a problem?" "Er, no. I just sensed some dangerous amounts of curse-" Josefu looked up, and his eyes went wide, prompting Mai to look in the same direction, only for her face to grow pale.
Before them were six curses the size of five-story apartments, all pulsing with purple veins. They looked down at Josefu and smirked, making Mai tremble, unable to stop shaking from the inexperience of never seeing curses behave like this. Still, Josefu, believing he knew the forces' intentions, glared at the curses. His heart remained steady as he stepped forward, ready to fight. "What! Are you insane?!" Mai shouted, "These curses are likely special grade! We have no chance against them!"
Then the curtain came down, and the curses turned their backs on Josefu, which gave him pause. 'Hang on. Why are they leaving? Then Josefu saw the buildings ahead as a twisted mass of plant life headed its way. 'The forces. They aren't setting obstacles. They want to disrupt the narrative!' The forces chortled and laughed with glee. And this time, we are mostly certain you can't stop them! The laughter continued, echoing through Josefu's mind as he considered his options. The curses were moving at a brisk speed yet were dodging every tree and object that they came across. The reason why? Thinking back to Panda's abilities and general body as a curse corpse, Josefu rationalized that just as the 13 combatants he faced previously acted, the rapid mutations imposed on the curse made their cores unstable, meaning they were all glass cannons that happened to have incredible speed in addition to their power. Josefu knew Fire or Ice Tyrant would allow him to destroy all six immediately. However, random explosions from Fire Tyrant or the forest getting coated with ice from Ice Tyrant would attract attention to Josefu and the inflated curses, which would, at best, put Joesfu into a 'special grade' position, which would limit his ability to collect what he needs to escape or at worst give the forces what they want by altering the narrative to the point of no return. Then Josefu considered Bio Bolt (because the scent of death was potent at the time) to rush down the curses until he realized any large-scale attack would bring attention to himself. If he rushed the forces individually, it could alert the others. According to the calculations of the speed and reflexes of the spirits, Josefu discovered that with Bio Bolt, he could only destroy two before the other four would reach the narrative fight and distort it. Josefu slumped, trying to consider the best option until it hit him: Josefu hadn't tried using the reverse curse technique of Bio Bolt yet. So, Josefu leaned into death, running at the forces until Bio Bolt activated and ran reverse curse energy through it until he achieved the reverse curse technique.
In that instant, everything around Josefu darkened. The world seemed to buzz around him, and nothing moved like time had stopped. Josefu began to veil over the world and suddenly fell away from his surroundings. In a forty-meter radius, Josefu saw the flow of stray curse energy through the atmosphere, and the curse techniques of every person and entity who could use curse energy revealed themselves to him. It dawned on Josefu what the true nature of Bio Bolt was. Bio Bolt is a curse technique that taps into electromagnetic force, one of the fundamental forces of the world, and transforms Josefu's body into an avatar of that force under his will. However, Josefu always had more experience with basic electricity, not electromagnetism. Therefore, Josefu never understood the full potential of Bio Bolt until that moment.
In other words, Bio Bolt taps into a universal force all things share and gives Josefu control over its aspects. And now, what Josefu saw behind the veil was the internal worlds of the people around him. Therefore, this reverse curse technique is a technique that allows Josefu access to internal powers that are highly specific to the individuals who wield them. All of which became clear as Josefu saw his curse energy. Josefu's curse energy, unlike the stray curse energy, became a formless, malleable substance that could bend into any form it would enter.
Josefu then remembered Mai's construction technique and fighting style as a ranged one. Seeing Mai depleted, Josefu understood there were no other options and dumped the formless curse energy into Mai, depleting half of his curse energy. Meanwhile, Mai began to feel supercharged and energetic. "Woah! My curse energy's back…" "Hey," Josefu groaned, "Do you mind firing at those curses?" Mai looked at Josefu like he was crazy. "My technique won't do anything!" "Their cores are unstable. One good shot to each of them will end this, I know it." "Why should I trust you?" Mai questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you want those curses to cause havoc? Because once they finish with the ones over there, they'll return to complete what they started." Mai tensed up before aiming her gun and using construction. Josefu felt his curse energy transfigure into Mai's curse energy as it poured into her technique, giving her a full revolver of curse bullets. 'Wow… Where did this boost come from?' Mai pondered as she fired the first bullet. Once the gun fired, Josefu felt some control over the bullet, like it was his curse technique. Just as the bullet headed for a tree, Josefu tried to control the bullet. To his surprise, he altered the bullet's trajectory, making it dodge every obstacle until it hit the core of the first mutated curse, killing it instantly. At that point, Josefu decided to name this reverse curse technique Hijack.
Mai shot again and again, feeling a newfound confidence in herself. Thanks to Josefu and Mai's combined efforts, the second curse perished. The third, fourth, and fifth curses expired soon after. Once Mai shot the last bullet, the sixth and final mutant curse diminished, causing Mai to become exhausted once again. Josefu fell to the ground, unmoving. Mai rushed over to him. "Hey! What are you doing, huh? You want me to beat you!?" Mai remained silent for a moment. "Hello?" Then Mai saw Josefu's eyes were cloudy and open. Mai felt Josefu's muscles and realized that every part of Josefu, minus his internal organs, had been paralyzed and was currently blind. Mai tried to see if there would be a reaction through touch or sound, but there was nothing, almost like Josefu lost the ability to feel or hear anything. What Mai didn't know was that Josefu had entered complete sensory deprivation, lost his ability to move his body, and had his connection to curse energy severed. In Josefu's mind, he had already had all of this figured out, though for how long, he had no clue.
Momo, who was carrying Toge, and Panda, carrying Megumi and Maki, passed by until they saw Mai and Josefu. "Mai! Come on, we need to go!" Panda stopped and looked over Josefu. "What happened to him?" "I don't know… He suddenly became paralyzed, blind, and deaf after we exorcized a few curses," Mai murmured. "A binding vow?" Momo inquired. I don't know. But he did something with my curse technique. My curse bullets moved strangely, and I could make more than before. At least, I'll know for sure when I get some answers out of his stupid mouth." "Well, is there any way to pick him up? We need to get out of here. Now!" Mai grunted and picked up Josefu, buckling under his weight. "Ugh. He's heavier than he looks." They all got through the curtain just in time. Shortly after, Gojo started cleaning up the mess. Another five minutes later, Josefu suddenly regained his senses, mobility, and curse energy, waking up in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. "Welcome back to the world of the living," Mai remarked facetiously before holding Josefu by the shirt. "Now spill it! How did my curse bullets move so weirdly?!" Momo intervened, "Mai, let him go. He just recovered." "No, it's fine," Josefu interjected. Josefu then answered Mai by telling her about Hijack, leaving out the part where it's a reverse curse technique, which implied it was a second or third curse technique. "Oh. Well, be clearer when you use it next time." "Noted." Panda leaned over and whispered, "Still pretty useful." Josefu sighed as he saw Gojo take care of everything, mentally reminding himself that the Death Painting Arc was next. All the while, the forces cursed in the back of Josefu's head, clearly mad their plan didn't work, but they were having more fun than before the event.