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—OoOoO—

Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami

Oregairu by Wataru Watari & Ponkan8

Genre: Supernatural, Action, Friendship, Slice of Life, and Little Bit Romance

Summary: He did not experience the romantic comedy of youth, nor did he experience the quiet and normal life of youth. He never missed his day-to-day cursing his strange and annoying life. He is Hikigaya Hachiman, and these

Chapter 38: Cursed Train 4.

—OoOoO—

Cursed Train was an imaginary vengeful spirit that had appeared several times since the popularity of suicide cases involving trains. Cursed Train was recorded as first occurring after the Second World War and continued to be reborn every seven years. Even though it was an imaginary vengeful spirit, Cursed Train wasn't historically recorded as a powerful cursed spirit. The strongest Cursed Train recorded appeared seven years ago and was only semi-first grade.

To a certain extent, a cursed spirit created from the same background shouldn't have many different powers from its predecessor.

'That's what it says in the book. But isn't this one much stronger than its predecessor? From semi-first to special grade, it's a very long jump, you know? That creature even has a domain similar to Hakari-senpai's.'

The Cursed Train that appeared in this era was much stronger than the reports Hachiman received. This creature was stronger than Turbo Granny, a cursed spirit in the same special-grade class. That didn't mean he couldn't beat him, though. It was easy enough for him. However, what surprised him the most was the domain the creature had.

In the manual book he studied while he was a student at Jujutsu High, Hachiman knew that there were two types of domain expansion if they were classified according to how they worked. However, the manual had to be revised when Hakari Kinji, a jujutsu sorcerer with a cursed technique tied to his domain. In other words, the cursed technique and domain were available in one complete package.

It worked almost the same as old-style domains, so it didn't have a sure-kill effect. However, such domains had very strict rules, so the conditions within the domain couldn't be changed or violated to activate the buff effects provided by the domain.

'If we discussed earlier is correct, the sure-hit effect should've been active since we passed this machine resembling a tap-and-go machine. I don't know if that's true because I quickly activated the simple domain when I crossed this line,' thought Hachiman.

The boy looked to his right to see Maki and Haruno to see if they were affected by the sure-hit effect. He didn't feel any significant changes in Maki, but when he focused on Haruno, Hachiman raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Haruno-san…, your curse energy…."

"Yeah, that's cut by fifty per cent," Haruno replied quickly.

Hachiman turned his attention back to the Cursed Train, and suddenly, he saw the creature grinning, showing teeth that resembled train tracks.

"I see," Hachiman muttered.

"You noticed something?" Maki asked.

"Just like when we must pay from the departure station to our destination when boarding the train. This domain has a way of working like that. However, this domain uses curse energy instead of money as a payment medium."

"And the rate's fifty per cent of our curse energy? And it's the sure-hit?"

Hachiman nodded at Maki's question.

"Well, it's no wonder I didn't feel any changes. If anything, somehow, my body feels lighter and stronger than before."

Hachiman glanced at the girl in the ponytail. Maki's strength from the start didn't depend on curse energy. In fact, if it was related to Heavenly Restriction Physically Gifted logic, this condition should be a buff for Maki. After all, Maki got her superhuman body because of the very small amount of cursed energy. So, if the cursed energy were reduced, logically, it would increase the strength of her superhuman body.

'Could that be what Gojo-sensei has been hoping for from Maki? Is he trying to eliminate all of Maki's cursed energy to zero and get a true superhuman body?'

Hachiman pushed those thoughts away. That wasn't the time for his mind to wander to various things while he focused on watching those girls.

"What about you, Haruno-san?" Hachiman asked.

However, while Hachiman was expecting an answer from Haruno, what appeared was a voice he had never heard before. No, it was the same voice as Haruno's, but he also felt like it was a different voice simultaneously.

"It's fine. It's only affected the positive energy that was Haruno's area of power. We're lucky that the negative energy under my control is still safe."

Surprised, Hachiman immediately looked at Haruno. A mouth appeared on her left cheek, and he believed that it was that mouth that spoke to him.

"Alter?" Hachiman asked.

"Yahallo, Hikigaya-kun. Nice to talk to you in person."

"It seems there are many things we've got to talk about later. And what's with that stupid greeting?"

For now, Hachiman would let it be. He was surprised that Alter, Haruno's shikigami and cursed technique, could speak that way. It reminded him of Yuuji's story, which said that Sukuna could do the same thing.

Imagine that what made the higher-ups worried over the possibility that a cursed object had fed Haruno wasn't an exaggeration. In that case, it gave him a bit of a dilemma, but he decided to trust Haruno. Because from the books he read, the case of Haruno, who had two separate pools of positive and negative energy, was very contrary to the characteristics of humans fed by a cursed object.

'However, a cursed technique that has its own consciousness, huh? That's no less terrifying than humans eating cursed objects.'

Hachiman exhaled roughly. He cursed his own thoughts for being distracted from his work again.

And as he refocused, Hachiman saw the train tracks rushing towards them. More precisely, the attack targeted Maki.

The girl in the ponytail placed her sword vertically down to block the attack. However, the train track turned out to be stronger and faster than Maki expected. That sent her flying backwards over a tap-and-go machine and hitting a pillar.

"Did you see that, Haruno-san?" said Hachiman in a rapid tone, "If you think the attack is too fast, pay attention to the curse energy focused on the creature before it launches its attack. That way, you can guess the direction of the attack."

Right after Hachiman said those words in a hurry, the same attacks that attacked Maki also came towards him but with greater numbers. However, He immediately jumped to the side to avoid it. The Simple Domain he used suffered some damage as he moved, but it immediately returned to its perfect form when Hachiman reaffirmed his stance.

The cursed spirit judged its three opponents based on the quantity and quality of their curse energy. Maki was considered the weakest due to her minimal curse energy. Haruno didn't look like a threat after he managed to tax fifty per cent off her curse energy using his domain. If anything, Hachiman's existence was truly considered a real threat.

This guy had enormous curse energy. Also, the cursed spirit felt a disgusting sensation from Hachiman's energy. That was why, no matter what, he had to eliminate that sorcerer first. Moreover, because of a technique that the Cursed Train didn't know, he failed to tax his curse energy.

Cursed Train was about to attack Hachiman. However, he felt danger approaching him before he had time to do so. The creature reflexively crossed its arms forward. Simultaneously, a sound of metal clashing was heard.

"You must think that I'm the weakest, right?" Maki said with a grin.

The black blade struck the creature's steel arm. Maki continued emphasising her sword, but the creature's defence was strong.

'His entire body is made of steel. If it's regular steel, it should be fine. However, this cursed spirit body wasn't just ordinary steel. His body is very hard.'

Maki jumped back, away from the creature, when her instincts sensed danger. And sure enough, she dodged the train tracks with perfect timing.

The cursed spirit growled angrily. His calculations were wrong because he thought only Hachiman was a threat. In fact, the girl who had such crazy power speed was also a big problem.

Maki darted back towards the curse. For some reason, her body felt lighter and stronger, and her senses felt sharper than usual.

'This domain can take half of Maki's curse energy. It was supposed to be a debuff for other sorcerers, but instead, it became a buff for Maki. In fact, even though only half of her curse energy was taken, the improvement in the quality of Maki's strength was truly significant.'

Hachiman watched Maki as she clashed with the Cursed Train. From his observations, at least there was nothing for him to worry about. The boy then turned his gaze to Haruno, who was still stunned and didn't know what to do. Hachiman was concerned that it'd affect Haruno's self-confidence. However, his worries seemed baseless when he saw her eyes glued to Maki's battle without missing a beat.

"In fact, Alter said that only my positive energy was taken because this domain couldn't reach further in Alter's realm. I guess this is a benefit of my dualism technique, which gives me separate pools of negative and positive energy. If my guess is correct, my negative energy won't be half removed unless I fully manifest the Alter."

After hearing the deduction, Hachiman turned towards Haruno. They were quite far apart, about five metres, but he could listen to that because Haruno said it out loud. It was so loud that Hachiman was sure Maki and the Cursed Train could hear her voice.

'A Binding vow, revealing one's hand? Not bad, Haruno-san. You chose the right moment,' thought Hachiman.

Even though Haruno had said that out loud, the Cursed Train didn't heed it. The reasons were its focus on Maki and the curse's lack of intelligence. However, Haruno didn't care about that because the binding vow requirements had been fulfilled, and she began to feel that her energy output had increased.

'Are you sure this will work, Haruno?' Alter asked through inner contact.

'It should do. If it turns out that our negative energy is also taken away, we just need to try another method.'

Haruno moved her right hand forward, her middle and index fingers pointing up and her thumb raised upwards. Meanwhile, her left hand was holding her right wrist.

"Cursed Energy Release: Constructive Perception."

A certain amount of cursed energy flowed from Haruno's right hand and gathered at the tip of her finger. It was compressed to a high density. After reaching her maximum output and getting the desired density, Haruno fired the ball of raw cursed energy.

The creature was, of course, aware of that. Even though the raw energy had a high density, Haruno couldn't fire it at the speed she hoped. However, when the Cursed Train was about to jump away to dodge it, Maki grabbed the creature's arm with both hands.

By concentrating her strength on her arm muscles, Maki threw the creature forcefully towards the energy ball that Haruno shot.

The cursed energy ball hit the creature, causing a loud booming sound. The raw power and the Cursed Train collided, pushing the beast away. The ball succeeded in piercing the beast's stomach, which was made of cursed steel.

Haruno breathed a sigh of relief after her shot hit the target, and the domain didn't cut off half of her negative energy. On the other hand, Hachiman was gawked at by the power of the shot.

'Haruno-san overcomes her low output using the binding vow, Revealing One's hand. But the attack speed wasn't as fast as the average raw energy shot. But still, that attack was strong enough to punch a hole in the stomach of a special grade cursed spirit.'

Hachiman looked at Haruno, who was wiping sweat.

'Moreover, the efficiency is very good. The main problem why jujutsu sorcerers rarely shoot raw energy is that it's difficult to maintain efficiency. Although its destructive power isn't as big as Yuta's, but its efficiency is almost at my level.'

Maki didn't let the opportunity created by Haruno disappear. She managed to sneak up behind the Cursed Train and slashed her black katana at its back. The slash resulted in a fairly deep and long diagonal wound.

"Grrhhh…."

The cursed spirit growled in anger and pain. He turned to face Maki to attack the girl, but Haruno took advantage of the moment to enter the fight. She quickly ran while pulling her tanto. And after a certain distance, she slid across the floor with her legs bent backwards.

Haruno slashed her tanto at the joint behind the cursed spirit's knee. Even though the body was very hard, the tanto, imbued with positive energy, could easily penetrate and scratch the steel body.

Haruno then rolled past the Cursed Train and away. And Maki returned to thrust her sword into the creature's back. Unfortunately, the defence was still strong, so the sword didn't penetrate the steel body.

"Haruno-san, from here on, we'll use that plan!" Maki shouted.

The short-haired woman who initially wanted to attack also thought better of it. She nodded at Maki's instructions and took a few steps from the Cursed Train. Meanwhile, Maki tried to restrain and divert the cursed spirit's attention from Haruno.

With her body buffed after having half of her cursed energy taken away, Maki grabbed the Cursed Train's head and dragged it while running. She threw it so hard that it hit the wall and created a crater. Maki then jumped and drew a sword at the monster's head. Unfortunately, the creature, just in time, raised its right hand forward to protect its skull, so Maki's sword only penetrated the steel hand.

Maki tsked in annoyance. The sword stuck too hard in the monster's arm, so she had difficulty pulling it out. The Cursed Train was also angry because Maki dominated the fight.

Maki's instinct screamed when the monster intended to cast its technique. She immediately swung her stuck sword so that the steel arm was cut roughly. Without waiting any longer, Maki immediately jumped away from the creature.

The Cursed Train stood up, and with a wave of its hand and a growl, he cast its technique. The scenery suddenly changed. Those who were originally in the payment machine lobby at the station were suddenly moved to the middle of the train tunnel.

Maki turned her head to scan the surroundings. She found Hachiman and Haruno in the same situation. Worse, one of their feet was buried in the railroad. However, the worst thing was when they saw the light and heard the sound of a train approaching at high speed.

"Hachiman! Haruno-san!"

Maki was worried about the two of them as the train approached. Well, Hachiman might be able to handle it easily, but not Haruno. She wanted to save her, but the train was too close to them, so she didn't have enough time.

"Just save yourself!" shouted Hachiman, "Haruno-san, you also have to save yourself if you want to survive."

Haruno growled at the order. She was irritated not because Hachiman had no intention of saving her but because she couldn't pull out one of her legs stuck in the rail.

"Damn it!"

Meanwhile, Hachiman saw the train only a few metres away. At that moment, his brain worked very quickly to make decisions.

'If I jump, my simple domain will collapse, and its sure-hit will hit me later. I don't know what will happen after half of my cursed energy is taken away, but since I've no intention of helping them, I at least don't want to be a burden to them. It may be difficult, but there's no choice but to try.'

Hachiman exhaled quickly.

"Cursed Technique Reversal: Superposition."

Right after the reversal technique was activated, the train hit Hachiman. However, because of the effect of Hachiman's technique, the train simply went through his body. Meanwhile, Maki easily pulled her right leg, which was stuck in the rail, with force and jumped over the passing train. But luck wasn't on Haruno's side.

"Shit."

Haruno cursed herself because she failed to free her right leg, which was stuck.

'This is the last thing I can do.'

Haruno immediately pointed her tanto at her feet. With her determination, she cut off her right ankle. Haruno didn't have time to scream in pain, and with herself free from the rail, she immediately jumped to the side to avoid the train.

"Haruno-san!"

Hachiman screamed with a look of horror when he saw Haruno, who had lost an ankle. Maki, who had just landed on the train's roof, showed the same expression as the boy.

'It's hurt. It's hurt. It's so fucking hurt, damn it!'

Haruno's neck and temple muscles looked hardened. She also clenched her jaw to endure the excruciating pain. Cold sweat seemed to be seeping from all over her skin, and even the corners of her eyes seemed to be shedding tears.

The pain when she cut one of her ankles with full awareness was far beyond what she had expected. Staring at her stumped leg, which was constantly bleeding fresh blood, didn't make Haruno feel any better. However, the woman tried hard to calm her mind and refocus.

'Hikigaya-kun said he lost an arm because it was burned to the crisp while fighting the volcano-like cursed spirit. Moreover, the location where they were fighting was badly damaged. Something like this is nothing if I want to be at that level.'

Haruno tightened her grip on her tanto and imbued it with cursed energy. Simultaneously, she channelled her energy into her right ankle to regenerate it.

Hachiman was actually about to intervene when he saw Haruno's condition. However, when he saw her determination, he thought better of it. His feelings became more relieved when the scenery around them returned to before, being in the lobby where the payment machines were. Although in this case, the monster had not released its domain.

'That just now was a very deadly attack. It did look like an ordinary train, but the concentration of cursed energy that made it up was extremely dense. With Haruno-san's current level of cursed energy reinforcement, that attack could potentially kill her. However, the main problem here was that the cursed spirit's body was very hard. He has the hardest body I've ever met.'

Hachiman saw Maki, who was still trying to attack the Cursed Train. The black sword began to erode its sturdy steel body, and deep scratches appeared on its surface. That was something very impressive that Maki could do. However, what Haruno was doing right now caught Hachiman's attention the most.

The girl continued to imbue her tanto with cursed energy, but the process was unique. That made Hachiman curious about the final result.

His attention was diverted when he heard the monster roar. The creature seemed to be keeping its distance from Maki. He noticed that the curse's energy output had fallen, so it couldn't launch attacks with the same intensity as before. In this cornered situation, Cursed Train took a safe distance from Maki.

The cursed spirit growled something, and two balls of energy appeared before him out of nothing. One was blue but very small, even smaller than a marble, while the other was salmon red and slightly larger than a football ball.

Hachiman looked at it in astonishment. He was very familiar with the feeling emitted from the two energy balls.

'The small one clearly feels like Maki's energy, while the big one feels like Haruno-san's.'

It wasn't just Hachiman who noticed that. Maki and Haruno also realised it. However, even though they knew that, they didn't try to act because they were curious about what the monster was trying to do.

The blue energy ball entered his body to obey the monster's inner instructions. However, the Cursed Train grew dissatisfied because what he took from Maki was too little to feel the effect.

'He can use the cursed energy he took from others for himself?' thought the bespectacled girl.

Like Maki, Hachiman and Haruno also thought so. Haruno realised something while the boy remained silent in the corner watching them.

"Wait. Don't tell me…."

Haruno didn't continue her words, worried that the monster would hear them and stop what he was trying to do.

The cursed spirit absorbed the lump of cursed energy he took from Haruno. The number was quite large. It could form a ball of energy that was a little bigger than a football ball and has a high degree of density. It didn't take long for him to fully absorb it, and the young sorcerers watched with great curiosity.

'With that much, he should be able to cover the cursed energy wasted during the fight. However, only if that's how it works,' thought Hachiman.

Only one second after the monster absorbed Haruno's cursed energy, its mouth, which resembled a broken rail, immediately spewed purple liquid. The creature coughed and began to stagger until he fell to his knees. Its steel body began to disintegrate and peel off like it had been exposed to a corrosive liquid.

"I knew it'd be like this," Hachiman said

The boy approached the cursed spirit, lying weak like a diseased monster.

"He doesn't even have the energy left to activate his sure-hit and take my cursed energy," he continued.

Maki followed him and stood right next to the glazed-eyed boy.

"With power this strong, but intelligence so low. It seems true that its growth was caused by something unnatural."

Maki paused for a moment while twirling her sword.

"But I don't understand, I thought he'd die immediately after absorbing that much positive energy?"

"I'm not sure about the anatomy of cursed spirits. But for humans, the cursed energy originates from the stomach, close to the diaphragm muscle, and then spreads throughout the body. That requires—."

Before Hachiman finished his session, Maki interrupted him first.

"You with your complicated explanations. Can you make it simple?"

Hachiman tsked at the response. He glanced at Maki sharply.

"Just tell me if your brain capacity can't follow my explanation."

Maki immediately turned to Hachiman. However, Hachiman quickly continued his explanation before they started fighting.

"In essence, this Cursed Train absorbs Haruno-san's positive energy into his source and destroys its circulation system. But that will only make him unable to use his power anymore. In fact, I'm sure this domain will collapse soon. However, to exorcise him using positive energy in one blow, theoretically, you must directly channel it into his brain."

It was quite a long explanation and ended with a light sigh.

"I can't channel my positive energy into other objects, so I've never tried it directly. Okkotsu and Hiratsuka-sensei should be more experienced in this matter," he added.

Maki didn't answer the explanation and just nodded as a sign that she understood. The girl then turned to the side of Haruno, who was approaching them.

"Does it have to be specific to the brain to kill them in one hit? Or can it target the general head area?" asked the girl.

"Who knows? But supposedly, the closer it gets to the brain, the more deadly it becomes."

There was no other reply after that. The three humans looked down on the Cursed Train, who groaned in pain and could no longer control its cursed energy. The condition was really worrying. The monster continued wriggling like a worm on a hot frying pan. The cursed energy, or in this case, the positive energy taken from Haruno, was fifty per cent of her total energy pool. That wasn't a small amount, considering Haruno's energy capacity was quite large for someone the size of a person who had just awakened her power.

"You wanna finish him off yourself, Haruno-san?" Maki offered the opportunity, "In your own way or do you want to borrow my sword?"

In the next second, Maki saw Haruno's right ankle, which had completely regenerated.

"Anyway, what about you? You're fine, aren't you?" she added.

Haruno nodded to provide certainty to the question. However, she still had to answer Maki's offer.

"You won't? You were the one who beat him up earlier, weren't you?"

"If we talk about contribution, you also contributed greatly to bringing this creature to this state. Apart from that, you've to get used to killing. Furthermore, your opponents won't only be cursed spirits but may also be humans."

Haruno pondered Maki's advice. The woman knew very well that the road that awaited her ahead was a road filled with blood and tears. But as Maki said, she had to quickly get used to that lifestyle. It didn't take long for her to make a decision. She grabbed the black sword Maki handed.

Haruno took a step forward and looked at the cursed spirit. Even though the monster was incapacitated, the creature would return to its normal condition in just a few hours if left alone.

Cursed spirits were cruel creatures, monsters filled with the lust and fear of humans. There wasn't the slightest doubt in Haruno's mind as she swung the sword at the steel neck. The sharp blade cut it smoothly and perfectly until purple blood splashed everywhere. However, Haruno was lucky because her clothes were not stained.

Like darkness illuminated by light, the domain immediately disappeared after Haruno exorcised the Cursed Train.

"It's gone, but where are we?" Haruno asked while looking around.

They should be on the Omiya Station platform. However, what was happening now was that they were in the middle of nowhere, in a train tunnel.

Hachiman reached for the smartphone in his pants and saw what he could find.

"The GPS is working. It seems we're about 200 metres from Omiya Station. Besides, the clock on my phone corrected itself, and it's six in the morning."

"Are we changing locations? Does that mean the domain is moving? On top of that, weren't we only about thirty minutes into it? How did it suddenly become six a.m?" Haruno asked.

"You can move or slow down time by adding conditions to the domain's barrier. Practically, it's very difficult to do it. However, in some cases, some people can naturally make it happen. At least I know someone who can move the domain."

Hakari's annoying face flashed through Hachiman's mind as he explained it. Even though his silly behaviour often overwhelmed him, he couldn't deny that he learned a lot from his senior.

"I've never previously encountered one that can affect time, though. But Gojo-sensei said that he had handled such a case in the past even though he wasn't directly involved," Hachiman continued.

A condition that could affect the flow of time within a domain. Haruno never thought that jujutsu sorcery could manipulate that aspect. Haruno would have difficulty believing it if she hadn't experienced it firsthand.

While Hachiman was giving Haruno a short class, Maki was crouching before the remains of the Cursed Train's body, which would soon be completely decomposed.

"Hachiman, look at this."

While saying that, Maki threw something at the death-eyed man.

Hachiman captured it perfectly. But his eyebrows rose, showing his surprise, even before he saw what Maki had just thrown. However, the shape and texture feel familiar. Moreover, when the residual energy of the Cursed Train had faded, Hachiman felt a cold rush in his spine.

Hachiman opened his fist and looked at the object.

"This…."

"A Sukuna's finger, right?" continued Maki.

—To Be Continued—

Author Note: Hello, I'm back.

Hello. I'm back again. Let's get to the point. Do you feel the fight is too short? If yes, you aren't wrong. I can't deny that you think so. I actually wanted to make the fight longer. However, with the setup I had put together, it would feel unnatural if I were forced to prolong the battle.

I mean, as shown in the fight. Due to the nature of the sure-hit, Maki received a significant buff instead of a debuff. Meanwhile, Cursed Train got a debuff because it consumed Haruno's positive energy. Even if the cursed train wasn't debuffed, Haruno's power alone was a fatal weakness for him. So, it's hard to prolong the fight with a bad matchup. Anyway, the time thingy Hachiman mentioned was a domain that trapped Mei Mei and Utahime in case you forgot about that.

That's all from me. Stay safe and see you later!

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You can find chapters 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 on my patre0n.