Please Read : Please support me by find akadaka on patre0n. And sorry for grammatical errors because I am not a native speaker. I'll try to improve it with all my might.
A big thanks to Alexis Chagoya for giving me support.
—OoOoO—
Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami
Oregairu by Wataru Watari & Ponkan8
Genre : Supernatural, Action, Friendship, Slice of Life, and Little Bit Romance
Summary : Not the romantic comedy of youth that he experienced, not the quiet and normal life of youth he had. He never missed his day-to-day cursing his strange and annoying life. He is Hikigaya Hachiman and this is all his complaints as a jujutsu sorcerer.
Chapter 24: Even Though This Is The World of Sorcery, Science Is The Scariest One.
—OoOoO—
The heated tension between Hachiman and Jogo still hasn't subsided. Even though Jogo was at a disadvantage at this level, he refused to simply surrender to a being lower than him.
'If I can't hit him, I can just drag him into my domain.'
Domain Expansion. A technique that has undergone various revolutions until it finally was known as a high-level technique in this modern era. There were so many benefits that users could get when they used Domain Expansion. Besides increasing power to a certain extent, this spell was also effective for breaking through any defensive technique.
One of the most beneficial attributes of Domain Expansion—especially the modern style—was the sure-hit effect. A modern style domain was built differently with unreasonable lethality. Because of that, the sure-hit effect on Domain Expansion could bypass any defensive spells. Even the most robust defence technique would be disregarded, and the domain effect would directly be delivered to the target.
Functionally, Hachiman's superposition technique could be categorised as a defence technique. Even one of the best. However, by taking advantage of the sure-hit effect on the domain, his superposition technique would be automatically dispensed with. Thus, he would lose a lot of cards that he could use. That was Jogo's last plan to overcome Hachiman's troublesome technique.
Jogo stood up, looking at Hachiman, who was currently looking down on him.
"Get rid of your damn eyes, you dickhead. A lowly human like you shouldn't stare at my majesty with your rotten eyes."
Hachiman sighed and replied, "You really are full of yourself, huh? You can't even see the reality before your eye. That's why you can't beat me, the one who stands between reality and illusion."
"Shut the fuck up. My reality is only one. And a pest like you has no room to live in it."
Filled with fury, Jogo formed hand seals and continued.
"Domain Expansion: Coffin of The Iron Mountain!"
Along with the incantation he cast, a barrier was formed and quickly closed. From the bottom of the surface, hot rocks began to appear and soar over the barrier, replacing it as a wall. Meanwhile, the lake's surface, which used to be their foothold, now turned into rocks of dried magma. Until finally, cracks were visible on the surface and ejected boiling magma.
Hachiman reacted very well and increased his defence to protect himself from the heat. However, it didn't end there. An enormous boulder with a hot surface suddenly appeared from nothing right in front of Hachiman.
With trained reflexes, Hachiman crossed his arms to fortify himself. The rock exploded and shattered when it hit Hachiman. However, the impact blew away his hand, which was used as a shield.
'Tch. An average sorcerer would have burned up the second they entered my domain,' thought Jogo, who was dissatisfied with the result.
However, even though he was dissatisfied, he still grateful because he could confirm something.
"I already guessed. Even the best defensive techniques would be ignored by sure-hit effect."
Hachiman glanced at his hands, especially the left one, which was the first layer he used to defend earlier. His left hand emitted smoke and black dust that stuck to it.
'With my current cursed energy remaining, I can still withstand a few more of his attacks. However, I'll fucked up if I just keep holding on and waiting for help. There is no other choice but to finish it in one hit. First of all, let's provoke him to waste his cursed energy more.'
Hachiman waved his hand while wearing a mocking grin.
"If you really wanted to touch me that much, you should have just said so from the start. You know, if it makes you happy, I might be so generous as to let you touch me."
The veins of anger were clear when Jogo heard the abuse. However, before he could reply, Hachiman continued his words.
"You really are persistent, and it really sucks. Why don't you just give up? In exchange, I will let you touch me before I exorcise you."
Hot smoke evaporated from Jogo's body. It was like the nerves that kept him sane, breaking one by one every time he heard Hachiman's insults. However, for the umpteenth time, Jogo didn't want to fall for the bullshit that the guy was saying.
"Why? Why are you force me to give up? Are you scared because your defence is now useless before this divine technique?"
"Divine technique, you say? Heh," replied Hachiman with a mocking smile.
Seeing the young sorcerer ridiculing his strongest technique succeeded in making Jogo furious.
"Please don't get me wrong, mountain head," replied Hachiman waving his hand, "It's just… you know, it's so sickening to see a weak, lowly creature like you struggling like this. Please read the room, you trash."
Like a cork from a wine bottle or a cola filled with mentos. High-density lava gushed from two openings on the sides of Jogo's head and a volcanic opening at the top of his head. The lava that kept gushing out seemed to represent the annoyance he had been feeling.
'Good, keep wasting your cursed energy like that,' thought Hachiman.
Meanwhile, a few seconds after he went crazy, Jogo realised that he had been taken in by Hachiman's provocation. However, he could no longer endure all the humiliation he had received so far.
'I came here partly to play. I thought that I couldn't kill Gojo Satoru, it wouldn't matter. However, let alone Gojo Satoru, this bastard was the one who cornered me, humiliated me like this! This difference…. my pride as a cursed spirit, as a new-found human! I absolutely cannot accept this!'
"You! Just you! It doesn't matter even if it's just you! Not even your ashes will be left, you fucking cunt!"
Jogo vents his anger by forming a hand seal. An onslaught of sure-hit attacks that would scorch to ashes, that was what Jogo wanted to do. However, that wasn't something that surprised Hachiman. Quite the contrary, it was what he had hoped for.
With about half a second faster, Hachiman had already formed a hand seal.
"Domain Expansion: Spooky Action at A Distance."
With Hachiman as the epicentre, a territory began to spread. However, it did not spread widely, with only a radius of three metres. However, that was enough to initiate the young sorcerer's plans. And right after he formed his own domain, Jogo's sure-hit effect supposed to hit him wasn't materialised anymore.
'What? My sure-hit attack isn't working? Do domain clashes have the effect of negating sure-hit attacks?'
That was exactly what Jogo said. Clashes between Domain Expansion meant that more than one domain was trying to dominate the other. That way, each barrier used would be mutually disturbed. Therefore, the sure-hit effect provided by the barrier would automatically be abolished until one domain took over completely. In other words, even if the sure-hit effect was activated, it would automatically disappear when another domain was deployed.
In this context, when Jogo was about to give Hachiman a sure-hit attack, Hachiman was half a second faster than him. That way, the sure-hit Jogo launched would be neutralised when Hachiman was faster in spreading his domain than Jogo's attack that hit his skin. Simply put, all the cursed energy that Jogo spent for the sure-hit attack was wasted.
However, Jogo, who was currently full of rage, could not see through the layers of plans Hachiman had devised. Because of that, seeing Hachiman's domain, which was only three metres in radius, made the cursed spirit even more lustful.
'That fucking brat can only create such a small domain? No matter how small the domain, it can still negate the sure-hit effect. However, with his domain being that small, mine is now more domineering. If I can break his concentration, then my domain will take over completely.'
Veins of lust appeared in his eye. Smoke came out of his nose when Jogo breathed.
'If I can't use sure-hit right now, I just need to beat you up with a full attack. And then swallow his domain and scorch him!'
Jogo changed his hand seal. Behind him, rocks and hot lava sprang up and shot at the young sorcerer at top speed.
A drop of sweat was discovered on Hachiman's temple. His serious expression showed no change even though he seemed to be cornered. Even when the rush of hot rocks and magma was about to enter his small domain, the youngster still displayed an extraordinary calm. Towards the last second, the corner of the teenager's lips pulled up to form a grin.
"A cursed spirit is still a cursed spirit, after all. No matter how strong you are, you are still a stupid creature."
Hachiman clenched his fist into a hand seal. By pouring in more cursed energy, the domain that was originally only around three metres in radius started to spread out at a crazy speed.
Meanwhile, Jogo, who didn't expect this outcome, could only gape at his domain being devoured quickly. The scenery initially inside the volcano has now been replaced by something more majestic that he couldn't even imagine.
The atmosphere felt like being in a dark, empty space. What Jogo first saw was the tiny dots that glowed on the distant horizon. Those dots looked like stars, but he knew they weren't. He looked back when he felt something pressuring behind. And he couldn't help but gape when he saw a ball of energy was blazing with a blue spectrum surrounding it. It looked like the sun, but Jogo knew that the bright ball of energy was not any sun or star.
And when he looked at his surrounding clearly, he found a thin fog surrounded the star-like. At first glance, the delicate orange mist contained nothing. It just looked as empty as the normal fog. However, whatever was going on in his brain, Jogo thought that there was a particle that he could not observe, which was orbiting the energy ball with a thin mist as the probability of orbital trajectory.
"What the hell?" Jogo muttered.
Just by being at a certain distance from the massive ball of energy, Jogo felt many sensations that started pricking his body. Heat, headache, nauseous, and even pressure, all of it he could feel and slowly trying to eat away at him.
"This heat…. I feel hot? Of all the creatures in this world, I am tormented by the heat?"
Jogo was the embodiment of a volcano. The burning heat was not something that scared him. Quite the contrary, the heat was his most potent weapon. The heat from the burning coals and boiling lava were his best friends. Realising that he could feel the heat from the energy radiation emitted by the giant ball, Jogo understood it was not the heat he had known.
He rolled his eyes again. With a considerable distance, Jogo found Hachiman. He was kneeling with the back of his hand, wiping the red liquid from his mouth.
'That bastard forced himself to win domain domination? Of course, that makes sense. There was no way anyone could do it without forcing themselves. In that case, I still have a chance before he activates the sure-hit effect.'
Jogo tried to open and close his palms to check the state of his body.
'The radiation is torturing me, but it's not at a level where it can stop me.'
After confirming his condition, Jogo ran towards Hachiman. The cursed spirit darted as fast as he could, wasting no chance. Unfortunately, his opportunity must have been gone when he felt extreme pain all over his body.
"W-what?"
He fell to his knees. Purple blood—typical of cursed spirits' blood—came from his mouth, eyes, and the openings on both sides of his head. It didn't stop there. His skin shrivelled up, drying out as if the fluids in his body had evaporated by the intense heat radiation. On top of that, the sensation of an unspeakable headache and paralysed nerves he couldn't explain where it came, felt like piercing through all his cells non-stop.
"AAAGGGGGGHHH!"
Jogo wanted to roll around, hoping to ease his pain. However, his body felt so heavy and paralysed so it couldn't indulge itself. His vocal cords had shrunk, unable to vibrate just to produce sound. This made Jogo unable to scream anymore just to express his suffering. Only a hoarse sound like a strangled goat came out of his mouth.
Witnessing that, Hachiman wiped the blood coming out of his nose. Then, he got up to approach Jogo.
"Did you know there are four fundamental forces that make up this universe? Starting from the weakest to the strongest, gravitational force, weak nuclear force, electromagnetic force, and strong nuclear force."
Seeing the movement of the young sorcerer's lips, Jogo knew he was talking to him. However, the excruciating pain that flooded through him made his brain couldn't process the information that was headed his way.
"Gravity is the force that binds all things in the universe. Even though it is said to be the weakest, gravity acts at an infinite distance. The weak nuclear force can change one type of quark into another, so this force can change a proton into a neutron and vice versa. Or simply put, changes in the atomic nucleus, including radioactivity and decay, are caused by this force. The electromagnetic force is the force that binds electrons so they don't separate from the atomic nucleus. Meanwhile, the strong nuclear force binds protons and neutrons to form atomic nuclei and prevents protons and electrons to attract each other."
Hachiman knew it was impossible for Jogo to hear any information from him. However, the young man didn't care and kept chattering to activate the binding vow, Revealing One's Card. In exchange for details of his domain's structure, he could keep the domain active until it completely drained Jogo out.
Hachiman wasted his cursed energy when he attempted to dominate Jogo's. Hence, he needed an extraordinary method to maintain his domain structure with a limited amount of cursed energy.
"The glowing energy ball behind you is an atomic nucleus. Our distance is equal to the diameter of that nucleus. While the orange fog is the probability of orbiting electrons. Gravity and electromagnetic force have an infinite distance for us to feel their effects. Whereas the strong nuclear force has an effective distance that is equal to the diameter of the atomic nucleus, while the weak nuclear force is half that."
Hachiman tried to control his panting breath. As his domain information he uncovered, the burden he felt of maintaining the domain also lessened.
Put it simply, the basic idea of Hachiman's domain was he brought the target into the sub-atomic realm. That was why he was struggling to materialise his domain because he never knew that his innate domain basically was a quantum realm itself, where the reality and illusion, the certainty and probability, just separated by a thin layer.
"The gravity that tries to pull you into the atomic nucleus, the electromagnetic force that gives you unbearable headache, nauseous and paralysed your nerves, and the nuclear radiation that feels like it's burning your body. All of that are the environment effects of my domain. The concept is the same as the heat from the lava in your domain. But mine is much complicated and strongest than yours. And on top of that, my sure-hit effect is an illusion to amplify the pain."
Hachiman wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead. However, now the young man could stand up straighter than before.
"Illusion cannot reflect something that is not known by the brain. So, there's no way this illusion can work if you don't feel pain. No, even if it was just plain pain, an illusion like this wouldn't work because of the adrenaline. As such, the environmental effects in my domain will give you pain from nuclear radiation and an electromagnet that your brain can't forget. And with my domain's sure-hit effect, the illusion will amplify the pain to a degree where every cell in your body screams in agony."
Jogo's body began to wither. His brain has died and couldn't be used. Even if he regenerated using cursed energy, the cycle would continue to repeat itself and only leave an even more excruciating pain.
"It's spooky, isn't it? And it works in a distance and an instant without you seeing the materialising effect," Hachiman paused the words to take a breath, "Yeah, this is your nightmare. This is my spooky action… at my distance."
'Wow, shit. It feels great to say such words. I always want to say that line at least for once in my life. It's like I am a cool hero right now,' added Hachiman, silly.
Seeing the cursed spirit die slowly, Hachiman then grabbed the mountain at his head.
'This much should be enough to make him powerless,' thought Hachiman.
From the start, Hachiman had no intention of exorcising Jogo. Instead, the teenager wanted to catch him alive. This was because, from what Jogo had said when he ambushed him and Satoru, it was clear he had intended to target Gojo Satoru from the beginning. That was showed that Jogo already knew Satoru's whereabouts or his schedule and waiting for the right time to ambush.
'It's impossible for a cursed spirit to know about a sorcerer's schedule unless someone leaks the information. Not to mention, the 'Hanami' that he mentioned before, shows that this cursed spirit has other partner than that stitches face.'
Hachiman wanted to cancel his technique because Jogo was already powerless, and his life force had utterly dried up. However, before he did that, he felt a crack in his domain barrier.
Reflexively, Hachiman turned towards the source of the crack. Inside his mind, he was cursing anyone who was trying to break into his domain. Even so, his body stiffened at the thought of the scenario unfolding.
Although he was advantaged in his domain, that didn't mean he was invincible. In fact, if his opponent was strong enough to withstand his sure-hit effect, even for one second, and then deploy his domain resulting in a domain clash, inevitably, Hachiman, with his current state, would meet the God of Death.
'Is that this cursed spirit's comrade?' thought Hachiman, who was losing his composure.
He knew that capturing Jogo alive was his priority. However, if it was the cursed spirit's partner, Hachiman would be over. Not only did he not have much cursed energy left to put up a fight, but he also had the potential to fail to capture Jogo.
'This cursed spirit that embodies the volcano is too dangerous to let go. Fuck, there's no other choice.'
Hachiman quickly grabbed Jogo's head. Without further ado, he squeezed it hard and tore it roughly. This made the head of the mountain not only split into small pieces but also detached from its neck.
Not wanting to waste time even just to catch his breath, Hachiman immediately turned around and stared at the cracked barrier wall.
The cracks in his domain barrier were getting bigger and bigger, likewise with his body, which increasingly stiffened at sight. In the end, the barrier broke and created a hole. Witnessing the figure that entered his domain, Hachiman had never felt this tense in his shitty life.
—OoOoO—
Never in his life had he been this angry. Never had his emotions been so unruly as now. His frustration and annoyance peaked at the top of his head. If it weren't for his exhaustion, Hachiman would have spit out the various expletives in his dictionary.
"Rest assured, my dear student. Why? 'Cause your beloved Great Teacher Satoru is here."
When he saw the white-headed fucking man jumping from the ceiling of his domain, Hachiman couldn't help but gape. The tension he felt just now seemed to evaporate and be replaced with the emotional turmoil he wanted to throw up on the man's face.
He was a man he knew very, very well. He was a person who often became the source of his headaches. It was difficult to predict his behavior. With his innocent smile, the man landed right in front of Hachiman. Meanwhile, seeing a boy whose collar he was clutching also made the Hachiman's eyebrows raise in confusion.
"What the fuck?"
No matter how many swear words were in his brain, only those could escape his mouth. However, on the other hand, a feeling of relief also swept over his body. And that made him release his domain.
Ignoring the murderous stares from his students, Gojo Satoru—the white-haired man—just peeked at something behind Hachiman's back.
"What? You just exorcised it? I challenged whether you could beat him, but you just exorcised him right away? Hachiman-kun…, shouldn't you be patient and leave him for interrogation?"
Interrogating a cursed spirit was difficult, but not impossible. As long as that cursed spirit could be brought alive to the headquarters, they could think a method to examine it off. Even if the standard approaches didn't work, they could still ask Hikigaya Komachi to control Jogo using her cursed technique and drill out the information in his brain. After all, even though Jogo's level was far above Komachi, but with his current state, she could control him with a little effort.
Well, but such a method was politically difficult to do because it would create unnecessary conflict and suspicion.
"You dickhead, you fucking asshole, you fucking fuck…—Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Before Hachiman finished his curses, he was coughing and bleeding from his mouth. His eyes felt sore as if the blood vessels in his eyes were about to burst. And from his nose was flowing fresh blood, which he immediately wiped using the back of his hand.
He didn't want to appear weak and become a laughingstock in front of Satoru. That was why Hachiman immediately forced himself to get up even though his muscles were screaming for him to get some rest. However, even though Satoru liked to prank his students, he was not someone who couldn't read the situation. No, Satoru certainly couldn't read the situation, but he wasn't that bad.
'You tried really hard, huh? I didn't think you're ready for a clash of domains, but I forgot that you always have your own way of dealing with anything in your path. You've really grown from a cheeky boy into a reliable dude, eh, Hachiman?'
Hachiman, who felt a strange look from Satoru, immediately replied by glaring at the man.
"Stop looking at me like you're a father watching his child grow up, bastard."
Satoru just beamed.
"Your momma and I often talk about how cute you were when you were just a little brat, though?"
"In your fucking dream."
"Nope. Several times in the café near her office, some places that I can't remember, and even in the Umihotaru. I have some photos. Wanna see?"
Hachiman fell into silence for a moment before he uttered some words.
"Fuck you."
"Thank you," replied Satoru with a genuine smile.
There was not the slightest expression on Satoru's face to show his irritation at Hachiman's words. On the contrary, in less than a second, the sincere smile that Satoru had shown turned back into a mischievous grin. Satoru did not immediately give him a comment. Instead, he just put Yuuji down—the boy whose collar he was grabbing—to the water's surface.
"What? Wait, wait, what are you doing, sensei? Don't drop me here!"
Yuuji, who was suddenly sent down by Satoru, panicked. That was not without reason. He was just a newbie who had just joined about a week ago. Hence, he did not know how to stand on the water's surface like his master and senior did.
However, that worry vanished when his feet could tread well without sinking an inch.
"Woah, how could I do this?"
Hachiman looked at Yuuji with a questioning look.
"Who the hell are you?"
Yuuji turned his head when he heard Hachiman's question. However, Satoru had already caught up to him before he could respond.
"The Sukuna's vessel, Itadori Yuuji-kun."
Hachiman gaped at the reply. He tried to digest Satoru's words just now so he didn't miss the context. However, no matter how hard he did, he didn't think he had misheard or anything.
"Didn't you say he was dead?" asked Hachiman.
"Well, he was, but he got back up. This Yuuji-kun is more stubborn than he looks."
Hachiman didn't just buy the backstory. Yuuji's death was a fact, and Yuuji, alive and standing before him right now, was also a fact. However, the reason behind his rise from the realm of the dead was still unacceptable to him. Furthermore, Megumi, the key witness who witnessed his death, has confirmed that Yuuji lost his heart during Sukuna's rampage.
'Currently, there are only three people who can heal others using Reverse Cursed Technique. Hiratsuka-sensei didn't care that much about Itadori Yuuji, while Okkotsu was out of the country. Then, can Ieiri-san use her Reverse Cursed Technique to revive the dead?'
Reverse Cursed Technique has a term called golden time. A theory said that a heart that has stopped beating could still be revived if it remained within a specific time limit. Even burns that damage and change the skin's structure were difficult to heal if they passed through the golden time. This meant, if it passed the time limit, the effectiveness of the Reverse Cursed Technique would decrease greatly.
'I don't know how long the dead have until past the golden time. I also don't know whether Ieiri-san can return the lost heart or not. However, one thing is clear, something is keeping Itadori Yuuji's body in its golden time. Embalming can indeed maintain the physical condition of the corpse, but the internal organs will still rot. In other words, there is an inner force keeping Itadori Yuuji in check.'
Connecting dot by dot in his head, Hachiman grasped the complete image of the mystery of his junior's awakening. However, the conclusion he came to was so terrifying that it gave him goosebumps.
"Did Sukuna do it? Did he offer you a vow for resurrecting you?" Hachiman asked Yuuji.
Instead of feeling intimidated, Yuuji looked at Hachiman with shining eyes.
"Wow, that's so cool. Gojo-sensei said nothing, and yet you can tell? You even mentioned about the vow that sensei also mentioned a while ago."
Haachiman felt a little dazzled by his junior's enthusiasm.
"So, what deal did he offer?" asked Hachiman again.
Yuuji shook his head and replied, "I don't know. Or maybe I don't remember. I can remember that Sukuna did something, but I can't remember what it was."
Hachiman's fear was at its peak. The fact Yuuji didn't remember the context of what Sukuna had to offer proved that the king of the curses was scheming something.
'The agreement he can't remember. That Sukuna uses the innocence of this brat for his own interests,' thought Hachiman.
Satoru saw the tension between his students. It wasn't something good to discuss with a tired body. Hence, he changed the subject.
"That aside. You should have held yourself, Hachiman-kun. You know, I brought Yuuji-kun all the way here to teach him a few things, including about Domain Expansion. At this rate, I don't have any fresh materials to teach, do I?"
A vein of anger suddenly resurfaced on Hachiman's forehead after hearing his teacher speak in that sulky tone. On the other hand, Yuuji expressed as if he had just remembered something.
"Oh, so what was inside that black ball thing was Domain Expansion, huh?" said the teenager.
Satoru nodded and replied, "That's right! Unfortunately, this Hikigaya 'impatient' Hachiman is insensitive to his surroundings."
Veins of anger were increasingly twitching in Hachiman's head.
"Bastard, you must have deliberately barged after my domain took over, right?"
"Ah, come to think of it, Gojo-sensei stopped right in front of the domain wall," Yuuji said, "I don't know why he stopped, though."
Hearing the testimony of the pink-haired boy, there was no more room for Satoru to dodge. His own behaviour had practically caught him red-handed.
With a fist that smacked his own head lightly, Satoru only let out one word.
"Tee-hee~."
"'Tee-hee' your ass! You don't know my heart almost burst when I saw my barrier cracking earlier?" protested Hachiman.
"Oh, come on. Don't get angry over trivial things."
"One day I will knock out your teeth, I swear."
"To be honest, I'm very open about it. I would actually be thrilled if my students could do that," Satoru replied in an arrogant tone.
Hachiman was unable to counter the challenge. He really wanted to knock out his teeth and tear the man's arrogant smile apart. However, he also realised that touching Gojo Satoru would be nearly impossible.
Putting aside the teacher and student dispute, Yuuji admired the two of them. The fight that was still clear in his head still hypnotised the teenager. The terrifying sensation from the high-class clash still lingered on his skin.
"Hachiman-paisen, you were really amazing and cool, you know? How can you be that strong even though you look like only a year older than me?"
The sudden question drew the attention of the black-haired young sorcerer. However, it wasn't the content of the questions that had become his primary focus but how his junior addressed him.
"Paisen? Also, who gave you permission to call me that, brat?"
Itadori didn't feel guilty, even though Hachiman blatantly showed an offended expression.
"Well, you're strong and also very smart. You can even guess that Sukuna did something to me. Moreover, Gojo-sensei said that he would take me to meet the person who created the training method I was doing. And that was you, wasn't it, Hachiman-paisen?"
The Hikigaya boy felt he didn't understand Yuuji's words. Therefore, he only raised his eyebrows in confusion. Understanding the situation, Satoru entered into the conversation.
"Energy control training method using Principal Yaga's doll."
"Ah…."
Hachiman finally grasp what Yuuji meant. However, he still felt displeased with Yuuji acting all too closely to him.
"I used the method you created. That's why, isn't it only natural that I call you '-paisen'?" said Yuuji in defence.
"If I beat you up and told you to stop calling me that, would you do it?" asked Hachiman coldly.
Yuuji shook his head with unwavering determination. The admiration in his eyes was not extinguished, even though he received a harsh reaction from Hachiman.
"I do what you create. Isn't this the same as me continuing your legacy? And seeing you being that strong, I'm sure what I'm on the right track!"
Seeing this persistence, Hachiman finally gave in. More than anyone else, he realised that those in the jujutsu world were stubborn as fuck. Even pure-hearted people like Okkotsu Yuta and Hikigaya Komachi were relentless in their own way.
Because of that, opposing those stubborn people would only drain his sanity.
'Right. Instead of going crazy, it would be better to ignore people like them,' thought Hachiman.
Even though Hachiman decided he wanted to ignore it, he couldn't deny the tingling feeling inside. The training method he created would actually be passed down when Komachi entered Tokyo Jujutsu Tech later. However, knowing there was another who admired the method he invented, it would be lying if it did not flatter him.
"So, what books did you read? You don't look like a bookworm, though."
Yuuji just tilted his head at his senior's question.
"Book? Bookworm?"
Satoru, who saw his student's confusion, engaged in conversation again.
"Yuuji-kun isn't the type to read books," said Satoru, who was accompanied by a nod from Yuuji, "That's why I replaced books with watching movies."
Watching movies with various kinds of emotions was what Yuuji did. By feeling the full range of emotions presented in the movies while imbuing the doll with cursed energy, he was expected to continue to access his cursed energy under any circumstances. Even though Satoru said it was a method that Hachiman invented, the minor details were slightly different.
Instead of watching movies, Hachiman's method was originally by reading books. In contrast, the emotions and intentions that the director wanted to show could be presented directly by the actors and actresses in the movies. However, when you read a book, you must understand what emotions the author wanted to convey. Because sometimes, they prefer to display those emotions implicitly.
In addition, reading books tended to be more boring than watching movies. For this reason, the concentration devoted to reading generally has to be higher than watching. By constantly imbuing his cursed energy with varying intensities while maintaining his concentration, Hachiman's control was one step above first-grade sorcerers even before he trained under Hiratsuka.
"Wait, so what I'm doing isn't what you used to do? Do I need to change it?"
Hachiman shook his head slowly and replied, "Nah. Just do what you're doing right now. Everyone has a different way, who knows that might suit you better."
"Hachiman-paisen…."
Yuuji stared at Hachiman in awe. The person who passed down the practice method to him was not only intelligent, but wise. Or at least, that was the impression Yuuji got of his senior.
In reality, Hachiman was still a selfish young man. The reason he asked Yuuji to do what he had been doing until now was none other than his own interests.
'My intention is to pass this method to Komachi once she entered Tokyo Jujutsu Tech. Until then, letting Itadori use my method differently will provide me with additional data on its effectiveness. Either way, it will be very useful as a reference to help Komachi get stronger.'
Well, that's what Hachiman was like. What he thought was not far from his little sister. And even though he only watched silently, Satoru could read the boy's mind very well.
'This brat must be thinking about Komachi-chan again. Heh, you siscon,' he thought, smiling mischievously.
Satoru actually wanted to let his two students interact a little longer. However, after Hachiman's fight, he knew his time was short. Thus, he began to chant his technique.
Under Yuuji's feet, ancient characters appeared on the water's surface and surrounded him. The characters gave off a white light. Seeing this, Yuuji could only react in confusion while looking at his teacher and senior.
"People from school will come here. I can't let them know you are here," said Satoru giving an explanation.
Before the teenager could reply, the shining characters engulfed him. And in the blink of an eye, it had transported him to his original hiding place.
—OoOoO—
Backtracked moments before Satoru arrived on the scene. Or rather, when Hachiman had just released an attack with the same destructive power as Satoru's Red, the Deuterium Cat.
Three creatures of different races gather on a cliff hidden behind thick trees and the dark night. Two were known as cursed spirits, while the other was a sole human accompanying them. The man sat only on the grass wet with dew while two cursed spirits stood next to him. Geto Suguru, Hijikata Toshizo, and Hanami were the names of those watching the show.
The cursed spirit wearing a shabby black uniform typical of warriors in the past, crossed his arms. His eyes narrowed at the hot clouds caused by Hachiman's attack.
"Is that really Hikigaya Hachiman? He is much stronger than him in the Chiba Folk Museum incident," he said.
Geto looked at him for seconds, and then he brought his eyes back to the scene.
"Those who can use the Reverse Cursed Technique after going through all kinds of trial and error will have an extremely high understanding of cursed energy. The Hikigaya Hachiman you met before was a figure that had just hatched from his shell. Whereas he whom we see now is a person who has walked towards enlightenment."
"It still doesn't make sense. How could he use the Cursed Technique Reversal so many times? Didn't you say activating it required double the curse energy used?" asked Hijikata again.
"Because his cursed technique is a support-type, not a lethal technique. Because of that, the required cursed energy consumption was small. Users of support-type techniques like Hikigaya-kun, Nanami Kento, and Todo Aoi can activate their cursed techniques more frequently than sorcerers with offensive-type techniques with the same energy capacity."
"So, you're saying that Hikigaya Hachiman can use the Cursed Technique Reversal many times because the energy consumption isn't that much?"
Geto Suguru nodded.
"Exactly. Support-type techniques are generally not suitable for fighting on the front line. That's why sorcerers of this type hone Cursed Energy Reinforcement more. However, with the creativity of the user, they can use the technique in direct combat. There are plenty of examples too."
Geto paused before continuing.
"Nevertheless, jujutsu sorcery always opens up endless possibilities. There were many cases where a cursed technique could evolve and be able to do something out of the ordinary, but still within the concept of the technique. To reach that level, the user must be extraordinarily creative. And Hikigaya Hachiman fits the criteria."
Hijikata was still trying to digest the brief lecture that Geto had given. And after processing for a few seconds, he came up with a conclusion.
"Your spy who put the robot in Quanxi's body mentioned that the change of his technique when using Cursed Technique Reversal is Superposition. In short, he entered a state of exist and non-exist, like an unconfirmed illusion. It wasn't a lethal technique, and couldn't be used directly attack unless he cancelled the Superposition itself. As such, its energy consumption was not as high as Gojo Satoru's Red technique. Am I right?"
Geto nodded with a big smile. He liked to talk to level-headed like Hijikata, even if he was just a cursed spirit.
"That's how it is. Let's make a rough illustration. If the energy consumption used by Satoru to activate Red was 100 joules, with the same amount of energy, Hikigaya Hachiman could use his reversal technique several times more. That is the reason he can enter the superposition state multiple times."
While thinking about Geto's explanation, Hijikata suddenly remembered something. Hachiman, the character used in his name, was something familiar to a samurai like him.
"Hikigaya Hachiman, The Ratio of Scheme's Valley and The Eight Flags," Hijikata said emphatically, "He's not the avatar of Hachiman the God of War, is he?"
Geto chuckled at Hijikata's strange conclusion. However, for a samurai, Hijikata couldn't be faulted for thinking that way.
"Chill, my friend. The God of War never existed. If anything, The God of War had died 11 years ago at the hands of Buddha, at the hands of Gojo Satoru."
Hijikata frowned at Geto's reply. He didn't understand what the man was trying to convey. The only thing Hijikata could catch was that in the past, there was someone worthy of the title of God of War, and he was slain by Gojo Satoru. However, just as Hijikata was about to inquire further, he suddenly felt a drastic spike in cursed energy.
Hijikata then turned his attention to the lake, which had now become a battle arena. There he found a black ball of an enormous size. Without being told, he knew it was a barrier used to construct a Domain Expansion. Not long after, the silhouette of a man carrying a boy suddenly appeared outside the barrier wall.
That man has a striking feature. All the descriptions Hijikata had heard matched the man's features perfectly.
"Gojo Satoru," Hijikata muttered.
Seeing who had suddenly appeared, one of the three of them stiffened. She is Hanami. The white cursed spirit with a stocky body clenched her teeth. Even though her eye sockets lacked eyeballs and were instead twigs, anyone who saw her expression would agree that the cursed spirit's brain was in disarray after seeing Gojo Satoru.
The concern was not without reason. Even though Jogo managed to kill Hachiman inside the domain, Gojo Satoru was already waiting for him outside. In other words, no matter the outcome, Jogo would surely perish.
Without a second thought, Hanami was about to dash towards the scene. However, before she could do so, a shiny sword blade was now directly under her chin.
"If you dare to go there, I will finish you here," said Hijikata, brandishing his sword.
Hanami looked at Hijikata with disapproval.
"aRe YOu jUsT gOinG To lEt yOuR pArtNeR dIe LikE tHat?" said Hanami.
"He died because of his own stupidity."
"NOnseNsE i wiLl tAkE hiM befOrE hE iS exOrcIsEd."
Hijikata pressed his katana deeper into Hanami's neck and glared at the creature.
"And you're going to expose our position? Like I said. Rather than letting a stupid soldier make a fatal mistake in war, I will gladly behead that soldier."
An aura of hostility was clearly visible between the two special-grade cursed spirits. Worried that the conflict between the two would only end in losses on his part, Geto voiced his opinion.
However, before he said a single word, a burst of cursed energy was felt from the direction where the Domain Expansion barrier was located. From the outside, there were no significant changes. However, their instincts were screaming the same thing. Especially for Hijikata, the sensation was reminiscent of the experience when Hiratsuka took over his domain.
"Jogo lost to Hikigaya-kun in the domain clash?" muttered Geto in disbelief.
That event further emphasised that he had to prohibit Hanami from taking reckless actions.
"I agree with Hijikata. Jogo's domain has been swallowed up. His defeat by Hikigaya-kun is unavoidable. If you went there, you'd only be dropping your life on Satoru. I did let Jogo try his luck against Satoru, but I can't afford to lose any more than this."
Hanami was silent for a moment before answering.
"If i iNsiSt, wHat wiLl yOu dO?"
Geto looked at Hanami casually and still maintained his smile.
"I won't do anything. Like I said, Jogo has definitely lost to Hikigaya-kun and you will only perish at Satoru's hand if you go there. In short, it was just a pointless act. However, if you can hold back your anger, I will set the stage for you to avenge Jogo. Not only that, I will teach you about the most effective technique to break through Gojo Satoru's defence and touch Hikigaya Hachiman."
It's not like Hanami didn't understand the risks and impossibilities she faced if she dared to go pick up Jogo. However, the bond she forged with Jogo and the others made it difficult for her to accept his death. Common sense and desire to dominate each other in her decision-making. Geto, who saw it, did not remain silent and gave another touch to persuade the cursed spirit.
"If you die here too, there will only be Dagon left by Mahito's side. Even with Hijikata, it will decimate our combat power in your absence. In that way, not only will our plans fall apart, but Mahito will also be destroyed. You realise that potential, right?"
Bringing Mahito's name, this touch turned around Hanami's raging mental state. She not only bonded with Jogo but also with Mahito and Dagon. Losing Jogo was indeed a heavy blow for her. However, Geto alluding to another bond she had that might break in the future, brought Hanami to her senses.
"oKAy."
That brief reply made Geto smile in satisfaction. He then stood up from his seat and walked into the forest. However, before the dense trees swallowed him up, the man gave advice to the two cursed spirits.
"Let's go. The sorcerers are coming soon and it won't be good for me. Moreover, be prepared because I will teach you a technique that can destroy all forms of defence, the Domain Amplification."
—To Be Continued—
Author Note: lol I just realised this chapter didn't upload after I opened my account to update my Yuta fanfic yesterday. my bad, really sorry. I don't know why, but maybe I had network problems when i uploaded this chapter last week.
This chapter is the climax of the third arc, or the Haruno saga. I hope you're not confused by my explanation of Hachiman's domain. There are many things I want to write in the narrative. However, I felt it would make the narrative float and move away from the point of the fight. So, I wrote a separate explanation about his domain in this author note.
First of all, if you still remember, Hachiman had a lot of trouble, even if it was just deploying his innate domain. And the reason was because of his innate domain's characteristics itself. As I had written, Hachiman's domain literally takes him and his targets into the sub-atomic realm. Being in the subatomic realm is basically smaller than the atom itself. In other words, Hachiman's size while inside the domain is smaller than oxygen, which is a molecule for breathing. And of course, he couldn't breathe if he was smaller than oxygen. Because of that, he couldn't realise his domain and felt like his entire body was crushed if he forced it.
Hachiman failed to deploy his domain because he never had a comprehensive understanding of its characteristics. Why? without all due respect, it was because Satoru (who was his first year teacher in jujutsu school) was a bad teacher. Satoru is a genius, the strongest, and an extraordinary sorcerer. I admit that. However, he didn't display the feats of a good teacher. Maki was the one who taught Yuta how to fight, and he learned about jujutsu with help from Toge and Panda. So did Yuuji. Instead, he learned a lot from Nanami and Todo. I'm not saying Satoru didn't give them anything. What I'm trying to say is Satoru giving an outline of what his students should do, then letting them figure out the details themselves through the experiences in the field. And that's what made Hachiman cannot create a domain because its characteristics were too complicated to be dissected alone.
That's why, when Hachiman came to Hiratsuka, he immediately experienced rapid improvement because, as you can read in the previous chapters, Hiratsuka gave a clear road map of the steps Hachiman had to take. And if you remember, Hiratsuka's first directive was to have Hachiman learn RCT (Reverse Cursed Technique) in parallel with DE (Domain Expansion). It wasn't like Hiratsuka already knew what would happen if he mastering the RCT. However, by studying the RCT, it is tantamount to Hachiman trying to understand himself at a much deeper level.
That was because the RCT could only be used after a sorcerer understood core of the core of cursed energy. In fact, Satoru could only use it on the verge of death. And with Hachiman's superposition ability, he understands the quantum world much better and knows that there are laws of its own that support life in the macro-verse so that he can breathe even though he is smaller than oxygen. And he implements it within his domain, so he (and thus his target) can still breathe within it. Well, my reference is from the Ant-Man anyway, so you don't need to think too complicated about the laws of physics for the macro-verse that I mentioned.
That's all from me. By the way, I've uploaded a preview of the next chapter on my patre0n, and I'll upload the full chapter tomorrow. So, you guys can visit my page. And please support me by subscribe me on "patre0n+dot+com/akadaka" (please replace "0" to "o", change "dot" to ".". and remove the "+". Sorry for the inconveniences because this site blocked the word and i can't provide the link). See you and stay safe.