Curse of Ignorance Ch 13

I sat cross-legged on my bed, just thinking. I didn't feel like training. After all, there was a chance that it would be pointless anyway. Of course, I was thinking about the offer to go down the path of an auxiliary manager instead of becoming a jujutsu sorcerer.

At first glance, it was a dream come true. It was a role that did not put me in direct danger. All I would have to do was handle all the stuff that wasn't the actual process of exorcism for a jujutsu sorcerer, from transportation, to mission briefings, to Curtains.

There was that term again, Curtains. I still didn't know what they were. I've heard the term twice before, once during the phone call with Mr. Amano, and the second time just today. Judging by how both Juba-sensei and Mr. Amano talk about it, it seems to be a pretty vital skill, one that I'm guessing has something to do with hiding the process of exorcising cursed spirits.

But never mind that. That's not the focus of my thoughts. I am more worried about whether I should take this offer. Being an auxiliary manager means that I wouldn't be put in direct combat, which should automatically lower my chances of dying. That was unambiguously amazing, but Juba-sensei seemed to be hyping up the position, without mentioning any downsides at all. That didn't seem right to me. There must be some sort of price that balances out the increased safety.

I needed to find out what this price was. Would the library have any information about auxiliary managers? I don't really remember seeing a book title hinting at that sort of topic from my past trips to the library, but considering the nonexistent sorting system used, I'd give it a 50/50 chance that the library contains the information I need. Let's just leave that as Plan B for now.

If books can't give me what I need, then I need to turn to people for the answer. Juba-sensei is immediately ruled out. If he didn't tell me about any drawbacks the first time, then there's no way that he's going to tell me the second time.

On that note, all the teachers are a little iffy, since I don't know if Juba-sensei not mentioning any downsides stems from a personal agenda or if it's a school policy. There's also the fact that there aren't really many teachers besides Juba-sensei that I know. I kind of know Shirawachi-sensei, but even then, that's more a "we've been in the same general area" instead of a "we've had multiple conversations" sort of situation. All the other teachers are just people that I see passing by when going from one place to another. I don't even know their names.

My thoughts turned to the two business cards I kept with my school supplies. Maybe they could be of use? Upon thinking on it further, though, I didn't think that they were the right people to approach either. It all came down to the fact that there really was no incentive for them to give me advice. With the teachers, I could at least lean on the teacher-student relationship. It's the role of a teacher to give guidance, so it's more likely than not that they'll tell me something even if it might not be the truth. Mr. Amano and Mr. Aizen, though, could just completely refuse to tell me anything. They would be right to do so too, since guiding kids on their career choices is not part of their job description.

My last option is Gojo Satoru. He's part of this big clan of sorcerers, which means that he's been in this environment since he was born. This means that it's likely he knows about auxiliary managers and drawbacks to being one, since they're apparently pretty integral to the process of exorcisms. The fact that I have a history of trading information with him in the past and have built a rapport with him is also a point in favor of the "ask Gojo" option.

Having evaluated each option on who to approach, I have come to the conclusion that Gojo Satoru is the way to go. Every other option has some aspect that makes them a less than ideal choice. Talking to Gojo has no such thing, unless you count the fact acquiring the information I want in a trade of information necessitates that I give away information as a con, which I don't. It makes sense that I have to pay some sort of price in order to get what I want.

With my course of action decided, I only needed to wait until I could talk to Gojo Satoru next.

As soon as classes ended on the next day, I immediately set off at a brisk walk. Sometime over the summer break, the training field that Shirawachi-sensei's class uses had been repaired, meaning that Gojo Satoru was not as accessible as before. Thankfully, I knew where their training field was from my previous investigations, so this was not that big of an obstacle.

In almost no time at all, I made it to my destination. The training field looked good. The crater and spire of stone from my memories were gone, replaced by a level, rectangular field of packed dirt. The jujutsu school even went as far as to plant grass and tree saplings to replace the vegetation that was lost. All in all, you could barely tell that something had completely destroyed the place in the past.

I didn't pay this much mind, though, as I searched the field for Gojo Satoru. I was lucky. Today seemed to be a sparring day for Shirawachi-sensei's class. Two students were battling it out under a hemispherical barrier, signaling to me that class has not yet been dismissed for them. This meant that the white kimono of Gojo Satoru was standing still in a single spot, and thus easily spotted.

I didn't approach yet, since I didn't want to cause trouble by disrupting Shirawachi-sensei's class. Waiting a few more minutes wouldn't be the end of the world, as long as I still had Gojo Satoru in sight.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as the two figures under the dome fought, locked in a battle of martial arts. To my amateur eye, the spar looked to be pretty close. The two of them were exchanging punches, blocks, kicks, and attempted counters for multiple rounds before a decisive mistake occurred. One student's leg lingered for too long after a kick, long enough for the other student to grab it, pull on it in order to get them off balance, trip them, and pin them. The barrier dome covering them disappeared.

After a couple minutes of discussion led by Shirawachi-sensei that I didn't hear too clearly, the group of students dispersed. This was my chance.

I walked towards Gojo. As soon as I started moving, he immediately turned to face my direction. That never stopped being creepy. As soon as I got into conversation distance, the sounds of the surrounding area immediately cut out. I recognized it as the barrier-like thing that Gojo can do. I knew that if I reached behind me, I would find that my arm reached a point where it would just stop, unable to reach any further. Gojo spoke, voice loudly cutting through the silence.

"If you came to ask about when you can visit, it's going to take a bit longer. We're still preparing."

I shook my head at that. "No, that's not what I'm here for. I have something else I want to know, so I want to trade for it. Information for information."

Gojo perked up at that. "Well what do you want to know? Do you want to know the method to tell which of your clone teachers is the original? Maybe you want to know what Shirawachi-sensei's innate curse technique is? None of us in his class have seen it in action, you know!"

The strangeness of that last statement made me speak unintentionally. "Wait, you mean that those domes aren't an innate curse technique?"

"Nope!" came the reply. "Those are just a barrier technique. It's something that everyone can learn. Maybe you want to learn it too? Masters of barrier techniques can do some crazy things, but it's hard to get to that point in the first place. It's best to start early."

I was briefly tempted, but this wasn't what I came here for. I decided to give Gojo a bit of context before asking my question. "So, I was given the chance to change tracks from becoming a sorcerer to becoming an auxiliary manager—"

"Oh, because you have no innate curse technique, right? Makes sense."

My train of thought was brought to a screeching halt at that unexpected interjection. "How did you know that!?"

Gojo grinned, tapping with a finger at the corner of his eye. "My eyes are special, you know? They can see a lot of things, including whether someone has an innate curse technique or not."

I was briefly rendered speechless at that. I knew from the first time that I saw them that those eyes were unnatural, but the ability that they held wasn't the focus of my thoughts.

So it's confirmed for sure that I have no innate curse technique, huh? This time, there was no vague notion that "maybe it'll show up later" to hide behind. That hurts.

Still, I pushed that feeling aside. There was no time for emotions when I needed to get all the information I needed to decide my future.

I continued from where I left off. "I want to know what I'm going to be getting into if I choose that path. Juba-sensei told me a lot about the upsides, but didn't tell me about any of the downsides. I want you to fill in those gaps for me."

"Boo! Ask a more interesting question!" Despite complaining about the quality of my request, Gojo answered anyway. "The downsides are just things that you could have come up with if you thought about it for a bit. There's no super secret trap that'll ruin you or anything."

He held up a hand in order to count the number of detriments as he went.

One. "Part of being an auxiliary manager is being at the site of the exorcism to put up Curtains. There's a chance that the sorcerer sent dies and the cursed spirit inside escapes. If that happens, you're pretty much guaranteed to be dead. So, you're putting your life in the sorcerer's hands."

Two. "Another part of the job is researching mysterious incidents in order to find cursed spirits for the sorcerers to exorcise. That's time you're not spending on training, so you'll probably end up weaker than if you went down the route of a sorcerer."

Three. "There's a lot of curses and not enough sorcerers, so sorcerers are almost always tired. Since you are in a role that works closely with sorcerers, you're always going to be tired too."

Four. "You're not doing the killing, so you get none of the glory, if you care about that."

"And… that's it, I think."

These consequences weren't too bad. The one I was most leery about was the whole "if the sorcerer dies and the cursed spirit escapes, you are pretty much guaranteed to be dead" part. Still, even that has some clear solutions. Either find a way to make sure the cursed spirit doesn't escape, or become very good at running away in case the cursed spirit does escape.

Ideas quickly came to mind when considering the issue. Gojo said that it's possible for anyone to learn to use that dome that Shirawachi-sensei uses, right? He called it a "barrier technique". I had the feeling that I've seen a book with that sort of topic in the library, so that was one possible avenue to pursue.

Having learned that the downsides of becoming an auxiliary manager were only up to this level, I felt relieved. I could take Juba-sensei's offer with a clear conscience.

Having gotten what I wanted out of this conversation, I made to wrap it up. "Right. Thanks. What do I owe you?"

Gojo waved a hand through the air with a mildly annoyed expression on his face. "Like I said, you should have asked a more interesting question! The information you asked for was barely worth anything. Any information I would want to know wouldn't be so trivial. You don't have to pay me back. If you really care about this, then just consider it already paid for by your promise to tell me what you are."

I… guess that makes sense? I decided to just be grateful for the favor, even though Gojo's stated reasoning wasn't all that benevolent. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and all that.

"Alright. Thank you. I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah, yeah. See you later and all that."

With our parting words exchanged, the sound blocking barrier around us collapsed, letting the noise of the world into this space once more. We parted ways.

After class the next day, I didn't immediately move to leave, as I usually did. Instead, I approached the Juba-sensei clone that was in charge of my group.

Juba-sensei, seeing this, addressed me. "Gosho, was there something you wanted to talk about? Were you perhaps confused by a part of my lessons?"

"No, it's not that. Not too long ago, you talked about the possibility for me to become an auxiliary manager in the future, right? Well, I thought it over, and came to a decision. I want to go through with it. Becoming an auxiliary manager, I mean."

A moment passed as Juba-sensei processed my words. As the realization sunk in, an uncharacteristic soft smile crept across my usually serious teacher's face. "So you have? Good, good. I'm relieved. I'll make the necessary arrangements, then."

At an unseen signal, one of the Juba-sensei's that wasn't preoccupied walked off. Judging by the direction he was going, it looked like he was going to the teacher's dorm.

The Juba-sensei in front of me paid no attention to that. Instead, he asked me, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you end up deciding to go through with becoming an auxiliary manager?"

I was a bit caught off guard. I thought this was going to be a quick thing. Go in, tell Juba-sensei about my decision, and get out. Why did he have to turn this into an interview? I resolved to be as vague as possible, so he has as little to work with as possible, in terms of continuing the conversation.

"Well, I just weighed the pros and cons. I felt that the pros of becoming an auxiliary manager outweighed the cons, so I decided to become one."

It seemed to work, since Juba-sensei's response was just, "That's a good practice to keep when you're making decisions. That kind of thinking will take you far in life."

I saw the opportunity to end the conversation there, so I took it. "Thank you. If there's nothing else, then I'll be going."

"Alright, then. Goodbye."

As I walked away, someone else moved up to take my spot. I was able to catch the beginnings of their conversation before the voices became so faint that I couldn't make out the words anymore.

"Juba-sensei, I had a question about—"

All in all, I think that the conversation went well. My path for the future has been secured. Now, all I had to worry about was taking steps to walk down that path.