Curse of Ignorance Ch 3
Hahahaha! Mwahahahaha! I AM A GENIUS! Unparalleled beneath the heavens! Suck it, Juba-sensei! Who needs something as pitiful as rest when you can practice magic instead? Today, I may have merely gained the ability to sense my own cursed energy, but I'm sure that in no time at all, I will have achieved the impossible! Immortality! Infinite power! The adoration of the masses!
I stood up from my seated position on my bed, ready to declare the news of my glorious triumph to all who will listen. Blood rushed to my head and my vision darkened as my body struggled to accommodate this sudden change in elevation. Woah. I lost my balance and fell backwards, flopping down gracelessly on top of the bed.
You know, this is kind of comfortable. I'm just going to rest my eyes a little bit….
I passed out. Now with a refreshed and clearer mind, it was kind of obvious that this was going to happen. This body is used to sleeping throughout the night. As it should be, considering that it is still growing and all that. Suddenly trying to force myself to stay up all night working was never going to work out well. Still, I would have considered it worth it if I passed out long enough to pay off the sleep-debt that I accrued. I mean, it's magic! It will always be worth it!
Anyways, my ideal scenario of cashing in on a well-earned rest did not come to pass. Instead, I was rudely awakened by the sound of someone pounding on my door. And when I say pounding, I mean pounding. It sounded more like they were using my door as a punching bag instead of trying to get my attention.
I wanted to believe that some weirdo just so happened to choose my door to serve as a punching bag and go back to sleep. Unfortunately, whoever was pounding on my door was also calling my name, which meant that I just couldn't ignore them and claim that I didn't know that they were looking for me.
Bang bang bang!
"Hello! Anyone home? Hellooo?"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Gosho? I came to get you! Are you still sleeping?"
For a moment, everything was silent. I thought that whoever was at the door had given up and I could go back to sleep, until—
BANG!
Everything in my room rattled and shook from the force of the impact. I guess I won't be able to sleep after all.
I stood up, giving one last, longing look at my bed, before making my way over to the door. I reached out, undid the lock, and opened the door, just in time to see a fist stop abruptly in front of my face. The resulting wind pushed my hair every which way, giving me a glimpse into just how bad it would have been if I had actually been hit. Scary.
What's even scarier is that the boy in front of me isn't even a fully trained sorcerer. He looked familiar. Seeing as I have only seen Juba-sensei, Mister Amano, and the various kids in my class around here before, and this kid definitely wasn't Juba-sensei or Mister Amano, it stood to reason that the boy standing in front of me was a student in my class.
No five year old kid should be this strong. Just imagine! If he's this strong now, how strong will he be as an adult? I felt a shiver run down my spine. The hypothetical adult version of this kid could probably snap my spine in an instant!
While I was busy contemplating how easy it would be for an adult sorcerer to kill me, the boy in front of me was chattering away, making grand sweeping gestures with his arms to illustrate his points and not noticing that I was not paying attention to him.
"—and then Juba-sensei told me to go get you and then I was like where is he and then Juba-sensei told me where your room was and then I went to get you and then I knocked on your door and now you're here! I'm Nishide Shoma by the way, I just realized that I know your name and you don't know mine because you just showed up yesterday and don't know anyone—"
I tuned the sound of Nishide's voice back out. I wanted to sleep, I really did, but I don't see any way to get out of this situation. I looked down at myself. I was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, seeing as I didn't bother changing before jumping right into magic training and then subsequently passing out. With a sigh, I put on my shoes, grabbed the backpack I left by the door, and walked towards class, with Nishide following along and talking to me the whole way.
Today's class was boring. Instead of the high-intensity one-on-one tutoring of yesterday, I was instead placed in various groups throughout the day, having to learn normal subjects like math, science, history. Math for five year olds isn't exactly the most intellectually stimulating thing in the world for someone like me, who had passed that stage in my life a literal lifetime ago. I would have been happy at this development since I could probably do the work in my literal sleep, and I planned to do exactly that, except for the fact that Juba-sensei didn't let me sleep.
I tried pulling out all the excuses in the world and even resorted to telling Juba-sensei about how I spent all night practicing and am now capable of sensing my own cursed energy at will. It was all in vain. Instead of recognizing me for my amazing genius, Juba-sensei instead told me that I "have to deal with the consequences of my own actions".
I have to give Juba-sensei a little credit, though. When I told him that math and science were boring to me because I already knew everything, Juba-sensei tested me on my knowledge and then moved me up to the highest level math and science groups that he was equipped to teach. However, that just means that Juba-sensei was teaching me algebra instead of teaching me long division, which was still pretty boring because I still knew everything.
The only subject that was interesting was history, partly because I didn't know too much Japanese history, so even the basic stuff was new and interesting, and partly because sometimes Juba-sensei randomly threw in stuff about historic events on the supernatural side of things that I would never have had a chance to know before.
On the bright side, being taught in a small group instead of one-on-one meant that I could get to know my classmates better. I met a bunch of people and learned their names, like… uh… Daniel? Wait, I totally just made that name up.
Okay, fine, I'll admit it. Even though I had the chance to get to know my classmates better, I didn't take advantage of it. Why would you do such a thing, you ask? Well, besides the fact that I'm a socially awkward introvert, it just kind of felt like everyone already knew everyone and already had their established friend groups, you know? It would feel weird to intrude on that. Besides, when I get a super awesome innate curse technique, people will be flocking to me anyways! Who needs friends when you can have minions willing to put their life on the line to protect you and your awesome power?
After lunch, the routine was the same as before. Exercising, punches, kicks, and more exercising. Painfully boring stuff. Magic practice, though? Now that's the good stuff! I may be in the same group as before, the group with the lowest level of skill with cursed energy, but I am a different man than the one that I was yesterday! For I have gained the ability to sense my own cursed energy! This means that my goal for this session is to gain enough control over my cursed energy to stop it from leaking into the environment and forming curses. Juba-sensei had already taught me the method to do such a thing and is now mostly leaving me to my own devices, since I have no need for his assistance in sensing my own cursed energy.
The method to stop the leaking of cursed energy was surprisingly simple. Just make your cursed energy flow hard and fast. Of course, the flow has to be constructed in such a way that it contains itself, instead of just spraying cursed energy everywhere forcefully. The most simple way to do it is to form a whirlpool of cursed energy within yourself. The flow of the whirlpool will drag all the cursed energy inwards. Any cursed energy that wants to escape will be forcefully dragged along by the surrounding cursed energy.
The best part about this method is that even when you stop concentrating on it, your cursed energy will still contain itself, due to the momentum that you have given it. So, if at any point you don't have the concentration to actively maintain this flow, for example, if you were sleeping, your cursed energy still won't leak for a while. Higher level jujutsu sorcerers will construct the flow of their cursed energy such that it follows the pattern of their innate curse technique, allowing for faster and better casting. That's something to worry about in the future, though. Right now, all I have to do is make my curse energy flow hard and fast. Easy, right?
Yeah, sure, if you ignore the fact that currently, I have no idea how to move my own cursed energy. I can sense it, which gives me a starting point to work from, but that's nowhere near enough. Right now, I'm trying to split my focus three ways, with very little success. I still need two parts of my focus to be working on increasing my negative emotions and sensing the cursed energy that results. The third part of my focus is supposed to be attempting to move the cursed energy that I sense by thinking really hard at it or something. I haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still struggling to free up enough focus to even attempt to move my cursed energy at this point.
That's when I had an epiphany. What if, instead of trying to do everything all at once, I quickly alternated between the two, sensing my cursed energy and then attempting to move it? I don't need to be sensing my cursed energy at the same time that I move it! I immediately put this new method to the test. It was good. Certainly easier than trying to split my focus three ways, that's for sure. But… my cursed energy still barely moved.
For the rest of the session, I tried everything I could think of. I directed my thoughts towards my cursed energy with more force. I commanded it to move. I begged it to move. I started talking to it out loud. I chanted until words didn't seem real anymore. I tried breathing in a bunch of different ways. I tried using hand signs that I made up on the spot.
And the result of all this? The good news is that I certainly have control over my cursed energy. Before, I was scared that I was misinterpreting the random natural movements of cursed energy as something caused by my actions. Now, cursed energy has moved in the direction that I wanted enough times that I'm sure that this is not the case. The bad news is that this movement is slow. It's probably on par with the speed of a snail. On top of that, the various "alternative methods" of moving cursed energy that I tried were more often than not worse than useless. Seriously. When trying a breathing technique or a hand sign or whatever else, my cursed energy actually moves slower than normal, which I didn't think was possible. I guess the default of "move your cursed energy by sitting still and thinking" is a default for a reason.
I scanned the dining hall, tray of food in hand, looking for a place to sit. The hall was full of people sitting at tables, eating food, and chatting with each other. I could recognize some familiar faces that probably belonged to people in my class, but the vast majority of the people here were people that I didn't recognize, probably from other classes. Maybe they were older than I was and thus they were placed in a separate class? I couldn't really tell, they all looked like children to me.
Either way, there were a lot of people here, which meant that there were no empty tables that I could go to. I could take some empty seat at an already occupied table, but that would be weird. If I was in their position, I would be creeped out if someone I didn't know suddenly decided they wanted to sit at my table, empty seat or not.
The issue was that I had no friends. If I was friendly with someone, I could just sit with them. Instead, my lack of social skills has come to bite me in the back yet again.
A hand clapped on my shoulder, causing me to jump at the unexpected contact.
"Hey! What're you doing, standing around like that?"
The owner of the hand on my shoulder and the voice speaking to me was a boy taller than me, dressed in casual clothes and holding a tray of food in the hand that wasn't on my shoulder.
"Ah, I was looking for a place to sit. I just got here yesterday and don't know anyone, and it would be awkward to ask a stranger if I could sit…."
My voice trailed off as I voiced my worries. Speaking out loud, it felt kind of silly to be so skittish about social interaction. The boy laughed, almost spilling his food all over the floor before he steadied himself.
"A new member of the youngest class, huh? Come on! You can sit with me and my friends!"
With that, he started walking away, not even bothering to check if I was following. Of course, I was. It was a perfect opportunity. It's almost like I'm blessed, with how much things are going my way right now.
We came to a square table that could seat eight people, two to each side. Five people were already sitting, eating, and chatting with each other. A girl sitting on the side that was facing where we came from noticed our arrival before everyone else.
"Hayato! What took you so long?" Her eyes turned to me, narrowing in suspicion. "And who's the kid?"
Hayato laughed sheepishly. "Well, I was having trouble deciding if I wanted to have rice or noodles for dinner." Then his expression turned triumphant, like he found a great solution to his dilemma. "But then I found this guy who looked lost! He told me that he didn't know anyone and didn't have anywhere to sit, so I offered for him to sit with us! Aren't I such a great senpai?"
The girl sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Just get here quicker next time, okay?"
And with that, she turned to her friends around her, reengaging in conversation with them. Hayato took a seat and did the same, ignoring me in favor of his friends. Finally, I took a seat myself. Sure, it feels kind of bad to be ignored, but I still think in the end I win, because that means that I don't have to engage in social interaction!
Besides, I'm perfectly content to eavesdrop on this group's interesting conversations. One thing in particular caught my attention. It was a guy slumped over the table, resting his head in his arms.
"Man, I don't even know why Shirawachi-sensei has Gojo spar with anyone. He's just too strong! I don't even think I even got his clothes dirty, much less landed a hit!"
Another boy shook his head in commiseration for his friend.
"Yeah, that's the Gojo clan shining through in him. They don't call the Gojo clan part of the Three Great Clans for no reason. On top of that, he's a genius that makes other geniuses seem normal. I mean, both Limitless and Six Eyes? There's just no winning against that. I don't know why the Gojo clan lets him go to this school, instead of giving him private training."
The first boy scoffed.
"Obviously, it's because Gojo's a one-in-a-million talent. Talent's no good if you don't show it off, you know? And the way they chose to show it off is by having Gojo beat down on us poor weaklings."
After that, the conversation turned to less interesting topics. Still, a lot of knowledge was gained from this short conversation. Gojo clan? Limitless? Six Eyes? That's something that I can look into later. For now, just the knowledge that there's a one-in-a-million talent attending my school makes me feel safe. After all, he's going to be an adult around the time I am. That means that if there's some super strong monster threatening people, it's going to be him, not me, that's going to be sent to deal with it.
I ate my food in peace, listening for other interesting conversations.
Not too long later, I found myself in front of the library. It was quite a large building, built in the traditional Japanese style that this school seemed to favor. About an hour and a half before this, I decided that I wasn't going to try to pull another all-nighter trying to succeed in one day. Because of that, I actually got to eat a hot meal for dinner, instead of just a roll of bread, which was a major plus. However, I was feeling the urge to read something, which is why I am at the library now, which I have never been to before.
I pushed open the doors, and was greeted by a dark interior, with rows and rows of shelves arrayed in a way that allowed for as much storage as possible. Walking in, I felt at the walls, trying to find a light switch.
I called out into the darkness.
"Hello? Could you turn on the lights?"
Other than the echo of my voice bouncing back towards me, I heard nothing. It seemed like the library was empty.
I inspected the books by the entrance, using the light let in through the open doors, trying to find a title that grabbed my attention.
"Musings on the Role of Shikigami in Combat"? "Chanting Throughout the Ages"? "Hand Signs and You: A Guide to Finding the Right Sign"? It seemed like these books were all about jujutsu sorcery. While I wouldn't say no to learning more about magic, I kind of just wanted to find a nice, relaxing fictional story to read, not exercise my brain any further.
I looked at the darkness shrouding most of the contents of the library. Even if I decided to go further in, I wouldn't even be able to read the titles of the books to find one that I liked. I decided to just borrow one of the books by the entrance. I took the one on hand signs and left the library, intending to go back home and catch back up on the sleep that I missed last night.