Lin Ran's Noodles

After getting dressed, Lin Ran headed alone to the "private" kitchen. It was so late that he felt too embarrassed to go to the cafeteria to make food, and there was no one inside.

However, he still had noodles in his own kitchen, along with some seasonings and side ingredients. Making a bowl of noodles was simple enough.

By the time Yuji Itadori arrived, Lin Ran had already put the noodles on.

Just as he had expected, Fushiguro Megumi came too, and Nobara Kugisaki had come with him. Although Nobara looked a little sleepy, she had still shown up.

"I'm saying, it's already past eleven at night. Instead of sleeping at this hour, you call this young lady over for a late-night snack..."

"You came on your own. I asked you earlier," Yuji Itadori cut her off before she could finish.

Indeed, Nobara Kugisaki had originally been getting ready for bed. But when she heard Yuji Itadori say that Lin Ran was making a late-night snack, she might have wanted to sleep, but she wanted even more to try Lin Ran's cooking. After all, his skills had been endorsed by three men.

"So... is the late-night snack ready?" Fushiguro Megumi looked toward Lin Ran and the noodles in his pot.

The noodles had only just gone into the pot, so they would need a little longer.

"You guys sit over there for a bit. It'll be ready soon." Lin Ran smiled, though his hands never stopped moving.

Once the three of them sat down, the sleepy feeling faded as soon as they caught the scent of Lin Ran's noodles.

"It smells so good..." Nobara Kugisaki's nose twitched, and she swallowed unconsciously. Judging by the aroma alone, Lin Ran's cooking skills might really not be for show.

Yuji Itadori and Fushiguro Megumi were naturally affected as well. But since they had eaten Lin Ran's cooking before, their reactions were not as strong as Nobara Kugisaki's. Still, there was no denying that it smelled incredible.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Lin Ran carried the bowls over, serving Nobara Kugisaki first, then Fushiguro Megumi and Yuji Itadori, with his own bowl coming last.

Nobara Kugisaki looked down at the simple bowl of noodles, unable to imagine how good it could possibly taste. But the aroma was so tempting that she picked up a mouthful with her chopsticks and put it into her mouth.

Softness, chewiness, and fragrance instantly spread through her mouth, the sensation reaching its peak in an instant. An overwhelming sense of satisfaction welled up inside her.

"So... so delicious!" Nobara Kugisaki truly could not describe the flavor. Even her face had flushed.

It looked like an utterly ordinary bowl of noodles, lacking the flashy colors and variety of ingredients found in restaurants outside. Yet it left an incredibly deep impression. Nobara Kugisaki felt that this was the best bowl of noodles she had ever eaten.

"It's so good!" Yuji Itadori lifted his bowl, and in the blink of an eye, he had even finished the soup. "It's way too delicious. It's not enough at all."

"Ah, you ate that fast?" Nobara Kugisaki was stunned by Yuji Itadori's speed. Looking down at how much noodles she still had left, she decided she needed to savor them slowly.

Although Fushiguro Megumi did not say a word, the way he kept eating noodles without stopping made his opinion perfectly clear.

Lin Ran also began eating then. That left Yuji Itadori sitting there alone, drooling as he watched the other three. He had eaten too fast. He had only meant to fill his stomach a little, but now he realized that eating had somehow made him even hungrier.

In the end, Nobara Kugisaki finished her bowl of noodles completely, leaving not even a drop of soup behind. Honestly, it was rare for a young girl to clean out such a big bowl so thoroughly.

Only after finishing did Nobara Kugisaki realize that she had eaten a little too cleanly, and she could not help feeling embarrassed.

"Lin Ran, I never realized you had this kind of skill before. When I lived upstairs from you, why didn't you bring me up a bowl of noodles?" Lin Ran had won over Nobara Kugisaki's stomach.

"It was already good enough that you didn't beat me up back then. How would I have dared bring you noodles?" Lin Ran joked. In truth, it seemed that Nobara Kugisaki had always eaten before coming home back then.

"I... was I really that fierce?" Nobara Kugisaki grew a little embarrassed. Thinking back, her attitude toward Lin Ran had indeed been rather cold.

"Alright, I'm not someone who holds grudges, right, Yuji? Fushiguro?" Lin Ran laughed and looked toward Yuji Itadori and Fushiguro Megumi.

"Mm-hmm!" "Yeah, mm!"

"Hey, Yuji, you wash these bowls. I'm going back to sleep." Lin Ran stood and stretched.

"Fushiguro, come with me?" Yuji Itadori had known who would be washing the dishes from the moment they started eating, but he wanted to drag Fushiguro Megumi into it with him.

"You can handle these few bowls by yourself." Fushiguro Megumi wiped his mouth with a napkin. "The noodles were good."

"Stop making excuses. Are you expecting a beautiful girl like me to wash your dishes?" Nobara Kugisaki shot Yuji Itadori a glance.

"What kind of beautiful girl is this? Is there even a beautiful girl this fierce?" Yuji Itadori snorted as he gathered the bowls and chopsticks into a stack.

"What did you say?!" Full and energized, Nobara Kugisaki looked ready to rush over and smack Yuji Itadori on the head.

"Come on, let's go back and sleep. Don't wake Teacher Gojo in the middle of the night, or I'll have to make another bowl of noodles." Lin Ran hurriedly pushed Nobara Kugisaki away.

After the three left, Yuji Itadori was the only one left in the kitchen washing dishes. Still, he was quite happy about it. If he had eaten those noodles outside, they definitely would have been ridiculously expensive.

Several days later, Lin Ran had completely mastered Cursed Energy Output. Since acquiring this ability, it had been an enormous help to him.

For one thing, his field of vision had become much broader. He could see relatively distant things. Though they were not very clear and appeared only as vague impressions, it was equivalent to having a detector.

Second, he could use his own cursed energy to manipulate objects within this range of perception. For example, trash on the ground could float directly into the garbage bin, a desk lamp could be switched off with cursed energy, and a refrigerator could be opened with cursed energy.

He could even make a shirtless Yuji Itadori put on clothes, though that was rather difficult.

But as Lin Ran's control over Cursed Energy Output improved, it would become more skillful and precise.

Most importantly, Cursed Energy Output could increase the purity of cursed energy and form cursed energy attacks. In other words, when Lin Ran threw a punch, even before his fist physically hit the opponent, he could use Cursed Energy Output to create a shadow of his fist and attack them.

It was like enlarging and extending his own fist, allowing him to strike the opponent's body more safely and effectively, causing damage.

At the same time, it could work together with Cursed Energy Armor to create two-way protection around his body, making his defenses even stronger than before.

As for whether Cursed Energy Output had any other, better functions, Lin Ran had yet to find out. But even these abilities alone were already enough.

Another reason Lin Ran had come to Jujutsu High was to learn jujutsu. Once he learned the jujutsu here and combined it with his own abilities, he should be able to unleash an extremely powerful effect.

However, Lin Ran had only been here for a short while. It obviously would not be appropriate to ask to learn jujutsu now. He would bring it up with Satoru Gojo after some time had passed.

What Lin Ran did not know was that jujutsu and innate techniques were engraved into one's body at birth. Learning them later in life was almost impossible.