Doubt

"Your technique... is truly powerful."

Hajime Kashimo nodded as he bit into the meat pie in his hand.

"...But I have a question."

"If it's something like why I didn't kill you, then spare me. Everyone I let go asks me that."

Xuan tossed another homemade meat pie to Hajime Kashimo, then sat in the room with a huge hole blasted through it, looking out at the battlefield's utter devastation.

"...It was Kenjaku, wasn't it?"

"You could say that."

Hajime Kashimo caught the meat pie and did not bring up the matter again. He merely pondered the sensation he had experienced within the chaos, where even time itself had become distorted.

"How long can that technique last at most?"

"A hundred years."

"How long did I experience?"

"Three months."

Hajime Kashimo sighed—by that logic, if he had taken the full effect of Chaos, he probably would have been paralyzed by the aftereffects for quite some time after coming out.

"What a terrifying move. I never want to take it a second time for the rest of my life."

Hajime Kashimo tossed the paper wrapper in his hand into the nearby trash can. Then, gripping his Ruyi Staff, he looked at Xuan before him.

"That isn't all your technique can do, is it? If you kept bombarding me with those techniques, I doubt I'd survive even a second."

"Don't say that."

Xuan waved a hand.

"Your cursed energy should be enough, shouldn't it?"

"Maybe it wouldn't be."

Hajime Kashimo silently turned away, braced himself against the bed, and lay down.

"Besides, I haven't used that move in a long time. What's wrong with giving it a try...?"

Hajime Kashimo remained silent. After a while, he suddenly turned over, propped up his head, and looked at Xuan.

"...I have a question. Different from the previous one."

Xuan nodded, signaling for Hajime Kashimo to ask.

"Were you born the strongest, or did you become the strongest later?"

"What kind of question is that? No matter how strong someone is, if you kill them while they're still a baby, they'll die too."

"...Then, as someone who became the strongest later, how do you get along with people?"

An expectant look appeared on Hajime Kashimo's ordinarily impassive face. In turn, Xuan held nothing back as he answered.

"Normally."

"...Even with ordinary people—people you could turn to dust with a light squeeze, people who would vanish completely with a single breath—you still interact with them normally?"

"You seem to have fallen into a misconception... We're human first, and sorcerers second. If being too strong makes you lose your human side, then what's the difference between you and a curse?"

"..."

Hajime Kashimo fell silent.

"Even if you see everyone around you as talking flowers, as the earth that answers when you speak to it, you're still living among people—would you stop seeing yourself as the same kind as them just because you could kill them with a wave of your hand?"

"Perhaps... I would."

Hajime Kashimo turned back around and no longer looked at Xuan. As Xuan spoke, he leaned closer.

"You're very lonely, aren't you? I can smell it—a savage who's never socialized with anyone. Those questions, and that technique... you originally prepared them all for Sukuna, didn't you?"

Hajime Kashimo opened his mouth. After thinking for a moment, he closed it again without saying a word.

"Give me a break. Sukuna is someone who turned himself into a curse. Haven't you read any books about him? Would a guy who takes pleasure in eating people answer questions like these for you?"

"Don't the strong have to be lonely?"

Hajime Kashimo finally asked one last question.

"Why do they have to be lonely?"

...Why indeed?

Hajime Kashimo lowered his head, his thoughts drifting back to that afternoon once more.

If he had knocked softly on the door back then, could he have shared drinks and laughter with his friend again?

...Perhaps.

Hajime Kashimo told himself that, then picked up his staff.

"Leaving already?"

Xuan lay on his side on the bed, watching Hajime Kashimo carry his staff toward the hole in the wall.

"Little deer, make more friends and kill fewer people."

"...Okay."

Hajime Kashimo still looked burdened with worries, but it didn't matter. Of course, Xuan knew he was the king of twisted logic himself and never expected Hajime Kashimo to take much of it to heart.

Hajime Kashimo leaped up and left the cave entrance.

A shadow flew from Xuan's palm. Nue flapped its wings and looked at Xuan.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Ah... now is exactly the time to do nothing."

Xuan took a bite of his homemade meat patty.

"And then?"

Nue folded its wings, its eyes beneath the mask watching the lightning dancing in midair.

"Now... now, I suppose the first thing is to get out of the Culling Game?"

Watching Nue bob its head, Xuan thought for a moment before nodding.

"And get the deer back. Without Round Deer, my Reverse Cursed Technique doesn't have enough output..."

"You barely used Divine Dog in that fight just now. Those two dogs have been barking nonstop in the shadows."

"If I used them, it would've ended in an instant again... It's hard to control my strength. If I kill them outright, how am I supposed to test Hollow Technique?"

Nue beat its wings and kicked Xuan hard twice with its bird claws.

"Those two dogs and that tiger are driving your Bird Lord crazy with all their noise! And that Hollow Technique thing—what exactly are you researching it for?"

"Fun."

Xuan picked a grape from the fruit platter beside him and bit down, then immediately spat it out.

"Damn, it's rotten."

Well, that figured.

It had been three days. Fruit left out of the refrigerator had probably started to rot already.

Xuan looked at the bowl of rotten fruit in disgust, rolled cursed energy around his mouth, then spat forcefully again.

"So you're not going to use your Bird Lord's technique either?"

"What do you mean? Haven't I been using it all along?"

"Just for defense?! Caw caw! You're doing nothing but embarrassing me!"

Nue flapped wildly over Xuan like an insane pheasant, while Xuan shifted his hands to block its claw strikes.

"Alright, alright. Next time, I won't hold back, okay?"

Xuan stood and walked to the cave entrance, looking outside.

He should leave this colony to Hajime Kashimo... Jujutsu High people would probably take the bait then.

Should he go find Hiromi Higuruma?

Would the average strength in Tokyo No. 1 Colony be a little too low... Still, he should run into Megumi Fushiguro there.

Xuan stroked his chin, pondering what to do next.

He had helped the protagonist group add a rule allowing travel between colonies... and then there was also his agreement with Kenjaku.

Sigh—he still had to keep the Culling Game running. He couldn't cut loose.

What a pain, what a pain!

With that thought, Xuan immediately beat his wings, soaring into the air and shooting toward the colony's boundary.

Round Deer, Piercing Ox... then he could directly unlock Mahoraga, right?

Without Mahoraga, his strength really wasn't overwhelming enough... If he faced Sukuna now, for example.

Xuan thought it over—judging from Sukuna's strength in the memories of his previous life, his own current state, and the information on Sukuna here.

...It was hard to calculate.

Just like Satoru Gojo had said, he should win.