Attacking Gojo's Shoe Soles with His Head

With the funding issue resolved, Kana Shizumi finally smiled in relief.

No more digging through trash. Pretty damn great~

All that remained was to discuss serious business.

He raised a hand to his chest, about to speak, but Kenjaku beat him to it.

"How is Sky-Covering Jade's integration going?"

—This guy always spoke before him, and always said things that felt like mind-reading. It would be a lie to say that wasn't stressful.

Kana Shizumi quietly composed himself, carefully speaking after adjusting his state of mind.

"There... shouldn't be any problems."

"That's good."

Kenjaku casually opened the gift box. When he saw the characters painted on top with streaks of gold dust, his brows rose slightly.

"Oh... a 'famous confection' with over three hundred years of heritage? If I recall, you even have to queue up to buy it."

He picked one up and dangled it from his fingers, lightly shaking off some of the powdered sugar that had failed to stick.

"You didn't need a number ticket?"

"It was fine since I went early. I started lining up at midnight."

"Mm, that was thoughtful of you."

He bit off more than half of it, expressionlessly tossing the rest onto the counter and wrapping it in a tissue.

Tsk...

Licking his thumb, he sighed with feeling.

"It tastes far worse than it did three hundred years ago. The craftsmanship has deteriorated considerably... just like this tedious Jujutsu Society."

Well then, back to the point.

"How did you find this mission?"

When facing someone this important, answering whatever they asked was generally the safest option.

Kana Shizumi thought for a moment.

"I kind of felt like a maggot..."

"That is perfectly normal. As I told you before, your strength can only become complete once you recover the full set of Six Paths Cursed Objects."

Right.

Six Paths Tsuji.

During their earlier small talk, Kenjaku had laid out all the relevant information about the thing, giving Kana Shizumi the rough picture.

Essentially, Kenjaku had forcibly experimented on six individuals who possessed a portion of cursed energy but had yet to fully display their talents...

Without considering the subjects' wishes, it could only be said that this was very jujutsu.

Honestly, Kana Shizumi had no particular feelings about the philosophy, research spirit, and all that involved.

After all, he did not do research and did not understand the appeal of entertainment. He had no common ground with this thousand-year-old monster...

As for finding resonance... once the version updated to the Culling Game, Kenjaku could go find Takaba himself.

When it came to performing comedy for a frosty aristocratic lady, a professional had to take the stage.

What Kana Shizumi cared about most was where the other five Six Paths Cursed Objects had ended up.

"You said all six should be in there, right?"

Kenjaku shrugged, his tone fairly helpless.

"The last time I checked was roughly seventy-six years ago. At that time, they were all indeed there..."

Fuck, you gave me a loaded gun without any bullets! (throws it down)

Thinking of how gathering all six items could conservatively raise his attributes by over thirty points, Kana Shizumi was anxious enough to piss blood.

"Then do I still have a chance to see the other five?"

"There should not be any problem."

Kenjaku pondered, his eyes drifting upward. After seeming to rack his brains for a while, he said,

"Your Crimson Blood Manipulation is somewhat special. It resonates with each of these cursed objects. So theoretically, as long as you get close enough, you should be able to sense them."

Kana Shizumi considered it briefly, then wore an enlightened expression.

So you split me apart like Sun Wukong and scattered my six senses, huh?

"Though there are some differences, from an experimental perspective, obtaining even one is already quite good."

So.

"What kind of improvement did Sky-Covering Jade bring you?"

Kenjaku leaned his upper body over the counter, propping up his chin with his left hand as he looked at Kana Shizumi with an "intensely interested" expression.

"Frankly, I'm rather looking forward to seeing its practical application... After all, this is a method of combining two different things. Show me a little of your potential, will you?"

In fact, the Six Paths Tsuji cursed tool not only raised attributes, but also possessed certain special effects.

Kana Shizumi scratched the back of his head and acknowledged him.

But he did not forget to first lay some groundwork.

"I'm still not very proficient at applying it, so the results might not satisfy you..."

Kenjaku was exceptionally magnanimous at times like this. He waved a hand and said with a smile,

"It is fine. Before a caterpillar breaks from its cocoon and becomes a butterfly, demanding that it fly is unrealistic."

Were all you old things who survived from the Heian era this cultured?

He remembered that when Sukuna was disgusted by Yorozu in the original work, he had looked thoroughly repulsed but still did not forget to correct the issue in her haiku.

Silently grumbling, Kana Shizumi let out a breath and slowly walked forward, stopping near the balcony.

Kenjaku's hideout was in a detached apartment building somewhere in the suburbs. From the eighth floor, dozens of meters above the ground... if an ordinary person fell, they would most likely die on impact.

Yet Kana Shizumi simply jumped down as if no one else were around.

His figure swooshed down past the horizon and vanished from Kenjaku's sight.

Kenjaku, meanwhile, was in no hurry. He even had time to sip some matcha, washing away the excessively rich sweetness lingering in his mouth.

Then.

Holding the cup, Kenjaku watched Kana Shizumi's figure slowly rise back up.

His hands were held slightly apart, and an invisible force field seemed to surround him.

Kana Shizumi's eyes were half-closed as cursed energy continuously flowed through his body before pouring entirely into the Sky-Covering Jade lodged within his heart.

Flight...

That was one of the cursed tool's special abilities.

"Oh."

Even Kenjaku could not help voicing his admiration at the sight.

"Though I had anticipated it, I did not expect the actual effect to be like this... As expected, theoretical foundations must ultimately be verified by reality."

After his remarks, Kenjaku looked at Kana Shizumi with great interest and urged him on.

"So, how does it feel to fly?"

"Uh... not very good."

It was vastly different from Satoru Gojo's effortless freedom.

Without the Six Eyes to support him, Kana Shizumi had to devote part of his attention to maintaining his hovering state.

And Sky-Covering Jade essentially made him fly by forming a force field that held up his entire body...

The upside was that it allowed him to remain airborne within a certain range and could theoretically even carry passengers. The downside was that, like a domain, it could easily be disrupted and destroyed by external interference.

As for whether flight itself was useful...

This ability was actually rather awkward in the Jujutsu Society.

After all, once someone reached the level of a Grade 1 sorcerer, simply reinforcing their bodies with cursed energy let them fall from dozens of meters without injury and scale walls and leap across rooftops as easily as walking on level ground.

You could fly, but you still were not as fast as Gojo.

You could not even catch shit while it was still warm...