Kana Shizumi stood where he was, lost in thought for quite a while.
In the end, he put the box containing the finger back.
He couldn't do otherwise.
After all, Kana Shizumi's greatest advantage right now was his knowledge of how the story would unfold.
If he changed things right from the start, who knew what kind of chain reaction would follow? He didn't even want to imagine it... With a sigh, Kana Shizumi closed the weather shelter again and gave it a push.
Namu-san, see you next time...
With another sigh, Kana Shizumi stepped back, intending to leave.
But after taking only two steps, he suddenly stopped.
"...?!"
Kana Shizumi abruptly raised his right hand and pressed it hard against his chest.
His heartbeat.
Just a moment ago, it had given a violent, heavy tremor, as if it had suddenly surged outward.
The sensation was much like a palpitation. An ordinary person might have wondered, "I didn't have any Chocorooms or Sprite today, did I?" But Kana Shizumi was different.
He'd experienced something similar before.
"It's not so different from when I sensed the Sky-Covering Jade!"
After a moment of confusion, Kana Shizumi's expression suddenly hardened.
He could say for certain... Somewhere near the school, there should be a Cursed Object connected to Six Paths Tsuji!
Fortunately, it was already evening, nearing midnight. There was no one else in the school... so he could move around more freely.
Kana Shizumi first circled the school building, but when he realized this method of searching wasn't very efficient...
He decisively formed a blade of blood on his left pinky and cut a long, wide gash into his right wrist.
The wound was more than half the length of his pinky. Blood gushed out in a torrent, then was wrapped in Cursed Energy and floated beside Kana Shizumi in a suspended form.
This was one way Kana Shizumi had figured out how to use Crimson Blood Manipulation after studying it in depth.
"Sensing a Six Paths Tsuji Cursed Object is essentially a response between the blood. Rather than have my body between them, I should separate the blood and use it as a medium to sense it in my place."
As for the wound, curled open like an infant's mouth?
He could just leave it alone. It would heal eventually.
After all, being half-human and half-cursed spirit meant he didn't need to worry about things like that. Staying alive was good enough.
Following the shifting patterns of the blood's agitation and calm, Kana Shizumi soon found the "right" direction.
The object was directly beneath the school building...
Kana Shizumi rushed inside and finally found his "target" in the equipment storage room on the basement floor.
It was hidden among a bundle of kendo protective gear. Kana Shizumi snapped the rope and shook it open...
A small, pitch-black object, only about the size of a baby's palm, fell out.
There was no prompt, but his intuition told Kana Shizumi that this was what he'd been looking for.
He reached out with his right hand without thinking. The moment his fingertip touched it... a jumble of memories and fragments flooded Kana Shizumi's mind.
A blade forced its way between the layers of flesh, slithered inside like a snake, and vanished in an instant.
And Kana Shizumi saw.
A woman fled along the roadside, weeping. Under the downpour, she struggled to her feet, cradling a bloodstained, crying infant.
Through decades of changing seasons, unceasing instruction and hardship raised the infant into a strong, muscular warrior clad in armor.
Bearing the banner of "Honor the Emperor, Punish the Traitors," he charged the enemy ranks, only to be captured...
Another spring came.
In white robes and a sash, with a long sword drenched in wine, he was forced to kneel by the stream before everyone's eyes. A hand pressed down on his shoulder, making him bow his head, and one stroke severed it.
As the world spun, everything grew dim.
Then a man with stitches across his head came strolling toward him.
"...Ugh."
Just like with the Sky-Covering Jade, these were the memories connected to the Six Paths Tsuji Cursed Object.
Kana Shizumi narrowed his eyes slightly and silently endured it all.
"So last time it was a fallen noble, and this time it's a desperate warrior?"
So you just kept preying on these unfortunate people, you despicable Kenjaku!
But when all was said and done, the reasoning wasn't wrong... Only intense emotions could summon negative energy. By that logic, the deeper someone's hatred and suffering, the stronger they'd become.
As he gently rubbed his temples, Kana Shizumi thought of what came later in the story and suddenly looked as if he'd realized something.
Could it be that having two Special Grade Cursed Objects there had literally fed a Grade 2 weakling until it burst?
That locust before had played a similar role... Considering Fushiguro's limited ability to judge, maybe he'd simply decided the cursed spirit was Grade 2 because it didn't have a Cursed Technique.
When in reality, its Cursed Energy had already been raised to another level?
That seemed plausible.
But he couldn't rule out the possibility that this one was just a piece of shit... After all, it was no good to assume the worst about someone's strength.
Both possibilities could be true. That was the answer!
After a sigh, Kana Shizumi also checked the information about what came next.
[Obtained Six Paths Tsuji: Abyss-Severing Blade]
[Fusion condition met. Cursed Energy output +5]
[Preparing to activate Cursed Tool special effect...]
Seeing this label, Kana Shizumi made a subtle face.
Was this little fragment a blade? It had been shaped by pouring resentment into it...
Considering that the Cursed Object's poison worked slowly and it was only a small fragment of a blade, almost no one besides him could make use of it.
Jail Mom was just making nuclear waste, pure and simple.
Kana Shizumi stood still. He could feel the blade fragment merge into his body, finally settling near his left shoulder.
He felt like the base of a jigsaw puzzle... One by one, these Cursed Objects made themselves at home inside him, slotting into place with a perfect fit.
So this was what tailor-made meant?
Pretty great.
And the Abyss-Severing Blade's enhancement was just as simple and direct.
Kana Shizumi instinctively began channeling his Cursed Energy... As everyone knew, using Jujutsu required initiating the process.
From its use and formation to its final release, the Jujutsu Sorcerer had to shape and adjust it according to the situation...
Some with extensive combat experience could even judge the strength and range of a Cursed Technique attack from how much energy they summoned (the three-way Domain Expansion in Sendai in the original story).
And during this process,
Kana Shizumi discovered that the Abyss-Severing Blade could optimize and adjust the act of summoning itself.
And...
That wasn't all.
Before you continue