I'll Show You a Magic Trick

Pfft...

Watching the blood arrow he'd fired off leave nothing more than a small pit in the wall, Kana Shizumi fell silent for a moment before finally bursting into laughter.

He was literally laughing in anger.

The price of Miwa spending the rest of her life as a mascot had been a single Spiral from Kenjaku.

He figured that "Mother" must have been amused enough to want to reward her with something big.

A maggot is still a maggot, no matter how much it squirms.

This cursed world is a mess; you have to be a big-time sorcerer to even play the loan game...

It would be better to save these little tricks for when his technique was fully matured and his strength had reached the level of a Grade 1 Sorcerer.

Setting those thoughts aside for the moment, Kana Shizumi rubbed his temples and roughly took stock of his current situation.

"As long as I have cursed energy and blood, I can extract and convert it to fire blood arrows at a level approaching conventional firearms."

That covered the offensive side, but what about defense?

Fortunately, Crimson Blood Manipulation might not have much else going for it, but its ability to handle both offense and defense was practically carved into its bones.

After all, looking at the big picture, the only things that ever got any screen time for their defensive prowess were the blood armor and various binding abilities of Crimson Blood Manipulation.

My shield is even more impressive than my spear!

In summary, for a novice at Crimson Blood Manipulation like Kana Shizumi, carrying a small knife at all times was the most practical way to get stronger for now.

When in doubt, self-harm first!

After working through this chain of logic, Kana Shizumi sat in his chair and frowned involuntarily.

He had a rough grasp of his power level, but what were his actual limits?

As his thoughts churned, Kana Shizumi silently mobilized his energy, squeezing out another ball of blood from the wound to float beside him.

—Although it was a bit of a preconceived notion, he did indeed prefer using this method to control blood now.

After all, the shape of the blood ball could be changed at will, and while keeping it a short distance from his body consumed cursed energy, the overall cost was practically negligible.

He could also practice his "remote control" proficiency while he was at it.

After all, Choso's Supernova looked incredibly useful; it was impossible not to covet such a mine-laying tactic.

Time to steal the master's technique!

After extracting blood balls three times in a row, Kana Shizumi reached up and touched his chest.

His breathing was a little ragged.

It couldn't be because of blood loss, could it?

Kana Shizumi glanced at the fingertip wound that was slowly healing, his eyebrows arching slightly.

He had to admit, the foundation Kenjaku had laid for him was quite good.

His half-human, half-cursed spirit constitution meant Kana Shizumi didn't have to worry about shock from blood loss. Even though he hadn't learned Reverse Cursed Technique yet, his blood-producing capabilities were far beyond those of an ordinary person.

The current physical discomfort was mainly concentrated on the consumption of cursed energy.

"I've used up about a fifth, I guess..."

To put it in perspective, Kana Shizumi was currently like an automatic rifle with fifteen rounds in the magazine.

Once he was out, he was done for.

Of course, this conversion method was quite crude.

The reason was simple.

Using a cursed technique started with the activation, with the total amount of cursed energy providing the foundation. The "cursed energy efficiency" reduced consumption, while "cursed energy output" increased damage, ultimately forming something akin to a multiplicative effect.

Kana Shizumi started scratching his head.

What was all this... no wonder everyone just started throwing hands by the end.

You could swap techniques all you wanted, but it was never as satisfying as just reinforcing yourself with cursed energy and punching things...

As his thoughts rose and fell, Kana Shizumi watched the time on his phone tick toward 12:00, and the bus slowed to a stop.

Through the window, he saw the silhouette of a convenience store outside.

The night bus on the highway made occasional stops, usually for about twenty minutes of rest.

"Please take this time to use the restroom and hydrate."

Kana Shizumi didn't have any needs and was planning to rest for a bit, but then he saw that familiar pale figure crawling out with a rustle.

It looked around, approached the roadside, and reached out to gently stroke the pink flowers on the tree branches.

It looked strange, but Kana Shizumi could roughly understand its behavioral logic.

The Four Calamities were incarnations of nature itself. By definition, Hanami was humanity's fear of nature, so it was naturally closer to these things.

He had expected this guy to crawl back into the luggage compartment after a while.

Instead, Kana Shizumi watched it get back on the bus.

And it sat right down next to him.

"..." X2

It didn't say a word!

Watching this two-meter-tall humanoid monster huddled in its seat, Kana Shizumi finally couldn't hold back and tried to ask.

"You... why did you get on the bus?"

"Hiding underneath was unexpectedly uncomfortable."

Hanami's tone was calm, which was a stark contrast to its rugged appearance.

"Then you should have gotten on in the first place..."

"I rarely ride, I have no experience."

After a casual remark, Kana Shizumi could feel that this guy wasn't the same type as True Person—compared to that evil, malicious brat vibe, this ferocious-looking creature was more like the honest, hardworking type.

"What were you doing just now?"

Kana Shizumi brought his right hand up and mimicked a gentle stroking gesture.

That was exactly what Hanami had been doing.

"I was feeding."

It paused for a moment, then repeated.

"We do not need to eat human food. In exchange, I can replenish my energy by absorbing the vitality of natural things."

It seemed like this had been described in the original story, too. Kana Shizumi scratched his head and glanced out the window.

"But that flower didn't die, did it?"

"...Do you know what season it is?"

Don't answer a question with a question!

But Hanami didn't seem to have intended to hear an answer anyway; it just continued on its own.

"It is the end of February, the season when the Kawazu Cherry blossoms bloom. These flowers only appear during this time, so... I did not want to eat them, I just wanted to look."

Quite particular, then.

"So you're just going to stay hungry?"

"I can just photosynthesize when the sun comes up."

Hey! Are you actually a weed?!

But then again, this guy was unexpectedly easy to talk to, which put him at ease quite a bit.

Considering they would be colleagues to some extent in the future, staying cold forever wasn't a solution—at worst, he could just say sorry a few times when he eventually turned on them and ran to Jujutsu High.

You can't stop me from running toward a better future, right?

He silently complained to himself, looked at the blooming cherry blossoms in the distance, thought for a moment, and then raised his right hand.

"Hey, want me to show you a magic trick?"

"...?"

Kana Shizumi snapped his fingers.

Under the control of his cursed energy, the blood he extracted gathered in the air, twisted for a moment, and squeezed into the shape of a Kawazu Cherry blossom.

"How about that? Looks pretty similar, right?"

Hanami had no expression, it just "looked" at Kana Shizumi stiffly.

"Heh... that seems quite interesting."

What was with that monotone tone...

But before he could complain, light and shadow appeared before his eyes, twisting slightly.

[Distorted the plot of "All but Cursed Spirits are enemies"]

[Reward: 1 Free Attribute Point]

...Huh?

After a brief moment of confusion, Kana Shizumi reacted.

So you, Hanami, are a super race-knight, the Paul of the cursed spirit world?!

You're a plant-turned-spirit, yet your bloodlust is even heavier than Jogo's... he figured if it weren't for his half-human, half-cursed spirit constitution, it probably wouldn't have even bothered to talk to him.

But regardless, he was taking that 1 Free Attribute Point!