Rainfall

Feng stood up and began getting dressed as he asked a question.

"I understand, but coming into contact with Reverse Cursed Technique shouldn't dispel me like a curse, right?

In other words, logically speaking, I should be able to use Reverse Cursed Technique too, shouldn't I?"

The faint rustle of fabric rang clearly through the empty basement.

He slipped his dark blue uniform jacket back on, its metal buttons clicking softly as he fastened them.

The hem fell naturally as he stood, once again wrapping the body constructed from highly pure cursed energy in ordinary human clothing.

Shoko Ieiri leaned against the edge of the operating table. At his words, she took the cigarette tucked behind her ear and idly twirled it between her fingers.

"Good intuition.

Although your body is constructed from cursed energy, you're fundamentally different from cursed spirits formed by accumulated human negative emotions."

Her eyes, framed by heavy dark circles, took on a professional scrutiny beneath the lights as she looked at the now fully dressed Feng.

"The test results show that your cursed energy is extremely pure.

So if I injected the positive energy produced by Reverse Cursed Technique into your body, it wouldn't trigger the violent annihilation and dispersal reactions it would in a cursed spirit.

That energy would probably pass straight through your 'water body' like a draft through a room, then dissipate. But that doesn't mean it would do you any good."

Satoru Gojo had been spinning aimlessly in a swivel chair. At that, he lightly tapped the toe of his leather shoe against the floor, bringing the chair to a steady stop.

He propped his chin on one hand, his sunglasses slipping down slightly.

"As for whether you can use Reverse Cursed Technique yourself... theoretically, as long as you figure out how to multiply two negative streams of cursed energy together, you can produce positive energy."

He drew out his words, seemingly racing through the various possibilities of this unusual constitution in his head.

He rose from his chair and walked over to Feng, his tall frame carrying an effortless sense of pressure.

"But the problem is, the positive energy produced by Reverse Cursed Technique stimulates cell division in carbon-based organisms, repairing bodies of flesh and blood.

Your body, on the other hand, is pure 'water.'

Even if you went to all the trouble of producing positive energy, that stuff couldn't turn into natural water out of thin air to replace the missing parts of your body."

Satoru Gojo raised a finger and lightly tapped the air, as though popping an invisible soap bubble.

"So even if you really were a prodigy and learned Reverse Cursed Technique, it wouldn't provide any meaningful help in keeping you alive. Of course-"

The corners of his mouth curled upward again, his azure Six Eyes gleaming sharply behind his lenses.

"If you planned to output that positive energy to heal other people, or if your innate technique, [Rainfall], could develop some destructive form of 'Cursed Technique Reversal,' that would be an interesting path worth exploring.

But for you right now, it's a little too early to talk about that.

A new student who can't even perfectly control a water balloon's surface tension doesn't get to set his sights that high."

Satoru Gojo turned without ceremony and headed toward the infirmary's metal door.

"Let's go. That wraps up your late-night physical.

Now that we've established you have a troublesome constitution that can't be cured, I need to follow the principal's orders and hurry you into your own barrier-protected dorm room.

If I'm a step too late and you turn into a puddle on the floor, Yaga's going to be angry."

Looks like my technique leans toward support... Feng thought as he followed Satoru Gojo.

But if Rainfall itself provides defense through its mechanics, then reversing the technique might turn those mechanics toward offense.

That would be like the attraction of Satoru Gojo's Blue and the repulsion of his Red.

But as for whether the technique has the potential for Cursed Technique Reversal...

Either possibility could be true. That's the answer.

The heavy metal door of the underground infirmary slowly closed behind them, shutting away the smell of disinfectant and the cold incandescent light.

The night breeze passed through Jujutsu High's old wooden corridors, carrying the faint chill of a late spring night.

Feng walked half a step behind Satoru Gojo, his leather shoes making soft, regular sounds against the aged wooden floor.

His black hair stirred in the night breeze, and the hem of his dark blue uniform jacket swayed gently with his steps.

Jujutsu High occupied extensive grounds, its staggered traditional Japanese buildings casting broad, deep shadows beneath the moonlight.

"Besides Tengen's Great Barrier on the outermost perimeter, the school's barriers divide the interior into plenty of separate areas."

Satoru Gojo kept both hands in his pockets. Even through his sunglasses, his azure Six Eyes could see as clearly at night as in daylight.

He led Feng around a quiet dry landscape garden, his steps unhurried.

"For a newcomer like you, whose total cursed energy exceeds the limits and who hasn't fully mastered containing it, losing control in the regular dorm area would leave half the campus buildings reduced to rubble by high-pressure water.

If those shriveled old fossils in the higher-ups saw the repair bill, they'd nag me about it for an entire month."

They stopped in front of a somewhat secluded row of buildings.

The humidity here was completely different from elsewhere. With each breath, Feng could distinctly feel moisture condensing inside his nose.

Before them stood a seemingly ordinary Japanese-style room, but the air beside Feng rippled faintly, like the surface of a lake disturbed by a pebble.

It was some kind of invisible barrier.

Along the wooden frame of the shoji door, fine inscriptions drawn in cinnabar were faintly visible, shimmering dark red in the moonlight.

Satoru Gojo stopped and turned, pointing a long finger at the closed sliding door.

"Here we are. This was originally a sealed chamber for storing volatile grade-one cursed objects. Old man Yaga just had someone rush through a few modifications.

An array locks the indoor humidity at the highest threshold, and all four walls have been fitted with the highest-grade water-containment barriers."

A mischievous smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he bent slightly, bringing his gaze level with the black-haired, red-eyed boy.

"In other words, even if you accidentally fall apart in your dreams tonight and liquefy into a puddle that runs everywhere, this barrier will make sure not a single drop of you seeps into the ground.

Tomorrow morning, all I'll need is a big bucket, and I can scoop you up whole and take you away."

"That makes me sound like a slime..." Feng couldn't quite fathom how Satoru Gojo's brain worked.

Being able to turn into water didn't mean he was practically a puddle every moment of the day.

Though, looking at it that way, he did seem a little like water.

Gojo straightened and reached out to slide open the shoji door.

A thick wave of moisture washed over them. The room was simply furnished, with brand-new bedding laid out on the tatami.

There were even several absurdly large wooden tubs filled with clean water in the corner, clearly prepared as "emergency rations" for Feng's peculiar constitution.

Dude, I'm not a water buffalo... and even a water buffalo doesn't drink water like that... Feng grumbled silently.

"There are spare uniforms and toiletries inside, and the running-water pipe in the bathroom is always on. You may be made of water, but as a basic rule of human society, you should still take baths, right?"

Satoru Gojo leaned against the doorframe, blocking half the moonlight.

"Get a good night's rest, our dangerous Mr. Rainfall. Try to keep your human shape. Tomorrow morning, I'll send someone to pick you up so you can officially meet your future classmates.

Night-"

Without waiting for Feng to respond, he waved and walked off into the deep darkness.

His white hair soon disappeared around a corner of the corridor, leaving only the faint hum of the working barrier.

"Haah..."

Feng sighed, then looked into the room that would be his home from now on.

Judging by the current situation, my advantage is that I don't have to fear physical attacks. I'm pretty good at staying alive.

This body... Feng pondered as he submerged his hand in a tub of water.

A sense of lightness immediately spread through him, and his entire body seemed to relax.

Can I restore cursed energy through naturally existing water sources?

But my weakness is obvious too: I lack offensive options. Although I can form water containing my own cursed energy into weapons to fight back, their power isn't all that great.

If I run into someone who can counter my domain, that disadvantage will only grow.

But I don't suffer from technique burnout. In other words, as long as my cursed energy hasn't run out, I can expand my domain without limit.

That's why I named this technique [Rainfall].