After the Slit-Mouthed Woman left, Shoichi Kano typed the novels he had written in class into his computer, then emailed them to Dengeki Bunko, waiting for them to accept his manuscripts.
When he hit Enter and confirmed that the email had gone through, he felt positively delighted, as though the days when royalties would flow in like water were just around the corner.
By the middle of the night, the Slit-Mouthed Woman still had not returned, and Shoichi Kano decided not to worry about it.
He also glanced at the ring on his hand. It remained firmly fixed to his left ring finger, and the Cursed Energy fluctuations within it had not diminished at all. That meant the source of this portion of Cursed Energy was still perfectly fine. She was not in danger.
In his dream, Shoichi Kano had an in-depth discussion with the great Kazuma Kamachi, who believed Kano possessed talent equal to his own and was, in Japan's light novel industry...
A genius.
So he woke himself up laughing.
"Sweetheart, what are you grinning about?" When he opened his eyes, he noticed that the figure in a black, lace-trimmed slip nightdress had appeared uninvited at his bedside. Her dark gray eyes stared straight at him. "Get up and eat."
"You..." Shoichi Kano rubbed his eyes. "When did you get back?"
"Around four in the morning." She turned gracefully, leaving Kano with a view of her back.
As for that morning's breakfast, it was exceedingly simple-a few slices of toast, a small jar of blueberry jam for the two of them to share, a small bowl each of vegetable salad tossed with Thousand Island dressing, and two cups of plain black coffee. Not a scrap of meat in sight.
But as far as Shoichi Kano was concerned, as long as someone cooked it, he would eat it.
He stuck his table knife into the jam jar and gave it several vigorous stirs. Once the blade was coated with jam, he pulled it out and spread it over his toast as though he were applying wall putty.
"By the way," Shoichi Kano said, taking a bite of toast with jam. It was a little burnt, but still edible. "Mom, what did you find out on your trip to the hospital last night?"
The Slit-Mouthed Woman sipped her plain black coffee and looked up at Shoichi Kano across the table. "It's a long story..."
And so Kano asked Mr. Tanaka for the day off-the Slit-Mouthed Woman played his parent over the phone and had the time of her life doing it-and set out to track down the source of that Cursed Technique.
The Slit-Mouthed Woman even seemed worried he would have it too easy, so she shoved a shopping list into his hands, densely packed with all sorts of things, and told him to buy everything on his way home.
A high school boy walking down the street in uniform did not attract much attention. It was class time, though, so a few passersby who noticed him gave him curious looks.
Then, near a convenience store not far away, he spotted two Jujutsu High students chatting happily.
Both were on the tall, slender side. One had fluffy white hair and wore small, round sunglasses; the other had his hair tied in a bun, with a lock hanging down over his forehead to form a rather strange fringe.
Their uniforms looked identical, as though they had come from the same place.
The white-haired guy in sunglasses was holding a box of Kikufuku and was about to open it for a taste. The one with the bun had both hands in his pockets and was smiling as he said something to his best friend, looking like a sly fox.
Shoichi Kano's throat tightened at the sight of those two faces. For fuck's sake, I come out to track down the source of a Cursed Technique and run into Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto? This world is way too small!
"Satoru," Suguru Geto said with a smile, his hair in a bun, "we'll be bringing that 'star plasma vessel' over to merge with Lord Tengen before long. Why don't you use the time until then to polish your Jujutsu a little, just in case?"
"Relax." Though Satoru Gojo was answering Suguru Geto, the Eyes of the Azure Sky behind his sunglasses had already locked onto Shoichi Kano through the crowd. "We're the strongest. What could possibly go wrong?"
"If anything, Geto, shouldn't you catch a few more Cursed Spirits to beef up your fighting power?"
Suguru Geto smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits. "Same as ever..."
He suddenly realized Satoru Gojo was not looking at him, but somewhere else, and naturally grew curious. "Wait, what are you looking at?"
Satoru Gojo casually withdrew his gaze, a hint of a smile curling his lips. "Nothing. Just found something interesting. Let's go look for it once we're done with this mission."
Shoichi Kano had naturally felt that unsettling sense of being watched. The pressure of the Six Eyes had easily locked onto his Cursed Energy fluctuations through the crowd, forcing him to work even harder to suppress his presence and burrow deep into the throng.
Only after making a huge detour and returning to his planned route did he feel reassured. That should have shaken those two off.
He really did not want to get tangled up in too much of the main plot's cause and effect. Quietly building his strength was best. Once the "Cursed Realm Continent" reached the climax of the whole story, he could show his face and make himself known, just enough to keep the Jujutsu High faction from coming after him once the fighting was over.
As these idle thoughts ran through his head, he looked toward a taxi parked by the roadside, waiting for passengers.
Shoichi Kano instinctively circulated his Cursed Energy, and sure enough... he sensed Cursed Energy fluctuations from the taxi driver. Moreover, this Cursed Energy felt exactly like Hiroshi Yamakawa's.
Perhaps because their Cursed Energy attracted each other, their eyes met across a distance of roughly ten meters.
Kano simply opened the door on his own and plopped down in the taxi's back seat.
Click! The middle-aged taxi driver, whose buzz cut made him look like he had just gotten out of prison, lit another cigarette. "Where to?"
"Somewhere quiet. Let's talk," Shoichi Kano said, neither meek nor overbearing.
The taxi driver mistook him for a fellow member of the underworld, so he did not dismiss Kano despite his overly youthful face. He obediently turned the key, started the engine, shifted into drive, and pulled away.
Before long, the taxi stopped in a pitch-black, abandoned underground parking garage. All around them were either crumbling walls or dust-covered, derelict cars with flat tires.
"What do you want to talk about?" The taxi driver braked hard, then pulled up the handbrake, shifted into neutral, and got out first, leaning against the driver's door.
"Your Cursed Technique drains other people's life force, doesn't it?" Shoichi Kano met his eyes. "But you've targeted my friend, so I'll have to ask you to withdraw it."
The middle-aged man laughed so hard he could not stand straight. "Hahahahahaha!"
"I don't know which one is your friend," he said, making no attempt to deny the first part of Kano's statement, "but once I've made my move, why would I take it back?"
"You're so clueless about the world," the middle-aged man asked once he finished laughing, "are you a student from Jujutsu High, by any chance? Only little students like you would be this laughably naive!"
"Using the lifespans of those ordinary 'monkeys' to extend the lives of great people is practically a blessing. They ought to be grateful!"
With an arrogant expression, he pointed at the ceiling. "Do you know who's backing me? The Q Organization! My direct superior is Lord Bayer himself!"
Honestly, when the man announced the name of the Q Organization, Shoichi Kano froze for a moment. What the hell is the Q Organization?
Then he dug through his memories, recalling that part of the Hidden Inventory Arc, and finally remembered what it was. In short, it was an organization of Curse Users made up of a bunch of worthless small fry. During the star plasma vessel incident, they had wanted to join forces with the Time Vessel Association to prevent Tengen's merger, which meant assassinating the star plasma vessel, Riko Amanai. But Gojo and Geto had treated the organization like a speed bump. The entire group had not even lasted a single episode in the anime.
The taxi driver thought Shoichi Kano had frozen because the organization's name had frightened him, so he pressed his advantage. "If you ask me, you'd better get lost while you still can. If you want to join us, though, I wouldn't mind putting in a few good words for you with Lord Bayer!"
But Shoichi Kano merely shrugged off his school uniform jacket and tightened the tie over his shirt. "Are you done?"
Before you continue