Classes at Jujutsu High offered Sakurada Niji little in the way of novelty.
For one thing, there were no other classmates-just the four of them. For another, the lessons were boring.
Although Masamichi Yaga talked at length about Jujutsu Society, everything he covered was something Niji already knew from the original story.
Despite being an institution for jujutsu education, Jujutsu High still required plenty of ordinary classes, much to the disappointment of Sakurada Niji, who had thought he could slack off.
After class, only Shoko stayed behind, studying on her own with a medical textbook in her arms.
Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Sakurada Niji had already arrived at the Training Ground for combat practice. Of course, Masamichi Yaga had repeatedly warned them not to use their cursed techniques, especially Gojo and Geto. The former went wild in a fight and caused enormous destruction, while the cursed energy of the latter's cursed spirits had not been registered with the barrier, meaning any careless use would trigger an alarm.
And so the sparring session became a hand-to-hand fight between Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.
Watching the evenly matched pair, Sakurada Niji became painfully aware of how poor his own hand-to-hand skills were.
Gojo really wasn't just going easy on me. He was practically handing me the whole ocean...
Recalling his fight with Satoru Gojo yesterday, he couldn't help marveling at the gap between their abilities.
Although the nature of his cursed technique had kept Gojo from quickly closing in on him, it was obvious that Gojo had only been fighting to study his new classmate's technique. He had practically been a child at play, only getting a tiny bit serious at the very end.
Sakurada Niji felt thoroughly defeated. "Why is Geto so good at hand-to-hand combat, too? He came from an ordinary family, just like me."
Niji felt that without his cursed technique, he was little more than a somewhat stronger athlete. At that thought, he stopped watching the two fight and stood up, ready to ask Masamichi Yaga for a combat cursed corpse to train his close-range fighting skills.
Jujutsu Kaisen? More like Punchjutsu Kaisen. It really lives up to the name. Hand-to-hand combat makes up a huge part of fights between jujutsu sorcerers.
Just as Niji was about to leave, the two finally finished their match. They were essentially evenly matched, but considering the elite education Gojo had enjoyed, Gojo could be said to fall slightly short in hand-to-hand combat alone.
"Niji, where are you going?" Suguru Geto walked toward him.
Geto looked full of energy today. He seemed to have worked something out and looked completely different from before.
"Oh, I was going to ask Mr. Yaga for a cursed corpse to help me train. My fundamentals are pretty terrible, after all."
"Sakura-chan~ Come train with me~" Satoru Gojo didn't look tired at all as he sauntered over like some street loafer.
He might have a nasty mouth, but deep down, he's actually pretty good at looking after people...
With a close-combat expert right here, Niji was no longer in a hurry to ask for a cursed corpse.
"Satoru, thank you. You're a really good guy." Suppressing the feeling of his heart twitching, Niji thanked him with a measure of sincerity.
Gojo froze for a moment at Niji's awkward thanks, then suddenly leaned over beside Geto. The two seemed to whisper something to each other.
Just as Niji, who had been staring at them, began to feel that something was off, they finished their discussion.
Geto suddenly looked at Niji with a serious expression, his narrowed eyes seeming to open a little wider.
"Sakurada, whether we're talking about age or enrollment dates, you ought to call us your seniors. That would give us a perfectly reasonable basis for helping you." Geto still looked every bit the sly old fox, his eyes never quite opening.
"Sakura-chan~ Go on, call us your seniors~ Your senior Satoru will help you train right away~!"
Niji felt that with twenty years in his previous life and fifteen in this one, his mental age ought to exceed Gojo's and Geto's no matter how he counted it.
My stubborn pride tells me there's no way I'm calling someone younger than me my senior.
"Heh~ Whatever you're plotting, it can't be that simple, can it? My dear seniors!"
I'll have Gojo give my cursed technique a proper analysis in a bit. His Six Eyes can see more than I can. Calling him my senior is a small price to pay.
"Aww... Sakura-chan... It's no fun if you give in that easily~" Gojo looked deeply disappointed.
Geto added from beside him, "Niji, we were only joking about the senior thing. We just talked it over and decided to add some stakes to practice, to give us more motivation. From now on, whenever we spar, the winner gets to make the loser do one thing."
"You're telling me that after I already said it?!" Niji looked indignant, feeling as though his sincerity had been thrown to the dogs.
At the click of a camera, Niji turned toward Gojo and found the culprit standing with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky and whistling in an attempt to appear innocent.
"Satoru~ Let me see~" Geto hurried over to admire the photo with him.
"Geto, I used to think you were a serious person." Niji's face was expressionless.
"Haha~" Geto merely laughed, glossing over the accusation.
"..." At a loss for words, Niji turned to leave.
"Aw~ Don't be mad~ I deleted it~ Come train! Your senior will teach you every move he knows!" Gojo hurried after him and pressed down on his shoulders to stop him from leaving.
"My cursed technique is running. Hurry up and look..." All Niji wanted now was to get stronger so he wouldn't have to ask Gojo for help anymore.
Gojo stopped joking, took off his sunglasses, and carefully examined the flow of Niji's cursed energy.
"Try using your cursed technique to fix an object in place." Gojo asked Niji to use his technique so the Six Eyes could observe it more clearly.
Niji cooperated as Gojo began studying his cursed technique.
"All right~" Gojo put his sunglasses back on. After having Niji use his technique in various ways, he had finally reached a conclusion.
"First, your cursed technique can freeze the space occupied by things you touch. The more cursed energy you pour into it, the longer that fixed space lasts, and the harder it is to break. Your technique has three weaknesses."
"1. Once you leave, the space you've fixed gradually returns to normal. It takes about ten seconds."
"2. Attacks affect the space you've fixed, destabilizing the technique and speeding up its return to normal."
"3. It costs a lot of energy. Although you already have fairly large cursed energy reserves, your technique burns through them."
"As for solutions: for the first, learn Domain Expansion. For the second, learn Reverse Cursed Technique. For the third, learn to use cursed energy more efficiently."
Niji desperately wanted to make a sarcastic remark, but held back and continued listening to Gojo's analysis.
He's finally being serious for once. Better not interrupt him.
"Right now, the best ways to maximize your fighting strength are to explore more applications of your technique, improve your fighting skills, and get a cursed tool. A weapon is better than your fists, no matter what. Of course, your senior doesn't need weapons~"
"I have two suggestions for how to use your technique."
"1. Any jujutsu sorcerer who can sense cursed energy can see the space you've fixed. You need to practice making more useful spatial barriers in combat to save as much cursed energy as possible. For example, a line-shaped stretch of fixed space is better suited to blocking attacks. It's also smaller, requires less cursed energy, and is harder to notice."
"2. Practice blocking attacks. Before an attack you can't dodge hits you, defend against it promptly and accurately, rather than making a turtle shell to protect yourself."
It's so weird having him suddenly become this reliable.
Geto, who had been listening all along, also remarked, "So Satoru has his serious moments, too~"
"All right~ Your senior got serious and explained all that. Shouldn't you show a little appreciation~?" Gojo dropped his serious demeanor.
"Thank you, senior!" Niji thanked him sincerely.
"Hahaha~! Say it a few more times~" Gojo said happily.
"No~!" Niji answered without hesitation.
"Boohoo~ I'm so hurt~ You heartless man~! You're already using people and tossing them aside at your age~!" Gojo put on an act like an abandoned wife.
Niji decided to ignore him. He would settle down in a bit anyway.
"Geto, help me train! Use your cursed spirits to attack me!" Niji asked Suguru Geto.
"Sure. Let's go over there, where there's more room." Geto agreed without hesitation.
The two walked to the middle of the Training Ground, having completely forgotten Masamichi Yaga's warnings.
"I want to help Sakura-chan, too~!" Gojo shouted.
"No! You'll definitely cause trouble!" Niji refused without hesitation.
"Your refusal is denied~!"
After their training, the Training Ground was once again a complete mess.
Inside a room filled with cursed corpse dolls, Masamichi Yaga sat knitting in the chair facing the entrance, his expression cold. Niji and the other two stood before him.
"Let me confirm this one more time. I warned you repeatedly, didn't I?"
"Yes~" the three answered in unison.
After several thumps, each of the three had a large lump on his head.
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