Friendship

Sakurada Niji had finished his stealth experiment. He intended to use threads to seal off the surrounding space, release the fixed state of the sorcerer, and personally question him about how things had happened.

"Hey~? Stop playing dead. I've already released the Cursed Technique." Sakurada Niji undid the state of the sorcerer and kicked him as he feigned unconsciousness.

After waking up, the sorcerer sensed the Cursed Energy filling the surrounding area. He realized he was no match and tried to feign unconsciousness to look for an opportunity, never expecting to be seen through at a glance.

"...Who... are you... What do you want?!" The sorcerer opened his eyes and cautiously looked at Sakurada Niji.

"I ask, you answer." Sakurada Niji wore a cold expression as he looked at the sorcerer, beginning to play the part of the interrogation room boss in a spy movie.

"Fine, fine, fine... I know...!" The sorcerer saw the light blue whip in Sakurada Niji's hand and decisively gave in.

"What kind of person are you?" Sakurada Niji asked.

"...I'm a... wild sorcerer..." The sorcerer's acting was extremely clumsy, making even Sakurada Niji, a novice at interrogation, find it a bit hard to watch.

"Crack--!" Sakurada Niji waved the [thread] formed by his Cursed Technique, instantly slicing a large tree nearby in half with a very smooth cut.

"Curse User! I'm a Grade 2 Curse User!" Upon seeing the power of the [thread], the Curse User hurriedly spoke the truth.

"What did you come here for? Tell the truth, and you might live. Lie, and I'll slowly cut you apart with this thing, just like sawing through a tree with an electric saw. Did you hear that clearly?" Sakurada Niji threatened.

"Sir... I... came here to find an old friend of mine. He's a Curse User just like me... Only, he suddenly quit a few years ago... Not long ago... I ran into some trouble, couldn't fight on my own, and didn't have much money... I had no choice but to come find him to assist me..." The Curse User said to Sakurada Niji.

"Then how... did he die?" Sakurada Niji asked coldly.

"Ah! Sir! Please you must believe me... He was killed by a Cursed Spirit! He agreed to help me! It's just that in the end, the Cursed Spirit killed him... I even wanted to help him take care of his daughter... Look, haven't I been here this whole time?... I'm just staying to recover from my injuries and help take care of his daughter..." The Curse User looked very anxious, and there really was a hint of regret on his face, seemingly not lying.

"But... the village chief has already said it all, you know..." Sakurada Niji lowered his body, quietly leaned close to the Curse User, and said softly in the Curse User's ear.

"Ah... This... Sigh... Then I'll tell you the truth... Go to hell!!!!" The moment he saw Sakurada Niji approach him, the Curse User threw something hidden in his palm onto the ground, and then grabbed Sakurada Niji by the neck with his hand.

"Heh~" Sakurada Niji smiled at the Curse User, and the Curse User also realized... his hand didn't feel the sensation of touching flesh at all, and furthermore... the joints all over his body were unable to move, as if they were jammed by something...

The thing the Curse User threw burst open on the ground, and a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit appeared out of thin air.

"One! Kill him!" The Curse User ordered the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.

The Cursed Spirit made no move whatsoever--

"Sigh... Cursed Spirits... Curse Users... Are they all the same?" Sakurada Niji casually moved the hand away from his neck and sized up the Cursed Spirit summoned by the Curse User.

Standing around two meters tall, pitch black all over, its entire head was just one mouth...

"Thanks... I've been aesthetically offended..." Sakurada Niji remarked.

Every single one of them looks different... yet they are all bizarrely ugly...

"Alright~ Time to tell the truth, or I really will saw you apart~" After speaking, Sakurada Niji directly used the Reverse Cursed Technique to [twist] the Cursed Spirit behind him vertically open. Releasing the Cursed Technique, the Cursed Spirit turned into two halves and slowly dissipated.

"...Huh?... Ah!!!! No, don't!!!" The Curse User didn't react at first, until he saw clearly that half of the Cursed Spirit's body had been [reversed], and only then did he begin to beg for mercy.

"Last time... Spill it quickly.." Sakurada Niji couldn't take it anymore, because he suddenly smelled a reek of urine...

"I'll talk... I'll really talk... Yoshihide Hasaba and I really are friends...! He used to be a Curse User indeed...! He was the one who brought me into the trade...! Saying things like we could make money, and once we made money we'd go back to our hometown and all that... Later on he really did come back here..."

"But... my own combat power is very low... My Cursed Technique, the Spirit-Nurturing Curse Technique... can reclaim a Cursed Spirit that is about to dissipate... I have to constantly nourish it with Cursed Energy in order to drive it to fight... But after that fellow Hasaba left..."

"I ran into other Curse Users during a mission... To save my own life, I left the Cursed Spirit behind... This led to me having no combat power ever since... The money I had saved up was all used up too... I couldn't afford to hire others to help me capture Cursed Spirits..."

"I had no choice but to ask Hasaba for help... Coincidentally, he said there was a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit in the back mountain of the village... We hit it off immediately and finalized the plan..." Reaching this point, the Curse User suddenly stopped. He glanced at the expressionless Sakurada Niji and could only bite the bullet and continue.

"That... over on the Curse User side, they were buying up children with awakened Cursed Techniques... I... gave in to greed... and ambushed... him..."

"I told him in the end, you know... as long as he was willing to return to the Jujutsu Society together with me! As long as he could help me in the future...! I would send him to the hospital! I wouldn't touch his kids either!! It was him who was unwilling to help me!!"

Seeing Sakurada Niji's expression grow increasingly cold, the Curse User hurriedly begged for mercy...

"Is this my fault?! He dragged me into the Jujutsu Society to become a Curse User, and then washed his hands of it and left!! What was I supposed to do!?"

The Curse User began to shirk responsibility, finding all sorts of excuses for himself...

"Geto, I believe killing him won't bring me any psychological pressure." Sakurada Niji asked into his phone. From the very beginning of the interrogation, Sakurada Niji had called Suguru Geto.

"Niji, let me do it... Your heart is cleaner than mine..." After a brief silence, Suguru Geto's voice came out from the phone.

"What? Want to make me a spotless saint? Who knows how long this lifetime is, do you expect me to always remain a [child]?" Sakurada Niji said to Suguru Geto on the phone, carrying a hint of ease.