Reverse Cursed Technique

Boom!

After ten minutes of instruction, pure cursed energy erupted from Suguru Geto.

The bee that had just regained consciousness was knocked out again, suffering yet another undeserved disaster.

Suguru Geto excitedly reined in his cursed energy and looked gratefully at his two close friends of a night and a half.

There was no need to elaborate on Gojo. He had tirelessly explained the principles of Cursed Pressure from beginning to end. Without his help, Geto might still have been fumbling around on his own.

As for Tsukasa, even less needed to be said. He had generously shared the ability he had developed. In the old days, Geto would absolutely have counted as his disciple.

If word of it spread through Jujutsu Society, it would surely spark a bloodbath. This move was nothing short of a blessing for people who had cursed energy but no cursed technique.

"Geto, if you want to thank me, get my dinner tonight. And if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind you feeding me."

Satoru Gojo slung an arm around Suguru Geto's shoulders and playfully thumped his chest with a cheeky grin.

Suguru Geto rolled his eyes at him and said irritably, "I can get your food, but find someone else if you want to be fed."

"Aw, how could you? I spent ages teaching you."

Satoru Gojo pouted unhappily, gazing at Suguru Geto with pitiful eyes.

Suguru Geto could not bear the sight. After much agonizing, he finally nodded. "I'll feed you five bites. After that, you're eating on your own."

"Okay, I'll eat on my own after five bites."

Satoru Gojo agreed without pushing his luck.

Listening to their intimate exchange gave Tsukasa Hatayama goosebumps all over. Without another word, he stood and jogged back the way they had come.

If he stayed any longer, Satoru Gojo might drag him into it too. With his childish temperament, he would definitely beg Tsukasa to do something strange.

The two behind him jogged after him in confusion, while the lingering sunset stretched their shadows long.

A month later.

Tsukasa Hatayama rested his cheek on his hand and admired the scenery outside the window. Some distance away, his two close friends were chatting idly with Shoko Ieiri.

After a month together, the four had gone from strangers to familiar companions.

But the closest of them were still the trio with all that bromantic chemistry. Aside from having time to themselves when they slept, they practically seemed glued together.

As for Shoko Ieiri, she found it hard to fit into their little bromantic trio and mostly watched everything as a bystander.

"Shoko, do you believe I can make Tsukasa lose it with one sentence?" Satoru Gojo asked their class's outsider eagerly, wearing a mischievous smile.

Suguru Geto frowned. After spending a month together day in and day out, he naturally knew what Satoru Gojo was about to say.

With a lollipop in her mouth, Shoko Ieiri lazily glanced at Tsukasa Hatayama, who was lost in his own world.

Truth be told.

In the month since she had come to Jujutsu High, she had barely exchanged more than a few words with Tsukasa Hatayama.

The only impression she had of him was that he looked far too refined and elegant. He seemed difficult to approach, like an untouchable aristocrat.

And he was so quiet. Apart from talking to that chatterbox Satoru Gojo and his close friend Suguru Geto, he barely said a thing.

If you wanted to talk to him, you had to approach him first, unless he approached you.

She remembered cleaning with him a few days earlier. He had silently done all the cleaning himself, leaving her standing there with a broom, utterly at a loss.

After finishing, he had even walked over and asked in confusion, "Isn't class over? Why aren't you going to the cafeteria? Did the teacher give you detention?"

She had really wanted to complain then, really wanted to thrust the broom in his face. But seeing his handsome face, so sincere and free of any condescension, Shoko Ieiri had fallen silent.

Shoko Ieiri withdrew her gaze and said with lazy curiosity, "I don't believe you. Unless you show me, I'm not buying it."

"Then watch this!"

A wicked grin spread across Satoru Gojo's face as he raised his head and shouted, "Mama's boy Tsukasa!"

"Satoru Gojo!!!"

The moment those words fell, an enraged roar rang through the classroom, even echoing faintly down the hallway.

Tsukasa Hatayama, who had been admiring the scenery, now had multicolored spirals in his eyes. Utterly triggered, he flash-stepped straight in front of Satoru Gojo.

Under two pairs of astonished eyes, he grabbed Satoru Gojo and beat the hell out of him.

"Wait!"

"Go easy! You're beating last night's dinner out of me!"

Satoru Gojo struggled free and fled around the classroom with his face bruised and swollen. Yet Tsukasa Hatayama seemed like a different person, doggedly chasing him down and hitting him.

The sheer comedy of the scene left Shoko Ieiri staring blankly.

He really made Tsukasa Hatayama lose it with just one sentence?

Suguru Geto explained, "Tsukasa loves his mother very much, but he doesn't want other people to know. So what Gojo said was basically a slap in his face."

Shoko Ieiri found that amusing. Who would have thought that a freak who outclassed two prodigies could have such tender feelings?

Five minutes later.

Satoru Gojo sat in his seat with his face bruised and swollen. At the front of the classroom, Masamichi Yaga kept glancing at him, unable to suppress his amusement.

It was hard not to laugh at the sight of the insufferably arrogant Satoru Gojo getting his comeuppance.

After his last beating, Gojo had reined in his unruly arrogance a little, but only around Suguru Geto and Tsukasa Hatayama.

With weaker people, he still talked like he owned the place.

"Tch!"

Satoru Gojo curled his lip, his face aching, and shot an irritated look past Suguru Geto at the perfectly content Tsukasa Hatayama. He thought Tsukasa had been truly merciless.

We've even shared a bed, for bromance's sake. How could you still hit me that hard?!

"Heh, heh, heh... Shoko, heal Gojo, would you?"

Masamichi Yaga looked at Shoko Ieiri, holding back his laughter. If Gojo went untreated, every glance at him would make Yaga want to laugh.

His face was swollen like a pig's head...

"I kn... know, sir."

Shoko Ieiri answered while stifling her laughter, her shoulders shaking as she walked toward Satoru Gojo, intending to heal him with Reverse Cursed Technique.

In a good mood, Tsukasa Hatayama glanced over. If he had not been worried about stealing Shoko Ieiri's job, he might have been the one using Reverse Cursed Technique.

Reverse Cursed Technique was not difficult.

As everyone knew, cursed energy was negative. Multiplying that energy together-negative times negative equaled positive-produced the healing power of Reverse Cursed Technique.

Mr. Yaga had explained it during a lesson.

With the Hōgyoku's help, Tsukasa had grasped it. When he used it that day, he had stunned the other four people in the classroom.

Especially Mr. Yaga.

He had been so shocked that he abandoned the lesson and ran straight out of the classroom to report it to the higher-ups.

But perhaps because the Hōgyoku could regenerate lost limbs, the Reverse Cursed Technique Tsukasa had mastered could not be used on himself. He could only heal other people.

Still, that was fine. The Hōgyoku's healing and regeneration were far stronger than Reverse Cursed Technique, so being unable to use it on himself was no great loss.

He remembered how exaggerated Geto's and Gojo's expressions had been when he mastered it. Shoko Ieiri had looked at him as though she had seen a ghost.

He could not blame them for being shocked. Very few people ever mastered Reverse Cursed Technique.

There was a saying that put it well.

Knowing Reverse Cursed Technique did not necessarily make you a powerhouse, but a powerhouse would definitely know Reverse Cursed Technique.

Once their shock wore off, however, his two close friends began pestering him relentlessly. Both wanted his help, and both wanted to be the third person to master Reverse Cursed Technique.

The method he offered was to have them practice walking on water and climbing trees like in Naruto, using those exercises to develop precise control over their cursed energy.

Everyone in Jujutsu Society understood the principles of Reverse Cursed Technique, so why did so few succeed?

To master Reverse Cursed Technique, first you needed an absurd degree of precision in controlling cursed energy. Second, it came down to aptitude and talent.

Someone like Shoko Ieiri, who could use it naturally, had been blessed by the heavens.

Gojo's and Geto's talent went without saying. There was no third person like them in Jujutsu Society, so all they could do was refine their control over cursed energy.

A convenient method was to channel cursed energy into their feet, then gradually reduce the amount, just as ninjas controlled chakra.

This method was far better than letting them fumble around blindly.