Sherlock knew nothing about the conversation between Satoru Gojo and Masamichi Yaga. After returning to his dorm, he briefly sorted through the various souvenirs he had brought back from Hokkaido, then lay down on his bed and began reviewing this "grading mission."
The inaccurate intelligence provided by Old Orange-Peels had clearly become standard practice, something Shoko had also confirmed.
But aside from the relatively minor issues of inaccurate intelligence and those Old Orange-Peels being untrustworthy, the battle that had nearly cost Sherlock his life had undoubtedly exposed more problems.
First came the issue of weapons.
Sayafushi was a very useful cursed tool, but it clearly did not suit Sherlock.
Perhaps early on, its sharpness could let him pull off moves like the Flying Thunder God Slash, but Sayafushi would also restrict the flexibility of Sherlock's cursed technique.
It was like making an assassin replace his main weapon with a warrior's longsword.
Although it increased his attack power, it sacrificed his agility as an assassin.
Fortunately, anime had given Sherlock inspiration, just as the Flying Thunder God had been invented by the Second Naruto in the manga but brought to prominence by the Fourth Naruto.
With a model to follow, Sherlock abandoned Sayafushi almost without hesitation and instead took the Fourth's more flexible approach, maximizing the versatility of his cursed technique.
After all, not every mission would give Sherlock ample time to place beacons throughout the battlefield the way this one had.
And without any beacons, Sherlock's cursed technique was essentially useless except for running away.
What was more, now that he had entered the game, Sherlock was certain the future was bound to grow increasingly dangerous, whether he wanted to deal with Old Orange-Peels or be able to protect himself in that dangerous future.
Sherlock had to choose the right path for his growth as soon as possible, then do everything he could to become stronger as quickly as he could.
After thinking it over for an entire day, Sherlock finally sought out Satoru Gojo early the next morning. He solemnly returned Sayafushi, requested another day off, then left Jujutsu High outright and disappeared for an entire day.
It was not until noon the following day that Sherlock returned to Jujutsu High carrying a large cardboard box.
Satoru Gojo had said nothing when Sherlock took leave, not even asking where he was going, giving him the utmost trust. But once Sherlock returned carrying a large cardboard box, Satoru Gojo could no longer contain his curiosity.
He trailed Sherlock back to his dorm, then barged straight in while Sherlock was opening the large cardboard box and sorting its contents. Ignoring the panic on Sherlock's face, he decisively began rummaging through the box Sherlock had brought back.
Most of its contents were custom-made weapons: dozens of Ice Breakers and two stainless steel knuckle dusters. None were cursed tools; they were all factory assembly-line products.
The Ice Breaker measured roughly twenty centimeters long and about eight millimeters wide overall, with a blade approximately eleven centimeters long, shaped like a hexagonal pyramid with dull edges on both sides.
While suited to thrusting, they also retained some slashing capability and could double as daggers in an emergency.
The knuckle dusters were a slightly heavy pea-pod design, without the palm brace found on traditional knuckle dusters, but they preserved as much hand mobility as possible. Even wearing them would not interfere with using the Ice Breakers afterward.
With Satoru Gojo's combat expertise, he understood Sherlock's choice almost instantly.
Sherlock's cursed technique was remarkably convenient and flexible, but it was also difficult to control, and he lacked a means of delivering a killing blow.
In Satoru Gojo's view, the fastest way for Sherlock to improve was to use cursed tools, and a weapon like Sayafushi was the best means of doing so.
Sherlock's complete form should have been something like a combination of the Fourth and Second Hokage from Naruto, using thrown objects to establish beacons and a long weapon like Sayafushi to dispatch enemies swiftly.
Although this sacrificed some flexibility, it also provided attack power, making it the easiest path under the current circumstances.
But Sherlock clearly had an entirely different idea.
Sherlock had chosen the Fourth's approach in its purest form, maximizing his cursed technique's flexibility and abandoning long weapons like Sayafushi in favor of using his own fists to engage the enemy.
The only problem was that Sherlock's fighting style had one fatal weakness.
Cursed energy was not chakra and could not create attacks like the Rasengan, which meant Sherlock would still lack an attack capable of killing in a single blow.
But those two pea-pod knuckle dusters also proved one thing: Sherlock had thought of a way to address that too.
Black Flash!
This was not an easy path. Some sorcerers might never manage it in their entire lives, not to mention that Sherlock had a cursed technique that could offer him an escape route at any moment, clearly running completely counter to the wholehearted, all-or-nothing combat Black Flash required.
Clearly, this path was nowhere near as easy for Sherlock as the one Satoru Gojo had laid out for him, yet Sherlock had still chosen it without wavering. Even Satoru Gojo could not help feeling a little gratified and moved.
Meanwhile, Sherlock paid absolutely no attention to Satoru Gojo's gratification and reflections. Instead, he was utterly frantic, even desperately trying to snatch his box back from Satoru Gojo's hands.
It would have been downright bizarre if Satoru Gojo, the strongest in Jujutsu Society, could not see through that little plan of his, okay?
What truly made Sherlock panic was that the bottom of the goddamn box also contained the teachers' brand-new masterpieces he had bought!
Did anyone know just how much effort Sherlock had put into buying these masterpieces from the limited-edition collaboration event?
Going to the factory to order custom weapons had only taken three hours in total. Sherlock had spent every remaining goddamn minute doing everything possible to buy these limited-edition collaboration masterpieces!
The reason was simple: the event randomly included invitations to an in-person fan appreciation event with the videos!
A collaboration between Teacher Aka and Sensei Kimishima! A dark-skinned hottie and a short-haired mature beauty! Sherlock had poured all the remaining compensation from those Old Orange-Peels into this!
Sherlock even had a powerful premonition that he would definitely find one of those incredibly precious invitations-of which there were only three-among the videos he had scoured practically all of Tokyo to buy!
He absolutely could not let this fucking Dickhead Cat in front of him ruin his heartfelt determination to attend the fan event!
Especially since this was a limited collaboration event between the teachers!
One investment, twice the enjoyment!
And the blatant, utterly undisguised panic on Sherlock's face successfully piqued Satoru Gojo's interest. Without another word, he enveloped the box in Limitless.
"Ha ha, Xia-chan, have you finally stopped slacking off? To encourage you, the greatest teacher, Teacher Gojo, has decided to give you a big present!"
After saying that, Satoru Gojo opened the window and jumped out under Sherlock's despairing gaze, activating his cursed technique in midair and vanishing without a trace.
"No!!!!!!!!"
Watching Satoru Gojo disappear, Sherlock dropped to his knees in despair like Yuan Hua and let out a roar from his very soul. Even the background music of A Spray of Plum Blossoms rang out around him.