Putting the Harmony Box to Use!

The air over the training ground suddenly stilled for a moment.

Yuta Okkotsu was the first to feel it.

He stopped his bamboo sword mid-motion, turned his head, and looked toward the office building.

"...What was that just now?"

Maki Zenin stopped as well.

She frowned and followed Okkotsu's gaze, but she neither saw nor felt anything.

"What's wrong?"

She turned back to Okkotsu.

"Something felt... a little strange."

Yuta Okkotsu tilted his head slightly, as though he was still trying to confirm something.

"Over there. For a moment just now, it felt like the air pressure changed."

Maki Zenin gave the office building another doubtful glance, then shook her head.

"I didn't feel anything."

As they spoke, Panda came over from the side, his round face wearing an equally puzzled expression.

He raised a paw and scratched the back of his head, his voice a little lower than usual.

"No, Yuta's right."

"There really was this... very strange pressure just now."

"But only for a moment."

"It came from the principal's office."

"Could something have happened..."

He paused, then glanced in that direction again.

"But Wangchuan's over there, isn't he? It should be fine."

Hearing that, Maki Zenin thought it over and found that it did make sense.

The guy usually fooled around, but his strength spoke for itself. If anything really happened, he would be the one making it happen to someone else.

The three of them stepped out of the gravity field.

"Ohh..."

"It's so much easier out here!"

Their gazes, however, happened to sweep across Toge Inumaki by the stands.

Then her eyes lit up.

"Hey! Inumaki!"

Maki Zenin strode toward the stands, resting her bamboo sword on her shoulder.

"What's that on your face? A cursed tool?"

Inumaki was sitting on the steps of the stands.

Hearing Maki's voice, he looked up.

A silver-gray metal mask fitted snugly over the lower half of his face.

He blinked.

"Salmon."

Panda bounded over in two steps, his round body nimbly crouching in front of Inumaki.

His big eyes came extremely close as he examined the mask, almost nose to nose with Inumaki.

"Whoa! That's so cool!"

He reached out a paw and carefully poked the edge of the mask.

It felt slightly cool, with a certain intricate, smooth texture, almost like something alive.

His fingertips could feel the patterns inside, almost invisible to the naked eye, vibrating faintly.

"When did you buy this? How come I've never seen it?"

With Panda so close, Inumaki leaned back slightly, then raised a hand and gently pushed Panda's paw away.

"Bon..."

He started to speak, then paused, as though something had occurred to him.

"Teacher Wangchuan gave it to me."

The air over the training ground fell silent for a moment.

"You... you talked?!"

Panda's voice rose half a pitch, his paw pointing at Inumaki's nose.

"You just said a whole sentence! Not dog language!!"

Inumaki opened his mouth again, this time with a slightly uncertain smile in his voice.

"Yeah... Teacher Wangchuan said this mask lets me talk normally."

"It separates cursed speech from ordinary conversation, so everyday speech won't trigger cursed speech."

"So now I can say whatever I want."

Panda froze for three seconds after hearing that, then let out an earth-shaking howl. "That's way too amazing!!"

"And Teacher Wangchuan said... it was custom-made just for me."

Maki Zenin reached the stands as well and planted her bamboo sword in the ground.

With her arms folded over her chest, she looked down at the mask on Inumaki's face.

Her gaze held a scrutinizing, professional quality. It lingered on the mask's outline and patterns for several seconds before she looked up at Inumaki.

"Custom-made..."

"Special Grade?"

"Yes."

Maki Zenin raised an eyebrow.

She knew what a Special Grade cursed tool meant.

Even the cheapest Special Grade cursed tool on the market cost over a hundred million, and most couldn't be bought even if you had the money.

Cursed tools of that caliber were usually held by the few families at the top of Jujutsu Society. Ordinary people never even got to see them.

Yet Wangchuan had casually given one away.

And it was custom-made.

Designed specifically for Inumaki's cursed technique, at that.

"He really is generous."

"And is forging a Special Grade cursed tool supposed to be something so casual?"

She muttered.

Yuta Okkotsu came over too. Standing beside them, he looked at the mask on Inumaki's face for a while, then smiled, his eyes curving.

"Maybe if Teacher Wangchuan can make cursed tools himself, he really doesn't mind that much."

"And he seems... like the kind of person who's very generous with the people he cares about."

Maki Zenin gave him a sidelong glance, then pursed her lips.

"How do you know he cares about you? Maybe he just sees you as a training tool."

"...That's so mean, Maki."

The corner of Yuta Okkotsu's mouth twitched, but he wasn't actually angry.

He did think Wangchuan treated him pretty well.

That teacher was always spouting nonsense and coming up with all sorts of strange gravity training at the drop of a hat.

But whenever he needed guidance, Wangchuan gave him very precise advice.

He had put thought into it.

Inumaki stood up from the steps.

"I want to try it out."

Maki Zenin's eyes lit up.

She was just about to agree when Panda spoke before she could.

"If you want to test its effects, you can't fight Maki."

"Huh?"

Maki turned and glared at him. "Why not?"

Panda solemnly held up one paw.

"Look, Inumaki's technique is cursed speech. It works through spoken commands."

"If you fight him and he tells you to get lost, you'll actually get lost."

"Then what? Inumaki still won't be able to tell how much this cursed tool improves things."

The corner of Maki Zenin's mouth twitched, and her fists were already clenched.

"Say that again?"

Entirely undaunted, Panda continued his methodical analysis.

"To test this cursed tool's effects, he needs an opponent who's strong enough and can take a beating."

His paw swung around to point at Yuta Okkotsu, who stood innocently beside them.

"Like Okkotsu."

Yuta Okkotsu froze, then pointed at himself. "...Me?"

Maki Zenin's fist had already landed on Panda's head.

A dull thud echoed across the training ground.

"Who the fuck are you saying can't take a beating?!"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! I'm telling the truth! Your punches really hurt!!"

"And you're saying I can't take a beating?!"

"I meant you can't take as much as Okkotsu-no!"

"I meant your attack power is too high, Maki! What if Inumaki loses control and hurts you!!!"

Maki Zenin's fist stopped in midair and shifted slightly. Then she huffed and withdrew her hand.

"That's more like it."

Clutching the large lump swelling on top of his head, Panda crouched off to one side, his eyes brimming with tears.

Maki Zenin turned to Yuta Okkotsu and lifted her chin. "Fine. You go."

Yuta Okkotsu looked at Maki, then at Inumaki.

He nodded.

"Okay."

The two walked to a section of the training ground outside the gravity field and stood facing each other.

Yuta Okkotsu stood several paces away, his arms hanging at his sides, his posture relaxed.

He looked at Inumaki across from him and gave a slight nod.

"Inumaki, here I come."

Before he had finished speaking, he was already moving.

His goal was to test it, so he held back his strength.

Even so, his speed was still astonishing, his movement stirring a rush of wind.

Inumaki stood where he was, his gaze fixed on the rapidly approaching figure.

He raised his hand slightly, touching the patterns on the mask's surface with his fingertips.

He could feel the fine runes inside the mask responding to his thoughts, as though a long-dormant mechanism had been switched on.

Cursed speech mode.

His lips moved.

"Get lost."

Two words.

But their effect on Yuta Okkotsu was as though the entire earth had suddenly risen up and shoved him.

His charging body was abruptly struck by an all-encompassing repulsive force that ignored his defenses, as though he had collided head-on with an invisible wall.

His feet plowed two deep furrows through the ground, and he flew backward uncontrollably, his feet leaving the ground.

Bang!

He landed and slid another two or three meters before steadying himself.

Yuta Okkotsu crouched on the ground, both hands braced in front of him, and looked up at Inumaki in surprise.

"Impressive."

He added inwardly, That repulsive force was nearly three times as strong as when Inumaki used cursed speech at full power before.

And that force had come with exceptional cleanliness, without the slightest trace of anything extraneous.

It was as though some precision device had filtered it, leaving only a pure, directed command.

Maki Zenin and Panda stared from the stands.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

"Did you see that... Okkotsu got blasted straight back..."

Maki Zenin didn't answer.

Her gaze was locked on Inumaki's face-or, more precisely, on the mask he wore.

She had seen it clearly.

The instant Inumaki activated cursed speech, the dark patterns on the mask's surface had flashed, spreading rapidly from the center to either side like a lit fuse.

Then an extremely faint wisp of heat, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, had escaped from the mask's edges, like waste heat discharged by a machine after operating at high efficiency.

And Inumaki himself.

He was still standing perfectly fine.

His breathing was steady, his shoulders did not sway, and there was not even any sign of backlash.

"So mild."

"The backlash is so mild."

Maki Zenin's pupils suddenly contracted.

She knew what the backlash from Cursed Speech meant.

Every time Inumaki used powerful Cursed Speech, he suffered an equivalent amount of backlash damage.

That damage directly affected his throat, his vocal cords, his entire speech system. Every use caused real damage.

And that "Get away" just now.

That amount of Cursed Energy, enough to blast Yuta Okkotsu as he was now straight off his feet.

In the past, Inumaki's throat should have felt uncomfortable or his voice should have been hoarse by now.

But neither had happened.

"This Cursed Tool... can it really absorb the vast majority of the backlash?"

Panda had already darted to the edge of the stands, his paws braced against the railing and his whole body leaning out as he shouted at Inumaki in the center of the field.

"Inumaki!"

"Try another one! Something bigger!"

Inumaki turned to glance at him, then his gaze fell on Yuta Okkotsu, who had already gotten to his feet.

Okkotsu brushed the dirt off his pants, smiled at him, and nodded.

"Go ahead."

Inumaki took a deep breath.

"Fly!"