At that moment, two figures were circling the sports field at Jujutsu High.
One led the pace, breathing steadily and keeping an even stride, looking particularly relaxed. By contrast, the one following her was slowly shuffling along the track with the running posture of a zombie struggling to stand.
"Help me... I'm dying... I'm dying..." Even speaking made his lungs feel as if they were tearing apart.
"Keep up. We're almost done."
He had already lost track of how many laps they had run. All he knew was that Maki was running ahead, and he was following behind.
Admittedly, he knew Maki had slowed down as much as possible to accommodate him, but fifty laps without using Cursed Energy to reinforce his body was still a little too intense for a fragile college student.
Even more terrifyingly, whenever he tried to slow down and sneak in a couple of walking steps, Maki would appear behind him like a ghost, eerily precise, and forcefully push him forward. He couldn't slack off even if he wanted to.
Just as his eyes were about to roll back and he was about to collapse on the field, Maki's voice finally came from up ahead.
"Hey-fifty laps. You can stop now."
Akutagawa Shang could guarantee that this was the sweetest sound he had ever heard in his life.
His body gradually relaxed as he tried to stop.
But anyone who ran regularly knew that people with poor stamina were usually completely exhausted by the end of a run, their bodies moving forward on momentum alone. Trying to slam on the brakes at that point was incredibly difficult, so-
Thud.
And so, unable to control himself or stop, Akutagawa Shang crashed straight into Maki, who had stopped ahead of him.
"Akutagawa Shang!!! Get the hell off me!" Pinned beneath him, Maki roared furiously.
"I didn't mean to. I really don't have any strength left." Those fifty laps had practically left him falling apart. He felt as though he didn't even have the strength to move a finger.
"Panda-san, Inumaki-san, help me." On the verge of tears, Akutagawa Shang began pleading for help from Inumaki and Panda, who were crouching nearby and watching the show.
Panda was still muttering, "Now this is youth."
With Panda and Inumaki's help, they finally moved Akutagawa-kun, whose legs had already lost all feeling, off Maki.
Once he regained a little awareness, he began using Reverse Cursed Technique, and a white glow slowly lit up around him.
After a while, the aching throughout his body eased somewhat. Finally able to move again, Akutagawa Shang dropped into a dogeza before Maki. "I'm truly sorry."
"All right, all right, get up. As long as you're okay. I knew you were weak, but I didn't think you were this weak. I'd have stayed farther away if I'd known."
"Come on, time to eat. This was just the warm-up. The real training starts this afternoon. Hurry up and come refuel with me. If you collapse again this afternoon, I'm not helping you up."
With that, she came over and supported Akutagawa Shang by the shoulders, intending to help him to the cafeteria.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Akutagawa Shang felt a little confused.
"Aren't your legs weak? I'm your coach, at least in name. Of course I have to help you over. What if you suddenly flop onto the ground and stop moving again?" Maki turned her head and huffed.
"Uh, it's actually not that serious. I can already walk over by myself." Akutagawa Shang felt it was necessary to defend himself.
"Shut up!!!" Giving him no room to argue, Maki held him up and headed straight for the cafeteria.
On the way, they encountered Panda and Inumaki, who were also planning to head to the cafeteria.
And so Akutagawa Shang was carried to the cafeteria without moving a muscle, under Panda and Inumaki's watchful eyes.
The cafeteria wasn't large. After all, there weren't many people at Jujutsu High, and it even looked quite empty.
Inumaki and Panda had already reached the cafeteria ahead of them.
Maki dumped Akutagawa onto a chair, then sat down beside him, the four of them sitting together.
Seeing the two of them come in, Panda nodded at Akutagawa with an extremely exaggerated expression, as though saying, "Nice work."
Even Inumaki gave him a thumbs-up beside Panda, looking as though he were cheering him on.
Akutagawa Shang awkwardly returned a bitter smile.
Good thing Maki went to get the food and didn't see that. Akutagawa Shang wiped at his nonexistent cold sweat.
Before long, she returned with two plates of curry rice. The portions looked extraordinarily large, with fried chicken piled all over them.
"Why is there so much?"
"How am I supposed to train you properly this afternoon if you don't eat enough? Eat." As she spoke, Maki picked up a piece of fried chicken and stuffed it into Akutagawa Shang's mouth.
He chewed it. It tasted surprisingly good. The hunger suppressed by his exhaustion slowly returned, and with his appetite awakened, Akutagawa Shang began tearing into the enormous serving of curry rice before him.
Even while eating, he didn't forget to use Reverse Cursed Technique to treat the lingering muscle soreness, using it as a massage device. Ah, having a healing skill really is great.
Seeing the white light glowing around him, Panda leaned over from the next table. "Wow, is that Reverse Cursed Technique?"
"When Gojo-sensei said you'd learned Reverse Cursed Technique, I thought he was joking. I didn't expect it to be true."
"Just luck. Speaking of which, Inumaki-kun, does your Cursed Technique, Cursed Speech, make your throat hurt after you use it?" Akutagawa Shang suddenly remembered this.
"That's right. And the higher the target's grade or the stronger the command's effect, the stronger the backlash. Once his voice goes hoarse, he can't keep using it." Since Inumaki couldn't speak normally, Panda explained for him.
Cursed Speech had too many restrictions. The side effect of backlash severely limited its potential.
"Hey, then if you had Reverse Cursed Technique to heal it, couldn't you keep using it? After all, Cursed Speech's backlash only affects the throat. Repairing a throat with Reverse Cursed Technique should be pretty easy." Akutagawa Shang offered his hypothesis.
"That's true, but only a handful of people in all of Jujutsu Society can properly use Reverse Cursed Technique. It's not that easy to learn. Hey, Akutagawa-san, could you teach us how you learned it?" Panda spread his paws.
"Sure?" Akutagawa Shang then vividly demonstrated Shoko Ieiri's very own teaching method.
"First you go 'hey,' then 'whoosh,' then 'hey-whoosh,' and that's it. So, did you get it?" Akutagawa Shang looked at them expectantly.
"...Not at all." Looking thoroughly exasperated, Panda and Inumaki shook their heads in confusion.
"Ah, what a shame." Akutagawa Shang shook his head helplessly.
"Forget it. If Reverse Cursed Technique were really that easy to learn, there wouldn't be only a handful of people in all of Jujutsu Society who could use it."
"Salmon."
"Hey, don't get discouraged. Reverse Cursed Technique isn't the only way to make Cursed Speech stronger."
Seeing that they were clearly dispirited, Akutagawa Shang hurried to reassure them.
Although Inumaki's development of Cursed Speech had been very limited in the original story, those unhinged internet users in his original world hadn't been nearly so conservative with it.
"If the backlash is calculated based on the effect, why not just avoid those forceful commands and switch to instructions that are less intense but still effective?"
"Salted roe?" Inumaki raised his head, his interest clearly piqued. Panda seemed curious too.
"For instance, uh, let me give you an example."
"Say you wanted to restrict an enemy's movements in battle. What would you say? Most people would probably just say, 'Don't move.' And sure, that might effectively restrict the enemy's movements."
"But... that's how losers think."
"Not only would you suffer massive backlash, you might not even hold the enemy for long. But what if you changed the command to something with a smaller effect on reality, yet a bigger effect on the battle?"
"For instance, 'Get a cramp,' or 'Let your infected nail fold burst.' Imagine what would happen if an enemy's leg suddenly cramped while they were attacking, or their infected nail fold burst."
"Oh!!!" Inumaki's eyes lit up. Clearly, he hadn't imagined Cursed Speech could be used like that.
"I didn't expect you to have such a good head on your shoulders." Maki voiced her admiration too.
"Getting the greatest effect at the smallest cost-that's the core of Cursed Speech as a Cursed Technique. And that's only on the physical level. If you think further, you could extend the damage to the mental level."
"To be even nastier, you could change the command straight to 'Testicular torsion,' or 'Get explosive diarrhea.'"
"If an enemy were hit with commands like that in battle, the effect would increase exponentially compared with a simple 'Don't move,' and you'd reduce the backlash too. Well? Am I a genius or what?" Wearing a wicked grin, Akutagawa Shang swept his gaze over everyone, seemingly waiting for their praise.
But after he waited for a long time, the cafeteria remained silent. Everyone had fallen quiet.
Maki silently shifted to the side, putting a little more distance between herself and Akutagawa Shang.
"How did I never notice before that you'd stoop this low? Stay away from me from now on." Maki waved a hand in front of her nose, looking disgusted, as though she had seen something filthy.
"If you really used Cursed Speech like that, the enemy certainly ought to despair," Panda said quietly.
Inumaki lowered his head without speaking, but the involuntary movement of his eyes suggested that he really seemed to have taken Akutagawa Shang's words to heart. It was just that no one noticed.
"Don't be like that, Maki. I'm just helping Inumaki come up with ideas. What happened to promising to train me for the rest of my life?"
"Get lost!!!"
Before you continue