Chapter 7

I couldn’t come up with any good way to use the Construction Technique after all. This is Zenin Naoya, by the way.

In the first place, what are you even supposed to do with a technique that burns through cursed energy like this unless you’re a sorcerer strong enough to deploy a Domain Expansion and fight Sukuna head-on? You’d need cursed energy reserves on Sukuna’s level, or something like the Six Eyes, for it to even be feasible.

Normally, abilities that create objects can either overwhelm with quantity or dominate with quality, right? But what the hell is this? Either you make one tiny Kinkeshi figure, or you create a special-grade cursed tool and die in the process. At that point, wouldn’t it be better to just keep making pure gold and selling it little by little? My family’s already absurdly rich anyway. Hell, this might even be worse than the trash compared to Yamaoka-san’s sweetfish.

If you really want to make it workable, binding vows are probably the realistic approach. But if you attach a bad one, the technique becomes completely useless. If I were restricting it to fighting curse users, I’d just make poison gas or something. The problem is that modern weapons don’t work on cursed spirits.

If I had to name one advantage, it’s that things produced with the Construction Technique conduct cursed energy very easily… but in that case, you might as well just use a regular cursed tool. The Zenin clan has plenty of weapons that “have been used by sorcerers for generations.” It’s a long-standing combat-oriented family, after all.

To put it simply—if you’re born with the Construction Technique, your role as the “one everyone looks down on” is basically decided from the start. And that’s largely the fault of the Zenin family, who even mock modern weaponry. What’s so bad about guns? Whether it’s a cursed tool or a firearm, you should use whatever works. The one who exorcises the most curses should obviously be the one held in the highest regard.

Surprisingly, there aren’t many people who think like that.

"So what do you think, Mai-chan?"

"…I’ve already understood that I lack talent."

That’s not what I meant, though. By the way, even when I told Mai-chan she didn’t need to use polite speech with me, she couldn’t drop it. She’s completely different from Maki-chan in that regard.

"Construction Technique, huh… If you add restrictions, you lose the advantage of being able to create anything. But if you try to use it seriously, the cursed energy consumption is ridiculous. What kind of nonsense is this?"

"I’m sorry."

"No, no. I’m not blaming you, Mai-chan."

You could also say I’m not trying to raise a death flag here. I’d rather not end up as material for some weird sound-edit meme because I bullied her too much. My sadistic side is tempted, but I’ll hold back.

"Why not train your body with Maki-chan—…Hey, don’t look at me with such despair. Yeah, yeah, joining the Kukuru Unit would be a bit unreasonable."

Actually, can this girl even swing a sword? If she joined the Kukuru Unit, the best-case scenario would probably be ending up as someone’s plaything. Maki-chan may be considered a failure, but she’s physically gifted, so at least she can resist. But with this one… her one strong point—her pretty face—might actually make things worse. At the very least, she should learn some form of self-defense—

"Right. Let’s get you a gun. If we ask my old man, we can probably get one."

Moments like this are when it’s convenient to know people. Though honestly, how did she originally end up getting a gun anyway? This is a family that even mocks the idea of carrying weapons.

—

So anyway, I handed her the handgun we managed to get.

But why can this girl snipe with a handgun?

Maybe she actually has talent in this area. She might even be able to pull off a one-hole shot.

—

"Hey, Megumi-kun. Been doing well?"

"Naoya-san… yeah. More or less."

Time really flies. Before I knew it, Megumi-kun was already a middle schooler. Soon he’ll enter Jujutsu High and start working as a full-fledged sorcerer. Feels like just the other day he was still carrying a randoseru. Kids grow up fast.

"You say ‘more or less,’ but you’ve beaten up every delinquent in the area? What would happen if you actually went all out?"

"…You knew?"

"It’s pretty famous. Don’t worry, I’m not here to lecture you. Though I am curious why you’re doing it."

"It’s nothing. I just beat up people who piss me off."

"Really? Then why don’t you look satisfied at all?"

Did I step on a landmine? He’s making a pretty obvious annoyed face. Adolescence is complicated.

"I thought you said you weren’t going to lecture me."

"I’m not. I just thought that if something’s bothering you, maybe your big sister here could listen. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone who isn’t directly involved, right?"

I figured he wouldn’t open up so easily, but my expectations were pleasantly proven wrong. Maybe he’d been bottling things up.

"When I graduate… I’ll become what you call a sorcerer, right?"

"Well, yeah. You could refuse, but then you’d probably end up in a pretty awful situation—dragging your sister down with you too. Neither I nor Satoru-kun can protect you all the time."

"That’s exactly it. I… I don’t think I’m capable of becoming a sorcerer."

"Did something happen? If you’d been attacked by a cursed spirit, you wouldn’t be this calm… Did you see some gruesome corpse or something?"

"No, nothing like that… It’s just… I don’t think I’m capable of protecting people."

"Hm?"

"I hate bad people. They breathe like they’re entitled to it, with the emotional depth and imagination of a barren wasteland. I hate good people too. They treat forgiving evil like it’s something noble, and it makes me sick."

Ah, adolescence. Personally, I hate weaklings. Seeing useless people breathing like they have the right to exist makes me want to throw up.

"Someone like me isn’t suited to being a sorcerer—"

"Hold on a second. Are you maybe… romanticizing sorcerers?"

Come to think of it, he’s still a boy. Boys grow up admiring heroes on Sunday morning TV.

"What sorcerers do isn’t that different from what you’re already doing. We exorcise cursed spirits—the ones we don’t like—and as a result, someone ends up being saved. No need to overthink it."

There are even sorcerers who outright say they do it for money. And honestly, Satoru-kun himself isn’t some kind of heroic figure either. He’s just someone who’s so strong he can do whatever he wants. What is he, the final boss?

"You can just save the people you want to save. If someone you hate gets killed and then you exorcise the curse afterward, that’s fine too. There’s no law that judges people like us anyway."

Of course, if he could think about it that simply, he probably wouldn’t be struggling with it.

"If that’s what’s bothering you, then just save the people you like and abandon the ones you don’t. The scales we use can tip however we want them to."

Jujutsu sorcerers aren’t heroes. Cursed spirits are more like natural disasters anyway—they’re not “evil.” Curse users? Those guys are just the trash of society. Not even human. The moment Satoru-kun was born they all quieted down, so I guess their sense of danger works about as well as an animal’s.

"You’ve still got a few years left, so take your time thinking it over. I’ll listen if you want to talk, at least."

"…Thank you very much."

Hmm… was that actually a good conversation? Back in the past like this, knowing the original story isn’t useful for anything, which is annoying. I could probably have a better conversation with Kenjaku instead. At least I know his goals and a bunch of other details.

…That aside, Megumi-kun is starting to look more like Toji-kun. Maybe he could do a bit more strength training or something. Getting close to that Heavenly Restriction physique would take a lot of work, though.

—

For the time being, I figured I’d just kill time until Megumi-kun entered Jujutsu High, but something of a small commotion happened in my family.

It’s not that I forgot about it… more like I just hadn’t been consciously thinking about it. It happened in the original story too. To stop being dramatic about it—the issue was Maki-chan and Mai-chan enrolling in Jujutsu High.

Apparently Maki-chan plans to train there and eventually become the next head of our family… but honestly, she should at least beat me first before leaving. The only reason I can say something like that is because I know how useless Jujutsu High actually is as an educational institution. At the very least they could teach them Simple Domain. Then again, doesn’t the New Shadow Style come with some kind of drawback? My memory’s a little fuzzy.

Well, since my old man ultimately approved them going to Jujutsu High, no one can stop it. Apparently it’s being treated as a formal disownment. But so what? Personally, the only problem for me is that it’ll be harder to raise my favorability with them now. Still, maybe all the interaction we’ve had so far will count for something.

"Naoya."

"…Maki-chan. So you’re really going to Jujutsu High. Did you hate this place that much?"

"Obviously. How the hell could anyone like a place like this?"

"You would if you got strong. Those old geezers strut around acting tough, but the moment they’re in front of me they quiet right down. Wasn’t that hilarious to watch?"

"…Yeah, I guess that’s true."

Look at that—Maki-chan can actually hold a conversation. Maybe we’ve gotten along better than in the original story.

"I heard you told my old man you’re aiming to become the clan head. So what’s the real story?"

"What do you mean ‘real story’?"

"You think you can beat me?"

A Heavenly Restriction physical prodigy… a fake one. If she wanted to become the real thing, she’d have to throw away the most important thing she has. Not that I’m planning to tell her that.

"…I’ll beat you someday. Just wait and see."

"Ooh, scary. In that case, maybe I should prepare a prize for when I lose."

Specifically, Toji-kun’s belongings. Though the Inverted Spear of Heaven already got destroyed by Satoru-kun.

"Oh, right—Maki-chan. One piece of advice. When other people are around, try taking off those lame glasses of yours and practice sensing cursed spirits."

"Huh? There’s no way I’d be able to see them."

"You don’t have to see them. If you can see everything else except the cursed spirit, that’s basically the same as seeing it, right? The rest you can figure out yourself."

Maki-chan has plenty of drive, so I’m not worried. Becoming clan head is impossible for her though. After all, the will already says Megumi-kun will become the head someday. If Satoru-kun stays alive, then I’d probably be the one instead… but with that chaotic mess of a future, you never really know until the time comes.

…Anyway, I should probably go listen to Mai-chan complain. She’s basically getting dragged into going to Jujutsu High against her will. Being twins really is a troublesome thing.

Well, Maki-chan aside, for Mai-chan it’ll probably just be four years of making memories. Hopefully she manages to find some good friends there.