Walking to meet the rest with Kamo-Sensei, we wound up just talking, and the topic naturally found its way to Cursed Techniques fairly quick.
"Okay, but couldn't you just do away with the entire process in favour of a simple yes/no type of activation?" I ask, thinking about how I only need a hand sign to summon my Shikigami, and even that isn't a need, compared to Takiyasha who needs to summon and ring her bell to do so. An extra step that wastes precious seconds.
Kamo-Sensei tilts his head side to side in thought before shaking it. "No, not really. The process is a ritual, pretty much everything in Jujutsu is a ritual really. From revealing your hand, to saying the name of the Technique you're using or even just specific postures and hand signs. Even your conception is technically a part of the ritual inherent to your Innate Technique. If you got rid of the process, then sure, a yes/no trigger would be far faster, but without any rituals empowering it, it'd be basically useless. That is why Innate Techniques are so important."
"Sure, I get that. But quantity can be a quality of its own right? You would get so much rapid versatility, it'd make it really easy to keep control of the fight."
He shakes his head again. "Nope. You know what we call a Technique without any rituals embedded in it?" He pauses to smirk knowingly at me and I obligingly shake my head so that he can get to the point. "We call them Spells."
I blink. "Wait what?"
"Don't read too much into it," he waves a hand dismissively at me. "That's just a simple way to put it. Spells obviously have rituals too. Just writing the script out itself technically counts as a ritual. So does burning away the talisman as it's used, or even the creation of whatever material you're writing the script on can be counted in its ritual. Trust me, Sorcery has been around a lot longer than you have, we've already tried and failed to make Spells combat viable for hundreds of years. The closest thing I've found to success is embedding the Spells into a baby from conception to birth, and even that is mostly theoretical at this point."
I nod sagely. "Yeah, but I'm better than you. Also that sounds fucked up."
Kamo-Sensei's smile twitches and his eyes narrow, no doubt at the fact that my words contain no lie. "Brat," he says before shaking his head, his expression smoothing out as he continues talking with a shrug. "If you can figure something out, then please do. Sorcery has always been mostly about talent from birth. Innate Techniques. If you could make Spells actually viable?"
He snorts at the thought, though he sounds wistful looking into the middle distance.
"You'd change the world."
"Are you baiting me?" I ask with narrowed eyes, deciding not to comment on him actually acting like a teacher for once, lest he stop doing so out of spite. "I feel like you're trying to reverse psychology me."
"Trying to what?"
"Reverse psychology. Like when you tell a kid not to do something because you know they will be contrarian and do the opposite of what you say."
"Ah. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing. It's working, isn't it?"
My eye twitches at his mocking smirk. "I don't care if you're old, I will seriously kick your ass someday."
"Tsk tsk, so violent~. Sukuna is really rubbing off on you."
"It's you!" I point accusingly at him. "You're the bad influence!"
"Are you trying to tell me that Sukuna isn't a bad influence?" He asks, and he has the appropriate level of dubiousness in both his tone and expression as he says it.
"Tch, you are both bad influences," I return with a pouting glare.
"Evens things out then," he says, making me tilt my head, but he continues before I can ask what he means by that. "Oh, by the way, you probably want this back right?"
My eyes widen as he pulls Thief of Time out of his sleeve and offers it to me, and I quickly snatch it away.
"You didn't break it did you?" I ask, suspicious of his smile.
"I tried really hard," he sighs with a smile. "Threw it against a wall, stomped on it a few times. Alas," he shakes his head dramatically, "It is rather sturdy and survived despite it all."
The only reason I huff a laugh instead of punch him through a wall is because it's so obvious that he's just playing around. Which is good, because I'd have been really sad if he did break it.
"Good. Now, let's take a picture."
"Hm?" He raises a brow at me, not understanding what I'm getting at at all. Which I guess makes sense in a time where the concept of a selfie doesn't exists.
Man, etymology is interesting to think about sometimes. The cultural effect that specific words can have, or in this case the opposite. How unique cultures tend to create new, unique words to fit whatever specific thing is trending at the time. It's neat, even if it happened with far less frequency in these times than the future where culture would change every five years.
Instead of wasting so much time explaining what a selfie is with words, I just take half a step in Kamo-Sensei's direction so that I can throw one arm over his shoulders. Then, I raise the other arm in front of us and point the camera backwards.
It's kind of creepy being on this side of the camera, watching as the eye opens up to take the picture.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what is happening, so Kamo-Sensei turns to face the camera without complaint, smiling wryly.
A picture is taken, and I do not feel any kind of vortex or anything like that one time with Kanta—the only time I've felt it.
"I'm going to make a massive binder someday," I inform Kamo-Sensei as I separate from him and take a look at the photo. "Fill it with my entire history and all of the people I love and the wonderful places I see."
Saying so, I turn to face him and present the photo proudly. His expression immediately turns deadpan as he notices that I made bunny ears behind his head.
"How old are you again?" He asks, and I raise a brow at his audaciousness.
"Still as young as a babe compared to you, Hag-Sensei."
"Maybe in body," he returns, squinting at me and jerking his head back the way we came, indicating my previous reveal.
"Still younger than you. By a lot. Seriously you're so old."
"You don't even know how old I am."
"Maybe in body," I say, parroting his word back at him with a smirk before changing my tone to be like cooing at a baby. "But in spiwit you're so owwld~. I bet you fart dust, Hag-Sensei."
Kamo-Sensei faux-gasps and holds a hand against his chest before snickering, and I join him in a brief bout of laughter.
Conversation drifts off for the rest of the walk from there, both of us having our own thoughts to ponder. Myself thinking further on the nature of rituals.
Kamo-Sensei doesn't need to inform me when we arrive, as it becomes clear enough to my senses the closer we get. I probably could have just directed myself really by guessing the destination.
The courtyard we are approaching has a lot of Cursed Energy gathered together. It'd be hard to miss.
Just like the similar fountain of Cursed Energy I can faintly feel in the distance, even through all of the dampening seals and the like embedded into this building. Presumably that'd be the gathered Onmyōji.
But it is into this long silence of ours that Kamo-Sensei does speak again.
"I do not remember how old I am," he says, not looking at me or putting any particular inflection into his tone. "Something around two hundred."
"Huh," is my lacking response. Mostly just because I wasn't expecting him to say that so abruptly and I don't know how to respond.
Also, isn't two hundred years like, way too much? He barely looks sixty. Fifty if I wanted to be generous, which I do not when it involves Kamo-Sensei.
How the hell is Sabishī just his granddaughter slash adopted daughter if he's that old? Shouldn't she be like, great great great-granddaughter or something?
So much for not being celibate, I think with a laugh, before my mental amusement freezes. Wait, unless he doesn't just like guys but actually dislikes women? Wait a minute, I don't want to think about this.
Shaking my head, I do my best to clear away any thoughts about what my Sensei gets up to behind closed doors.
It is not something I want stuck in my brain.
Luckily for me then, that that is when we reach the courtyard holding the rest of my peers.
The courtyard is a rather large square, paved with stone except for a small patch of green in each corner and a tree growing in the centre. A number of small tables are set out, cushions available to sit on and tea and snacks to dine on.
Scattered around this courtyard are an even dozen Sorcerers—my fellow students and Kiyohara-Sensei, plus a few serving staff to pour the tea.
Notably, every fellow student bar Seimei is wearing chest, shoulder and waist armour and is carrying a weapon or two. Either swords or spears or bows or some combination of them all. It's like I'm looking at a band of rōnin.
Glancing down at my empty hands, bereft of arms and armour, I woodenly turn to glare at Kamo-Sensei. He could have told me everyone would be coming with arms and armour! I feel so underdressed.
Kamo-Sensei smirks at me before patting me on the back and moving forward to stand with Kiyohara-Sensei. So I kick his foot as he steps past me so that it locks behind the other, making him stumble a step.
When he turns to glare at me I simply pretend I can't see him and quickly locate Nagiko before heading her way, ignoring the sound of him clicking his tongue. It's what he gets. Asshole-Sensei.
Nagiko is sitting with Ashiya Dōman, which is not a pairing I would have expected. Maybe thinking of them acting like siblings wasn't so far off after all?
Or maybe they just want to insult one another to pass the time, who knows?
They naturally both notice my approach easily enough, and I raise a hand in greeting as I step close.
"Yo."
"Narauko," greets Nagiko with a warm smile, gesturing for me to sit beside her, which I do. It's kind of weird seeing her wearing samurai armour and carrying a sword at her hip and bow over her back.
Neither of them say anything about my lack of weaponry, and I'm not sure if that means something or not.
"No honorific?" Dōman interjects, raising a brow. "My dear Narauko-dono, I fear you may be falling prey to a seductress. You should know that it is only alluring on the outside."
"'It'?" Nagiko quotes with a glare, to which Dōman simply smirks smugly.
They really do act like siblings. It's kind of hilarious.
"Seduction wouldn't be seductive if it was not appealing," I counter with a shrug before Nagiko can say something mean. "How are you two feeling about the event?"
Dōman shrugs and leans back slightly to show how little he cares, while Nagiko ignores the question entirely, which kind of makes me wonder if I'm the only one really excited about it.
"You seem different," she comments, clearly curious, but I can only smile.
"Yeah, a little." I pause to thank a servant for pouring me some tea before continuing, "I feel like I've taken a small step forward since arriving here."
"Oh?" Dōman replies while Nagiko simply studies me closely, likely using her magic eyes to gleam something or other. "A step towards what?"
To that, I can only shrug and send him a grin of genuine joy. "I have no idea~. Only that I am closer."
Nothing more can be said before a resounding clap echoes through the courtyard, and all attention falls on Kamo-Sensei standing on one side with his palms together.
"Hello hello~!" He begins, smiling cheerfully. "You're all nobles, well, except for the best of you," are you trying to make people hate me, Sensei? "So I'm sure you've had some thoughts about why we're having an event like this all of a sudden, though most of you have probably figured it out by now, so I can't really be bothered to explain~! What matters is that we have fun! Yaaayyy~!!!"
Kiyohara-Sensei besides him facepalms at Kamo-Sensei's truly pointless speech and childish attitude. But unlike the rest of my peers that all either ignore him entirely or stare on with disappointment, I decide to be nice and enthusiastically clap, grinning when Kamo-Sensei points my way with a smile.
Dōman's sigh brings my attention to him as he eyes me with wry amusement.
"I suppose it makes sense that it would take The Strongest to be as eccentric as Kamo-Sensei. You two really are absurd."
"I think it is rather charming," Nagiko counters, hugging herself against my arm while glaring at Dōman. When she speak to him, she does so with that kind of faux-commiserating tone that is so obviously fake. "Not that you would know anything about charming. Are you prepared to die without ever becoming a man?"
Dōman's eye twitches, but again we are interrupted as the doors to the courtyard slide open and Tengen walks in, her eyes closed as she easily steals the attention of everyone inside. So instead of biting back, Dōman just whispers a "Drown yourself," under his breath before turning to face Tengen.
Tengen's crimson eyes sweep over the gathered Sorcerers as if she is searching for something, though what, I could not guess.
"First, I would like to thank you all for coming. You may be my students, but you are all also noble," her eyes find mine briefly before she continues without mentioning the exception, because she isn't an asshole, "So I am aware that your attendance here and now represents more than simply doing as your teachers bid."
"Tengen-sama~!" Interrupts no other than Kamo-Sensei, because who else would interrupt Tengen with such a childish exclamation. He waits for her to turn unimpressed eyes upon his figure before continuing with the tone of one doing another a favour. "I've actually already given the speech, no need to waste your time~."
Tengen stares blankly at my Sensei for a few silent moments before simply waving her hand in his direction, causing pitch black barriers to rise from the ground and form a coffin around the man. Without acknowledging the interruption at all, Tengen turns back to us and continues as if nothing happened.
"I am sure that you have heard plenty from your families," Tengen continues, "About honour. About pride. About power."
She lets her words hang in the air for a moment, taking the time to meet each of our eyes.
"Today we stand at the precipice of an auspicious future. Michizane is dead. Ascended as Tenjin-ue." I feel a number of eyes turn my way, so I simply smile and wave back at them. "The balance of power within the imperial court is thusly in contention. I am sure that your families have told you of this. Whether it is the Clans you are from or the Imperial Family, everyone is grasping for power, and I am sure that you have been told how this event is an opportunity. A chance to determine whether it is Jujutsu or Onmyōdō, and further, the Clans or the Imperial Family that will hold power in the court for the next century."
"However. I hope to provide an alternative. Over the course of my life, I have seen more wars than I care to count. It is clear to me how easily another might break out in response to the void Michizane has left behind. But does that need to be the case? I did not organise this event to decide the structure of power for the future. Instead, it is my hope that by crossing blades with your peers, you might connect with them. You are all Sorcerers, after all. Perhaps it is the foolishness of the elderly, but I hope that in the coming days you might find unlikely friends and choose to value them over politics. Do not forget, we exist to combat Curses. Not humans. That is all."
Sweeping my eyes around the courtyard, I'm a little sad to see the general disinterest Tengen's words have generated. Not even Dōman seems to be putting much stock into Tengen's idealism.
Not that I can really blame them though. Because for as nice as it would be for the world to be peaceful, anyone with even the slightest learnings of history can tell you that war is in humanity's blood.
A loud bang draws everyone's attention to Kamo-Sensei's coffin as the front is knocked down and the man himself steps out, grinning widely.
"Well now that the idealism is out of the way," he begins, sending Tengen a wink that is also ignored. "It's about time we got on our way, right?"
Nobody has any protests and so we all get up and follow after our departing teachers. Not so much in one large crowd but more like everyone moving at their own pace to the same place. Everyone here is pretty individualistic after all.
We soon find ourselves led to a line of horse-drawn carriages, and I find myself sharing a carriage with only Nagiko and Dōman.
"So," Dōman breaks the silence not long after the carriages start moving, meeting my eyes. "I have been meaning to ask. Do you not have any armaments?"
To that I can only smile bitterly. "Kamo-Sensei neglected to inform me that I was supposed to."
"It is not just that," Nagiko comments, drawing my eyes to her own iridescent orbs. "You are a commoner. It is thus expected that you would lack armaments. If you were a noble and came without any, then it would be odd. Such an action would be taken as a great insult. But again, you are not choosing to be without armaments, you simply do not possess them. Plenty of nobles also dislike seeing commoners wielding armaments, so no one will find it odd to see you without. Seimei is an Onmyōji. They work mostly with the Imperial Family and the nobility, so their dress is not so combative as us Jujutsu Sorcerers."
She must have seen me about to question why Seimei doesn't have armour like everyone else, and I guess I can see nobles not wanting to see the Sorcerers around them looking like soldiers.
"Should I get armour?" I ask, thinking more about ceremony than an actual need for armour.
"It is not something you can just get," Dōman replies with a shrug. "This," he gestures to himself, "Is a Cursed Tool. All of our armour is. Normal armour would be rather pointless when it is as sturdy as sugar paper to us, but Cursed Tools are not things that can simply be acquired by one without a noble title."
"Of course," Nagiko continues, picking up from where Dōman left off and smiling slyly at me, "That will cease to be an issue once we marry."
I can only smile wryly down to her. I can recognise that I've already given up on saying no. Though I still think a marriage could be put off for a little while. I'd like to spend some more time with her before making that kind of commitment.
"You have my condolences, Narauko-san," Dōman says, his tone truly commiserating and eyes full of pity. "I can only imagine the hardship of garnering the attention of such a vile being."
Here we go again, I think with a mental sigh as Nagiko turns to glare at Dōman.
"Truly spoken like a man who knows that no woman will ever look kindly upon him. I would say that jealously looks ugly on you, Dōman-kun, but that might imply that any look on you could be anything else. Perhaps you should consider wearing a mask? I would certainly appreciate it."
Seeing Dōman return her frosty glare, I shake my head in amusement and simply lean back and rest my eyes, ignoring the incoming spat in favour of thinking about Sorcery.
Kamo-Sensei's earlier words have given me some ideas about Spells, and I'm quite looking forward to having the free time to test them. Almost as much as I am looking forward to seeing everyone's Techniques in action.
Gah! There's so much fun stuff ahead~!
I really can't wait.
///
Abe no Seimei
///
Standing in a clearing with the eleven Jujutsu Sorcerers, Seimei waits in boredom for the event to kick off.
The rules were explained pretty simply earlier. The 'game' is simple. There is a flag standing at the peak of a mountain, and whichever team can collectively hold on to that flag for a cumulative total of one hour wins.
The battlefield is limited to the mountain in question, with them standing on one side and their opponents on the other, waiting for the signal to begin.
The nobility meanwhile are seated near the peak of a neighbouring mountain, enjoying their tea and their saké and their food as they wait for the entertainment to begin.
"Are we not going to discuss a strategy?" Abe no Yasuchika, a cousin of his, mutters from his side.
Seimei glances at him briefly before turning his eyes to the rest.
The Minamoto twins are standing together, as are the two Fujiwara. Narauko is standing near Seimei with the Kiyohara and Ashiya while the remaining few are in their own group.
Yeah, he doesn't think there will be much in the way of cooperation.
"Just focus on yourself," Seimei replies. He isn't exactly close with his cousin, but they are family and he doesn't dislike him. The man has some talent and is perceptive enough. "As long as you do not embarrass yourself, the rest does not really matter. You are not one of the main actors today."
He can tell that Yasuchika doesn't like being side-lined, but the man is smart enough to recognise the facts for what they are and doesn't say anything about it.
Inevitably, Seimei's eyes fall on Narauko, for he knows that the commoner will take centre stage today. It is inevitable with the little nudge that Seimei himself gave to the Onmyōji.
Noticing his gaze, Narauko turns to face him with a smile and a wave before stepping closer. Seimei finds it amusing the way the other two trail after him, even as they glare at one another.
"Narauko-san," Seimei greets with a nod once he is in talking range.
"Seimei-kun~!" He returns, cheerful. "You seem to be doing better."
Seimei meets his sincere eyes for a moment, taking note of the genuine concern within them.
What a strange Sorcerer, he thinks to himself with an internal snort.
"Indeed," he nods. "My path is clear to me once more. Thank you for that."
"It's no problem," Narauko waves the thanks away with a smile, and he really does just seem incredibly excitable right now.
"Impatient?" Seimei asks, to which he chuckles.
"That obvious? What about you?"
To that, Seimei shrugs, uncaring. "I do not plan to participate. I am an Onmyōji in the first place. I am only on this side because of Kamo-Sensei."
Narauko hums, his attention falling to Yasuchika.
"I'm Narauko, by the way," he says, offering a polite bow. "Nice to meet you."
"Abe no Yasuchika," Seimei's cousin returns the bow. "A pleasure."
"Do you have a plan of action?" Seimei asks, mostly just to fill the silence.
Narauko in response grins and releases a brief smug chuckle. However, before he can answer, Kiyohara lets out an amused huff before levelling a playful glare Narauko's way.
"Surely you realise how insulting that is?" She asks, apparently seeing something with those eyes of hers that Seimei is ignorant of. "You are not the only one who wants to show off."
"For those of us without Cursed Eyes?" Dōman asks, trailing off in expectation while Narauko simply laughs teasingly.
Nagiko briefly levels a glare at Dōman before glancing at Seimei and his cousin and deciding to answer.
"Narauko-kun here wants to fight our opponents all by himself, as if the rest of us would be happy to sit to the side and do nothing."
"Eh, there is another round after this one right?" Narauko counters with a grin, which is when an echoing horn bellows over the valley. The signal to begin.
Narauko's grin turns sharper as he sends Nagiko a wink.
"Race ya."
And then he is gone, disappearing in a blur.
Seimei shakes his head in amusement before ignoring everything else and simply turning to face the sky.
A blink later, and he is sitting atop a cloud, staring down at the mountain below, resting an elbow on a knee and his chin in his palm.
"Put on a good show, Narauko-san," he mutters to himself. "It will be helpful to know where everyone's limits lie."
After all, Seimei might have to kill them all in the future.
///
A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!
Are you looking forward to like 20k words of mostly fighting?
It's a bit much lmao. Ah well, this fic is gonna be like 700-800k words by the end, so eh.