(Pov Satoshi)
After having a quick breakdown in front of my brother, I realized just how much I had missed him and how worried I had been. Despite knowing what was supposed to happen, there was a part of me that thoughbt i'd never see him again. It felt good to be able to just be there with him again. After that, he called over the others, and I found myself surrounded by just about everyone I knew in this world. Obviously, everyone from the school came by to check on me, the principal even showed up once, though he didn't say anything; he just stood there. There were also some others I didn't expect to see.
The first was Amanai Riko, who turns out to have been staying here since her near-death experience, hanging with her new friends and experiencing life outside of being a vessel. The next was Uncle Toshi, who had been staying nearby after he learned about my injuries. The other students showed up frequently as well, especially Geto; he apparently felt guilty for running when I told him to, but it's a lot better than the alternative. Though there was somethign I couldn't help but wonder since I went down early.
"Hey, Satoru, that guy had this weird, cursed spirit thing. Where did that go?" I asked, trying to gauge how difficult getting it would be. Though Satoru was giving me a weird look.
"Uh, well, after I killed the guy, his weird worm thing kind of went in you." He said, looking almost guilty
"What?"
"Yeah, he had some last words, and while he was saying them, it kind of crawled over and shrunk down before it crawled into your mouth, and we haven't seen it since then." He concluded, and I didn't know what to think. On the one hand, I had wanted the spirit for how useful it was, but I'm not sure this is how I wanted it to happen. There was one way to check, though. I mimicked the motion Toji would make when he retrieved the spirit from his stomach and felt it come back up, and soon I was holding it, but that wasn't all. I could see it before the thing had just been a weird haze like the other cursed spirits I had encountered, but now it had an actual shape.
As I held the ball, it expanded in size before looking at me, and then it wrapped around me with its head near mine above my left shoulder. My best guess is that my own body is similar enough to Toji's that the thing doesn't see a difference between us, so it just transferred to me after his death. The fact that it was seemingly bonded with me was somehow less of a surprise than seeing the thing.
"Hey, Geto-Senpai, can you bring out one of your curses? I need to check something?" I asked, he gave me a look, but obliged, bringing out a small curse. It looked somewhat like a bug, yet it was closer to the size of a large dog, and its face was weirdly human, and I could see that now. I had finally done it after almost dying or maneuvering my own soul so much, maybe both, I wasn't sure, but it had finally happened, I had fully awakened my own Heavenly Restriction. I wanted to go and see just how strong I had gotten, but when I tried to slip out of bed is pushed off a little too hard and went halfway across the room.
"Satoshi! What was that? You shouldn't be moving so much." Satoru said, but I was too excited to stop now. "I did it, Satoru. It finally happened! I just had to nearly die and spend a month putting my soul back together, but it worked! My restriction is working fully i'm finally strong now!" I said rambling a little, but I was feeling it now, despite the month of inactivity; I felt better than ever. Is this what Satoru felt when he learned RCT? If so, I get it, this is greater than anything I've felt, I could make a real change now.
"Satoshi, what are you talking about?" Geto asked, but Satoru, on the other hadn knew what I was talking about. Some years ago, I had explained in a simplified way how my restriction worked to Satoru, including the fact that I would likely need to undergo an awakening of sorts to reach my full potential. Now, after we had both reached our own awakened states, the changes were obvious.
Satoru had unlocked the ability not just to use Reverse Cursed Technique to heal but to utilize it with the Limitless technique and create his Cursed Technique Reversal Red. Not to mention his newly developed ability to merge the two aspects of Limitless, creating a sphere of imaginary mass that could erase anything in its path. This was his Hollow Purple. In my situation, the awakening had done wonders for my body. Every aspect of my physical form had been improved, including my strength, senses, and reflexes. Now, not only could I see curses fully, but I also had the strength or the ability to attain strength on par with that of Toji. I would likely need more training for the full benefits to become available. There was one last bonus as part of my own healing process: my newfound knowledge of the soul. From healing my own soul by hand, I now understood the shape of my soul, and with that, I would not only be able to protect it from damage but also make full utilization of the Soul Split Katana.
I was excited; now it was only a matter of honing my newfound strength and increasing my proficiency with cursed tools. I would become even stronger than Toji was, and I knew that when I would be able to test myself against him once more, I just had to wait twelve years, and that was certainly a lot of training time.
"Come on, Satoru, Geto-Senpai, let's get stronger when they talk about the strongest in history, they'll be thinking of us!" I said, excited at my own prospects and those of my fellow sorcerers.