Good food has a way of soothing the soul. Having a hot meal late at night is the perfect reward for a long day's hard work.
Looking at the stack of empty plates in front of Kenmyo Isayama and Suguru Geto, it was clear they were more than satisfied with the meal.
"Geto, after a meal like this," Kenmyo said jokingly to Geto, who wore a look of utter contentment, "will you still be able to stomach the taste of Cursed Spirits?"
"Don't tease me."
Geto's expression was complicated. He couldn't remember the last time his stomach felt this pleasantly full. He wiped his mouth and said helplessly, "I used to have zero standards for food. As long as it filled me up, it was fine. But now, perhaps..."
He trailed off into a long sigh. It is easy to go from rags to riches, but hard to go back. To endure the taste of Cursed Spirits, he had intentionally eaten bland, tasteless food in the past. Today, he had completely broken that discipline.
"Doesn't matter. Eat the curses if you can, and if you can't, don't," Kenmyo remarked. He found the guy quite strange—did he have some kind of masochistic streak to force down something so revolting? "Geto, it's not like anyone is forcing you to eat them. Even if they were, with your current strength, can't you just make them shut up?"
Geto's ears had always been filled with the "righteousness" and "duty" preached by adults. He had never heard such "rebellious" words before. He blinked, momentarily stunned.
"It's not that simple. Besides, power isn't meant to be used like that." Geto fell silent for a moment, then shook his head with a smile. "But you really are an incredible fellow. By the way, can I call you Kenmyo? You can just call me Suguru."
Geto felt today was truly surreal. Usually, he was the one taking things from others; he had never met someone who could take so much from him. The weird part was that he wasn't even angry. Even more bizarrely, he had shared his feelings about swallowing Cursed Spirits with someone else—a secret he hadn't even told Satoru Gojo, Shoko, or his teachers.
But in front of Kenmyo, he had answered without a second thought. Pity was for the weak; Geto considered himself strong and felt he had no need for it.
"Sure, whatever you want." Hearing Geto's request, Kenmyo changed his form of address immediately. They weren't schoolgirls; there was no need for two grown men to be shy about using given names. It was settled in a second.
"Suguru. Strange name," Kenmyo muttered, momentarily reminded of a certain internet meme. He reached into the fridge with practiced ease, pulled out two chilled cans, drank one, and tossed the other to Geto.
Psst—
He popped the tab, took a long swig, and let out a satisfied "old man" groan.
"Isn't this beer?" Geto looked at the label on the can and said hesitantly, "We're still students, aren't we?"
"Suguru, you're eighteen. Why are you such a stiff-necked bore?" After finishing his drink in one go, the can was crushed in Kenmyo's hand. A high-temperature psionic fire melted the aluminum instantly. Instead of dripping onto the floor, the molten metal condensed into a small sphere.
He held it between his thumb and forefinger for Geto to see. "See? Who's gonna know?"
"But..."
"If you don't want it, give it back."
Hearing that, Geto stopped hesitating and downed the drink. He didn't say a word while swallowing, just stared at Kenmyo with wide eyes.
After finishing, Geto didn't melt his can like Kenmyo did. Instead, a pitch-black rift opened in the air beside him, emitting a terrifying surge of cursed energy. A horrifying golden eye, composed of concentric circles, filled the opening and stared fixedly at Kenmyo from beside Geto.
It was a Cursed Spirit of unknown grade, peering at Kenmyo through the rift.
Geto casually tossed the empty can inside. The giant eye shifted upward to reveal a mouth full of fangs; the can was shredded instantly by a powerful bite, and then the creature vanished.
"What was that, Suguru?" Kenmyo watched the scaled, powerful torso vanish into the opening after a quick tail flick.
"Rainbow Dragon. The hardest Cursed Spirit I've absorbed to date." Using the Rainbow Dragon to dispose of a beer can—truly "green" disposal, zero waste.
Geto gestured with a thumb toward the rift behind him. "Every Cursed Spirit I've ever absorbed is in there."
This was his true pride, the power that allowed him to stand on the same level as his friend who possessed the Limitless and the Six Eyes. His voice carried a hint of triumph as he widened the rift slightly so Kenmyo could see inside.
A myriad of terrifying Cursed Spirits drifted within. Dense, evil cursed energy swirled like a miasma; an ordinary person would faint from terror at a single glance. The numbers were staggering, and their grades were consistently high.
"Hey! Kenmyo, what are you doing?!"
Geto had been waiting for a compliment from his new friend, but he saw Kenmyo's eyes turn "glowing green"—like a hungry wolf looking at a lamb, eager to start feasting. He lunged forward and grabbed Kenmyo, stopping him from trying to jump into the rift.
"Sorry, I lost my composure for a second." Kenmyo waited for Geto to close the technique before standing down. "Seeing that many Cursed Spirits... I just couldn't help myself."
To describe Kenmyo's reaction: he looked like a greedy man walking into a bank vault filled with gold. In Geto's collection, any random spirit Kenmyo saw was worth tens of thousands of points. How could his eyes not glow?
Kenmyo had a premonition: if he could convert even half of Geto's curses into points, his first C-Rank simulation would be fully funded.
"Suguru, you must never release all those spirits at once in the future."
"Otherwise, I really... might not be able to control myself."
"Uh, right." Seeing the frightening intensity in Kenmyo's eyes, Geto nodded, his voice a bit strained. "I won't."
Whether Geto truly understood or not, Kenmyo felt he had given fair warning.
"Suguru, I'm extremely interested in your technique. Walk me through the details—are there flaws? What types of curses can't you absorb?" Kenmyo said to Geto. "And most importantly, I'm curious about how exactly a Cursed Spirit is transformed into a 'curse ball' that the human body can absorb."
"So many questions..." Meeting that gaze of "intense curiosity," Geto said helplessly, "You really don't hold back, do you?"