"I want to go to the armory."
Yet, Suzuki hadn't even had a single spare moment to pay attention to the brewing storm in the Jujutsu World. Since taking the Clan Head seat, he had been entirely swamped with manually auditing, recording, and managing the absolute disaster that was the Zenin family's financial ledgers. He was the Clan Head now. Obviously, every single yen needed to be placed strictly under his control.
However, before fully securing the clan's assets, he had utilized his newly acquired massive liquid capital to perform a highly specific hostile takeover: he bought up every single cent of Ogi Zenin's outstanding debt.
"This guy is so useless."
Suzuki had to admit, Ogi was an absolute parasite. For a man who always maintained such a stern, arrogant, and stoic face, Ogi was completely broke. To maintain his luxurious, traditional lifestyle, he had secretly taken out massive, high-interest loans from unsavory lenders. More importantly, he had a crippling gambling addiction and participated in various other underground vices that were better left unspoken.
So, why did Suzuki buy up his uncle's massive debt?
Did Suzuki want to forgive Ogi and clear his slate?
Obviously not. Instead, he printed the colossal stack of debt receipts, handed the legally binding contracts directly to Maki and Mai, and smiled.
"Here is his life's debt. You technically own him now. You can do whatever you want with him, including having him thrown into a maximum-security prison for fraud."
"..."
Maki and Mai stared down at the thick folder of financial documents in their hands.
"...What exactly are we supposed to do with these debts?" Maki asked, completely bewildered.
"....."
Suzuki blinked, slowly rubbing his temples. "Have you two never heard of modern revenge?"
"Modern revenge?" Mai echoed.
Yes. The modern world had entirely changed the nature of warfare. Naturally, as society progressed, the methods for exacting revenge had to evolve as well.
If this were a standard shounen manga, the accepted method for erasing hatred and trauma was through physical violence—beating the villains with their fists until they were dead.
Yet, Suzuki operated on a completely different psychological level. He felt that outright killing people was an incredibly cheap, unfulfilling type of vengeance.
When you kill someone, you simply end their existence. Instead of the profound relief victims often hope for, they usually just feel overwhelmingly empty. The catharsis of revenge is rarely as comfortable as fiction portrays it to be.
Why? Because the revenge ends far too quickly.
A person is tormented for their entire life. They finally snap, kill their abuser, and then... that's it. It's just over. There is no grand realization. They are just left staring at a dead body, which immediately becomes a massive, troublesome liability. They have to deal with the messy aftermath, the police, the traumatized families of the deceased, and the societal fallout. Taking a life destroys the victim's chance at a quiet, peaceful future.
So, should they just lock their abusers in a basement and physically torture them?
Ew.
Suzuki felt that people who resorted to physical torture either had a deeply disturbing psychological fetish, or they were just too stupid and uncreative to think of a better punishment.
"Let me give you a theoretical example," Suzuki offered, leaning back in his chair.
"Hmm?"
"There are two students at a school who are brutally bullied. Both decide to fight back, but they choose entirely different paths."
"Okay," the twins listened intently.
"Student A feels completely abandoned. The teachers tell him to stay quiet, to forgive the bullies, and to sweep the abuse under the rug to protect the school's reputation. Student A snaps. He brings a weapon to school, goes crazy, and kills the bullies and the corrupt teachers. He gets his immediate, bloody revenge."
"....."
"...What about Student B?" Maki asked quietly.
"Student B's path isn't bloody at all," Suzuki smiled coldly. "Instead of using violence, Student B secretly records everything for months. He uses his savings to hire a private investigator. He gathers absolute, undeniable blackmail material on the bully's parents, exposing their tax fraud and affairs. He destroys the bully's family financially. He leaks the corrupt teachers' actions to the national press and the school board, destroying their careers and social standing forever."
Suzuki adjusted his glasses. "The bullies and the teachers are completely ruined. They are forced to live the rest of their miserable lives in crushing poverty, universally condemned by society with zero chance of redemption. Meanwhile, Student B graduates, becomes a wealthy philanthropist, writes a best-selling book about overcoming systemic abuse, starts a beautiful family, and enjoys a luxurious life."
"..."
Maki and Mai were completely speechless.
"So," Suzuki asked smoothly. "Which path do you want to take?"
"The second one," they answered immediately in unison.
"Exactly."
The first method felt cathartic for about five minutes. But once the adrenaline faded and sanity returned, what was left? The victim's life was ruined. The people they loved would be forever tainted by the social stigma of being associated with a murderer. Could you really live happily with the guilt of ruining your own family's future just to kill someone you hated?
The second method was immaculately clean. There was absolutely no need to get your hands dirty. Even if the tormentors couldn't handle the crushing societal pressure and ended up taking their own lives... well, that wasn't the victim's fault, was it? They simply died because they were too weak to handle the exact same psychological pressure they had inflicted on others.
More importantly, financial and social revenge was vastly more satisfying because it was dynamic rather than static.
If you kill someone, it's over. But if you destroy their finances, their misery is perpetual. Everywhere they go, they are treated like garbage. They are forced to wake up every single day and actively experience the horrible consequences of their actions.
Social media, capitalism, and modern society.
The world had evolved. The barbaric, physical methods of the feudal era needed to be left behind in the dirt. There was a vastly superior, cleaner, and far happier way to completely destroy an enemy.
"By legally holding his debt, you now dictate Ogi's entire existence," Suzuki explained, tapping the folder. "You can legally order him to become the estate's janitor. You can force him to scrub toilets. You can completely humiliate him by forcing him to do grueling grunt work to repay his interest for the next century, knowing full well it is impossible for him to ever pay it off on a minimum-wage salary."
"..."
It was as if an entirely new universe had just opened up to the twins. They had never even conceived of this type of psychological warfare.
"So... if you don't like someone..." Mai started, her eyes wide. "...what do you do? You just buy their debt?"
"Yes," Suzuki nodded, his smile not reaching his eyes. "And I don't stop there. I buy their debt so I can legally evict them from their property. I unleash my lawyer teams to bury them in lawsuits. I hire forensic accountants to expose their tax evasion. I use social media algorithms to systematically destroy their public reputation, turning them into a national meme, ensuring they lose absolutely every chance to ever live a 'proper' life again."
"...."
Maki and Mai stared at him. He was terrifying.
"The era of simply punching people you hate is over," Suzuki said, gently patting their shoulders. "Anyway, I am heading down to the armory now. What are you two going to do?"
"I'll follow you," Maki said without hesitation, her mind still reeling.
"I... I want to go find Ogi. Is that okay?" Mai asked, a genuinely cruel, predatory smile slowly spreading across her face.
"Go ahead. Have fun."
"Thank you, Onii-chan~!" Mai cheered. She quickly kissed Suzuki's cheek, clutched the debt folder to her chest, and literally skipped away down the hallway, humming a happy tune.
"...Is that really okay?" Maki asked, watching her sister skip away to psychologically torture their father.
"What do you think?" Suzuki replied.
"She looks... really happy."
"Isn't that good enough?" Suzuki smiled warmly. "With me as the Clan Head, you never have to worry about anything ever again."
"Um..."
Maki nodded softly, leaning her weight against his arm for a brief moment.
"...." Suzuki didn't push her away.
"Should we go now?" Maki asked, looking up.
"Yeah. Let's go."
It was time to raid the legendary Zenin Armory.
---
Happy 70 chapters!
Also, Code Geass is good.
Also, if there is Kengan, Baki, or Kimetsu, it might be good.
Frankly, I am thinking of using French martial arts. It's going to be interesting.