But Kurumi did not bite for long before she noticed something was off.
The feel was wrong.
Her eyes snapped open, and she realized the man in front of her was beginning to flicker and blur.
Kurumi narrowed her eyes.
She raised her gun, did not say a word, and fired straight at the "Gojo Shun" in front of her.
"Bang."
Shun evaporated like mist.
...
"This technique really is a pain to use."
A short distance away, the real Shun shook his head helplessly. "Todo's technique is a lot harder to work with than I thought."
Technique: Strawman.
It was something Shun had created by modifying Aoi Todo's Boogie Woogie.
The process was similar to how he had altered Inumaki's Cursed Speech.
Strawman allowed him to create a double of himself out of cursed energy, then swap positions between the two.
Of course, the limitations were still plentiful.
"That is why I still prefer researching curses and cursed spirits."
Shun scratched his head.
When facing curses, his system could record every move in perfect detail, making it much easier for him to understand.
Even lacking the core of a technique, he could substitute with something else.
Like how he had recreated First Bullet earlier.
He had no idea what Kurumi's core technique was, yet he had still been able to reproduce the move.
The effect might not surpass the original, but he could keep edging closer and closer.
With sorcerers' techniques, it was different.
He could still imprint them, but they were usually incomplete messes.
Even with his talent, most of the time he could only mash together something vaguely similar with unimpressive results.
...
Kurumi smiled at him. "Shun, you sure know a lot of tricks."
Shun shrugged. "The more skills you have, the less they weigh you down. Who knows, maybe one of these 'useless' techniques will save my life someday."
Compared to normal sorcerer work, Shun much preferred studying techniques and curses.
But in order to study those things, he had to keep doing sorcerer work.
It was a bit of a headache.
"But Shun," Kurumi said, pressing the barrel of her gun against her cheek with a childlike look of confusion, "I would never hurt you. Why use that on me?"
"You were drooling over my body."
Shun answered without a hint of shame.
Kurumi's expression finally showed genuine surprise.
Clearly, even she had not been ready for that level of narcissism.
After a heartbeat, she burst out laughing.
Her eyes curved into crescents, making her look adorably charming.
If she were not a cursed spirit...
"As expected of Shun. Even your narcissism is cute," she giggled.
Then she slowly lifted her arms, spreading them slightly.
She blinked at him and asked, "So, how do you feel about me, Shun? Do you want me?"
"..."
Shun went silent.
Fine. If he was being honest, in terms of looks alone, Kurumi ticked every box he had for a girlfriend.
Hmm...
Wait, his "requirements" for looks were basically just two points.
Pretty face.
Nice figure.
"I really am a shallow man."
Shun muttered a self-critique.
Hearing that, Kurumi laughed even more brightly.
...
He shook those thoughts out of his head and focused on the real issue.
"I am very curious. How exactly did you find me just now?"
The fact that she had seen through his concealment technique bothered him a lot.
"At what point did you notice me?"
Satoru himself could not easily detect him. How had Kurumi managed it?
"I noticed you the moment you came out," she said with a sweet little smile.
"What?!"
Shun stared at her in disbelief.
No way.
"If you want a reason..."
Kurumi placed one finger lightly on her lips, and in an extremely slow, teasing tone said,
"It is because... two hearts are connected."
The instant she spoke, Shun's brow twitched and he vanished, reappearing some distance away.
If you looked closely, a swamp-like shadow had opened behind where he had been standing.
From inside, the upper body of another Kurumi was emerging.
"Ara, you caught me,"
both Kurumis said at the same time, their disappointed yet playful voices overlapping.
The scene was eerie and surreal.
Shun narrowed his eyes.
So when Kurumi had appeared behind him earlier, it was not because she could teleport freely.
It was this, a technique that let her open a doorway for her clones anywhere.
This was what troubled Shun the most.
Kurumi's clones.
Because the technique was never fully revealed, the system could not record it properly.
He had no way to fully analyze it.
Let alone locate her true body.
This cursed spirit was secrets from head to toe.
Along with the headache, Shun also felt a genuine sense of admiration.
Even if you combined those two special grade curses from earlier, they probably still did not have as much research value as the Nightmare girl in front of him.
The Kurumi in the shadow receded back and vanished.
The one standing outside smiled and said, "Shun, let me tell you a secret."
"If you want to get something out of a girl, you have to pay a little price."
"Such as?"
Kurumi pointed at her lips. "A kiss."
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