"And that is why the Big Three Families have such a large influence when it comes to electing not only the Jujutsu Inspector General but also higher-ups, the voting members of the official governing board. Any questions?"
Masamichi paused for a brief second, but when no one raised a hand, he continued, "With that, our lesson today is over; you are all dismissed. You have the rest of the day and tomorrow to yourselves before your training session on Sunday morning."
"Salmon Roe."
"I'm headed off to the city," Kiniro replied to Toge's question, "Got permission from the Principal a couple of days ago."
Maki glanced over at Kiniro with distrust in her eyes, "How the hell do you understand him already? It's only been a week."
Kiniro shrugged as he stood up, "It's not that hard once you use context clues and figure out his personality."
"Again, it's only been a week," Maki repeated.
"I've only been able to get it right three times," Panda chimed in, "I think we might need a Rosetta Stone soon."
"Nori."
"Give it some time, they'll get the hang of it eventually," Kiniro said supportively as he patted Toge on the shoulder.
"What are you going into the city for, Kiniro?" Panda asked.
Kiniro sighed, "Well, I wanted to go shopping and go find a bunch of food to eat, but then I realized I don't really have any money to do either of those things. So now I'm probably just going to wander around and get sad about all the stuff I can't buy."
"You really have an impulse problem, don't you?" Maki observed harshly.
Kiniro placed a hand on his chest, "Personally, I don't consider it a problem, but I can see why others might find it problematic."
Maki scoffed and rolled her eyes, "You're so full of shit."
Kiniro smirked before turning and walking out the door. "I'll be out late, don't keep the lights on for me."
"God, he's so full of himself," Maki muttered a second later as she stood up before glancing back at Panda and Toge, "I'm going to train, either of you want to join?"
Toge immediately shook his head, "Furikake."
"Oh, I understood that one!"
---
"Damn, I was really looking forward to eating my weight in food," Kiniro muttered under his breath as he walked around Tokyo, "No money, can't buy clothes, can't buy sweets…Maybe I can still have a bit of fun though."
Kiniro turned as he walked by an alley, slipping out of the flow of traffic and letting it pass him as he entered the narrow walkway, drowned in shadow. Hidden from view, Kiniro walked towards one of the buildings and began to scale it, climbing the vertical side as if it were flat ground.
Vaulting over the side, Kiniro landed on the roof a few minutes later with the wind tearing at his clothes, 'Hmm, this is higher than I expected.'
Moving over to stand on the roof's edge, Kiniro looked out over the city, or at least the portion he could see, 'Come on in a city this big, there has to be something worth my time.'
Kiniro's bored eyes flared, growing out into seven glowing points revealing what the naked eye couldn't see, 'Now that's more like it!'
A broad grin spread across Kiniro's face as he stared at the pockets of cursed energy located around the city. Like pillars of thick black smoke, they rose up into the air, visible from afar and seemingly countless in number.
"Maybe I'll find something to eat after all," Kiniro muttered as he fixed his sight on one hotspot in particular that was a bit stronger than the others nearby.
---
Like a shadow, Kiniro landed soundlessly in front of the abandoned construction project, a half-built apartment complex held up more by scaffolding than by structural integrity. A fence had been put up around the half-finished building, with faded trespassing signs detailing that the property belonged to the Japanese Government. But all those details were secondary to Kiniro as he looked the building up and down, 'What the hell happened here?'
A heavy baleful aura drenched the entire building; it wasn't cursed energy exactly, but rather the discharge left behind from whatever curse was inhabiting the structure.
'Like an animal scent marking its territory,' Kiniro mused as he walked up to the fence and cleared it with a jump, landing soundlessly on the other side.
But as he stood up, Kiniro felt a heavy buildup of pressure in the center of his forehead, 'As if I didn't already know you were here.'
The pressure Kiniro felt was hostile intent, an off-branching ability he had recently developed over the past week, stemming from his capacity to sense the emotions of others.
Walking into what would have been the lobby, Kiniro looked around at the unfinished walls, the bare foundation, and exposed rebar jutting from crumbling concrete supports.
'This place must have been abandoned years ago,' Kiniro estimated, judging by the rate of deterioration he saw. Kiniro went to take another step forward, but as his foot came down, the concrete liquefied, forming a small, viscous puddle that erupted, shooting out a shard of hardened concrete at the bottom of Kiniro's foot.
At such a close range and at such speed, it seemed impossible that Kiniro would avoid the attack. But he had sensed the movement of cursed energy and immediately deployed a counter.
The shard of concrete came to a crawl as it neared the bottom of Kiniro's shoe, meeting a strong resistance from the veil of cursed energy that enveloped his entire body. Kiniro could have stopped the projectile completely, but doing so would cost a far greater output of cursed energy, leading to a greater expenditure. Instead, Kiniro used just enough cursed energy to slow the shard to a point where he could dodge it despite the close range.
Having bought himself a window, Kiniro pushed off with his back foot and threw himself to the side, letting the shard sail past him and into the far wall, where it exploded into shrapnel.
"That's a tricky technique you have," Kiniro spoke into the empty air as he stood up, "Though I wonder if you can only manipulate the concrete."
Kiniro's question was answered as the wall behind him exploded, as a collective pillar of rebar pierced through sheetrock, looking to skewer him through the back.
Spinning around, Kiniro faced the onslaught with an excited grin as he jumped and reached up with his hand. Kiniro's palm hit the ceiling and stuck, keeping him suspended as the rebar shot past below him. But much to Kiniro's surprise, instead of continuing in a straight line, the individual steel tendrils bent and twisted themselves, turning around and seeking Kiniro like homing missiles.
"Very tricky," Kiniro mutttered as he withdrew all of his cursed energy, but not before imbuing some into the ceiling as he dropped back down to the floor.
Instead of twisting to chase him, the rebar slammed into the ceiling, tracking the residue that Kiniro had left behind rather than his flesh and blood, 'Glad I guessed right.'
Hitting the ground, Kiniro felt the small bit of excitement he had experienced during the initial opening attack fade away. 'Those two attacks used up nearly all of its cursed energy reserves. It's weak and relies on sneak attacks to finish off its victims before the fight really begins.'
Standing up, Kiniro let out a small sigh, "There's nothing else you can show me, no reason to drag this on."
"Satan"
"ARGGGHNH!!"
An eerily human scream tore through the air as the infernal spear shot up from hell and pierced through a seemingly normal concrete pillar. However, as the weapon erupted into flames, a humanoid outline was revealed, a golem-like creature with a rebar skeleton covered in uneven clumps of rough concrete.
The curse wailed as it grabbed onto the spear and tried to pull it free, but before it could, Kiniro arrived in front of it, his eyes glowing with a hunger more intense than the infernal flames burning away the curse's flesh.
Kiniro's hands shot out like claws, latching onto the curse and pinning it down as he opened his mouth wide with a dark pink glow pouring out of his maw along with a powerful suctioning force.
A bolt of pure panic lanced through the curse as it came face to face with Kiniro's gluttony and hunger. But despite the curse's best efforts, there was only a split second of resistance before its body began to disintegrate, falling apart and turning into smoke that funneled down Kiniro's throat.
In less than ten seconds, the last of the cursed spirit's body crumpled into smoke that Kiniro inhaled with a sickening eagerness as he fattened his cursed reserves.
Closing his mouth after finishing his meal, Kiniro felt his boredom return with full force, 'I can't believe this was one of the stronger residues in the area…maybe I'm still too close to the school. The more intelligent curses wouldn't stray this close to the home base of their natural enemies. Maybe I should head further into the city when it gets darker out…Kabukicho should be a hotspot for curses with everything that goes on there.'
Kiniro turned to leave the building, but before he could, he sensed a powerful ripple of cursed energy from outside. Through the empty windows, Kiniro watched as a dark, ink-like liquid dripped from above and formed a solid wall upon hitting the ground.
'Hmm, looks like my wish just came true,' Kiniro thought to himself with a small smile as his senses swept over the barrier now enclosing him, 'I wonder, which clan is trying to kill me?'