[ 1 Year Later ]
"Well? How does it feel to be shipped off to Tokyo Jujutsu High?"
Naobito leaned crookedly against the sliding door, chuckling as he sloshed his gourd of sake.
"This old man tried his best to keep you at the Kyoto school for the sake of the clan's prestige, but you're the one who insisted on heading right into the heart of Tokyo, where that eyesore Gojo is lurking."
It was exactly one week before the departure to Tokyo.
I was in the middle of the room with a large suitcase splayed open, packing my things. I turned my head irritably toward the Clan Head, who was just standing there with his arms crossed, flapping his gums.
"Ugh, you old geezer! If you're going to mock me, at least help me pack before you start with the sarcasm! You're not missing any hands or feet, are you?"
"Ho, look at this brat's mouth."
"And I plan on coming back here during every single break, so don't you dare lock my room or move my stuff out. Got it?"
At my brazen request, Naobito let out a hollow laugh, looking absolutely floored.
"What an arrogant little shit. You're a man with all four limbs intact in the Zenin clan, yet for the past year, you haven't joined The Hei or the Kukuru Unit. You've done nothing but lounge around and eat, and yet you have the nerve to ask for so much?"
"Lounge around? That hurts! I've been working my ass off for a year trying to manifest a complete Domain Expansion!"
I grumbled as I continued stuffing clothes into the suitcase.
"What, are you still salty because I begged you to demonstrate that hallowed secret technique, Falling Blossom Emotion, yesterday? I couldn't learn a damn thing just by looking at those dusty books in the archives—whether it was New Shadow Style or whatever. I just wanted to peek at the geezer's technique and copy it. Don't be so stingy!"
Yesterday, I had basically blackmailed the old man into letting me observe Falling Blossom Emotion, the ultimate anti-domain technique of the Big Three Families, with my own eyes. By overlaying Mahoraga's adaptation and my own Cursed Energy manipulation, I had finally succeeded in grasping the sensation of a custom Simple Domain that left both my hands free.
Naobito's veins bulged as he shouted.
"Stingy?! You insane, cheeky bastard! In the entire history of the Zenin clan, you're likely the only one to use the Head of the Clan as a personal tutor for your own petty studies!"
"Oh, shut it! That's why I bought you that expensive liquor you love so much when I went out! What more do you want? You treated me like a damn errand boy anyway!"
"The money for that sake came out of this Head's pocket in the first place! Don't act like it was your own money!"
"Hey, once you give it, you can't take it back! Ugh, let's just stop talking. I lose, okay? I lose."
I shook my head. This geezer was pushing seventy, but far from losing his edge, he was getting more energetic—and childish—by the day.
Zipping up the suitcase, I suddenly remembered something. I stood up and spoke with a slightly more serious tone.
"Oh, right. Old man, one favor before I go to Tokyo."
"Now what?"
"Look after those kids, Maki and Mai Zenin. Use your authority as the Head to make sure the adults and the other kids don't beat them down. Convince them to back off."
One of Naobito's eyebrows quirked up strangely at my words.
"Tch, you really do ask for too much. Who do you think you are, telling me whether or not to look after those half-baked girls with no Cursed Energy? You're not even related by blood."
Well... how am I supposed to explain to this geezer that if one of them dies a miserable death, the remaining one literally becomes a 'War God' and physically annihilates the entire Zenin clan?
Suppressing the blood-soaked future of the original work in my mind, I grinned and replied shamelessly.
"They're cute, aren't they? They're just kids."
"You crazy bastard. Tch, tch."
Naobito clicked his tongue, looking at me like I was a literal insect. He turned on his heel and walked toward the hallway, tossing a word back over his shoulder.
"Hey!"
"What now?!"
"'What now?' I'm the Head! Watch your mouth."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it! Why are you calling me again?!"
A belligerent voice flew back over the old man's broad shoulders as he moved away.
"Before you piss off to Tokyo, let's see how much you've grown over the past year. Crawl out to the training grounds."
The yard leading to the training grounds was already swarming with people.
It was a natural progression. A showdown between the current Head, Naobito, and the most peculiar and promising rising star of the branch family—spectators were bound to gather. Members of The Hei and the Kukuru Unit surrounded the yard, watching us with eyes mixed with curiosity and caution.
Standing in the center of the training ground, Naobito clicked his tongue.
"Whew, quite a crowd. Don't you think, Hachiro?"
"Tell me about it. Not like there's going to be much to see anyway."
At my indifferent answer, Naobito smirked.
Jinichi, who was acting as the referee, scowled and raised one arm high. A moment later—
"Hajime (Begin)!"
Jinichi's arm cut through the air as it dropped.
In that split second the duel began, I didn't hesitate. I clasped my hands together to form a seal.
I had only one goal: a preemptive Domain Expansion.
'There's no answer for that old man once he starts building up acceleration.'
Projection Sorcery. That bizarre technique that divides one second into 24 frames. The moment those movements overlap and the acceleration builds, it easily surpasses even the adaptation speed of my Mahoraga. Over the past year of "training," I had been flattened by a single accelerated kick more times than I could count.
Therefore, my only choice was to trap him in a Domain before the speed could pile up.
"Domain Ex—!"
"Why such a rush? The sun is still high."
Flash—!
With a voice that sent shivers down my spine, Naobito's figure vanished from my sight as if he had been launched by a spring.
That crazy old man. Even that simple act of jumping from his spot had been split into 24 frames using Projection Sorcery.
Instantly appearing right before my nose, Naobito's rough hand clamped down on my left wrist, twisting it. The seal was forcibly broken.
"Kh...!"
However, the past year hadn't been a waste of time for me either.
Instead of panicking and trying to pull my wrist back, I grabbed his hand and yanked him toward me with everything I had. As Naobito's body leaned forward due to momentum, I gathered Cursed Energy in my free right hand and launched an uppercut toward his jaw.
Thwack—!
"...Ho."
Right before my fist connected.
Naobito let go of my wrist and planted his foot firmly into my stomach, pushing off with the recoil to glide backward effortlessly. My uppercut split nothing but air.
The moment distance was created, I once again gripped my left index finger with my right hand, assuming the stance for a hand seal.
"Domain Ex—!"
"Using the same trick after being blocked?!"
Predicting my move, Naobito charged into my personal space with even more explosive acceleration.
But—
"Caught you, geezer."
I instantly diverted the trajectory of my right hand, which had only been pretending to form a seal. Instead, I threw a heavy backspin blow toward the charging Naobito's face, putting my entire hip rotation into it.
Voom—!!
The terrifying sound of air being torn echoed.
Yet, in that infinitesimal moment, Naobito arched his upper body back like a sheet of paper, dodging the attack by a hair's breadth.
"...Ho. A Domain Expansion fake? You've gotten quite crafty, kid."
"Ah, seriously... does this crazy old man's reflexes even make sense?"
A hollow laugh escaped me. Even with a perfectly timed counter, I couldn't reach him through that bizarre frame-splitting.
But.
Click—!
The Dharma Wheel hovering above my head turned with a satisfying mechanical click.
'Enough. I've bought the time needed to adapt.'
Over the past year, I had faced the Projection Sorcery of the Naobito-Naoya duo until I was sick of it. Thanks to that, the speed at which Mahoraga responded and adapted to techniques in the same vein as Projection Sorcery was incomparably faster than it was a year ago.
Of course, in our previous bouts, I would usually be beaten into the ground before this damn adaptation could even finish.
Now, it was different.
I retracted my fist and adjusted my stance with leisure. The rules of his acceleration were already being perfectly downloaded into my mind.
"Though that adaptation of yours makes you a decent punching bag, it seems you still haven't managed to adapt to my overwhelming speed. You sure you're okay?"
Naobito's provocation had teeth.
I just smirked as if he wasn't worth answering and beckoned him with my finger. A gesture telling him to bring it on.
"Action speaks louder than words, eh? Heh, fine!"
Before his words even finished, Naobito lunged. A downpour of consecutive strikes, split into 24 frames per second, poured ruthlessly toward my entire body.
Bam-bam-bam-bam—!!
But I wasn't just taking it anymore.
"Falling Blossom Emotion!"
The secret technique of the Big Three Families: the moment an opponent's Cursed Energy touches you, you release your own to repel and neutralize the impact. I applied this not to a Domain, but to Naobito's physical onslaught. Since I had already built up the durability for adaptation against Naoya a year ago, taking a few hits that broke through Falling Blossom Emotion was bearable, even if my bones rattled.
'...And Naobito is human after all.'
No matter how overwhelming the strikes and the frames were, there had to be a split second where he caught his breath. I repelled the incoming attacks with Cursed Energy, aiming solely for that one breath.
"Now!"
The moment Naobito's barrage broke minutely as he inhaled, I threw a straight punch with my full body weight behind it, aimed straight at the geezer's face.
Whoosh—!
But even that decisive counter-attack was dodged by Naobito, who glided backward like a phantom.
"What's this? That was way too obvious, wasn't it?"
Naobito clicked his tongue as he widened the gap effortlessly.
"A strike thrown right after a counter ends... surely you know what Projection Sorcery is? Projection Sorcery is a technique that constructs those 24 frames assuming the opponent will counter. Do you still not get it?"
The geezer's signature 'Animation Boomer' lecture was about to start.
"Do you even know how many frames an animation has per second? The kids these days just have this crude trend of trying to shove the resolution and frame rate up. All this 4K, 60fps talk—"
Now. This was the timing.
The moment the lecture began, I smirked and pointed my finger at him.
"Next, you're going to say: 'Don't you think that lacks elegance?'!"
"'Don't you think that lacks ele—' Wait, dammit."
Naobito's eyes widened. Having his habitual lecture and his next line perfectly predicted caused a split-second pause in the 24-frame trajectory maintained by his consciousness.
Absolute carelessness.
I didn't miss that one-second gap where the geezer froze. I immediately clasped my hands.
"Domain Expansion!"
Boom—!
The barrier of my innate mind expanded explosively, swallowing the training yard in pitch-black darkness. That incredibly fast Head of the Clan, Naobito Zenin, was finally caught perfectly inside my Domain.
"Phew... huff..."
Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I gave a cocky grin to the geezer trapped in the center of the barrier.
"Well, since you got careless and ended up in my Domain, I won this sparring match, right?"
"Hmph. Using petty wordplay to create a gap and then deploying a Domain... crafty little bastard."
Naobito snorted and clenched his fists.
"Besides, it's not over yet. I can still fight inside your Domain."
"Aw, come on, geezer! Don't be so stiff, give me a break!"
I shouted, holding the Domain tight, sounding genuinely aggrieved.
"If I show up at school on my first day with bruises all over my face, those pretentious Tokyo types will look down on me immediately!"
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