Around early summer, just before the rainy season, about a month and a half had passed since Naoya Zen'in's enrollment.
As life gradually settled into a dual routine of exorcising the emerging cursed spirits and living as a student, Naoya Zen'in found himself having quite a bit of free time.
There were several reasons for this, but a significant factor was undoubtedly that he was genuinely the 'Fastest Sorcerer'.
Combining the aerial walking technique 'Shadow Step' with high-speed movement via Projection Sorcery to race through the sky at Mach 3, Naoya acted as an outrageous system: same-day express delivery of a Special Grade Sorcerer from the sky whenever a call came from the Windows. With his ability, he would speedily resolve most cursed spirit troubles.
As a result, Grade 1 cases plummeted as Naoya devoured them. Consequently, the overflow of Grade 1 sorcerers was diverted to Grade 2 cases, causing Grade 2 cases to decrease as well, and the overflow of Grade 2 sorcerers... The impact rippled down in this manner. With the backlog of cases in various regions eliminated, the number of troublesome cases that would eventually circulate to Naoya also decreased.
Well, of course, this wasn't Naoya's intention, but largely the influence of his Binding. Due to the Bindings of 'Encourage Good' and 'Punish Evil' he imposed on himself, when a contact from the Windows or an order from Yaga arrived, he couldn't say anything other than "No prob, headin' there now, wait for me," nor could he renege on it.
And every time such a case occurred, Naoya, writhing in agony from the poison of consuming cursed spirit residuals yet increasing his total cursed energy, inevitably improved his operational efficiency. No matter how much he inwardly cursed, 'What the hell is a Grade 1 Sorcerer, makin' nothin' but blunders? Change your name to Grade 1 Bedwetter right now, you dumbass scum,' his body would say things like, "Don't need a reward, it's my job. Call me anytime you're in trouble." This created a vicious cycle where auxiliary managers and Windows, seeing a glimmer of hope that 'Naoya-kun might save us...\!', increased their calls even more.
As a result, Naoya, whose total cursed energy had swelled to about 1.2 times what it was before enrollment, was quite internally turbulent for a time. Perhaps you can understand his mental fatigue a little if I tell you that he mastered the knack of constantly applying a gentle Reverse Cursed Technique to his whole body, awake or asleep, just to cure his stress-induced gastritis and migraines.
However, thanks to such hardships, the current Naoya was supposed to be free as mentioned before—but.
"Naoya, I need to talk to you."
"Geto-kun? What's wrong, a talk? ...Lookin' serious. Wanna talk inside?"
In the evening, the one who visited Naoya's dorm room was his senior, Suguru Geto. Seeing that brooding expression, Naoya thought, 'Ugh, what a hassle. Definitely a heavy topic. Go home.' But his body was dishonest. He had already let Geto into the room, seated him in front of the low table, busily boiled water in the kettle, and started brewing tea.
"Sorry for barging in so suddenly."
"No, it's fine. Did somethin' happen? Geto-kun."
"No, it's not that something happened to me. ...I heard rumors about you, Naoya."
"Rumors? If they're good ones, that's fine. But from your look, guess they ain't."
"Well... I heard that you eat cursed spirits. From auxiliary managers and Windows."
"Is that so. Quite a rumor goin' round, huh? Well, half of it's true. I don't eat cursed spirits directly, but eatin' the residuals is true."
"Wha—\!? That's... it's hard to ask, but... the taste?"
"Taste, is it? Askin' a weird thing, huh? Tastes like a rag used to wipe up vomit fermented in a cesspit."
Yes, just as Naoya was inwardly suspicious, thinking 'Did Geto-kun awaken to weird gourmet food, not satisfied with just pursuing weird hairstyles? Better cut down on eating gross stuff, you're a salt-faced handsome guy who'd have stupid women flocking to you with their legs open anyway,' he said that.
Immediately after, Suguru Geto looked down and quietly began to cry in front of him. While confusedly thinking 'What the hell, seriously\!?', Naoya, compelled by his Binding, took a towel from storage and gently offered it to Geto.
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"No, really, I'm sorry for losing my composure... I see. Naoya eats cursed spirits. ...By the way, may I ask why?"
"Well, yeah. If it's Geto-kun, I don't mind. Since we have a transmission ban Binding. You know my 'Binding', right? It's 'cause of that."
"I see... No, actually, I'm the same. Due to a Binding incorporated into Cursed Spirit Manipulation itself, to command a cursed spirit, I have to swallow it whole. Of course, it gets compressed to a swallowable size by the technique's aid... but it tastes truly terrible."
"Is that so. Well, even residuals taste bad. Compressed, it must taste terrible."
"Yeah, terrible. Truly terrible. As you know, Naoya. ...But, having kept enduring that taste, I ended up enduring even telling anyone about it being 'terrible'... Honestly, it might have been taking quite a toll on me mentally. Hearing your rumor, I just couldn't sit still anymore."
"I see. You're serious, Geto-kun. Serious enough to have 'idiot' attached before it. ...Well then. Since we're at it, let's just make Satoru-kun eat one once."
"Ha\!? Why does it come to that\!? Surely such a thing wouldn't be allow—"
"Well yeah, if I feed him a Grade 1 cursed spirit, even Satoru-kun might die. But surely, eatin' a Fly Head or somethin' won't kill a sorcerer, right? Even Satoru-kun would show some manliness when his best friend is brooding."
Geto, unaware that Naoya was inwardly swirling with malice like an elementary schooler massacring frogs, thinking 'If I use this as an excuse to feed Satoru-kun a cursed spirit, it'll be hilarious. Wonder what face he'll make,' looked terribly serious and said, "Is, is that so...?"
To give him a push, Naoya called Satoru Gojo's phone and said, "Satoru-kun? Geto-kun is here cryin'. Do somethin', as a friend," without explaining the situation at all. When Gojo rushed into the room with a pale face, Naoya had Geto explain everything from his own mouth and witnessed the scene where Satoru Gojo was made to eat a Fly Head's cursed spirit orb.
As a result, Gojo, displaying splendid manliness, managed to swallow it without vomiting despite turning blue. Although looking incredibly sick, he said, "You've been eating something this disgusting with a calm face all this time, Suguru. As expected, you're the strongest too. I'd definitely cry every time. I can't work that hard. But tell me. I'm your best friend, right?" Hearing this, Geto cried again, and Naoya ended up gently offering a replacement towel.
Incidentally.
Due to this incident, Satoru Gojo became desperate to do something about the cursed spirit poison he had taken into his body. While sweating grease in a gradually worsening condition with the worst aftertaste and stomach pain, he desperately performed cursed energy manipulation. As a result, he would awaken to the Reverse Cursed Technique, but that is a story for another time.
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