The next morning, we woke up earlier than usual. We still lived in the inn instead of buying a house because it was too expensive, but also because there was simply no need. I freshened myself up and went towards the garrison so that I could ask Hans for permission to go out of the capital for a little while.
"It really does feel like I'm overflowing with Cursed Energy now." I pointed out to Mahito as we walked. My reserves were filled to the max, and my technique was waiting to be activated.
"Your efficiency already isn't that great, so it's best if you activate your Cursed Technique as fast as possible, so that you don't waste any more Cursed Energy than you have to." He offered his advice, which was largely sensible. Now that my reserves were filled, I was continuously leaking Cursed Energy accidentally.
Well, at least I don't have to deal with mana poisoning. I'm pretty sure there are no health risks in continuously leaking Cursed Energy. Sure, my efficiency is pretty bad, but Yuta also was just constantly releasing his Cursed Energy, and he wasn't suffering from any side effects.
Mana poisoning happens when an individual has too much mana stored in their body. So, unless that person uses that mana up quickly, it can cause adverse effects to the person. Thankfully, Cursed Energy does not operate in the same way.
When we reached Han's office, I knocked politely on the door, expecting to get no response. Surprisingly, I heard his rough voice telling me to come in. It was barely dawn, and yet he was still awake.
"Hello, Sir Hans, I have come here to request a 2-hour leave from my post," I said with a straight face. The majority of that time was only for getting far enough away to make sure no one would see the summoning process.
"Is that a joke?" Hans replied with his usual serious tone, but there was an underlying exasperation in his voice, obviously because a 2-hour leave is pretty random.
"No." There was no point in dragging out the conversation. "If you're concerned if it has something to do with my personal life, it has nothing to do with that."
"..." He looked back at the documents he was reviewing and quickly pondered my request in his mind. Luke has been a huge help ever since he joined. He's never tardy, never arrogant, and his reputation alone has slightly reduced crimes in this area. So, for what reason could he possibly have to leave for such a short time outside the capital...?
"Granted." He said expressionlessly without looking up from his documents. Hans cared for all the knights under his command, so he wouldn't pry into their personal lives as long as they didn't cause trouble because of it.
I bowed my head in acceptance and quietly left the room. As we stepped onto the stony path outside the building, I let out a sigh of relief, with Mahito sharing my relief.
"He sure has quite the presence for a simple human~" Mahito joked as we went towards the stables where we left Maine. The dragon had also been making quite a name for itself by making sure that the spaces on its left and right were always empty and avoided by other dragons.
"You don't need overwhelming power to have a presence. People like Hans just naturally exude a type of aura that makes you pay attention." I pointed out to him as I let Maine out of his stable, giving the caretaker a silver coin for taking care of him for so long.
"Even Maine here isn't necessarily that much stronger than other dragons, but his innate presence frightens other dragons." I awkwardly tried to pet Maine to see if it would react. And not so surprisingly, it didn't react.
"Really? Well, then I would love to meet someone who can instinctively make me feel frightened too~" He grinned as he helped me lead Maine out of the gates.
Once we reached the outside, we decided to just keep going on the dirt path until we felt like it was far enough. At the thought of activating my Cursed Technique again, a weird bubbling feeling started rising in my chest. I could hardly wait to see who would be summoned next.
"By the way, can you promise that you won't just attack the person I summon?" I nudged Mahito's shoulder to make sure he was paying attention to me. I was worried because there weren't actually that many people in JJK that could survive Mahito's Idle Transfiguration.
"Didn't I tell you before? I don't care who it is as long as it's not Itadori." He laid his head back against the seat lazily as he replied.
I wonder what his reaction would be if I told him that Yuji would kill him, not once, but twice...
We reached a good bit away from the gates and parked Maine decently far away from the dirt path. It was only a 30-minute drive away from the gates, and combined with the time, not that many people would be coming through here. We could have spent extra time going back to that forest again, but it was too far away, and I was also too excited.
"Ok, here we go!" I straightened up and shouted out passionately. I held out my hand and waited expectantly while Mahito watched with deadpan eyes from the sidelines. It wasn't his technique, so he couldn't comment on whether it was wrong or not.
A minute passed, and nothing happened. The silence was getting awkward now. While hiding my embarrassed look from Mahito, I coughed awkwardly and asked him for help. "So... How do I activate my technique...?"
"Cursed Techniques are innate to their users. Their basic conditions for activation are ingrained within the user's brain. Keep trying." Mahito replied, disappointed. His disappointment was well placed as well, because this should never have been a problem.
He only taught me basic reinforcement and efficiency because that's literally the most basic things you have to learn. Activating your technique isn't basic; it's a starter item. It's even more basic than basic.
Maybe I should try remembering what happened when my technique was first activated by accident. I was on my phone on my bed... when I suddenly felt like my eyes got tired and my mind was all over the place. Does that have anything to do with it? It could have also been a side effect of my transportation here, like what happened right before Subaru was transported...
"WAIT!" I yelled out by accident as I felt like the dumbest person alive. The Binding Vows placed on my technique make it so that my Cursed Energy has to be used up completely to activate it. So, maybe I should just try to release all of it?
How am I even supposed to do this? I don't know any way of expending massive amounts of Cursed Energy instantly. Not even Ishigori, the guy who had the highest output in the Culling Games, could release all his Cursed Energy instantly... No, it's not that complicated.
I calmed my breathing and relaxed. I did it by accident before, so it can't be that hard. Jujutsu is not unforgiving. If it says that I have to expend all my Cursed Energy instantly, then that means it's possible.
Mahito watched with a hopeful gaze as I closed my eyes and stood still. He didn't say a word and just watched. In his mind, he was wondering if he could just use Idle Transfiguration to shape my soul to somehow make it easier.
As he was thinking, he was suddenly thrown off his feet as a massive burst of Cursed Energy was released from Luke. The amount was barely at the level of a Grade 1 sorcerer, but the output was incredible. He could sense that this was all the Cursed Energy available within Luke's body, all being used to activate his technique. If it had been used as an attack, he wondered how many could actually survive that.
The Cursed Energy, which got released, started funnelling into the space in front of Luke. The sight was almost beautiful for anyone who could see it. The energy first clodded up into a huge shape before it started to take the shape of a person. It was then that Luke finally snapped out of his zen state and could finally see what was happening.
I sat down on the ground and tried to calm my throbbing head and tired eyes, as I looked at the mesmerising sight. I can't believe I actually chanced that shit. But, at least now I should have a better understanding of Jujutsu itself...
"So did this also happen for me? I'm assuming you didn't see it, though, because you really were just lying on the ground when I found you." Mahito stood behind me and questioned me, and he was right. I definitely didn't have the chance to see if this happened for him as well.
The shape of the person finally started to become clearer, and we could make out their features slowly. They had black hair and were clearly a man. He was wearing a suit with what looked to be a badge on his chest. And for some reason, he had a small gavel in his hand.
"Is that small gavel supposed to be a weapon or something?" Mahito asked exasperatedly, obviously not knowing who the person was.
Well, this is a pleasant surprise. At least it's a relatively normal person this time. Higuruma will surely be a valuable member of the team. I waited patiently while calculating what would now probably happen in the future.
"This is a surprise. Are you the one who brought me here?" Higuruma calmly asked after his figure was fully formed. His eyes drifted towards Mahito, sensing that he was a Cursed Spirit and an extraordinarily strong one at that.
"Domain Expa-" His shikigami, Judgeman, popped up behind him, ready to complete the Domain. But before he could fully finish, he was interrupted.
"STOP! He's friendly!" I rushed to stand in front of Mahito, raising my hands as a sign of peace. I didn't actually know what would happen if multiple people were caught in his Domain, but the fact that he still tried to expand it while I was still in his range meant that he could choose who to target.
"Friendly? Do you not realise that he's a Cursed Spirit?" Higuruma pointed out, his eyes still having that dead look. Judgeman, without the use of his Domain Expansion, had no real use, so it was just floating there, waiting for the trial.
As I suspected, I am feeling naturally inclined towards this boy who is most likely my summoner. If this effect is present for all his summons, then that Cursed Spirit is probably also one. Higuruma concluded in his mind and lowered his gavel, and Judgeman disappeared as well.
If he managed to open his domain, Mahito could've been in trouble. But it seems like Higuruma figured out our circumstances. He's a genius on par with Gojo after all.
"So I assume that you understand now." I lowered my hands and tried to explain. "You were brought here because of my Cursed Technique. And no, I can't choose who it summons, if you were wondering."
"An interesting Cursed Technique. However, I don't recognise this place. Where are we?" Higuruma was a pretty knowledgeable man. He could tell, at a glance, that we were not in Japan or anywhere on Earth.
"Yeah, we don't know either. Mahito was summoned with me to this world a month ago, and we've tried our best to have a normal life since. I'm Luke, by the way." I was too far into the lying game that I couldn't back out now. I had to keep on pretending.
"Yeah, and since I'm a Cursed Spirit, normal people can't see me. So, at least Luke here won't seem crazy talking to thin air anymore~" Mahito joked while silently assessing Higuruma's strength. He was caught off guard when Higuruma said Domain Expansion without the use of a hand sign. Any sorcerer who could perform a Domain Expansion was a big deal, so Higuruma was clearly a big deal.
"I understand. My name is Hiromi Higuruma, I'm looking forward to charging the people of this world with exorbitant rates for talking to me." He said expressionlessly, clearly his attempt at a joke.
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" I asked in disbelief, wondering how he could still be so dry as an adult. Speaking of that, is this Higuruma from the Culling Games or Shinjuku?
He started laughing at his own joke, his voice attaining a noticeable enthusiasm. "I've always wanted to try acting like a dirty lawyer. But I recently realised why I chose this occupation in the first place." He looked up briefly in thought, thinking back to the past.
So, maybe he's from after the Culling Games... I concluded in my mind before going back to Maine. "Hey, we were here on a 2-hour leave. So, we gotta go back." I'm gonna have to explain a lot of shit to this dude...
"What a peculiar creature," Higuruma noted as he sat beside me on the seat, talking about Maine. "Although it seems to have been tampered with, considering the unusual nature of its Cursed Energy." He glanced at the back of the caravan towards Mahito, who was silently smiling.
"Relax, we were in a desperate situation, and I did what I had to do~" He showed his tongue to him childishly before lying down on the floor, with his hands holding up his head, "More importantly, you seem to be pretty impressive yourself. What's your technique?"
Higuruma looked back towards the front, not answering the question. Either he just didn't want to lose the advantage of the information regarding his Cursed Technique, or he just didn't like Mahito.
I've got to take this into consideration next time. No sorcerer likes Cursed Spirits. Just because Mahito is an ally doesn't mean any future sorcerer is going to like him. I started sweating a bit because of the uncomfortable atmosphere as we rode back towards the Capital.
The next thing is worrying about how I'm going to introduce Higuruma to the others. I was too excited about summoning, I didn't even think about the consequences of a completely random person being brought out of nowhere...
"Well, Higuruma, you said you were a lawyer, right? Then, you might be able to continue that profession here..." Hold on... do lawyers even exist in this world? Whatever, at least with Higuruma here, our future opponents are going to have many trials ahead of them. Literally.