[You brought the issue to Yaga, and after some thought, he admitted he didn't have a clean solution either.]
[What he did offer was a suggestion: prioritize learning Puppet Manipulation from him.]
[The logic was sound. Puppet Manipulation consisted of two distinct components: the puppets themselves, and the technique used to animate them.]
[This meant that even after Phantom Night Parade's cycle ended, a second replication of Puppet Manipulation could still control any puppets already created. The technique's shutdown wouldn't sever that link.]
[You considered his reasoning and agreed.]
[From a pure combat-efficiency standpoint, Puppet Manipulation was the strongest option available to you right now. And thanks to having analyzed two separate users of the technique, your learning curve for Puppet Manipulation actually outpaced Reverse Cursed Technique, putting it firmly in first place.]
[From that point on, your schedule diverged from Gojo, Geto, and Shoko's. You picked up an extra class: private lessons with Yaga.]
[He didn't just teach you how to wield Puppet Manipulation. Deliberately, methodically, he also began passing along the craft of building Cursed Corpses.]
[But as the lessons deepened, something nagged at you. The Cursed Corpses Yaga designed weren't optimized for use with Puppet Manipulation at all. If anything, he seemed to be engineering them to function as independently from the technique as possible.]
[The more you learned, the stronger that suspicion grew.]
[Until one day, during a private session, you couldn't hold the question back any longer.]
["Sensei, the techniques you're teaching me... they're not just for building Cursed Corpses that run on Puppet Manipulation, are they?"]
[Yaga didn't dodge. He owned it without hesitation.]
["Yeah. You've got real talent in this area. Couldn't help myself from teaching you more than I planned."]
["Is your end goal a Cursed Corpse that's completely free of Puppet Manipulation? One that can fight on its own?"]
[That question earned something rare: silence from Yaga. A long stretch of it. When he finally spoke, it wasn't an answer. It was a question of his own.]
["Do you think Cursed Corpses are only good for fighting?"]
["Only good for fighting...?"]
[You echoed the words back, unsure what he was getting at.]
["But isn't that why you're teaching me to build them?"]
[Yaga said nothing. Behind his dark glasses, you caught the faintest trace of conflict. He was wrestling with something, weighing whether to let you in on it.]
[In the end, he chose not to. He cut the session short and left without another word.]
[Neither of you brought up the subject again after that. An unspoken agreement. But the question planted itself deep, a seed that wouldn't stop growing.]
Touma frowned in the real world, sifting through his memories of the first two simulations. Nothing surfaced that could explain Yaga's strange behavior.
"Does Yaga-sensei have some kind of secret...?"
[Before second year began, one other event worth noting took place.]
[As Tokyo Jujutsu High's first-years, you participated in the Exchange Event against Kyoto Jujutsu High.]
[With two Special Grades on the roster, the whole affair felt like overkill.]
[A schedule designed to fill half a day was demolished in thirty minutes. Gojo and Geto steamrolled Kyoto's entire lineup into submission before lunch.]
[And the only reason it took that long was because the two of them had wasted time arguing over who got to fight whom.]
[Kyoto's students made it back in time for the afternoon bus home. Principal Gakuganji was, to put it mildly, not pleased.]
[Time moved on. Second year arrived.]
[Card draw initiated.]
[Tryhard [R]: Born with something to prove, you prefer grinding in secret where no one's watching. When training unobserved, stamina and energy recovery increase by 50%.]
Touma reviewed Tryhard's effects. It wouldn't boost combat power directly, but equipping it during simulations would accelerate his training considerably. Physical conditioning, cursed technique practice, Cursed Corpse crafting... it would pay dividends across the board.
He swapped out Bearing Insults and Heavy Burdens for Tryhard without a second thought. Teamed up with two Special Grade sorcerers, opportunities to take a beating were in short supply anyway.
[Just as you already knew, Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara enrolled at Tokyo Jujutsu High as first-year students.]
[Then came the day Shoko lost contact with Utahime, her senior from Kyoto Jujutsu High. Two days with no response. After confirming that Utahime had gone dark during a mission, you were all dispatched to Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture to check on her and provide backup.]
[The Assistant Manager's car barely rolled to a stop before Gojo flung the door open and bolted.]
[Less "rushing to save someone" and more "dying to see Utahime looking pathetic."]
[The Assistant Manager cranked the window down and shouted after the white-haired blur already vanishing into the distance.]
["Please wait, Gojo!"]
[His voice drifted back.]
["Don't bother following. I can handle a Curtain on my own."]
[Then he was gone.]
[Three years as Gojo's Assistant Manager in a past life had taught you exactly how much that promise was worth. Which was nothing.]
He'll forget. Absolutely, without question, he will forget.
[Having walked that road yourself, you understood the thankless awkwardness of the Assistant Manager's position better than most. So as you stepped out of the car, you made sure to put the man at ease.]
["Don't worry about it. I'll handle the Curtain."]
[Gratitude washed over the man's face. Among the Assistant Managers, your reputation was considerably warmer than Gojo's or Geto's.]
[You trailed after Geto and Shoko to catch up with Gojo, but your mind was elsewhere. The calendar was creeping closer. The timeline was approaching the Star Plasma Vessel protection mission, the one event from your previous simulation that you hadn't witnessed firsthand.]
[You wondered if this time, you'd be there to live through it. To fill in the one enormous blind spot in your intelligence.]