The first class ended, and the rest of the day through the afternoon was free time.
After leaving the classroom, Touma walked alone down the corridor toward the faculty office. Right on cue, the system's notification chimed inside his head, confirming what he'd already suspected.
[Side Quest Triggered: So-Called Classmates]
[Objective: Earn the recognition of Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko Ieiri.]
[Reward: +1 simulation attempt per person completed.]
[Progress: 1/3]
[Completed: Shoko Ieiri.]
He stared at that glaring 1/3 and muttered under his breath.
"Figures. Flashing an interesting technique and some potential isn't enough for those two to consider me a real companion..."
A few minutes later, he stood outside Yaga's office. The room was crammed with bizarre felt dolls of every shape and size. The towering homeroom teacher sat hunched over his desk, thick fingers working with a delicacy that had no business belonging to a man his size, stitching button eyes onto a grotesque-yet-endearing Cursed Corpse.
"Yaga-sensei, sorry to bother you."
Touma knocked and entered, getting straight to the point.
"I'd like you to teach me how to build and control those combat puppets you use."
"Hm?"
Yaga set down his needle. His glasses caught the light as his brow furrowed tight.
He placed the doll aside, and when he spoke, his voice carried the weight of a lecture, tinged with exasperation.
"Ambition is a good thing, Hayase. But I need to correct your thinking." He rose to his feet, and the sheer mass of him filled the space. "Your Phantom Night Parade has an extraordinarily rare replication ability. That Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue you demonstrated was rough, yes, but powerful enough to prove your potential. You can replicate Gojo's Limitless. You can replicate Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation. So why waste your energy on my technique?"
"Whether it's the Gojo Clan's destructive power or Geto's one-man-army summoning, both have ceilings far higher than controlling a bunch of rigid Cursed Corpses. What you should be doing is refining those top-tier techniques, not learning needlework from me. Understood?"
To Yaga, this was like a man holding nuclear launch codes walking in to ask how to throw a grenade.
Touma didn't waver. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the talisman he'd recovered from Sato that night, and laid it on the desk.
"You're right, sensei. In terms of raw power, Limitless and Cursed Spirit Manipulation are the apex." He raised one finger. "But after today's test, I've identified a critical flaw in my Phantom Night Parade. It appears to be single-threaded."
"Single-threaded?" Yaga blinked.
"I can't maintain two replicated techniques at the same time." Touma picked up the talisman. "This belonged to that Curse User. I'd previously replicated his puppet manipulation and kept a faint Cursed Energy link active. But in the classroom, the instant I switched my energy circuit to construct Blue for Gojo's demonstration..." He held the talisman between two fingers and gave it a light shake. "The connection severed completely."
The levity drained from Yaga's expression.
"Which means if I replicate Geto's ability and summon Cursed Spirits, the moment an emergency forces me to switch to Reverse Cursed Technique to heal someone, or to Limitless for defense, the previous technique cuts out the instant I switch. Summoned spirits could go rogue. Barriers would collapse..."
His gaze drifted to the half-finished dolls on Yaga's desk.
"So I can't take Geto's route of sustained summoning. What I need is something that keeps fighting independently even after I drop the connection and switch to a healer role. Something that won't compromise my combat ability afterward. Your combat puppets fit that description. Once activated, they have physical bodies. They don't need a constant technique link to keep moving, right?"
Yaga listened to the full analysis. The deep crease between his brows gradually smoothed, replaced by surprise.
He hadn't expected Touma to dissect his own technique's strengths and weaknesses with this level of clarity, let alone arrive with a tactical solution already mapped out.
"I see... a single-threaded replication." Yaga was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "Your reasoning is sound. If that's the limitation, an independently powered medium really is your only answer."
A beat passed, and he corrected with meticulous precision: "Also, they're not called combat puppets. The proper term is Cursed Corpse."
"Right. Cursed Corpse." Touma corrected himself immediately, putting on the face of a newcomer hearing the word for the first time.
"Your logic checks out, but let me set expectations." Yaga walked to a corner of the room and pulled three practice models off a shelf, nothing but bare metal skeletons with no stuffing or skin, and tossed them onto the floor with a clatter.
"Controlling Cursed Corpses isn't as simple as pumping in Cursed Energy and watching them move. It demands extremely fine Cursed Energy manipulation and the ability to split your focus across multiple targets simultaneously."
"Try channeling Cursed Energy into them. Nothing complex. If you can make all three stand up at the same time, I'll admit you have the talent for this."
Before the last word left Yaga's mouth, the three metal skeletons crumpled on the floor emitted a crisp, synchronized snap of joints grinding into motion.
Then, under Yaga's stunned gaze, they didn't wobble upright like newborn fawns. They snapped to their feet in one sharp, drilled movement, as though responding to a parade-ground command.
It didn't stop there. Cursed Energy threads pulsed at Touma's fingertips, and the three skeletal frames shifted into a textbook combat formation.
Three Cursed Corpses. Three distinct postures. Cursed Energy distributed with surgical precision, not a drop wasted, not a fraction of delay.
"How... ?!"
Yaga's jaw dropped. The stern-teacher composure cracked wide open.
He ripped off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, making sure they weren't lying to him.
That level of proficiency? That kind of intuitive control, the kind that only came from hundreds, maybe thousands of repetitions?
And Touma called this just discovering a weakness he wanted to address?
"Hay..." His voice came out dry. He pointed at the three disturbingly agile skeletons, disbelief written across every line of his face. "Be honest with me. Is this really your first time handling Cursed Corpses? This level of micro-control takes years of practice at minimum!"
Touma stood there, adjusted his glasses, and offered a modest, perfectly innocent smile. The newcomer act held firm.
"Well... I played with marionettes a lot as a kid. Maybe the principle is similar?"
Yaga stared at him and felt something lodge in his throat. Marionettes and controlling Cursed Corpses through Cursed Spirit Manipulation were the same thing now?
A long silence passed before he slid his glasses back on, hiding the existential crisis in his eyes. The corner of his mouth, though, twitched upward despite himself.
"Monsters... every last student this year is a monster."
---
A/N- Alright guys, time to start the Power Stone goals...
For every 100 Power Stones, I will drop one bonus chapter. So yes, this is your official reminder to feed the story with those shiny stones..
For the regular schedule, I will upload 1 to 2 chapters daily. Nice and consistent....