𝐂𝐲𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐜 ʲᵘʲᵘˢᵗᵘ ᵏᵃⁱˢᵉⁿ

fifteen.

note: ...it is not a good day to be a manga reader.

"I want to learn how to use Simple Domain."

The thought came to you one Tuesday afternoon, in the confines of the school's many desolate classrooms.

Save for you and your homeroom teacher, no one else is present, your other two classmates having ditching the lecture for the nth time this month.

You're not sure how they even managed to advance into their second year. You heard that they're both talented in jujutsu, Hakari in particular, but neither he nor Kirara have been around much, so there's never really been a time for you to bear witness to their skills.

Kusakabe, who's fixing his coat, pauses at your statement.

"You know how to use it, right, sensei?" In fact, you heard that he's so good that he's the only grade 1 sorcerer who's earned the title without an innate technique.

The man blinks at you, eyes narrowing for a bit, then exhales loudly. "Why that all of a sudden..." he mutters to no one in particular.

You rest your head on your hand. "I'm a relatively fast learner, and you know I'm not one to mess around."

Really, you just want a countermeasure in case someone decides to cast their domain expansion on you, because you knew for sure that if that was to ever happen, you'd be beyond saving at that point.

When your homeroom teacher doesn't say anything, it's your turn to let out a sigh. "Is it so hard that someone like me can't-"

"'S not that."

"Then what is it then?" you demand, mildly irked. There really isn't a good reason to not teach someone such a useful technique, unless he isn't able to actually teach it to you, but considering that he also learnt it, he should be able to explain it to a certain extent.

Silence fills the air, though your [color] irises remain on him. Eventually, Atsuya crumbles under the weight of your stare. "Alright, alright, quit looking at me like that," he grouses, the lollipop stick between his lips jostling.

"It's cause..." The swordsman racks his brain for a bit, struggling to find the appropriate words. "How do I say this... you aren't ready yet."

His words contradict his answer to your earlier question regarding Simple Domain's difficulty, causing the expression on your face to shift to bafflement. "What?"

"Not in the sense that you can't pick it up," he clarifies, "but more so that it would be inconvenient for you to master it right now."

His explanation only serves to heighten your confusion. "No offense, sensei, but that made absolutely no sense. Also, what do you mean 'right now'? Do I need to go through a preparation period or something?"

"Not really. Think of it more as a... prerequisite." Kusakabe runs a hand through his hair. "You know how your innate cursed energy is positive energy, and that you tend to expend more so you get tired easily?"

Your lips purse. Right. Of course you do-it's hard to forget the glaringly obvious sign of incompetence when you've been forced to use it more often nowadays.

The fact that you need to take more breaks than all of your peers while having relatively similar workloads is nothing short of embarrassing. You don't think you've ever once fainted prior to joining Jujutsu Tech. You haven't even considered that being part of the problem, and being reminded of it felt like a splash of icy water to the face.

You think back of the grade they assigned you. Special grade? You scoff. Yeah, right. You had to be the weakest one in history. You're not even sure why they put you in the same category as someone like Satoru or Yuuta. You thought the term special refers to being extremely powerful, and so far, it does.