Jujutsu Kaisen: Nozomi no Sora

Genichi looked at the cigarette in Nishimiya Sōsuke's hand.

The cigarette must have been lit recently; it seems like he hasn't taken a single puff yet.

To his surprise, the man casually tossed the cigarette to the ground, his black leather shoes lightly crushing it, extinguishing the sparks. In that instant, the sickle in his other hand also transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the night.

It seems his magical power will dissipate as the cigarette goes out; he must have bound himself to something...

Xuan Yi had no mind to think about anything else. Recalling the thrilling scene just now, he was still shaken. If Nishimiya Sōsuke hadn't arrived in time, he probably would have ended his hasty life.

"Um..." Xuan Yi wanted to say something, at least some words of thanks.

However, before he could speak, Nishimiya Sousuke had already taken out his phone and dialed a number on his own.

"The account is not needed for the time being."

His tone was indifferent, as if he were reporting a trivial matter.

"Yes, it's resolved... Yes... What? You've already gone back?"

His brow furrowed slightly.

"Didn't you say you'd come pick me up at seven...?"

"I've had enough! One minute I'm being told to go back, the next I'm being told to come here. Do you really think I'm a taxi driver? Go to hell, you bastard!" came Ms. Kobayashi's furious voice from the other end of the phone, before the call was abruptly ended.

Nishimiya Sousuke, who had been inexplicably scolded, stood there in a daze for a long time. He then silently put his phone into his pocket and turned to look at the battered Genichi beside him.

He scratched his head casually, but couldn't hide the embarrassment on his face.

Xuan Yi didn't know what to say.

"You're trying to look cool, aren't you? You're trying to create a reliable adult image, aren't you? Unfortunately, Miss Kobayashi doesn't give you that kind of face at all! Hey! Don't look at me, it's embarrassing for me too!" Xuan Yi smiled bitterly to himself and turned his gaze slightly away.

Just as he was thinking about these things, Nishimiya Sousuke suddenly turned his head.

"alright!"

He said.

Let me take you to eat first.

"Take me to get treatment first..."

Xuan Yi's expression was unpleasant, and it wasn't just because of the atmosphere at the moment.

His current health condition is very bad.

Although most of the wounds are concentrated on the arms, there are too many wounds, and almost all of them are deep enough to expose the bone. The bleeding is too much, and if not treated in time, it will still be life-threatening.

Fortunately, the reliable Ms. Kobayashi eventually brought the car over...

I thought Kobayashi would continue to grumble in the car like she did on the phone, but she just drove quietly the whole way without saying a word.

Xuan Yi, who had collapsed in the back seat, gradually lost the strength to speak due to excessive blood loss, and his face turned deathly pale.

Nishimiya Sousuke glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

"Nishio-san!"

He spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Yes..." Xuan Yi replied weakly, his mind already beginning to drift off to sleep.

"If you fall asleep now, there's no guarantee you'll live to see tomorrow's sunrise. Hang in there a little longer!"

"Yes……"

The car fell silent again.

"Let's chat for a bit!" Nishimiya Sousuke said, lighting a cigarette, taking a puff, but choking and coughing.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Kobayashi Kiri, who was standing next to him, frowned when she saw his expression.

Nishimiya Sousuke coughed until tears streamed down his face, but he still managed to force a smile.

"Ahem... You've probably noticed before that many middle-aged men like me, even if they don't smoke, still carry cigarettes with them every day?"

Having barely managed to stop coughing, Nishimiya Sousuke took the cigarette out of his mouth, held it between his fingers, and stared at the tiny spark.

"You know, in the adult world, many things don't exist because they're 'needed'. Cigarettes, alcohol, ties, suits... they're more like badges, proof that you look like 'one of them'."

For example, if everyone around you is smoking, and you don't have one, you'll seem out of place, right?

Kobayashi Kiri glanced at him from the driver's seat but didn't say anything.

Nishimiya Sousuke gave a wry smile and continued speaking.

"So I don't smoke, and I even hate the smell of smoke. So when I take out a cigarette, I just pretend to light it, pretend to take a deep drag, and pretend to exhale smoke. It's just an act."

But I still tried my best to "act" because only in this way could I make myself look like I had blended in with "them"!

That sounds stupid, right?

He paused.

"Later, I set a constraint for myself."

Xuan Yi barely opened his eyes and looked in the rearview mirror toward the driver's seat.

"...Restriction?"

"Yes, it is essentially a contract in which a certain price is paid in exchange for power."

Nishimiya Sousuke put the cigarette back in his mouth without actually inhaling it, but kept the position and pulled out a small scythe-shaped pendant from his collar, on which a powerful magical energy was surging.

"When the cigarette is lit, my spell power will temporarily reach the level of a level two sorcerer, lasting until the cigarette burns out. The cost is that my spell power level will be permanently stagnant at this level, the medium will always be in a state of spell power saturation, and the spell will be melted after the cigarette burns out."

Kobayashi Kiri gave the man beside her a deep look, but said nothing.

Nishimiya Sousuke's voice gradually became flat.

"The Nishimiya family's technique—Tsukumonojutsu—is a technique that allows one to inject magical power into objects that they have used for a long time, so that these objects can continuously store magical power and be controlled. The strength of the technique is related to the age of the ancient object and the total amount of magical power it stores."

Moreover, the Nishimiya family's techniques are very special, as they are almost always inherited by descendants with the physique of a sorcerer.

Sounds impressive, right? But the price is—our magical power will awaken very slowly.

Xuan Yi didn't speak, but this information did surprise him.

"Cursed power originates from negative emotions. People with the constitution of a sorcerer may awaken all at once on a certain day due to the accumulation of negative emotions. After awakening their cursed power, their maximum reserve of cursed power will be maintained at a level of 5% above or below the level of awakening."

In other words, a person's magical power reserves are already determined on the day they awaken.

The magical power of families practicing sorcery is selected and passed down through human control, and the amount of magical power they possess and the techniques they will inherit are determined on the day they are born.

The techniques passed down in our Xigong family are essentially a kind of constraint.

By using the awakening time of our magical power in exchange for the stable inheritance of our techniques, we bind our magical power to time. This also allows our magical power to grow; it can accumulate over time. Therefore, theoretically, the Nishimiya family's magical power reserves have no upper limit!

However, Nishimiya Sousuke couldn't help but chuckle self-deprecatingly when he got to this point.

"Of course, that's just a ridiculous theory!"

This growth is not linear. The peak growth period is concentrated before the age of ten. After the age of thirty, the increase in magical power is negligible, unless one can truly live forever. If one could achieve that, one would be beyond the realm of humanity!

Therefore, in the Nishimiya family, those who can awaken their magical power before the age of eighteen are definitely considered excellent, and those who can awaken it before the age of ten can already be considered geniuses!

In modern times, the most outstanding sorcerer in the family, apart from the head of the family, Nishimiya Munemasa, is probably Nishimiya Momo from the main family!

Although her father was a rare foreign sorcerer, she was said to have awakened her magical powers at the age of ten, and now at eighteen, she was already a level two sorcerer.

I'm thirty-three years old this year, and I recently awakened my magical powers.

After saying this, Nishimiya Sousuke shook his head with a wry smile.

"People around me told me that with my skill level, I should just stay and be an ordinary investigator. Don't be reckless, don't rush to the front lines, and don't do anything dangerous."

After all, how much success can one achieve if one only awakens in their thirties?

But isn't it ironic that I'm already a man in my thirties, and yet I'm being told by a bunch of kids to "behave myself"?

How can an adult let a kid rush ahead?

The carriage was silent for a moment.

Xuan Yi's throat moved, unsure of what to say.

Nishimiya Sousuke turned his gaze back to the front, watching the streetlights flash by in the night.

Even if it's just an act, I still need to find a way to make myself stronger.

At least that way, when I stand in front of some brat, I can tell him—

Stop being so self-righteous!

Thinking that only they can change everything in the world, they blame all the misfortunes around them on themselves.

Do you feel that if you don't work hard enough, you'll drag someone down? Do you feel that if you don't give it your all, you'll harm someone? Do you think that by pretending to work hard you can rightfully bear everything?

Nishimiya Sousuke took a deep drag on his cigarette, the choking smoke making his face turn bright red.

He scoffed, "Let us adults handle these things first..."