JJK: Chapter 57

Title: Test

°°°

“Finally back!”

After bidding farewell to the others, who were overly enthusiastic in their thanks, Shin Shuichi boarded a ship to Denmark and then took a flight back home.

While the foreign scenery was novel and beautiful, for someone like Shin, who don't even enjoy most domestic cuisine, being stuck in places lacking good food was pure torture. No matter how breathtaking the sights, they couldn’t fill an empty stomach.

After landing, Shin took a taxi straight to Shibuya. He had a proper meal to make up for the hardships of the past few days, then stopped by the most famous dessert shop to pick up some souvenirs. If he was going to ask Gojo-sensei for help, it was only polite to bring some gifts.

---

At Jujutsu High

Upon his return to Jujutsu High, the only person Shin encountered was Panda, who had just finished a mission and was resting. Thinking about it, it was already June—it made sense for everyone to be busy.

Even Yuji and the others, who had only recently enrolled, were already mixing practical combat into their jujutsu training. After all, their first assignment upon joining was an exorcism Gojo had arranged. Although that particular curse wasn’t very strong, it was still a proper mission.

Back in his dorm, Shin enjoyed a well-deserved rest. The mission report had already been filed, as headquarters had received news of the mission's completion two days prior. Shin just needed to add some detailed notes to provide another perspective.

After spending half the day gaming in his room, Shin’s door was knocked on. The visitor, who opened the door uninvited, was none other than Gojo Satoru.

The latter strolled in, stretched, and collapsed into the sofa. When his gaze landed on the exquisitely wrapped desserts on the table, his previously lazy expression suddenly lit up.

“These for me?”

Shin, finishing off the last enemy on-screen, saw the victory screen pop up. He removed his headset and turned around. “Yeah, I picked them up after getting off the plane.”

“How’d the mission go?” Gojo asked casually, dressed in ordinary clothes today instead of his uniform. The sunglasses perched on his nose paired with a simple, expensive-looking shirt Shin vaguely recognized.

While munching on the desserts, Gojo inquired further. Shin poured himself a glass of water and shrugged. “Pretty interesting. That curse had some unique tricks. It used the climate to amplify its technique significantly.”

“It could even use Domain Expansion. Its domain was specialized for survival. If I hadn’t successfully pulled off the new move I’ve been theorizing, it might have escaped into the ocean.”

“A new move? The one where you combine your technique’s forward and reverse effects?” Gojo’s curiosity was immediately piqued.

Shin grinned. “Yep, I managed to execute it successfully during the fight. Unlike the raw destructive power of your Hollow Purple, it has a completely different function. Care to give it a critique?”

“Haha, so that’s why you messaged me. Let’s go—I’m curious to see it myself.”

---

On the way to the dojo, Shin brought up a question that had been bothering him. “Gojo-sensei, curses are said to originate from the negative emotions of ordinary people. But why does it feel like many curses that should exist never actually form?”

Gojo adjusted his sunglasses against the warm sunlight. “At its core, a curse is catalyzed by cursed energy born from negative emotions. But it’s usually tied to something specific. Concepts like death or abstract fears don’t easily form curses.”

“Besides, cursed energy alone often isn’t enough to produce powerful curses. Special-grade curses, in particular, are rare.”

Gojo gave an example to elaborate. “The more specific the negative emotions, the more likely a curse will form. That’s why urban legends and myths about ghosts rarely lead to actual curses. For every fictional curse recorded, there are countless legends that never give rise to anything.”

“Places like hospitals or schools, where people experience genuine regret, fear, and despair, have clear emotional anchors. But fears of natural disasters, like earthquakes or landslides, are far more abstract, making it harder for related curses to form.”

“And even when curses are born, they often only embody a fraction of the associated concept’s attributes. The curse you encountered was already incredibly rare. It probably took a long time to manifest.”

Arriving at an empty training ground, Gojo turned to Shin with a grin. “So, about this new move of yours—how are we testing it?”

Shin stared at his outstretched right hand in thought. “You’re aware of how my technique operates in both forward and reverse modes. My hypothesis is that when these two effects collide, excluding failure scenarios, they could produce something unique. The phenomenon I observed last time... I’ve decided to call it Time Stop.”

“Time Stop?” Gojo stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I remember when you fully utilize your technique, the surrounding area slows down to near stillness. How is this different?”

Shin's expression turned slightly odd. "Yes, there is a difference—and a significant one. When time stops, everything I can observe comes to a complete halt, including the flow of cursed energy. That’s how I managed to break the curse's domain."

Gojo Satoru’s eyes gleamed with interest behind his sunglasses. "If cursed energy stops as well, then techniques would naturally lose their effects temporarily. A domain without the support of cursed energy and techniques would shatter on its own. Enough talking—why not let me experience it firsthand? Shin, use that technique to envelop me and let me feel it."

Gojo removed his sunglasses, his Six Eyes brimming with curiosity as he prepared to witness the spectacle. Shin, already planning to test his ability, began channeling cursed energy into his technique.

The forward and reverse effects of his technique collided once more, sending a strange ripple of cursed energy outward. Under Shin’s careful control, the fluctuation quickly stabilized but suddenly disappeared.

“Uh... it failed. Haha!”

Under Gojo's focused gaze, Shin let out an awkward laugh. “This is one of those ‘failure’ scenarios I mentioned. Let’s try again.”

---

Not everyone possessed Gojo’s Six Eyes, capable of performing impossibly fine-tuned cursed energy manipulations. For Shin, successfully combining the forward and reverse effects of his technique was already a feat of exceptional talent. These attempts were merely the first, clumsy steps of mastering this ability.

With Gojo observing and offering guidance, Shin took the opportunity to test various methods of fusion—timing, energy output, and speed of cursed energy transmission. Rarely did Gojo have time to spare, so Shin made the most of it, thoroughly experimenting.

---

On one serious attempt, Shin finally managed to stop time again. Everything within the area, including Gojo, became part of a frozen tableau.

"One second," Shin counted in his mind, precisely measuring the "flow" of time. Smirking at a sudden thought, he approached Gojo, hoisted him over his shoulder, and moved him to the doorway.

By the fourth second, Shin sensed instability in his technique. At 4.6 seconds, he could have pushed it further, but any additional effort seemed unnecessary. After tossing a katana, Dojigiri, into the air, he ended the technique.

Time resumed. The suspended katana clattered to the ground, and Gojo regained his ability to move. Immediately aware of his changed location, Gojo looked astonished. Unlike during his encounter with Shin's first time stop ability, where Gojo could recall events even after being touched, there was no trace of what had occurred this time.

“This is fascinating!” Gojo exclaimed.

He glanced at the katana on the ground and quickly pieced together Shin’s actions. "You threw Dojigiri while time was stopped and released it, but it didn’t continue its motion afterward, correct?"

Shin nodded. "Exactly. Once an object leaves my hand during time stop, it becomes frozen in place. I discovered this limitation when I tried using ranged attacks during the effect."

Gojo pondered for a moment before proposing a test. "Throw some short blades, stop time mid-flight, adjust their trajectories, and then try attacking me. Let’s see if my Infinity gets nullified."

Shin scratched his head and gave an awkward laugh. "Uh, Gojo-sensei, you’ll have to wait a bit. After the collision of forward and reverse effects ends, my technique becomes temporarily unstable, making it impossible to use again immediately. If I end it early, the cooldown is shorter, but the longer I sustain it, the longer it takes for the technique to recover."

Gojo’s Six Eyes confirmed the issue. The deeper the fusion of Shin’s technique, the greater the strain. Unlike Gojo’s Hollow Purple, which was purely destructive, Shin’s ability required an impossible balance that had to be maintained. The deeper the entanglement, the longer the recovery period. Shin’s earlier attempt would need about a minute of rest.

After recovering his technique, Shin followed Gojo’s suggestion. Grabbing five short blades from the weapon rack, he threw them at a wall before activating time stop. The suspended blades hovered mid-air, and Shin adjusted their angles slightly before moving toward Gojo.

Concentrating cursed energy at his fingertip, Shin slashed at Gojo’s arm. To his surprise, Infinity, which usually repelled all harm, vanished. Shin’s finger broke through Gojo’s halted cursed energy defense, leaving a cut on his arm. Though no blood flowed, the wound was evident.

When Shin ended the technique, the sound of the blades striking the ground echoed: clang, clang, clang.

The wooden blades struck various parts of the wall, even hitting the corners and nearby weapon racks. Unlike objects thrown during time stop, these blades retained their flight trajectory after Shin’s technique ended, following the altered directions he had set during the paused state.

Meanwhile, Gojo noticed the small wound on his arm. Though it healed instantly with his Reverse Cursed Technique, he could sense that his Infinity defense hadn’t been deactivated. The wound seemed to bypass the barrier entirely, appearing as if from nowhere.

"Even the state itself is halted, Gojo-sensei," Shin explained.

In this case, the wooden blades had entered the paused state while in motion. Upon the technique's release, they resumed their prior momentum—unlike objects thrown during the pause, which simply dropped to the ground afterward.

---

To further test the technique’s limits, Gojo procured a small cursed creature and a specialized cursed tool. This tool could detect the presence of life energy, even in cases of suspended animation or feigned death.

During the paused state, Shin killed the oversized rat, slicing it cleanly. Strangely, no blood spilled from its body. Using the cursed tool, Shin checked the rat's status—and the results were bizarre. According to the tool, the rat was still alive.

"Does the concept of 'life' itself get paused?" Gojo mused. "It seems that the consequences of actions only manifest after the technique ends. The previous state of the target continues uninterrupted. Even if you pulverized the rat during the pause, it would still be 'alive' in some form."

---

Subsequent tests revealed more about Shin’s ability. The range of the time stop extended roughly 200 meters in radius, centered on him. Both the size of the area and the duration of the pause were adjustable, but larger areas required more precise control and significantly greater effort.

Within this invisible boundary, Gojo alone witnessed the phenomenon: reality itself became a frozen image, like a paused video. The sheer impossibility of the scene was indescribably miraculous.

---

Watching Shin’s progress, Gojo silently reflected.
"This path… I’m not walking it alone. Shin, Yuta, and even Megumi… A single person’s strength is always ‘limited.’ To reach the world I envision, it’ll take all of you constantly standing up and moving forward."

---

As the day of training and experimentation came to an end, Gojo offered a few final words.
“The equipment you requested should arrive tomorrow. I likely won’t be around, so make sure to collect it. This new technique is fascinating, but it’s not yet absolutely stable. Keep practicing until you’ve completely mastered it.”

Gojo’s advice stemmed from an earlier mishap. During one of Shin’s attempts, a third, unintended outcome had nearly occurred. A chaotic and warped energy ripple began to form, but Shin stopped the technique before it could escalate.

Gojo’s Six Eyes had confirmed the potential danger. Had Shin allowed the phenomenon to progress, it wouldn’t have resulted in time stopping. Instead, it would have unleashed an unknown, distorted consequence. Thus, Gojo stressed the importance of refining the technique.

---

The following day, Shin received the items he had requested. Delivered in a moderately sized, sealed box by two men in suits, the package was thoroughly checked for cursed energy seals before being handed over.

Shin spent the next several days engrossed in practice and studying the materials. Returning sorcerers like Maki saw little of him during this time. He worked tirelessly, devoting himself to refining his technique and understanding the new resources until a fresh mission arrived.

“Eradicate the remnants of the Star Vessel cult, now led by the cursed user Suguru Geto's former followers.”

---

Shin read through the mission details, his expression pensive. After the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, Suguru Geto had been executed by Gojo. Geto’s surviving subordinates had gone into hiding, their movements silent until now.

“Whatever the cause, if they’re killing innocents, they should be prepared to meet the same end,” Shin thought. “Compared to curses, cursed users of similar strength often cause far greater harm.”

"I accept this mission."