Kasumi Miwa was the kind of hopeless student who would listen seriously in every class, take diligent notes on everything, and still end up scoring a big fat zero on the test. You could not say she had not worked hard, and you definitely could not say she was fooling herself.
This silly girl just had not realized yet that the world did not work that way. This was not so ga where raising affection points ant soone had to unlock a special CG for you.
[Innate Technique] was the ticket into the Jujutsu World.
For ordinary people with no [Innate Technique], to put it bluntly, their fate in this life was to be nothing more than background characters.
If Kasumi Miwa wanted to get stronger, then what she should be doing was practicing swordsmanship, not sitting here closing her eyes and ditating like an idiot.
You do not even have an [Innate Technique], so what exactly are you trying to visualize?
Trying to cultivate immortality, are you?
Next thing, you would be splitting open the gates of heaven with one sword.
Naoya Zenin did not hold back at all. He directly hauled Kasumi Miwa out from the middle of the students.
"You stand off to the side and keep ti."
"O-Okay!!"
At last, she had found sothing she could actually do, and Kasumi Miwa let out a long breath of relief.
So the blue-haired girl took up a stopwatch and began recording how long each student took to complete the visualization of their [Innate Technique].
"Momo Nishimiya. Your visualization of [Innate Technique] took only twenty-six minutes and twenty-five seconds. Not only is that the best ti in the class, but the ntal world you constructed is flawless. It seems you not only have outstanding talent for Cursed Energy, but also willpower that ordinary people could never hope to match."
"Hmph. Isn't that only natural?"
That was what Naoya Zenin said to the little witch pretending to stay calm.
"As a teacher, I am proud of your result."
The nobleman, usually so cold-faced, finally revealed a smile of approval.
"You pass. Hold your head high and leave this classroom with pride."
Momo Nishimiya's eyes widened on the spot.
She had actually received such wholehearted praise?!
This was Naoya Zenin, the male chauvinist infamous for his extre arrogance?!
She had assud that, as always, Naoya Zenin would put her down and humiliate her, saying that this result was nothing special, that what he wanted was insight into [Cursed Technique Reversal] and [Reverse Cursed Technique], and that Momo Nishimiya was rely the first student to fail.
But she never would have imagined it.
This guy had actually given her such blunt, straightforward praise?!
"I-I was not paying this much attention in class just for your praise!!!"
Caught completely off guard, the little witch imdiately started stamring, and even her ears had turned bright red.
"Do I need to go out of my way to flatter won like you?"
Naoya Zenin only gave her a faint glance. That rare softness in his expression quickly returned to its usual cold hardness.
"No matter how much you try to deny it, your quick thinking, your unyielding willpower, and your talent as a Jujutsu Sorcerer are all right there for anyone to see. Talent is not sothing modesty can hide."
Naoya Zenin had never once pandered to his students.
Once she realized that every word he had said was sincere, Momo Nishimiya's cheeks burned even hotter. She turned her face away, but still could not help secretly puffing out her chest as she walked lightly toward the door. Just as she was about to step out of the classroom, she suddenly stopped, turned back to glare at Naoya Zenin, and muttered in a low voice,
"...One of these days, I'm going to learn everything you know!"
Mai Zenin, who was not far away, heard that too.
She opened her eyes and looked over in disbelief, but the mont she noticed Naoya Zenin had turned his attention to her, her body trembled and she hurriedly lowered her head.
But that turtle-like attempt to shrink back was completely useless.
"Mai Zenin, what exactly are you doing?!"
Naoya Zenin had already sensed through Cursed Energy that the flow of energy inside Mai was badly wrong, and he imdiately barked at her.
"What exactly are you visualizing?! The Cursed Energy coming off you feels like stagnant water in an ancient pond. Murky, sluggish, without even the slightest ripple it ought to have! What have you been doing for the past half hour?! Your head is completely empty!!!"
"I... I can't do it..."
Compared to Momo Nishimiya, who had quickly grasped the trick, Mai's progress so far was absolutely zero.
It was not that she had not tried.
It was just that every ti she tried, all she could see was darkness.
Her Cursed Energy moved wildly out of control.
The textbooks she usually knew by heart, the theories she had morized over and over, now not a single one of them worked.
The deeper she sank into her soul, the more clearly she could glimpse the nightmare hidden in the deepest part of her heart.
A ntal world represented the truest world of a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
It was a unique domain built from everything inside the heart.
The deeper she tried to step into that domain, the clearer the hallucinated voices in her ears beca.
"You're trash! Useless trash! How could I possibly have a worthless daughter like you?!"
"You're a child nobody wants! Nobody needs you!!!"
"Go die! Disappear! I hated you from the mont you were born!!!"
She had already forgotten all of it.
There had never been any reason to rember it in the first place.
But now, she could not do it.
Mai Zenin simply could not do it.
"...Why? Why am I worthless?"
The deeper Mai sank into her inner world, the more she tried to construct [Innate Technique], the more violently her head began to ache. Her breathing turned ragged, and her face looked as though she were on the verge of tears.
"Why... why am I a child nobody wants?"
"If only... if only I had never been born in the first place. If only I had never been born into the Zenin Clan. If only I had never been a Jujutsu Sorcerer!!!"
[Innate Technique] was a power one was born with.
But if soone rejected that power from the bottom of their heart, even going so far as to curse that [Innate Technique] with their own life, then that [Innate Technique], in order to protect its master, would also withhold the power that sorcerer should have possessed.
That was why Mai Zenin had been born with weak Cursed Energy. No matter how many negative emotions she felt, she could not refine them into Cursed Energy.
Because this girl had been rejecting her own [Innate Technique] ever since the day she was born.
That was how cruel this world was.
Kasumi Miwa, who desperately wanted to beco stronger, could give everything she had and still never awaken an [Innate Technique].
And yet Mai Zenin, who had been born with [Construction Technique], had hated herself as a Jujutsu Sorcerer from beginning to end.
"...I see. So you're admitting with your own mouth that you can't do it?"
Naoya Zenin picked up the grade sheet with an expressionless face.
His pen scratched across it.
"Mai Zenin. Fail."
The mont she heard that verdict, Mai felt her heart seize violently, as if her entire body had been torn in two in an instant.
"I'm very disappointed in you."
Naoya Zenin's words were like blades, driving straight into Mai's heart.
"Recognizing [Innate Technique] is a basic skill every sorcerer should have. If you can't even stay calm during a task this simple, then what exactly will you be able to do on the battlefield against Cursed Spirits?"
Mai only wanted to cover her ears.
Naoya Zenin's disappointed tone cut into her so deeply that her heart felt shredded, and she could barely breathe.
"My foolish little cousin, even if your enemy were standing right in front of you, you still wouldn't dare lift your head?"
"W-What...?"
Mai trembled all over.
A chill ran down her spine.
This was the first ti Naoya Zenin had ever brought up those matters from the Zenin Clan to her.
It was also the first ti he had acknowledged, in front of everyone, that the two of them were cousins.
"I originally thought... you might be an uncut diamond."
The cold-faced noble set the grade sheet back on the desk, straightened his clothes, and then turned to walk toward the other students.
"Looks like I was wrong."
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