NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: Chap 7
"Sorry," he squeezed out crumpled.
"Sorry for what?" I asked in surprise and bit into the sweet fruit.
"That I just helped myself to your fruit."
"Please," I said, almost indignantly, "you can always help yourself to it when I'm making something to eat or, as in this case, cutting up fruit. If it's empty, it's empty"
"But you cut it for yourself."
"So what?" and handed him another piece, which he hesitantly accepted, "I'm not petty. On the contrary, I really enjoy sharing. And apart from that, I also love to cook."
"You can taste it too," he admitted, barely noticeably embarrassed, "thank you."
"I suppose you're staying here today?" I asked with interest, to which he nodded.
"Today I'm doing nothing but the lazy ones."
"Oh, I don't begrudge you that, but I wouldn't mind if we swapped."
He laughed, "I'll take your word for it, because I know all too well how Satoru builds up his exercises in curse powers."
I glanced at him brightly, "don't tell me he massacred you like he did me."
"I don't know much about your training, but I can well imagine that it hit me harder than you, since I already knew how to use my Shikigami as a child. Nevertheless, he throws you mercilessly into the deep end, but when it comes down to it, he immediately helps you out of danger."
I would have signed the first part of his statement without protest, but the second? I hadn't seen anything of that yet.
"Sounds like he did the same to you," I guessed off the top of my head before eating my piece of pear, which I had sliced again.
"More than enough, but it also made me grow."
He sat down on one of the black upholstered chairs that had provided ample seating at the large white dining table.
"You're not unaware that I have the ten-shadow technique, but I haven't gone into much detail with you about my escape technique. Unfortunately, just because I use this technique does not mean that I have mastered it completely. Summoning Shikigami is one thing. But controlling them is another. Before I can use them at will, I first have to defeat them. And preferably alone in battle, otherwise the so-called ritual is a waste of time."
I hung on his lips eagerly. I loved learning about these trivial peculiarities that we Jujuzists had brought with us. With the exception of me.
"I must honestly confess that I naively assumed that you had been able to do this since you were born," I revealed, pressing my lips together in shame.
"That has nothing to do with being naive. After all, you're not that familiar with these topics yet. That's why I'm explaining this to you. Those born with the ten-shadow technique only have the hellhounds at the beginning. The repertoire of Shikigami grows the more you defeat them in the solo ritual. In other words, if the Shikigami summoning ritual is performed with help, it will nullify the effect of the technique."
"And then you would have to start all over again?" He nodded at my question before I asked further, "so it could well happen that you could die from your own summoned Shikigami?" I thought about the ritual I had just mentioned.
"That's exactly what could happen."
I widened my eyes in surprise.
"Oh my!" my lips rolled down my throat, "and how do you do that then? So, could you mistakenly summon a shikigami that's too strong?"
"No. Shikigami can be summoned using my finger forms and a call. As well as with my existing curse energy, which I have at the time. With every shikigami I learn," and he put the word in quotation marks with his fingers, "my curse energy grows and so does the ability to tame it."
Jackpot! Once again, I'd learned a new topic that had brought my interest out of hibernation. I loved it when the boys explained such features to me.
Too bad, though, that there hadn't been more time for it. Nevertheless, I had just noticed a detail that we hadn't yet been able to discuss in full due to the situation.
"When you first summoned your hellhounds, you explained to me that if one of them died or was exorcized, its energy and power would be transferred to yours - we were interrupted then and hadn't talked about it since."
"That's right, I'd forgotten about that. The power and energy of this shikigami is then distributed to the others and is thus strengthened and sometimes takes on a different form."
Even if I didn't fully understand what was going on, this topic about his technique sounded amazingly powerful and not to be underestimated. It made a huge impression on me and increased my respect for Megumi. At the same time, however, a latent desire grew within me that would never be fulfilled and that I would also like to possess this ten-shadow technique.
Let's be honest, it would have been really brilliant if I could summon such cursed spirits and have them fight by my side, wouldn't it?
"I'd love to chat with you some more, but you know. Satoru is already waiting for me," I complained, grimacing.
"I know, I know," Megumi sympathized, "good luck with that."
"Thank you," I smiled at him and walked to the kitchen doorway, "and have fun doing nothing. Oh and don't overexert yourself," I winked at him before his laughter echoed after me as I ran towards the exit of the dormitory.