Time passes

A faint light illuminated a small area in the middle of propped up shoji doors, behind which faint silhouettes of roughly humanoid shadows could be seen.

A young man with dark black hair stood in the center, his face adorned by dark shades and he had his hands in his pockets. He stood still with a relaxed expression, waiting for something to transpire.

Eventually, the silence broke.

"Zenin Shuichi." One of the men, the higher ups spoke out from behind the shoji doors.

Shuichi didn't turn to look at the door, only listening in quietly.

"You have done quiet well is this assignment. We are deeply pleased with your work." Said an elder.

"Your special grade tools are indeed great for the betterment of Jujutsu High. Not to mention the information you have shared on the sacred treasures." Said another.

"And you even helped defeat a special grade cursed spirit, one that was of considerable strength we hear."

"And so, we are offering you a proposition."

With that there was silence for just a second before they all spoke again at the same time.

"Zenin Shuichi. Become a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer for the Jujutsu Council." They said in tandem.

Then, they again began to speak one by one, going on and on about the benefits he might get after becoming a special grade 1 sorcerer, one of which included the chance to become a part of the higher ups in the future when he got older.

As their explanation ended and silence descended onto the room, Shuichi stood in stillness for a moment.

Then, a snicker came out of his mouth. An awkward air came over the entire room as Shuichi began to chuckle, and eventually blowing into a short laugh.

"What us the meaning of this?!" Raged one of the elders.

Shuichi shook his head while chuckling.

"I'm sorry.. hehe. I do apologize. But tell me honestly, you practised your speech didn't you?" He asked with a cheeky and toothy grin.

"Insolence!"

"The audacity! What gave you the courage!"

"It seems you don't value life, boy!"

The higher ups all descended into a rage as they commented one after the other in a clutter of incomprehensible yells and exclamations.

Yet, standing at the focal point of all of them, Shuichi chuckled again.

"You people seem to be misunderstanding something!" He yelled out, quieting the ruckus.

"I wouldn't wish to become a special grade 1 in this life or any life beyond that. A special grade 1 sorcerer is just a lapdog for the higher ups." His shades slipped a little lower, revealing his dark eyes that seemed to glow with a faint blue hue.

"Getting associated with you... that is the singlemost greatest insult for a normal sorcerer. Why would I choose to stagnate at just the special grade 1 rank?" He laughed and held out his hands as if preaching a sermon. "Instead, I will become one of the special grade sorcerers, higher than the lapdogs you call special grade 1's, and rise above the community with strength."

As his words landed and the higher ups took the time to process his words, their anger only heightened.

"Boy. Do you understand what you're saying? The entire jujutsu society will be your enemy now." He said.

Shuichi took off his shades and raised an eyebrow.

"The entire jujutsu society? Let them be so." He said simply. "You and I both know the majority of the sorcerers aren't doing anything. The only real threats would be the first grades and the special grades. Even so, I think I can manage." Shuichi chuckled.

"Insolence! Your pride will be your downfall!" One of them exclaimed.

"Pride? Maybe so, but is it misplaced?" Shuichi countered. "I will become a special grade and be free from the usual chagrin of the sorcerers. Then, I suppose I can retire after taking care of the accumulated filth." He shook his head.

The elders bellowed in a variety of insults again, yet Shuichi truly felt that their way of provocation was rather outdated. They truly wouldn't stand a chance against a professional gaslighter.

After that, Shuichi walked out of the meeting hall, much to the displeasure of the officials. Yet, there was nothing they could do. They knew Shuichi had become far stronger than he was before, due to the reports of the Flame School about the darkness curse incident.

However, that was not the only reason Shuichi had provoked them. The real reason was his own pettiness. Though it was also a rather calculated decision.

The Jujutsu High officials were old school. They hated having their orders disobeyed. Even Shuichi had simply declined the offer, they would have made trouble for him either way, which would be less than ideal for him. And since he had displayed such a terrifying grow scale along with his strange manifestation of a cursed technique and talent in making weapons when he had been nothing but a waste before, it was plenty obvious what someone with a retarded sense of operation like the higher ups would do. They would indeed try to eliminate him.

So, instead of waiting for them to strike, he would take the initiative and challenge them head-on. There was also the fact that they still had no true idea of his true strength. Of course they knew about his cursed energy levels, physical attributes and a rough idea of his cursed technique and cursed tools, however, he was always improving through his cursed tools. There was nothing that could stop him from simply coming up with more tools in his workshop, especially after he had taken the information about the sacred treasures and made a pseudo-sacred treasure himself.

Walking into the sunlight, he popped his neck and groaned in satisfaction.

Beyond that, I'm not one to forget about a grudge. He chuckled darkly. The higher ups, the Zenin clan and everyone else that had crossed paths with him. Although he did not resent anyone, he would not forget anything and would repay everything should they try their luck.

Come on, you old geezers... I've been itching to try out the Essence of Momus anyway!

~~~

Time passed.

The leaves of the trees were slowly starting to shed now as 5 months passed since Shuichi's visit to Hokkaido and the new year had approached with speed.

Contrary to what he had expected, the Jujutsu Higher ups did not, in fact, send any assassins to take care of him. Instead, life had stayed plenty uneventful since then. Sure, he still recieved the occasional requests, but those were from Yaga himself, unlike before where he would recieve requests from the higher ups themselves. Still, Shuichi didn't care. He only cared to live without too much trouble.

And even though not a lot happened in these 5 months, the things that did happen were plentiful in themselves.

The first and foremost thing was the fact that he had finally taken the time to analyze Ryouta through Eye of the Small Man. And the things he had found... Well, they were certainly mind boggling.

Shuichi reminiscened about that time in his workshop, closing his eyes and riding into the dreamworld using his imagination as a keel.

He remembered when Ryouta had put his hand onto the crystal ball like object which was a special grade artifact. The ball glowed for a moment before subsiding, and as Shuichi analyzed the data through his Records of Tenjin, he gasped, his eyes widening in pleasant surprise and excitement.

"What happened?" Ryouta had asked with a nervous expression and a hint of expectation.

Shuichi had smiled at him and told him the truth.

Turns out, Ryouta was a distant descendent of Suguwara no Michizane, the god of learning and one of the Three Great Onryo of Japan, the ancestral deity of the Gojo clan. Which also made him a distant cousin of the wonder child of the Gojo clan! And to top it off, he also had a cursed technique!

"But didn't you say I couldn't awaken it?" He asked.

"It was only so if you weren't born with it. Like I said, if you don't have it, what's there to awaken? People born with techniques sometimes don't awaken cursed energy and are thus unable to find out their true potential." Shuichi laughed. Then, he took out a stamp from his inventory. It was the Stamp of the Devil, the same one he had used to force the binding vow on Naobito!

Then, he has used the error bead, accompanied with the Eye of the Small Man to trigger changes in Ryouta's brain chemistry.

As cursed energy originated from the limbic system, and the origin or the foci of cursed energy was through the Pineal Gland that made utilization of cursed energy possible, Shuichi made a binding vow with Ryouta.

Naturally, he erected a barrier with the rule that Binding vows inside would be 5% more effective, which was the current limit as he had come to find out. Next, as both the parties had consented to the binding vow, the Stamp served as a mechanical buffer that eased out the conditions and made things that would not naturally be possible to achieve with binding vows possible, such as being able to trade life between the two parties.

However, one last thing was needed, which was where the error bead came into clutch.

And so, using the Eye of the Small Man to continuously alter the brain chemistry, he had finally done it. The binding vow was made.

The conditions of the binding vow was simple. In exchange for Ryouta's work and loyalty for Shuichi, his cursed energy would be released and his technique would be activated! Naturally, this was impossible to be achieved through normal means, however, what was this but an error? Something that Shuichi could easily manipulate now!

The 'error' in the binding vow, the smallest elevation his negative emotions would have gone through if it were a normal vow were pronounced, magnified and turned into something entirely different, not only unlocking his cursed energy completely, but also transforming his entire cursed energy pool! Eye of the Small Man played a large role in it, making the limbic system, the origin of emotions more prominent in the brain!

And so, Ryouta had turned into a sorcerer!

It was again worth mentioning that such things were not normally possible or even conceivable. It was solely Shuichi who was an Exception, someone who could make do all of these things!

And the cursed technique was particularly great as well, capable of elevating Ryouta to first grade level if practised properly. As for what it was...

Shuichi shook his head, breaking out of his reverie. Then, he got off his seat and walked out from the workshop.

Then, as the sun shone onto his face, he put his hands into his pocket and pulled out a small object.

Then, with a smile, he donned a clear crystal monocle on his right eye, his eyes shining with a baleful light.

"Happy new year to me..." He muttered.

~~~

A/N: There you go people. The bead is now a monocle.

Happy?

Cheers~~