77

The returning trip to Tokyo is uneventful.

… Which is most likely directly related to Shiki's recent actions in the Kyoto school. Going by how no one even attempts to obstruct their departure, it seems that the higher ups have conceded to her this time.

For now.

Of the four Tokyo students who'd attended the exchange event, Kirara is the one who comes out with the most injuries. Not from the event itself, but instead from his determined attempt to defend Kinji at the time when the higher ups had given the order for Kinji to be taken into custody. Ichinose and Aikawa had hesitated; Kirara had not.

Shiki is aware of why the upperclassmen would've wavered to act. Shock, for one. A Domain Expansion wasn't something that a sorcerer saw every day, and a first year student without even a solid foundation in jujutsu being the one to achieve such a feat? Was completely unprecedented. It's not hard to surmise that between shock and confusion at what they were seeing, they'd instinctively listened to the order to stand down from authority figures whom they were taught to obey.

Perhaps fear would've been another factor here. That, and the simple fact that neither of the upperclassmen were particularly powerful sorcerers. So it makes sense why they would've hesitated in face of the higher ups' orders.

… Ichinose and Aikawa are not at fault in this situation. The fault lies with the higher ups who decided that it was a good idea to lock up a sorcerer with Domain Expansion without any solid reasoning. The two of them have their own reservations, and they lack strength.

So, the mild discontent-irritation that Shiki feels towards her upperclassmen for standing aside when Kinji had been detained is irrational.

But from another standpoint, her feelings on this matter are perfectly justified: An upperclassman is responsible for looking out for their underclassman due to having greater experience. While Shiki is an exception to this, considering how she'd been trained as a sorcerer from six years old, the same is not true of Kinji and Kirara, both of whom come from civilian backgrounds.

Shiki had done her duty, looking out for her classmates back when she'd been fighting Araya Souren. Ichinose and Aikawa at the Kyoto exchange event, however… leave much to be desired, in her opinion.

…

The injuries that Kirara had sustained from his time in Kyoto aren't too serious, which is good. What's less good is how oddly quiet Kirara is for a few days, but then he seems to pull himself back together on his own, throwing himself into training again with renewed determination.

Kinji, too, concentrates on training. On getting a better handle over his Domain Expansion, more precisely, which is still a bit of a work in progress, even despite his initial successful usage of it during the exchange event. What Shiki understands of Domain Expansions are rooted in theory, and Kinji is much more of a practical learner instead –unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's much that she would be able to help her classmate with on this front.

But Shiki has confidence in her classmate. It wasn't as if he'd needed her help to achieve Domain Expansion in the first place, anyways. Going by how intuitive it seems for him, that adds another point to her theory of it being tied in to his cursed technique, although she still can't quite say for certain that's exactly what it is.

"What's the difference, anyways?"

"Domain Expansions and cursed techniques are two separate things," Shiki informs her clueless classmate. "A Domain Expansion is, at its core, an advanced barrier technique. A cursed technique is the ability that a sorcerer is born with."

Although in Kinji's case, if his Domain Expansion really was inextricably tied to his cursed technique, then it's likely that there wouldn't be much of a difference for him.

Kinji's face scrunches up in confusion.

"… Has anyone explained to you what a Domain Expansion is, exactly?"

"Uh, not really?" Kinji scratches his head, frowning. "Like… I get that you're saying it's a barrier, sort of? Which is kinda weird, since I can't make heads or tails out of the barrier stuff that Takagi-sensei talks about in class. And honestly, it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything special in particular."

"Yours might be a unique case," Shiki tells him. "Most sorcerers never manage to achieve Domain Expansion. It's seen as a sign of mastery over their cursed technique for those who do. But in your situation…"

In Kinji's case, if his Domain Expansion was his cursed technique…

"But in my situation?" Kinji continues leadingly, when she trails off into silence.

Shiki sighs. She's hesitant to say anything for certain on this matter when she herself is still unsure. "Satoru-niichan would have a better idea of what's going on with your Domain Expansion than I do."

"What's this? Did I hear someone calling for me?"

Kinji startles and nearly topples over; Shiki blinks, and whirls around in pleasant surprise.

Satoru-niichan strides up from behind them, hands casually shoved into his pockets and a cheerful grin spread over his face.

"I thought you were still in Europe?" Last Shiki had heard, her cousin had been tasked with several assignments throughout various European countries. She'd thought it would mean that he would be preoccupied for a while!

Her cousin smiles breezily, "Well, that was the original plan, but it seems like there were a few interesting things going on during my absence. So, I thought I'd wrap things up quickly and come back early! Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Yes," Shiki nods.

A slight pause. Then, a hand lands on her head, ruffling her hair. Shiki bears the affectionate gesture patiently, even though it means that she's going to end up with a lopsided hairstyle again.

Crystalline blue eyes peer down towards her for a long moment, not quite searching, but… Shiki gets the impression that her cousin is looking for something. Checking her over for any injuries, perhaps?

"I heard you had a run-in with Tsukumo in China."

"I did." Tsukumo was notorious for being difficult to keep track of, yet Shiki had somehow managed to encounter the woman on her very first mission outside of Japan. It's… probably not a coincidence. But on Tsukumo's part, or on the higher ups' behalf?

Satoru-niichan hums, "Any thoughts, then?"

… About Tsukumo?

Shiki's impression of Tsukumo Yuki… is that she's a very chatty person, clearly with her own goals and own aspirations. But if Satoru-niichan was asking how Shiki felt about the sorcerer–

"I don't like her very much," she says bluntly.

Satoru-niichan bursts out laughing, "Yeah, she's not a very likable person, is she?"

"Tsukumo?" Kinji tilts his head in confusion, before making a sound of realization. "Oh, is she the Special–"

"She's nobody important," Satoru-niichan cuts off her classmate's words in an airy, offhanded tone. Then, with one last pat on Shiki's head, turns to face her classmate expectantly. "So, what's this about a Domain Expansion, hmm?"

Kinji shrugs.

"Very eloquent," Satoru-niichan remarks dryly.

"I mean, I don't exactly know what's going on here, either," Kinji raises his hands helplessly with a half-grimace.

"So I've heard," Satoru-niichan muses. The corners of his lips curve up slightly, "Gave the higher ups a bit of a scare too, didn't you?"

Kinji sniffs, "I don't think I'm the one at fault for it."

"No, you're not," Satoru-niichan agrees with him. "They could do with a few more scares, in my opinion."

"Uh…"

"Anyways!" The white-haired sorcerer claps his hands together. "So. Domain Expansion."

Kinji leans backwards slightly, "What about it?"

"Show it to me," Satoru-niichan says without preamble, his expression expectant.

"… Right here? Right now?"

"Why not?" The older sorcerer asks reasonably. "We're standing on one of the school's training fields, and there's plenty of space for you to work with."

"Well… sure, then, I guess." Kinji blinks and shrugs, once it registers to him that Satoru-niichan is serious with his words. Then, he pauses and glances towards Shiki, "You're gonna be here for this, too?"

As curious as Shiki had been about her classmate's Domain Expansion, she'd specifically refrained from asking him to use it on her. While Shiki had confidence in her own abilities, it was probably better for Kinji to get a better grasp and understanding on his own first without any 'stress-testing' from her end. With Satoru-niichan finally here now, though…

Shiki looks towards her cousin. On his part, Satoru-niichan makes a big show of hemming and hawing as he deliberates exaggeratedly over whether or not to allow her to remain.

It seems like he's in a playful mood today.

Shiki bats her eyes and pouts slightly.

Satoru-niichan breaks out into laughter.

"Okay, okay! No cutting anything unless I give you the go-ahead though, alright?" he leans down and taps her on the nose.

"… Are you guys done?" Kinji's voice is faintly long-suffering from the teasing byplay going on in front of him.

"Go ahead and use your Domain Expansion on me whenever you're ready," Satoru-niichan tucks away his sunglasses. "Always interesting to see what a new domain looks like."

Kinji mutters something incomprehensible under his breath and sighs. Then, squaring his shoulders, both hands rise to come up in front of his navel, fingers folding together and forming a seal.

"Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble."

Cursed energy swells. And–

…

It's not often that Shiki finds herself speechless… but she doesn't quite understand what she's seeing. An empty white space, with some strange pieces of machinery forming a loose circle in the center that they're standing in…?

Then, information floods her mind.

The 'rules' of Kinji's domain.

It's…

Shiki blinks a few times, brows furrowing slightly in confusion.

Satoru-niichan, on the other hand, chuckles with amusement. "Pachinko, I see. A luck-based cursed technique? Looks like we've got a gambler here."

Is that what this is called? 'Pachinko?' And also…

"What's 'Private Pure Love Train?'" The rules of Kinji's domain are confusing.

From what Shiki understands of the information that was automatically transmitted to her upon entering her classmate's domain, it seems that his Domain Expansion is loosely based on some sort of luck-based game. There are different probabilities of Kinji rolling… different-colored balls? And each different color represented a different rarity, which was somehow also connected to rolling different… characters? Storybook characters?

Shiki isn't entirely certain on that front.

What she is certain of, though, is that rolling three of the same characters would qualify as a 'jackpot' for Kinji. Hitting a jackpot would then allow him to enter a momentary state of possessing 'unlimited cursed energy,' for four minutes and eleven seconds. A seemingly arbitrary number, perhaps, but some techniques could be like that.

… But what did any of this have to do with pure love, and how did a train factor into it?

Kinji affixes her with a solemn look. "Remind me to lend you my copies of Nakamura Candy's best works."

"… Who?"

"Nakamura Candy. One of the best mangaka."

Oh. Was… Kinji's domain somehow… related to manga, then?

"I think I'm going to need a little more explanation here," Shiki finally says after a slight pause, after trying and failing to make sense of things even with the additional context.

"Context can wait for now, I think," Satoru-niichan waves a hand. Blue eyes roam over their empty surroundings, before refocusing on Kinji. "So. Right now, it doesn't appear that you're receiving any enhancements from your domain. But hitting a jackpot means that you'll enter a state where your body is constantly saturated with the maximum possible capacity of cursed energy through the four-minute duration that it lasts. Have you tested what you can do during your jackpot state?"

"Haven't had a chance to," Kinji responds honestly. "I didn't even get to hit a jackpot during my fight with the Kyoto guy before he kinda just crumpled, so I ended things there. And then, well…"

And then the higher ups had swiftly acted to suppress him and bring him into custody before Kinji realized what was going on. There hadn't been much of a chance for him to test things out the past few days.

"I see," Satoru-niichan nods. "Alright. Give us an example of things at play here, yeah?"

"Sure," Kinji grins.

The boy raises a hand, flicking his thumb and forefinger –and then there is a distinct clack, as a small round ball drops down onto the empty ground.

It rolls to a stop in front of Satoru-niichan's feet.

The color shines red.

Something blurs in the air, and Shiki recognizes them to be rapidly-spinning images. Images of the storybook character portraits that had been part of the information automatically conveyed upon entering Kinji's domain, to be precise.

Ah. There are two of the same character.

"Reach!" Kinji calls out.

The surrounding environment flickers, and changes. Instead of blank emptiness, it melts away into a train station, and Shiki thinks that she abruptly understands where the 'train' in the name of Kinji's technique comes from.

Satoru-niichan laughs as there is a scene that begins playing out around them, one involving the character in question.

"Even better than a 3D film," he tells her. There's even a note of distinct glee in her cousin's voice.

Shiki does not feel the same joy as Satoru-niichan –honestly, she's still feeling more perplexed than anything else at the moment– but it doesn't stop her from smiling slightly at her cousin's evident delight.

And it's clear that Satoru-niichan is delighted. Kinji's Domain Expansion is certainly a very interesting one, complete with its own rules in a luck-based game of chance. Shiki doesn't think that she's ever heard of anything similar to what she's seeing play out in front of her eyes right now.

"It's an interesting domain, stacking the odds in his favor," Satoru-niichan's gaze remains focused on their surroundings. "Even if he doesn't hit a jackpot the first time around, he can keep retrying until he does… although during this time an opponent would still be free to attack him, and his domain doesn't grant him any direct advantage in fighting. Everything that we're seeing is just a superficial background illusion, for the most part."

Satoru-niichan's hand snaps out, cutting through the body of the character frantically looking around the train station. His hand passes through the character harmlessly, as if it's nothing more than a mirage. And it is nothing more than an optical illusion.

However, the same is not true of the ground beneath them. Shiki taps her foot against the polished flooring, and the surface is hard and solid.

For the most part, Satoru-niichan had said. So clearly not everything that's in front of them is anintangible illusion, then.

"Can you still see lines in the domain?" he suddenly asks.

"Sort of." The lines are a little faint, and blurry. Flickering, in a way, but Shiki can still make out distinct outlines. Outlines that grow clearer with every passing moment. "… They're getting clearer."

Satoru-niichan nods, and smiles. "Yup, you're definitely going to be a rightful terror for some unlucky sorcerer to fight someday."

Shiki blinks, "For… seeing lines in Domain Expansions?"

… How many sorcerers out there had Domain Expansions to begin with? It was more likely than not that she would be running into Special Grade cursed spirits with Domain Expansions, rather than human sorcerers with the ability.

"There are ways of breaking out from a Domain Expansion, but it's generally quite difficult if you're the one trapped inside," Satoru-niichan tells her. Pauses for a moment, then raises his voice slightly, so that Kinji can hear what he's saying as well. "So, it's usually included as a condition of the barrier. If you're going to all the trouble of expanding a domain in the first place, then you obviously don't want to let your opponent escape, right? Traditionally, the barrier of a Domain Expansion includes a binding vow that makes it easy for a barrier to be broken from the outside, but not the inside."

"So a Domain Expansion isn't very suited for fighting multiple opponents, then?" Shiki asks.

"What? No, just snag them all inside your barrier with you," her cousin replies matter-of-factly.

… Ah. That's certainly a workaround.

"In the case that there are enemies outside of your barrier who try to break it… well," Satoru-niichan shrugs lightly. "I mean, a barrier definitely isn't going to break at a single touch –not unless you're my adorable little cousin here, of course– but it's definitely still fragile. Best solution is to just make sure that all your enemies are inside your barrier if you're fighting multiple opponents, in my opinion."

Shiki can see the sense in that, but, "That's not something that you can always guarantee."

"True, so it's always better to have other cards hidden up your sleeves," the older sorcerer easily concedes the point. "The elders like to make a big fuss about how a Domain Expansion is the pinnacle of sorcery, but at the end of the day, it's just another tool. You can rely on it, but it can't be the only thing that you rely on."

Shiki nods in acknowledgment of her cousin's reasoning.

"Although… your classmate here is a rather interesting case." Satoru-niichan lifts his gaze towards Kinji, who blinks at the sudden attention. "Your Domain Expansion is embedded into your cursed technique, were you already aware of that? Makes them pretty much one and the same for you."

"Eh?" Kinji blinks.

Oh, so Shiki was right with her previous guesses regarding her classmate's Domain Expansion?

"Your Domain Expansion opens automatically to apply the technique," Satoru-niichan tells the boy, "Which is quite fascinating, especially since it's my first time seeing something of the sort."

"You can tell even though it's your first time seeing this?"

"Of course! You shouldn't doubt me –I have good eyes," Satoru-niichan taps pointedly at the aforementioned pair of 'good eyes.'

"Good eyes –wait, right, you have magic eyes like Shiki," Kinji changes his words halfway through his sentence. "Different magic eyes, though?"

"Mine are called the Six Eyes," the older sorcerer responds, amused. "And yes, we have different magic eyes. Noticed that they look different, did you?"

"They're called cursed eyes," Shiki finds herself clarifying for the sake of her classmate's reference.

"Right, right," Kinji nods. "Yeah, I've never really paid attention to it before, but they're like. Different shades of blue, I guess?"

"And they also do different things," Satoru-niichan supplies, although he does not continue to elaborate any further than that, not aside from a, "My eyes are a little better at picking out minute details in my surroundings than Shiki's. You can think of it as… a slightly different form of extrasensory perception. Good for analyzing! Which means I can help you with your domain."

That's a gross oversimplification of what the Six Eyes entails, but they are not here to discuss cursed eyes. Right now, the focus is on Kinji.

Kinji, who nods again, and returns to operating his domain.

He needs three of the same characters to appear in order to hit a 'jackpot,' Shiki remembers. So far there were already two of the same from when he'd called out Reach, but one spinning slot remains. There were seven different characters possible for it to land one, but only one that would actually do anything for Kinji; the 'reward' of his domain would only be bestowed upon him in the scenario that there was a jackpot–

The spinning slows, and comes to a stop, revealing three of the exact same characters.

It's a jackpot.

Around them, Kinji's domain crumbles away. But as for Kinji himself–

Cursed energy bursts from his body, surging and overflowing. Even standing at a slight distance from him, Shiki can almost feel the phantom edge of something scraping harshly against her skin. The 'rough' texture of Kinji's cursed energy, potent in a way that far exceeds his usual state.

Satoru-niichan lets out a light whistle. "Huh, so that's your 'unlimited cursed energy' jackpot?"

Kinji grins. There's a slightly distracted look in his eyes, however. Shiki guesses that it's because of the sudden influx of cursed energy in his body.

Which is rather interesting. Usually, a Domain Expansion actualizes a sorcerer's innate domain within a separate barrier space in order to create a terrain that's perfectly suited for them, while also providing a marked increase to the strength of the technique. The unique feature of a Domain Expansion is the 'sure-hit effect,' in which any activation of the sorcerer's cursed technique within the domain is guaranteed to strike the opponent.

But in Kinji's case, it appears that his 'sure-hit' was the sudden bombardment of information regarding his Domain Expansion's rules upon entering his domain. And rather than having his domain provide him with an advantageous field to fight in, his domain instead applies an enhancement directly to Kinji's own person.

How curious.

Satoru-niichan nudges her gently. "Want to go ahead and test your classmate a bit?"

Shiki glances up towards her cousin, "You're leaving it to me?"

"Patience should be rewarded, right?" the older sorcerer winks playfully. "I know you've been curious about his Domain Expansion."

Well… with Satoru-niichan watching from the side, then things should be fine. Right?

Shiki turns her gaze towards her classmate. There's a certain eagerness to Kinji's overall demeanor now, and the grin on his face widens.

"Are we finally going to have a serious spar now?" he leans forward. Excitement, and anticipation. "Don't think I don't know you've always been taking it easy on me and Kirara."

"… Should I not have?" Both of them were from non-sorcerer backgrounds, for the most part. Unlike Kirara, Kinji's was likely not purely civilian, given that hewas a lot more practiced with combat than the other boy. But not to the same degree as Shiki, who'd been trained for it since childhood.

"Nah, you should've," Satoru-niichan sounds amused. "Kinji, if you want a serious fight against my cute little cousin, you're going to find yourself turned into sashimi."

"Hey, you never know until you try."

"I suppose that's true." The look of distinct amusement on Satoru-niichan's face does not change. "Shiki, try not to kill your classmate!"

Kinji appears faintly offended by the complete lack of faith in his abilities.

… To be fair, though, Shiki's skills lean heavily on the 'deadly' side, so it's not the most convenient for things like friendly sparring. Back when she'd been regularly practicing hand-to-hand sparring with Megumi, she'd always used a pair of thick gloves, just in case. So there wouldn't be any unintentional accidents.

She's not carrying any sparring gloves on her right now, but evidently she has nothing to worry about on this front –Satoru-niichan procures a pair for her out of nowhere, which also indicates that he'd specifically planned for Shiki to spar against her classmate. Shiki levels her unrepentant cousin with an unimpressed look, but decides that she won't hold it against him.

After all, Shiki is admittedly rather curious about the effects of Kinji's Domain Expansion. Idle Death Gamble, he'd called it, and while Shiki had yet to see what counted as 'idle death about it,' the luck-based game for obtaining a jackpot most certainly qualified as a gamble.

Shiki hands her sword to her cousin, who accepts the Muramasa blade obligingly, before turning back towards her classmate. Who appears to be getting impatient now. Shiki wonders if it's because of the influence from the excess of cursed energy affecting him, or if it's because a 'serious spar' with her is something that he's been wanting for quite some time now.

"The Kyoto guy crumpled like a wet paper bag." Kinji's hands flex at his sides. "You can take it though, right?"

Shiki finishes pulling on her thick, unwieldy gloves. "We're wasting time here. Your current state only lasts for four minutes, doesn't it?"

Kinji lets out a short, sharp bark of laughter, then lunges forward.

Of the three first year students, judging by the basis of physical power alone, Kinji is definitely the strongest. Shiki sidesteps into a dodge, but Kinji hits the ground like a meteor, and there is even a small crater that forms from the harsh impact. He spins, leg sweeping up into a high kick that Shiki dodges as well, but the following kick with his other leg is one that she's forced to block–

The cursed energy-enhanced limb slams into her, with far more strength that Shiki has ever seen her classmate muster up before. A sharp ache flares up in her forearm as she is sent skidding back across the grassy field, but the pain is numbed as she uses positive energy to heal the injury before it can hamper her.

Reverse cursed technique is very convenient.

A shadow falls across her, and Shiki looks upwards. Just in time to see Kinji land down with a drop-kick, one that also cracks the ground in a single blow.

Kinji whoops, letting out an exhilarated laugh.

"It seems like your physical capabilities have greatly increased." Which makes sense, seeing as all sorcerers use cursed energy to enhance their body to heighten physical capabilities. But it's something that requires practice to do well, and to do so safely.

The body is a vessel, and there is a limit to how much cursed energy it can contain. Quite similar to cursed tools, really. And when a cursed tool is flooded with far too much cursed energy, surpassing its threshold, then it breaks.

Shiki, on her part, had broken more than a few cursed tools back when she'd been learning how to imbue weapons with her own cursed energy. To the point where Kiyohira-sensei had given her a set of regular throwing knives and told her to learn how to safely infuse regular steel with cursed energy first before laying her hands on another cursed tool.

The human body is more malleable than a cursed tool; regularly using cursed energy is something that's known to be helpful towards stretching the body's limits in this area. But the overall line of reasoning still stands. On its own, cursed energy regularly cycles throughout the body, but when too much cursed energy is concentrated in a single area, then… suffice to say, something is definitely going to break.

Saying that Kinji currently possesses 'unlimited cursed energy' is actually a bit of a slight misnomer. Because if Kinji's domain truly bestowed him with an unlimited amount of cursed energy, then his body would've instantly exploded. There may or may not also have been a Special Grade cursed spirit forming immediately in wake of such a spectacular death.

Instead, what Shiki is observing from her classmate… with every cursed energy-enhanced punch and kick that he throws at her, there does not seem to be any visible drain on his reserves. Even though the act of imbuing cursed energy into one's own strikes is something that is supposed to expend cursed energy, particularly when one does so as messily as Kinji is currently doing.

Rather than gifting him with 'unlimited cursed energy,' it seems to Shiki that his Domain Expansion allows Kinji to consistently remain at 'maximum capacity' instead. So far, it does not appear that his cursed energy levels have decreased a single bit –in fact, he's still going as strong as ever.

Shiki spins, ducking under another blow, and throws back an elbow strike. There is impact, and the sound of a harsh clack–

"Ow, I think I just bit my tongue!" The words are complaining, but his movements do not slow in the least. Shiki blocks an incoming strike from her side as she turns to face her classmate, who now has a discolored bruise forming on the side of his face…

… no. No, there's no bruise that's forming. It's a bruise that's fading.

A single second passes, and Shiki registers what she's seeing. "Reverse cursed technique?"

"Say what?" Kinji raises an eyebrow.

Shiki had thought that it was the rush of cursed energy that was keeping him so energized. If it was because he was also using reverse cursed technique to heal himself, then that was an entirely different matter altogether.

Off to the side, Satoru-niichan is laughing again. "He's using a fully automated reverse cursed technique!"

Fully… automated?

Going by the looks of it, Kinji hadn't even been aware of it himself, that his injuries were healing on their own. But that was only minor bruises and scrapes, so would that also apply to–?

Shiki seizes her classmate's arm on his next punch, and before he can withdraw the limb from her grip, snaps his forearm cleanly in half.

"Oi!" The shout is both pained and indignant, but Shiki does not let go of his arm, despite his instinctive attempt to yank it back. She watches until the broken bone realigns itself before finally releasing her grip–

And turns to the side, dodging the other punch that's immediately thrown at her.

"You couldn't have warned me beforehand?" Kinji grouses at her. "Also, I can't believe you just broke my arm!"

"You healed yourself." Shiki doesn't see what the problem is here. The entire point of this is so that they can test the effects of Kinji's Domain Expansion, and gauging the degree to which reverse cursed technique will continue to operate automatically on his body certainly qualifies as part of the testing here.

"And if I didn't manage to heal myself?" Kinji brandishes his arm at her.

"Shoko-san could've fixed it."

"… Okay, point," the boy grumbles. "Should I be thanking you for not taking off my arm entirely, then?"

At this, Shiki pauses and looks consideringly at Kinji's arm. The boy's expression freezes slightly, then swiftly narrows his eyes at her.

"Just to be clear, that wasn't an invitation!"

"But if we're thoroughly testing things–" Shiki falls silent. There's suddenly a marked decrease in the amount of cursed energy emanating from her classmate. Which means that they've already hit the four-minute time limit granted by his Domain Expansion… so Kinji likely can't use reverse cursed technique anymore.

"Do it again," she tells him.

Kinji gives her a withering look, "What, so you can tear off my arm?"

"You'll be fine with reverse cursed technique." … Probably. "It's not like I'm going to cut off your head or anything."

"… Okay, seriously, I can't tell if you're joking or not. Like, is decapitation actually a thing with you people, or is this some sort of running joke–"

"Can you still use Domain Expansion again right now?" Satoru-niichan cuts in. Both Shiki and Kinji look over towards him, and the older sorcerer looks back at them expectantly.

"I mean… yeah, I think? I'm still fully topped up on cursed energy right now and everything," Kinji raises his hands to form the same seal once more, one hand on top of another. Then, in the next heartbeat, "Domain Expansion: Idle Death Gamble."

The same scenery as before instantly materializes around them: A strange white space, empty of everything save for a few machines scattered about loosely.

Satoru-niichan smiles.

"Cursed techniques usually tend to 'burn out' and become harder to use in the immediate aftermath once a Domain Expansion ends," he says lightly. "Maybe it's because your Domain Expansion is part of your cursed technique –but obviously the same doesn't apply to you. You can use back to back Domain Expansions."

A mildly terrifying thought. But a very interesting prospect, one that would definitely be to Kinji's advantage in combat. If he could continually expand his domain tirelessly–

"The most glaring problem here would be that your domain doesn't actually grant you any particular advantages in battle –not unless you hit your 'jackpot,'" Satoru-niichan tilts his head. "But that relies completely on luck, doesn't it? And there are different modes to the 'gameplay' here, so you can't actually guarantee the results."

Kinji waves a hand carelessly. "Whether it's a sweet-class or a max-class machine, it's never taken me more than thirty tries to land a jackpot."

Satoru-niichan's brows raise upwards slightly. "Oh, really?"

"Yup," Kinji nods confidently. A smile spreads over his lips –assured, and just slightly cocky. "Want another demonstration?"

"Go ahead," Satoru-niichan responds bemusedly.

Shiki tugs lightly at her cousin's sleeve. "… What machines is he talking about?"

"Pachinko."

… Pachinko? Shiki is… unfamiliar with the term. Oh, wait, are these the machines that she's seeing in Kinji's domain right now? That would make sense.

The boy huffs. "Alright, y'know what? I don't care what Suzurigi says, you are definitely coming with me to a pachinko parlor next time. No excuses!"

Okay. Clearly it's something important to her classmate, if it's literally part of his cursed technique like this, so that means it should be something important for her to learn about, too.

Shiki tilts her head.

… Well, all of this would be something to think about later. For now, it was more important to focus on helping Kinji with his Domain Expansion.

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…

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