After a long moment, their lips finally parted.
Shun Gojo stared coldly at the Tokisaki Kurumi in front of him, this girl who looked very much like she had been possessed by a cursed spirit. The moment he heard what she said just now, he had forced himself to suppress the urge to act.
When it came to cursed spirits, he never cared that much about ordinary human lives, yet under normal circumstances he still would not choose to sacrifice a bystander just to kill a curse. Even if the girl in front of him was, in all likelihood, far from an ordinary person, he still intended to hold to a basic bottom line.
Doing that was not only for the sake of ordinary people. It was even more for the jujutsu sorcerers themselves.
They dealt with curses every single day, and cursed energy was born from negative emotions in the first place. People like jujutsu sorcerers could very easily step over that invisible line and become those so-called curse users.
Especially someone like Shun, who played with all kinds of curses so frequently.
"Ara ara, Shun really is gentle, you actually did not hurt me."
Kurumi cupped her cheeks in both hands, her expression just a bit sickly, twisted in a way that was half cute and half dangerous.
"I am so happy."
Shun narrowed his eyes.
He had not moved a finger just now, however, inside his own body he was in full alert, guarding against her releasing a curse or poison. What puzzled him was that the cursed spirit in front of him did not try any of that.
She had actually only kissed him.
Good grief, was his charm really that overwhelming?
Shun indulged in a brief moment of narcissism.
"Acting on your own without consent and kissing someone, that already counts as indecent assault, you know."
Cursed energy on his right hand swelled more and more, gathering to an almost exaggerated degree. As long as he found Kurumi's weak point, he could blast her away in an instant.
Yet Kurumi clearly did not feel worried at all. She clasped her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and looked up at him.
"Then, does Shun want to play police and lock me up in your basement?"
The girl's expression was sultry, her tone dripping with temptation, a setup that made it hard not to imagine a whole role-play scenario spinning out from those words.
Shun replied calmly, "A lab would be more like it."
Right now, his biggest thought regarding this cursed spirit was very simple, capture her, then study her properly.
The problem was that in her current state, that would be difficult.
Her technique still had not been properly revealed even now.
That earlier "First Bullet," even after being analyzed through his special grade curse, had only yielded a few scattered fragments of information. This cursed spirit still had plenty of tricks she had not shown.
"Aha I did not expect Shun to be into that kind of thing."
Kurumi covered her small mouth in mock shock.
Then she showed a shy expression and added softly, "Of course, if there is a chance in the future, I can satisfy that, you know."
"..."
This cursed spirit was probably broken beyond repair.
"I have a few questions," Shun said.
"What kind of questions? If Shun can make me happy, I will tell you."
He ignored her bargain and went straight to asking what he wanted to know.
"First question, when exactly did you enter her body?"
"That curse just now, I clearly pinned it down completely."
Although it had suddenly bounced away in the end, the curse had not actually affected Kurumi.
"That one I can tell Shun." Kurumi smiled. "Because I already cursed this child before you even came here."
"Heehee, you did not see that coming, did you?"
Shun raised a brow. "So that curse just now was only to distract me?"
Kurumi brought her hands together and clapped once, eyes bright. "Correct. After all, Shun is very cautious."
"If I want to steal a kiss from you, I have to prepare properly, right?"
Her tone was syrupy and cutesy, so sweet it bordered on dangerous.
"You win."
Shun nodded and pretended not to hear the latter half of what she said. At the same time he silently warned himself that this kind of mistake must never happen a second time.
"Second question, what exactly is this girl to you?"
He absolutely did not believe there was no connection between Kurumi and this mysterious cursed spirit.
Kurumi smiled lightly. "That is something Shun has to guess on his own."
"Of course, if Shun lets me be your girlfriend, I can tell you directly."
"No thanks. I have no intention of opening the door to a new world just yet."
Shun had no intention of turning the entire jujutsu world into his enemy for the sake of a single female.
Besides, it sounded like way too much trouble.
"That really is disappointing."
Kurumi shrugged, as if sincerely regretful.
"Last question. Am I supposed to be that close with you already? Why are you calling me so intimately?"
As he spoke, Shun was already moving.
Back when he asked the first question, he had already located the curse she mentioned.
Both his fingers landed on Kurumi's brow, right between her eyebrows.
"Your technique is actually pretty gentle," Shun said quietly.
Until now, every move this cursed spirit had shown seemed to carry less killing intent than his own attacks. He was becoming more and more suspicious of what she really was.
Kurumi smiled faintly. "Well, I am very obedient, after all."