"...I can grow stronger?"
Mai asked, utterly dumbfounded. She had never expected to hear those words from Suzuki. If she actually possessed any hidden talent, wouldn't he have told her by now?
"If you knew how to make me stronger all this time, why didn't you say anything?!" Mai demanded, her eyes wide with a mix of hope and frustration.
"....."
Suzuki looked at her flatly and delivered the cold, cruel truth. "Because I honestly never thought you would be this uncreative."
"....." Mai stared at him, her jaw dropping.
Meanwhile, Maki, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, suddenly burst into loud, unfiltered laughter. "Hahaha!"
"SHUT UP, MAKI!"
Mai desperately wanted to beat the life out of her older twin, but considering Maki's body was currently durable enough to shrug off a car crash, she decided against punching her. Instead, Mai whipped her head back to Suzuki, her eyes burning. "Tell me!"
"Hmm..."
However, Suzuki didn't answer. He just crossed his arms and looked away, staring blankly at the wall.
"....." Mai gritted her teeth.
"Is that how you ask for a favor?" Suzuki asked coolly.
Yes, Suzuki knew he was being incredibly petty. But Mai had spent her entire life acting defensively arrogant to protect her fragile ego. If she wanted him to completely rewrite her potential, he was going to teach her some basic etiquette. There was a proper method to ask for a request—
Smooch!
The sudden, soft, warm feeling on his cheek completely stunned him.
"Onii-chan, teach me, okay~?"
Mai had suddenly latched onto his arm, acting like the cutest, most defenseless creature on the planet. She looked up at him with wide, moist, puppy-dog eyes, making it seem as if she were about to burst into tears if he refused her.
"...."
Suzuki wanted to say something sharp, but his brain momentarily short-circuited. In the end, he let out a heavy sigh and nodded helplessly. "Okay."
"Too easy~!" Mai smirked victoriously.
"..."
Suzuki raised a hand, fully intending to smack the back of her head for playing him. But before his hand could even drop—
Smooch!
"....." Suzuki froze. Mai froze.
"Can you please teach her?"
Maki's face was as stoic and calm as ever. Her posture was completely rigid, but the violent, bright crimson blush burning across her cheeks proved she was absolutely terrified by her own actions.
Suzuki didn't get angry at the second kiss, but Mai immediately exploded.
"WHY DID YOU KISS HIM?!" Mai roared, pointing an accusatory finger at her sister.
"Is that not allowed? Didn't you literally just do the exact same thing?" Maki fired back defensively.
"Because I'm me! I am the only one who is allowed to do it!"
"Then I can do it, too."
"GO BACK TO TOKYO, YOU BITCH!"
"No, I won't."
"I will shoot you!"
"Go ahead. Your tiny bullet won't do anything to me."
"....."
Mai burst into fake, dramatic tears, clinging even tighter to Suzuki. "Onii-chan! Teach me how to grow stronger immediately so I can beat the shit out of Maki!"
"Okay, okay! Both of you, stop fighting," Suzuki sighed helplessly, pinching the bridge of his nose. He felt like a babysitter trying to wrangle two hyperactive toddlers.
Still, inwardly, a soft smile tugged at his lips. He was genuinely glad they could bicker like this. For their entire lives, the Zenin clan had oppressed them so brutally that living felt like a punishment. But now? It was clear they could finally smile and actually look forward to the future. It made all his grueling studies and exhausting physical training feel entirely worth it.
"Okay, let's—"
Suzuki was about to start his lecture on Construction Sorcery, but suddenly, his other arm was tightly hugged by Maki, who aggressively looked away and refused to say a word.
"Why are you hugging him?!" Mai shrieked.
"It doesn't matter, right? You're hugging him," Maki retorted stubbornly.
"STOP FIGHTING!" Suzuki finally shouted, forcefully detaching the two heavily armed teenagers from his arms. "Let's not waste our time. We need to talk about how Mai can use her Construction Sorcery to make something other than a single, useless brass bullet."
"What else is she going to make? A spike?" Maki mocked.
"You bitch!"
"Stop!"
Suzuki stepped between them, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He didn't have time for their sibling rivalry right now. The thought that he was about to achieve the impossible—overthrowing the Zenin Clan—was burning in his veins. He couldn't wait any longer. The faster he finished upgrading Mai, the sooner he could execute his coup d'état.
"So, let's talk about how to make Mai stronger," Suzuki said, his tone shifting into a serious, academic cadence.
"Okay," both girls answered in unison, finally paying attention.
So, how exactly could Mai grow stronger?
Yes, Suzuki had already solved the genetic block on her Cursed Energy reserves. She had the fuel. But instead of innovating, all Mai did was lazily construct standard bullets for her revolver.
"I know exactly what you're thinking, Mai. Construction Sorcery is an incredibly inefficient technique. Every time you create an object from thin air, it requires a massive, exhausting amount of Cursed Energy. Right?"
Mai opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn't. She just stared at him in a daze, remaining perfectly silent. Suzuki completely understood her deepest frustration.
Yes, her technique was horribly inefficient. Even with her Cursed Energy problem fixed, she lacked the output efficiency to create massive, complex weapons. She felt completely helpless.
So, how do you strengthen an inefficient technique?
"In my mind, your technique isn't just a minor nuisance," Suzuki stated firmly, locking eyes with her. "If used correctly, it has the potential to be the most terrifying Special Grade ability in this world."
"R-Really?"
"Yes," Suzuki nodded. "So, will you trust me, Mai?"
"Yes."
There was absolutely no hesitation in her voice. Mai trusted Suzuki with her life.
"First, the primary problem we need to solve is your severe lack of imagination," Suzuki declared bluntly.
"..." Mai winced.
"I know that hurts to hear, but it's the truth. You're wasting a god-tier technique creating standard, boring brass bullets. Instead of making conventional weapons, you need to study the periodic table and advanced material sciences."
"...What?" Maki was entirely confused.
"S-Should I study science, too?" Mai asked, a hint of doubt creeping into her voice.
"Absolutely."
"If you understand material science," Suzuki explained, stepping up to a whiteboard and quickly sketching a diagram. "Instead of making heavy steel armor, you can construct carbon nanotubes or graphene. They are a fraction of the weight of steel, but two hundred times stronger. You can weave completely invisible, indestructible tripwires across an entire battlefield."
"...Tripwires?"
"Molecularly thin wire that can cleanly slice a Sorcerer in half just by them walking into it."
"....."
The two girls stared at him in horrified silence. His idea was incredibly dangerous, but they listened intently as he tapped the whiteboard.
"If you still insist on using projectiles, you should construct bullets out of Osmium, the densest naturally occurring element on the planet. A single Osmium bullet fired from a standard handgun has the kinetic energy of a naval cannonball. It would easily shatter curses and defensive barriers on impact."
"...." Maki swallowed hard.
"Lastly, and this is the one you absolutely cannot try unless you perfectly understand the science... radioactive and toxic elements."
"Radioactive elements...?" both sisters whispered in unison.
Even if they weren't scientists, they perfectly understood the terrifying weight of the word "radioactive." Japan had an intimate, tragic history with nuclear weapons. The concept alone made their skin crawl.
"Instead of shooting something with a physical bullet, you can simply construct a single gram of pure Polonium-210, or a localized cloud of Fluorine gas directly around your enemy's face. With those two elements alone, you become a walking bio-hazard. Anyone without advanced Reverse Cursed Technique is going to die a horrible, agonizing death in seconds."
"...."
"Secondly," Suzuki held up two fingers.
"There's more?!" Mai gasped.
"If you don't think you have the patience to learn molecular chemistry, I have read Clan records about a powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer from the Heian Era who mastered Construction Sorcery better than anyone. She was hailed as one of the strongest Sorcerers of her generation."
"Who?" Mai asked, desperate to know who else had suffered through this troublesome technique and actually succeeded.
"Her name was Yorozu."
"Yorozu?" both sisters echoed.
"It doesn't matter if you haven't heard of her. What matters is what she created. She was the most efficient Construction user in history. Do you know what her ultimate weapon was?"
"No."
"What is it?! Tell me!"
"Liquid Metal."
"Liquid Metal?"
"By using Construction Sorcery, you should be able to create a reservoir of fluid, semi-autonomous liquid metal that flows around you—like Gaara's sand in Naruto. Because you constructed it, you can manipulate its shape and volume at will without expending extra Cursed Energy. It acts as an automatic defense, instantly hardening on impact to block strikes, and a fluid offense, turning into whips, spikes, or razor blades in a fraction of a second."
Suzuki leaned against the whiteboard. "When you can create liquid metal, you don't need to carry a gun. You are the armory."
"..." Mai stared at her own hands, her mind racing with the possibilities.
"Third method," Suzuki announced.
"There's even more?!"
"Do you want to listen or not?"
"Please continue..."
"The third method is the ultimate assassin hack."
"Assassin?"
"Yes. You don't actually need to punch your opponent or shoot them from a distance. All you need to do is construct matter inside your opponent."
"...Huh?"
"Your Construction Sorcery allows you to spawn matter into empty space," Suzuki explained coldly. "The human body is full of empty spaces. The lungs, the stomach, the major arteries. Imagine what would happen if you constructed matter inside those spaces."
"..." The sisters paled.
"When your palm touches your opponent's chest, you activate your technique. But instead of making a bullet in your hand, you construct a solid iron spike—or a cluster of razor blades—directly inside their lungs or their heart. When that happens, I don't care how strong their Cursed Energy reinforcement is. You bypass their armor entirely and instantly kill them from the inside out."
"....." Mai looked slightly nauseous but incredibly intrigued.
"Lastly, your Domain Expansion."
"Domain Expansion..." Mai breathed, the pinnacle of Jujutsu sorcery sounding like a distant dream.
"But let's table that for later, once you've mastered the basics," Suzuki waved the thought away. "Even without a Domain, you can still become a Special Grade threat."
Suzuki stared directly into Mai's eyes. "Your Cursed Energy problem is solved. There is absolutely no reason for you to be fixed into the role of a weak sniper. Construction Sorcery is god-tier. You don't have to learn brutal martial arts and break your bones like Maki. You can literally sit in a comfortable lawn chair, construct a railgun, synthesize a hyper-dense tungsten rod, and delete a Special Grade Curse from three miles away. But to do that—"
"I need to learn science, right?" Mai finished, her eyes burning with newfound motivation.
"Exactly," Suzuki nodded. "As long as you master the science, you can beat the absolute shit out of everyone."
"I see! I don't even have to ruin my skin with rough calluses!" Mai cheered, instantly turning to look at Maki with a massive, smug grin. "Just you wait, Maki! I'm going to become a walking bio-hazard!"
"I can't wait," Maki smiled genuinely, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Teach me everything, Onii-chan~!" Mai squealed, grabbing his arm again.
"....."
Suzuki rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, and gently pulled his arm away. "We'll start the chemistry lessons later. I need to get back to the estate now."
"Eh?"
"That's right," Suzuki said, his expression hardening as he grabbed the tungsten spike from the table. He couldn't wait a single second longer. "It's finally time to replace the old."