Floating in the middle of the pond, Jotaro felt a bit lost, unsure of what to do.
Shoko seemed preoccupied with her phone, her fingers tapping idly on the screen. He wasn't the type to invade someone else's privacy, nor he had ever been on a real date before, if this even counted as one so he simply waited for the ride to be over.
In truth, he was far more eager to learn Reverse Cursed Technique than to dwell on whatever this outing was supposed to be.
With nothing but water surrounding them, the atmosphere grew rather awkward. Neither spoke for a while. Eventually, Shoko put her phone down, glancing in Jotaro's direction a few times before finally breaking the stillness.
"Want to talk about your little adventure in the Kamo clan?" she asked casually.
"...It's a long story," Jotaro murmured while gazing ahead
"Think you've got time," she added with a small smile. "Not like this boat is moving any faster."
Jotaro let out a sigh, finally looking in her direction. "Just saved their asses by chance, got a pretty good deal for that, so I took it," he simplified the entire event.
"Oh? You actually agreed to work for someone?" she teased.
"If it's in my interest," Jotaro corrected her.
"It's more advantageous to stay with them for a while, at least until I have things under control." Every word he spoke was the truth. With the Kamo clan, money and housing were no longer concerns, and he retained his freedom while only occasionally receiving missions. Not to mention, he had access to resources necessary for becoming a better sorcerer. The deal he struck was ultimately a win-win for both sides.
"So, you won't return to Jujutsu High?" she concluded, a hint of disappointment flickered in Shoko's tone.
Jotaro nodded. "There's no advantage in going back." In his mind there was no other goal then to become stronger.
In contrast, Shoko saw things differently.
They weren't exactly close, but the thought of having him around, for a little longer before they all went their separate ways, was nice. The reality of growing up left her with a sense of melancholy.
"Anyway, I did my part of the deal." Jotaro suddenly stated "Now it's time for you to do yours," His Stand materialized next to the boat, floating near him.
"Hm?" Shoko raised an eyebrow as she watched him roll up his sleeves. "Here?"
The next moment, Star Platinum flicked its middle finger at Jotaro's wrist with terrifying speed, leaving a small but precise cut. Blood beaded at the fresh wound.
"Are you some kind of lunatic?" Shoko's eyes widened slightly as she watched him deliberately injure himself.
Jotaro ignored her words and extended his bleeding wrist forward, leaving her with no choice but to comply.
'Maybe I should have stayed home,' She jokingly thought, then gripped his hand, pulling it closer.
"This might leave a scar." She said with a frown. Even though many considered her a talented Reverse Cursed Technique user, the process of healing others was far more difficult than simply using it on herself, reason why she needed a peaceful environment when healing others so she could concentrate.
Maybe the middle of the pond wasn't such a bad place to do so after all. A faint white glow enveloped her fingers as she closed her eyes and focused on healing.
Next to her, Jotaro watched carefully or he tried to do so. For some reason the sunlight reflected off the water perfectly, illuminating Shoko's face in a way that made her features shine, Her lips held a faint gloss, and her eyelashes were long.
Shaking his head, Jotaro reevaluated his priorities and focused on the wound. What he saw was... well… he didn't know what he was actually seeing. The energy released by Shoko didn't feel evil nor good, if anything it was in the middle.
But that was not good enough.
He had to rethink the process. Now that he saw it in person, what was the most obvious change when using RCT? 'The color.' Shoko's hands were surrounded by an white energy. Why was the color so important? Because it changes depending on factors like emotions.
Blue signifies control, often associated with calm-headed sorcerers.
Red means raw and violent, even furious.
Purple is commonly associated with cursed spirits, symbolizing evil.
Pink, like in Yuta's case, is a blend of his controlled energy and Rika's uncontrolled energy.
What about white, the color of RCT? Logically speaking, white is a neutral color. so could RCT be fueled by the neutrality between the value of each emotions and not the amount itself?
Is this the reason Gojo didn't feel particularly sad when the vessel, his friend, was killed? A moment when you yourself almost die, when nothing around you matters... a neutral state of mind where every value of your emotion is being equalized with eachother.
That must be why Gojo could only use it after he had awakened, because the values became the same only when that happened, at least that's how Jotaro saw things.
So what about the others who did not awaken? Maybe you can be a naturally balanced person like Shoko, but Jotaro was not and following the book logic would be a mistake, as you'd be multiplying two numbers that are significantly different from each other without even realizing it.
'That must be it!' That's why your negative energy has to be in perfect balance. Without that, it's like saying one dollar is equal to one yen because both are only one in number, but you'd be wrong because their value is completely different!
So in reality you're working with a value you believe to be the same when the actual numbers would be something like -2 dollars = -305.45 yen, only after you find that equality can you multiply them and obtain reverse curse technique
Each color represents a different value, and each drop of cursed energy corresponds to a varying number depending on the color / the dominant negative emotion in that very drop of cursed energy.
Knowing that, even a small change in color could mean the difference of millions of numbers between two values. A light blue was not the same as a dark blue, there are infinite possibilities and these values can vary depending on the person, that's why some could master it while others can't even use it.
But could I reach such a state of mind where he would not have to work so much by some miracle called plot armor?
'I can't,' Jotaro concluded. There was no way he could have an near death awakening like Gojo, where all his values would equalize with each other, creating a perfect balance.'
But maybe I don't have to.' Jotaro had something other sorcerers didn't, a Stand, essentially a mirror of himself on steroids.
If I can't control my state of mind, can't my Stand just calculate the different value of each drop of cursed energy instead? I can see what it sees, smell what it smells, feel the pain from the attacks he receives so why can't I also have its processing power and find these numbers myself, it shouldn't be much slower then regular rct?
In that moment.
Shoko noticed a subtle change while healing his wound. There was another energy that seemed to mirror hers. The healing process appeared to speed up, just a tiny bit, but it was definitely noticeable.
'Did he learn it?' Shoko was surprised, but more than anything, she felt proud that someone had actually learned from her, even if she didn't do much.
(A/N: give 5 star or pp smoll)