21:26.
Tokyo Metro Shibuya Station, Basement 5, Fukutoshin Line platform.
“What is this? Why is it like this?”
“The sealing is complete. But the Prison Realm still hasn’t fully processed the information that it’s Gojo Satoru. For the time being, it can’t move.”
“Hmm. So what should we do now?”
Mahito and Kenjaku stared at the Prison Realm, which was embedded in the floor and showed no sign of moving.
They’d thought everything would be over once he was sealed, but as expected, the strongest was still the strongest.
Its sheer, unreasonable presence made your teeth itch.
And all the while, a tiny puppet stuck to the ceiling was watching them.
“!”
Mahito was the first to notice something was off.
He instantly stretched out his arm in the direction of the gaze, and the puppet shattered under the attack.
The puppet broke apart without even putting up resistance and scattered to the floor, but it had already done its job.
“We’ve been had...!!”
21:27.
Between Meiji-Jingumae and Shibuya.
[Yoshino, good news!]
“What is it?”
[They can’t move the sealed Gojo from Basement 5!]
“Why?”
[Because he’s Gojo Satoru!]
What the hell. That’s the reason? Seriously?
It sounded exactly like him, and yet Junpei still wondered why they’d let themselves get captured in the first place if that was the case.
Well, whatever. Good news was good news.
“...Understood.”
[Let’s build a perimeter.]
The four subway lines surrounding Shibuya Station.
Meiji-Jingumae, Omotesando, Daikanyama, and Ikejiri-Ohashi.
If they dispatched sorcerers to those four points and stormed in the moment the Curtain lifted, they could wipe out the enemies trapped in Basement 5 in one sweep.
“You say dispatch them, but I can’t even get in touch with Ijichi.”
“Ah!”
“What’s wrong, Yuji?”
“Mei Mei said it. Other sorcerers have already entered Shibuya! Nanami’s among them too!”
“Nanami’s there!”
Junpei’s eyes shone with anticipation at the thought of meeting his mentor again after so long.
With Nanami, they could trust him. There was zero chance he was a traitor, and besides, he had the full respect of the assistant supervisors.
Then what they needed to do now was simple: rush in immediately, inform Nanami, and relay the information down the chain.
-Swish
The moment they entered the Curtain, what spread out before their eyes was a horde of transfigured humans attacking ordinary people.
Yuji and Junpei’s brains worked at full speed as they checked the enemies around them.
Two on the left, one on the right, one in the center.
“[Black Scale].”
Junpei’s sword, wrapped in black scales, flashed as it split the swelling masses of flesh apart.
As a gesture of respect for the dead who had been used, he ended their lives in a single stroke.
The same was true of Yuji, who caved in the vital points of the transfigured humans with one lightning-fast punch.
“Yuji, up!”
“Okay!”
Junpei summoned [Moonlit Wave], grabbed its hand, and the two of them shot up into the air.
By the time the highest building nearby was right in front of them, Yuji drew in a deep breath.
“Hup!”
Junpei guessed what he was about to do and quickly covered his ears.
Then Yuji’s incredible lungs shook the entire streets of Shibuya with a thunderous roar.
“NANA MIIIIIING-----!!!!”
Everyone in Shibuya could hear that voice.
Even Geto’s group underground, and the other three teams of sorcerers who had just entered the Curtain.
“Is Nanami there--?!!”
“Na...Nanami?”
“Itadori, huh.”
“......”
Behind Megumi and Ino, who were muttering to each other, Nanami secretly clenched his fist and trembled.
He’d clearly told them not to call him that.
He didn’t know why they were calling, but if he saw them, he was going to slap them—
“Teacher Gojooooo!!! They said he’s been sealed--!!!”
“!!”
“Sealed?!”
The slap was canceled.
This was an emergency.
“You two. Change of plans. We need to join up with Itadori right now. If the sealing is true....”
We’re finished.
All the people in this country are.
-------------------------------
“Ah. They’ve figured out what’s going on here.”
“The sorcerers will come at us with everything they’ve got. I’m staying here. What about you two?”
Yuji’s shout pierced the ground and reached even the darkness of Basement 5.
The curses weren’t the only ones making plans. In truth, it was less a plan than a place where they were finally laying bare what each of them intended to do next.
Their long-cherished wish had already been nearly fulfilled the moment Gojo Satoru was sealed.
“I’m going to kill Yoshino Junpei and Kugisaki Nobara, the ones who avenged my brother. After that, I’ll recover the other brothers sealed at Jujutsu High.”
“I’m killing Yoshino Junpei too. I have to avenge Hanami.”
Choso and Dagon were set on hunting Junpei down.
“I don’t care. I’m not staying here just to follow Geto, but I’ll keep killing sorcerers until the job is done.”
As long as it didn’t interfere with the grand design, Jogo didn’t much care what happened.
“I was planning to offer up the finger... tch, that white-haired monk bastard.”
“Too bad, Jogo~”
“On the other hand, maybe this is for the best. I won’t have to face him myself. If anything, since he’s human, he might even do better than I would.”
If Sukuna revived, the age of curses would surely come.
Then he and his comrades would all be able to stand on the surface as humans.
An ideal he had held since birth, one he had carried for hundreds of years. For that, Jogo was prepared to do anything.
“But you know, Jogo.”
“What is it, Mahito?”
“Why don’t we just kill Itadori?”
Not until Mahito, who had been quiet until now, opened his mouth.
“Mahito! What are you saying?”
“I saw the real Gojo Satoru and realized something. Now that Gojo’s been sealed, the balance between sorcerers and curses is even. If Sukuna revives, we’ll have complete superiority, and our victory will be guaranteed, right?”
“That’s true.”
“Which means with our current strength, we can still win even without him.”
A chilling smile curled at Mahito’s lips.
Jogo, who had watched Mahito more closely than anyone, knew exactly what that expression meant.
That was the face Mahito made when he’d found something he genuinely wanted to do.
“Let’s just kill Itadori. We don’t need Sukuna or anything. We can win on our own.”
“Are you serious...?”
“Of course I’m serious. Dead serious.”
It wasn’t that Jogo couldn’t understand why Mahito would say that.
It was obvious that if Sukuna revived, the age of curses would arrive, but there was no guarantee they would escape the fallout.
To that monster, categories like enemy and ally were meaningless.
'I don’t have to be the one laughing in the wasteland a hundred years from now.'
But Jogo thought differently.
If Mahito moved according to the instincts of a curse, then the force driving Jogo, who prided himself on being more human than anyone, was—
the grand design.
“Of course Sukuna won’t be on our side. If he revives, the risk we’ll have to bear might even be greater.”
What he was aiming for was the coming age of curses. Was there any need to gamble when the right path was staring them in the face?
He didn’t care what happened to him or his comrades now.
If they died, it would be regrettable and sad, but if curses could stand tall as people, that would be enough.
“But if Sukuna revives, the age of curses will definitely come. We’re different from the humans of this age.”
To walk a path that did not fear death, a path that overturned everything for the sake of its goal.
That was the true essence of curses, something those fakes did not possess.
“Wrong.”
Mahito had plenty to say in response to that.
“Even if the center shifts, even if there’s no consistency. Acting without lies, simply following desire wherever it leads—that’s us, the curses.”
The emptiness and illusion he had always emphasized. Moving according to instinct, as the heart pleased.
Wasn’t that the true life of a human, of a curse?
“Of course, what I said was wrong was the way curses exist. I do think the revival itself is fine.”
Seeing Jogo’s expression darken further, it looked like his patience was about to hit its limit.
There was nothing to gain by provoking Jogo any further here.
They simply had different views on how curses lived; it wasn’t as if he had said anything wrong. That was why he had gone along with Jogo’s plan this far.
“I’m not really looking to fight you, Jogo. I just want to kill Itadori—that’s all. I’m not saying he absolutely has to die.”
“Then don’t touch him. At least not until that white-haired brat feeds him the fingers.”
“I’ll try. But if I run into him before that, I’ll kill him.”
“Haa....”
Ignoring Jogo as he held his head, Mahito licked his lips with his tongue.
“And besides Itadori, I’m interested in something else too.”
Itadori was just an appetizer, or maybe a dessert.
Sukuna was dangerous, sure, but as long as they didn’t poke him first, there was no reason he had to die.
The memory still disgusted Mahito, but not enough to make him give up the main dish.
“Choso, Dagon. Let’s play a game.”
Who can kill Yoshino Junpei faster.
“I’m not handing over my brother’s enemy. That’s fine, right?”
“Of course it’s fine. Do whatever you want.”
“No helping it, then.”
“Dagon, you’ve grown up and lost your cute side.”
“No matter how you look at it, I’m older than you, Mahito.”
The curses’ movements were now all decided.
The only one left was Geto.
“As for Geto, he’s on Jogo’s side, if anything, right? What are you going to do?”
“I need to keep an eye on the Prison Realm. I’ll stay here and wait.”
It was his usual attitude, but Mahito sensed something ominous underneath it.
He was sensitive to malice, so he could tell.
This bastard was up to something.
'Cursed Spirit Manipulation... he can’t subdue curses at our level all at once, but I should stay alert.'
There wasn’t enough basis to challenge him here and now.
Considering Geto’s still-hidden combat power, victory couldn’t be guaranteed.
Besides, he wasn’t especially fired up about it either.
“Well, whatever. Let’s get going!”
Different reasons, different goals, but—
Their shared target was Yoshino Junpei.
The three strands of malice aimed at him were leaving the Fukutoshin Line platform.
------------------------------
After the curses left Basement 5, Kenjaku, now alone, spoke to someone who had been watching him from afar.
“The curses are smarter than you.”
“Give it back.”
Two figures appeared among the ordinary people frozen by [Unlimited Void].
The twins who had marked the turning point in Geto’s fall during their student days.
The twins who had once been saved from a life of abuse by the villagers in their rural hometown.
Mimiko and Nanako were staring at Kenjaku with eyes full of murderous intent.
“We cooperated with you and kept crushing those monkey non-sorcerers.”
“As promised, give us Geto-sama’s body back.”
“Don’t toy with Geto-sama any longer.”
“Like hell I’m giving it back. I don’t remember turning your heads into empty shells too, you know. Next time you make a promise to a sorcerer, make sure you clearly define the ‘binding vow’ part.”
A promise had no force behind it. A verbal promise without a binding vow was hollow, and always easy to break.
He had only used them by holding this body hostage.
Kenjaku felt no guilt, and had no intention of keeping his word.
“Get lost. Or do you want to die by this body’s hand?”
“...You’ll regret this.”
Still unable to let go, the twins glared at him for a long while before leaving behind a curse and walking away.
“...Regret, huh.”
When was the last time he’d felt something like that?
Even if the body did not die, the mind kept wearing down.
After living for a thousand years, he had reached the point where he could feel almost nothing except a very small handful of emotions.
“What did that taste like again?”
If he were the type to regret things, he never would have come this far.
He didn’t know, and he had no intention of finding out.
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