Chapter 5

"Prioritize Amanai! Get Suguru to Master Tengen first!"

"Don’t let your guard down!"

Satoru Gojo was strongest when he fought alone.

Even if I hadn’t known that Toji-kun wouldn’t finish him off, staying behind here together was never an option for me. I could already picture the ending—getting caught in Blue and flattened into paste.

On the way to the Tombs of the Star Corridor, the maid and the Star Plasma Vessel girl were having some tearful farewell exchange. They must’ve known this goodbye was coming ages ago, so what were they doing getting emotional now? Watching an animal movie would’ve been more moving.

And then they headed to Tengen for the assimilation… only for her to refuse it in the end. If that was the case, the kid should’ve just said she hated the idea from the start—at the very least when she reunited with Gojo-kun and the others. There could’ve been plenty of other options then. Kill her once and heal her with Reverse Cursed Technique, for example. Gojo-kun even had a classmate capable of outputting it. If necessary, maybe someone with a Construction Technique could’ve even made a fake corpse. Honestly… the whole thing was just a massive waste of time.

And the result was—

"Alright, good work. Everyone dismissed."

"...Why are you here?"

"Why? …Ah. You mean that. —I killed Satoru Gojo."

"I see. Then die."

The Star Plasma Vessel was shot in the head by Toji-kun and died on the spot. All of Gojo-kun’s consideration had gone to waste. And now Suguru-kun was fighting Toji-kun.

Cursed Spirit Manipulation excelled through numbers, so it was practically the worst possible matchup against someone like Toji-kun—an overwhelming individual fighter. Still, the fact that he kept several special-grade–class cursed spirits under his control was impressive.

If you wanted to kill Toji-kun… yeah, Cursed Spirit Manipulation probably wouldn’t cut it. Unless there was a spirit capable of destroying cursed tools, maybe? Personally, I’d raise both hands and surrender. Once the Star Plasma Vessel was dead, even winning had no value anymore. Revenge was something only fools chased. Maybe it worked as stress relief against someone you could actually beat.

…Suguru-kun’s real mistake was failing to absorb the Inventory Curse. You can’t exorcise a spirit that already has an established master-servant relationship. That lack of understanding toward his own technique was the weakness of someone from a non-sorcerer background. Though now that I think about it, the Gojo family probably didn’t have instruction manuals for anything except Limitless anyway. That alone was enough to secure their place among the Three Great Families. Not that Gojo-kun would’ve read one even if it existed.

The slit-mouthed woman cursed spirit… it used something resembling an innate technique, so it was probably high-grade. After that spirit was exorcised and the attempt to subjugate the Inventory Curse failed, Suguru-kun ended up crawling miserably across the floor.

Maybe the true sin of the weak is never realizing their own weakness. Though losing control after seeing Gojo-kun killed probably played a big role too.

"...Well? You want to fight too?"

"No way. If I meant to, I’d have joined in already. I don’t think I could beat Toji-kun alone."

"Then get lost while you still can."

"Ehh? But you don’t kill people unless there’s money involved, right? I’m a cute future bride candidate, you know?"

"...You really throw off my rhythm. I never planned on seeing you again."

"Sowwy. Well, the job’s done anyway, right? Treat me to sushi with that money."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"The kind of nerves you develop growing up in a misogynistic household while casually looking down on everyone around you."

"...Fair enough."

If Suguru-kun hadn’t been lying there covered in blood, it might’ve looked like a friendly conversation between siblings. …Though there was also a girl’s corpse nearby. …And probably the maid’s body back along the path too.

Yeah. Not peaceful at all.

"Well, you’re strong, Toji-kun, so try not to die anytime soon, okay? And hang out with me sometimes. I’ll properly look after Megumi-kun in return. …Where is he right now?"

"Huh? Ah… with a woman. I’ve got her handling the kid."

"So even a kept man can exist in a misogynistic system…"

Well, Toji-kun probably earned money himself, so maybe it balanced out. At least he gambled away money he earned instead of mooching pachinko funds off others. Still, he should probably remember where he sold his merchandise.

In the end, he didn’t buy me sushi. We parted ways at the Tombs of the Star Corridor since I couldn’t exactly accompany him to the Time Vessel Association.

Though I went ahead there anyway.

Being a religious organization made their location easy enough to find.

First things first—secure a spectator seat. If I didn’t hurry, Gojo-kun would arrive.

I hid my presence and waited.

Before long, Gojo-kun appeared, dressed in blood-soaked clothes—yeah, he definitely noticed me. What kind of perception was that? With Toji-kun, enhanced senses explained it, but… for someone called the Strongest, maybe even the world itself looked different.

Everything unfolded just as I remembered.

Driven by the desire to crush the newly awakened Gojo-kun, Toji-kun charged—and was blown away by Hollow Purple, half his body erased. Even Physical Gifted couldn’t overcome that. Honestly, the fact he didn’t die instantly might deserve praise.

I could’ve gone home now, but there was one thing I needed to confirm.

"...In two or three years, my kid’ll be sold to the Zenin clan. Do whatever you want—"

"Won’t you leave him to me instead?"

In the original story, he probably remembered his love for his son at the very end and decided entrusting him to the strongest man before him was better than leaving him with the Zenin clan.

But with me here now, things were different.

I agreed that my own household was a garbage dump, so I couldn’t exactly insist lightly. Still… as a girl, I wanted at least a little trust.

Well, if he said Gojo-kun was stronger, I wouldn’t have a comeback.

I was still standing on this side, after all.

"Naoya, huh… If you had been the clan head, maybe that wouldn’t have been so bad either."

"And what if Megumi-kun says he’d rather go to the Zenin clan?"

"—Do as you like… no. Take care of my son. The two… of—"

Both of them, huh. That must’ve been the part he couldn’t finish saying.

There’s no way I could realistically raise a child together with Gojo-kun, but… maybe if I became strong enough to stand on equal footing with him someday. Being treated like some delicate flower would be exhausting. I’d at least like to start as friends first.

"...So? What do you think, Gojo-kun? I doubt anyone would complain if you said you never heard a word from a guy like this."

"...Yeah. You’re right."

Yeah. I wasn’t even in his field of vision, and who knew how much of this conversation he’d actually processed. Probably better to wait a while before bringing it up again. Maybe it was the crash after being high from awakening.

I should try asking him through Jujutsu High so we can stay in contact. If there were two or three years before anything happened, there’d be plenty of chances to talk.

Probably.

That summer kept all of us busy.

If the students at Jujutsu High were overwhelmed, then naturally the Three Great Families were even worse off. They said cursed spirits had surged due to disasters, but what made them troublesome was how negative emotions increased their quality as well as their numbers. Then those spirits got processed as ordinary disasters or accidents, which only piled more negativity onto the same locations.

No wonder natural cursed spirits kept being born.

Amid all that, news spread that a Jujutsu High student had massacred an entire village. Even curse users normally avoided slaughter that blatant—they knew drawing attention meant getting eliminated. Though there had been exceptions… people infamous enough to be called "Sorcerer Killer."

Toji-kun really was something else. He understood how not to lose against worthless trash.

As for me, though… my only reaction was I already knew.

Not long after that incident, a message came—not from the Zenin clan to the Gojo clan, but directly from Gojo-kun to me. Honestly, letting the families handle negotiations would’ve turned everything into a mess. Talking directly was faster.

"So? Where are we headed?"

"To see that guy’s son."

"Megumi-kun, huh. Though honestly, Gojo-kun, I’m surprised you actually remembered what Toji-kun said."

"...To be honest, I thought about ignoring it. But it seems being strong alone isn’t enough. So at least people who are prepared to be saved… I want to save them."

"...Are you really Gojo-kun? People really can change."

"Hah? What’s that supposed to mea—"

"Oh, isn’t that him? Megumi-kun."

Even I could vaguely tell whether someone was a sorcerer or non-sorcerer from the flow of cursed energy. Gojo-kun could obviously see far more than that. Didn’t he even recognize techniques at a glance?

"Who are you people? …And what’s with that face?"

Gojo-kun was saying something, but none of it registered.

That worn-down expression.
The overall look.
That sharp, intelligent face.

I’d heard he was a boy, but—

He’s literally a mini Toji-kun!!!

If I raised him from now according to my tastes, couldn’t I create the ideal version of Toji-kun? His lack of sorcerer training could be fixed later. Though helping with the Ten Shadows Technique’s shikigami subjugation might be difficult…

"Naoya. Could a girl who isn’t a sorcerer ever be happy in the Zenin clan?"

"Obviously not. Unless becoming an outlet for men’s stress counts as happiness."

I answered absentmindedly while still lost in thought when Gojo-kun suddenly asked me something.

As a result, Megumi-kun no longer went to the Zenin clan.

Apparently, his priority was his older sister’s happiness.

I just got completely NTR’d!!!