The concert's lights and music blared late into the night.
When the final note dropped and the forcefully "invited" celebrities were escorted away by helicopters—their faces etched with exhaustion and the sheer relief of surviving a disaster—the sports field finally regained a moment of peace.
But Satoru Gojo clearly had not had enough fun.
Still craving excitement, he dragged Ian, along with Yuji Itadori and Aoi Todo—guys with an absurd amount of boundless energy—out to roam the streets and alleys of Tokyo all night long.
They squeezed into a bustling late-night diner, slurping down steaming bowls of ramen.
They hit a brightly lit arcade, frantically yanking the joysticks of a claw machine to win a limited-edition figure.
The flashing neon lights stretched their shadows long across the pavement, the air thick with the aroma of food and the crisp clinking of metal arcade tokens.
It was not until the next morning, when the first faint rays of sunlight sliced through the deep night blanketing Tokyo like the sharpest of blades.
Only then did the group drag their exhausted bodies back to Jujutsu High.
On the school's rooftop, the morning breeze carried a refreshing chill, brushing against the tips of their hair.
Gojo, however, seemed completely oblivious to the concept of fatigue, remaining as energetic as ever.
He found Ian standing alone, quietly leaning against the railing and gazing out at the city's sunrise.
The morning sun cast a warm, almost divine golden halo over Ian's profile, accentuating his unearthly handsome features.
"Well? Have you rested enough?"
Gojo stretched his arms, his joints popping in a crisp series of cracks.
The usual frivolous smirk on his face slowly faded away.
In its place was an unprecedented seriousness.
"Now, it's time to get down to business."
"Let's have a fight."
Gojo made no attempt to hide his intentions, locking his striking azure eyes directly onto Ian.
"I already heard from the students."
"During the Goodwill Event, you transformed into me."
"And you even used the exact same cursed technique as me."
"Furthermore..."
He paused. His tone held no trace of offended anger; instead, it carried a barely suppressed excitement.
"You were stronger."
Ian slowly turned around.
Seeing the burning fighting spirit in Gojo's azure eyes, the corners of his mouth naturally curled up.
"Do you really want to get beaten up that badly?"
Those casually spoken words acted like a spark, instantly igniting Gojo.
"Hah!"
Gojo laughed confidently, the air around him beginning to distort slightly from his massive cursed energy.
"It's not certain who will be beating up who just yet."
"Besides."
He held up his thumb and index finger, pinching them together to indicate a minuscule distance, his expression growing even more self-assured.
"I wasn't taking it seriously last time. I might not actually be weaker than you."
Just as the tension peaked and an explosive battle was on the verge of breaking out.
Several heads cautiously peeked out from the bushes near the rooftop entrance.
It was Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, and Nobara Kugisaki, along with Toge Inumaki and Panda, who had been forcibly dragged out of bed by Maki Zen'in.
They had long anticipated that Gojo wouldn't be able to resist challenging Ian to a spar.
Not wanting to miss what could be called a battle between the world's strongest, the group had woken up extra early to secretly stake out the area.
"Hey, hey, who do you guys think will win?"
Yuji instinctively lowered his voice, terrified of being discovered by the two on the roof.
Nobara's expression was more serious than ever before.
"Do you even have to ask? It's obviously Gojo-sensei!"
"That's Satoru Gojo we're talking about!"
Maki, however, pushed up her glasses and shook her head with a grave expression.
"It's hard to say."
"Gojo-sensei is universally recognized as the 'strongest'."
"But that guy..."
Her voice carried a trace of apprehension she hadn't even noticed herself.
"He's a true monster who can't be measured by any conventional logic."
Up on the roof, the atmosphere had reached its boiling point.
Gojo's figure darted backward, instantly opening up dozens of meters of distance between them.
His immense cursed energy began to surge wildly.
An invisible, absolute barrier quietly expanded around him.
[Limitless Cursed Technique], activated at full power.
Yet, facing this opening stance that would drive any special grade cursed spirit to despair.
Ian merely smiled and shook his head.
He didn't even bother to assume a fighting stance.
His gaze pierced right past Gojo, landing squarely on the ponytail-wearing girl hiding in the bushes.
"Maki."
"Let me borrow your cursed tool for a bit."
The moment his words fell.
Before Maki could even react.
The Special Grade Cursed Tool, Playful Cloud, vanished without a single warning.
The very next second.
The three-section staff, a special grade cursed tool renowned solely for its pure durability and weight, appeared right in Ian's hand.
Playful Cloud possessed no flashy cursed techniques; the greater the user's physical strength, the more devastating the weapon's power became.
Ian casually twirled the staff, the sheer force of the motion causing the surrounding air to explode with a sharp crack.
Maki stared at her empty hands, completely frozen in shock.
Her mind went entirely blank.
She hadn't seen how the cursed tool disappeared at all.
She hadn't seen Ian move, nor had she even felt the weapon being pulled from her grasp.
Gojo stared at the familiar three-section staff in Ian's hand, momentarily taken aback.
Soon after, his signature frivolous smile returned, and he couldn't help but tease.
"Oh my, oh my?"
"Did you realize you couldn't beat me with just cursed techniques, so you decided to use a cursed tool instead?"
"But that's fine. After all, I am the strongest."
He spoke lightly on the surface, but internally, his vigilance spiked to its absolute peak.
To silently retrieve an object from a distance right under the gaze of his Six Eyes.
He couldn't immediately figure out the underlying mechanics of such an ability.
Ian didn't reply to his teasing.
He merely chuckled softly, then tossed the cursed tool high into the air.
Then, under everyone's utterly horrified gazes, his body and facial features began to shift.
A massive swarm of red and black particle effects materialized around him.
In just the blink of an eye.
The person standing there was no longer the student-like figure from moments ago.
In his place stood a black-haired man with a vicious scar at the corner of his mouth, exuding an aura as wild and savage as a prehistoric beast.
Every single detail of his body radiated an absolute, pure sense of power and oppression.
The character Ian transformed into this time was Toji Fushiguro!
The man who had once relied solely on physical strength and cursed tools to kill a young Satoru Gojo.
The man who assassinated the Star Plasma Vessel and rewrote the history of the jujutsu world.
The man crowned with the title of the Tyrant of Heavenly Restriction!