"Akira has fallen into a deep sleep. He probably will not be back for a while..."
Satoru Gojo's first words after returning to Jujutsu High made the whole place erupt.
His unusually calm tone, paired with the faint exhaustion on his face, made it hard not to think of something worse...
It was not just the people from Kyoto Jujutsu High. The people from Tokyo Jujutsu High felt the same heavy pressure.
Kasumi Miwa covered her mouth with both hands, her face full of disbelief. As one of the rare normal people in the Jujutsu world, she was also the one with the most grounded and delicate heart.
Maybe Akira Zenin's devotion to research had hidden his narrowness, and his exhaustion had covered up his madness.
But in her eyes, Akira sensei was the gentlest and most patient senior Jujutsu Sorcerer of all.
Standing nearby, Kokichi Muta was unusually calm, aside from being a little worried about Kasumi Miwa's state.
As someone who had truly been "raised from childhood" by Akira Zenin, Kokichi Muta knew a great deal about his research. In his mind, unless Akira Zenin himself wanted it, not even Satoru Gojo working together with Curse Users could harm him.
And if Akira Zenin really did want to die... then there had to be a reason for it...
Satoru Gojo quickly pulled himself together. With the look of someone whose prank had worked, he adjusted his blindfold and said to everyone, or perhaps to himself as well,
"Oh dear... he really did go find somewhere to sleep... Don't overthink it. During the exchange event, the number of Cursed Spirits around here has been piling up, and on top of that, there are those things that escaped from the forest earlier. We still have plenty to deal with."
In this world, the central theme of a Jujutsu Sorcerer's life was never dreams or change. It was purging endless Cursed Spirits and struggling against the human heart.
If everyone became a Jujutsu Sorcerer, would that really let people stop moving forward? Would that solve everything once and for all? Would that finally make the world safe?
That was nothing more than an idealist's fantasy.
Cursed Energy itself came from humanity's negative emotions.
If everyone became a Jujutsu Sorcerer, the world would only grow even madder. People's emotions would be stirred up by Cursed Energy, and by then, the entanglement between Jujutsu Sorcerers and Cursed Spirits would turn into open conflict between Jujutsu Sorcerers and the surge of Curse Users pouring forth...
If it ever truly came to that, Jujutsu Sorcerers would not just be facing the current work of "clearing out Cursed Spirits." They would also have to deal with class stagnation caused by unequal power, social structures, moral questions, ethical problems, and countless other issues.
Back when Akira Zenin was still mentally present, he had discussed all of this with Yuki Tsukumo, but he had never tried to stop her ideal.
There was no doubt about it. In a world where even a person's thoughts could become tangible retribution, this was a truly hopeless, truly irredeemable, truly insane world... But even a world like that still needed change, and it still needed people to search for their own answers.
At the very least, those discussions might make Yuki a little more careful when she acted on those ideas.
And even if it failed, so what? Even if comrades really were lost, so what?
Just as motion itself is absolute, Jujutsu Sorcerers would never stop moving.
There truly was not even a moment to spare mourning the dead...
Just like Nanami said, "Being a Jujutsu Sorcerer is a shitty job."
...
Once the ever busy Satoru Gojo used teleportation and left, Yuta Okkotsu, Yuji Itadori, Mimiko, and Nanako also set off to meet Suguru Geto, carrying the "rope" that held Mahito.
Along the way, Yuta Okkotsu periodically released Reverse Cursed Technique into the rope, steadily wearing down Mahito's Cursed Energy...
Inside the space enclosed by the rope, there had been screams at first. Later, only muffled groans remained...
Just as the remaining Tokyo Jujutsu High students were preparing to head back to school, a voice rang out together with the sharp sound of a motorcycle braking to a stop.
"That commotion just now was pretty wild. You're Maki Zenin, right? Where did that brat Akira Zenin go?"
Maki, who had been saying goodbye to Mai, froze for a moment. When she turned around, she saw a woman in tight leather biker gear.
With the air of a female hooligan, Yuki Tsukumo reached a hand toward Maki and kept moving closer.
"Let me get a good look at how well you've developed~~"
Even though the other person was a woman, Maki was not about to tolerate being teased like that. The corner of her mouth twitched, and she immediately threw a punch.
But Yuki Tsukumo was still a Special Grade, and the first Special Grade sorcerer of the modern era. Whether it was her figure or her strength, both were impossible to measure...
She casually caught Maki's wrist with one hand and even gave it a few light squeezes.
"Not bad. Much better than I expected~ The way your muscles are arranged, the distribution of fat, the condition of your fascia... Your cross section must be a real work of art~"
"Huh?"
Maki was completely baffled by the kind of thing that sounded more like something a Curse User would say. She tried to wrench her wrist free from Yuki Tsukumo's hand, only to find that Yuki seemed completely effortless, her hold utterly unmoving.
So Maki swung her other hand at Yuki's face as well. In the next instant, a Shikigami shaped like a winged bone snake wrapped itself around her. Yuki let go at the same time, and Maki, tied up from head to toe, dropped straight to the ground...
"So impulsive, and such a fierce personality. You and that calm, timid Mai over there really are identical twins... alike, yet perfectly complementary...
But Mai's body definitely is not as good as yours~~ That really does make things a little troublesome..."
"Uh... Sensei, why did you come back?"
Yuki Tsukumo turned toward the speaker, Aoi Todo, then strode over and slapped him hard on the shoulder.
"It's Aoi-chan! How have you been lately? Have you found the girl you love yet? When do I get to go to a church and officiate your wedding??"
The moment he heard that, Aoi Todo burst into tears. For someone who normally carried himself like the boyfriend supporting his girlfriend's entertainment career from the shadows, there was no way he would let a topic like becoming Takada-chan's real boyfriend pass him by.
"Sensei, you have to help me think this through..."
"Wait a second..."
Completely oblivious to the fact that she herself had started the topic, Yuki Tsukumo looked around again.
"Where's that brat Akira Zenin? He called me over to do work, and now he is not even here..."
Aoi Todo pressed a hand to his forehead with a pained look.
"I do not know the exact details, but judging from the vague way Satoru Gojo put it just now, Akira-san is probably asleep somewhere right now.
When did he contact you? I did not receive any information about this at all..."
Yuki Tsukumo nodded, resting her chin on her hand.
"It makes sense that you would not know. He only told me just now. I was still on the plane back at the time..."
"Just now?"
Aoi Todo, who knew the recent situation, found that impossible to understand...
"Ah... it was nothing much. My head suddenly went boom, and a whole bunch of shadows appeared, then whoosh, a ton of text showed up. I was actually planning to ask him how he did that..."
"Boom... whoosh..."
Aoi Todo, with the brain he claimed had an IQ of 530,000, once again failed to understand...
"Really, it is nothing much. The Twin Complementation Project Akira had me researching is already ready, and with the information he just gave me... I think we can finally start separating Maki and Mai's fates...
This will be the first attempt to explore the foundations of Jujutsu at this level. A great research project led by me!"
"Mmph! Mmph!!"
Only then did Yuki Tsukumo notice that Maki was still bound by her Shikigami [Garuda], and she hurriedly controlled it to let Maki go.
At this stage, we absolutely cannot affect the test subject... ahem, we absolutely cannot affect the parties involved~~