Night settled over the mansion.
Gojo stepped into Emilia's room.
She was already asleep, curled under the covers. Subaru sat by the bedside, eyes ringed with exhaustion, keeping watch.
"It's late. You heading to bed any time soon?"
Looking at Emilia's face, still creased with some dream she couldn't escape even in sleep, Subaru gave a small shake of his head.
"She's not doing well right now. I can't relax if I'm not here."
"Fair enough."
Gojo read the set of his expression and didn't push. No point arguing with that kind of stubbornness.
"Ram and Rem are back. Felt's got her coins."
"So we're getting ready to head out. What about you?"
"Me?"
Subaru blinked, caught off guard.
"Of course I'm coming with..."
The words came out on reflex. Then he trailed off, eyes drifting to the girl in the bed.
The state Emilia was in. If he left now with the others...
Gojo didn't need him to finish the sentence. The answer was written plainly on his face.
"Got it."
"Stay here. Look after Emilia."
"I'll head back with Felt and the rest."
"I..."
Subaru pressed his lips together, casting around for words.
Gojo reached over and thumped his shoulder.
"Save it. Nothing to feel bad about. We all know how you feel about her. Once we're back, things'll be quiet on our end. You don't need to worry about us. Just stay put and help her through the Trial. What Roswaal said had some truth in it. She's running out of time, and every day counts. If you want to help her, now's when you pour everything in."
Subaru stared at the smile Gojo was wearing. He opened his mouth and found no sound. Heat gathered behind his eyes.
"I understand."
A long pause, then a firm nod.
"Thank you, Satoru."
"Don't thank me. Save it for Felt."
Gojo waved a hand, grinning.
"Honestly, she's the one stuck in the awkward spot."
"I know." The reply came quiet but steady. "I won't forget what you've all done for me."
"That's settled then. Stay here and don't worry about anything."
"Yeah."
With that, Gojo turned and headed back to his own room without lingering.
It wasn't that parting with Subaru struck him as especially painful. It was more that the whole thing felt strange. They'd been side by side since the moment he'd first set foot in this world. Splitting up now carried a weight he hadn't expected.
By the next morning, their belongings were packed and the group was ready to leave.
"You and the idiot sort things out last night?"
Felt watched Reinhard hauling sacks onto the Dragon Carriage and tipped her head toward Gojo.
"Yep. Told him to stay here and look after Emilia. Said we'd be fine on our end, nothing he needed to worry about. He wanted me to pass along that he won't forget what you did."
"Tch."
Her mouth twisted.
"I didn't do anything for him. If anyone did the heavy lifting, it was you."
"Honestly, just take the thanks and move on."
"Save the extra words."
"I've got a feeling that without you around, he's going to stumble into all kinds of trouble."
Betty glanced at Emilia's room, where Subaru had fallen asleep slumped at the bedside, and wrinkled her nose.
"Who knows."
"But Roswaal's thrown in with them now. Whatever comes up, he should be able to handle it."
Having seen Roswaal's skill firsthand, Gojo trusted him to hold the line. A direct pupil of the Witch of Greed, Echidna, a man who'd walked the world for centuries. Whatever else he was, weak wasn't on the list.
"Let's hope."
"Betty doesn't want to get dragged back to wipe up his mess."
"Relax. Won't come to that."
Gojo shook his head.
"Everything's loaded."
Reinhard brushed his hands off and turned toward the group.
"Lady Felt."
Just as they were about to board, Roswaal approached with Ram and Rem trailing behind.
"Oh, it's you."
Gojo tipped his shades up and let his gaze flick pointedly between the man and his pink-haired maid.
"You know, I've been curious."
"Anything interesting happen last night?"
Ram met the look without blinking.
"My apologies. Nothing of the sort took place."
"Eh?"
"Ram, your problem is that you're too well-behaved. Listen. A man like Roswaal, if you want him actually under your thumb, you can't afford to be gentle with him."
Gojo glanced around, reached into the carriage, and came back with something in hand. He held it out to her with a cheerful grin.
"I think this should do nicely."
"Clears up the nature of your arrangement. Don't you think?"
The whip dangled between them.
Ram's face didn't shift. Calm as ever. But her eyes tracked the thing with a focus she couldn't quite hide.
"Heh."
"Satoru, you do love your jokes..."
Roswaal kept his smile bright, seemingly unbothered.
And then, while he was still speaking, Ram quietly reached up and took the whip.
"The whip on our Dragon Carriage happens to be broken."
She offered the excuse with perfect composure, but Gojo caught the brief twitch at the corner of Roswaal's mouth the moment her fingers closed around the handle. The man clearly hadn't seen that coming. At least she'd left him a sliver of dignity by wrapping it in a pretext rather than snatching the thing outright.
"I see. I see."
Gojo was thoroughly enjoying himself now.
"So, Roswaal. What brings you by?"
Roswaal's glance flicked toward the whip in Ram's hand, brief and unreadable. A small part of him clearly wished he'd skipped the farewell.
"Nothing significant. I simply wanted to see Lady Felt off."
He kept his smile even.
"Should you need anything further, do let me know. Provided it isn't beyond reason, I'll accommodate you as before."
"Good, good. My needs are simple."
Felt shook her hair back, chin lifted.
"You just keep the money flowing. Leave everything else alone. I promise you won't find a lower-maintenance candidate anywhere."
"Rest assured, Lady Felt. I'll see to it personally."
Saying yes to anything Felt asked was his default. Pinning him down on when anything would actually happen was another matter.
Like now.
"No sincerity at all. I was kind of hoping you'd throw in more Holy Gold Coins..."
"Lady Felt, the hour grows late, and I have matters to attend to. Forgive me."
Roswaal smiled thinly, then turned and walked off before she could escalate.
"Tch. Cheapskate."
"All that money and he acts like this."
Felt huffed and climbed into the carriage.
Gojo shrugged. He could see Roswaal's side of it. The Mathers family was rich, but a thousand-plus Holy Gold Coins wasn't pocket change. Shearing a sheep was one thing, shaving it to the skin was another.
"Alright, let's go."
He called out and swung himself up behind her.
With Elsa added to their numbers, the carriage was noticeably more cramped on the ride back. Gojo watched the landscape slide past the window, a quiet thought turning over in his head.
He wondered what Subaru's face would do when he woke up and found them gone. Would there be a pang?
Then he pictured the boy looking at Emilia's sleeping face, and shook his head.
Probably not. Emilia alone was enough to hold his world together.
"What's on your mind?"
Betty, catching the weight in his expression, turned to him.
"Nothing."
"Just wondering if Subaru's going to miss us."
"Steal Emilia and he will. Guaranteed."
"Hard pass. Don't want someone pining after me in his sleep."
The carriage rocked on through the rest of the day and into the next before the group rolled back through the gates of the Royal Capital. Hardly any time had passed. But the return had the strange weight of coming home to find the furniture rearranged.
"Elsa, from now on you're staying here with us. Your room's next to Meili's."
"Long as you keep your hobbies on a short leash, you've got plenty of freedom."
"That much is clear enough, yeah?"
First order of business back at the Astrea Family estate was sorting out where Elsa would sleep. Second was laying down the rule that she was to keep her identity hidden in daily life. She was, after all, a woman wanted across every major kingdom. If her face got out, the trouble would land on her and on Felt both.
"No gathering intelligence? No taking out the other candidates?"
Elsa's mouth curved into something sultry as she studied him.
"Oh, right."
Gojo tapped his forehead.
"Not necessary. None of that."
"We're not going to stoop to handling them that way. We just let things run their course. They'll lose on their own."
With Subaru staying behind, there was no reason to widen the circle of people who knew what he and Felt were really up to. When the time came, they'd slip out. The fewer who knew, the cleaner the exit.
"Is that confidence or arrogance?"
"Either way, I don't mind."
She smiled.
"I'll treat it as a vacation. Though, I wouldn't object to the occasional chance for some fun."
"Don't worry. If a chance like that comes up, I'll remember you."
Elsa returned to her room, and Betty drifted into the hallway at a slow, unhurried pace.
"Looks like you've got that woman handled."
"Handled? I just told her the rules."
"Hm?"
Gojo paused mid-sentence. The air around Betty felt different somehow.
"You broke through to Special Grade Cursed Spirit?"
Betty tilted her chin up, affecting cool detachment.
"A Special Grade Cursed Spirit. Is that supposed to be difficult?"
The would-be nonchalance couldn't quite mask the preening underneath. Gojo laughed.
"You're right. For most people it's a wall. For a genius like you? Barely a step."
At the praise, her chin climbed a fraction higher and a pleased smile finally escaped.
"Now that I'm a Special Grade, can I start working on a Domain?"
She hopped onto his bed, slender legs swinging off the edge.
"That's on you."
"Or on brushing up against someone else's."
He shrugged.
"I could let you feel mine, sure. But without a direct clash you won't really get it. And my Domain, feeling it won't hurt you, but it won't be pleasant either."
Betty pictured the people Gojo had caught in his Domain. Those sorry souls, frozen stiff and drooling like idiots. She shook her head fast.
"Pass. I'd rather not turn into a vegetable."
"I'll figure it out on my own."
With that, she slipped out and pulled the door shut behind her.
"Still carrying that torch."
"Pity. This isn't the Jujutsu Society."
Gojo folded his arms behind his head and let out a sigh as he stretched out on the bed.
Despite the short absence, Felt's return lit up the Royal Capital. Word that she'd ended another Sin Archbishop and taken down the Great Rabbit, one of the Three Great Mabeasts, spread fast. The verdict was unanimous. Among the Royal Candidates, her reputation had climbed to a height the others couldn't realistically reach.
Matching that many Sin Archbishops and Mabeasts would take the rest of them an impossible amount of work. And that was assuming they ever got the chance.
Put another way, even wiping out the entire Witch Cult now wouldn't be enough for anyone else to catch up.
Felt, for her part, wasn't wasting the momentum.
Most of the White Whale meat had moved. A portion was set aside to be shipped abroad through trade caravans. Every noble house in Lugunica had already tasted some.
ok