Yuki Tsukumo's Technique

"Wait, you want me to take her on as a student?"

Yuki Tsukumo glanced at Riko Amanai, then asked Gojo Sawa.

Gojo Satoru, standing nearby, chimed in, "Brother, this woman just lazes around overseas. She's completely useless—just a deadweight with a Special Grade title!"

"If you want someone to teach Riko, you're perfectly capable of it. If all else fails, I can do it too."

Yuki Tsukumo's face darkened. "So my reputation has really fallen that far?!"

"No, your reputation hasn't fallen. It's always been like this."

"..."

Gojo Sawa explained, "We could certainly teach Riko, but if we're talking about the teacher best suited to her, it has to be you, Ms. Yuki."

Yuki Tsukumo eyed Gojo Sawa suspiciously.

He didn't hide anything. "Yuki, I know you're a Star Plasma Vessel too."

Yuki Tsukumo snorted. "That old hag Tengen told you, didn't she? I don't get why you're bringing this up!"

Gojo Sawa neither confirmed nor denied it.

Tengen hadn't told him any of this. He'd pieced it together from scattered memories of his past life.

"Anyway, Star Plasma Vessels have always been thought to possess Cursed Energy but no Cursed Technique. But clearly, you're an exception, Yuki."

"Despite being a Star Plasma Vessel, you awakened a powerful Cursed Technique like Star Rage. Maybe you can help Riko awaken hers, too."

Riko Amanai looked at him expectantly.

She knew the blonde woman standing before her was a powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer, one of the "Four Special Grades" alongside the Gojo brothers.

Someone who transcended the norm might really be able to change her fate.

Yuki Tsukumo rubbed her hair, looking troubled. "Well, there is a way."

"Star Plasma Vessels actually do have innate Cursed Techniques. They're just concealed by their special constitution. To awaken one..."

Yuki Tsukumo looked up, hesitating. "You have to undergo 'assimilation' with Tengen."

"Huh?!"

"Let me explain. It isn't real 'assimilation.' Tengen absorbs the root of the Star Plasma Vessel's constitution. Once that constitution is no longer suppressing them, their innate Cursed Technique can reappear."

"So you went through this yourself..."

Yuki Tsukumo shrugged. "That's right. I awakened Star Rage by accident after going through the same process."

Gojo Sawa, Gojo Satoru, and Riko Amanai exchanged glances.

"Well? Do you want to go?" Gojo Sawa asked tentatively. He worried that Riko Amanai might have developed a psychological shadow around Tengen.

Riko Amanai clenched her fist and thumped her chest. "Of course I do!"

"I'll go with you!" Gojo Satoru said after a moment's hesitation.

Gojo Sawa spoke up, too. "I'll come along. If anything goes wrong, my Domain and Reverse Cursed Technique might come in handy."

He didn't want to interrupt his little brother's time alone with Riko, but he was worried that the old hag Tengen would try something or mess things up.

As the biggest pitfall in Jujutsu Kaisen, Tengen was someone Gojo Sawa trusted not at all.

Yuki Tsukumo rolled her eyes. "I'll sit this one out. I don't want to see Tengen's face again."

Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Gojo Satoru sounded worried. "Brother, we did interfere with Tengen's initial assimilation, so we've got a bit of a history with her, right? Will she agree to help us?"

Gojo Sawa shook his head. "Little bro, have you forgotten what I taught you? If you're sincere and polite, you can always move people. What's done is done!"

"Huh?"

Gojo Satoru picked at his ear, unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"Let's go."

Gojo Sawa led the way, striding into the Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Having entered the place that had once cost her her life, Riko Amanai was clearly still uneasy.

Inside the Tombs of the Star Corridor stood a towering tree, sprawling like a mountain.

Gojo Sawa cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Hey, old hag! Come out! We need a favor!"

Gojo Satoru and Riko Amanai both froze.

"Th-this is what you call being sincere and polite so you can move people?"

Gojo Sawa gave an OK sign. "Yeah. If she won't help willingly, I'll beat her until she does. That's what I call moving someone."

"..."

Just then, Tengen's body grew out of the tree trunk. She looked bizarre: a long head with a huge mouth and four eyes, hardly less monstrous than a Cursed Spirit.

Tengen regarded Gojo Sawa helplessly. "You could at least show some respect for a Jujutsu veteran who's lived a thousand years!"

Gojo Sawa rolled his eyes. "If someone could be as dependable as Kenjaku, who's also lived a thousand years, I might be more inclined to show them some respect."

"Kenjaku!"

Tengen froze, surprised that Gojo Sawa knew that name.

"Apparently, you know quite a lot."

"I come from one of the Three Great Families. I can get my hands on some unusual information. And the title 'the most evil Jujutsu Sorcerer in history' isn't hard to find."

Gojo Satoru stood nearby, looking utterly bewildered as he watched his brother and Tengen.

Who was Kenjaku? Who was the most evil Jujutsu Sorcerer?

I come from one of the Three Great Families, too. How come I don't know any of this?

"Enough about that. What brings you here?" Tengen stopped discussing Kenjaku and asked Gojo Sawa what he wanted.

Gojo Sawa explained Riko Amanai's situation. To everyone's surprise, Tengen agreed without hesitation.

"I thought it over carefully. Though after a thousand years, I can no longer understand human emotions, perhaps I was at fault for assimilating with the Star Plasma Vessel."

"You were."

"...So helping Riko Amanai awaken her Cursed Technique can be a way for me to atone."

Soon, Tengen and Riko began the process of "assimilation."

At first, Riko Amanai was a little scared.

But seeing Gojo Sawa and Gojo Satoru there somehow put her at ease.

The Gojo brothers kept their Six Eyes fully active throughout, monitoring Tengen's every move.

Tengen looked helpless. "There's no need to be this wary of me, is there?"

"Who knows?" Gojo Sawa shrugged. "You are a thousand-year-old fox, after all."

"..."

The "assimilation" was soon completed without a hitch. With Sawa and Satoru watching, Tengen didn't try anything.

Riko Amanai emerged from the vines, staring blankly at her hands.

Gojo Satoru asked curiously, "Riko! How did it go?"

Riko Amanai lifted her chin, beaming with pride. "Oh-ho! I awakened a really powerful Cursed Technique! Just you wait, Satoru—I'll stomp you into the ground!"

"Looks like the Cursed Technique you awakened affects your intelligence."

"You..."

"Enough bickering. Yuki's waiting outside!"

They left the Tombs of the Star Corridor and met up with Yuki Tsukumo, who had been waiting for quite a while.

"How did it go? Was everything all right?"

Riko Amanai nodded excitedly. "My Cursed Technique is called Star's Lament. It lets me control the temperature within a certain range."

Yuki Tsukumo looked intrigued. "Star's Lament. That's a great Cursed Technique!"

"All right! From now on, I'm your Jujutsu teacher!"

Gojo Sawa suddenly spoke up. "Star Rage, Star's Lament... Why do they both sound so gloomy? And they don't suit your personalities at all!"

Yuki Tsukumo and Riko Amanai turned together and glared at Gojo Satoru. "Then what should we call them? Star's Happiness?"

"Actually, Satoru, your Cursed Technique fits your personality perfectly. Limitless—and you don't have any limits yourself!"

"Achoo!"

Gojo Sawa, who'd been dragged into the conversation for no reason, sneezed.