Hand over the Star Plasma Vessel

"What do we do?" Slit-Mouthed Woman was at a loss now, too.

Her instincts as a cursed spirit told her all too clearly that the three people before them... apparently could each dispose of the two of them with ease.

So all she knew was that this was no time to stick her neck out. If she actually had to do something, though, she had no idea what.

"Let's watch for now..." Shoichi Kano had no confidence either. The plot had gone completely off the rails.

He gently laid Riko Amanai, who was breathing steadily in his arms, on a reasonably level patch of grass, then raised both hands high to show that he posed no threat.

Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes instinctively performed a quick scan of Riko Amanai's entire body. Before long, he realized she was merely unconscious, not dead.

Did something go wrong on Geto's end? The thought came naturally to him.

Kenjaku was the next to notice something amiss. "Oh my, oh my. It seems our operation to assassinate the Star Plasma Vessel has hit a little snag?"

"You're that-" Toji Fushiguro recognized the voice now, too. When the Time Vessel Association had paid him to take this job, this woman had also been present. At first, he had assumed she was just another member of the association, but now he realized how badly mistaken he had been!

Kenjaku's gaze swept naturally over everyone present before finally settling on Shoichi Kano.

That gaze looked gentle and maternal, but concealed far more beneath the surface. It made Kano's scalp prickle, and his presence instinctively weakened a notch.

Slit-Mouthed Woman took a step forward, placing herself at an angle in front of Shoichi Kano. Though her legs were still a little weak, she raised the Wrongful Death Blade cursed tool with an almost stubborn determination.

"An unexpected sorcerer," Kenjaku said, glancing over Shoichi Kano and paying particular attention to the ring on his left ring finger. Then her gaze turned to Slit-Mouthed Woman. "And a cursed spirit trying hard to overcome her own nature? How interesting."

"Miss Itadori," Kano began, his throat dry. He swallowed, then found himself at a loss for how to continue. "I..."

Slit-Mouthed Woman picked up where Kano left off. "We're staying out of this. The Star Plasma Vessel is still alive. Please let us leave safely, or I can't guarantee her safety."

"Huh?" The young master of the Gojo Clan's expression darkened. "Are you threatening me, cursed spirit? We haven't even settled the matter of you two beating up my friend!"

Honestly, if he had known which side this woman calling herself "Kaori Itadori" was on, he would already have attacked.

The main concern was that redirecting his Hollow Purple straight into the sky had been a genuinely impressive move. Most jujutsu sorcerers only thought of using cursed techniques on a person or an object. It never occurred to them to use a cursed technique on another technique itself. That was an exceptionally advanced application of cursed energy.

At that moment, another complication joined the already chaotic situation.

Suguru Geto, who had been knocked unconscious by Kano and Slit-Mouthed Woman working together, woke up. Supporting each other, he and Kuroi escaped the underground section of the Tombs of the Star Corridor and reached the surrounding woods.

He, too, saw Riko Amanai lying flat on the grass. At first, he thought it was Riko's corpse, but after looking for a while, he noticed something was off-she was still breathing. Clearly, she had only passed out.

"We can't hand Riko over!" Though Suguru Geto had yet to fully grasp the situation, he immediately shouted at Satoru Gojo. "She said she doesn't want to merge with Tengen!"

After all, of everyone present, Satoru Gojo was the only person he could trust.

Shoichi Kano was utterly dumbfounded. Oh, Chovy. It's already chaotic enough here! Why do you have to make it worse, Mr. Summer Oil?!

As Suguru Geto walked up beside Shoichi Kano and Slit-Mouthed Woman, he shot them both a resentful glare. After all, he had lost to these two. Their victory might not have been entirely honorable, but he had still been outmatched.

Since Kano and Slit-Mouthed Woman were a sorcerer-and-cursed-spirit duo, rather than the completely powerless Toji Fushiguro from the original story, Geto could still come to terms with this defeat instead of obsessing over it.

"On that point, we share the same goal," Kenjaku said with a smile. "I don't intend to let Miss Riko complete her merger with Tengen either."

Suguru Geto stared hard at her and demanded, "And who are you?"

Unfortunately, the injuries covering him undermined the intimidating effect of his glare.

"She says her name is Kaori Itadori." Satoru Gojo curled his lip. "But I've never heard of a jujutsu sorcerer by that name."

"If a jujutsu sorcerer this powerful existed," Satoru Gojo began reasoning aloud, "there's no way I wouldn't know about her. So Kaori Itadori is most likely just a fake name and identity she made up on the spot."

Kenjaku merely smiled in silence. Both Gojo and Geto took that expression as an admission.

The maid Kuroi was the calmest person there. She only had eyes for her young mistress, so after checking Riko Amanai's vital signs and finding nothing seriously wrong, she stayed out of the discussion.

Toji Fushiguro spoke up then. "Kaori Itadori, was it? You said you don't intend to let the Star Plasma Vessel merge with Tengen. That lines up with the information I have, so I won't dwell on it. From that perspective, hiring me through the Time Vessel Association to carry out the assassination makes sense."

"But," the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant continued, gripping the chain in his hand tightly, "if you can knock away even Satoru Gojo's technique, you must be pretty strong. Why didn't you do it yourself?"

Toji Fushiguro had asked what most of those present wanted to know, aside from Suguru Geto, who still hadn't figured out the situation. Everyone turned to Kenjaku, hoping for an explanation.

She spread her hands and actually offered one. "There is a certain connection between Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel, and the Six Eyes. Of course, I'm under no obligation to explain exactly what that connection is."

"In short, preventing the merger is one way to break that connection. And killing the Star Plasma Vessel is naturally the simplest way to do so. Originally, I wanted to keep myself out of it. That would allow me to avoid entangling myself in the associated cause and effect as much as possible."

"To ensure the Star Plasma Vessel was actually killed," she said with a smile, "I used a few technical means to observe you."

"But now..." Kenjaku looked at Kano, her gaze making Shoichi Kano's skin crawl. "An unforeseen variable has appeared. The remnants of the Q Organization had no role in my script. Nor should this grand performance... have involved a cursed spirit."

"So I changed my plan and decided to take the stage myself."

Her speech was watertight. On the surface, she had answered Toji Fushiguro's question, but in reality, it contained zero useful information. Beyond tossing out a heap of vague concepts to fool them, she hadn't actually addressed anything.

Suguru Geto, who failed to catch her underlying meaning, was drawn right in. "If you want to kill Riko, you'll have to step over our corpses first!"

Kenjaku rolled her eyes. "The plan has changed, so naturally, I no longer need to kill Riko Amanai."

"Besides, even if I really did want to kill Amanai, I don't believe you could stop me."

"If Satoru Gojo, or..." She glanced sideways at the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant beside her. "This Mr. Toji said that, I might have to take it seriously and stay on guard. But you? Forget it!"

Suguru Geto felt as though ten thousand arrows had pierced his heart. It was bad enough that some bottom-feeder sorcerer and a wild special grade cursed spirit had trampled on his title of "the strongest." Why did this married woman he didn't even know have to insult him, too?!

Was he really not even as good as... that muscular monkey without a scrap of cursed energy?!

Suguru Geto lowered his head, clenching both fists tightly as the fire in his eyes burned even brighter.

I have to get stronger! Collect more, stronger cursed spirits! Trample all these people beneath my feet!!!!!!

"What exactly do you want?" Satoru Gojo gradually emerged from the "I alone am the honored one" state of his awakening and became considerably calmer. "Surely you aren't spouting all this nonsense just to keep us here?"

"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify all that is impure!" Kenjaku suddenly recited. A black membrane descended from the sky, enveloping this stretch of open ground in front of the Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Had she... lowered a Curtain?

"I don't want anyone else to hear what comes next," she said, scratching her cheek. "So setting up a Curtain is quite necessary."

"I told you, I've changed my mind. I don't intend to kill Riko Amanai. And... I also intend to train her to become a jujutsu sorcerer."

"What?!" Suguru Geto's and Satoru Gojo's pupils trembled.

Kenjaku seemed quite pleased by the two boys' shocked expressions, so she decided to drop another bombshell. "You didn't know, did you? There was once another Star Plasma Vessel who escaped the merger, and she later became a jujutsu sorcerer. That leads me to suspect that Star Plasma Vessels share some special constitution akin to an inherited cursed technique."

"And that sorcerer was-"

"Yuki Tsukumo." Shoichi Kano cut in with zero startup frames, interrupting Kenjaku's attempt to show off.

Kenjaku gave Kano a mildly displeased look. She had finally managed to build some suspense, only for him to spoil the reveal, so naturally she was a little unhappy. Still, she nodded slightly. "The boy from the Q Organization is correct."

Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto exchanged a glance. Both were unsettled. They had never known that their senior, a special grade sorcerer, had such a past. Though they didn't entirely believe the words of this woman calling herself Kaori Itadori, the seeds of doubt had at least been planted in their minds.

"I can enter into a binding vow with everyone here," Kenjaku said, spreading her hands. "I guarantee that I will not harm Riko Amanai by any means, directly or indirectly. I can also guarantee that I will train her to become a jujutsu sorcerer."

"At the same time, you can call on me for help when you encounter a powerful enemy." She raised two fingers. "Either I or Amanai, once she becomes a jujutsu sorcerer, can provide each of you with assistance twice, free of charge."

"In return, none of you may reveal anything that happened inside this Curtain. Not a single word!"

Satoru Gojo, who had already landed on the ground, took two steps forward and pointed at Kenjaku. "One day, I'm going to tear off that pretentious mask of yours!"

"You're welcome to try." Kenjaku smiled faintly. "But do you accept the binding vow, young master of the Gojo Clan?"

"I accept!" Satoru Gojo practically roared.

"Satoru?" Suguru Geto's expression was uneasy. "How could you go ahead without..."

"Geto." Satoru Gojo turned to his best friend. "She only said we can't reveal what happened here. She didn't say we can't investigate on our own, much less that we can't make our findings public!"

Kenjaku smiled and applauded.

Suguru Geto smiled indulgently, though the injuries Kano and Slit-Mouthed Woman had left on his face and body marred his handsome looks. "What am I going to do with you?"