Discord

Shoko spoke up. "Now that the mission's done, we should be free to spend the rest of our time however we want, right?"

It was her first mission, after all. Besides, she hadn't contributed anything at all. She'd simply been talked into coming along.

Who knew what Masamichi Yaga had been thinking? They were only exorcising a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, yet he'd actually made them bring her, their healer.

Sukuna glanced at the trio and silently calculated the distance from here to the fried chicken shop.

"We should be free to do what we want now. Didn't we say we were going to get fried chicken? We can all go together."

Shoko said it.

"Sure, sure."

Once Sukuna left the dark, damp alley, the red glow in his eyes visibly faded. Now they simply looked as though he were wearing red contact lenses.

Looking at the bustling crowd outside, Suguru Geto abandoned the idea of summoning Rainbow Dragon. They might as well walk over slowly. It wouldn't do to frighten the ordinary people.

Since they'd chosen a leisurely walk, and chatterbox Satoru Gojo was among the four of them, there was no chance of an awkward silence.

"Geto, look at all those women staring at me over there. They must've fallen for this handsome, dashing face of mine."

Satoru Gojo spoke to Suguru Geto in an especially loud voice, as though afraid no one else would hear.

Seeing how many people around them had noticed Satoru Gojo making a spectacle of himself, Suguru Geto quickly grabbed his arm. "Satoru, stop acting crazy. They think you're a lunatic."

Suguru Geto could guarantee that no one would randomly act like this in such a crowded street. How was it any different from taking a shit in public?

But since the one making a spectacle of himself happened to be Satoru Gojo, standing right beside him, all he could do was grab his arm and pull him toward the middle.

Satoru Gojo, who had been walking on the outermost side, was suddenly pulled into the middle, while Shoko ended up on the outside.

On the other side stood our very own Sukuna, of course.

"Hahaha, Geto, how can you say I'm making a spectacle of myself?"

Satoru Gojo actually pouted and started acting cute with Suguru Geto in public.

Even Sukuna found the sight painful to watch. Who could have imagined a man a hundred and ninety centimeters tall suddenly acting coy with another man?

Goosebumps rose all over Suguru Geto, too. Even the taste of sewage mixed with filthy dishcloths in his mouth faded considerably.

Thinking of it that way, he'd rather eat cursed spirits rolled into balls than listen to a grown man act coy with him.

"Satoru Gojo, you Baka! Everyone's staring at us. Could you rein it in a little?"

Seeing the increasingly strange looks people were giving them, Shoko quickly jabbed an elbow at Satoru Gojo, signaling for him to quiet down.

"Shoko~ Why are you hitting me, too?"

Shoko hadn't actually managed to hit him, but Satoru Gojo still put on a wounded expression.

As a rule, whenever he left Jujutsu High, Satoru Gojo remained highly vigilant, keeping Infinity running without a moment's interruption.

So Shoko herself knew that her elbow could never actually reach Satoru Gojo.

Sukuna stood to the side and quietly watched the show. He wasn't about to join in this childish game of make-believe.

After all, in his eyes, the student versions of Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko were nothing more than little brats.

Still, there was someone in this era who could catch his interest: that being in Jujutsu Kaisen whose flesh could overpower the soul.

But he would have to wait another year to meet that person. He wasn't going to seek anyone out. Everyone he wanted to meet ought to appear before him of their own accord.

"By the way, Sukuna, why did you suddenly decide to come to Jujutsu High?"

While Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto were still being affectionate with each other, Shoko circled around and stood beside Sukuna.

That left Sukuna in the middle, standing next to Satoru Gojo.

Neither of them minded, though.

"I felt like coming, so I came. Everyone in my family was dead anyway."

Sukuna casually made up an excuse. It wasn't exactly a lie, either. His family really was all dead.

Shoko knew, of course, that Sukuna's family had a single line of descent, but she hadn't known that everyone in his family had died.

So when she spoke again, a trace of guilt appeared on her face.

"Sorry, Sukuna. I didn't mean to touch a sore spot."

Sukuna merely glanced at her. Thanks to their difference in height, he could see the part in Shoko's hair from this angle.

Looking at the slightly sparse hair along her part, Sukuna gave a soft chuckle. "Dead is dead. There's no sore spot to speak of. And you don't need to address me like a classmate."

After saying that, he paused briefly. "It feels awkward. I don't like how it sounds."

"Oh, okay, okay, Sukuna."

Shoko hadn't noticed that Sukuna had been staring at the part in her hair as he spoke.

After all, she'd spent plenty of time with Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo, and both of them were so tall.

So Shoko had long since gotten used to speaking while looking straight ahead or lowering her head. She generally wouldn't lift her head to look at someone taller than her.

It made her uncomfortable. No one liked looking up at others.

But everyone who considered themselves strong liked looking down on the weak. Whatever else might be said about it, it gave them a sense of accomplishment.

Of course, a thousand years ago, no one could look down on Sukuna. Back when the average person in Japan stood only around a hundred and thirty centimeters tall, Sukuna already possessed a powerful physique nearly three meters tall.

Before he knew it, his thoughts had wandered again. Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto had finished fooling around, and the four of them fell somewhat silent, mainly because no one had started another conversation.

After a while, the silence did make the atmosphere rather heavy, so Suguru Geto spoke up again. "Sukuna, let's spar again when we have time."

Seeing Suguru Geto's serious expression, Sukuna didn't feel like crushing his confidence. But he had nothing else to do anyway, so he didn't refuse and merely nodded.

Only when the conversation reached this point did Satoru Gojo remember that he'd previously said he wanted to see which of them was stronger.

He quickly jumped in. "Sukuna, I want to see who's stronger, too. Then certain people can stop praising you in front of me all the time."

Seeing Satoru Gojo like that, Sukuna almost thought he was jealous.

"Haha, then give me a chance to knock you flat, so certain people can stop refusing to accept it."

Sukuna wasn't remotely intimidated by Satoru Gojo's belligerent challenge. If this were Satoru Gojo ten years later, he might have needed to approach it cautiously.

But the current Satoru Gojo? He genuinely didn't consider him a threat.

If he couldn't finish Satoru Gojo off within twenty moves, Sukuna would feel he'd disgraced his own name.

"Talk about it when we get back, when we get back. Why bring this up now? It's not like you can start fighting in the street, right?"

Shoko waved a hand at Satoru Gojo, then turned to give Sukuna an apologetic smile, indicating that this idiot never thought before speaking.

"Shoko, stop standing in front of me. I'm not going to fight him in the street."

Satoru Gojo adjusted his sunglasses helplessly. Even if he wanted to fight, Suguru Geto wouldn't allow it.

After all, Suguru Geto was always worrying about ordinary people getting killed.

Satoru Gojo didn't care about that issue at all. What did the lives of ordinary people have to do with him? In his eyes, whether anyone lived or died was none of his concern.

Perhaps only his own friends could stir his feelings. Toward everything else, he maintained an indifferent attitude.

Now Shoko was blocking his path, afraid he would start fighting in the street, solely to keep these ordinary people from being hurt.

He didn't understand why everyone insisted that the strong should protect the weak. They were all people, so why did the strong have to protect the weak?

Satoru Gojo found it unreasonable, but Suguru Geto consistently upheld the belief that the strong should protect the weak in front of him.

That had instilled a trace of compassion for ordinary lives in the naturally indifferent Satoru Gojo, but only a trace.

If anything else became involved, those ordinary people still weren't worth mentioning and had no value at all.

As a student, Satoru Gojo had never drawn a clear line between good and evil.

It could be said that his earliest sense of right and wrong had always been quietly shaped by Suguru Geto.

"All right, all right, let's not make things so tense. Aren't we going to get fried chicken?"

Suguru Geto stepped in to smooth things over again. His persuasion was clearly effective, and Satoru Gojo lowered the sunglasses he'd pushed up onto his forehead.

The moment he'd put his sunglasses back on, he spotted an ice cream shop nearby. He hurriedly dragged Suguru Geto along with one hand and beckoned Shoko inside with the other.

Ice cream was sweet, too.

Shoko glanced at Sukuna beside her, then said, "That idiot Satoru has always been this careless. Please bear with him."

"Haha, it's not like I'm angry."

"Let's go in and try some ice cream together. I haven't had it in ages."

With great gentlemanly courtesy, Sukuna went in first himself, and Shoko followed close behind. As soon as they entered, they saw Satoru Gojo buying ice cream like a madman.

"Vanilla! I want vanilla, and ice cream flavor, and chocolate..."

He had the staff scrambling, their pace at dispensing ice cream speeding up considerably.

Sukuna squeezed through from behind. "Just give me a plain milk-flavored one."

Shoko ordered one with alcoholic chocolate flavor.

After getting the ice cream they wanted, they picked a table at random and sat down. Of course, they didn't sit on the table itself, but on the chairs beside it.

Unlike the others, who ate elegantly, Satoru Gojo held one in each hand and stuffed them into his mouth. Even someone who knew him might have thought he'd come out of some remote mountain village.

No one who saw that sight could possibly think he was the Gojo Clan's next head.

But no matter how he behaved outwardly, his azure Six Eyes revealed his identity outright. It was an identity he had no need to hide.

Those eyes represented the very pinnacle of strength!