The cursed spirit was easy to deal with. It was only because of the drive that, by the time I casually used No Longer Human to reduce it to dust, dusk was already approaching.
And the Assistant Supervisor who had just driven me there had made the ultimate sacrifice during this mission. More precisely, his legs had made the ultimate sacrifice.
Let us observe a minute of silence for this poor Assistant Supervisor.
The Assistant Supervisor's legs had practically been crushed to pulp. Deeply concerned, I carried him into the car, then quickly took the driver's seat and sped off.
I feared that, if I let my attention slip, the passage of time would leave this Assistant Supervisor permanently crippled.
So, in my excessive haste, I even forgot to buckle his seat belt. By the time I was racing down the road, the Assistant Supervisor had rolled onto the floor mat, his entire body a bloody mess.
But I only realized all this just before I got out of the car.
I looked at the completely dark sky, then at the closed infirmary. Only when I checked on the Assistant Supervisor did I suddenly realize I had forgotten his seat belt.
Then I carried the Assistant Supervisor into the infirmary.
Then I stayed alone in the infirmary, quietly disinfected the Assistant Supervisor's wounds, and bandaged them with great care.
Why didn't I call Miss Shoko Ieiri, you ask, or simply take the Assistant Supervisor to an ordinary hospital?
Ah, well, disturbing a beautiful lady's beauty sleep in the middle of the night was terribly rude. Miss Shoko Ieiri already had dark circles. How could I make her work overtime?
An ordinary hospital was even more out of the question. Don't forget, they belonged to the Jujutsu Society. What if someone started digging? Besides, neither of us could openly explain why the Assistant Supervisor's legs had ended up like that.
So, rather than frighten an ordinary doctor, I decided against it!
Still, he was a pitiful man.
A disposable pawn of the Higher-Ups, a target for venting anger. None of the Jujutsu Society's Higher-Ups had expected him to return alive-or, more accurately, to return in one piece.
After all, they had suddenly sent me away so they could go straight for my respected teacher's two students. They could do that, but someone would have to bear my wrath.
So why wouldn't an Assistant Supervisor from an unremarkable civilian family make a good choice?
He was that punching bag. Whether he lived or died hardly mattered, and the Jujutsu Society Higher-Ups would tacitly accept his death.
Ah, how pitiful~
With that thought, I stopped concerning myself with whether the Assistant Supervisor on the bed lived or died. Gazing at the dark sky, I slowly headed toward the student dormitories alone.
It wasn't as late as when I had left. It was probably only around eleven or twelve.
Come to think of it, Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, or Miss Ieiri might still be awake. But I would have to check to know.
Thinking this, I gazed at the star-filled sky and slowly walked toward the dormitories beneath the faint white light of the moon.
The evening breeze ruffled my already messy hair even further. The night wasn't particularly cold. I walked slowly along the corridor windows, and ahead of me stood a figure with his back straight.
Sure enough, I once again found Suguru Geto standing quietly beside the window outside his door.
"Ah-Geto, you're still not going to bed at this hour?"
I drew out the last syllable, smiling as I asked with a hint of puzzlement.
"Dazai..."
Suguru Geto turned around again, only to find me covered in blood.
"Dazai!"
"Easy, easy. Don't disturb the other students' sleep. None of this blood is mine."
Seeing his wide eyes, I smiled faintly and waved a hand to stop the words about to spill from his mouth.
"I came to invite you to an izakaya, Geto. My treat. I even brought a few portions of crab."
I blinked my Heterochromic Brown eyes as though showing off, then gently waited for Suguru Geto's answer.
"I think I'll pass, Dazai. You just got back from a mission, didn't you? Why don't you get some res-"
Suguru Geto fell briefly silent, then looked at my blood-soaked clothes again. In the end, he shook his head and declined.
"I'm going to the izakaya precisely to relax. Geto, did you know? Today is the anniversary of Nozomi and Sōsuke's deaths."
"Teacher Yaga is away, so there's nobody to drink with me tonight. I originally wanted to invite Miss Ieiri, but disturbing a beautiful woman in the middle of the night for a drink would be ungentlemanly."
I spoke as though casually, but deep regret and pain spread through Suguru Geto's eyes.
The midnight breeze lifted the Red Scarf I always wore around my neck again. A faint smell of blood drifted from it, just like that late night-the same appearance, the same night as ever.
I seemed to still be lingering in that night, standing alone and lonely beside the window, watching everything leave me.
Seeing me like this, Suguru Geto opened his mouth, but couldn't bring himself to refuse.
In the end, he nodded and agreed.
"Dazai, you should change your clothes first."
Suguru Geto offered the friendly suggestion, then watched me hurry into the student dorm room where I used to live and rummage out a black coat.
I didn't know what thought or purpose had driven me to do it, but I had kept the room I lived in a year ago. Fortunately, Jujutsu High had always had more rooms than people, so reserving one student dorm room for me was no trouble.
Even so, I hadn't entered this room in a very, very long time. It was as clean as ever, just as it had been when I first arrived three years ago.
Apart from the two pieces of clothing in the wardrobe and a few rolls of bandages that had been stored in the cabinet for ages, it could have passed for a brand-new dorm room.
I casually glanced around, changed into my old black coat, and headed downstairs with Suguru Geto.
In the rather pallid moonlight, I got a clear look at Suguru Geto's current condition.
He looked as though he hadn't rested properly in a long time. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, and exhaustion seemed to permeate his entire body.
He was like a horse crushed beneath a heavy load. There was no telling how much longer he could hold on, but both the master and the horse knew that, given enough time, one of them would fall first and never get up.
Ah, still, I'd better not let Teacher Yaga lose both his students at once.
I'll definitely succeed in dying! So Suguru Geto should stay right here at Jujutsu High and become a teacher someday!
Thinking this, I walked beside Suguru Geto along the pitch-black road. The Assistant Supervisor's car was no longer drivable, but fortunately, Jujutsu High had other Assistant Supervisors.
I simply didn't have their keys. But for Yokohama's king of locks, keys were entirely unnecessary.
So, unsurprisingly, I happily picked the car's lock in under a minute, got in with Suguru Geto, and gave him a taste of speed and thrills.
In the dead of night, a slightly chilly breeze poured straight through the window. As I raced down the middle of the road, a casual glance showed Suguru Geto still lost in thought.
"Dazai, did you suggest going to the izakaya because of me?"
His voice suddenly reached my ears on the cold wind. I paused briefly, then gave a faint smile and glanced at Suguru Geto with apparent puzzlement.
"Why would you think that, Geto?"
My voice remained gentle, and my Heterochromic Brown eyes brimmed with amusement. But that was always how I appeared; it never changed in the slightest.
"...You're actually someone who keeps people at a distance, Dazai, even though you're very warm most of the time."
Suguru Geto fell briefly silent, then thoughtfully spoke those words before slowly voicing the rest.
"So I don't think Dazai would bring up his past with me. Just like you said, Dazai has always seen me as his junior. Ultimately, it's like looking after a child."
"You wouldn't talk about what hurts you, much less tear open your wounds for us to see. You have your own past. There's no need to tell a bunch of people who've never experienced it about your pain."
"I suppose that's about it."
Suguru Geto said all of this almost without taking a breath. Then, as though suddenly realizing he had said something wrong, he lowered his head slightly.
"I'm sorry, Dazai. I shouldn't have..."
"No, Geto, there's nothing wrong with what you said. To me, you and Satoru are simply children who haven't grown up yet."
I smiled faintly, seemingly not at all bothered by what Suguru Geto had just said.
"So, Geto, is what's troubling you now the regret of failing to protect Miss Riko Amanai, or the pain of having your convictions shattered?"
I spoke mildly, asking that piercing question in the same casual tone I always used.
Yet I didn't seem to care what Suguru Geto's answer would be. I remained focused on the cars ahead as I barreled down the road.
"I'm fine, Dazai."
"Geto, I've never denied that you're a good actor. It's just that, with a few extra years of experience, some people can spot what's wrong keenly and effortlessly. As it happens, I'm one of them."
Speaking mildly, I looked at the brightly lit street ahead and opened the car door. Suguru Geto was still sitting there in a daze, so I waved him out and walked beside him.
By the time Suguru Geto came to his senses, he was already sitting in the izakaya, staring thoughtfully at his half-finished glass of beer.
"Ah, you've finally come back to us, Geto."
As I spoke, I rested my entire head on the table, keeping my Heterochromic Brown eyes open as I silently adjusted their highlights.
My signature trick! Controlling whether my eyes have highlights, controlling my own heartbeat...
"Dazai, did you know what I wanted to do from the very beginning?"
"Defect? Turn everyone into jujutsu sorcerers? Quietly take Nanako and Mimiko away? Or massacre the Time Vessel Association?"
I asked this string of questions with a faint smile. Successfully making Suguru Geto's normally rather narrow eyes widen made it even funnier.
"So you knew everything. Satoru said you were someone all the Jujutsu Society's Higher-Ups feared. I never really believed it before, but now I see you're genuinely someone worth fearing."
"Actually, I didn't uncover any of this myself."
I smiled faintly and shook my head, but didn't answer the question Suguru Geto wanted to ask next: who had uncovered it, then?
Nor did I concern myself with whether Suguru Geto believed what I had just said.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask what you would do if you encountered something like this."
Now that his thoughts had been completely exposed before me, Suguru Geto seemed rather relieved instead. He took a carefree sip of beer, then suddenly thought of something and looked at me in puzzlement.
"Me? One leap off a building washes all your worries away."
As though something had occurred to me, I gently shook my head, yet those were the words that left my mouth.
"Jump off a building?"
"Yes. I've always been pursuing death. I really do recommend it."
"But you said you're afraid of pain, didn't you?"
"Just that one moment of pain is fine."
"Is that so..."
"Are you serious about that?"
"Of course-don't you think heading toward death is a delightful thing?"
"No."
"Ah, nobody understands my aesthetics of suicide."
I shook my head and took another sip of beer, looking utterly heartbroken. Unfortunately, Suguru Geto, who had spent nearly two years around me, wasn't bothered in the least.
Why? Probably because he was used to it. He was no longer the Suguru Geto who had been terribly shocked to see me attempt suicide when he first arrived as a first-year. After a year of torment, he had become perfectly accustomed to this hobby of mine.
Though that did make him a little less fun.
"Will you still stop me from making my choice?"
Suguru Geto merely watched me drink, holding a bottle of beer himself, when he suddenly asked that question.
"Yes."
"Do you think what I'm doing is wrong?"
"Wrong? No. Nothing is wrong. Every path has meaning."
"Then why would you choose to stop me? You clearly don't care whether ordinary people live or die."
"That's true. But Geto, have you never considered that human kindness and evil have nothing to do with whether someone is a jujutsu sorcerer? You can't kill them all."
"..."
"Geto, isn't constantly upholding the belief that you must protect the weak just another way of placing a mountain on your own shoulders?"
"Why believe you can protect every weak person in the world?"
"But if curses no longer existed in the world!"
"Geto, why force that burden onto yourself? As long as you can protect yourself, why concern yourself so much with what happens to ordinary people?"
"I don't understand. Are those ordinary people really worth giving everything I have to carry out missions?"
"Ah... Geto, we're simply doing a job for money. That's all."
Before you continue