[Nine years later]
Naobito Zenin looked at Tan Man with a strange expression and asked him in an intensely serious tone.
"Are you really planning to attend Tokyo Jujutsu High?"
Over those nine years, Tan Man's growth had been plain for everyone to see.
In terms of combat strength alone, he ranked among the best in the Zenin Clan, and there were even signs that he might become the strongest.
But since there had been no reason for him to fight Naobito Zenin at full strength, the clan could only speculate.
A few years earlier, Tan Man had even claimed leadership of the Hei through his own strength.
Naoya, who had competed against him, had been no match at all.
Naobito Zenin had also watched him and Toji establish an underworld organization and start a company outside the clan.
It was precisely because Tan Man was so outstanding that Naobito Zenin could not understand this sudden announcement, delivered without any warning.
Tan Man's appearance had changed dramatically. Standing a hundred and eighty centimeters tall, with lean, defined muscles, he possessed a distinctive air born of his mixed heritage and Golden Eyes that made him stand out effortlessly in any crowd.
Tan Man simply answered Naobito Zenin's question in earnest.
"Yes. I'm serious about enrolling at Tokyo Jujutsu High."
"Why? Give me a reason!" Naobito Zenin pressed relentlessly, determined to get to the bottom of it.
He had always given this child as much freedom as possible.
He could not see what the boy's future held, or where his limits lay.
Naobito Zenin had chosen to let go and give him the greatest possible freedom to develop.
He had also witnessed Tan Man's frightening self-discipline, so he did not believe that giving him free rein would make him slack off or compromise his future achievements.
"There are things I need to confirm, and I need an official affiliation outside the Zenin Clan," Tan Man said calmly.
"So Satoru Gojo is part of that too, correct?"
Naobito Zenin continued questioning him. He had not even needed to think before asking that question.
"Yes."
Tan Man did not conceal it.
"Even after nine years, you still haven't abandoned the idea of killing him?" Naobito Zenin's brow furrowed.
"That's exactly what I'm going there to confirm: how I should deal with Satoru Gojo. I believe there's a reason to keep him alive. As long as he lives, his existence will spur the birth of stronger cursed spirits to maintain the balance. A greater threat from cursed spirits means jujutsu sorcerers become even more important. And as the Three Great Families stand at the head of jujutsu society, their status and the resources they can leverage will be theirs for the taking simply because they're needed. What I want is to build on that foundation and make the Zenin Clan the foremost of the Three Great Families!" Tan Man laid out his ambitions to Naobito Zenin without reservation.
"..." Naobito Zenin fell silent. The ambition Tan Man had revealed was far greater than he had imagined.
In the end, Naobito Zenin agreed to Tan Man's request to enroll at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Only after Tan Man left the room did the elders, who had been present throughout the entire conversation between father and son, voice their admiration.
One ninety-year-old elder's withered body trembled slightly. His sunken eyes blazed as he exclaimed in excitement.
"What a lofty ambition! So what if the Gojo Clan has the Six Eyes? He truly is a divine child sent by heaven to lead the Zenin Clan to its pinnacle!"
Another elder, who kept coughing as though he might die at any moment, chimed in.
"He never even mentioned wanting to take over as clan head. Everything he's done has been to make the Zenin Clan great again!"
The remaining elder was even more dramatic and burst into loud sobs.
"So this is why I'm still alive-to witness the Zenin Clan become great again!"
Exasperated by the noise, Naobito Zenin could only lift his flask helplessly and take a long swig.
Originally, these elders, including those absent today, had belonged to different factions. The only thing they had shared was their distaste for Tan Man's origins.
But in the nine years since the battle that had dragged the Six Eyes off his pedestal, every last one of them had become a fervent supporter of Tan Man.
All because they saw in him the greatest chance the Zenin Clan had ever had to achieve supremacy in the thousand years since its founding!
In his office at Tokyo Jujutsu High, Masamichi Yaga saw the boy he had met that night nine years ago standing before him once again.
Masamichi Yaga still remembered how helpless Tan Man had looked that night. It was difficult to reconcile that image with the tall, handsome teenager before him.
It felt somewhat unreal as Masamichi Yaga read aloud from the new student's records.
"Tan Man Zenin. Cursed technique: 'Eight Hot Hells.' You..."
It was not as though Masamichi Yaga had never heard the rumors and stories about Tan Man.
The year he awakened his cursed technique at age six, he had severely injured Satoru Gojo at a banquet held by the Three Great Families.
A few years earlier, he had taken over leadership of the Hei, becoming its youngest leader in history, without exception.
His strength had even eclipsed Naoya Zenin, whom everyone had originally recognized as the Zenin Clan's next heir.
That was precisely why his coming to study at Tokyo Jujutsu High felt so unreal.
Tan Man spoke first, breaking the somewhat awkward atmosphere in the room as he addressed Masamichi Yaga.
"That night nine years ago, if you hadn't appeared before me and helped me, Mr. Yaga, the only end awaiting me might have been death. So please forgive me for taking so long to come and express my gratitude."
As he spoke, Tan Man bowed slightly and took out a bank card with its PIN attached, sliding it across the desk toward Masamichi Yaga.
Masamichi Yaga stared at the card without moving. Although he understood what Tan Man meant, he still asked.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Tan Man earnestly explained to Masamichi Yaga.
"This is to repay you for contacting my father, Naobito Zenin, for me that night. It's a belated token of thanks. Back then, I had no way to repay your kindness. Please accept it, Mr. Yaga. If that reason isn't enough, then think of it as a transaction you made with me nine years ago, and I'm only now paying you what I owed."
Hearing this, Masamichi Yaga could not help frowning. He spoke sternly to Tan Man.
"I didn't choose to help you because you might have been his child, or because I wanted something from you!"
Tan Man knew the original story, after all. With all that information, he naturally understood what sort of person Masamichi Yaga was. How could he not?
Tan Man nodded slightly and approached it from another angle.
"Of course I believe you're an upright person. But sometimes, only strength or money allows us to accomplish more, doesn't it? Then please consider this gift an expression of my hope that you'll use it to help more people, Mr. Yaga."
"..."
Hearing Tan Man change his approach and put it that way, much of Masamichi Yaga's anger faded, and he instead fell silent.
He admitted that Tan Man had a point. Only by becoming sufficiently strong, whether in personal strength, wealth, or authority, could someone gain the ability to help others.
Just as on that night nine years ago, the only thing he had been able to do for Tan Man was contact Naobito Zenin. He had been unable to save the child through his own power.
At that moment, in Masamichi Yaga's eyes, the image of Tan Man thanking him back then overlapped perfectly with the teenager before him.
But Masamichi Yaga did not know that the one he had saved that day nine years ago was, in truth, the demon king who would bring distortion to this world.
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