October 31, Halloween-in Shibuya

Haruka Itadori's flight shocked everyone who knew him.

His teacher, Satoru Gojo, repeatedly denied it, while his older brother, Yuji Itadori, accepted the news with an expression of disbelief. The other students at Tokyo Jujutsu High frowned and tilted their heads, while the Kyoto Jujutsu High students asked doubtfully, "Did he really disappear?"

Yet even after searching the entire Tokyo area, they found no sign of anyone resembling him.

Another week later, he did something that shook every jujutsu sorcerer.

Satoru Gojo's perspective

Though I couldn't believe it, my brain kept processing the news I'd received.

"Why..."

I had taken out my phone in the middle of class. He must have sensed that something had happened. Yuji looked up at me anxiously and asked:

"Sir, did... something happen?"

Seeing him like that, I hesitated over whether to tell him... but decided that learning about it later wouldn't change the outcome anyway, and spoke.

"The old men at the top have been killed. The main culprit... seems to be Haruka."

"""!?"""

"That means Haruka Itadori's designation as a curse user, and his execution on sight, are now official."

The message itself was brief, but the enormous amount of information it conveyed flowed into my brain without resistance. I stared at the screen, thinking that I needed to act too, and was about to move.

"Wait, sir!"

Yuji grabbed my arm. His grip was so strong that my bones seemed to creak in protest.

"I don't believe Haruka would do something like that! But whether it's true or not... I'll straighten him out. I'll beat the crap out of him myself."

The eyes looking up at me were utterly serious. It was something I'd seen before... a youthful earnestness that almost made me nostalgic. I lightly tapped my student on the head and pulled away from him.

"Hey, hey, kids shouldn't meddle in grown-up business. This isn't something you can fix by 'straightening him out' or 'beating him up.' Sorry, Yuji."

The moment I said "sorry," disappointment seemed to surface in his eyes, but I had no time to worry about it.

This was surely just like what had happened with Geto. It was only a matter of time before Miss Mei Mei's crows were sent out, and jujutsu sorcerers across the country must have received the wanted notice.

With every passing second, that boy might already have been found-or even executed. I had to act quickly.

"Hey, wait. Jujutsu sorcerer."

That was precisely why the voice that had remained silent until now shook me so badly when it spoke.

Ryomen Sukuna manifested only an eye and a mouth on Yuji's hand. His blood-red eye narrowed, as if to say he was disgusted to his very core.

"Something's wrong with his contract and arrangements. What the hell is going on?"

At the King of Curses' words, everyone turned their attention toward him.

"A 'contract'...? What exactly do you mean?"

The red gaze scoffed at my question... then he gave a small sigh. As though saying, "Good grief," he looked up at the owner of the body.

"Brat... don't tell me you still haven't noticed."

We tilted our heads, not understanding what he meant. That was when he dropped a bombshell.

"The number of fingers you've swallowed has already reached eight."

""""Huh?""""

Yuji had swallowed eight fingers? Impossible.

Other than the one that had brought him into this world, and the one I'd had him swallow under my supervision as a test... I didn't remember having him eat any. If anything, the person I could imagine eating them was-

"Could Haruka have eaten them...?"

I agreed with Yuji's suggestion.

Shortly before Haruka fled, his older brother Yuji had told me, "Most of the time, when Haruka smiles, he's lying." Only then had I realized that a question I'd originally asked as a joke actually carried enormous significance.

"Don't tell me you were the one who ate Sukuna's Finger, Haruka?"

He had answered with a smile, "Of course not."

So... Haruka was the one who had stolen and swallowed the fingers kept at Jujutsu High. And Sukuna was protecting him, which meant-

"Don't tell me Sukuna had a hand in it when Haruka swallowed the fingers."

As I was thinking, an irritated click of the tongue interrupted me. It came from the King of Curses.

"How many times do I have to tell you? The one who swallowed the fingers was Yuji Itadori. You, brat. I was there when he fed them to you."

"Sukuna was there watching me eat the fingers...? I don't remember anything like that."

The mouth on his hand answered the bewildered Yuji, "Of course you don't."

"That little wretch fed them to you while you were asleep."

"...What does that mean?"

Facing our confusion, Ryomen Sukuna sighed for who knew which time and began to explain.

He told us about the contract made between monsters. And the full truth behind it.

Ryomen Sukuna's perspective

It went back to the time when Haruka Itadori had lost his friend... and sunk into despair.

I had no interest in a beast stripped of its fangs, but that little wretch named Haruka Itadori, who still harbored a faint, smoldering flame deep within despite losing his claws and fangs... had something worth appreciating.

Few humans could withstand the King of Curses' direct gaze and stare back. Well... there were a few jujutsu sorcerers who could.

But Haruka Itadori was the first to attempt something as insane as simply trying to understand the intent behind that gaze and hold a conversation through looks alone.

"You. How about making a deal with me?"

Perhaps I hadn't done something so foolish on a whim... but because I didn't want to lose another mad little brother.

"...A deal, with you, big brother? Can't I just 'ask'?"

Perhaps drowsiness had dulled the little wretch's mind enough to make him say that. I silenced him with a look. Did he not fear that I might change my mind?

"A 'deal.' I don't trust something as one-sided and vague as a 'wish.'

"In exchange for removing your heavenly restriction, you'll give me something too. It has to benefit us both."

"..."

The eyes looking up at me had already lost their hazy, vacant cast. Then he stared at me with a look that seemed both skeptical and serious... apparently thinking.

"Would it hurt Yuji in any way?"

That question was crucial. In the deal Sukuna was about to make, my demand was that Yuji Itadori swallow the Sukuna's Fingers stored at Jujutsu High. From certain perspectives, it could be called harmful to the brat, or harmless.

"It would be simple if you were a vessel, but unfortunately... a vessel only appears once in a hundred, or a thousand, years. There's no other way but to have that brat swallow them.

"...Whether it hurts him depends on you."

I couldn't tell whether that answer satisfied him. His pink hair swayed gently as he suddenly raised his face.

Light gleamed in the depths of his eyes.

"Well, whatever."

He suddenly smiled. Before that self-mocking smile could make me frown, he had already fixed me with a resolute gaze.

"Tell me, big brother. How are you going to remove my heavenly restriction?

"If you tell me... I'll do what you say."

I had known this little wretch would take the bait.

My smile deepened, and the bandages coiled beneath the Ox Skull Throne snapped loose. It wasn't hard to imagine what those dawn-colored eyes beneath them were looking at.

This beast would never be satisfied unless he did everything himself. Protecting, destroying, even getting hurt.

What could he possibly do with those slender, tiny hands? A creature so hopelessly outmatched in both numbers and strength was ridiculous and ugly... and amusing.

"Well... I'll drain all your cursed energy, then pour all of mine into you."

"Drain my cursed energy...?"

In a sense, this was a gamble too.

The true nature of heavenly restriction was a mystery. But it was known to grant enormous cursed energy in exchange for some kind of price.

Then it was simple. If it involved cursed energy, all we had to do was remove that energy entirely.

"You handled it rather carelessly before... You remember the weapon you brandished when we first met, don't you?"

"Ah... yeah. That thing shaped like a survival knife?"

"Did it belong to your household?"

"Probably... I think so."

"It's a special cursed tool. Why it was kept in such an ordinary household is beyond me... It's one of a pair of cursed tools called Black Butterfly and White Butterfly. Hey, Haruka. Don't sleep."

As usual, the fool fell asleep in the middle of a conversation, so I snapped at him to wake him.

"Mm... sorry. It's the heavenly restriction's fault."

"...Really? Never mind.

"The one called Black Butterfly absorbs the soul of whatever it pierces. The one called White Butterfly absorbs cursed energy. Both can only be used once on the same target, but... they're 'decent' as cursed tools go."

Though I called them "decent," they were in fact special-grade cursed tools. From our very first encounter, this brat had treated such supreme treasures as disposable weapons. He probably had no idea how many times he'd made me sweat because of it.

"But, uh, that knife-looking thing... I smashed it to pieces, you know?"

"That cursed tool is fragile, but it can be repaired immediately. It returns to its original form once the pair absorbs cursed energy or a soul from the respective targets."

"So if I let White Butterfly absorb my cursed energy, it'll be restored... and I'll lose my cursed energy at the same time, right?"

"Then we'll have that brat swallow the fingers and pour their cursed energy into you. That way, the energy flowing through your body will be mine, and your heavenly restriction will no longer function. In terms of quantity, there'll be more than enough cursed energy. There may even be some to spare."

Haruka Itadori couldn't swallow the fingers himself, but he could have his older brother, Yuji Itadori, swallow them, then transfer the cursed energy to himself through the channel formed by their brotherly binding vow. It was roundabout, but it was the only way to transfer the cursed energy from my fingers.

"The danger to Yuji would be... losing to you, big brother, and having his body taken over completely... right?"

The little wretch murmured, perhaps considering what I stood to gain.

"Well... that might happen."

Though that isn't the only possibility.

Whatever that insignificant brain, which wouldn't even last a century, was thinking, it had no bearing on me.

I looked down at him as a twisted smile appeared on his face, and his eyes, now burning with a definite flame, looked up at me. Just as I was thinking how impressive it was that he'd made up his mind so quickly, he spoke:

"It's a deal. I'll handle all the arrangements for getting Yuji to swallow the fingers, too."

Satoru Gojo's perspective

"...So Haruka came up with the plan and stole the six fingers stored at Jujutsu High?"

Sukuna answered my question with nothing but a look.

In other words, Haruka had broken with us completely. He had known the danger of making Yuji swallow the fingers, yet devised the plan and carried it out himself. He had personally erased... the excuse that Sukuna had manipulated him.

"He suggested taking my fingers beneath the Jujutsu High building without breaking their seals. He said it was the room where you interrogated him. Although it seals cursed energy and prevents anyone from leaving from within... conversely, no one outside can detect what's inside."

"That's the room I was in at first!... But I never went anywh-"

"Even if Yuji didn't go there himself, Sukuna could have taken him there with his power."

I interrupted bitterly, earning a mocking snort in response.

"I see. So you saw that."

"You did it the first time I introduced Haruka to the old men. Bringing someone who wasn't there into the room isn't a trick I'd forget."

When I'd taken him to the Remote Conference Room beneath Jujutsu High, Sukuna had used his cursed technique to bring over one of the old men lounging in Kyoto. It was practically teleportation, so he could surely use it on Yuji too.

"Then you broke the seals on Sukuna's Fingers in that interrogation room... and had Yuji swallow them, while Haruka stabbed himself with White Butterfly and lost his cursed energy. After that, Sukuna gave Haruka his cursed energy, turning him into a jujutsu sorcerer freed from his heavenly restriction."

"Mostly correct."

Unlike the composed Sukuna, Yuji still seemed deeply confused. He clutched his head in anguish.

"...Wh-why? Why would Haruka do that...?"

Perhaps he couldn't accept it precisely because he knew his little brother.

I didn't want to believe such a kind boy could do this either, but even so... if that was the reality and the truth, I had to accept it. I rubbed the space between my eyebrows beneath my blindfold. I had to think about our priorities, what to do next, and everything else.

"At any rate, Haruka's defection is now certain. He was also the one who purged the higher-ups.

"...We can no longer stand on Haruka's side."

I raised my eyes to see my students at a loss over what to do.

Ah, right. Of course they would be.

It had been the same "back then, for me."

But... that was exactly why I had to say it.

"Yuji. Megumi. Nobara."

Sensing all three raise their heads, I briefly held my breath too.

"You... the next time you meet Haruka Itadori... can you kill him?"

I posed that cruel question.

After a while, Megumi was the first to speak.

"I... I could. I wasn't that close to him. I can draw the line."

As he said that, his fists were trembling. Did he realize it himself?

Next, Nobara spoke.

"What are you talking about? There's no way we can't catch that sleepyhead. Once we catch him, we'll bring him straight to you."

She probably still had some trust in me, saying something so naive. But her lip... was bleeding.

Finally, Yuji spoke.

The shadow of his bangs hid his eyes, making his expression unreadable, but his voice was utterly straightforward.

"Yeah, thanks... Fushiguro, Kugisaki.

"But I'll be the one to stop Haruka. As his big brother, I have to take proper care of him... right to the end."

His clenched fists didn't shake. The lips forming those words didn't bleed.

"If he's done something bad, I have to straighten him out.

"Killing him or executing him doesn't really feel real to me... but I'm ready to beat the crap out of him."

There was a resolve there that couldn't easily be dismissed as "too naive." Those healthy, copper-red eyes belonged to Yuji alone... yet they held something that made me feel I couldn't prevail against them.

"So, sir. Don't make that face."

Only when he said that did I become aware of myself. Huh? What kind of face am I making?

Pat.

I touched my face and noticed something strange. The corners of my mouth seemed to be drawn tight. My blindfold should have kept anyone from seeing it, but my brow felt deeply furrowed too.

"Ugh... how lame."

I couldn't help muttering to myself, too.

After asking my student something like that, here I was, acting like this...

(Ah... I'm definitely still dwelling on it.)

It was probably because I saw my former best friend in Haruka Itadori.

I knew Haruka's intentions and goals were different from his. But whenever I remembered that lonely profile, looking as though he had nowhere left to turn... I couldn't help seeing one in the other.

And both times, I'd failed to take that hand. I'd watched them slip away.

"It's okay. I wasn't planning to make you worry about Haruka's problems, too, Sensei."

Having my own student reassure me like this... I really was pathetic. I scratched my head hard, trying to deny what he'd said.

But Yuji spoke with even more resolve in his voice than before:

"I have absolutely no idea what Sukuna and Haruka are planning. I'm sure they're thinking about something huge, something I couldn't even imagine.

...But there's one thing I do know. He hasn't changed at all."

I thought he was being ridiculous. That lazy boy who loved sleeping and hated hassle had lost his friends, seen the filth of Jujutsu Society, and been freed from a Binding Vow. Of course he'd changed.

But unlike the rest of us, who tilted our heads in confusion, Yuji trusted only what he saw with his own eyes.

"Even if the world he lives in changes, even if he loses something precious... he won't change.

He hates hassle, loves being spoiled, and gets lonely, but he hates losing and tries to shoulder everything alone... He's my little brother. Yuji Itadori's little brother. Haruka Itadori.

So I... have to protect his heart."

"...His heart?"

As I stared at him in astonishment, he declared as Haruka's older brother:

"That heart of his, the one that wants to be kind to people, is definitely still alive."

That was proof he still trusted his little brother. He hadn't given up yet.

And those words from Yuji reminded me of something Haruka had once murmured to himself.

"I can be the only bad guy."

He'd whispered that once, when it was just the two of us.

(If... Haruka really did think that.)

Imagining that faintest of possibilities, I let my head droop in defeat.

"This won't do... Honestly. I should be drawing a line, but I can't help getting my hopes up again."

I was probably too soft on my students. Otherwise, I'd never have said something like that.

"Yuji."

"Yeah?"

The way he grinned, knowing I wouldn't say anything too harsh, was downright unfair.

"If you're going to beat Haruka up, count me in. After making me worry this much, he needs to pay for it properly."

After that, Haruka never appeared before us again.

But I thought that was for the best.

Because if he met me, I'd have no choice but to kill him. The same went for Megumi and Nobara.

If he met Yuji, they'd probably end up in a vicious, life-or-death fight.

...Rather than witness a tragedy like that, I'd rather he just kept running around somewhere, full of life and causing trouble. That was easier.

So perhaps that was precisely why.

None of us imagined he'd appear in a place like this. That he'd come at a time like this.

October 31, Halloween-in Shibuya-

Underground at Shibuya Station, I'd had a little trouble exorcising the cursed spirits... I'd fallen completely into the enemy's plan, and the man who appeared wearing the skin of my former best friend had imprisoned me in the Back of the Prison Realm.

Once "Gate close" was chanted, this thing would probably shut... and getting out afterward would be incredibly difficult.

The man before me wore a vile smile as he spoke those words.

(Ah... Will they be all right... those kids?)

As I watched it gradually close, worrying about my students...

Suddenly, I sensed an ominous surge of cursed energy.

A clamor of voices. Bright red blood splashing. A pale arm reaching out.

The instant those rust-colored eyes met mine clearly.

(Ah.)

Satoru Gojo understood.

All of it. And the script Haruka Itadori wanted, which was about to unfold.

Then he tried to speak the name of that boy whom Yuji had said hadn't changed.

"Haruka..."

Click.

The gate closed.