Returning to Jujutsu High for Treatment

In the car on the way back.

Sweat beaded on Ijichi's face. Even with his headphones on, he could still hear the endless shouting.

"You three rotten men actually left me there all by myself?!"

Nobara Kugisaki sat in the front passenger seat, clutching the seat back as she berated the three boys in the rear, who had their heads buried like ostriches and were counting their fingers.

Araki Itsuki spread his hands in surrender. "Kugisaki, you know me. I was the first one to remember you after we dealt with Cursed Womb Must Die."

"Besides, those two were the ones arguing. I was trying to stop them."

Nobara Kugisaki thought he had a point and turned her fire on the other two.

Yuji Itadori, however, asked the question he had been keeping to himself.

"Why did you save me back then, Fushiguro?"

Fushiguro kept his head lowered as he recovered his strength. After a long while, he slowly said, "The only thing everyone shares equally is an unequal reality."

"Evil people need to be brought to justice. Karma doesn't work automatically. Jujutsu sorcerers are one of the gears that make it turn, doing everything we can so that as many good people as possible can enjoy equality."

After hearing that, Araki Itsuki praised him. "So Fushiguro shows kindness to good people like Yuji Itadori, but doesn't hesitate to act against bad people like those juvenile offenders."

"That's right. I choose whom to save unequally."

Itadori stared blankly at Fushiguro, deeply moved by his words.

"As for saving Itadori, that was even simpler. I just didn't want to see a good person like him die.

"I did hesitate a little, but in the end, I selfishly acted on my feelings."

Araki Itsuki rubbed his chin, wearing a smile that treated life as a game.

"You did well today, Fushiguro. And you were able to stay true to your own path, choosing whom to save unequally."

"As a reward, I can answer two questions for you today."

"Answer my questions?"

"Right. You could say I know everything under the sun."

Araki Itsuki gave a mysterious smile. After all, he was a man who had seen the plot.

All three stared at Araki Itsuki in surprise, not having expected him to be so knowledgeable. Even Ijichi took off his headphones in curiosity.

Fushiguro knew that although Araki Itsuki usually fooled around and took nothing seriously, he had never lied to them.

He hesitated. "My father named me Megumi without even knowing whether I was a boy or a girl.

"Where is he living it up now? There are some questions I want to ask him to his face."

Araki Itsuki waved a hand. "He died ages ago."

"If you get the chance to meet him again, I'll point him out for you."

During the Shibuya Incident, Toji Fushiguro had been brought back from the dead and had all but slaughtered the special grade cursed spirit Dagon.

That monster had been born from humanity's negative feelings toward the ocean. After using Domain Expansion, he had nearly killed Naobito Zenin, the head of the Zenin Clan.

Yet just as Toji was about to kill Fushiguro, who had exhausted all his cursed energy, he recognized the boy before him as his own son.

He asked Megumi Fushiguro his name and learned that his son's surname was Fushiguro, not Zenin.

Satisfied, Toji killed himself with Playful Cloud to keep himself from going berserk and hurting his son.

A chill ran through Nobara Kugisaki. "If he's dead, how can they meet again?!"

"There are all sorts of strange cursed techniques in this world. Surely some of them can bring people back."

Fushiguro fell silent at that. He barely remembered his father from childhood, and even Tsumiki's mother had never returned after going out.

He had thought the two of them had abandoned them to go enjoy themselves.

"Fushiguro, there's another reason everyone thinks so highly of your potential: your father. He was known as the Sorcerer Killer."

"He didn't have a trace of cursed energy, yet he could slaughter special grade cursed spirits."

Nobara Kugisaki exclaimed in surprise, "That's amazing!"

Fushiguro went quiet, then shook his head to put the matter aside and began asking about his older sister.

"Your sister was affected by someone else's cursed technique. Once we find the person behind it, we can see whether it can be undone."

Fushiguro suddenly grew excited and grabbed Araki Itsuki's hand. "You have to take me with you when that happens!"

Hearing that there might be a way to save his sister made Megumi Fushiguro so excited that even his exhausted face flushed.

"Then you'd better work hard. Without strength, how will you get revenge? How will you save your sister?"

Araki Itsuki wore a mischievous smile. Watching the anger and excitement in Fushiguro's eyes gave him the pleasure of playing a character-raising game.

At the mention of strength, Fushiguro hurriedly asked, "How strong do I need to become?!"

Araki Itsuki rubbed his chin and said casually, "Strong enough to solo Satoru Gojo, I guess."

Fushiguro: "..."

Yuji Itadori: "..."

Everyone fell silent. If someone was strong enough to solo Satoru Gojo, what couldn't they do?

"Haha, don't worry. You all have plenty of potential."

Although he knew how difficult it would be, Megumi Fushiguro's whole demeanor changed now that he had a goal. There was a touch of madness in his resolve.

Find the person behind it and save my sister!

Yuji Itadori was furious too. "Fushiguro, we'll help you!"

The scene shifted.

Inside the treatment room.

Satoru Gojo sat on a stand, looking thoroughly displeased. "That was deliberate, wasn't it?"

Ijichi nervously wiped his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"The enemy was special grade, and there were five people to rescue whose status was unknown. How could they send first-years?"

"I'd just applied for a stay of execution for Yuji and submitted an application to have Araki recognized as a special grade jujutsu sorcerer.

"So the higher-ups, unhappy about that, waited until I was away and planned to use their authority to kill them in broad daylight?"

"Luckily, Araki went along. Otherwise, how many of those three would have survived?"

Nearby, Yuji Itadori and the other two were receiving treatment from Jujutsu High's doctor, Shoko Ieiri.

Araki Itsuki immediately nodded, adding fuel to the fire. "Exactly, exactly! That special grade cursed spirit was terrifying."

"Mr. Gojo, you have to get justice for us!"

Fushiguro covered his eyes in embarrassment. Araki Itsuki had beaten Cursed Womb Must Die like a little kid, yet now he was turning the tables and calling him terrifying.

Satoru Gojo said viciously, "Finding the culprit is too much trouble. Maybe I should just slaughter all those bastards at the top!"

Araki Itsuki cheered him on from the side. "I want to see rivers of blood!"

Yuji Itadori was unhappy too, but remembering how weak he had been today, he instead asked, "Mr. Gojo, could you give us special training?"

"What's wrong, Yuji?"

Remembering how Fushiguro had fought Cursed Womb Must Die alone while he could only watch from a distance, Yuji Itadori found that sense of helplessness unbearable.

"I'm too weak. All I do is hold my teammates back. I only know a few fighting techniques. Against a cursed spirit with powerful cursed energy, I don't stand a chance."

Fushiguro's gaze was firm as he made his own request. "Me too."

Satoru Gojo lifted one corner of his blindfold in surprise. He hadn't expected this dangerous mission to yield such substantial gains.

Then he looked curiously at Araki Itsuki, guessing that he was the reason.

"What happened to Ryomen Sukuna's finger?"

"I gave it to Itadori to eat. I was the one who recovered it anyway. If the higher-ups don't like it, they can come find me."

Araki Itsuki chuckled and turned to walk outside. "Mr. Gojo, remember to make the higher-ups hurry up and approve my special grade jujutsu sorcerer status. I'm still waiting to show off."

"If they take too long, even if you want to spare them, I won't be able to resist ripping those maggots' heads off."

"All right, I'm heading out for a bit."

Watching him leave, Satoru Gojo spread his hands at Ijichi. "You heard him. He isn't like Yuta Okkotsu. He won't obediently accept the higher-ups' arrangements."

Shoko Ieiri, standing nearby, watched Araki Itsuki's retreating figure with curiosity. "So that's your lawless student?"

"He certainly has a taste for killing."

Satoru Gojo shook his head. "Rather than having a taste for killing, he treats life like a game and considers nothing off-limits.

"It feels like he takes nothing seriously and only wants to see interesting things."

At that thought, Satoru Gojo couldn't help laughing. He was so much like him. Which of them was really the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age?

Then he turned his gaze toward Yuji Itadori and the other two.

"After what happened, I think you should understand that our higher-ups are a blight on Jujutsu Society."

"There are useless cowards hiding in their shells, useless heirs, arrogant good-for-nothings, plain idiots, and rotten idiots."

"I'm going to reset this garbage Jujutsu Society."

The three rarely heard Satoru Gojo speak from the heart, so they all listened intently.

"Killing every last one of those fools at the top would be easy, but that would only treat the symptoms, not the cause. And using violence wouldn't make everyone follow me."

"So I chose education. I want to raise strong, intelligent allies who will eventually replace the higher-ups."

"So you three need to work hard, Yuji."

At that point, he perhaps felt that the atmosphere had grown a little too solemn.

Satoru Gojo flashed a wicked grin. "But don't put too much pressure on yourselves. You've got your teacher here!"

The night was quiet.

Yuji Itadori lay in bed and rolled onto his side to glance at the picture of a beautiful woman with a large butt on the wall. Only then did he contentedly prepare to sleep.

But the moment he closed his eyes, he found himself in a place filled with blood and bones.

The spine of an enormous creature stretched into the distance. He stood on ground awash with blood, facing a shrine of bones piled from countless grotesque sheep skulls.

Dressed in a kimono, Ryomen Sukuna stood atop the bone shrine, looking down at Yuji Itadori with a mocking smile.

"Brat, do you want power?"

This being, who acted solely according to his own whims, felt an urgent desire for the first time to recover all his power and return to the world.

Megumi Fushiguro, whose cursed technique used shadows; the extraordinarily mysterious Araki Itsuki; and Satoru Gojo, who proclaimed himself invincible.

This era was far too interesting!