Two teenage boys walked through the streets of Tokyo, though their walking postures were bizarre.
Suguru Geto leaned his head forward, his torso half bent and his hands in his pockets, walking like someone with a neck condition.
Satoru Gojo leaned his entire body backward, pouring his drink into his mouth without caring about the looks he drew.
He casually tossed the empty can into a trash bin, then said to Suguru Geto:
"I can understand why the Q Organization wants to assassinate the Star Plasma Vessel, but why does the Time Vessel Association want her dead too? Don't they worship Tengen?"
"The one they worship is Lord Tengen before assimilation.
They hold the extreme belief that assimilating with the Star Plasma Vessel would make Lord Tengen impure..."
Suguru Geto patiently explained it to his best friend beside him.
After listening, Satoru Gojo complained, "What a pain!
We could've reached the Zenin Clan by now, but instead we have to protect some little girl!"
"Gojo, don't say that. This does concern the future of the Jujutsu Society, after all..."
Suguru Geto sounded helpless too. Right now, he really wanted to know what Ze Zenin was doing. That guy hadn't contacted them for two whole days.
"Let's call Shoko and ask in a bit. She should be almost there by now..."
"Ring, ring..."
Satoru Gojo answered the phone. "Hello, hello. Shoko?"
"What? Ze's been unconscious for two days? And he still hasn't woken up?"
"All right... got it."
"What's going on?" Suguru Geto asked, looking at Satoru Gojo's grave expression. "Don't tell me..."
"That's right."
Satoru Gojo's expression was calm, but then he smiled. "Personally, I don't think we need to worry at all-"
"Ze can use Reverse Cursed Technique, remember?"
Suguru Geto paused at that, then relaxed and said with a sigh of admiration, "Ze's Ten Shadows Technique really is convenient."
"It's a very well-rounded cursed technique..."
Satoru Gojo clicked his tongue but didn't disagree with Suguru Geto.
He also had a guess: Ze Zenin had probably gone to tame Mahoraga.
Satoru Gojo was quite curious. What would that legendary strongest shikigami, capable of taking a Six Eyes user down with him, be like once tamed?
As they talked, the two arrived at the foot of a building.
"Rock, paper, scissors!" They both threw out their hands.
"I win! Geto, you go up!" Satoru Gojo said with a grin.
"Seriously..." Suguru Geto looked speechlessly at his paper and Satoru Gojo's scissors, then took out his phone. "We'll stay on the phone."
"On the phone it is..." Satoru Gojo took out his phone.
Suguru Geto calmly walked into the building's elevator with his phone in hand, then said to Satoru Gojo on the other end, "By the way, Gojo, I've been meaning to tell you this for a while."
"Huh?"
"We're all going to meet Lord Tengen sooner or later. You should be a little more polite when that happens, don't you think?"
"Try using 'boku' or 'watashi' to refer to yourself, for example. You'd seem more approachable to our juniors too..."
"Like I give a damn about all that!"
The corner of Suguru Geto's mouth twitched as he listened to Satoru Gojo gripe and walked up to a red door.
"I'm here!"
As he pushed the door open, a dazzling blaze threatened to engulf Suguru Geto.
Boom-
Satoru Gojo looked up at the explosion high in the building and spoke into his phone. "Still alive? You're not dead, right?"
"I might be the only one who isn't..."
Suguru Geto delivered his dry reply as he scanned the bomb-ravaged room, searching for the Star Plasma Vessel.
"Gojo, can you see the Star Plasma Vessel?"
"There!"
From below, Satoru Gojo pointed at the girl plummeting through the air.
Suguru Geto immediately summoned three squid to smash through the window, then jumped out without hesitation.
A man dressed entirely in white, with bandages covering his mouth, then emerged inside the room.
"Don't blame me. Blame that so-called Tengen!"
Down below.
Satoru Gojo looked at the throwing knife before him, curious despite himself. "Who are you?"
"Hmph."
Another man dressed in white, with bandages covering his mouth, stepped out and stood before Satoru Gojo.
"Oh?" Satoru Gojo looked a little surprised. "Instead of running away, you're coming right toward me?"
"How am I supposed to beat you up without getting closer?" the man said with a smile. "I'm Baier, the Q Organization's strongest fighter!"
Satoru Gojo laughed. This was the most confident curse user he'd encountered in years. He couldn't help asking with a smile, "Do you really think you can beat me?"
Baier smiled confidently. "I'll win (die)."
A little later.
Suguru Geto sat with his legs crossed, holding black tea in one hand and covering his ear with the other as he watched the curse user Kekun being tormented by the cursed spirit Fungus.
He remarked, "You curse users even do farming?"
Kekun instantly flew into a humiliated rage and roared:
"You damned brat! You'd better know what's good for you! Mr. Baier is already here, and he's the Q Organization's strongest fighter!"
Suguru Geto then held his phone in front of Kekun's face, showing him the photo Satoru Gojo had sent.
It was a photo of Satoru Gojo beside a man foaming at the mouth.
"This Baier you're talking about-is this him?"
"Yes..." The man stared blankly at Satoru Gojo on the screen, once again recalling a saying that circulated among curse users:
"That day... in our old age, we lost our freedom."
"Well, there you go. And here I thought he was something special."
Looking at Kekun's ashen face, Suguru Geto couldn't help offering another piece of advice. "Young man, I'd still suggest you go get rehabilitated. There's no future in being a curse user."
"Shut up, you little brat!"
Suguru Geto: "..."
"Fungus, give him a nice reward!" Suguru Geto ordered the pink cursed spirit, his expression dark.
"Get away! Get away from me..."
Inside the room where Suguru Geto stood, he gave Kekun enough psychological scars to last a lifetime.
Two men stood atop a nearby building.
One wore a white suit, while the other was a seemingly ordinary muscular man in tight black clothes.
Looking at the smoking floor where the Star Plasma Vessel was, Shiu Kong said evenly, "Those guys have already started."
Then he turned to the burly man beside him. "Although the Time Vessel Association doesn't have the strength to stand against jujutsu sorcerers...
They have no shortage of big corporate bosses among their members, and they're very generous with their money. I can guarantee you that."
"So, are you ready to take part in assassinating the Star Plasma Vessel?"
"Zenin..." A trace of nostalgia surfaced in Toji's eyes.
Then he bared his teeth in a fierce, commanding grin and said evenly, "But Zenin isn't my surname anymore. I married into another family. Just call me Fushiguro..."
Then Toji continued indifferently:
"Let those lowlifes wear them down a bit first. With the Six Eyes protecting her-
There's no way they'll succeed anyway."
"They're classmates of that good-for-nothing student of mine, after all. I can't underestimate them too much..."
"Then are you confident you can beat them?"
Shiu Kong looked at Toji Fushiguro. "It's been a while since you last worked, after all."
After leaving the Zenin Clan, Toji had become a bounty hunter, earning himself the title of Sorcerer Killer.
And after having a child born of his love, he had retired for a while.
"Well, I don't know about that."
Toji stretched, sounding a little uncertain as he said:
"But one thing's for sure: if that student of mine doesn't interfere... I'll probably pull it off."
"So that means... you?"
Toji gazed at the building, the image of the kid he'd spent every day with more than ten years ago flashing through his mind. He couldn't help smiling.
"I'll take the job..."
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