The redeemed

The elevator descended slowly, dim lights spaced evenly along the shaft.

Oppressive. Stifling.

All three people in the elevator remained silent, their hearts churning with emotion.

Worry, confusion, bewilderment, and the approaching moment of a life-or-death choice.

Riko Amanai's thoughts were a tangled mess she could neither unravel nor straighten out. The more they piled up, the more they felt like a boulder crushing the breath out of her.

Misato Kuroi felt the same. Their years together had made her bond with Riko Amanai as close as family, even... even knowing that she was the Star Plasma Vessel, born with the duty of saving the world.

Even knowing that once she went, she would never come back...

Suguru Geto took it all in and understood what he needed to do next.

This girl should never have been assimilated like this, much less killed.

Without her identity as the Star Plasma Vessel, she was merely a young student, a little girl who loved sweets and having fun.

If not for this filthy world, why should she have to pay with her life?

If only there were no curses...

The thought surfaced in his mind, startling him.

Why had he suddenly thought of something like that? All he needed to do now was fulfill his own responsibilities.

So, even though the thought had entered his mind, it was ultimately beyond what he could accomplish now. He could only quietly suppress it and focus on what came next.

There was no time to think any further, because the elevator had arrived.

The elevator doors opened, and the light inside spilled out, tearing a crack through the darkness of the underground passage.

Suguru Geto was the first to leave the light and step into the darkness.

With someone leading the way, Amanai naturally followed, forcing down her thoughts, numb and silent.

She was a little scared...

"Miss Riko..."

A voice stopped the dazed girl. It was Misato Kuroi.

Standing a short distance away, she bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I can only accompany you this far..."

She wanted to pretend to be a little stronger, but memories flashed through her mind: their long years together, Riko telling her how delicious her cooking was, asking whether work had tired her out, looking at her with admiration after watching her take down a bad guy...

Amanai's smile was like a spell now, binding her heart tight.

"Please..."

Her voice grew tearful. She truly...

"Please..."

Just as she summoned the courage to say a few words of farewell, a warm embrace rushed into her arms.

"Kuroi, I love you so much! I always have, all this time!"

Words of gratitude sounded beside her ear. The girl she had spent half her life caring for was now crying against her shoulder.

Misato Kuroi could no longer hold back her tears. Large drops rolled down her cheeks as she clenched her teeth, torn between reluctance to part and a profound unwillingness to accept it...

"Me too... I don't want to leave you either!"

They cried in each other's arms, sharing their feelings and acknowledging the place each held in the other's heart.

And saying goodbye...

Suguru Geto stood farther away, looking back at them.

If only there were no curses.

The thought washed through his mind again. Something seemed to weigh on his shoulders, binding him with a heavy, tangled burden.

After a long while, their farewell ended. Amanai gathered herself and set off again down her final path.

In her words, "I don't want Lord Tengen to see me crying."

After they had walked for an unknown length of time, a light gradually appeared in the distance.

She stepped out, and the scene before her flooded into her eyes.

"This is..."

"That's right. This is where Lord Tengen resides." Suguru Geto looked at the structures before them, which resembled an underground city, and explained to the girl, "The foundation of the country's major barriers-the main hall of the Tombs of the Star Corridor."

Amanai gazed at the "city" before her and its most conspicuous feature, the enormous tree, before her vacant eyes settled on the stairs below.

Just then, Suguru Geto continued, "Go down the stairs, pass through the gate, and reach the roots of that tree. You'll enter a barrier different from the one surrounding Jujutsu High. Only those invited can enter."

His voice held no emotion, as though he were reading out Amanai's final destination. "Lord Tengen will protect you until the assimilation is complete..."

Riko Amanai listened quietly, her thoughts unknown.

Was she thinking about her days at school? Karaoke with her classmates? Or that trip to the beach, playing in the water with two new friends who had been strangers but had quickly become close...

Why think about any of that? I'm about to...

About to die...

Not be assimilated. Not live on alongside Lord Tengen...

Just die. Simply die.

No matter how beautifully they dress it up-for Japan, for the world, for Jujutsu Society...

I'm about to die.

"Or... you could turn around and go home with Miss Kuroi."

Huh?

Amanai looked incredulously at the person who had spoken. Geto?

"When our homeroom teacher gave us the mission, he called the 'assimilation' an 'execution.'"

"He said it that way on purpose to make us feel guilty. He seems straightforward, but he's always so roundabout..."

Riko Amanai looked at Suguru Geto, still unable to process what he was saying.

Suguru Geto looked at her too, his shoulders subtly relaxing, as though merely saying these words could lighten his burden a little.

"Before we met you, I discussed it with the other two..."

On a forest path, Satoru Gojo held a handful of yen coins from who knew where, tossing and catching them repeatedly.

"What if Miss Star Plasma Vessel refuses the assimilation?"

Satoru Gojo pursed his lips, his disdainful look suggesting that Suguru Geto had asked a pointless question. "Then she doesn't get assimilated!"

Walking at the back, Kamo Xu nodded too, agreeing with Satoru Gojo's earth-shattering declaration.

Suguru Geto had already guessed he would say that, but, always happy to stir things up, he still asked, "Would that be okay?"

"Huh?"

"In that case, we might have to fight Lord Tengen, you know?"

Geto smiled, but a hint of defiance lingered in his eyes.

Understanding perfectly, Satoru Gojo challenged him. "Scared?"

Kamo Xu suddenly hooked his arms around their shoulders and forcibly pulled them together, the surprise attack bending both of them at the waist.

"No problem, because we're..."

The strongest.

Listening to Suguru Geto's account, Riko Amanai could already picture their youthful bravado and imagine them walking into the distance with their arms around each other's shoulders.

"No matter what you choose, Riko, we'll guarantee your future."

Faced with Suguru Geto's promise, the girl was still mostly stunned.

But looking at his smile, she understood that he was serious.

"I..."

I've been special since the day I was born.

That's what other people decided I was, and I believed it completely...

All my life, I've lived cautiously, avoiding danger whenever possible, living only for this day...

I can no longer remember my parents' deaths. I was too young to grieve, too young to learn what loss meant.

So being assimilated shouldn't matter, right?

Parting with everyone shouldn't matter either.

Even if I never see them again, it shouldn't matter...

Does it really... not matter?

No matter how painful, how lonely, how isolated I feel, it will all end one day. I'm just ending a little earlier than everyone else.

Everyone dies eventually, don't they?

That should have been enough...

But...

But...

I still want...

I still want to live. I want to play, to be happy, to see the sights, to keep playing games and singing karaoke. I want to be with my classmates, with Miss Kuroi...

I want to live!

"I still want to be with everyone!"

She cried. The negative emotions that had built up until now burst like a river breaking its banks, spilling from the girl's eyes as proof that she refused to let it all end here.

"I want to visit all kinds of places with everyone again and see all kinds of things."

"I want..."

The sob caught in her throat, leaving her unable to speak. Anguish filled this poor girl whom the world had tormented.

But it was enough. Suguru Geto understood what she wanted.

He reached out his hand, like a ray of light in the girl's dark world.

"Let's go back, Riko."

As the boy spoke those words, the weight on his shoulders lifted.

As the girl heard those words, her heart eased.

They smiled at each other. Riko Amanai smiled in response, wiped away her tears, and reached out her hand with a smile.

"Yes!"

This was redemption for them both: Geto's kindness and Amanai's life.

BANG!!!!!!!!

A blinding scarlet burst forth with that piercing gunshot...

The smile remained on Riko Amanai's face, but Suguru Geto's relieved expression froze.

Riko Amanai's body crumpled limply, blood pouring from the bullet hole...

"Riko?"

The girl who had been about to gain her freedom, about to find redemption, only one step away from hope... had been shot in the head!

The sudden turn of events seared itself into Suguru Geto's eyes. Had that poor girl been murdered so easily?

They had been so close. So close!

"All right~ Thanks for the hard work."

A man stood abruptly revealed in the distant darkness-the enemy Satoru Gojo should have stopped.

That damned Toji Fushiguro!

Holding the still-smoking gun, he slowly walked toward Riko Amanai with his eyes closed.

His words carried the ease of a finished job. "You're dismissed. Dismissed."

"Why are you here..." Suguru Geto's gaze drifted toward the enemy. Only when Toji Fushiguro drew close did he notice a bloody hole in his shoulder.

"That wound..."

Hearing what sounded like nonsense, Fushiguro raised his head in confusion. After a moment's thought, he understood what Geto meant.

"Oh, that's what you mean. I killed Kamo Xu and Satoru Gojo."

He sneered. Every word, every movement was now like a thorn proclaiming Suguru Geto's helplessness.

It pierced deep into his heart.

That pain defied words...

And so, Suguru Geto's response was...

Cursed Spirit Manipulation

Behind him, two thin black lines opened almost simultaneously. Within them were his two strongest cursed spirits at present.

One humanoid, one dragon-shaped.

Answering their master's fury, they forced their bodies through those portal-like passages.

Manifesting in the world...

"Die!!!!"