The end

Watching Yuta Okkotsu leave with Toge Inumaki, Suguru Geto had no desire to linger either. He stood, brushed the dust off his trousers, and said goodbye with a smile.

"I'll head out first. Whatever else there is can wait until next time. We'll see each other again soon."

Kamo Xu had just finished a cigarette and casually tossed it away.

"Let's grab a good meal next time we meet. Should we bring Satoru?"

Suguru Geto waved a hand, his wide sleeve swinging with the motion. "Forget it. I'm still willing to chat with someone like you, who hasn't fully committed to Jujutsu High. But him..."

"If we meet again, we'll probably just be enemies. He might even kill me."

Kamo Xu fell silent. He took a cigarette pack from inside his clothes, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it by gathering blood at his fingertip, compressing it until it heated up.

"Hiss... phew..."

The swirling smoke obscured the last rays of sunlight.

"If he really decides to end that bond himself, I'll have no choice but to stand against him for a while."

Kamo Xu was serious when he said that. He stood perfectly straight, but inside, he had long since lost his way.

When he had first arrived in this world, he had been full of joy, convinced he could help everyone in the original story.

But after all these years...

All his efforts had only saved a handful of people whose survival wouldn't change the plot too much. Those directly tied to the plot...

Had died...

Yu Haibara was one of those victims. His death seemed to exist solely to drive Suguru Geto to defect, and so he had to die.

Then there were the other students who enrolled. They seemed to exist only to make Satoru Gojo more levelheaded. For that reason alone, countless boys and girls were sent to their deaths.

Mountains of corpses and seas of blood...

Sitting in his wheelchair, Kamo Xu had watched everything proceed "smoothly." Suguru Geto grew ever more extreme, while Satoru Gojo grew increasingly serious.

Everything was laying the groundwork for the grand spectacle of [Satoru Gojo killing Suguru Geto].

If everyone marked for death would die anyway, what was the point?

Rather than keep forming unnecessary bonds, he would protect the ones he already had...

By severing the shackles of the future before they could bind him!

This was Kamo Xu's first attempt, an attempt that began with Yuta Okkotsu.

It wasn't as though he had never tried to rewrite the plot ahead of time. He had even gone out of his way to scour the world for Kenjaku and the four Special Grade Cursed Spirits.

But it was as though those creatures didn't exist. Until their appointed moment in the plot, he couldn't find a single trace of them.

Only after Yuta Okkotsu appeared did a crack open in the barrier preventing him from finding any leads.

Kenjaku... had appeared!

His target was naturally Suguru Geto. He would wait for Geto and Yuta Okkotsu to leave each other badly wounded, just as they had in the original story, then swoop in to reap the rewards.

If Kamo Xu wanted to stop him, there were only two approaches.

The first: kill Yuta Okkotsu ahead of time, allowing Suguru Geto to seize the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Rika and take over Jujutsu High.

As long as Suguru Geto survived, the plot would naturally change beyond recognition.

The second: make Suguru Geto abandon his plan to slaughter every Non-Sorcerer.

In truth, Suguru Geto had long since understood whether the path he had chosen was right or wrong. Once the ignorant fervor of his youth faded, and he witnessed firsthand the goodness that still remained in the world...

He, too, grew increasingly lost.

But now he had a new family, and the impulsive choices of his past kept pushing him forward.

To stop himself from thinking so much, Suguru Geto covered his ears, squeezed his eyes shut, and closed his mouth. He wouldn't listen, wouldn't look, and wouldn't speak.

He simply kept sprinting through the darkness in the vague direction his heart pointed him, endlessly wandering through the shadows.

Kamo Xu was trying both approaches. If Yuta Okkotsu died in an [accident] during this period, it would save him a great deal of trouble.

It would wrong the boy, but...

Kamo Xu's fingers suddenly tightened around his cigarette. Half of it snapped off and tumbled clumsily to the ground, scattering sparks on impact.

Just as Suguru Geto ultimately had no choice but to kill ordinary people, and Satoru Gojo ultimately had no choice but to kill his dearest friend.

In the end, to protect what he cherished, Kamo Xu likewise had no choice but to kill some good people.

He had to admit that he was a despicable, selfish bastard. He also had to admit that he...

Didn't deserve to be called human.

"Hey, Geto..." Kamo Xu didn't turn around. Looking down at the slain cursed spirit that had yet to fully dissipate, he called out to Suguru Geto as he was about to leave.

"What is it, Mr. Cursed Spirit Killer?" he replied, still smiling.

Kamo Xu opened his mouth, but the words of persuasion on his tongue came out differently. "...Stay safe on the way."

He didn't know why he had said that. He had meant to ask why Geto insisted on holding the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, to urge him to stop so they could all keep living...

No, he knew. Kamo Xu knew saying that wouldn't work.

So... he turned around and looked Suguru Geto earnestly in the eyes. "Make sure you survive."

Seeing Kamo Xu so serious, the man in the Monk's Robe burst into laughter instead. He kept slapping his thigh, laughing so hard he doubled over.

"Hahaha, that's so unlike you! Looking me in the eye and saying something that sappy. You're the one who seems into men now!"

Suguru Geto wiped away the tears from laughing, but one look at Kamo Xu's expression made him chuckle again.

"Don't worry. You cursed me to live to a hundred, remember? How could I bear to die now?"

Kamo Xu walked out of Commercial Street with a freshly lit cigarette between his lips. From a distance, he spotted Ijichi and Yuta Okkotsu talking beside the car.

The injured Toge Inumaki was resting in the back seat. As soon as Yuta Okkotsu saw Kamo Xu, he started waving his arms, as though afraid Kamo Xu wouldn't notice him.

"Mr. Kamo! Where did you go just now? There was actually a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit in there. That wasn't what the intel said!"

Yuta Okkotsu ran over to Kamo Xu and began reporting what had happened, his eyes wide.

"Mr. Kamo, why didn't you help just now? If you'd lent us a hand, Inumaki definitely..."

"Quit whining..." Kamo Xu couldn't be bothered with him.

Huh?

The sudden rebuke startled Yuta Okkotsu. He couldn't figure out what he had said wrong.

When we run into an enemy stronger than us, isn't it only natural for Mr. Kamo, the strongest person here, to help?

Looking at the boy, Kamo Xu's already furrowed brow creased even deeper.

When he went out to exorcise cursed spirits, situations that didn't match the intel were a dime a dozen, never mind those unusual cursed spirits that possessed innate domains.

Even I, a Grade 1 Sorcerer, didn't complain. You're a Special Grade Sorcerer with unlimited cursed energy and a Special Grade Cursed Spirit in tow, and you're already whining?

Ignoring Yuta Okkotsu, he nodded to Ijichi and confirmed that the cursed spirits had been exorcised, including an additional Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.

The Semi-Grade 1 had probably killed all those small-fry cursed spirits. It wasn't a problem with the intel.

Then he walked over to the back seat and pressed his fingers against Toge Inumaki's throat.

He channeled Reverse Cursed Technique outward...

Pure positive energy flowed through his fingertips into Toge Inumaki's swollen, stinging throat. Soon, most of the pain from the backlash subsided. Aside from his voice still being a little hoarse, he could speak without difficulty.

Once healed, Toge Inumaki said, "Salmon," to Kamo Xu. It was probably a thank-you, but Kamo Xu couldn't understand him.

He had only done it in passing anyway. It didn't matter.

As for Yuta Okkotsu's injuries, it wasn't as though he couldn't learn Reverse Cursed Technique himself. If he had a problem, he could heal it himself.