Following the Trail

On the way back, Suguru Geto kept looking out the window. Satoru Gojo sat beside him without asking what he was looking at or saying a word. The Echo pulsed in his chest, a little faster than usual, with a sense that things were finally about to begin.

It was already dusk when they reached Jujutsu High. Suguru Geto did not return to his dorm. He stood at the gate, with Satoru Gojo beside him, and neither of them spoke.

"Tomorrow," Satoru Gojo said at last, "what time are we leaving?"

"The earlier, the better."

"Then five."

Satoru Gojo took a piece of candy out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth. He did not offer Suguru Geto one because he only had the one piece. He crumpled the wrapper into a ball and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Geto," he said indistinctly around the candy, "is the Echo inside you showing you the way?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure it's pointing you in the right direction?"

"No. But it's never lied to me."

Satoru Gojo swallowed the candy and turned to look at Suguru Geto. "It's never told you everything, either. The things Hazuki said, the things written on that paper in the wooden box-it never told you any of that. It only gives a pulse once you discover something."

Suguru Geto fell silent for a few seconds. "Satoru, when did you get so good at analyzing things?"

Satoru Gojo tilted his head. "I've always been good at it. I'm usually just too lazy to bother."

Suguru Geto could not help smiling. Seeing him smile, Satoru Gojo smiled too. Their smiles slowly faded in the twilight, and neither spoke again. They stood there, watching the sky gradually darken.

At five the next morning, Suguru Geto stood at Jujutsu High's main gate. It was still dark, with a scattering of stars hanging in the sky. Satoru Gojo was already there, leaning against a stone pillar by the gate with two rice balls in his hand.

"The cafeteria isn't open yet," Satoru Gojo said. "These are left over from yesterday."

Suguru Geto took a rice ball and bit into it.

The car was parked by the gate. The driver was a young woman who looked very nervous. Her hand trembled when she saw Satoru Gojo.

"M-Mr. Gojo, are you coming too?"

"Tokyo first," Suguru Geto said.

Their first stop was a small shrine in Tokyo's Meguro Ward. It was not Kumano Shrine, but a shrine so small it did not even have a name, tucked behind an apartment building and hidden by a fence. Without looking closely, they would never have found it. Suguru Geto had found the address on the paper in the wooden box: "Tokyo, Meguro, Koshinzuka." Koshinzuka was a tiny stone monument wedged between apartment buildings, with clutter and trash piled around it.

Suguru Geto got out of the car and stood before the monument. It was very old, its inscription worn smooth by wind and rain until the characters were illegible. He crouched down and pressed his hand against it. A thin layer of moss covered the stone's surface. The Echo pulsed once, telling Suguru Geto this was the place.

"Satoru, it's right here."

Satoru Gojo came over and crouched beside him. He did not ask, "How do you know?" or say, "Are you sure?" He reached out, pressed his hand against the stone monument, and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened them.

"There's something underneath," Satoru Gojo said. "It's an Echo."

Suguru Geto took the paper out of his pocket and checked the notes on it.

He reached out and channeled cursed energy into the monument. The stone shuddered, and the moss on its surface split apart, revealing a narrow crack beneath it. A sliver of light seeped through the crack, pulsing in perfect sync with the Echo in Suguru Geto's chest.

He reached out, a stream of cursed energy flowing from his palm into the crack like a hand. He felt something small, round, and smooth, then pulled it out.

It was a bead. Silvery white and about the size of a marble, it had a fine crack across its surface with light shining through. It pulsed, confirming that it was an Echo fragment. Suguru Geto held the bead, then brought it to his mouth and swallowed it.

"Geto, are you all right?" Satoru Gojo's voice came from beside him.

Suguru Geto opened his eyes. "I'm fine. It's been absorbed."

"Did the Echo get bigger?"

Suguru Geto closed his eyes and looked inward for a moment. The Echo had not changed in size. It was still smaller than a fist.

"It hasn't gotten bigger. It's brighter."

Satoru Gojo nodded, stood up, and brushed the dust off his trousers. "Next stop?"

"Setagaya."

The car headed toward Setagaya Ward. Suguru Geto leaned back in his seat and looked out the window. Tokyo's streets were wide, full of pedestrians, cars, and traffic lights. He had walked these streets many times, back when he had been alone.

"Geto." Satoru Gojo's voice came from beside him.

Suguru Geto opened his eyes and saw Satoru Gojo's face drawing closer and closer to his. "What is it?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"The past."

"The past? How long ago?"

Suguru Geto was silent for a second. "A long time ago."

Satoru Gojo did not press him. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes too.

The Echo fragment in Setagaya Ward was hidden in an old well in a park. The well had been filled in and covered with a concrete slab. Suguru Geto lifted the slab, reached into the well, and felt the bead among the dirt and rubble. It was silvery white, just like the first, but slightly larger.

The Echo fragment in Adachi Ward was hidden beneath a bridge pier. The bridge was old, its piers covered in moss and vines. Suguru Geto lay on his stomach on the riverbank, reached into the gap between the pier and the water, and felt the bead. It was smaller than the first two. He swallowed every Echo fragment he found, and the Echo absorbed them.

By the time they returned to the car, it was almost dark. Suguru Geto leaned back in his seat, feeling the Echo pulse. Three fragments, three places, one day.

"Geto," Satoru Gojo said, "you swallowed three Echo fragments today. How do you feel?"

Suguru Geto thought for a moment. "The Echo feels denser."

"Does it hurt?"

"No."

Satoru Gojo nodded. He took his phone out of his pocket, glanced at it, then put it away.

"Saitama tomorrow?"

"Yeah. There are two in Saitama, one in Chiba, and one in Kanagawa. Four left."

"Four days."

"Maybe we won't need four days. We could do it faster."

Satoru Gojo looked at him. The car was dark, lit only by the streetlights shining through the windows. His expression was calm, but Suguru Geto noticed the corners of his mouth tighten slightly.

"Geto," Satoru Gojo said, "you're racing against time."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Suguru Geto was silent for a few seconds. "Tokieda. He's looking for the last portion of cursed energy. I don't know when he'll find it, but I don't want to be unprepared when he does."

"Prepared for what?"

"To merge with him."

Satoru Gojo tapped a finger lightly against his knee. He looked out the window, the streetlights flickering across his face.

"Geto," he said, "will you still remember me after you merge?"

Suguru Geto's throat tightened. He did not answer because he did not know. After the merger, the two Echoes would become one. The memories within both Echoes-Ichiro Nakajima's memories, Tokieda's memories, his own memories-would all mix together. He did not know which would remain and which would disappear.

"I will," he said.

The car returned to Jujutsu High. It was completely dark now. Suguru Geto got out and stood at the main gate. Satoru Gojo stood beside him, and neither spoke.

"Five tomorrow," Satoru Gojo said.

"Five."

Satoru Gojo turned and left. His footsteps grew fainter and fainter, finally vanishing into the darkness. Suguru Geto stood at the gate, looking in the direction where he had disappeared, the Echo pulsing quietly in his chest.