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After hearing the introduction, Suguru Geto let his gaze linger on the mirror for several seconds.

He reached out and touched the edge of the mirror very lightly with his fingertips, as though sensing the cursed energy flowing through the dark silver metal.

Then he withdrew his hand, looking a little thoughtful.

"Pretty good."

"A little better than I expected, even."

Wangchuan swallowed the radish in his mouth. "Of course. I made it myself. The quality's bound to be good."

"Indeed." Suguru Geto smiled without arguing.

Steam was still rising in the oden shop. The middle-aged man in the corner finished his beer and left, and the little shop suddenly grew quiet.

Larue gathered the plateful of used bamboo skewers on the counter and stacked them along the edge of the dish, his movements unhurried.

Miguel picked up his teacup and took a sip. His gaze swept back and forth between Wangchuan and Suguru Geto over the rim before he spoke.

"The mirror... how exactly will you hand it over?"

"Simple." Wangchuan reached out and picked up the mirror, casually tossed it into the air, caught it, and handed it to Suguru Geto.

"Here. Take it for now."

Suguru Geto accepted it, his movements pausing slightly, as though he had not expected him to be so straightforward.

"Aren't you afraid I won't pay the balance?"

"Don't worry about that."

Wangchuan picked up his teacup and took a sip, his tone lazy. "You can't get away."

Suguru Geto watched his matter-of-fact expression, fell silent for a moment, then chuckled.

He turned the mirror over to examine the indentation on the back, then turned it faceup again and brushed his fingertips very lightly across its surface.

"As for the money, next I'll..."

"Handle it however you like."

Wangchuan waved a hand.

"...I take back what I said earlier."

"Which part?"

"You really are rather different from Satoru."

"But now..."

Suguru Geto tucked the mirror into his clothes and picked up the last egg with his chopsticks.

He dipped it in yellow mustard, put it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed, then curved his lips slightly.

"I hope we can work together again."

Wangchuan lifted his teacup toward him.

"Sure."

Suguru Geto raised his own teacup and gently clinked it against his.

The porcelain met with a crisp clink.

Suguru Geto set down his teacup and lightly rubbed its rim with his fingertips.

His gaze settled on Wangchuan's face, which seemed to always carry a hint of a smile.

"Say."

"Wangchuan, you know who I am, don't you?"

His tone was casual, as though he were confirming some unimportant little detail.

Wangchuan's hand holding the teacup did not waver. He did not even twitch an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know."

"A curse user."

He paused, then added in an indifferent tone, as though casually nudging a peanut aside on the table.

"Of course, that's how the Jujutsu Higher-Ups define you."

Suguru Geto's movements paused.

His hand holding the teacup hung in midair, as though he had not expected those last words to come from Wangchuan.

Across from him, Larue's hand also paused as he gathered the bamboo skewers.

Miguel loosened his folded arms slightly, his gaze resting on Wangchuan for two seconds with a look of reassessment.

Steam continued billowing upward in the oden shop, and the broth in the pot bubbled away. In that instant, those sounds seemed especially clear.

Suguru Geto set his teacup back on the counter and slowly traced a circle around its rim with his fingertips.

His smile deepened, as though he had heard something unexpected yet interesting.

"...I didn't expect that to be what you really thought."

"It seems you really are rather different from the people at Jujutsu High."

He spoke very softly, with a gentle note that could almost be called pleasure.

Wangchuan did not reply. He merely picked up another fish ball with his chopsticks, blew on it, and took a bite.

Suguru Geto watched him eat the fish ball, remained silent for several seconds, then spoke, his tone returning to its unhurried composure.

"You must know this too, Wangchuan."

"I killed over a hundred... monkeys."

As he said the word "monkeys," his gaze rested on Wangchuan's face, as though watching for his reaction.

Wangchuan did not stop chewing his fish ball. Only after swallowing did he lift his eyelids and glance at Suguru Geto.

"I know."

He picked up another fish ball, dipped it in the chili sauce on the counter, put it in his mouth, and chewed twice before continuing in an utterly casual tone.

"And you rescued two little girls from that village."

Suguru Geto's pupils shifted slightly.

The change was so subtle that it would have been almost impossible to catch without looking directly into his eyes beneath the warm yellow light.

"..."

He said nothing.

Behind him, Larue's hand came to a complete stop as he arranged his cloth bag.

Miguel's gaze left Wangchuan's face. He swiftly exchanged a glance with Larue, then looked back.

That glance held a complicated mix.

Surprise, wariness, and a trace of... confusion he was reluctant to admit.

Miguel swiftly ran through the Time Vessel Association's intelligence network in his mind.

Lord Suguru Geto had dealt with the incident in that village very thoroughly.

He had left none of those who needed silencing alive, and had taken Mimiko and Nanako straight back to the Time Vessel Association after rescuing them. They had never appeared in public.

No more than five people knew about it, all of them core members of the association.

"Could it be..."

He had previously dismissed the black-market rumors about Wangchuan as exaggerations.

Things like how this man seemed capable of magic.

Claims that he could bring the dead back to life and the like had circulated in Jujutsu Society's underground circles for a time, but Miguel had always considered them overblown hype.

But now...

Looking at Wangchuan's face as he leisurely ate his oden, he suddenly felt a little less certain.

Larue lightly pinched the strap of his cloth bag, a habitual gesture of vigilance.

The oden shop fell quiet for several seconds.

Wangchuan swallowed the fish ball in his mouth, set down his chopsticks, and wiped his hands with a napkin.

Then he leaned against the back of his chair, shifting his gaze from Suguru Geto's face to the opposite wall, as though choosing his words.

"I know why you slaughtered those people."

"I think some of them really did deserve to die."

He said it very evenly, with neither judgment nor approval.

It was as though he were stating a fact he had read in a book, one that had nothing to do with him.

"I can't put myself in your position."

"That degree of... despair, or anger, or perhaps a decision made after being pushed to the absolute limit."

"I haven't experienced it, so I won't say I understand."

He paused and tapped his fingers lightly on the counter.

"But there's one thing I can say clearly."

Suguru Geto did not interrupt him, simply listening in silence.

His bearing remained composed, but Larue noticed that the fingers of his hand holding the teacup had tightened slightly.

"The truth is."

"I don't care whether the vast majority of people in this country live or die."

When Wangchuan said this, his tone was much the same as when he had said, "The fish balls are good."

"Because the vast majority of people have nothing to do with me."

"Their lives, their suffering, their fears-none of them intersect with mine."

"I don't care about their fate, and their deaths won't stir anything in me."

"In their eyes, perhaps you really are scum capable of every evil."

"But."

He raised his eyes and looked at Suguru Geto.

"To Jujutsu High, or rather, to the people you truly care about."

"You're a pretty good person."