Meaningless

[Because you had consumed so much cursed energy, you could not fully treat Suguru Geto after giving Misato Kuroi emergency treatment.]

[The remaining treatment could only wait until Shoko arrived to take over.]

[As you supported the gravely injured Suguru Geto, struggling to climb up the crumbling elevator shaft,]

[a surge of cursed energy that made even your souls tremble reached you through the thick layers of earth.]

[That was not an explosion. It was the "erasure" of space.]

[The earth groaned, and Jujutsu High's barrier shuddered. Even underground, you could feel that power's overwhelming, absolute force.]

[Suguru Geto's face grew even paler. He recognized it as Satoru.]

[But that unfamiliar, terrifying presence felt more alien to him than ever before.]

[When you finally returned to the surface, what greeted you was a stretch of ruins gouged out by some indescribable power.]

[A massive, smooth trench now cut through the once-lush approach.]

[All matter-trees, paving stones, buildings-had been completely erased in that instant by this strike of Hollow Technique: Purple.]

[At the end of that destruction stood a mutilated corpse.]

[The once-arrogant Heavenly Tyrant, Toji Fushiguro, had now had the entire left half of his body blasted away. The wound bore an eerie smoothness left by distorted space.]

[But he had not fallen. Even in death, he stood like an Asura, still clutching the Inverted Spear of Heaven.]

["Squeak... squeak..."]

[A grating sound that set your teeth on edge broke the deathly silence.]

[You lowered your heads and saw an ugly Worm-shaped Cursed Spirit. It was the Storage Cursed Spirit Toji Fushiguro had used to store his weapons.]

[With its master's death, it seemed to have lost the restraints of its original contract. Dragging the half of its body severed by the aftershock, it instinctively crawled toward Suguru Geto, the only Cursed Spirit Manipulator present.]

[It was pleading for help.]

[As it wriggled, the things originally stored in its Subdimensional Stomach spilled out in a clattering heap like garbage.]

[Various Special Grade Cursed Tools you had never seen lay scattered across the ground, but no one paid attention to those priceless weapons.]

[Because among that heap of miscellaneous objects, the corpse of a girl in a school uniform, carelessly dumped on the ground, was painfully conspicuous.]

[Riko Amanai lay with her eyes peacefully closed, as though she were merely asleep.]

[But the hideous black hole in her temple and the pool of blood spreading from the back of her head cruelly declared the end of her life.]

[Your breathing stopped at that moment. Although you had seen death countless times in the simulator, although you had kept telling yourself,]

["This is only a simulation. This is only a scenario for gathering information. As long as it doesn't happen in reality..."]

[But when you saw with your own eyes that girl who had been laughing and setting off fireworks on an Okinawa beach just hours ago, who had only just decided to live, lying on the ground like a rag doll,]

[the dam of your reason collapsed. You clenched your fists so tightly that your nails pierced your palms, and blood dripped down.]

[Anger, sorrow, and helplessness churned like magma in your chest, almost making you vomit.]

[Only when you equipped mental pollution resistance and Life Is Like a Play did an icy, mechanical sensation instantly seize control of your brain.]

[It was like fitting this body named Li Shunchen with a heavy suit of armor called Player.]

[Under the skills' effects, your facial muscles, originally contorted with grief and rage, gradually returned to calm.]

[To others, you merely fell silent with sorrow, maintaining the composure and coldness expected of a Jujutsu Sorcerer.]

[Only you knew of the silent roar within your heart beneath that calm mask.]

["...Geto."]

[A white figure slowly floated down. Satoru Gojo was not walking; he simply hovered in midair, his toes a few centimeters above the ground.]

[Every wound on his body had healed without leaving a single scar. His bloodstained Jujutsu High uniform snapped in the wind.]

[He, too, looked at Riko on the ground. The earlier frenzy in his Six Eyes had faded, replaced by a deep, unconcealable exhaustion and emptiness.]

[Suguru Geto looked at this familiar yet unfamiliar best friend before him. As his closest partner, he could tell at a glance that Satoru had changed.]

[The willful strongest who only knew how to fool around had died at that moment. What replaced him seemed like a god who truly stood above all living beings.]

["Satoru... is that you?"]

[Suguru Geto's voice was dry.]

["Geto, you're so slow."]

[Satoru Gojo turned his head, his voice terrifyingly calm, without any fluctuation of emotion.]

["No, I should say you got here too soon."]

[His gaze swept over the wounds on Suguru Geto's body, still gruesome despite your emergency treatment.]

[If Suguru Geto had arrived a little later, perhaps he would not have seen this scene.]

[If Toji Fushiguro had not defeated Suguru Geto, he would not have had time to bring Riko's corpse to the surface.]

["I'm glad you're all right."]

[Satoru Gojo spoke softly, as though stating an insignificant fact.]

["Shoko's already on her way. Have her give you proper treatment when she gets here. Shunchen, you look awful too."]

["Shunchen already gave me emergency treatment. I won't die for now..."]

[Suguru Geto lowered his head and looked at his hands. The ever-composed honor student's face was now filled with defeat and self-loathing.]

["But even if I'm all right, it won't help anything now."]

[But Satoru Gojo spoke flatly.]

["I'm the one... who ruined everything."]

[He glanced at you, then at Riko on the ground.]

["It had nothing to do with you. Shunchen clearly risked his life to injure that guy, and I still lost. If it hadn't been for..."]

[Satoru Gojo blamed himself in an utterly level voice. The atmosphere was terribly oppressive, until even he could no longer continue.]

[The silence lasted a long time, until Satoru Gojo raised his head again and looked in a certain direction beyond Jujutsu High's barrier with those azure eyes.]

["Hey, Geto, should we... slaughter all those people?"]

[Suguru Geto froze and asked instinctively,]

["Who?"]

["The Time Vessel Association's leaders, and those followers who clapped and cheered."]

[Satoru Gojo reached out as though grasping something in empty air. His tone remained flat, as if he were asking what to eat for dinner.]

["The way I am now... I probably wouldn't feel anything doing it."]

[You looked at Satoru Gojo. You knew he was serious.]

[He had just crossed the limits of humanity, and his human nature was gradually fading. He was waiting for a reason, or permission.]

["...Forget it, Satoru."]

[Suguru Geto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if forcibly suppressing the hostility in his chest.]

[He was still the Suguru Geto who followed righteous principles. At least, he still was now.]

["There's no point."]

["If we go now, we'll probably only find ordinary followers who don't know anything. The real culprits who planned everything and knew the inside workings of Jujutsu Society must have fled the moment Toji Fushiguro succeeded."]

["Killing a bunch of brainwashed ordinary people... won't change the fact that Riko is already dead."]

[Satoru Gojo paused, murmuring that word to himself.]

["A point... there's no point?"]

[He turned his head, his Six Eyes looking directly into Suguru Geto's eyes, as if seeking some kind of confirmation.]

["Is that... really so necessary for us now?"]

["That's... something extremely important."]

[Suguru Geto opened his eyes and answered decisively. But his clenched fists and slightly trembling voice seemed to be desperately trying to convince himself.]

["Especially for sorcerers with power. If we lose even the meaning behind using our power, we'll truly become monsters."]

[You listened quietly beside them. You knew this was Suguru Geto's last line of defense.]

[He was using righteousness to bind Satoru Gojo, and to bind himself as he teetered on the verge of collapse.]

[But today, an irreparable crack had already opened in that line of defense.]

[Jujutsu High's infirmary was filled with the smells of disinfectant and strong tobacco.]

[Shoko Ieiri was treating the remaining wounds on Suguru Geto's body with Reverse Cursed Technique, a cigarette between her lips.]

[Although you had already provided emergency treatment, keeping his vital signs stable in that environment had been your limit.]

[Actually healing torn muscles and rejoining broken bones still required this professional school doctor-to-be.]

[Misato Kuroi had been placed in the ward next door. Although her life had been saved, her mental state was terrible. After waking, she did nothing but cry or remain silent.]

["Done."]

[As the final wound healed, Shoko clapped her hands. Even her perpetually dark-circled eyes could not conceal her exhaustion.]

["I don't know what kind of monster you ran into... but it's good you made it back alive."]

[She did not ask further. As their classmate, she keenly sensed the suffocatingly heavy atmosphere between the two strongest boys. Even you, normally so steady, gave her an unusual impression.]

[Satoru Gojo leaned by the window, toying with his spare pair of round black sunglasses.]

[He had already changed into a clean uniform, as though that blood-soaked god from earlier had merely been an illusion.]

[Seeing you look at him, he casually tossed the sunglasses in his hand and explained the principle behind that final strike in a flat tone.]

["Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue and Cursed Technique Reversal: Red. Making those two infinitely extending Cursed Techniques collide generates imaginary mass. That's Hollow Technique: Purple."]

[You looked at him. If this had been the old Satoru Gojo, he would surely have excitedly leaned in front of you by now, clamoring something like, "Shunchen, hurry up and copy one with that simulation Cursed Technique of yours so I can see!"]

[But now, he merely looked quietly out the window. You knew he was no longer in that mood.]

["Oh, right. That assassin said some nonsense before he died."]

[Satoru Gojo also told you that, in his final moments, Toji Fushiguro had told him he had a son who would be sold to the Zenin Clan in two or three years, and that he could do as he pleased.]

[You truly had not expected that guy to choose to speak about something like that at the end.]

[Still, you made a note of it and asked Satoru Gojo to bring you along if he went looking.]

[It was not that you worried Satoru Gojo would do something out of line to that child, nor that you intended to do anything to the child yourself. You simply felt that leaving him alone to handle such a matter was not good.]

[After all, Satoru Gojo was the man who had killed that child's father. That always felt somewhat twisted to you.]

[And in front of you all, Satoru Gojo destroyed the Inverted Spear of Heaven, the Special Grade Cursed Tool capable of forcibly nullifying active Cursed Techniques.]

[Only then did you understand that Toji Fushiguro had used this thing to break through Satoru Gojo's Limitless and nearly kill him.]

[Afterward, the higher-ups took full control of everything concerning the Star Plasma Vessel.]

[You had conveyed to Masamichi Yaga your wish to attend Riko Amanai's funeral, but were told your request had been rejected.]

[But from the higher-ups' words relayed by Masamichi Yaga, you gathered that rather than refusing to let you attend, it seemed more as though they had never intended to hold one.]

[You expressed your confusion to Masamichi Yaga, but he only tactfully explained that matters concerning Lord Tengen and the Star Plasma Vessel were secret to begin with, and that Riko Amanai no longer had any family in a practical sense.]

[With Masamichi Yaga having said that much, you had already guessed what was going on.]

[You knew this was not something Masamichi Yaga could intervene in, so naturally, you did not make things any harder for him.]

[You also asked him what arrangements would be made for Misato Kuroi afterward, but he merely shook his head slightly, indicating that he did not know.]

[Only one idiom occupied your mind now: once the birds were gone, the bow was put away.]

[Perhaps those higher-ups might even have preferred Misato Kuroi to die then and there, so they would not have to deal with her themselves.]

[Afterward, you continued investigating the Time Vessel Association. You felt the key lay in who had issued such a mission, and just who could have known that information.]

[And who besides Mei Mei could handle that kind of work? As a result, it also placed some financial strain on you.]

[Mei Mei had been surprised when she first received your commission. From her perspective, after all, this matter was already over, and there was no point in investigating further.]

[Even as a precaution, the next assimilation would not occur for another five hundred years. It was not something they needed to consider.]

[But this matter was important to you. You knew Toji Fushiguro was not actually the key to it. Even without Toji Fushiguro, someone else might have come to obstruct it.]