Parting Gift

[In the days that followed, you were reduced to being the "strongest" sorcerers' babysitter.]

[To Satoru Gojo, the barrier called a "Curtain" seemed to be nothing more than a decoration to appease Principal Masamichi Yaga.]

[He put one up when he was in a good mood, but when he was in a bad mood or got carried away fighting, he forgot all about it.]

[And so, your work became exceptionally busy.]

[Satoru Gojo had "accidentally" sheared away half a building while exorcising a cursed spirit on the streets of Shibuya?]

[You had to contact the police immediately, fabricate evidence at the scene of an explosion caused by aging gas pipes, and expertly wrangle with the insurance company.]

[The mess Suguru Geto left after catching his cursed spirit Pokémon?]

[You were the one who had to "scrub" that clean bit by bit, too.]

[But this was not without its rewards.]

[In the course of cleaning up Satoru Gojo's countless messes, you quickly became proficient at casting a "Curtain."]

[Although your total cursed energy remained low, the precision of your cursed energy control reached an astonishing level through the torment these two "strongest" sorcerers put you through.]

[However, when it came time for that year's card draw, you only drew an inconsequential N card.]

[The second year soon arrived.]

[As Satoru Gojo and the others entered their second year, Tokyo Jujutsu High also welcomed two new first-years, Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara.]

[Compared with those two monstrous upperclassmen, these two underclassmen seemed incredibly "normal."]

[Only when you accompanied them on missions did you feel the disparities in the world even more keenly.]

[Kento Nanami was calm and dependable, while Yu Haibara was warm and outgoing. They were what jujutsu sorcerers ought to be.]

[That summer was especially long.]

[Irritating waves of heat filled the air, and the cries of cicadas were as piercing as electric drills.]

[You found it strange that, although you had always handled mission arrangements for Satoru Gojo's group of three, they had suddenly been assigned a mission you knew absolutely nothing about.]

[It seemed that, as a low-ranking trainee supervisor, you had been excluded.]

[You could not help wondering just what mission they had gone to carry out.]

[Three days later, you were urgently summoned to handle the aftermath at a Time Vessel Association base.]

[There, you ran into the two who had returned.]

[You saw Satoru Gojo.]

[He was covered in blood, yet completely unharmed.]

[His azure Six Eyes shone in the sunlight, and he exuded a frenzied aura that bordered on divine.]

[He hovered in midair, terrifying cursed energy dancing at his fingertips, like a god who had just returned from hell.]

[Afterward, you learned that he had mastered reverse cursed technique and truly become the one who declared, "Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one."]

[It was also from that day onward that you keenly noticed Suguru Geto seemed to have changed.]

[The model student who always smiled and said "thank you" to you, who was always saying "the strong must protect the weak," grew increasingly silent.]

[After missions, he no longer chatted with you, instead frequenting the bathhouse.]

[Water rushed and splashed. He seemed to be trying to wash away a nonexistent smell on his body-the smell of cursed spirits and monkeys.]

[While organizing his mission reports, you repeatedly saw that he had written the word "monkeys" on the paper, his pen pressing so hard that its tip tore through the page.]

[It was disgust toward non-sorcerers, and also his struggle with the collapse of his own beliefs.]

[He seemed to be restraining himself desperately, keeping those feelings from showing.]

[You stood in the shadows of the corridor, watching Suguru Geto swallow cursed spirit orbs alone beneath the blazing sun. There was no sympathy in your eyes, only cold observation.]

["A bitter summer..."]

[As time passed, you gradually pieced together the truth of that summer through the "Windows" intelligence network.]

[Lord Tengen's assimilation had failed.]

[The girl named Riko Amanai had died.]

[The person responsible was a man with a "heavenly restriction" and no cursed energy whatsoever. His name was Toji Fushiguro.]

[He was also the one who had gravely wounded Satoru Gojo and had nearly killed him.]

["Toji Fushiguro..."]

[The name made your heart skip a beat.]

[In your memories of the Zenin Clan from the previous simulation, the man called the "shame of the clan" had originally been named Toji Zenin.]

[If it was that man, he certainly could have done it.]

[You thought to yourself, gaining a deeper understanding of this world's cruelty. Even the "strongest" had nearly lost his life-what did that mean for you?]

[The simulation reached its third year.]

[The annual card draw came around again.]

[This time, the goddess of luck seemed to favor you once more-or perhaps she was hinting at something.]

[This time, you obtained the card Parting Gift [SR].]

[Parting Gift [SR]: Once equipped, this card cannot be replaced. It is consumed upon death, granting a card of a higher quality than this card. The length of time it has been equipped will increase the grade of the card obtained.]

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Shunchen unequipped Life Is Like a Play [R] and equipped Parting Gift.

When he read the card's description, his first impression was that it ought to be a card designed to complement the simulator, but on closer thought, that did not quite seem right.

Could there be a way to bring the dead back to life in this world?

[That autumn, Tokyo Jujutsu High suffered a casualty.]

[It was Yu Haibara, who had by then entered his second year. Something went wrong while he and Kento Nanami were on a mission to eliminate a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit. The cursed spirit they were sent to eliminate was a local deity, and it was actually a Grade 1 mission.]

[By the time you arrived at the morgue, what you saw was a body covered with a white sheet, and Kento Nanami slumped on the floor as though his soul had been drained away.]

[Once again, you reflected that, in this rotten world, jujutsu sorcerers themselves were expendable.]

["If our comrades are going to die no matter how hard we try..."]

["Then why don't we just leave everything to him from now on?"]

[You knew Nanami meant Satoru Gojo, who had already transcended the realm of ordinary mortals.]

[You said nothing, merely standing silently in the corner.]

[Just then, the morgue door opened, and Suguru Geto walked in.]

[He neither cried nor spoke. He only looked quietly at Yu Haibara's body, then glanced at the devastated Nanami.]

[At that moment, you distinctly felt something inside Suguru Geto shatter completely.]

[A darkness deeper and more despairing than cursed spirits was taking root in the depths of his soul.]

[A few days later, an urgent mission file was delivered to your desk.]

[Mission location: a remote old village.]

[Mission objective: investigate multiple incidents of villagers being spirited away and dying under bizarre circumstances. Suspected Grade 1 Cursed Spirit activity.]

[Assigned sorcerer: Special Grade Sorcerer Suguru Geto.]

[Assistant supervisor: Li Shunchen.]

[Looking at the file, you had no idea this was a turning point in history. You merely straightened your suit as usual, adjusted your glasses, and prepared to set out.]