Half an hour later, in an office.
After hearing what had happened, Satoru Gojo looked utterly grim. He stared in disbelief at Igarashi Amaha, who was smoking beside him, and said, "All of this... was your doing?"
Igarashi Amaha sat in a chair with his legs crossed and replied evenly, "Yes."
"Why? Those were human lives."
"No reason. If I absolutely had to give one, let's just say I didn't like the look of them." Igarashi Amayo fiddled with the lighter in his hand as he spoke offhandedly.
"You bastard!" Satoru Gojo, still a Jujutsu High student, clearly had yet to become so composed. He immediately moved to attack.
"Satoru!" Masamichi Yaga stopped Satoru Gojo, then looked at Igarashi Amaha with a hostile expression and said gravely, "Igarashi Amaha, I admire your candor, but that doesn't mean I'll let you stay here. I hereby announce that you are expelled from Kyoto Jujutsu High. Leave."
Igarashi Amaha was utterly unconcerned. "If I remember correctly, Jujutsu High doesn't have the authority to expel a student with no issues, does it? Oh, no, it does, but the conditions seem a little demanding. I have to be dead before you can expel me. Isn't that right, Mr. Yaga?"
"Don't call me your teacher. I'm hardly worthy. You're right, those are indeed Jujutsu High's rules. Of course, you can continue staying here, but we'll be looking for an opportunity to kill you at any moment." Masamichi Yaga frowned deeply. He didn't understand why Igarashi Amaha insisted on staying here. There was nothing here that could attract him.
"I see. You're welcome to try anytime." Igarashi Amaha paid no heed whatsoever to Masamichi Yaga's threat. With a light chuckle, he rose and headed outside.
As he passed Shoko, he paused and slipped a hand into his pocket.
The instant his hand went in!
Whoosh!!
Roar!!
Shnk!!
"Don't move!"
Igarashi Amaha was instantly surrounded: Masamichi Yaga's cursed corpse, Suguru Geto's imaginary cursed spirit, Satoru Gojo's "Blue," Yu Haibara's fist, Kento Nanami's blunt blade, and... Shoko's scalpel...
Faced with everyone's encirclement, Igarashi Amaha said nothing. Instead, he calmly withdrew his hand from his pocket, holding something.
They looked closely. It was an exquisite phone charm set with a small purple gemstone.
He placed the phone charm on the table beside Shoko and said flatly, "A belated first-meeting gift for you."
Shoko froze. Before she could say anything, Igarashi Amaha continued, "Also, where you have it now is still a few millimeters from the heart."
Everyone paused, failing to understand what Igarashi Amaha meant, but when they looked at Shoko, they all froze.
The tip of the scalpel Shoko carried with her had already sunk into Igarashi Amaha's chest over his heart.
Igarashi Amaha reached out with a large hand and seized Shoko's hand around the scalpel's handle. Before Shoko could react, he drove her hand hard inward, then said with utter indifference, "This is how you actually kill an enemy. Understand?"
Then he slapped Shoko's slightly trembling hand away, pulled out the scalpel, threw it to the ground, and walked outside.
Clang!
The blade struck the floor with a crisp sound, snapping everyone back to their senses.
That afternoon, Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko sat on a bench. None of them spoke; they simply sat there in silence.
The warm sunlight filtered through layers of leaves, falling on them in faint, round, gently swaying halos.
After an unknown length of time, Suguru Geto broke the silence. "It all feels like a dream. We suddenly met, quickly became close, and just as quickly ended up like this."
"But Shoko, I really didn't expect you to actually do it. How ridiculous. Satoru and I are both Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers, yet we were more indecisive than a noncombatant."
Shoko's fingers trembled slightly at his words, but she said nothing, remaining silent.
Seeing that no one responded, Suguru Geto wasn't annoyed. He continued on his own, "We've only known him for two days, and he's already made us all grieve for him. I've got to say, he really is charismatic. Heh."
"Satoru, I never thought there'd be a day when even your Six Eyes got someone wrong."
"No, that's not right. I wouldn't misjudge someone, and neither would you or Shoko, much less Mr. Yaga. We must have missed something. We must have."
Satoru Gojo, who had remained silent all this time, abruptly stood and spoke with conviction.
With that, he took out his phone and made a call.
"It's me, Satoru Gojo. Investigate everything about Igarashi Amaha, especially why he killed people without cursed energy. The more detailed, the better. Yes, at any cost. As soon as possible."
After the call, he paid the other two no further attention and left.
Suguru Geto watched Satoru Gojo's retreating figure, feeling somewhat forlorn. Satoru, what is it that you refuse to believe? That intelligence report, or your own friendship?
Meanwhile, atop a building, Igarashi Amaha looked down at the bustling traffic and exhaled a cloud of smoke.
Images of him fooling around with Satoru Gojo and the others flashed through his mind. He shook his head and gave a mocking smile. "Pointless."
After finishing his cigarette, he tossed the butt off the rooftop, then lay down on the ground. Before long, he drifted into a groggy sleep.
After an unknown length of time, the phone watch on his wrist sounded, waking him.
Beep-beep! Beep-beep!
"It is now April 6, four p.m. exactly, Tokyo time."
Beep-beep! Beep-beep!
"It is now April 6, four p.m. exactly, Tokyo time."
Still drowsy, Igarashi Amayo rubbed his head, groggily lit a cigarette, and muttered lazily, "It's already four, huh? What should I do... I'm so bored..."
After one cigarette, he patted his cheeks, forcing himself to boot up.
"I'll get something to eat first." With that, he leaped off the building.
Ten minutes later, Igarashi Amaha wandered aimlessly down the street, looking around with dead-fish eyes that made it obvious he hadn't fully woken up.
"Ah, this place looks good. I can eat noodles and watch horse racing. This is the one."
He went up to order a bowl of noodles. Just as he was hesitating over what to order, the cells in his body suddenly grew agitated. He looked back, and his still somewhat groggy mind instantly snapped awake.
"Well, well, I've spotted quite an extraordinary monkey."