And This-Mahoraga!

Clap, clap, clap...

A round of applause rang out.

"Huh?" Megumi Fushiguro turned toward the sound, and his expression shifted to surprise the moment he saw who had arrived:

"Mr. Gojo? What brings you here?"

Satoru Gojo sat cross-legged on a large rock covered with a cushion, smiling as he said:

"I finished taking care of things with Itadori, and I heard little Megumi had come out here for special training, so I came to see how things were going."

"...You even brought a cushion?" Fushiguro quipped, then asked, "How long have you been here?"

Satoru Gojo picked up his phone and checked it before answering, "Let's see, probably a little over forty minutes."

"You looked so focused, working things out over there with your shirt off, so I didn't interrupt."

"But your upperclassmen are having quite the discussion about it~"

Seeing Satoru Gojo's wicked grin, Fushiguro stiffened for a moment. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket with a slight tremble and opened the LINE group chat.

Sure enough...!

That bastard Satoru Gojo hadn't left him alone because he'd seen how focused he was!

He'd been sneaking around, taking pictures of him shirtless from every angle and sending them to the Jujutsu High student group chat!

"...Can I punch you...?" Fushiguro slowly put his phone back in his pocket and glared at Satoru Gojo.

"Nope. It's wrong for the young to bully their elders~"

Satoru Gojo appeared in front of Fushiguro in an instant and patted him on the shoulder:

"But from the looks of it, you're getting along pretty well with the guy inside you."

No sooner had Satoru Gojo finished speaking than Shiratori Gotsu "spoke" from Fushiguro's forehead:

"My name is Shiratori Gotsu, not 'that guy.'"

"Shiratori is very reliable... much more reliable than you," Fushiguro told Satoru Gojo.

"Gah!" Satoru Gojo clutched his chest, looking utterly heartbroken. "How can you say that?"

"I'm Satoru 'Funny, Witty, Super Rich, Drop-Dead Gorgeous, Great Teacher' Gojo, who's been with you day and night!"

"Spending a long time together doesn't make you reliable!" Fushiguro shot back mercilessly:

"Besides, if we're going by that, Shiratori said he's been with me day and night since I was about two."

"Sigh... In the end, my devotion as your teacher was misplaced." Satoru Gojo looked utterly forlorn.

Then, all of a sudden, his expression changed to one of keen interest. "So, what are you two so fired up about?"

"Preparing to tame Mahoraga," Shiratori Gotsu explained.

"Oh↑~↓~↑~?" Satoru Gojo put on an especially exaggerated, stereotypical expression of surprise. "Then I'll have to watch closely. After all, it'll probably be a spectacle you don't see every day."

"It certainly will be a spectacle, and a very explosive one at that~"

The mouth on Megumi Fushiguro's forehead belonging to Shiratori Gotsu curved into a meaningful smile, making for an extremely bizarre sight.

"What do we do next?" Fushiguro asked Shiratori.

"Ahem." Shiratori Gotsu cleared his throat:

"First, could we ask this Mr. Satoru 'Funny, Witty, Super Rich, Drop-Dead Gorgeous, Great Teacher' Gojo to dig us a hole twenty meters across and twenty meters deep here?"

"Mr. Gojo?" Fushiguro gave Satoru Gojo an inquiring look.

Watching this, Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow and stroked his chin. It seems there really isn't anything wrong with this Shiratori Gotsu...?

After spending time with him, Megumi has actually come to trust him this much.

Heh, a [guardian spirit] Toji Fushiguro placed on Megumi? How interesting!

"Mm, as Satoru 'Funny, Witty, Super Rich, Drop-Dead Gorgeous, Great Teacher' Gojo, of course I have to grant my student's request."

Satoru Gojo gave Fushiguro a thumbs-up, then began circulating his Cursed Energy. "Megumi, step back a little first."

"[Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue]."

A blue sphere of gravity flew from his fingertip and plunged straight into the ground.

After a cloud of dust rose and settled, a huge pit lay before them.

"[Limitless] really is convenient."

Shiratori Gotsu couldn't help marveling.

"Oh? The way you say that, have you seen it before?" Satoru Gojo's interest was piqued.

After all, this was a good opportunity for him to learn about Shiratori Gotsu's origins.

"I saw it at the Martial Exhibition Before the Emperor four hundred years ago." Shiratori Gotsu also realized this was an excellent chance to reveal his origins seemingly by accident.

In the midst of casual conversation like this, something said offhand was far more believable than an answer obtained in an interrogation room.

It was also a good opportunity to dispel some of Satoru Gojo's suspicions about him.

So he said teasingly:

"The head of the Gojo Clan at the time was called Gojo Shinichi, I think. He had the Six Eyes and [Limitless], just like you."

"Then he and the head of the Zenin Clan at the time, Zenin Kei—the wielder of the [Ten Shadows Technique]-killed each other~"

So he's a Jujutsu Sorcerer from that era... Satoru Gojo immediately had a better idea of who he was.

The last trace of doubt in Fushiguro's heart also vanished at that moment. So Shiratori was actually there when it happened...

He couldn't help recalling the time Satoru Gojo had told him about the same incident.

No wonder Shiratori is so familiar with the [Ten Shadows Technique].

Now everything makes sense...

"All right, all right, enough talk." Shiratori Gotsu brought the conversation back on track at just the right moment. "Let's get ready to tame Mahoraga."

"First, Megumi, have Max Elephant spray water and fill this pit... Wait, do you have enough Cursed Energy for that?"

Fushiguro considered it for a moment, then replied, "I should just about manage."

He immediately formed a hand sign. "Max Elephant!"

As the enormous pit gradually filled, fine beads of sweat began to appear on Fushiguro's forehead.

"Phew... It really was a bit of a stretch."

He wiped away his sweat and recalled Max Elephant. "What should I do next?"

"Next, heh heh..."

There was a note of pleasure in Shiratori Gotsu's voice:

"Use [Third Bomb] to turn this whole pool of water into a bomb. Then start the taming ritual and drop Mahoraga into the pool..."

"I don't need to tell you what to do after that, do I?"

Fushiguro's eyes flickered. "I understand."

Once everything was ready, Megumi Fushiguro worked out the distance and stood with his back to the pool of water that had become a bomb.

Satoru Gojo took off his blindfold and watched with keen interest.

Fushiguro planted his feet in a horse stance, then raised both hands and clenched them into fists:

"[Furube], [Yurayura], [Eight-Handled Sword], [Divergent Sila Divine General]-"

"-Mahoraga!"

Splash~

The sound of something falling into the water rang out.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately made the detonation gesture. "Now!"

"Real men never look back at explosions!" Shiratori Gotsu shouted along with him.

BOOM!!!

The earth shook and the mountains trembled. Loose rocks went tumbling down from the force of the blast.

That day, the residents of Saitama Prefecture all felt the tremor through the ground and heard the distant boom.

The enormous blast wave sent Megumi Fushiguro flying the very next moment.

He slammed hard into the wall of the quarry, then his head lolled to one side and he passed out on the spot.

"Damn, we overdid it! I forgot this kid was so fragile!"

Seeing a huge falling rock about to smash into his head, Shiratori Gotsu hurriedly took control of the body and dodged.

Immediately afterward, Reverse Cursed Technique² began to operate, rapidly healing the injuries to Fushiguro's body.

Meanwhile, Satoru Gojo, who was bathing in the explosion with [Limitless] active, couldn't help marveling inwardly:

This power... Is it comparable to my [Red]...?

By the time everything had settled down, Mahoraga had vanished without a trace.

The twenty-meter pit Satoru Gojo had carved out with [Blue] was gone as well.

Or rather, the enormous explosion had expanded it until it merged with the original quarry.