So Mahito Won...?

"Is it really okay not to tell Itadori and Nanami?" Shoko asked while checking Nagi Yoshino's vital signs.

"If we tell them, it's easier for our scheme to be exposed in practice."

As Shiratori Gotsu walked out, he said, "Anyway, Ms. Nagi is in your care, Ms. Shoko."

The next day, when the Mahito returned to Junpei's home, all they felt was a strong sense of negativity.

'... Looks like it's done.'

Before the Mahito could say anything, Junpei blurted out in a panic, "Mahito, my mother... my mother is gone!"

The Mahito did not speak immediately, but looked towards where Junpei's soul was located.

Panic, unease, anger, and a hint of hidden hatred kept rising from his soul.

'Strange... anger and hatred, I shouldn't feel these right now...'

Or... did he sense something?

'Whatever, who cares?'

The Mahito adopted a gentle yet worried expression and patted Junpei on the shoulder. "What exactly happened? Tell me slowly."

Looking at the Mahito's hypocritical face, Junpei suppressed the urge to punch him.

He brought the Mahito into the living room, pointed to the fragments of internal organs and bloodstains on the floor, and said in a trembling voice:

"When I woke up this morning, this was... this was it...!"

"And... and this too!"

As he spoke, Junpei took out the Sukuna's Finger from his pocket and handed it to the Mahito.

The Mahito took the finger and immediately showed a surprised expression. "This is... Sukuna's Finger..."

"It's a cursed Cursed Object that will attract a curse..."

As he spoke, he looked at the mess on the ground. "Your mother... must have been harmed by the curse it attracted."

"Why would something like this appear in my house...?!" Junpei exclaimed in horror.

The Mahito lowered his eyes and said, "Many Curse User make money by cursing others; it must be those guys doing it."

"With the right connections and money, it's easy to hire those Curse User."

"Do you have any leads on Junpei? Those who hate you and your mother..."

"Or a wealthy and idle... shady person."

Junpei suppressed his hatred and anger towards the person before him, lowered his head, clenched his fists, and continued speaking in a trembling voice:

"I... I think I understand..."

Looking at Junpei's appearance and sensing the negative emotions surging from his soul, Mahito raised an eyebrow, a subtle smile playing on his lips:

"So, does Junpei want revenge?"

A dozen minutes later, at Satozakura High School.

An awards ceremony is being held in the auditorium.

"Award Certificate: Best Entry Award in the National Reading Comprehension Essay Competition"

The principal stood on the stage, his expression indescribable. "The winner... Shota Ito!"

With a fake smile on his face, Ito went on stage to accept the award amidst cheers.

Below the stage, his usual follower looked on with envy. "He's still so handsome, Ito- senpai."

"Really... It's true he's a young master." The girl next to her looked disdainful.

Just then, her peripheral vision caught sight of the Sky Manipulation outside the window, and her attention was immediately drawn to it:

"Hey? What's that black thing?"

At this moment, Mahito and Kenjaku stood side by side on the rooftop of the teaching building.

"[Born of darkness, from darkness to darkness, all Cursed Residue are cleansed]."

As the Mahito chanted the incantation, the "tent" descended from the sky, enveloping the entire school.

"Ah, it's done, it's done!" He said with great interest.

"I'm sorry, Mahito," Kenjaku flicked his bangs, "I can't leave Cursed Residue, so I can't help you."

"Don't crash or something."

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid." The Mahito's tone was filled with undisguised confidence.

"Alright," Kenjaku raised his head, "What is the effect of the 'tent'?"

"[It cannot be exited from the inside, but can be entered from the outside; it only works on ordinary people with weak Cursed Energy]," the Mahito replied.

Upon hearing this, Kenjaku nodded, and then said:

"The appearance of unregistered 'tents' in the residential area should be reported to the Jujutsu Sorcerer's 'window' soon. Hopefully, the scene you desire will appear."

"It should be fine."

The Mahito looked down at Shunping, dressed in black, walking Junpei towards the auditorium on the playground below, and a smile crept onto his face.

"The moment Junpei and Sukuna's vessel met, the outcome was already clear."

"Let the two clash, then I'll intervene and have Yuji Itadori set up Binding Vow that gives Sukuna the upper hand. That should do it, right?"

"As for that guy Shiratori Gotsu, he can't interfere with our plans, can he?"

"If only the Jogo were as calm as you," Kenjaku laughed.

"His straightforward personality is quite endearing," the Mahito joked.

"But more importantly," the Mahito rubbed his chin, "Wasn't that finger a valuable item? Is it really okay to just leave it there like that?"

"It's alright," Kenjaku. "The finger from the Juvenile Detention Center was quickly absorbed by Yuji Itadori and is kept at Junpei Yoshino's house. I want the Jujutsu High to retrieve it."

"Ah~ You're plotting something, aren't you~" the Mahito said knowingly.

"I guess so," Kenjaku waved his hand, then turned and walked towards the stairwell. "I'll head back now."

"Oh, that's a real shame. It would have been quite amusing to see that stupid brat die."

Junpei walked to the entrance of the auditorium and took a deep breath.

'I can't kill anyone... but I have to act so convincingly that the Mahito won't notice anything amiss...'

'Phew... let's do it that way then.'

He pushed open the door and strode into the auditorium.

Ignoring the varied expressions in his eyes, he raised his hand and activated his Cursed Technique.

A few seconds later, all the students in the auditorium collapsed to the ground...

Meanwhile, in the corridor of the Jujutsu High college, Itadori stared resolutely at Kiyotaka Ijichi was blocking his way.

"Please step aside, Mr. Ijichi."

"Our job is to save lives, including yours. I won't make the same mistake again."

Ijichi's tone was equally resolute. "Even the 'tent' has been lowered; it must be extremely dangerous inside! You can't go, Itadori- kun."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Itadori flashed past him.

"I'm sorry... Mr Ijichi..."

The image of the mess he'd seen at Junpei's house earlier flashed through Itadori's mind. "I have to go!"

"Yuji Itadori!" Ijichi shouted at the loudest volume he had ever uttered.

"It's okay." A hand landed on his shoulder.

Ijichi turned his head and saw that it was Shiratori Gotsu.

"I'll go with you, don't worry." He smiled slightly.

"Why... Junpei? No... Do you know what happened?"

"Mr. Tonomura, look carefully."

Junpei looked at the heavily pregnant teacher in front of him, then lifted the long bangs that usually covered half of his face, revealing the dense scars on his forehead.

The Tonomura was taken aback, breaking out in a cold sweat. "Your injuries... those are..."

"Don't worry, they won't die. I just knocked them out."

After saying that, Junpei didn't look at him again and walked straight to Shota Ito, who was still standing on the podium, his body soaked in cold sweat.

Looking at that face, all sorts of terrible experiences from the past uncontrollably surfaced in my mind.

'I can't kill people... but on that basis, I... still want to do something a little reckless!'

He gritted his teeth, his eyes turning cold:

"What has happened so far, and what will happen from now on..." He stopped less than a meter away from Ito. "I have something to ask you."

"Did you put that thing in my house?"

"What are you talking about?" Ito was completely baffled.

The next moment, intense pain shot through his left arm.

He looked down and saw dense purple spots spreading across his arm.

"Wha... what happened..." he said, his face contorted in pain. "What did you do?!"

"This is outrageous!" Junpei raised his fist and punched him hard to the ground. "Do you think you can be so high and mighty as to question me?"

With that, he kicked Ito hard in the stomach. "I will kill you, whether you admit it or not."

"Besides, you deserve this retribution for what you've done!"

Just then, Itadori burst through the door.

He shouted, "What are you doing?! Junpei!"

Upon hearing his voice, Junpei was slightly taken aback.

'Did Itadori arrive first...? But Mr. Shiratori is right, we should wait for the crucial moment...'

'The crucial moment... refers to when the Mahito appears and you are completely unprepared, right?'

'A conspiracy against me and my mother... manipulating others' minds... in other words...'

Thinking of this, he sighed deeply, turned to look at Itadori standing at the door, and said in a cold and stiff tone:

What are you doing here?

"To prevent you from doing anything foolish again!" Itadori said urgently, "Aunt Nagi's spirit in heaven wouldn't want Junpei to go down the path of murder!"

"... This is none of your business." Junpei said coldly.

"That's not up to you!" Itadori raised his fist, gathering his Cursed Energy.

"What's the point of haphazard relief?" Junpei used all his acting skills, gritting his teeth as he uttered these words against his will:

"Don't misunderstand the meaning of life! Humans, who consider themselves the most intelligent of all beings, have so-called 'emotions' and 'hearts,' which are merely metabolic byproducts of the soul—counterfeits!"

"Don't try to Binding Vow me with the rules set by counterfeiters!"

"Hey, isn't that enough...?" The Mahito suddenly appeared behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

Junpei's expression froze instantly.

"Nice to meet you," Mahito said with a smile to Itadori, "The vessel of Sukuna."

Immediately afterwards, his right hand deformed and swelled, pressing the Itadori firmly against the wall of the auditorium.

'A humanoid Cursed Spirit with a stitched-up face and blue hair...!' Itadori finally realized.

He immediately shouted, "Run! Junpei!"

"No, no, no, none of you will escape." (The Mahito spoke with a teasing tone.)

"Junpei, you don't actually think you can fool me, do you?"

"Have you forgotten? I can see souls, and your soul is mixed with too many emotions that shouldn't be there."

"You figured out it was me a long time ago, didn't you? I don't know how you realized it, or why you followed me all the way here."

"But that doesn't matter anymore. Clever fools who think they're so clever often end up suffering a terrible fate..."

"[Non-action...]"

"[Domain Expansion • Lamp-Lighting Blossom]." Shiratori Gotsu's voice came from the ceiling.

The next moment, the black sphere of the domain barrier excluded Junpei and Itadori, but pulled in the Mahito.

This sudden turn of events left Itadori somewhat bewildered.

"Are you alright, Itadori?" Junpei immediately ran over with a worried expression.

Seeing Junpei's sudden change in expression, Itadori was even more bewildered. "What... what's going on?"

"It's a long story..."

Inside the area, the Mahito was confronting Shiratori Gotsu with a displeased expression. "Hey, what business are you having of yours now?"

"Let me tell you, this is part of Geto's plan. If you don't want to suffer the consequences, you'd better stay out of the way and watch."

"If I step aside, can you refrain from Junpei?" Shiratori Gotsu asked.

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, the Mahito revealed a smug smile. "Heh heh... if you kneel down and beg me, I might just agree~"

"If I just beg you, you'll let Junpei go, right?"

"Ah~ that's it, so hurry up and kneel down and beg me~" The Mahito licked his lips.

"Daga, Kotowaru!"

"Huh?" The Mahito was stunned for a moment.

The Shiratori Gotsu grinned:

"Binding Vow are a very subjective thing. As long as I firmly believe that this matter is related to his plan, I won't suffer any backlash!"

So, you can say goodbye to this world now!

"[Corpse Attraction Shock Blast • Second Bomb]!"

Boom!

"As expected, my clone has been exorcised." In the sewers, Mahito and Kenjaku stood together, their faces showing an expression of complete surprise.

"You're really cautious; I'm starting to admire that," Kenjaku chuckled.

That's right, the moment Mahito realized something was wrong with Junpei, he decisively separated a part of his soul.

He created a clone that was exactly like himself, but unable to use Cursed Technique on others, and then sent the clone to act outside.

As expected, this was a setup!

He used Junpei to lure himself out, thus escaping the trap in one fell swoop!

"Oh dear, what a bunch of self-important Jujutsu Sorcerer."

The Mahito licked his lips. "Judging from the news coming back from over there, Shiratori Gotsu seems to have a way to bypass that Binding Vow."

"It seemed to be something like... 'Binding Vow are idealistic, so you can just resolutely disagree' or something like that?"

In short, you should be more careful in the future.

"Received. In that case, it means..." Kenjaku's face was full of joy.

"That's right, I won in Mahito!"

'As expected, it's a clone.'

Shiratori Gotsu felt the sensation transmitted through [Corpse Attraction Shock Blast] without any surprise.

He had already turned his opponent into a complete bomb when he played a game of super disassembly and super reassembly with Mahito.

Furthermore, because it is broken down into many pieces and transformed separately, and then finally put back together, the sensation of the Cursed Technique is incredibly strong and precise.

The Mahito standing here is only emitting an intensity of about two bombs. But the intensity emanating from the ground not far away is equivalent to more than forty bombs.

Shiratori Gotsu didn't initially intend to exorcise the Mahito; he planned to deliberately let him go again to deceive Kenjaku for a while longer.

However, upon realizing that it was a clone that had arrived, he decided to play along and instantly activated his domain to send a message to the other party, while also conveying the false message that "there will be no backlash if you do not agree."

As the Mahito's location gradually moved away along the sewer, Shiratori Gotsu's lips slowly curled into a smile.

He waved his hand to dispel the domain and walked easily to Junpei and Itadori.

"Mr. Shiratori, Mahito, is he dead?" Not seeing the figure he hated so much, Junpei asked with a face full of joy to confirm.

"No, that was a clone. The real body must have realized something was wrong and ran away beforehand." Shiratori Gotsu didn't intend to hide the truth.

"Ah... is that so..." Junpei immediately lowered his head, "Was my acting not good enough..."

"No, Junpei did a great job." Shiratori Gotsu patted Junpei's head.

"It's alright, Junpei." Seeing Junpei's dejected state, Itadori immediately put his arm around his shoulder.

"Aren't you going to study at Jujutsu High too? Let's get stronger together, and in the future, we'll personally eliminate that guy!"

"From now on, let's fight side by side, Junpei!"

Looking into Itadori's incredibly sincere eyes, the gloom on Junpei's face vanished.

He wiped his face and smiled, "Yes! Please take care of me from now on!"

After comforting Junpei, Itadori turned to Shiratori Gotsu: "Shiratori -senpai..."

He shook his hand, cracked his wrist, and then... punched him in the face!

I'm starving!

Although Itadori could be said that he didn't exert any force at all in that punch, Shiratori Gotsu still immediately emitted a high-level sound effect of being hit and very cooperatively took several steps back.

"Huh?!" Junpei was completely bewildered.

"That's too much, senior!"

Seeing Shiratori Gotsu's expression, Itadori couldn't help but laugh, but he still couldn't hold back. "You arranged everything but didn't tell me, making me worry for so long!"

Then, he abruptly changed the subject. "You absolutely have to treat us to a big meal as compensation!"

"Okay, okay..." Shiratori Gotsu touched his face, "I've been working hard these past few days, how about we go to Ginza for sushi?"

"Good!" Itadori immediately cheered loudly.