Chapter 178 - 177
"Well, the important thing is that Yuta is officially one of us now," Gojo announced. "You’re classmates, so make sure you all get along."
He pointed toward Maki and Kiriya.
"Especially you two. I’ll leave his training in your capable hands."
"You handed off your responsibility so naturally that I’m beginning to question whether you’re actually a teacher," Kiriya said.
"Huh? Gojo-sensei isn’t going to teach me?"
Yuta looked startled.
"Well, I’m busy for all sorts of reasons."
Gojo laughed awkwardly, though there was not a trace of shame on his face.
"But as you’ve already seen, those two are both excellent martial artists. They’ll have no trouble teaching you the fundamentals."
"Um... all right."
Yuta glanced nervously at Kiriya.
The image of this person staring at him while practically drooling had left an understandably powerful impression.
"Don’t worry about it."
Panda walked over and wrapped an arm around the thin boy’s shoulders.
"We’re teammates from now on. Nice to meet you, Yuta!"
"Y-Yeah. Nice to meet you too."
The natural charm of a national treasure was not to be underestimated.
Yuta quickly relaxed beneath Panda’s friendly enthusiasm, and the two were soon chatting comfortably.
Maki and Inumaki were curious about the newcomer as well, so they joined the conversation.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Kiriya approached Gojo.
"Hey. Have you found Geto yet?"
That man still possessed a huge number of cursed spirits.
Kiriya had been coveting that collection for quite some time.
"No."
Gojo shook his head helplessly.
"He’s slippery as an eel these days. Finding him won’t be easy."
"I see."
Kiriya rubbed his chin.
"I have a feeling he’s preparing something big."
"That much is certain."
Gojo sighed.
Geto had once been gentle enough to swear that he would protect ordinary people.
Now he was determined to eradicate every non-sorcerer in the world.
The greatest regret of Gojo’s life was that their paths had split so completely.
"His technique is Cursed Spirit Manipulation, right?" Kiriya suddenly asked. "What do you think he’d do if he learned about Rika?"
Gojo paused.
His expression immediately turned serious.
"He’d do absolutely anything to obtain her."
A special-grade curse with seemingly limitless cursed energy would bring Geto much closer to fulfilling his goal.
"So you’re suggesting we use Rika to lure him out?"
"Exactly."
Kiriya smiled.
"I can already guess how he’ll approach it."
"He’ll create some major incident to draw ’the strongest’ away from Tokyo. Then, once Jujutsu High is left vulnerable, he’ll infiltrate the school, kill Yuta, and seize Rika for himself."
"That does sound likely."
Gojo studied Kiriya’s relaxed smile, then seemed to understand where he was going.
"You mean... we let him believe the plan is working?"
"Right."
Kiriya nodded confidently.
"He’ll only show himself without hesitation if you’re gone."
"Can you handle it?"
Gojo sounded uncertain.
He was not questioning Kiriya’s combat ability.
He was wondering whether Kiriya could protect Yuta while enduring Geto’s full assault.
Yuta was still extremely weak, while Geto was famous for commanding an overwhelming number of curses.
"Did you forget that I can teleport?"
Kiriya grinned.
"If things go badly, I’ll send Yuta away immediately."
"Wow. Geto would probably lose his mind."
Gojo gave a strained laugh.
"You’ll be putting yourself in danger too."
"He’s the one who’ll be in danger."
Kiriya straightened, completely confident.
"But what about you?"
He looked directly at Gojo.
"What would you do if I killed him?"
"I’d probably be heartbroken."
Gojo’s expression stilled, and his gaze lowered slightly.
"He is my one and only best friend, after all."
"Then I could—"
Kiriya had been about to say that he would spare Geto and leave the final decision to Gojo.
But Gojo continued before he could finish.
"If the opportunity comes, give him a quick death."
Kiriya fell silent.
"I think he’s probably been suffering for a long time."
Geto had personally killed his own parents to sever every path back to his former life.
His heart had likely been riddled with wounds ever since.
The only thing keeping him alive was probably his so-called grand purpose and righteous cause.
Rather than forcing him to continue living in that pain, perhaps death would finally free him.
That was the only mercy Gojo could offer as his closest friend.
"...I understand."
Kiriya placed a hand on Gojo’s shoulder before walking away.
...
After Yuta joined Jujutsu High, every day became a battle for survival beneath the merciless supervision of Kiriya’s shadow clone.
When Kiriya first announced the training requirements, Yuta could hardly believe his ears.
This was not a school.
It was hell.
He had wanted to protest, but then he saw that Maki’s training load was dozens of times heavier than his own and immediately swallowed every complaint.
Yuta might have looked timid and delicate, but deep down, he was still a proud young man.
He could not accept losing to a girl without even trying.
Then he passed out.
Again.
And again.
Without Everflowing Vitality repeatedly restoring him, Yuta might have become the first student in Tokyo Jujutsu High’s history to die from overtraining.
Kiriya’s original body and his other clones were hardly idle either.
They continued hunting cursed spirits, refining his new ninjutsu, and preparing as thoroughly as possible for the battle they knew was approaching.
...
One week later—
A broad sandy beach stretched beneath a clear blue sky, with white clouds drifting over the sea.
"And that’s the situation. Welcome to our family."
After finishing his explanation, Jogo lifted the small octopus-like Dagon high into the air.
Dagon released a delighted purr.
As a cursed spirit born from the sea, he had spent most of his existence alone.
Now that he had finally met others like himself, he was naturally overjoyed.
Geto watched from nearby with an equally pleased smile.
Dagon was still only a cursed womb, yet he could already produce a domain.
Once he absorbed enough energy and matured into his complete form, how powerful would he become?
That was why Geto had no intention of immediately subduing him through Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
Doing so now would permanently lock away Dagon’s potential.
If Geto was going to absorb him, he would wait until the curse had fully evolved.
For the moment, the greater priority was teaching his special-grade curses how to coordinate in battle.
Geto had continued monitoring Kiriya and knew that the boy had exorcised an enormous number of curses over the past several months.
His strength had undoubtedly risen again.
Geto needed to prepare just as carefully, or there was a real chance his next plan would collapse unexpectedly.
The training went remarkably smoothly.
Jogo and Hanami were more than happy to take advantage of a perfectly legitimate opportunity to beat Geto senseless.
They threw themselves into the role of sparring partners with admirable dedication, as though they intended to work themselves to death.
Seeing his new family members fighting so seriously, Dagon naturally joined in with everything he had.
Tamamo-no-Mae participated as well.
Facing four powerful curses at once placed enormous pressure on Geto.
But he was hardly an easy opponent.
The greater the pressure became, the more intensely he fought.
His martial arts and command of Cursed Spirit Manipulation both improved noticeably, leaving Jogo and Hanami thoroughly frustrated.
They could only curse him as a monster in their hearts.
Several more weeks passed in this manner.
One day, after finishing another training session, Geto was resting on a hotel sofa when his phone suddenly rang.
The moment he answered, a familiar voice speaking Japanese with a strong foreign accent came through the speaker.
"Yo, Geto. Long time no see. Miss me?"
"Miguel!"
Geto froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"You finally made it. Did you bring what I asked for?"
"I brought it."
Miguel sounded displeased.
"But this Black Rope is woven with an extremely rare curse. It takes the sorcerers of my homeland decades to produce even one."
"So, Geto, you’d better give me a very convincing reason for dragging it all the way here, or I’m going to be angry."
"That’s exactly why such a valuable weapon is necessary."
Geto grinned.
"After all, whether you can survive against Satoru Gojo will depend at least partly on that rope."
There was a long silence on the other end.
"Hold on."
Miguel sounded genuinely baffled.
"You expect me to fight Satoru Gojo?"
"You have far too much confidence in me!"
"You’re being too modest, Miguel."
Geto’s tone remained casual.
"I only need you to keep him occupied for twenty minutes."
"Whether our plan succeeds will depend entirely on whether you can survive those twenty minutes."
"...Fine."
Miguel’s voice was filled with resignation.
"But Geto, if I die because of this, I’m crawling back out of hell to find you."