"I'll be the first to admit that this is turning out more interesting than I would've thought," Mei Mei broke the silence. Her head was placed on her desk, and even her eyes were closed, but it was clear she could see the different fights happening at once better than the rest of them could, even if they were watching it from the same screen.
"They seem more fired up than usual. I don't think the last goodwill event was this competitive," Kusakabe spoke up next, his hands clasped together as he focused on the scene between Kamo Noritoshi and Toge Inumaki.
"Technically, isn't the competition over?" Ijichi asked from his place down the line in confusion, as he was one of the few people watching the four girls bicker over who killed the curse. Gojo laughed in response. "Maybe. But it is still undecided who truly killed the curse, ignoring the little detail of how it was a semi-grade one instead of a grade two." The white-haired Gojo turned his head to the back, a grin on his face as the one eyed old man stared back at him.
Nobody in this room was stupid. Everybody was expecting some manipulation of the competition, at least on some level, but to replace a grade two curse for a semi-grade one was reckless. There were only maybe three students that could've taken it down, and if it needed to be a flawless victory, there were only two that came to mind: Todo and Maki. Yet fortunately for the rest of the students, four people had stumbled upon it together, and that had been enough to wear it down.
"No, the competition hasn't ended," Principal Ganduje replied to Satoru. His posture was hunched over and his hands rested on his cane. Yet his sole eye, which had seen fit to glare at Satoru all day, suddenly found greater interest in what was happening on the screen as he continued speaking. "There must've been a mix-up somewhere. Either that, or the semi-grade one somehow managed to stumble into the forest. I'll praise the overachieving act, but the mission was to kill the semi-grade two, and until the students accomplish that or time runs out, the competition is not truly over."
There was silence in the room, not just because of the principal's words, but because of the way he had said them. In a tone that portrayed dismissal for all that mattered. And as the oldest and officially the highest-ranking sorcerer present, his words were law here. Perhaps if there wasn't a white-haired maverick present to gainsay him, that would've been where the conversation ended. Unfortunately for the old one-eyed man, there was one, and he was all too interested in poking needles into the theory.
"Do you rate Master Tengen so lowly?" Satoru started, his smile shifting into a smirk as he turned fully to face the older man, who had gone white. A fish who had just realized it had bitten the fisherman's bait. To call Master Tengen, a founding pillar of the Jujutsu society, an incompetent was a social faux pas of an unimaginable variety.
Principal Ganduje immediately began to make a try at damage control. "Of course no—" But Gojo Satoru had tasted blood already and was not willing to let the old man go.
"To believe that Master Tengen was so incompetent as to raise weak barriers that somehow could not manage to hold back or isolate a measly semi-grade one. Hell, even Ijichi here can do something like that."
Principal Ganduje spluttered, while the aforementioned Ijichi shrank deeper into his chair. The classroom remained silent, as most people suddenly found the screen so interesting to look at. With the exception of Mei Mei, who had turned to observe the altercation with a catlike smirk on her face, and Principal Yaga, whose eyes coolly remained hidden behind his glasses, his face stone-cold. A few years ago, he would've been the voice of reason. The one to hold his former student back. A few years ago, his beloved Panda was alive.
"Of course, Master Tengen is not inept!"
Satoru tilted his head at that flustered reply from the Kyoto principal. "No? So you would agree with me that while Master Tengen's barrier is not incompetent, someone present was. The person that was in charge of capturing the curses and locking them behind the barrier Master Tengen had created." Satoru didn't bother to turn his head, but it was clear when his attention shifted. "Whose job was that again, Principal Yaga?"
Principal Yaga didn't hesitate with his reply. His hands folded, his voice hard. "Principal Ganduje, I believe."
This time, the whole room's focus was on the older man. Gone was the disguised act of watching the various fights happening on the screen. Rare was it for someone's schemes to be brought out so clearly into the light. Rare was it for anyone to dare expose such schemes, even if they were true. But above all, rarer still was a person born with both the blessed Six Eyes and the Limitless technique together, and the pride and surety of strength that came with such gifts.
Gojo Satoru was on a roll and he didn't look to be stopping anytime soon. Principal Ganduje's wandering eyes that searched the room for some support made him seem only weaker. "In fact, I do not believe that there was ever any semi-grade two present in the first place, considering this has been going on the whole afternoon and we've not seen one."
"Mei Mei's technique is not infallible," Principal Ganduje replied immediately, strength in his voice as he suddenly had a strong point to rally around. "We had not seen the semi-grade one either till the students wandered up to it either." Multiple eyes drifted to the aforementioned woman, who simply shrugged in reply, her catlike grin imprinted on her face. Like Ijichi, she had no interest in getting between two heavyweights arguing. Her only interest was in how interesting the scene before her was.
In another life, perhaps she would've taken up the bribe the principal had offered. A bribe that would've made her crows avoid the semi-grade one no matter what. A bribe that would've made her work with the right-hand man of the Council of Elders to hide Itadori Yuji's fight with Aoi Todo and the subsequent ambush by the rest of the Kyoto students.
This was not that life. When the principal had brought the deal before her, it had almost physically hurt her to refuse that much money. Perhaps if she had been given hard currency instead of a check, her overwhelming greed would have won out. But that hadn't happened, and despite how much it pained her, she had refused—for one simple reason. A reason that was not present in another life.
Gojo Jiki.
Satoru would've frowned at her subterfuge or laughed it off, but that would have been the end of it. Gojo Jiki would've stared at her. Those red and black revolving tomoe eyes would have stared deep into her soul, and she knew what the judgment would've been if any of his classmates had been hurt.
There was nowhere in the world where she would've been safe from the younger Gojo. And money could buy many things. What it couldn't buy was a special-grade repellant. So instead, she had simply agreed with the principal not to reveal the semi-grade one curse. If the students somehow managed to stumble upon it by themselves and the crows that watched them saw it as well, now that wasn't her fault, was it?
The Kyoto principal's voice gained strength with her silence. "As you can see, her crows must've simply missed it. Which shows that—"
"Perhaps." Satoru cut the principal off before he could dig his way out of the noose around his neck. Instead, he stood up and slowly began to walk towards the older man, uncaring of the way the man bristled or the way the rest of the sorcerers around them watched with weary eyes."But would you say the same of these eyes?" He came to a stop before the hunched-over and seated form of the principal.
He towered above the man like a tree before an ant and pulled the eye wrap tied around his eyes loose, the material unfolding to reveal eerie yet piercing blue eyes that stared down at the older man like an insect. "Because with these blessed eyes of mine, the whole school is within my range. My clarity is unmatched, my perception clear. With the Six Eyes, I see all. And yet," his smirk twisted to something darker, "for some reason, I do not see a grade two curse wandering around in that forest."
Satoru declared, and the room chilled further. For none could gainsay the perception of the Six Eyes. Neither could any argue Gojo Satoru's range, for it was something that had never been officially put on note.
"That means you sabotaged the competition without care for the lives of the students, as well as bringing in a curse too close to the top of the Sky Corridor, thereby putting the life of the honored Master Tengen at risk, as well as the pure barriers that safeguard all of Jujutsu High and Japan."
"Wait, hold on!" Principal Ganduje realized what Satoru was leading up to because he scrambled out of his seat and took various steps back. He was guilty of the first allegation, and to all that mattered, it was simply incompetence and could not be argued as anything more than that. It had been a calculated risk. Even if they had been exposed, the Elders had enough pull to make sure he would've come out of this without a scratch. Especially if their plans had borne fruit and the curse had indeed managed to rid the world of Sukuna's vessel.
The remaining allegations were thin and vague at best and could be argued, but just like everyone that remained quiet and watched with bated breath, he understood clearly that in this world of theirs, in this world of Jujutsu, sorcery, and curses, there was no court. There were no lawyers. Only laws and the power to enforce them.
Gojo Satoru continued, tone low. "According to Jujutsu law and regulations, the sentence for putting the life of master Tengen at grave danger is clear."
"Death," someone whispered.
All attention turned to Gojo, whose eyes stared not at the principal of Kyoto Technical, but up. Up in the sky.
"Satoru, what is wrong?" Principal Yaga was the first person to break the sudden silence. The one person that had been at the edge of his seat.
The next second, a sharp crack splintered through the air. This time, they all felt it. A paradoxical presence above them.
For a brief moment, everything was still. Frozen in that fragile silence before chaos erupts. Then, like glass under immense pressure—
"It seems like the other player has decided to act." The others looked at Gojo, but his attention remained skyward. "I had hoped to bring him up today, as soon as we were done throwing out the snake in our midst, but it seems like fate has other plans."
"What the hell?" Mei Mei muttered, and this time, the rest of the sorcerers shifted their attention from Gojo to the screen, and they all watched as the heavens fractured. Thin, jagged lines spread outward, growing until it broke, revealing a void behind it.
Then four grey massive palms gripped the cracked sky and widened what had begun as a crack into a chasm. Before anyone could react, out of that darkness came screams. No, not something, they realized. They were many things. Hundreds.
Twisted, grotesque creatures, their bodies mangled beyond recognition, spiraled downward from the gaping wound in the sky and fell. Their misshapen limbs flailed, their mouths opened in endless warbling screams. Some slammed into the ground with sickening cracks, splattering the forest floor in viscous, dark fluids. Others landed in unnatural crouches, their warped bodies twitching with energy, their empty eyes searching.
Gojo Satoru exhaled, his smirk vanishing as his entire posture shifted. He turned away from the trembling Principal Ganduje without another word, his attention now fully locked on the horror unfolding in the forest below.
"Shit," Kusakabe muttered, already reaching for his sword. "What the hell is this?"
"Master Tengen's barriers were broken." Mei Mei's voice was calm, but there was an underlying sharpness to it, her amusement wiped away.
"Not broken," Satoru corrected. "Bypassed."
On the screen, the students were no longer fighting amongst themselves. Any rivalries, any competitions, all of it had been abandoned in an instant. Noritoshi Kamo and Inumaki stood side by side, watching the sky in confusion from the empty classroom.
Emi, Nobara, Momo, and Miwa stared up at the Horror. Megumi and Mechamaru raised weary eyes and battered forms to stare up as well, frowns on their faces. The only people that were uncaring of the world were the two sisters brawling. Then, before anyone could react, the first scream tore through the air.
The first transfigured human lunged, a simple act that changed everything. The competition was over.
...
His student had grown by leaps and bounds, Kenjaku mused to himself, his chin cradled in his palm and head twisted to the side as he watched the fruit of his labors go into action. He had been forced to revise his plans multiple times, and today would show the culmination of those efforts, for this was the seventh iteration of the plan.
Everything had been forced to change with the destruction of Geto Suguru's body, and this was just one. Yet that simple act had been enough to force him to sit up straighter and take things even more seriously. He knew he was unable to forcibly take control of Mahito, so he had instead slowly manipulated the young curse, going as far as to teach and prepare him instead of simply waiting for him to grow.
Then there were his contingencies. The chil—. His thought process ground to a furious halt. No matter how much he struggled, he couldn't complete the thought, not until he rephrased it. His child. And just like that, he could feel his body working just like before. For some reason, some aspect of Kaori Itadori remained, and no matter what he tried, it wouldn't let him treat Itadori Yuji as he had many of his creations and offspring.
It was one of the many reasons he had gone with this new plan. Suguru's death had taught him that depending on a single variable was suboptimal, and the unpredictability of Itadori Yuji had solidified that. He had grown enough of a rapport with the boy, it was time to see if he could do something new. An option only available to him because of the body he wore. This meant that this attack on Jujutsu High was more than just a diversion like they had planned. It was why they didn't bother to make a barrier.
No, unleashing Mahito's transfigured humans was to distract the rest of the student body from Mahito sneaking in and searching for Sukuna's fingers. Considering they were not certain of where exactly it was kept, he would need time. Time that a barrier that stopped solely Gojo Satoru wouldn't give them, so he needed something that would keep the strongest sorcerer of the modern era busy.
An explosion of cursed energy erupted in the distance, simultaneously divine and malevolent. And immediately after that, another explosion of cursed energy erupted right beside it. Kenjaku grinned from his spot at the bus park, beneath the red torii gates and stairs of Jujutsu High.
Two special-grade curse spirits flaring out their cursed energy like that was a challenge, and not one Gojo Satoru would be able to avoid. He would leave the school and only then would Kenjaku take a step in. If Kenjaku was lucky, Gojo Satoru would die today. But Kenjaku was not one to put much stake in luck, so instead, he was simply going to use today as a testing ground. Yet somehow, he couldn't get the thought out of his head.
What if…
...
"An attack?" Kusakabe was already moving to his feet, sword in hand.
"The students are in danger," Yagi noted stiffly, but their worries were brushed aside.
Gojo Satoru took a step forward, and that was enough to draw all the attention to him. He grinned down at them, like he had not been about to commit rules and regulations-sanctioned murder a split second ago.
"Not while I'm here, I'll—" His words were cut short as they all felt it. Multiple curse energy explosions of the special-grade variety. To everyone present, it was as clear a challenge as any other. A challenge that said, "I'm here, Gojo Satoru. Come and face me."
"It's a trap," Principal Ganduje whispered to himself, but in the silence of the room, it might as well have been a howl to the sky. A lesser man would've thought they imagined the joy and relief on the old principal's face after he said those words. A lesser man didn't have the Six Eyes. And with these eyes of his, Gojo Satoru saw all.
He smirked at the old man, and Mei Mei spoke up. "Not a trap," she started, her eyes focused. Yet unlike the rest of the teaching body that had roused with the attack, she remained seated, waiting for a reason to care about it. Knowing her, it would be at least a million-dollar-worth reason. "It's a diversion. Multiple cursed energy signatures at once while an attack is going on in the school. It can't be a coincidence."
"So they don't want Gojo Satoru here then. But what stops him from simply deciding to stay here, repel the invaders here first before answering their challenge?" Ijichi asked in confusion.
"Pride." A single word, yet one that could not be any truer. Everyone turned to face the speaker, Yagi. But Yagi had eyes on only one person: the white-haired young man that watched the discussion with a grin.
"Whoever is behind this knows Gojo Satoru well enough to know that he won't turn his back to this. The pride that being the strongest fosters demands he replies. Yet that is not all. For if it were all, the person would've known that Satoru cares just as much for his students as he does for his pride. So they made sure the special-grade curses were placed strategically close to the city, and just on the outskirts. If Satoru doesn't come…"
Yagi didn't need to complete the sentence, not when it was this clear. If Satoru ignored the challenge, then two special-grade curses were going to attack the closest city at the same time.
"You guys are worried over nothing," Satoru finally spoke again, with another wave of his hand as he slowly wrapped his bandage around his eyes once again. "While we've been here theorizing and planning, our beautiful students have been preparing to fight against the hundreds of…" He trailed off, brows furrowing as he tilted his head before finally giving a bemused shrug. "Transfigured humans? So that's where all the increase in missing people cases have been. Huh."
"What?"
Someone asked in confusion, but he was already moving off. "Anyway, I know who's behind this. His name is Kenjaku, and like i said, I planned to bring it up today, but well, a lot of things have been happening. Anyway, you guys can go support the kids. I'll be right back."
Hands in pockets and halfway down the room, he suddenly turned his head back to where Principal Ganduje had remained frozen since his slip of the tongue. "And don't go running, Principal Ganduje. I'll be back."
And just like that, he disappeared, and everyone exploded into action.