Just as Megumi was mulling over whether he should give up on this whole wild goose chase and head back, a little girl quietly stepped out from the shadows of an alleyway and approached them.
Gojo leaned down slightly, sliding his dark sunglasses down his nose to look at her. "Hey, little girl. This isn't really a place you should be playing around. Where are your parents?"
The little girl didn't even glance at Gojo. Her eyes were completely locked onto Megumi. She spoke in a flat, monotone voice. "Lord Geto wants to see you."
"Geto?" Gojo interrupted instantly, leaning in closer. "Hey kid, do you actually know where Geto is right now?"
Ignoring Gojo for the second time in a row, the girl kept her eyes fixed squarely on Megumi. "I can guide you to Geto-sama. Otherwise, Geto-sama can come to your location directly, if you allow it."
Megumi blinked, the pieces suddenly clicking together in his mind.
Ah. So slaughtering all those people around here wasn't just to further his insane world goal... it was a big, noisy flare sent up specifically to drag my attention out into the open.
"Alright, let's go," Megumi said, gesturing for her to lead the way. He had actually become pretty curious about what the guy's actual goal was anyway.
Guided by the little girl, the two of them walked toward the outer edges of the town, eventually arriving at a small, dilapidated, abandoned house tucked away in a quiet patch of woods.
The moment they stepped over the house's outer perimeter, a thick, nauseating stench of cursed energy slammed straight into their nostrils. It smelled like a mixture of rotten meat, stagnant sewer water, and burnt copper.
Megumi pinched his nose, turning his head toward Gojo. "Hey, Gojo... does your friend always smell this bad?"
Gojo's mouth twitched slightly under his blindfold. "No... I'm pretty sure he just ate way too many cursed spirit balls recently. Those things taste like vomit and shit, so I guess it ruins your body odor after a while."
"Hey now, Gojo. Talking shit about your friends behind their backs isn't very good manners, you know?" a smooth, amused voice echoed from the shadowed porch of the house.
Geto Suguru stepped out into the light, wearing his traditional monk robes, a calm smile playing on his lips.
Gojo scoffed, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Fine, then let me talk shit right to your face. Eating so many cursed balls isn't good for your health, man. You literally stink to high heaven."
Geto let out a soft, airy laugh. "Hah... what a lovely compliment coming from you." He paused, his sharp eyes drifting away from Gojo and settling entirely on Megumi. "Anyway, I didn't come here today to catch up with you, Gojo. I came to speak with Mr. Megumi."
Geto gestured toward a couple of old, dusty wooden chairs sitting on the porch. "Why don't you come up and sit down so we can have a proper chat?"
Megumi walked forward without an ounce of fear in his posture. "Sure. I don't mind listening to your last words."
Geto raised an eyebrow, his smile faltering slightly. "My last words? What do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean?" Megumi snorted softly, stopping a few feet away from him. "Did you seriously think that after slaughtering so many innocent people and then blatantly leaking your location, you were just going to walk out of here alive?"
Geto's expression chilled slightly, his eyes narrowing. "Innocent? Do you really care that much about those monkeys?"
Megumi turned his head slightly toward Gojo, pointing a thumb at Geto. "Dude... your former best friend is a massive, unhinged racist, huh?"
Gojo sighed heavily, scratching his white hair. "Key words: used-to-be friend."
Geto placed a hand over his heart, looking mock-hurt as he listened to their conversation. "Gojo, you're breaking my heart here. You know I still consider you a dear friend. But as for your question, Mr. Megumi... I never actually planned on walking out of here today, nor am I trying to run away. I simply wanted a chance to talk to you directly."
"Fine," Megumi crossed his arms, leaning back against a wooden post. "Talk."
Geto took a deep breath, his tone becoming serious and strangely passionate. "Mr. Megumi... have you ever thought about changing the world? Sometime in your life, haven't you looked around and felt that something was fundamentally broken?"
He took a step forward, gesturing vaguely at the town behind them. "We, the jujutsu sorcerers, risk our lives every single day in the shadows. We bleed, we watch our comrades die horrible deaths, and for what? At the end of the day, not a single normal person in the world knows about our sacrifices. And on the rare occasions they do catch a glimpse of us, they don't offer gratitude—they fear us like monsters."
Geto's jaw tightened, a bitter edge entering his voice. "Why must it be like this? What makes it even more damning is the fact that cursed spirits are spawned precisely because those monkeys can't control their own cursed energy! They leak it constantly like a clogged sewer pipe, creating monsters out of their own disgusting negative emotions. And in the end, we sorcerers are the ones forced to pay the price with our blood and lives! It is completely, utterly unfair. What do you think, Mr. Megumi?"
Megumi listened quietly, taking a second to process Geto's grand rant. "Hmm... yeah, when you put it like that, it really is pretty unfair to sorcerers." Megumi nodded casually. "So what, you're currently fighting for sorcerer rights? You guys want better compensation, hazard pay, or more benefits from the higher-ups?"
Geto's face twitched. "No! I'm not fighting for political benefits or money! My goal is far greater than that. I want to eradicate every single cursed spirit from the face of this earth forever! And the single most logical, efficient way to achieve that... is to slaughter every non-sorcerer monkey who lacks the ability to control their cursed energy."
"Geto!" Gojo suddenly shouted from the side, his voice dropping all playful tone. "Are you still hung up on that insane, psychotic idea?!"
Geto didn't even flinch. He turned his head toward Gojo, his eyes wide and unblinking. "Without non-sorcerers leaking cursed energy, cursed spirits literally cannot form! Gojo, tell me where the crazy part is! I am stating a simple, objective fact!"
Turning back to Megumi, Geto's eyes filled with an intense, fanatical gleam. "What do you think, Mr. Megumi? With your incredible power, helping me realize this world is certainly possible!"
Megumi tilted his head, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well... technically speaking, it is certainly possible."
"Megumi!" Gojo yelled, a note of real concern in his voice as he took a step forward.
"Relax, Gojo. Let me finish," Megumi raised a hand to pause Gojo, then turned back to face Geto with a deadpan expression. "Look, man... there's just one massive, hilarious flaw in your whole logic."
Geto frowned slightly. "A flaw? What flaw?"
Megumi let out a short, scoffing chuckle. "Without those 'monkeys' you hate so much... society completely collapses in less than a week. Who the hell is going to farm the crops? Who's going to weave clothes? Who's going to process food, build houses, maintain the water supply, or generate electricity?"
Megumi gestured around the rotting, abandoned house. "Do you really want all of us sorcerers to regress straight back into the friggin' Stone Age? Are we all supposed to wander around naked, hunting wild beasts with wooden spears, and eating raw meat in dark caves just so we don't have to deal with curses?"
Geto froze on the spot.
His jaw loosened, his mind going completely blank for a solid five seconds. It was abundantly clear from the utter shock on his face that in all his years of brooding, radicalization, and grand-scheme planning, he had literally never stopped to consider basic, everyday economics or infrastructure even once.
"I... well..." Geto stammered slightly, before quickly forcing himself to regain his composure. He cleared his throat, his eyes flashing nervously. "Without sorcerers constantly dying to cursed spirits, the global population of sorcerers will rapidly explode! In time, society will rebuild itself, entirely composed of sorcerers! We will handle the farming and electricity ourselves!"
Megumi looked at him like he was staring at a clinically insane mental patient. "Sure. That works great in your head as a theoretical fantasy. But in reality? The moment you wipe out ninety-nine percent of the global human workforce, the supply chain dies instantly. A single bad winter or crop failure, and human civilization is completely wiped off the face of the earth forever."
Megumi shook his head, letting out a low sigh.
This guy has completely lost his damn mind, Megumi thought to himself. Only a total lunatic who has detached himself from reality could sit here arguing for the end of the world with a straight face.
"Anyway," Megumi suddenly shifted his posture, his voice dropping its casual tone as his shadow began to ripple beneath his feet. "Let's stop talking about all this useless stuff. Aren't your traps already fully prepared by now?"
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