"Uh… System? Hey, System?"
Jin stared at the empty space in front of him, waiting for the familiar blue interface to appear. "I cannot have two grown men living inside my head twenty-four-seven, so can you maybe take away the reward?"
He waited for a response.
Nothing.
Jin's eyebrow twitched as he stared at the empty air. "What the hell? I never asked for such a reward in the first place. This is less of a reward and more like two Special Grade responsibilities."
The moment those words left his mouth, a familiar voice sounded inside his head.
"Hey, hey, we're not babies, alright? And stop yelling at the machine; it won't answer you."
Jin's body stiffened.
He slowly looked around the room, even though he already knew there was nobody there. His eyes lingered on the empty doorway before he reluctantly turned back toward the spot where the System had disappeared, his expression becoming increasingly uneasy.
"System?"
There was no response.
Jin swallowed and tried again, his voice considerably less confident this time. "System, that wasn't you, right?"
"Obviously not," Gojo answered, sounding almost offended that Jin would even ask.
Jin closed his eyes.
He took a slow breath.
Then another.
He had known this was coming.
He had known exactly what the reward meant, who the two voices belonged to, and why they were now permanently residing inside his mind.
Knowing that, however, apparently did absolutely nothing to make the situation feel better.
Jin opened his eyes and stared blankly ahead. "Right… okay."
He nodded slowly to himself, trying to maintain whatever remained of his sanity. "This is fine. Completely manageable. I just have two of the most troublesome beings imaginable living inside my head for the foreseeable future."
Gojo laughed. "See? You're getting it."
Jin's eye twitched.
"And before you start complaining again," Gojo continued casually, "we're both here, we're not going anywhere, and you're going to have to get used to it."
Jin's shoulders slumped.
"That was supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
A second voice finally spoke.
Unlike Gojo's light and carefree tone, Sukuna's voice carried no amusement whatsoever. It was low, cold, and utterly indifferent to Jin's distress.
"You waste too much time complaining."
Jin's face tightened.
He slowly turned his gaze toward nothing in particular, as though staring at Sukuna directly might somehow make the situation more bearable. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who has to hear yourself talking every second of the day."
"I don't talk every second."
Gojo immediately laughed. "He's got you there."
Sukuna ignored him.
Jin rubbed both hands over his face and let out a long, exhausted sigh. "I can't believe this is my life now."
"It could be worse," Gojo said.
Jin lowered his hands and stared into the distance.
"How?"
There was a brief silence.
Then Sukuna answered with complete seriousness.
"You could be dead."
Jin stared blankly ahead.
Gojo started laughing.
Jin slowly covered his face again.
"…I hate this reward."
After five minutes of internal existential crisis, Jin finally let out a long sigh and stared blankly at the ceiling. "Okay, so, um… guys, could you maybe not talk to me once we're in public? I don't want people thinking I'm crazy."
Gojo was the first to respond, his voice carrying the same carefree amusement it always seemed to have. "But you have two voices inside your head. That's already, like, two points on the crazy register."
"I didn't have a choice in this," Jin muttered.
"The System ignored my request."
For once, the familiar blue screen appeared in front of him.
[Your request was not ignored.]
[The System merely took precautionary action in the occasion that you were maimed.]
Jin stared at the message.
He stared at it for several seconds before his expression slowly twisted.
"…That's your excuse?"
Gojo spoke again before Jin could continue. "Stop being so panicky. You're basically a combination of both of us anyway. You've got Sukuna's bloodlust and my invincibility."
A cold voice immediately cut through the conversation.
"Tch. What invincibility?"
Jin's expression tightened.
Sukuna continued, completely unimpressed. "You didn't seem very invincible when I cut you in half."
There was a brief silence.
Then Gojo's voice returned, wounded and dramatic. "Oh dear. Some people are talking badly about my Infinity, Jin-kun. Are you going to let that slide?"
"The both of you keep quiet!" Jin yelled.
At that exact moment, he heard the unmistakable sound of shuffling feet outside his door.
Jin froze.
His eyes widened.
Slowly, he turned toward the door before getting up and opening it.
Two students were already at the far end of the corridor, walking away much faster than anyone had a reasonable excuse to walk.
Jin stared after them.
They definitely heard him.
His shoulders slumped.
"See? Now they definitely think I'm talking to myself. Why did I have to end up with both of you?"
He shut the door behind him and rubbed his face in frustration. "Ugh. This isn't a buy-one-get-one-free deal."
Gojo immediately spoke up. "Jin-kun, I'm not the free bonus, right?"
Jin's eye twitched.
Before he could answer, Sukuna spoke.
"It's you who is the free deal, Six Eyes."
Gojo went silent.
Sukuna continued in the same cold, matter-of-fact tone. "Only someone like you could ever come out of a bonus deal."
"Hey! That's not fair!" Gojo protested. "The template specifically said Tainted Satoru Gojo. That means me."
"It means a fool who swallowed all my fingers."
Gojo's voice immediately became defensive. "That was one time."
"One time was enough."
Sukuna's voice carried the faintest hint of contempt. "I never imagined such insanity could exist even in this new era."
Jin's face twitched violently.
"Arrgh! Both of you, keep quiet! I've got to go to the cafeteria!"
After several minutes of arguing, threatening, and Jin repeatedly begging the two Special Grade tenants in his head to shut up, he finally managed to quiet them down.
Unfortunately, the moment Jin stepped outside, he found Hank waiting for him.
Hank looked at him for a moment before speaking. "You didn't hear anything, did you?"
Jin immediately became suspicious.
"…Hear what?"
"Certainly not," Hank replied.
Jin's expression relaxed slightly.
Then Hank continued, "I was notified by some students that your psyche may have been affected by the battle with Jean."
Jin's face instantly fell.
"Heck no! My psyche is doing just fine."
Gojo immediately spoke up.
"Considering you're holding three consciousnesses in your head instead of one, I'm not quite sure your psyche is doing great."
"Shut up! My psyche—" Jin stopped himself, realizing he had almost shouted the words aloud again. He lowered his voice and muttered, "Ah, fuck it. My brain is doing just fine."
Hank stared at him.
Jin stared back.
Neither said anything.
Finally, Jin simply turned around and started walking toward the cafeteria, desperately pretending the conversation had never happened.
He didn't miss the pitying gaze Hank gave him as he walked past.
The moment Jin entered the cafeteria, the noise of hundreds of students talking suddenly died down.
Every head turned toward him.
Some looked curious.
Some looked concerned.
Others looked like they were trying very hard not to stare.
Jin's steps slowed.
Don't react.
He forced himself to keep walking.
They're not looking at me.
He reached the food counter, grabbed his meal, and headed toward an empty table.
The moment he sat down, Gojo's voice suddenly exploded inside his head.
"Hey, guys!"
Jin immediately shot to his feet.
His chair scraped loudly against the floor, and his orange juice toppled over, spilling across the table and onto the floor.
Jin's eyes darted around the cafeteria.
Nobody reacted.
Gojo laughed.
"Relax. Only you can hear us."
Jin slowly sat back down.
"…You couldn't have warned me before doing that?"
"And some telepaths can hear us too," Gojo added cheerfully. "Like that Jean Grey person."
Jin stared at his spilled orange juice.
He slowly reached for a napkin.
Around him, the students began whispering again.
"I heard he fought with Jean."
"Maybe that's why he went crazy."
"Poor Jin. He was pretty cool to hang out with."
"But now he's lost it and gone crazy."
Jin's hand stopped.
He stared down at the orange juice dripping from the edge of the table.
His eye twitched.
His jaw tightened.
He slowly wiped up the mess while the whispers continued around him.
Finally, with all the dignity he could gather, Jin lowered his head and muttered under his breath.
"…I'm not crazy."