Multiple Domains?

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Jujutsu High, meeting room.

Every student currently on campus had gathered.

Mai from Kyoto and Noritoshi Kamo had also been left at Tokyo Jujutsu High under Utahime's orders.

Mai was still a Zenin by blood, and Noritoshi was the only surviving heir of the Kamo Clan.

One had to be protected from conservative retaliation. The other had to be protected from anyone terrified that a certain person might finish silencing the Kamo bloodline completely.

After Itsuki Zenin displayed that almost divine, almost demonic strength, Kyoto did not even have the qualifications to protect them.

Utahime had already left in secret to investigate the traitor inside Jujutsu High, so she entrusted the two students to that human trash, Satoru Gojo.

"White Zetsu, talk."

Yaga folded his arms, his expression grave.

"What exactly is that brat trying to do?"

One of the Big Three Families had been exterminated.

Itsuki had broken with Jujutsu High, then committed something so horrifying on the very same day.

In only twenty-four hours, the jujutsu world had already turned restless. Everyone was afraid for themselves.

And that was after Jujutsu High did everything it could to suppress the details of Gojo's fight with Itsuki.

Just as Nanami had predicted, the fragile peace of the jujutsu world had already shifted.

Leaning against Panda's broad back, White Zetsu spread his hands.

"Don't ask me. I really don't know what that thing is thinking."

"Didn't you already get Itsuki's new address? If you want to know that badly, go ask him yourself."

Yaga's brows tightened. For a long moment, he said nothing.

If there had been another way, he would never have tried to pry answers out of this chatterbox.

The Shinjuku branch of the House of the Children of the Star was not somewhere ordinary sorcerers could visit and come back from.

Forget meeting Itsuki. Most of them would never get past the Zenin sorcerers at the gate.

Gojo had the strength to force his way in, but if he and Itsuki fought without restraint...

The ordinary people of Shinjuku would likely die in the aftermath.

And quietly evacuating hundreds of thousands of people in advance was nothing more than fantasy.

"I'll go."

The Zenin sisters stood at the same time.

They had too many questions.

Questions about Jujutsu High's plans.

Questions about the tragedy that had swallowed the Kamo Clan.

Questions about the destructive attack Itsuki had launched when he left, with no regard for whether they lived or died.

Shoko exhaled a thin stream of smoke as her gaze passed over Yaga's hesitation.

"Let them go. It's the best option."

Yaga nodded, then looked toward Yuji Itadori.

The important piece Itsuki had mentioned in the recording.

"Itadori."

Megumi and Nobara nudged the dazed pink-haired boy beside them.

"Don't overthink it," Megumi said. "Ijichi is already looking into it."

"We'll have answers in a few days," Nobara added. "Don't force yourself."

"Fushiguro. Kugisaki..."

Yuji's unfocused eyes moved to them.

"What day is it? Has the volcano-headed cursed spirit shown up yet?"

"We're not still inside Itsuki-sensei's domain, right? These past few days haven't all been an illusion?"

Becoming friends with Junpei. Killing humans by mistake.

The real culprit being his mother's pawn.

After the information White Zetsu had given him, even fragments of memories from infancy had begun flashing through his mind from time to time. It left him unsteady.

Nobara lifted her leg and kicked him without mercy.

"How long has it been already? Quit saying stupid things."

Megumi glanced at Nobara, who was sharp-tongued as ever and soft-hearted beneath it, but he did not say anything.

Sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Yuji stared at the glaring disc beyond the glass.

"Yeah."

"There isn't a blood-red moon here."

Smack. Smack. Smack.

Once he recognized reality, Yuji slapped his cheeks hard enough to jolt himself awake.

"This is real. I don't have time to stay confused."

Whether he wanted to kill Mahito or uncover the truth about his mother, none of it meant anything without strength.

Yuji's determination to grow stronger woke again.

"Illusion? Blood moon?"

Panda looked at Yuji's slightly swollen face in confusion.

"Wasn't Itsuki Zenin's domain a giant ancient tree?"

Panda still remembered what Maki had said half a year earlier, when Gojo attacked Itsuki.

He was not the only one confused. Surprise flickered through both Zenin sisters' eyes.

The dreadful scene that had unfolded at the Zenin estate years ago, that vast tree blocking out the sky, was still carved into their memories.

The second-years, who had returned after the night Jogo attacked, were hearing about Itsuki's Innate Domain for the first time.

During the domain clash at the Goodwill Event, the black shell had cut off their view.

A domain constructed from a sorcerer's cursed energy should not have such wildly different signature imagery.

A blood moon.

An ancient tree.

Yaga sensed something wrong and repeated the information Ijichi had reported from that night.

No one could make sense of it. In the end, every gaze turned toward the spirit lounging as if none of this had anything to do with him.

White Zetsu met their eyes, and a playful curve touched his mouth.

"Who decided..."

"A person can only have one domain?"

...

Dusk.

The afterglow of sunset painted the sky in gorgeous layers of color.

Mai and Maki passed through rows of pure-white torii gates with Caterpillar in tow, arriving at the Shinjuku branch of the House of the Children of the Star.

There were no armed units blocking the entrance.

Only Naobito, his beard flecked with white, and a woman in a kimono stood at the gate.

"Leave the thing here and go back."

The woman lifted her eyes. Her face was expressionless.

"Unless you leave Jujutsu High, the clan head will not see you."

"Mother..."

The sisters' expressions turned complicated as they looked at the woman standing before them.

"The clan head is meeting a guest. You will not get in."

Naobito took a mouthful of old liquor, his breath thick with alcohol.

"Either leave Jujutsu High or leave Japan."

"I don't know what the clan head is planning, but that brat won't stop for your sake."

Inside the House of the Children of the Star, deep in the corridor, a fashionably dressed figure slowly lifted the hood covering his entire face.

Across the tea table, Itsuki spoke calmly.

"I did not expect you to dare come here yourself."

Kenjaku sat opposite him, stitches crawling across his forehead.

"I did not expect you to block Satoru Gojo head-on either."

Itsuki raised his eyes toward him. A trace of scarlet passed through them.

"I warned you once. It seems you did not care enough."

"Spare me, old friend."

Kenjaku wore an aggrieved expression as he picked up the teapot and poured.

"With a time bomb like you wandering in front of me, how could I possibly act freely?"

"If I succeed in sealing the Six Eyes and you kill me afterward, wouldn't I lose everything?"

Itsuki lifted his tea and took a light sip.

"You think through quite a lot."

Seeing that Itsuki had no intention of attacking, Kenjaku's heart sank slightly.

He had taken such a risk and come in person for two reasons.

To test how important he was to Itsuki.

And to verify whether he had guessed Itsuki's final objective.

"Thinking too little is dangerous. It is rare to create a plan this interesting."

"I have prepared for a thousand years. I would rather not have someone else walk in at the end and steal the harvest."

Itsuki paused.

"So? What did you come here to say?"

Kenjaku narrowed his eyes and stated his purpose softly.

"A thousand years ago, I made Binding Vows with famous sorcerers across Japan. I assume you know that, old friend?"

Itsuki nodded.

"I have heard. Ryu Ishigori from Mutsu Province was one of them, wasn't he?"

In the manga he had read, that distinctive airplane hairstyle had left a strong impression on him.

Kenjaku's gaze darkened.

"Then let us make another Binding Vow, old friend."

"Until we return the jujutsu world to its golden age..."

"Let us stop cursing one another. What do you think?"

Itsuki's voice turned cold.

"Set a time limit. Otherwise you might tuck your tail and vanish."

The goal was within reach. A faint smile curved Kenjaku's lips.

"Four months."

Itsuki changed the subject.

"The time for you to help me make a move against Satoru Gojo is almost here."

"October 31st. Halloween."

"Make sure you attend, old friend."

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