The Executioner

In a Jujutsu High classroom, a wooden lectern shattered.

The shockwave smashed a crater into the floor.

"Bastards. Both of them are bastards."

Masamichi Yaga's voice shook.

"One disappears. One defects. What kind of students did I teach?"

His words broke.

Two drops fell to the ground.

"What kind of teacher am I?"

That morning, before Yaga even reached the school, Jujutsu Headquarters had sent notice.

After investigation, Suguru Geto used jujutsu to massacre villagers. Under Article 9 of jujutsu regulations, Suguru Geto is designated a curse user and must be executed.

Executioner: Satoru Gojo.

The notice hit Yaga like a bolt from the blue.

He knew Article 9 very well. It was a blade hanging over every sorcerer's head. Because of it, sorcerers accepted orders and restrictions from the system.

After Gojo grew into a sorcerer, his name had been attached to that blade. Once several troublesome sorcerers died in succession, no one questioned his ability as executioner.

Now the system wanted Gojo to execute Geto.

To Yaga, it felt like cutting off his own hand with the other.

He could not accept it.

For some reason, he felt grateful that Gojo was missing.

At the agency, Toji stared seriously at his phone.

The most visible post on the sorcerer network concerned Geto.

"Tch. That kid has some blood in him."

Based on the information in the report and the state of the two girls with Geto yesterday, Toji could infer most of what had happened.

"He still wanted to act cool. If he had hired me as a bodyguard, there would be no issue."

He tossed the phone onto the table and stared at the ceiling.

For the first time, he understood why Ren liked reclining like this.

It was comfortable.

I wonder whether that blindfold can kill his friend.

Gojo's face appeared in Toji's mind.

His mouth curved.

Not that he looked down on Gojo, but even if those two met, Gojo would not do it.

Now it depended on whether Geto listened to his advice.

Geto was smart. He should understand.

At the Gojo family estate, an attendant hurried in.

"Sir, urgent communication from Jujutsu Headquarters. Special Grade sorcerer Suguru Geto has violated jujutsu regulations. Satoru Gojo is assigned as executioner. He is to find Geto and execute him."

The elder remained calm.

He had seen similar matters more than once.

"Reply that Satoru Gojo's whereabouts are unknown. Tell them to search for him themselves."

"That... may not be appropriate."

The elder's eyes lifted.

The attendant collapsed to the floor, trembling.

"After you send the reply, go guard the gate."

Delivering messages was easy and profitable. It was a position every servant wanted. The attendant had worked hard to climb there and lost it with one sentence.

"Yes. I understand."

After the attendant left, the elder looked toward the rear of the estate.

That boy had finally become serious about training. How could they let this mess interrupt his rhythm?

One week later, discussion of Geto's defection spread everywhere.

The sorcerer network boiled with argument.

"Wasn't Satoru Gojo assigned as executioner? Why is there no movement? Is Headquarters protecting Geto?"

"Geto killed more than a hundred people and nothing happens?"

"We need equal treatment. Why hasn't Gojo acted?"

"Suguru Geto must have had a reason. You cannot slander him like this."

"Are you Geto's accomplice? Give us his address before we find you."

Haibara stared at his phone in anger.

He had been busy with missions. When he returned, he found that the upperclassman he admired most had massacred civilians and become wanted by the entire jujutsu world.

His mind still buzzed.

How could someone so gentle do something that cruel?

There had to be a reason.

He needed to find it.

He wiped his eyes. His gaze became firm.

First, he needed to contact Geto.

"Shoko might know his contact information."

He left the classroom to find her.

In Kyoto, inside a villa halfway up a mountain, an elder looked at the news on his phone.

Greed filled his cloudy eyes.

"Good. Good. Suguru Geto, your defection is excellent."

"I have wanted your body and Satoru Gojo's body for a long time. Now there is finally a chance."

The elder laughed so hard that tears appeared at the corners of his eyes.

After the excitement came planning.

Geto had defected. Gojo had become executioner. One of them would eventually die, probably Geto.

There were two problems.

First, where was Gojo?

Even the higher-ups could not find him. They had searched the Gojo family and found no trace. If this dragged on, no one knew when it would end.

Second, Ren Zenin's attitude.

Thinking of Ren caused a headache.

The body the elder wanted most was Ren's.

A person born without cursed energy who later awakened techniques was a rare existence. If he could obtain that body, perhaps he could research the origin of those techniques.

But he no longer held much hope.

At present, no human or curse in the world seemed capable of eliminating Ren Zenin.

The possibility of obtaining that body was almost zero.

And Ren's attitude toward this matter mattered more than an order from Headquarters.

In the end, this world still obeyed strength.

"Troublesome. Compared with thinking how to kill you, sealing you is more realistic."

The elder looked up.

A cube covered in eyes rested quietly on the wall.

Time rushed on.

Five years passed.

The Geto incident seemed paused. No one knew what had happened. They only knew no one dared discuss it online anymore.

His wanted notice still hung on the sorcerer network, like Gojo's old public notice had once done.

One had been punishment.

This was pursuit.

In a smoking area on a Tokyo street, several smokers gathered, chatting about work and life as if they were old friends.

"Look. A girl is smoking over there. Isn't that a school uniform?"

They looked over.

A short-haired woman in dark clothes stood to the side with a cigarette in her mouth, looking around.

"A student, right? She even has a badge."

"Students mature early these days. Back when I was young, if I smoked like that, I would have been beaten at school and at home."

The men began reminiscing.

The woman smoking was Shoko Ieiri, one of the jujutsu world's treasures.

She exhaled smoke.

"Shoko," a familiar voice said, "after all these years, you are still the same."

Shoko turned and saw Geto not far away, smiling gently.

For one moment, the past surged up and her nose stung.

No.

She would not show that in front of this bastard.

"Well, if it isn't our wanted criminal. Why are you here?"

Geto came to stand beside her, shoulder to shoulder, watching pedestrians pass.

"I only want to create a world of sorcerers."

"I am not a child. I do not expect everyone to understand. Today, I only came to test my luck."

Shoko exhaled again.

"Falling because no one understands you is childish, isn't it?"

She took out her phone and called Gojo in front of him.

"You are not leaving? Satoru will be here soon."

Geto breathed in.

"Let him come. Some things must be faced."

Gojo appeared among the crowd.

"Explain yourself, Suguru."

He wore no sunglasses. His blue eyes fixed on his old friend.

Two years earlier, when Gojo had planned to tell his friends he had finished his training, the news waiting for him was Geto's defection.

The blow had been heavy.

Why had someone so gentle become this?

"Do not be angry, Satoru. I only did what I wanted to do. You used to be the same."

"That is not what I am asking." Gojo's voice rose. "You always opposed meaningless killing. Why did you change?"

"Meaningless? Of course there is meaning. It is my cause."

"Bullshit cause. Killing every non-sorcerer creates a world without curses? Doing something impossible because you know it is impossible is meaningless."

Geto turned his head and looked at Gojo sideways.

"How arrogant. You and Ren Zenin could do it easily, yet..."

He stopped.

"It seems my luck today is not good."

Geto turned away.

Gojo raised one finger. Cursed energy gathered, then failed to move.

"If you want to kill me, kill me. You are the strongest, aren't you?"

Gojo froze.

Geto disappeared from his sight.

The next time they met, they would be enemies.

Shoko came beside Gojo and saw his lost expression.

"Satoru..."

"Shoko, did I ignore the people beside me too much?"

Gojo laughed softly without humor.

"I thought the Six Eyes could see through all falsehood. But I could not even see my best friend's thoughts changing."

He tore a strip of black cloth and wrapped it over his eyes.

"From now on, unless necessary, I will not use the Six Eyes to look at people."

Shoko watched him leave.

The arrogant, wild Satoru Gojo of the past seemed to have been sealed.

Not long after, Gojo returned to the agency.

"Blindfold. Huh? You are actually blindfolded this time?"

For once, Gojo did not retort.

"Is Ren awake?"

"No. I do not know what he absorbed, but he is still processing it."

Gojo said nothing more and left.

Toji looked toward the deepest room in the hallway.

"Those two must have met. I did not expect it to hit him that hard."

"Boss, you missed a huge piece of gossip."

Five more years passed.

March arrived, between winter and spring.

Ren had been in seclusion for nine and a half years.

At the agency, Toji threw two blades onto the desk.

"Working for you is a losing deal. When you wake up, I want a raise."

Rumors about Ren had spread during the past five years. Some said he had been killed by a curse. Others said he had allied with curses to overthrow the jujutsu world.

Toji handled those troubles in the agency style.

He killed the source.

Gojo spent his time suppressing investigations against Ren through Headquarters. Geto, through his cult, gathered a large fortune and regularly sent detailed reports to the agency as if his organization were a subordinate branch.

The two men knew of each other's existence but tacitly avoided meeting.

Toji thought it was childish enough to be funny.

Then the building shook.

The sky split.

Black energy spread across Tokyo.

Every sorcerer felt fear deep in their soul.

At the same time, beneath Jujutsu Headquarters, in an execution room, Gojo's teasing voice sounded.

"Do you really want to die like this?"

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