Zenin Naobito and Zenin Naoya hurried toward Tokyo Jujutsu High.
They had been struck by a bolt from the blue in the dead of night.
"When things really blow up, they go all at once, huh?"
Naoya muttered from the back seat.
He had always known a day like this would come. He just had not expected it to be today.
"That is how these things always end. In an instant. Like lightning."
Naobito murmured from the seat beside him.
His gaze never left the smartphone in his hand.
"Crazy Diamond!"
A bizarre animation played across the screen.
Strange as it was, there were still a few things worth learning from it.
"No clue how things are gonna roll from here."
"Isn't it obvious? The Kamo clan will shrivel up, and the higher-ups will be reorganized."
A Jujutsu Sorcerer from the Kamo clan had been present at the scene.
That fact alone guaranteed the clan itself would be dragged into serious trouble.
By contrast, it was good news for the Zenin Clan and the Gojo family, both of whom had maintained friendly ties with Kadoc.
Gojo Satoru, especially, would welcome it more than anyone.
"Doesn't do much for us, but for the Gojo family, this is a chance to expand their influence. They have the deepest history and the strongest foundation, but their actual manpower is weak."
"Other than Satoru-kun, they really don't have much, do they?"
"Exactly. Their name carries weight because of that one man. Remove him, and they have a serious problem."
Naobito let out a dry chuckle and stretched.
A reshuffling of power.
It was an attractive prospect, certainly, but it had never stirred him much, not in the past and not now.
Among the Three Great Families, the Zenin Clan possessed the strongest organizational power.
Even if the connection was half-severed, they still had an heir to the clan's supreme inherited Cursed Technique.
Fushiguro Megumi's [Ten Shadows Technique].
And Zenin Toji, the man who had once brought even Gojo Satoru to heel.
Those two alone were enough to take pride in, and now there was Naoya as well, a man who had mastered a Domain Expansion.
It was the most dazzling lineup of all.
"The Kamo clan's next head may have inherited Blood Manipulation, but he's too weak."
"That side's conservative to the bone, isn't it? They're not exactly lacking in force, but they're way too greedy."
"Hearing those words come out of your mouth is a marvel in itself."
Naobito glanced at Naoya and shook his head.
He had changed too much.
"You think so? Can't be helped."
"It's a good change, so there's no need to fix it. Anyway, what's your opinion?"
"Clan Head. If you think we've got the right to decide that, you're mistaken."
Naoya saw the reality with perfect clarity.
This was only a discussion in form. In truth, everything would hinge on Kadoc's opinion.
They might be able to gnaw off a piece of power in the process, but...
They could never become the main axis.
A pleased grin spread across Naobito's face as he kept his eyes on the phone.
It was a satisfying answer.
A little past one in the morning.
My head throbbed as I forced my sleep-soaked body awake.
"Master. Everyone's here. I think you need to get up now."
"Yeah. Thanks."
I answered in a voice still rough with sleep and opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was Ibuki-douji's enormous chest.
'Smells nice.'
I slowly pushed myself up, feeling the softness of her flesh, the heavy warmth of it, the faint fragrance clinging to her skin.
The back of my head was warm too, probably because I had been sleeping on her thigh.
I was pretty sure I had just collapsed on the bare floor before passing out...
So she must have moved me onto her lap after I fell asleep.
"Thanks. That must've been uncomfortable."
"Not at all. If anything, the hard part was dealing with everyone fighting over who got to be your pillow. Honestly, they all like you way too much, Master."
Ibuki-douji rose with a soft laugh.
I looked around and spotted a few familiar faces, along with a few I had never seen before.
'Ah. Him.'
A modified Jujutsu High uniform styled like traditional clothing. Narrow eyes.
I recognized a supporting character from Jujutsu Kaisen: Kamo Noritoshi.
And the old man standing beside him was probably... the current clan head.
If he was the clan head, then he should be able to use Blood Manipulation too.
"My apologies. It's been an exhausting day, and I ended up being rude enough to fall asleep with guests present."
I bowed first and apologized.
My voice was still hoarse. I had not fully woken up yet.
"If you're tired, you're allowed to catch some sleep. You were nearly assassinated. Standing there with a clear head after that would be the hard part, wouldn't it?"
Naobito laughed, hands tucked into his sleeves.
He wasn't drinking today.
"Exactly. You came back after almost getting killed. It'd be weirder to give you grief for sleeping, wouldn't it?"
Naoya nodded and backed him up.
It was reassuring in more ways than one.
And with Gojo Satoru standing there alongside Geto Suguru, who had not been present before, that went without saying.
Almost everyone here was on my side.
"You're the head of the Kamo clan, correct? It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Y-yes. A pleasure."
The old man in traditional clothes beside Noritoshi greeted me awkwardly.
His expression screamed discomfort.
Of course it did.
He was the head of the group that had dispatched Jujutsu Sorcerers to kill me.
"You must be in a difficult position, considering you sent Jujutsu Sorcerers to murder me."
"The fault is mine. At least spare the clan..."
"I'm not going to dissolve the family or purge it. But I will expect a sincere apology, and sincere compensation."
The old man's face brightened at once.
He had seen a sliver of hope. No wonder the tension bled out of him.
"We'll leave that there for now."
"Ah. I've already got everything ready. So you can start asking right away."
From the corner, Shuten-douji dragged Old Man Number One over by the collar.
She was treating him like luggage.
Looking closer, I saw his eyes were unfocused.
His arms and legs hung limp.
"No way."
"Mm. I soaked him nice and deep in drunken haze for your sake, my lord. Think of it as a kind of restraint."
Shuten-douji drifted close and whispered in my ear.
She wrapped herself around me as she did it, gently rubbing my stomach.
It felt strange having someone turn my usual tricks back on me...
But it was a very pleasant kind of strange.
If she kept this up, I felt like I might lose my grip on something.
"Thanks."
Before that could happen, I peeled Shuten-douji off me and got my smartphone camera ready.
I pointed it at Old Man Number One's face.
He was kneeling there, staring up at me.
The whole setup looked exactly like one of those hypnosis apps.
"Will you be able to speak nothing but the truth from here on out?"
"Yes."
When I asked, Old Man Number One slowly nodded.
At a glance, he just looked like a man who had given up on life. That made things easier.
"First, explain why you invited me and my Servants, and why you attacked us."
"That was..."
The moment I asked, Old Man Number One began answering smoothly.
He hid nothing.
What he had been thinking. What plans he had laid.
Even the fact that someone had actively aided him through the process came spilling out without resistance.
The Kamo clan head's complexion turned whiter and whiter.
Noritoshi, standing beside him, had gone rigid as well.
Life or death.
Maybe he had finally realized that even if he survived, his clan was hanging by a thread.
"That is all."
Old Man Number One finished speaking and shut his mouth.
It was still deep in the night.
A cold, oppressive darkness filled the dojo wall to wall.
I stopped the recording and rose to my feet.
Assassin, Koyanskaya of Darkness, and Foreigner were all fiddling with their phones too, apparently having made audio recordings of their own.
"That gives us testimony. As for physical evidence, we still have it in storage. The poisoned dumplings, and the audio from the scene too."
"In other words, it's checkmate. Well, everyone who was supposed to get stabbed in the back is already dead, except one."
Gojo Satoru muttered as he stretched.
His face looked utterly untouched by the fact that people had died.
Naobito and Naoya looked much the same.
Only Geto Suguru and Noritoshi showed anything close to complicated feelings.
"If you'll excuse me, I'll take over the explanation from here."
Assassin, who had been listening quietly, stepped forward.
For me, that was nothing but reassuring.
"First, some time ago, I had a conversation with the Prime Minister of Japan. The Chancellor, if you prefer?"
"The Prime Minister?"
Naobito's eyes widened.
Apparently even he had not expected us to have pulled the Prime Minister into this.
"Yes. I made sure he understood things in advance, so measures were taken to prevent any unnecessary commotion."
"You move quickly. Impressive."
"Thank you. Thanks to that, even a situation like this causes no trouble at all. If anything, it puts us in a favorable position."
With a smooth motion, Assassin clasped her hands behind her back like an old statesman.
That posture only made her ample chest stand out more.
"In any case, enough preamble. The conclusion is simple. Who fills the vacant seats? And how do we deal with the matter of collusion with Cursed Spirits?"
Assassin swept her gaze across the room, then slowly steadied her breathing.
Then she spoke.
"I'll take recommendations. Does anyone have suitable candidates?"
Morning came after that horrific dawn.
From the start of the day, the Prime Minister of Japan was hit with shocking news.
The upper ranks of the Jujutsu Headquarters had been annihilated.
And there was a mountain of evidence exposing their corruption and crimes.
'Absurd.'
As the man responsible for the nation, he knew all manner of secrets.
Cursed Spirits were no exception.
That was why he understood exactly how insane it was to join hands with them.
He knew full well it was an indefensible crime.
And on top of that, they had tried to eliminate someone stronger than themselves and destroyed themselves in the process.
It was pitiful beyond words.
Sigh.
Assassin's face rose in the Prime Minister's mind.
That woman had orchestrated this, no doubt.
But even if she had, there was nothing he could do about it.
And more than that, there was no need.
Her sincerity toward peace. Her madness.
Neither had seemed false in the slightest.
And he had been given the evidence as well.
There was no room left to choose.
'The best option is not to make an enemy of them.'
There was only one standard for becoming a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer.
You had to be capable of overthrowing a nation. Yet even Special Grade could not hope to challenge them.
A Special Grade beyond Special Grade.
Something that did not fit inside any existing frame.
He had no choice but to make them allies.
'If you can't beat them, you join them.'
The Prime Minister pulled the cell phone from his pocket.
The jujutsu world was, in the end, an unofficial organization.
He could not use the desk phone reserved for official channels to contact them.
Beep. Beep.
The sterile waiting tone rang a few times before the call connected.
"Hello?"
A deep, mischievous old man's voice answered.
It was Zenin Naobito.
There was only one reason the Prime Minister had chosen to contact Naobito.
He was reasonably friendly, and he had experience.
The Kamo clan had no authority to decide anything, since they were one of the perpetrators in this incident.
And Gojo Satoru had too much of a wild streak.
Every Jujutsu Sorcerer had a reckless side...
But Gojo's was a little more severe than most.
So by process of elimination, Naobito was the most suitable choice.
He was also someone the Prime Minister could actually talk to.
"Ah... Lord Zenin. Are you available to speak at the moment?"
"Ah, Prime Minister. Of course."
"I received the report this morning. I also received the recommendations for the new appointments."
"Yes. I recommended that things proceed as they are, while we're at it. Is there a problem?"
Naobito's question was one of genuine curiosity.
It only sounded confrontational because of the way he spoke.
Fortunately, the Prime Minister understood that.
He relaxed.
"No. None at all. If the higher-ups had rotted to the point of colluding with Cursed Spirits, then cutting them out is the right thing to do."
"Mm. That's what you do with flesh that's gone rotten."
"Then there is no issue with appointing the people you recommended, but are you certain? It seems a great deal of information has leaked."
The Prime Minister's concern was genuine.
Information had leaked to Cursed Spirits.
Something that should never have happened had happened, and that made the situation deeply troubling.
"Ah, it'll be fine. Tracking those things down will be a pain, but it'll be handled."
"I'm glad to hear it. I'll leave it in your hands."
"Yes. I'll call again another time."
The Prime Minister exhaled and ended the call.
Fortunately, the Three Great Families were still intact.
The Jujutsu Sorcerers had not suffered major losses either, so it looked like things could be brought under control.
'Maybe this is actually for the best.'
The Prime Minister was no clean man himself, but even by his standards, this had crossed the line.
In a word, it had rotted through.
That rotten section had now been cut away, and in its place had come an unstable but dependable force.
On the whole, it was a net gain.
The Prime Minister steadied his breathing and picked up the receiver on his desk.
It was time to get back to ordinary business.