"Riko! Are you okay?"
Satoru Gojo pushed open the classroom door, and a group of middle school girls turned toward him. Their eyes immediately lit up with sparkles.
"Ahhh, so handsome!"
"White hair! Is it natural?"
"Are you mixed-race?"
"He must be about 1.9 meters tall, right? So tall and handsome!"
"Hey handsome, can you take off your sunglasses so we can see your eyes?"
Faced with his little fangirls' requests, Satoru flashily lifted his sunglasses, revealing a wide playful grin that seemed to charm every girl instantly.
"Ahhhhhhh…"
Riko Amanai stared at the excited classmates, utterly baffled. What exactly is handsome about this scumbag?
"Quiet! Everyone back to your seats!" the teacher ordered firmly, rapping on the desk. The girls, still sighing with disappointment, filed back to their chairs.
"Sir, who are you looking for?" the teacher asked politely.
Leaning in slightly, Satoru smiled and said, "Hello, teacher. I'm looking for Riko Amanai. I'm her… brother!"
The teacher blinked with curiosity, then nodded and called out, "Riko, you go with your brother first."
As Riko gathered her things, the teacher discreetly slipped Satoru a piece of paper. "Here's my contact information!"
"…" Satoru took it with a grin.
When Satoru and Riko stepped out of the classroom, Shion Gojo arrived beside Misato Kuroi. Along the way, Shion had already handled a cursed user sent by the Star Plasma Cult — a guy wearing a paper bag over his head who could use a Clone Cursed Technique. He had been easily defeated by Shion's precise and unpredictable moves.
Though the immediate threat was gone, the very existence of such attacks signaled that Riko's carefree days were over.
The higher-ups had issued a strict order: the Star Plasma Vessel must be delivered to the Tomb Chamber without delay.
Riko didn't look sad when she heard this. Instead, something like relief shone in her eyes.
"It's time. Let's go," she said with determination.
Satoru watched her back for a moment, then spoke suddenly, "Brother!"
Shion scratched his head, trying to act casual. "Actually, if we're a day late, it's no big deal, right? What do you guys think?"
Satoru laughed. "Agreed!"
Suguru Geto shrugged, "I have no objections."
---
Okinawa Beach
"Wooohoo~"
Satoru and Riko were bounding around on the beach with the kind of carefree energy only middle schoolers could muster.
Kuroi watched with a soft smile. "It's been a long time since I've seen Miss Riko this happy."
Nearby, Shion's face was covered in scribble marks of silent frustration. Was this how he was supposed to look, like some old butler at a rich family's garden party?
Geto observed Satoru's antics, then turned to Shion. "You and Satoru have been sustaining your Limitless techniques for over a day straight. You haven't slept. Are you sure you can hold up?"
Shion waved him off casually, "Daijoubu."
Geto took a sip of coconut juice, eyes already half-closed. "Don't act like it's nothing. Be careful or your brain might fry from all that cursed energy," he muttered with dead-fish eyes. [Reverse cursed technique explanation: converting negative cursed energy into positive for healing is difficult and rare among sorcerers]
Shion merely nodded and pulled out his phone, tapping away before sending a message.
Geto caught sight of the screen out of the corner of his eye. "Sending a flirty message to someone?"
"Get lost!" Shion laughed before defending himself, "It's an email to Principal Yaga!"
"Oh? About what?" Geto asked.
"That's a secret!" Shion teased before grinning.
Suddenly his expression grew serious.
"Hey, Suguru," Shion said softly. "Do you really think Riko's assimilation with Master Tengen is okay?"
Geto paused, considering deeply before he spoke. "From the perspective of the greater good, sacrificing one person for the stability of the entire jujutsu world may be the optimal solution."
"And personally?" Shion pressed gently.
Geto's eyes were firm. "Honestly? The method they chose is … bullshit."
Shion smiled at him.
"Suguru, I have a favor to ask," Shion began.
"What is it?" Geto asked, eyebrows raised.
Shion's grin turned wistful.
Geto blinked in disbelief. "You mean you actually believe you two could lose?"
"I'm not saying it's certain," Shion said carefully. "It's just a feeling … like the sensation of the Grim Reaper's scythe against my neck."
Geto's expression twitched. "Better not to have that kind of premonition, people might actually die!"
Shion rubbed his nose. "Sometimes dying once might not be such a bad thing."
"…Huh?" Geto looked utterly incredulous. "Shion, has your brain gone bad?"
Shion shook his head with a playful smirk, then suddenly turned serious again.
"Suguru, do you know why the three of us haven't mastered Reverse Cursed Technique yet?" he asked.
"…Why are we talking about this now?" Geto replied with a sigh.
"Be serious," Shion said. "Don't you think it's weird?"
Shion raised his finger and leaned forward. "Remember when all three of us first used Black Flash?"
"Of course I remember," Geto replied.
Black Flash is a special phenomenon where cursed energy and a physical strike coincide within 0.000001 seconds, creating a spatial distortion that amplifies the attack nearly three-fold. It's extremely difficult to perform and most sorcerers can't use it at will.
After Shion landed his first Black Flash, Satoru and Geto followed suit. To their shock, whenever they calmed their minds and matched their cursed energy flow precisely, they could trigger Black Flash intentionally. Something most jujutsu sorcerers could never do.
"That shows our talent is incomparably high," Shion said with confident pride.
"…I'm not here for you to brag," Geto muttered.
"But the point is, with our level of talent, mastering Reverse Cursed Technique shouldn't be this hard," Shion continued. "We've been training with Shoko for a long time, and even if her teaching is abstract, we shouldn't be this clueless."
Geto blinked in surprise.
Shion leaned back and stretched under the warm sunlight. "Maybe we've been living too comfortably."
"With the title of 'the strongest trio,' all our missions were easy. We never had that push to grow stronger."
"The most prominent feature of Reverse Cursed Technique is its powerful healing — nearly like bringing someone back from death — yet we hardly ever get hurt. We lack life-or-death pressure."
"So I was thinking … maybe if we try training right on the edge of death, that might help us grasp the Reverse Cursed Technique."
Geto sighed. "Like that line Martin Heidegger said… 'only by being close to death can one understand the true meaning of existence.'"
Shion grinned. "Ah yeah, that's it!"
"…Don't you think your idea is a bit extreme?" Geto replied with a deadpan tone.
"Are you scared?" Shion teased.
Everyone fears death. Anyone who says otherwise is lying!
Shion closed his eyes, soaking in the sun. "Okay, it's just a hypothesis."
Watching Shion drift toward a nap in the warm light, Geto shook his head.
"Only by being close to death can one understand the true meaning of existence… sounds pretty eyebrow-raising," he muttered.
---