[While running Reverse Cursed Technique to examine the Star Plasma Vessel, Riko Amanai, you kept Phantom Night Parade active on Kokun's technique, continuing the analysis in parallel.]
[This was a trick you'd only recently discovered. Phantom Night Parade's replication process didn't interfere with its core analytical function. The only bottleneck was your own ability to split focus.]
[You successfully extracted the technique Directional Explosive Boundary from Kokun.]
[Directional Explosive Boundary: manipulates the direction and shape of explosions through cursed technique.]
[Mid-examination, you spoke to Geto without looking up.]
["That one's called Kokun. According to what he gave me, Q sent a second operative along with him. Their strongest fighter, someone named Bayer."]
["Their strongest?" Geto glanced toward the hallway. "Where is he?"]
[He didn't sound particularly worried. The idea of Q's top combatant posing a real threat hadn't crossed his mind. Still, he wanted confirmation.]
[You pulled out your phone, calm as ever, and opened a photo Gojo had dropped in the group chat.]
[There was Gojo, flashing a peace sign at the camera. Behind him sat a man in the same white Q military jacket, face beaten into something barely recognizable.]
[You showed it to Geto first, then turned the screen toward Kokun.]
["I'm guessing this is the one you were calling Q's strongest fighter. Bayer, right?"]
[Kokun's eyes went wide. He stared at the photo, at the wreckage that used to be Bayer, and his mouth hung open.]
["How..."]
[Q dissolved not long after that. With Bayer out of the picture, the organization had nothing left to hold it together.]
[Gojo caught up with the group shortly. You spoke first, asking about Bayer.]
["What happened with the Q operative?"]
["Oh, him? Already called the Assistant Managers to handle cleanup. He's not waking up anytime soon. No issues."]
["What was his technique?"]
[Gojo understood Phantom Night Parade well enough by now that your interest in enemy techniques didn't surprise him. If anything, he'd grown used to it.]
[He opened one palm. Several chunks of debris nearby lifted off the ground and began orbiting lazily around you as he explained.]
["Something like this. Telekinetic control over objects, making them float and move. In his case, he was using it on daggers."]
["That so?"]
[You mulled it over for a moment, then let it go.]
[The technique's effect overlapped too much with Limitless. No point in acquiring a redundant ability when proficiency didn't carry over between techniques, no matter how similar. Each one demanded its own dedicated practice.]
[Better to spend that time mastering Limitless than to chase diminishing returns.]
[Gojo looked over at the still-unconscious Amanai.]
["So that's the Star Plasma Vessel? She's still out. Should we get a doctor?"]
[Geto shook his head. "Touma already checked her with Reverse Cursed Technique. Nothing wrong as far as he could tell."]
[Gojo couldn't resist. "You sure that's not because the knockoff version just can't detect anything?"]
[You didn't take offense. In a sense, he was right.]
[The Reverse Cursed Technique you used was replicated through Phantom Night Parade. It wasn't something you'd truly mastered on your own, and the distinction mattered.]
["If only we could use Reverse Cursed Technique like Shoko does," Geto sighed.]
[Gojo shut that down without mercy. "Forget it. Her explanations are completely useless."]
[The three of you shared a look as the same memory surfaced simultaneously.]
[Shoko, standing in the middle of the training grounds, tracing shapes in the air with one finger while delivering her grand lecture.]
["It's like, whoosh, and then pow, y'know? Whoosh-pow. You don't get it? No talent."]
[The kind of memory that made your face hot just thinking about it.]
[Maybe it was the sound of conversation, or maybe the timing was coincidental, but Amanai stirred. Her eyes fluttered open.]
[The first thing she saw was you, leaning over her.]
[What followed was pure reflex. Her palm cracked across your face before her brain caught up with her body. She scrambled upright, pressed her back against the wall, and threw up a defensive stance, voice ringing with righteous fury.]
["You coward! You tried to kill me! Don't think being handsome gives you the right to do whatever you want! Why don't you go die first!"]
[Gojo and Geto both lost it. Twin snorts of barely-suppressed laughter escaped before either could stop them.]
[You just scratched your cheek and sighed. Explaining the situation to someone this wound up was going to be a headache. The slap itself didn't register as anything worth caring about.]
[In truth, that particular nerve had been deadened a long time ago. Your first simulation, serving under the Zenin Clan, had stripped away any sensitivity to that level of indignity.]
[Compared to Naoya, this girl's hostility needed serious work.]
[Geto stepped forward, smile gentle, voice measured.]
["Riko, please calm down. We're not with the people who attacked you."]
[Amanai, still running on raw adrenaline, was having none of it.]
["Liar! You look exactly like a con artist! And what is going on with those bangs!"]
[In the end, it was Misato Kuroi who settled things. She'd woken before Amanai, thanks to the treatment you'd given her earlier, and her voice cut through the tension.]
["My lady, this gentleman is the one who healed us."]
[Relief flooded Amanai's face at the sight of her maid alive and well. But her next words sent Gojo and Geto reeling for the second time.]
["I see. So he's one of the good ones." She pointed at you, then swiveled her finger toward the other two. "And those two really are con artists, right?"]
[Gojo and Geto each seized one of Amanai's limbs and began stretching her out in what they cheerfully insisted were recovery exercises.]
[Amanai's anguished wail echoed through the corridor.]
["Stop it! This is an outrage! This is Illegal!"]
[Kuroi rushed forward, hands clasped together. "P-please, stop!"]
[And you stood apart from all of it, arms crossed, sighing quietly.]
[This was not how you'd pictured things going.]