[Once Amanai finally grasped the situation, Gojo leaned back and let out a low whistle.]
["This kid's got way more energy than I expected."]
["Same," Geto agreed. "I figured she'd be devastated about the whole assimilation thing."]
[You kept quiet, but your thoughts ran along the same lines.]
[You'd considered it before. If someone told you that one day you'd have to sacrifice yourself, to be absorbed into another being, you were fairly certain you wouldn't accept it.]
[You'd run. You'd fight. And if two special grade sorcerers like Gojo and Geto forced your hand, you'd choose suicide over compliance.]
[Even if every road led to the same grave, you would never lie down and accept that kind of fate.]
[But Amanai wore an expression of unmistakable pride.]
["Hmph! Exactly the kind of thinking I'd expect from lowly commoners!"]
["Huh?"]
[Gojo and Geto traded identical looks of bewilderment.]
["Listen well! Master Tengen is me, and I am Master Tengen!"]
["There are plenty of fools who confuse assimilation with death, but they couldn't be more wrong!"]
["Through assimilation, I shall become Master Tengen, and Master Tengen shall become me!"]
["My thoughts, my heart, my soul, all of it will persist in this world forever after the merging!"]
[Passionate as the speech was, Gojo and Geto had stopped listening entirely. At some point, the two of them had drifted into comparing phone wallpapers.]
["Oh? You changed yours?"]
["Yeah. Waka Inoue."]
[Amanai's face went red when she realized her grand declaration had been ignored.]
["Are you even listening to me?!"]
[Gojo pointed at her and addressed you and Geto.]
["Talking like that? No way she has any friends at school."]
["Works out, though. Makes it easier to send her off with a clean conscience."]
[Geto nodded along without missing a beat.]
[But you were different from them. You'd been listening. Every word.]
[From what you understood, the purpose of assimilation was to allow Master Tengen to continue existing as Master Tengen.]
[With that as the core function, you doubted much of the Star Plasma Vessel survived the process. Autonomous will seemed out of the question entirely.]
[Tengen, even now without a fresh assimilation, likely carried the remnants of more than one Vessel already.]
[Amanai's speech sounded less like truth and more like fresh paint over something ugly.]
[Eternal existence without autonomy. If that was a blessing, it wore the skin of a curse.]
[And after assimilation, even the option to choose death would be gone.]
[After a long silence, you murmured under your breath.]
["So is that how they convinced you? Or is that how you convinced yourself?"]
[Your voice was low. Geto and Gojo were chatting beside you, so realistically, only Amanai could have caught it.]
[You weren't sure she'd heard. All you saw was a split-second where her expression locked up, muscles freezing mid-motion. It passed quickly. She recovered, pivoted, and fired back at Gojo and Geto.]
["I talk like a normal person at school, you know!"]
["Wait, school! Kuroi, what time is it?!"]
["Hm? It's still morning, but given the circumstances, maybe school isn't the best..."]
[Kuroi clearly saw where this was heading. Her attempt to dissuade fell flat.]
["Shut it! I said I'm going, so I'm going!"]
[Geto stepped into her path as she moved for the door.]
["Hold on. After everything that happened, you want to go to school?"]
["What business is it of yours to stop me?!"]
["What business..."]
[The retort died on his tongue. He replayed the mission briefing from Yaga in his head and realized that, technically, their orders were to protect her. The word "restrain" hadn't come up.]
[Gojo tried a different angle. "Do you have any idea how much danger you're in right now? Coming back to Jujutsu High with us is the safer play."]
["No!"]
[While the three of them argued, you'd already dialed Yaga.]
["Sensei? Amanai wants to go to school. Is that actually okay? A public place like that?"]
["Let her go. You three follow."]
["What?"]
[The answer caught you off guard. Q's operatives were barely dealt with, and the Star Religious Group hadn't made a move yet.]
[And now Yaga was giving the green light for Amanai to walk into a densely populated public space? Setting aside her safety, the potential collateral was staggering.]
[Kokun's Directional Explosive Boundary flashed through your mind. You couldn't imagine what a technique like that would do inside a school. The carnage would be unspeakable.]
[That wasn't the kind of disaster two special grades could guarantee preventing. It wasn't something an extra Curtain could solve.]
[Curse Users were, at their core, unhinged.]
[You pressed Yaga again, carefully.]
["Sensei, are you serious? Even with the possibility of another Curse User attack, you want her at school?"]
[A sigh came through the receiver.]
["I understand your concern. But these are Master Tengen's orders."]
["What?"]
["Master Tengen has instructed us to grant Riko Amanai's every request."]
[You didn't keep that last part to yourself. You hit speaker and let Gojo and Geto hear it too.]
[Their expressions mirrored yours. Somewhere between disbelief and resignation.]
[Amanai was the only one who brightened. She lifted her chin and stared up at Geto, who still stood in her way.]
["You heard the man. Now move."]
[Geto looked to you, a silent question in his eyes.]
[All you could offer was a helpless shrug. No clever solution. No way around it.]
[They'd be doing this Amanai's way.]