[The rest area, after the match.]
[Gojo and Geto are arguing over who took down more Cursed Spirits.]
["Hey, Hayase!"]
[Gojo whips around, sunglasses sliding down his nose. Those pale blue eyes fix on the doll sitting on your shoulder.]
["Miss Mei just sent me the footage. That monkey of yours is pretty nasty."]
["Satoru, was that supposed to be a compliment?"]
[Geto sighs and hands you a bottle of water.]
["He's not wrong, though. Mid-range harassment and hit-and-run with an extendable weapon, no need for the operator to engage directly. As a combat asset, it passes."]
["Lend it to me next time. I wanna poke Utahime in the head with that stick. That'd be hilarious."]
[Gojo whistles.]
[You take the water and manage a thin smile.]
["If you like it that much, I could build one for you."]
[In the eyes of these two geniuses, the trump card you'd poured everything into building rates as, at best, "an amusing prank toy." That's the gap.]
["I've got something to take care of. Excuse me for a bit."]
[You turn and walk toward the far corner of the rest area.]
[A tall woman with long white hair sits on a bench there, calculator in hand, apparently checking the returns on her investments.]
[Mei Mei. In the jujutsu world, as long as you have the money, she's the most reliable intelligence broker alive.]
["Oh? Isn't this the first-year who put on quite the show?"]
[She looks up, a knowing smile playing at her lips.]
["Want my autograph? I'm technically off the clock, but since you just won me a tidy sum on a long-shot bet, I can offer you a discount."]
[No small talk. You pull a bankbook from your pocket, every cent saved from a year's worth of missions, and set it on the table in front of her.]
["Miss Mei. I'd like to buy some information."]
[Your voice is low. Steady as iron.]
[One eyebrow lifts. Her slender fingers press down on the bankbook, flip it open, scan the figure inside. The playfulness drains from her eyes, replaced by something sharp.]
["Interesting. With this kind of money, I take it you're not asking what Satoru Gojo's favorite food is."]
[You draw a deep breath and look her dead in the eye through your lenses.]
["I want everything you have on the Sorcerer Killer. The man who left the Zenin Clan. He should still be going by Toji Zenin."]
[Her fingers pause on the bankbook. The professional smile drops. She studies you with the gaze of someone examining a rare animal.]
["A well-behaved first-year still in school, and you're digging into the Heavenly Restriction tyrant? Even Curse Users don't pick fights with that rabid dog if they can help it."]
[She makes no effort to hide her curiosity. Where you heard the name. Why you want to know. But it stays at curiosity. Professional ethics keep it from interfering with the transaction.]
[You'd learned about Toji several simulations ago. That knowledge is precisely why this deal is happening now.]
["That's not something you need to worry about, Miss Mei. All I need is for you to tell me everything about him. As detailed as possible."]
[A few seconds of silence. Then a soft laugh, and the bankbook disappears into her hand with practiced efficiency.]
["Fine. Some of it I can share right now."]
[You sit down beside her and listen.]
["I don't know where you first heard his name, so I'll start from the top."]
[A small nod.]
["Toji Zenin may carry the title of Sorcerer Killer, but within the Zenin Clan itself, he was treated as something beneath contempt."]
[You don't ask why. The first simulation told you everything you needed to know.]
[Toji Zenin carries a Heavenly Restriction. A body honed to mechanical perfection, bought at the price of zero Cursed Energy. And in a clan that measures worth by cursed power alone, having none makes you less than nothing.]
[Strength enough to earn the name "Sorcerer Killer," and still not an ounce of recognition from his own blood.]
[Then you ask a question that, on the surface, has nothing to do with Toji at all.]
["I know the Zenin Clan stands alongside the Gojo Clan and the Kamo Clan as the Big Three Sorcerer Families. Does that mean they possess strength on par with the Gojo Clan? To put it another way, do they have the power to match Satoru Gojo?"]
[First the Sorcerer Killer, now a comparison between the Gojo and Zenin houses. Even Mei Mei struggles to follow your thread.]
["Strictly speaking, that question falls outside our deal. But since this is our first time doing business, consider it a freebie."]
[A beat before she answers.]
["The Zenin Clan once possessed the means to counter a Six Eyes Limitless user. But that capability no longer exists. I can't give you an absolute answer, but the current Zenin Clan almost certainly cannot match Satoru Gojo."]
[The answer doesn't bring clarity. If anything, it deepens the confusion.]
[In your previous simulation, the details of the encounter were murky, but the result was undeniable: Toji Zenin came within a hair's breadth of killing Satoru Gojo.]
[You'd always placed Toji's strength somewhere terrifyingly close to Gojo's own level.]
[And yet a man that powerful had been cast out by his own family.]
[Your straightforward sense of values can't reconcile it. Until now, you'd assumed your understanding of the Zenin Clan was incomplete, that they must be hiding some monstrous trump card you hadn't seen.]
["Didn't Toji resent any of that? Didn't he fight back?"]
["Not that I'm aware of. He left the clan, though. These days he operates solo as a Curse User, taking jobs now and then."]
["Now and then?"]
["The contracts he picks up are never low-difficulty. That's where the Sorcerer Killer reputation comes from. But the man loves to gamble, and from what I hear, his luck is terrible. So he's perpetually strapped for cash."]
["Gambling... and broke."]
[You murmur the words to yourself, and something clicks. An idea, half-formed and dangerous. But this simulation is too late for it.]
[Next time, maybe. Next time you could try.]
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Sorry for the delay. All the bonus chapters will be uploaded in a batch by tomorrow