[What followed mirrored the previous simulation almost exactly. Gojo dealt with Bayer, Q's strongest combatant, and once everyone regrouped and introductions were made, they escorted Riko Amanai to her school under Yaga's orders so she could fulfill her wish.]
[Having lived through the last simulation, you knew what the next few hours held.]
[To grant Riko's final desire to live like an ordinary person, she'd be attacked. Her maid, Misato Kuroi, would be kidnapped.]
[You had every means to prevent it. Flowing Corridor could have sealed the routes. Wukong could have scouted and intercepted. You chose silence instead, watching it unfold with cold, open eyes.]
[Not cruelty. Necessity.]
[The butterfly effect was your greatest enemy right now. If you altered the chain of cause and effect here, if Kuroi was never taken, the group would never go to Okinawa.]
[And if they never went to Okinawa, Toji Fushiguro's attack would become unpredictable. Time and place, both beyond your control.]
[Better to fight that man to the death on a stage you knew by heart than to stumble blind into an ambush you couldn't see coming.]
[Only by letting the script play out along its familiar path could your intelligence advantage reach its full potential.]
[Besides, going to Okinawa meant granting Riko one last small wish. You didn't believe you had the right to take that from her.]
---
[Kuroi was kidnapped. Negotiations followed. You traveled to Okinawa for the exchange and brought her back safely.]
[At Gojo's insistence that they should stay an extra day since they were already there, into a brief summer getaway.]
[Night had fallen deep, but Gojo still sat perched on the seaside railing, sunglasses on, swirling a bottle of soda. He looked like he was watching the ocean. Those pale blue eyes hadn't stopped analyzing the Cursed Energy in their surroundings for a single second.]
[Three days now. You knew, according to the original script, that Toji Fushiguro was out there. Waiting.... Waiting for the exact moment Gojo's mental reserves ran dry and Limitless flickered off.]
[You drew a long breath, fished a can of iced coffee from a convenience store bag, and walked over to press it against Gojo's cheek.]
["Hey, that's freezing!"]
[He yelped, scrunching his neck, and turned to look at you.]
["Hayase? It's the middle of the night. What, you wanna join me for a dramatic staring contest between this generation's strongest and the sea?"]
["The acting's way too much. You haven't dropped Limitless at all."]
[You popped the tab and took a long sip. Bitterness spread across your tongue, sharpening your focus.]
["I'm here to give you some advice. Turn it off and go to sleep."]
[The grin on Gojo's face stiffened. Behind the sunglasses, his eyes narrowed.]
["Hah? You joking? We're still on mission. If those Curse Users come sniffing around..."]
["This is Okinawa. Those small-fry Curse Users are already terrified of you."]
[You cut him off, tone dead serious, edged with something close to a command.]
["You've kept Limitless running for almost three days straight. The Six Eyes bring your Cursed Energy consumption close to zero, sure, but your brain isn't a perpetual motion machine. Nonstop processing is pushing your nerves to the breaking point."]
[You pointed toward the hotel rooms nearby.]
["Nanami and Haibara arrived. Geto and I are both here. Even if a special-grade Cursed Spirit showed up, we could hold until you woke. So shut it down and sleep. This is about making sure that when you actually need to fight, you're the strongest at full capacity, not some sluggish, exhausted wreck."]
[Gojo didn't answer right away. He looked you up and down with a gaze caught somewhere between suspicion and genuine scrutiny, like he was seeing you for the first time.]
[A long silence stretched between you before he spoke, the usual flippancy dialed back, replaced by something more probing.]
["...Hayase. What are you playing at?"]
[He hopped off the railing and closed half the distance between you in one step. The pressure radiating off him hit like a wall.]
["Back in the classroom, you were the one shouting loudest about going all in. Most wound-up person in the room about this mission. Now, at crunch time, you're telling me to slack off?"]
["If Geto pulled this mother-hen routine, I'd buy it. But you? Your whole thing is playing it safe. And right now, 'safe' means keeping me on alert around the clock, doesn't it?"]
[Gojo's instincts were terrifyingly sharp.]
[He'd caught the contradiction in your logic. A cautious person suddenly urging the team's main weapon to lower his guard. That didn't track.]
[Of course you couldn't tell him the truth. Because I know that tomorrow, on the way back to Jujutsu High, Toji Fushiguro will ambush you at your most exhausted and kill the Star Plasma Vessel.]
["It's exactly because I want to play it safe that I don't want our ace collapsing at the worst possible moment."]
[With Life is Like a Play backing every word, your performance was flawless in Gojo's eyes.]
["The way I see it, ignoring your body's limits out of arrogance is the single biggest liability we have. I'm not telling you to slack off. I'm doing risk management."]
["...Tch. What a load of crap."]
[Gojo clicked his tongue and settled back onto the railing. His mouth gave no quarter, but the oppressive pulse of Cursed Energy surrounding him did seem to ease, just a fraction.]
["Fine, fine, you nag. I'll crash when Geto takes over. Happy?"]
["But Hayase... lately, have you been hiding something from us?"]