[The result turned out even better than you'd expected.]
[Not every council member had shown up, but the ones who did folded. They handed you the authority to judge Yuta Okkotsu and execute him if necessary.]
[The absent elders would be dealt with afterward by the people who had attended. The factions present today already held an overwhelming majority of seats on the council.]
[Even if the conservatives tied to the Gojo Clan complained, they no longer had the numbers to steer the final decision.]
[You weren't worried in the slightest. Under the current balance of power, the Gojo Clan had always been isolated, always stuck on the weaker side of the board.]
[That was exactly why, buried deep inside your long plan to rip the rot out of the jujutsu world, you'd hidden one key move: putting Megumi Fushiguro in position to become head of the Zenin Clan.]
[That step mattered more than almost anything else. It was the cleanest path to taking control of the council through legitimate means and smashing the old balance between the Big Three Sorcerer Families. Once that happened, the Gojo Clan wouldn't resist future reforms. They'd become your strongest allies.]
[As for the Kamo Clan and the scattered independent elders, the independents weren't worth bothering with. Too much trouble, too little payoff. Not something one simulation was going to solve.]
[You hadn't dealt much with the Kamo Clan either, but you knew they were closely tied to Kyoto Jujutsu High. The upcoming Exchange Event between the sister schools might give you a chance to feel out their weak points.]
[Not long after the council gave its approval, Kiyotaka Ijichi, senior assistant manager, brought you bad news. Expected bad news, but bad news all the same.]
[Yuta Okkotsu and Toge Inumaki had been sent to an abandoned shopping district to exorcise what should have been a simple semi-grade cursed spirit. Somewhere during the mission, things went sideways. Someone had layered a second Curtain over the one Ijichi set up, and they'd done it so cleanly he never noticed.]
[Worse, a first-grade cursed spirit had shown up inside a mission zone that was supposed to be safe. Maybe it was coincidence. Maybe. But the timing was a little too perfect, and so was the location.]
[The list of people who could slip past a veteran Assistant Manager's notice while casually dropping high-level cursed spirits where they pleased was very, very short.]
[There was only one man who fit.]
[A man who should have disappeared from the public eye years ago.]
[You and Gojo came to the same conclusion the second the report reached you. The name surfaced in your mind almost automatically: Suguru Geto.]
[You hadn't gone out of your way to track him over the years, but you could guess what kind of garbage was fermenting inside that broken head of his.]
[With Cursed Spirit Manipulation in his hands, there was no way he wouldn't set his sights on the Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit bound to Yuta Okkotsu, Rika Orimoto.]
[Rika was the only reason the higher-ups had stamped Yuta as Special Grade before he'd shown even a trace of real jujutsu talent. That endless pool of cursed energy, if someone like Geto forcibly absorbed it through Cursed Spirit Manipulation... no, that wouldn't just be addition. The end result would be something much worse.]
[Once you'd worked that out, there was barely anything left to confirm. By the afternoon of December twenty-fourth, trouble came knocking on its own.]
["Suguru? No way."]
[Principal Yaga's brow furrowed hard. He couldn't quite accept your conclusion. Geto had vanished for years. Why resurface now, and so openly, instead of waiting for a cleaner chance to strike from the shadows?]
[Part of him wondered if you were overthinking it.]
[Gojo had already lost every trace of humor. When he answered, the weight in his voice killed any doubt.]
["I'm sorry, Principal, but it's him. I checked the mission site myself. The traces left behind, the residual cursed energy, it was Suguru's. You think I wouldn't recognize his cursed energy?"]
[The room had gotten tight enough to snap when Yaga suddenly turned his head. Something violent had just slammed against the barrier around Jujutsu High.]
["Damn it. Right when we were talking about him."]
[His face changed instantly. He rushed for the training grounds, voice booming across the campus before anyone else could move.]
["All sorcerers semi-grade one and above, report to the main rotary immediately! Level-one alert!"]
[Wind tore across the grounds of Jujutsu High.]
[A massive shadow swallowed the sunlight. A giant white pelican cursed spirit, big enough to look ridiculous, beat its wings once and crashed down into the middle of the field, kicking up a wall of dust.]
[A man stepped down from its back at an almost lazy pace. Long hair tied in a half-knot. Five-striped monk robes draped over his body. Suguru Geto wore the same old smile, equal parts fake kindness and absolute arrogance.]
[The first-years had been doing combat training on the field. Yuta froze on the spot in confusion, while Maki, Panda, and Toge felt that suffocating wave of cursed energy hit them and moved on instinct, dropping straight into fighting stances.]
[Maki's grip tightened around her long blade. She aimed the edge directly at the intruder, glaring at Geto and the figures still climbing out of the pelican's open beak.]
["You're not staff here...!"]
[Panda tugged on his custom gauntlets and cracked his fists together. His heavy frame gave a series of low pops.]
["Never seen a cursed spirit like that before... and that cursed energy density is bad news."]
[Toge pulled down the high collar covering the lower half of his face, revealing the markings at the corners of his mouth. He spoke one quiet, steady word.]
["Salmon."]
[Geto ignored the students' hostility completely. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he looked out over the campus he hadn't visited in years, taking in the familiar buildings and trees with half-lidded eyes.]
["Ah... the air here is still nice and clean. Jujutsu High really hasn't changed at all."]
[More people hopped down from the pelican behind him.]
[The first was Nanako Hasaba, blonde and dressed in flashy Shibuya streetwear, holding up a glowing smartphone as she complained in theatrical misery.]
["Lord Geto, this is really Tokyo? It's so rural. I can't even spot a decent convenience store."]
[Mimiko Hasaba came after her in a black sailor uniform, short dark hair brushing her cheeks, clutching a weather-doll talisman that gave off an unsettling aura. She murmured quietly:]
["Nanako... that's rude..."]
[Nanako puffed out her cheeks.]
["Huh? You were thinking it too, Mimiko. Don't act innocent."]
[Behind the twins came Larue, built like a mountain and so absurdly huge the whole thing almost looped around into comedy. On his bare chest, in violent contrast to all that muscle, sat a pair of pink heart-shaped pasties.]
["Come on now, girls. Hurry up and get down. Don't keep everyone waiting."]
[The second Nanako hit the ground, her sharp eyes locked onto Panda. Fear didn't even make the list. She let out a squeal and immediately started snapping pictures.]
["Oh my god, a panda! It's so cute!"]
[Panda ignored the mocking tone. He jabbed a thick finger at the newcomers and barked:]
["Who the hell are you people?! This is Jujutsu High! You don't just walk in here!"]
[But the moment the words left his mouth...]
["Whoosh!"]
[A light breeze passed by. Geto, who had been several meters away an instant earlier, appeared in front of Yuta Okkotsu like a ghost.]
[Those pale, slender hands caught Yuta's cold fingers in an eager handshake. A warm, harmless-looking smile spread across his face.]
["Pleasure to meet you, Okkotsu. I'm Suguru Geto."]
[Yuta clearly hadn't even processed how the man got there. He answered on pure reflex, stiff and bewildered.]
["Huh? Oh... n-nice to meet you."]