Chapter 30: I Am Gojo Satoru's One Hit Kill
"This isn't a human world. It's a hell built out of malice."
In a family restaurant somewhere in Tokyo, afternoon sunlight poured through the floor to ceiling windows and spilled across the table.
If one ignored the unnatural silence, the stiff bodies of the customers huddled in the corners, and the faint metallic smell of blood hidden beneath the aroma of coffee and grilled food, it might have looked like a perfect place for afternoon tea.
"Hey, Geto."
Jogo lazily turned the pipe in his hand.
His voice was hoarse and rough, like red hot stones grinding against one another.
"That brat, Yami, is he really so important?"
His single eye narrowed.
"Important enough for you to gather all of us here?"
Sitting opposite him was a man in monk robes with his hair tied up in a bun.
Suguru Geto's body.
Or rather, the thing wearing it, Kenjaku.
He lifted his coffee cup and took an elegant sip, a soft, inscrutable smile resting on his lips the entire time.
"Jogo."
He set the cup down.
"Do not underestimate him."
Kenjaku's gaze drifted toward the window, as if he were looking far past the city, past the street, past the visible world itself.
"He is a variable."
"The only piece in a predetermined game that does not belong to the board."
His fingers tapped lightly against the table.
"I have reviewed the battle at the juvenile detention center several times."
"A man without cursed energy who can sever a Special Grade's regeneration, survive a Domain, and even draw Sukuna's interest..."
His smile thinned.
"That is not something you dismiss as coincidence."
At the mention of Sukuna's name, Jogo's eye narrowed further, and a trace of irritation flashed through it.
"That old relic?"
He let out a cold, contemptuous snort.
"Sukuna's been asleep for a thousand years. His brain's probably gone dull."
Flame suddenly burst from the mouth of his pipe and reduced the tobacco inside to ash.
"A monkey without cursed energy is still just a monkey."
"No matter how good his swordsmanship is, in front of absolute cursed power, he's only flammable trash."
His grin widened, full of volcanic heat and naked malice.
"One burst of fire is enough to turn him into smoke."
As he spoke, the temperature around his body rose sharply.
Heat rippled outward.
The air in the restaurant instantly became stifling, and the few surviving customers hiding in the corner began to sweat so violently that their skin turned red, as though they had been shoved inside an oven.
"Compared to that little swordsman..."
Jogo suddenly stood.
The legs of his chair screamed against the floor.
"I'm more interested in the so called strongest of the modern era."
"Gojo Satoru."
The moment he said that name, his killing intent thickened so heavily it almost became visible.
"If we kill him, the jujutsu side collapses, doesn't it?"
His grin twisted.
"And once that happens, the world goes back to the way it was always meant to be."
"Belonging to us."
Kenjaku watched him in silence for a moment, then sighed almost helplessly.
"Jogo."
"Gojo Satoru is not someone you can challenge head on. Not yet."
"What we need is sealing, not direct confrontation."
He rested an elbow on the table and laced his fingers together.
"To open the Prison Realm properly, Gojo Satoru must remain within four meters of the center for one full minute."
His voice stayed calm, but the gravity in it deepened.
"In front of that man, one minute may as well be an eternity."
Kenjaku's eyes lowered slightly.
"My original plan was simple. Use a large number of ordinary humans as hostages and force him into mental overload."
"But with Yami present..."
He paused.
Then continued in a lower tone.
"He has no cursed energy. That means many barriers, detection methods, and assumptions that work on sorcerers simply do not apply to him."
"If, at the crucial moment, while all focus is on Gojo Satoru, he emerges from a blind spot..."
Kenjaku's fingers tapped once against the cup.
"That sword of his, the one that suppresses regeneration, might destroy the Prison Realm outright."
"Or cut my head off before any of you even notice."
From the side, Mahito, who had been sitting quietly with a transfigured human doll in his hand, suddenly laughed.
"That sounds fun."
The blue haired curse turned the little twisted doll between his fingers with childlike delight.
"I really want to touch him."
His stitched face split into a bright, cruel smile.
"I wonder what shape his soul is."
"A seal?"
Jogo sneered, cutting across Mahito's fascination.
"That's the kind of thing weaklings think about."
His voice rose with his heat.
"If my flames are strong enough, no defense exists that cannot be burned through."
"Infinity?"
He laughed harshly.
"That sort of thing would distort and collapse in front of absolute heat."
Kenjaku did not argue.
He only smiled.
Special Grade curses were often like this.
They were born from the purest malice of humanity, but in many ways they were even more arrogant than humans themselves. More honest, too. More ruled by instinct, pride, and impulse.
Still, letting Jogo test the waters was not necessarily a bad thing.
If he died, it would reveal something.
If he survived, it would reveal even more.
And if one Special Grade curse vanished?
As long as human malice remained, more could always be born.
"Since you insist..."
Kenjaku reached into his sleeve and unfolded a map across the table.
"According to the information I have, Gojo Satoru will be leaving the school grounds this afternoon."
His expression twitched ever so slightly.
"The reason appears to be... buying Kikufuku."
For the first time, even Mahito looked mildly confused.
Jogo stared at him.
"Buying sweets?"
He sounded insulted.
As a Special Grade curse, he was here discussing the collapse of the world order, and the strongest sorcerer alive had stepped out of his barrier because he wanted dessert?
"You will only get one chance."
Kenjaku ignored Jogo's indignation and pointed to a highway on the map.
"This is the only route they can take back to the school."
Then his eyes lifted.
A colder glint entered them.
"But let me remind you of something, Jogo."
"The current reports say Yami has been undergoing private training at the academy."
"However..."
Kenjaku's smile curved slightly.
"With Gojo Satoru's personality, I would not bet against him bringing the boy along for amusement."
"If you encounter Yami there, do not get careless."
His voice sharpened.
"That blade of his is faster than you think."
Jogo threw back his head and burst into laughter.
Black smoke erupted from the volcano like crown on his head and stained the ceiling above them.
"Even better!"
He turned toward the exit with a savage grin.
"That saves me the trouble of hunting him down separately."
Each step he took scorched a black footprint into the floorboards.
"If he is a variable, then I'll reduce him to ash together with Gojo Satoru."
"My ember insects have been hungry lately."
His eye gleamed with ugly delight.
"I'm sure the flesh of that little sword brat will make a fine meal for them."
From the far side of the restaurant, Hanami, who had remained silent until now, released a series of low, incomprehensible sounds, like branches creaking inside a storm.
Mahito tilted his head, listening with amusement.
Kenjaku smiled faintly.
"Hanami says you're going to die."
Jogo did not even slow down.
"Then let it try."
Kenjaku calmly folded the map, set it aside, and drained the last of his now cold coffee.
"Perhaps he will."
"Perhaps he won't."
He placed the cup down with a soft click.
"But either way..."
"We'll finally get a proper look at Yami."
In the corner of the restaurant, the manager had long since lost control of his bladder from sheer terror. His entire body shook as he fumbled his phone from his pocket and tried to call the police with clumsy, wet fingers.
He never finished the motion.
Boom.
A small flame appeared out of nowhere.
In an instant, both the manager and the phone in his hand were reduced to ash.
By then, Jogo was already gone, his figure disappearing at the far end of the street.
Only his murderous promise remained, echoing in the burning silence he left behind.
"Wash your neck and wait, Gojo Satoru."
"And you too..."
"The sword carrying monkey."
.....
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