"...Why?"
Rime had taken Nobara Kugisaki. There was no question about it — Nobara was in danger.
Mahiko's chest tightened with urgency, but she forced herself to slow down. To think.
"Why Nobara?"
For a moment, she couldn't work out what Kenjaku's move was supposed to mean. Rime doing the grabbing meant Kenjaku gave the order. But Kenjaku going after Nobara — that was strange. In the original story, Kenjaku had never once laid a hand on Nobara Kugisaki.
This world's timeline had shifted enormously since Mahiko arrived, but even so, Kenjaku had no reason to target Nobara. So why now? Why her?
Because Nobara's Jujutsu Technique was unique and could pose a threat to Kenjaku? No — that didn't hold up. In the original, Kenjaku never moved against Nobara, which meant he didn't see her as a threat.
Was it because Mahiko had earlier fabricated a "black-robed Cursed Spirit Manipulation user," and Kenjaku was abducting Nobara to deflect Jujutsu High's suspicions away from that? Probably not — the two things were barely related.
And besides — he'd taken her. Not killed her.
That detail was worth turning over carefully.
The only reason Mahiko could think of — the single reason Kenjaku would snatch Nobara Kugisaki away at this exact moment — was:
"...Is this aimed at me?"
Kenjaku had finally made his move against her after all.
Mahiko had always known this was coming. On the surface, she and Kenjaku had kept up a pleasant, smiling facade whenever they crossed paths — but in truth, they'd been balancing on a knife's edge for a long time now.
In the original story, Kenjaku hadn't moved against Mahito until just before the Shibuya Incident. But this time was different. This time, Mahiko had slipped entirely out of Kenjaku's control — and on top of that, she had somehow maintained a perfect record of zero kills.
Never having killed an innocent person or a jujutsu sorcerer meant she hadn't made herself into a blood enemy of the sorcerers' side.
Anyone watching could see she was keeping her options open.
It was too obvious. Deliberately keeping her distance from Kenjaku. Deliberately going easy on sorcerers. All of it — nothing Mahiko had done was something a Cursed Spirit would do, or something a villain would do.
Kenjaku would move against her far sooner than he had in the original. Mahiko had seen that coming from the very beginning.
That was exactly why she'd rushed to bury information inside Miwa's mind, why she'd looked for ways to make trouble for Kenjaku while occasionally playing the obedient subordinate, lending him a hand with small tasks, keeping him appeased — all to lower his guard. To keep him scrambling.
"...Tch."
And yet Kenjaku had still made his move.
Right in front of her eyes, just moments ago, he'd had Nobara Kugisaki taken.
There was no mistaking it — this was a blade pointed squarely at Mahiko.
She didn't know the exact purpose yet, but Kenjaku had deliberately timed this to happen while Mahiko was right there. That alone said everything.
Quite the audacity, Kenjaku. The matter of the "black-robed Cursed Spirit Manipulation user" was still unresolved — Jujutsu High and Satoru Gojo were more likely than not already connecting the dots back to Suguru Geto's name — and yet Kenjaku had still chosen to abduct Nobara Kugisaki.
That meant, in Kenjaku's eyes, Mahiko had become the most important problem on the board. More important than everything else. He was willing to risk the Geto situation unraveling just to come after her.
"Heh..."
The sun had gone down. The air had turned cool. The street was nearly empty.
Without a word, Mahiko pulled out her phone and called Kenjaku.
A dial tone — then a click.
"Hello?" Kenjaku's voice came through, unhurried and perfectly natural. "What's up?"
"Why did you take someone right in front of me?" Mahiko demanded. "Are you deliberately picking a fight?"
"Ah~ you mean that little incident... my, my, was Nobara Kugisaki really with you at the time?" Kenjaku's apology dripped with insincerity. "I'm truly sorry about that. The order I gave Rime was simply to bring Nobara Kugisaki back — I had no idea she'd be in your company. I do apologize for causing you any distress."
"Ha." The blue-haired girl let out a cold laugh. "Who are you trying to fool?"
Every word of it was obviously a lie. The surveillance Cursed Spirits watching Mahiko were on her twenty-four hours a day without interruption — there was no way Kenjaku didn't know whether Nobara was with her or not.
Mahiko pressed him — demanded to know why he'd abducted Nobara Kugisaki. Kenjaku replied that he needed Nobara's Jujutsu Technique; that her technique was critical to his plans.
Mahiko didn't believe a word of it. She knew that in the original story, Nobara's technique had nothing to do with Kenjaku's plans whatsoever. He was still just feeding her excuses.
"Nobara's technique is completely useless to your plans — do you think I'm an idiot?" Mahiko pressed. "Explain yourself. What exactly are you after?"
"Well, at first glance, you're right — it seems useless," Kenjaku said. "But her technique is actually quite remarkable, isn't it? If we could acquire it, things would become considerably more convenient for us going forward."
Acquire her technique?
"What do you mean, 'acquire' her technique?" Mahiko frowned.
She had never known Kenjaku to be able to take the techniques of other sorcerers — unless he occupied their body.
Kenjaku wanted to take over Nobara Kugisaki's body?
But that would mean abandoning Suguru Geto's body. His Cursed Spirit Manipulation would carry over in some form — but without Geto's body, what would Kenjaku use to seal Satoru Gojo?
"If a sorcerer is killed without the use of Cursed Energy, there is a chance they'll turn into a Cursed Spirit. And with my deliberate intervention, that probability can be pushed considerably higher." Kenjaku's tone was light, almost amused. "You follow me, don't you?"
Mahiko's eyes sharpened.
She understood exactly what that meant now.
Kenjaku intended to kill Nobara Kugisaki with ordinary weapons — knives, blunt instruments — and then wait for her to turn into a Cursed Spirit. After that, he would absorb her through Cursed Spirit Manipulation and claim Nobara's technique for himself.
Mahiko's hand clenched into a fist.
"And what if I told you she belongs to me?" The anger had surfaced in Mahiko's voice now, unmistakable.
"Oh, don't worry about that — she's just a toy, after all. If you want, I can always find you more." Kenjaku said it with a smile in his voice. "And besides..."
He drew out that "besides" for a very long time.
"Besides — didn't you tell me before that these people were just playthings to you? That when it truly came down to our cause, you would show no mercy to any of these monkeys..." Kenjaku's smile was audible. "Those were your own words, you know. Surely you're not going back on them now, are you, Mahiko?"
A test.
No question about it — this was naked provocation.
Abducting Nobara, planning to kill Nobara — the whole point was to test whether Mahiko was truly on their side, or whether she had been putting on an act all along.
If Mahiko went and broke with Kenjaku now — if she went to rescue Nobara — that would prove that at her core, she held no loyalty to the Cursed Spirits' cause, and that she was choosing to flip the table on them here and now.
That would mean all-out war.
Mahiko's jaw locked tight.
"Since you're on board, I'll hang up now. We'll deal with that girl tonight at 9 o'clock." Kenjaku gave a few light laughs, then spoke in a perfectly casual tone. "Of course, if you'd like to come and watch how we handle things, you're more than welcome to join us... I've sent you the address. I'll be waiting to hear from you."
A dial tone. The call was dead.
Mahiko stood where she was, slowly lowering the phone and pocketing it.
A shadow had settled behind her eyes.
From this moment on, the peace between her and Kenjaku was shattered beyond repair.
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