However, at this moment, Kenjaku had neither realized nor begun to suspect anything.
He simply took Mahito's earlier words as a coincidence—believing that Mahito's thoughts just happened to align with the excuse he himself had prepared, which was why Mahito voiced them first.
Kenjaku had lived for a very long time, but he was not so irrational as to associate Mahito's earlier statement with something absurd like the ability to foresee the future.
As for Jogo, hearing Mahito and Kenjaku echo each other, he naturally had nothing more to say.
"Hmph."
Jogo let out a cold snort, glancing at Mahito, who had his arm draped over his shoulder. He recalled Mahito's strange behavior along the way—flipping through dozens of blank books, sometimes lost in thought, sometimes bursting into laughter, and finally ordering him to burn them all. It was impossible to figure out what this guy was thinking.
Since they were walking through a busy downtown street, many pedestrians passed by the group of five led by Kenjaku. As a result, Kenjaku and the four calamities avoided discussing anything important.
Kenjaku's main goal was to lead them to a place where they could talk freely without being disturbed by too many "monkeys." Just like in the original story, he chose an ordinary restaurant as the meeting place.
"Welcome, sir. Will you be dining alone?"
Faced with the waitress's polite greeting at the entrance, Kenjaku smiled and replied exactly as he did in the original plot:
"Yes, I will be dining alone."
The five of them found a quiet corner and sat down. Since Mahito wanted to confirm whether reality would unfold exactly as depicted in the manga, when Jogo looked at him as if asking whether he should speak, Mahito simply shook his head slightly, signaling that things should proceed as originally planned.
"Then I'll get straight to the point. What exactly must we do for curses to become the rulers of the world?" Jogo asked seriously, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table.
The brief exchange between Jogo and Mahito did not escape Kenjaku's notice. He slowly began to respond:
"In other words, you wish to reverse the current positions of curses and humans?"
Hearing this counter-question, Mahito silently counted in his mind, once again matching everything with the content of the manga.
Although he had burned all the manga volumes, their contents were perfectly imprinted in his memory thanks to his powerful mind.
Kenjaku's question naturally prompted Jogo's rebuttal.
"Lies are the foundation of humanity. Behind so-called positive emotions, there is always another side. In contrast, negative emotions—hatred, killing intent, jealousy—are unquestionably genuine and real! And we curses, born from that authenticity, should be the true and pure 'humans'! Those fakes should simply disappear!"
As Jogo spoke, his emotions surged. The small volcano atop his head emitted continuous bubbling, boiling sounds.
Hearing this, Mahito couldn't help but marvel. Not only Kenjaku, but even Jogo was speaking lines identical to those in the manga.
At that moment, a profound sense of absurdity arose within him. Everyone was acting according to that manga—the story drawn by Gege Akutami. Could this truly be considered living according to their own will?
And their ideal—overthrowing human rule so that curses could dominate the world—was that truly a belief born from themselves?
Clearly, such philosophical questions were beyond the current Mahito.
However, Kenjaku's next words quickly pulled him back to reality. After all, he still needed to pay attention to the information Kenjaku provided in order to judge whether the progression of events was truly inevitable.
Kenjaku smiled faintly.
"However, based on the current situation, if a real confrontation were to occur, the ones who would ultimately be eliminated would be you."
Jogo frowned and pressed further:
"That's exactly why we're asking you! What must we do to defeat those Jujutsu Sorcerers?"
Kenjaku slowly raised two fingers.
"To win a war, there are two conditions that must be fulfilled before the battle even begins. Only then can victory be achieved."
Here it comes.
Mahito spoke at just the right moment:
"So, what are those two conditions?"
Kenjaku did not keep them in suspense and directly revealed the answer:
"First, render Gojo Satoru incapable of fighting. Second, have Ryomen Sukuna and Itadori Yuji join your side."
Heh… so it's exactly the same after all.
Upon hearing this, Mahito sneered inwardly.
Only after reading the manga did he realize that from the very beginning, Kenjaku had been offering answers that merely appeared to align with the interests of the curses.
The first condition, concerning Gojo Satoru, could still be considered mutually beneficial. But the second—regarding Sukuna—turned out, according to later developments in the manga, to be a complete disaster for the curses.
Rather than becoming an asset, the first thing Sukuna did was kill Jogo. Then, intrigued by Fushiguro Megumi, he chose to stop. Later, he allowed Itadori Yuji—who possessed his power—to weaken Mahito before Kenjaku ultimately harvested him using Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
Through this, Kenjaku obtained Mahito's Idle Transfiguration, enabling him to initiate the next phase of his plan—the Culling Game.
If the original Mahito could vaguely sense Kenjaku's malice, then the current Mahito—who knew everything—could fully comprehend just how deeply malicious Kenjaku had been from the very beginning.
Just as Jogo had said earlier, humans are built on lies and are utterly untrustworthy.
"What? Wasn't that brat Itadori already killed by your Cursed Spirit?" Jogo asked, dissatisfied, finding Kenjaku's statement contradictory.
"That's not necessarily… true…"
Before Kenjaku could finish, Mahito spoke first.
"If the King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, were so easily destroyed, then Geto-san wouldn't have listed him as one of the conditions for victory, would he?"
"As expected of Mahito—you've grasped the key point immediately," Kenjaku praised.
Jogo, however, grew increasingly irritated.
"Whose side are you on, you bastard? You've been speaking for him this whole time!"
Mahito patted Jogo on the shoulder and replied meaningfully:
"We're obviously on the same side."
As he spoke, he turned his smiling gaze toward Kenjaku, signaling for him to continue.
Although he already knew Kenjaku's true goal, Mahito had no intention of opposing him at this moment. On the contrary, that knowledge only strengthened his resolve to push this cooperation forward.
Mahito intended to retaliate with malice even greater than Kenjaku's.
He would become even more like a human—using deeper cunning and more elaborate lies—to squeeze every last bit of value out of Kenjaku.