The air shimmered faintly, like heat rising off stone.
Gojo stood at the forest's edge, hands in his pockets, white hair stirring lightly in the wind.
Across from him, half-sitting on a crooked fallen tree, Mahito waited with his usual soft smile.
"You took your time," the curse said casually, glancing toward the horizon.
Gojo didn't answer right away. He simply stepped forward, his blindfold shifting slightly.
"I wanted to see if you'd run."
Mahito tilted his head, amused.
"Why would I run from someone I wanted to meet?"
Gojo stopped ten paces away. Not close enough for a handshake. Not far enough to feel like conversation wasn't possible.
"You don't strike me as suicidal."
"I'm not," Mahito said, smile still present. "But I'm also not interested in making an enemy out of you."
Gojo raised an eyebrow beneath the blindfold. "That so?"
"I don't care about Jujutsu society," Mahito continued. "The Elders, the rules, the rankings. None of that matters to me."
His hands rested lazily in his lap. He looked calm. Relaxed.
"But you... You're different. You're the pinnacle, aren't you? The peak of the current generation."
Gojo's smirk tugged upward slightly. "I'm flattered."
Mahito's expression didn't shift.
"I didn't come here to fight. You already knew that, didn't you?"
Gojo gave a half-shrug. "Figured. But I had to see it for myself."
He stepped a little closer, stopping at a slight incline of the hill.
"You didn't build that thing that attacked my students?"
"No," Mahito said, without hesitation. "I found it wandering and followed it here. Fast and nasty. But unfamiliar."
Gojo studied him. It wasn't the kind of lie he could easily disprove. Not without proof. Not without assuming things.
"And you just decided to help."
Mahito smiled faintly.
"You think I'm lying."
"I think it's odd."
"Helping is odd," Mahito agreed. "But interesting outcomes often come from unexpected choices."
Another silence passed. Gojo tapped his fingers against his thigh once.
Gojo studied him for a moment.
"You're trying to play a long game."
"I already am."
A pause settled.
Wind rustled the leaves above them. Somewhere distant, a bird called out. Neither moved.
Then Mahito spoke again.
"I have a request."
Gojo blinked once behind the blindfold.
"From me?"
"Only from you."
That got the sorcerer's full attention. His stance shifted, just slightly.
"I want to see your Domain Expansion," Mahito said. "Not just hear about it in theory. Not through second-hand reports."
His voice didn't rise. Didn't press.
"I want to experience it. Here. Now. Just for a moment."
Gojo tilted his head.
"You're asking to be trapped in Infinite Void."
"I'm not asking you to kill me," Mahito replied evenly. "Just to show me the peak. The height of modern Jujutsu Sorcery. You said it yourself once, didn't you?"
He smiled wider.
"Throughout heaven and earth, you alone are the honoured one."
Gojo chuckled. "You really did your homework. Wasn't aware anyone was around for that."
"I respect strength," Mahito said.
That silenced them both for a moment.
Gojo stared at him. Really stared. It wasn't playful, now. It was measuring. Calculating.
"You know what happens to most when they see it, even for less than a second?"
"I do."
"And you're still asking?"
"I am."
Gojo's fingers twitched once at his side.
Then he sighed.
"Fine. But if you melt or go brain-dead, you have no one to blame but yourself~"
Mahito stood up, arms loose at his sides.
"I accept that risk."
A pulse of cursed energy snapped through the clearing.
Gojo's form shifted. Calmness became clarity. Laziness became focus.
He raised one hand slowly.
"Don't blink."
The world went silent. As one of Gojo's hands moved to shift his blindfold, revealing his shining blue eyes.
The other moved to form a sign that Mahito was already familiar with. Infinity.
"Domain Expansion..."
Then the void opened.
The air became nothing. Everything. Infinite knowledge poured through every nerve, every sense, every inch of existence. It was like falling into a sea of stars, only to realize each one was an idea, a shape, a concept too vast to name.
"Infinite Void~"
Mahito didn't scream. He couldn't to begin with.
He didn't move. But even if he could have, he didn't want to. That infinite knowledge, that incomplete information infinitely blasted into his mind, into his very soul.
His body trembled. His soul writhed. But he stood.
Maybe exactly because his soul was abnormal, but he felt that he could withstand it. Though not for long.
Gojo watched. No expression on his face.
Ten seconds passed. Then twenty.
Then the Domain collapsed in on itself, cleanly, quietly.
The clearing returned.
But Mahito didn't return immediately. No, it took around 2 minutes for him to return to his senses.
The Special Grade Curse exhaled slowly. His knees buckled for a moment, then held firm.
"Huh... That was a lot faster than I expected..."
Gojo let out a low breath, watching him carefully.
"And look at that~" he said. "You're still standing."
Mahito looked up. His eyes were wide, but not panicked.
"Beautiful," he whispered.
Gojo blinked. His blue eyes still shining as he watched the cursed energy flicker within Mahito.
"You really are insane."
Mahito's grin returned. Slower this time. Less playful. More... reverent.
"That was worth every risk."
Gojo raised one brow. "You planning to imitate it?"
"No," Mahito said, shaking his head. "That would be meaningless."
"Then why?"
Mahito's gaze met his.
"To know how far there is left to climb."
Gojo didn't reply at first.
"You wish to reach me?" His tone was hard to read for a second, but Mahito could tell that it was not fully friendly.
Had it been any one of his students showcasing such ambition, he would have been beyond ecstatic. But the one in front of him was a special grade curse. A being born of malice.
"Maybe, maybe I wish to one day stand beside you at the very pinnacle... I get the feeling I'll need at least that much strength to live freely~"
Mahito knew his worries, he knew Gojo quite well after all, though only as a character on a screen or page. But in his current state of mind, he couldn't be bothered to hide his intentions. It was a miracle his mind wasn't fried.
"Live freely? Is that all your ambitions amount to?" Gojo could also tell that the curse in front of him was being honest for once. He knew best the effects that his Domain could have on others after all.
"...'Is that all?' he says~ Hahaha!" Mahito couldn't help but laugh loudly as he heard those words coming from Gojo's mouth. "You really can tell you're the strongest... To you, it's something you can take for granted, I guess~"
Gojo's eyebrows tightened slightly as he heard those words; a strange memory seemed to well up within him.
A conversation that happened in a crowded street. One that he hadn't managed to comprehend fully at that time.
"Everyone else has to bend a bit to survive in this world, but you? You can be unabashedly, you~"
Gojo covered his eyes, not wanting to show the curse the sadness which had crept into his gaze.
Of course, he knew that now. He knew the meaning of those words.
'I only wish I had learned sooner... Maybe Geto wouldn't have- No... No point in dwelling on that at this point...'
Gojo shook his head, then nodded towards the curse in front of him.
"I'll admit... you're not what I expected."
"And you're exactly what I hoped you'd be," Mahito said, stepping back toward the fallen tree.
He sat once more, hands folded in his lap.
Gojo didn't follow.
"I have many questions for you... But we can get to those another day, let your mind recover a bit more..." he asked, voice casual.
Mahito tilted his head, some purplish blood flowing out of his nose.
"Thank you for indulging me~"
Gojo smirked, turned, and started walking away.
"Heh... Wierdo~ I'll seek you out next time, don't avoid me."
Mahito said nothing. Just smiled calmly as he wiped the blood from his nose and nodded.
The wind picked up again.
Gojo disappeared into the trees.
Mahito remained seated, eyes distant, a smile still playing at the corners of his lips.
He had seen it.
The peak.
And now, the climb could begin.