The world was quiet again.
The trees were real now. The air was breathable. Hanami was gone, her soul scattered. The only proof of what had transpired was the silence that followed.
Yuji, Todo, and Nanami stood just a few meters away.
Todo had his hands in his pockets, as if nothing had happened. Nanami's brow was furrowed, eyes fixed on Mahito. Yuji stood still, fists clenched, breathing carefully.
Mahito turned to them at last.
Mahito stood still as the last traces of his domain evaporated from the air. The lingering pressure vanished all at once, like breath held for too long finally released. The world returned to its muted greens and browns, the broken forest reborn into silence.
The three sorcerers stared at him.
Yuji took a cautious step forward, confusion etched across his face.
"What... was that? Why did you kill your comrade?!" he asked, voice low.
His fists were still clenched, but they weren't raised. He wasn't sure if he should prepare for another fight or lower his guard.
Mahito's presence didn't feel hostile, at least not right now, but the way Hanami had died so suddenly, without struggle or spectacle, left a certain weight in the air.
Todo exhaled and stretched his arms over his head, his usual bravado tempered into something more grounded.
"No reason to ask the obvious, brother..." he said simply. "He's betrayed them, that's what that was."
He looked toward Mahito and gave him a small nod.
"Whether or not we could have survived without you is questionable... So a 'thank you' is in order."
Mahito didn't respond with words. He just smiled, genuine, unforced.
Nanami's gaze was sharp. He remained still, standing slightly behind the other two, sword still drawn.
"Betraying your one is one thing... But you didn't harm us either," he said. It wasn't a compliment. It was a fact he was trying to wrap his head around. "You easily could have. Even Todo's Simple Domain wasn't holding firm by the end."
Mahito glanced at him, the smile thinning.
"I didn't see the need."
Yuji tilted his head. "So... are you on our side now? Or is this temporary?"
"I'm on my side," Mahito replied evenly. "But our goals aligned."
Yuji's brows furrowed, and he opened his mouth to say something else, but Todo raised a hand again, this time with less authority and more ease.
"Yuji," he said. "He's not an enemy right now. And whatever just happened... An unidentified Special Grade Curse is gone. That's a fact."
Yuji looked down, the tension in his shoulders slumping slightly.
"I know," he muttered. "I just... I don't get it. One second, we were fighting for our lives... The next, she just... died. No scream. No nothing... She was just gone."
"Something akin to an 'instant kill' effect... Similar to Gojo, huh?" Nanami said, eyes still on Mahito. "Difference is, there was no trace of the curse left."
Todo's head turned. His curious nature as a Sorcerer was put on full display. "What did you do to her?"
Mahito shrugged once.
"I showed her the truth."
No one quite knew what to make of that. Yuji frowned, confused and not entirely satisfied. Nanami said nothing, though his fingers slowly released the grip on his blade.
Todo walked forward and held out a hand.
"I don't need the details then, your word to that curse... Thank you for trying to teach us," he said, not bowing, but nodding solemnly at the humanoid curse, before extending a hand.
"You could tell, huh?~"
"You didn't make much of an effort to hide your intentions." Nanami sighed, adjusting his slightly cracked glasses as he looked back at Yuji.
Mahito looked at the offered hand for a long moment. Then reached out and clasped Todo's hand, only once, firm and polite. Todo didn't hold it long, just enough to show sincerity before letting go and stepping back.
Yuji's voice was softer now.
"Even if you're not on our side... I guess I still owe you too."
Mahito waved it off.
"You owe me nothing. What I did wasn't charity."
Nanami stepped forward now, closing the distance with slow, deliberate steps.
His eyes remained steady on Mahito, his gaze unreadable.
"I don't trust you," he said plainly. "And I won't pretend this changes that."
Mahito didn't look offended.
"That's good~ Wouldn't want it any other way."
Nanami's brow twitched. "If I find out you played us-"
"You won't," Mahito interrupted, his tone light but final. "I've moved past the point of needing masks. I'm not hiding anymore."
Nanami didn't respond. He simply turned, walking past Yuji and Todo, scanning the horizon.
"We should move. Not a good place to linger."
Todo followed, adjusting the hem of his tattered pants.
"I say we get ramen after this," he said.
Yuji glanced at Mahito again. He looked like he wanted to say more, but thought better of it.
He gave a slight nod, then jogged after the others.
Mahito watched them go in silence.
No part of him reached out to follow. No instinct told him to interfere. He had gotten what he came for. Hanami was gone. The ties to Kenjaku were severed.
And for the first time in this cursed life, he had been acknowledged, not by humans. But by someone who truly understood what it meant to be king.
Mahito turned toward the forest, the air still damp with the scent of his domain. He breathed in deep.
The fact that it lingered in such a way in the real world made him even more confident... After all, it showed that he still had aveneus to grow, and many at that.
There was still work to do, plenty of it at that. The threat of Kenjaku was anything but gone.
But Mahito was done playing around and pretending. To grow stronger, he was going to stay true to himself.
'Time to actually start freely amassing an army~ It has got to be at least big and strong enough to make the Elders of the Jujutsu World tremble in their boots~'
And just as he was about to walk off... The Anti-Gojo barrier that had been set up by Kenjaku burst like a bubble.
"Huh... The honoured one is fashionably late, it seems~"