Ras sat on the Chuuni Club's old sofa, eyes half-lidded, smile soft but empty., cheeks red. His fingers rested loosely on his knees, his posture relaxed
Gojo crouched in front of him, blindfold pushed up just enough to expose the sharp glint of her Six Eyes.
She inhaled.
And froze.
"…Oh. That's bad."
Yuuta stiffened. "G-Gojo-san…? What do you see?"
Gojo didn't answer her directly, because only she could see it:
A faint, aura coiled inside Ras's body like a parasite.
Not cursed energy.
Not mana.
Not anything belonging of this world.
Something foreign, parasitic.
Something trying to "change" him into a desired state.
Gojo swallowed.
"…Someone's trying to hollow him out from the inside."
She raised a hand, tracing the air above Ras's forehead. The aura twitched like it sensed danger.
Yuuta instinctively grabbed Ras's sleeve protectively.
Rikka tensed beside the door.
But they couldn't see anything suspicious.
Only Gojo could.
And only the Guild could understand.
So she opened the guild chat
Gojo: Guys. Emergency. Ras is compromised. I need eyes on this thing.
Lin: Use Live stream function.
Ainz: so we can see through you.
Kazumi: Hooh? You only call when shit is real. Show us.
Ichika: …What happened to him?
Satsuki: …I'm here.
Gojo exhaled once — then used the live streamed function of the chat group, through her Six Eyes.
To the Sobu students, she merely seemed to narrow her eyes.
But to the Guild…
A live stream opened.
Ras's face.
His dull eyes.
And the faint aura pulsing inside his pupils.
The guild reacted instantly.
Ainz: That signature… is this hypnosis is layered beneath consciousness? This isn't amateur work!
Kazumi: Tch. They're turning Ras into a damn "Eroge" NPC. I hate this.
Ichika: Whoever touched him… I'll cut them.
Satsuki spoke.
Her voice low, but steady.
Satsuki: …I recognize that aura.
Gojo's eyebrows lifted slightly.
Gojo: Oh? Satsuki-chan, do tell.
Satsuki frowned watching closer to the live stream on her end, her Sharingan glowing faintly.
Satsuki: It resembles Orochimaru's experimental binding technique.
A parasite-like imprint used to mark potential "vessels."
seem subtle. But Hard to remove.
Gojo's smile vanished.
Yuuta and Rikka watched her expression change, their worry climbing — but they had no idea of the discussion happening in the invisible channel.
Gojo: Great. Vessel-level hypnosis. Just what I needed today.
Satsuki: If you remove that imprint…
Ras will feel the pain first.
And the imprint will react violently to return to its master.
Gojo's jaw clenched.
Gojo: So if I rip it out… it'll show me where the caster is.
Ainz: Precisely.
Ichika: Then chase it. Kill whoever's doing this.
Kazumi: Preferably with style.
Yaya: Ras will have food after, right??
Gojo ignored the last one.
----
~ Chuuni room
Gojo stood up, Her blindfold lifted fully, revealing the brilliance of her eyes.
Hachika, who had been silent in the corner, whispered, "Gojo-san… is he… is Ras going to be okay?"
Gojo looked at her.
At Yuuta.
At Rikka.
At the doorway where Yukino and Yui were approaching after following the commotion.
None of them could see the aura.
None of them knew the Guild existed.
None of them understood how close Ras was to losing himself.
Gojo inhaled slowly.
"…He will be. But not yet."
She kneeled in front of Ras again — this time more urgently, and placed one hand against his cheek.
"Ras-kun," she murmured, voice gentle, pained.
"Whoever is doing this to you will regret it."
Ras looked up at her.
Smiled faintly.
"Gojo," he said softly. "You're early."
Faint shiver ran through Gojo.
"Yeah," she whispered. "I rushed here."
Her fingers slid to the back of his neck — exactly where the aura coiled deepest.
Behind her, the others tensed.
"Gojo-san??" Yukino asked.
"What are you?" Yui gasped.
Yuuta rose, nervous.
Rikka gripped her staff.
Gojo didn't answer them.
Her focus sharpened.
Her eyes glowed.
And in the silent channel, she spoke only to the Guild:
Gojo: Hold on, Ras. I'm ripping this thing out of you.
Hoping that Ras could see it.
Ainz, Ichika, Kazumi responded in sync:
Guild: We're with you.
Satsuki added quietly:
Satsuki: Aim perfectly. And don't hesitate.
Gojo lifted her glowing hand.
The aura inside Ras's body shivered violently
Like it realized death was coming,
And then
Gojo shot her load!
Gojo's hand closed on something no one else could see.
From the outside, it just looked like she pressed her palm against the back of Ras's neck.
From the inside, it felt like the world flinched.
Ras jerked.
His relaxed posture snapped taut, fingers clawing into the sofa cushion. A strangled breath tore out of him, not quite a groan, not quite a cry. Yuuta lurched forward.
"Ras!"
"Don't touch him," Gojo said quietly.
Her voice wasn't playful. It wasn't light. It was the voice of someone holding a live wire.
Yuuta froze, halfway up. Rikka gripped her staff so tightly her knuckles whitened. Yui and Yukino at the doorway, Hachika by the wall — all of them watched, helpless, confused.
Because they still couldn't see it.
The thing Gojo had grabbed inside his neck… fought for naught.
-----
Inside the chat group:
Gojo: …There you are.
In the Guild-view, projected through Gojo's Six Eyes, everyone saw it:
A translucent brand wrapped around Ras's spine like a leech made of smoke and script. Not curse-mark black, not chakra-like blue. A weird, pale, foreign hue. Lines of… text? Symbols? Something like a spell circle, half-formed, half-living.
Her fingers, in the Guild's shared view, slid deeper into the aura, not touching Ras's physical tissue: just the foreign layer. Her cursed energy and mana interlaced, razor-precise.
Satsuki: You'll trigger the return pulse.
Gojo: Good. Let it run home. I want an address.
----
Outside
Ras's breathing turned ragged.
Yui's voice trembled. "He's… he's shaking. Is that really okay?"
Yukino's brow furrowed, composure strained. "If Gojo-san had meant him harm, she would have done it already. She rushed here for his sake."
Hachika's hands clenched at her sides. She remembered his warm chest under her palm. His easy smile. The way he'd started to feel distant, even while laughing.
"Ras," she whispered. "Don't you dare disappear."
Yuuta tried to read Gojo's expression, but her focus was locked entirely on the boy in front of her.
"Hang in there," Yuuta said softly. "We're here. We're not letting you go anywhere weird. Not without us."
Rikka, eyes glimmering, muttered under her breath like a spell, even though she knew she had no real power that mattered here.
"Dark Contract bearer… don't let some fake sigil overwrite your true name…"
----
Inside the link, the imprint reacted.
Gojo's grip along its edges made the aura flare, a soundless shriek running through the Guild vision like static.
Satsuki: It's trying to sink deeper. Typical. Coward.
Ainz: It can't fully merge while he still has autonomous will. You're disrupting it. Keep going.
Gojo: Already there.
She twisted her fingers not physically, but in that precise metaphysical space only she and the imprint existed in. The brand peeled up at the edges, fighting like something with too many claws and not enough courage.
Ras's mouth opened in a voiceless gasp. Sweat broke across his forehead.
Then...
A piece of the aura tore loose.
Half of it clung stubbornly along his spine.
The other half jerked away from Gojo's grip and shot upward! A thin, needle-like stream of foreign light, trying to escape through a crack in space only it knew.
Satsuki: There! Follow that trajectory!
Ichika: I'll trace its line.
On Ichika's end, in Karakura's night sky, she paused mid-step. A faint, ghostly filament streaked across her inner perception, not visible to normal eyes. She shut her eyes, inhaling slowly.
"Found you," she murmured.
Ichika: Direction traced. Not another world.
Same world as Ras. Same country. Different city.
Ainz: Localized caster, then. Not some distant god. Good.
Kazumi: So some creep in the same Japan running a hypnotic route on him. Figures.
Gojo: Can you pinpoint?
Ichika: Not yet. It's too faint. I'd need another pulse.
Satsuki: If you force a second tear, you might damage Ras's core.
A beat. Gojo's jaw tightened.
Gojo: …Then we don't force it. Not yet.
The escaping thread disappeared beyond their shared view. The piece attached to Ras dimmed, now more like a faint watermark than a full brand but still there.
Ainz: Partial extraction succeeded. Influence weakened by… estimate 40–50%.
But the hook remains.
Kazumi: So he's still compromised. Just less.
Yaya: So we feed him, right??
Gojo ignored Yaya again.
----
~Ras
His body slumped forward.
Yuuta lunged, catching his shoulders. "Ras!"
His eyes fluttered lightly, not fully clear, but not as empty as before. A small flicker of confusion, of self, returned.
"…ah…"
He blinked slowly.
"Chuuni club… huh," he murmured, voice hoarse but more real than it had been in days. A short, weak chuckle escaped him. "Guess my destiny really likes this room…"
Yuuta's eyes filled with relief. "Idiot… you scared us."
Yui's shoulders sagged. "Ras-kun…"
Hachika exhaled sharply, tension spilling out of her in a quiet, shaky breath she refused to let anyone hear.
Gojo stood carefully, her hand sliding away from his neck.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked lazily, raising her hand.
"None," Ras replied, blinking. "Your fingers are too beautiful to count."
Yuuta, Yui, and Hachika all choked for completely different reasons.
Gojo's lips twitched. "Yeah, he's still partially cooked."
-----
~ Guild
Kazumi: That line was not normal Ras.
Satsuki: That was influenced.
Ichika: Kill whoever wrote his dialogue.
Ainz: Regardless, his core consciousness is resurfacing. That buys us time.
Lin: …I saw.
( The aura. The link. This is not a book world, Ras is true! Ras is her friend, and a guild member!)
Gojo: Lin-chan, calm down... Start with analysis. We'll handle field.
Lin: I will.
I'll cross-compare the script structure with the doujin volumes.
If the hypnotic brand is following it… we'll know what "scene" comes next.
Kazumi: You're telling me some psycho is literally speedrunning Ras's life like a bad galgame route?
Lin: …Yes.
Ichika: Then we cut the route.
Satsuki: And the player.
----
Chuuni Room again:
Ras lifted a hand to his forehead, fingers pressing lightly. His smile wavered, turned smaller, more human.
"…sorry," he murmured. "Been… a bit out of it, haven't I?"
Yukino inhaled softly. That little line punctured something sharp inside her.
Yui shook her head too quickly. "N-No! It's okay! We were just… um… worried. That's all…"
Hachika stared at him, eyes narrow. She didn't say "You kissed me like you meant it." She didn't say "You hugged Yui like it was nothing." She didn't say "You looked through us like we weren't enough to anchor you."
Instead, she said, voice flat but cracking at the edges:
"You're not allowed to disappear. Got it?"
Ras blinked at her, and for a heartbeat, his gaze…the way he looked at her… felt like the Ras from weeks ago. Warm. Dryly amused. Present.
He smiled, a real one this time.
"I'll do my best," he said softly. "Sorry for making you worry, Hachika."
Her ears flushed. "As if I'd waste my worry on an idiot like you."
Yui exhaled with a half-laugh. "That's definitely Hikki…"
Yukino, watching quietly, relaxed the tight hold she'd kept on her own emotions — just a little.
Gojo stepped back, letting Ras sit upright under his own power.
Her voice slid back into something closer to her usual playful tone, but there was steel hardness under it.
"Well," she said, clapping her hands lightly. "Good news: he's not a puppet yet."
"Yet?" Yuuta repeated, grimacing.
Gojo's smile sharpened. "Bad news: someone planted a hook in him. And it's not gone — just weaker."
"Can you fix it?" Yui asked, hope trembling in her voice.
"Of course I can," Gojo replied smoothly. "I'm me."
Then, more quietly: "But it's going to hurt. And I'm not doing the full purge until we know exactly who we're purging toward."
Ras rubbed the back of his neck, wincing faintly. "Not really in the mood for full-brain surgery anyway…"
Gojo glanced at him.
"Then do me a favor," she said. "Until I say otherwise… don't be alone with anyone in a closed room. Classroom, clubroom, rooftop , doesn't matter."
Ras blinked. "That's… a lot of places to avoid."
"Manage it," she said flatly. "You're good at dodging obligations. Treat this like another one."
Hachika's eyes flickered. Her mind flashed through recent memory: empty hallways, closed doors, quiet rooms where things had almost gone further than they should.
She swallowed.
"I'll watch him," she said, the words coming out before she'd fully thought them.
Everyone looked at her.
Yukino's gaze sharpened. Yui's eyes widened. Yuuta and Rikka exchanged a look.
Gojo's lips curved.
"Good," Gojo said lightly. "Then I'll borrow you, Hikigaya-chan, as my unofficial watchdog. If anything feels wrong — even if it's small, even if it feels stupid, you call me. Immediately."
She took out her phone, tapped quickly, then held it out.
"Here. My direct number. Don't spam it. But don't hesitate either."
Hachika stared, then accepted the phone, entering her contact details with stiff fingers. "…Got it."
Ras blinked slowly. "…You sure you want to trust her with that much?"
Gojo smirked. "She's the one who answered my call and didn't lie. That's more than a lot of adults manage."
Hachika looked away, ears pink.
—
When Gojo finally stepped away from Ras, the room's tension didn't vanish, but it changed. Shifted from silent dread to loaded stillness.
Rikka, unable to hold back longer, slammed her staff down.
"Then it's decided!" she declared. "The East Magic Society will act as auxiliary guardians! Any attempt to tamper with Ras's destiny must pass through our barrier of justice!"
Yuuta sighed, but her eyes were soft. "Yeah. We're not letting him drift off into someone else's script."
Yui nodded vigorously. "We'll all keep an eye on him! That's what friends are for!"
Yukino closed her eyes briefly, then opened them. Her voice was cool, steady. "Until the cause is found and neutralized, we proceed as if he's under constant threat. That is the only logical approach."
Ras looked around at all of them.
At Yuuta and Rikka, flanking him like overly dramatic guardians.
At Yui, anxious and bright.
At Yukino, sharp and composed.
At Hachika, stubborn and silent, clutching her phone.
He smiled.
"Feels like overkill," he said lightly. "But… thanks."
Gojo walked to the door.
Just before stepping out, she paused and spoke again Guild chat.
Gojo: We've got partial extraction.
The caster is in this world.
Ainz: We'll track pattern overlap with the doujin. Lin, proceed.
Lin: Already started.
Next key scenes: isolation. Confession. Forced escalation.
If we can disrupt one of those, we break the route.
Ichika: Then we intercept before the next "scene."
Satsuki: And when it triggers again… we hit the source.
Kazumi: Scumbag wanted a toy. They're getting a raid instead.
Yaya: Then afterwards… dinner maybe?
Gojo: …Afterwards, we keep Ras alive. Then we talk about food.
She let the chat fade.
Then she looked back over her shoulder, blindfold dropping into place, smile sliding onto her face like a practiced mask.
"Ras-kun," she called lightly. "Stay alive and pretty, okay? I went through all this trouble for you."
Ras chuckled, tired but genuine. "I'll try to match your expectations, Satoru-chan."
She waved lazily and disappeared down the hall.
The door closed.
The silence that followed wasn't empty anymore. It was loaded. Watchful.
Hachika looked at Ras, fingers curled around her phone like a lifeline.
"…Don't make me use this number," she muttered.
Ras smiled, softer than before. "I'll do my best to behave."
"Idiot," she said.
But she stayed closer to him than she had yesterday.
And somewhere, far from Sobu High, in a room lit by the sick glow of a monitor and pages of a doujin lying open, a woman with a lazy smile look at the book on her right,feeling someone had just tugged back on the string she thought only she held.
"Oh~" and followed by a light chuckle.
"Interesting little guy~"