"If I had known…" Kiyotaka Ijichi muttered, his voice trembling. "If I had known, I would have gone with you… Even if I just waited outside the door, maybe I could have seen him from a distance…"
He paused, lowering his voice, almost on the verge of tears:
"I actually missed the chance to see that adult in person… and I couldn't even ask for an autograph… Even just a glimpse of something he wrote from afar…"
Satoru Gojo was stunned.
He turned his head, his black blindfold "staring" at Ijichi's red face. After a few seconds, he suddenly burst out laughing.
"No way, Ijichi," Satoru Gojo laughed so hard his shoulders shook. "I've never seen you so obsessed with me? When I signed an autograph for you, you had that 'again' expression on your face and casually stuffed the signed paper at the bottom of your folder, afraid of being seen."
"That's, that's different!" Ijichi quickly explained, his face turning even redder. "Mr. Gojo, you are very strong—the strongest of the modern era. I respect you and am grateful for your constant care. But, but…"
He took a deep breath, as if making a decision, and his voice gradually calmed, but the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter:
"Lord Zen'in Genji… he is different. I am able to become a sorcerer now—even if it's just a non-combat sorcerer who ultimately chose the role of an assistant supervisor—because I studied the jujutsu system that adult left behind."
Ijichi's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles white from the pressure.
"You know, I don't have an innate technique. My cursed energy is very average. I belong to the mediocre talent that in the jujutsu world is considered 'talented, but not exceptionally so.' If it were a thousand years ago, before Lord Zen'in Genji's reform, people like me would either be odd-jobbers in a clan or cannon fodder on missions. The best outcome would be to find a remote place to become a rural shrine priest, never even seeing a cursed spirit above Grade 3."
His voice was low with sincere gratitude:
"But because of acquired techniques, at least I have a choice. It took me three years to learn 'Flame Candle' and 'Water Flow Surge.' Although the power is pitifully small and it takes two seconds to form the hand seals, at least… when faced with a sudden Grade 4 or Grade 3 cursed spirit, I wouldn't be completely lost. At least I could buy time for my companions, at least I could protect one or two ordinary people so they could escape."
Ijichi paused, glanced at Satoru Gojo in the rearview mirror, his eyes complex:
"I became an assistant supervisor not because I like paperwork, but because I know my limits. My cursed energy, my control, my combat talent—they aren't enough to make me a frontline combat sorcerer. Forcing myself to stay on the front lines would only hold back my comrades and waste resources. So I chose logistics, support, and chose my own way to contribute to the jujutsu world."
"But that doesn't mean," his voice became firmer, "that I don't appreciate the person who gave me this 'choice.' If not for the acquired technique system created by Lord Zen'in Genji, I might not even be qualified to stand here. I might have died on some unknown mission, or fled the industry out of fear, living the rest of my life with the regret of 'I could have.'"
The car fell silent again. Only the sound of traffic outside the window and the faint breeze of the air conditioning.
Satoru Gojo put away his smile. He straightened up, his expression beneath the black blindfold becoming serious. He looked at Ijichi's back and spoke quietly after a long time:
"Sorry, Ijichi. I was just joking. I didn't mean to upset you."
"No, no!" Ijichi quickly shook his head. "That's not what I meant! Mr. Gojo, you've always taken good care of me. I know that very well. I just… I just wanted to say that Lord Zen'in Genji is special to me. What he left behind changed the lives of many 'mediocre' sorcerers like me. So…"
He took a deep breath and finally asked the question that had been weighing on his heart:
"What do you think… how strong is that adult?"
The question was direct.
Satoru Gojo was silent.
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned his head to look at the night view of Tokyo streaming past the car window. The black blindfold reflected the flickering lights of the streetlamps—blinking, shimmering, as if in silent thought.
The car crossed an intersection, and the light turned red. Kiyotaka Ijichi slowly pressed the brake, and the car stopped smoothly behind the white line. He nervously looked at Satoru Gojo through the rearview mirror, waiting for an answer.
After a long time, Satoru Gojo slowly spoke, his voice very soft, but each word terribly clear:
"An unfathomable monster."
Ijichi's breath caught.
"When I walked in, I felt it," Satoru Gojo continued, his voice calm, as if analyzing experimental data. "That cursed energy… no, it can no longer be called 'cursed energy.' It's something more fundamental, more massive, like… well, like a star."
He paused, as if searching for a more precise metaphor:
"You know what black holes are, right? A celestial body with such immense mass and gravity that not even light can escape. The feeling Genji gave me was a bit like… a humanoid black hole."
"It's not that he 'absorbs' cursed energy, but that his very 'existence' distorts the surrounding cursed energy field. All flows of cursed energy, when approaching him, naturally bend and curve, as if avoiding some unreachable 'core.'"
Ijichi was stunned.
"I have the Six Eyes open," Satoru Gojo pointed to his black blindfold. "I can see through all flows of cursed energy. But in front of Lord Zen'in Genji, what the Six Eyes showed me made me wonder if my eyes were malfunctioning."
He took a deep breath, and for the first time, a hint of indescribable shock appeared in his voice:
"How can a person have this much cursed energy? No, I should say, is this really 'cursed energy'? I almost thought I had run into a walking 'celestial body'—a conscious, talking star. Existing there, unconsciously influencing the surrounding spatial structure."
"The most important thing," Satoru Gojo turned his head, his black blindfold "looking" at Ijichi, and said word by word:
"I am very confident in my Limitless technique. The defense of Infinity, which theoretically can block any attack. But…"
He paused, and his voice became quiet:
"I can't guarantee that Lord Zen'in Genji's tenth shikigami, Mahoraga, hasn't already adapted to a technique similar to the Limitless after a thousand years of battle."
Mahoraga. The pinnacle of the Ten Shadows Technique, possessing the absolute power to "adapt" to all techniques and overturn all rules. And if it had already adapted to something like the "Limitless"…
Then Satoru Gojo's "absolute defense" might no longer be "absolute" in front of Mahoraga.
Dead silence fell over the car.
The light turned green. The car behind honked. Ijichi suddenly snapped out of it, hurriedly pressed the gas, and the car started moving, merging into the traffic.
After a long time, Kiyotaka Ijichi asked quietly:
"Then… Mr. Gojo, do you think the awakening of Lord Zen'in Genji is good or… for the jujutsu world?"
"I don't know," Satoru Gojo said calmly.
He paused, and the corners of his mouth lifted again into a cynical arc:
"The world has finally become less boring. Sukuna awakened. Zen'in Genji awakened. Geto is working on his Heavenly Restriction plan. The group of old men at the top are so scared they can't sleep at night… How lively, isn't it?"
A typical Satoru Gojo response. Kiyotaka Ijichi smiled wryly, but inexplicably felt a sense of relief in his heart.
At least Mr. Gojo seemed quite excited. That was enough.
The car continued driving through the Tokyo night, heading toward the Jujutsu High.
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