The recollection ended there.
Itadori Yuji recounted Gojo Satoru's words and Nobara's declaration in the corridor, omitting certain details that Nobara likely wouldn't want widely circulated.
He spread his hands. "...That's what Gojo-sensei said."
Panda listened while stroking his chin, his face full of gravity.
Inumaki Toge, meanwhile, touched his chin thoughtfully before raising his phone. He tapped out a line of text and showed it to everyone:
[Unexpected, yet logical?]
Zen'in Maki finally finished wiping her Cursed Tool and sheathed it.
She looked up at Itadori Yuji. "So, she's not coming back?"
"That's what he said..."
Itadori Yuji's tone was a bit uncertain. "But I feel like... Kama-san isn't that kind of person?"
"What kind of person?" Kugisaki Nobara snorted, crumpling her empty potato chip bag with a loud rustle. "Someone who just pats their butt and leaves without saying goodbye!"
"Bonito Flakes." Inumaki Toge suddenly spoke up, shaking his head. He pointed at Itadori Yuji, then at his own heart, making a few gestures.
"Toge is saying,"
Panda translated, "He thinks Kama-san isn't the type to completely not care. Otherwise, she wouldn't have saved you guys or eaten with you."
"Dried Bonito!" Inumaki Toge nodded vigorously, confirming Panda's interpretation.
"Who knows," Zen'in Maki said flatly.
Just then,
"Yo~ everyone! Are you having a post-battle summary meeting? How about adding a teacher to the mix?"
An over-energetic, somewhat noisy voice approached, accompanied by footsteps.
Everyone turned to see Gojo Satoru swinging his impossibly long legs, sauntering from the teaching building toward the Playground.
He wasn't wearing his signature Jujutsu High Uniform today. Instead, he had on a loose white hoodie and black casual pants, and his blindfold had been replaced by sunglasses—it seemed he had remembered the user manual for that face of his.
He seemed to be waving something in his hand.
"Gojo-sensei!" Itadori Yuji's eyes lit up, and he immediately waved.
The others looked over as well.
Gojo Satoru reached them in a few strides, his tall figure blocking out a patch of sunlight.
He stopped with a grin and held up the object in his hand; it was a plain-looking white envelope.
"Ta-da~ Guess what your teacher received?"
His tone was cheerful, like he'd discovered a new toy.
"A bill?" Kugisaki Nobara said irritably. "For repairing the corridor and ceiling? Just so you know, I don't have any money."
"Ehh—Kugisaki-san, how cruel! Is that really how you see me?"
Gojo Satoru giggled and waved the envelope. "Wrong~ Guess again!"
"A new mission notice?" Fushiguro Megumi guessed.
"A confirmation for Principal Yaga's handmade Cursed Corpse order?" Panda joined in.
"Tuna Mayo?" Inumaki Toge offered an onigiri filling option.
"All wrong~"
Gojo Satoru shook his head, then lowered his voice mysteriously—though everyone present could hear him perfectly,
"It's—a letter from Kama-chan!"
"What?!"
Except for Zen'in Maki, who only raised an eyebrow, the others shouted almost in unison. They sprang up from the ground, surrounding Gojo Satoru instantly.
"A letter from Kama?!" Kugisaki Nobara tried to snatch the letter from Gojo Satoru's hand.
Gojo lifted his hand, easily evading her, and held the letter high:
"Ehh~ don't be in such a hurry~ Let your teacher read it for you~"
He cleared his throat and, imitating a theatrical tone, opened the envelope and pulled out a thin piece of stationery.
The paper was a common white notepad leaf, with only a few lines written on it in elegant yet casual handwriting.
Gojo Satoru unfolded the paper and read with deliberate inflection:
"「To everyone at Jujutsu High:」"
"「The work here is much more ordinary than I imagined; if anything, it's quite disappointing.」"
"...Huh?"
Kugisaki Nobara was stunned.
Ordinary? Disappointing?
By "work," do you mean setting off Special Grade Cursed Spirits like fireworks, wiping out the King of Curses along with that foul thing, and casually showing off a Starry Sky skin?
What about that is ordinary, hey!
Gojo Satoru continued:
"「Still, I suppose I saw some interesting things, so let's leave it at that.」"
Interesting things? What were those?
"「As for that promise, I won't forget it, but that's as far as it goes. —Kama」"
"That's... it?"
Itadori Yuji blinked.
"'Won't forget, but that's as far as it goes'... what does that mean?"
"It means she remembers, but whether she comes back is another story."
Kugisaki Nobara crossed her arms, her frown deepening.
"What is this? A disclaimer? Or an advance notice that 'you guys are being stood up'?"
"Daikon?" Inumaki Toge tilted his head in confusion.
Gojo Satoru ignored their discussion and pulled one more thing from the envelope.
A photograph.
"Oh my? There's a bonus?"
He held the photo up.
Everyone's attention was immediately captured.
The photo seemed to have been taken in a Private Room of a restaurant, the lighting warm.
In the center of the frame, Kugisaki Nobara was lunging to the side, her face flushed with annoyance and a teeth-gritting expression.
In the direction she was lunging, Kama had shifted slightly to dodge. Her short silver hair was tossed back, her rose-red eyes slanted toward Nobara with a teasing, lazy arc at the corner of her lips, and she was still holding a cup in one hand.
Fushiguro Megumi sat on the other side of the table with a helpless "here we go again" expression, though a faint smile touched his lips. He was looking toward the camera, seemingly having noticed that Itadori Yuji was taking a candid shot.
Itadori Yuji, who was taking the photo, occupied the space closest to the lens, his sun-bright smile nearly overflowing from the frame.
In the background, one could see meat slices sizzling on the grill, alongside piles of empty plates and drink bottles on the table.
It was a group photo from when the four of them went to that newly opened Yakiniku Restaurant.
"Ah! It's this one!"
Itadori Yuji cried out. "I remember! I took it secretly! Nobara chased me around afterward..."
"Shut up!"
Kugisaki Nobara's face reddened. She snatched the photo from Gojo Satoru's hand and gripped it tightly. Her gaze, however, landed on the profile of Kama's face in the photo, seeing her faint smile. Nobara's lips pressed together.
Fushiguro Megumi also looked at the photo. "She kept this photo."
And she had sent it back.
Along with that vague, bewildering letter.
"Hmm..." Panda rubbed his furry chin, analyzing, "So is this the 'interesting thing'?"
"Salmon Roe." Inumaki Toge nodded in agreement, reaching out a paw to "borrow" the photo from Kugisaki Nobara to examine it closely.
Gojo Satoru folded the empty envelope, tucked it into his pocket, and clapped his hands to regain everyone's attention:
"Alright~ The letter's been read, the photo's been seen. What Kama-chan means is probably something like, 'Work's done, I'm gone, I remember the promise, but when I fulfill it depends on my mood, bye,' something like that?"
His summary was quite casual and a bit annoying.
"What kind of explanation is that!" Kugisaki Nobara complained.
"What else?"
Gojo Satoru spread his hands.
"Did you want her to write a multi-thousand-word mission report detailing her mental journey and future plans? Please, that's Kama-chan we're talking about! Sending a letter back is already giving us su~per special treatment!"
He spoke with such conviction that the others found themselves unable to argue.
Remembering Kama's usual style of being uninterested in everything and never using two words when one would do, this letter—which actually gave them some closure—really was unprecedented.
Itadori Yuji scratched his head. "Kama-san should come back, right?"
Gojo Satoru giggled and ruffled Itadori's pink hair.
"Don't think too much! Young people need to look forward! Maybe one day when she's happy, she'll just appear again with a 'whoosh.' Just like how she appeared in that alleyway with a 'whoosh'~"
He mimicked the sound of Kama shooting arrows back then.
Everyone imagined the scene and suddenly felt... it wasn't impossible?
That person's style of doing things was even more casual than Gojo Satoru's; she couldn't be measured by common sense at all.
Kugisaki Nobara carefully tucked the photo into her pocket, muttering,
"It better be... otherwise I've got a bone to pick with her..."
Though her tone was still fierce, the heavy anger from before had dissipated quite a bit.
"Alright! Heavy topics end here!"
Gojo Satoru clapped his hands loudly.
"To celebrate Kama-chan's letter, to celebrate Itadori-kun waking up healthy, and to celebrate peace returning to Jujutsu High once again, your teacher has decided!"
He paused deliberately for effect. Only after seeing everyone looking at him did he announce with satisfaction:
"Yakiniku party tonight! My treat! Let's go to that same shop Yuji and the others went to!"
"Ohh—!!" Itadori Yuji was the first to jump up in response.
"For real? You'd be that kind?" Kugisaki Nobara was suspicious.
"Of course! When has your teacher ever lied!" Gojo Satoru stated righteously.
Fushiguro Megumi silently turned his head away.
No, you lie all the time.
"Panda! Toge! Maki! You guys come too!" Gojo Satoru called out to the Second-year students.
"Hell yeah! Satoru's treat! I'm going to eat until you're broke!" Panda cheered, raising his paws.
"Salmon!" Inumaki Toge's eyes lit up.
Zen'in Maki pushed up her glasses. "Fine."
The atmosphere became lively in an instant.
That ambiguous letter and all the uncertainties about whether they would meet again in the future seemed to be temporarily tossed to the back of their minds.
Zen'in Maki walked at the back, looking back once at the spot under the cherry blossom tree where they had just been sitting.
She remembered that day on the Playground, the silver-haired girl leaning lazily against the tree trunk, saying "After all, they're all so weak," before blasting a ten-meter crater with a single arrow.
Powerful, mysterious, willful, and carrying an indescribable sense of... loneliness?
Maki withdrew her gaze and turned to follow her noisy companions.
Whatever she was.
A God of Love, an incarnation of the universe, where she came from, or where she was going.
At least she stayed here for a while.
With them, she had bickered, fought, and made a promise that had yet to be fulfilled.
That was enough.
As for the future...
Zen'in Maki adjusted her glasses, the lenses reflecting the light of the setting sun.
Who knows.