Less than twenty-four hours had passed since the conversation at the airport.
Every student from Tokyo Jujutsu High was away on assignments.
Gojo Satoru was no exception.
"Satoru-sama, the clan head is calling." While assisting members of the Gojo clan on a mission, Gojo Satoru was interrupted by someone who clearly lacked a sense of timing.
It was a Grade 1 sorcerer from the Gojo clan.
Thanks to the Windows sending out a rescue request in time, those trapped inside the enemy's special technique escaped without suffering any serious harm.
Gojo Shunya, thirty-five years old, male. His cursed technique is Mirror Person.
As a direct descendant of one of the Three Great Clans, he had once been considered a strong contender for the position of clan head. But the moment the Six Eyes were born, every branch that had backed his candidacy quietly abandoned all ambitions.
The Gojo clan had long upheld an unbreakable rule: [Whoever possessed both the Six Eyes and the Limitless technique would become the clan head.]
No one was allowed to challenge it, and no one truly believed they could surpass Gojo Satoru anyway. Once internal power struggles disappeared, the entire clan settled into a remarkably comfortable life. Even Grade 1 sorcerers like Gojo Shunya, who was once regarded as one of the clan's pillars, had entered a leisurely stage where they simply enjoyed the benefits of their status.
The reason Gojo Shunya still accepted missions was partly because of the generous travel allowances offered by Jujutsu Headquarters, and partly to replenish the clan's collection of cursed spirits. He specialized in capturing those with rare techniques that would be useful for training future generations.
The reason he had stumbled this time was simple.
He had wanted to seal the cursed spirit alive instead of exorcising it outright.
That hesitation had turned the battle into a mess.
He certainly hadn't expected it to draw the attention of the lofty Gojo Satoru.
With Gojo Satoru overwhelming the enemy effortlessly, Gojo Shunya finally succeeded in sealing the Grade 1 cursed spirit inside a talisman covered in intricate incantations.
Meeting the indifferent gaze of those Six Eyes, Gojo Shunya let out an awkward laugh. He knew his mistake had already been seen through, yet he still dared to carry out the errand entrusted to him.
Lowering his head slightly, he held his phone up with both hands and respectfully offered it over.
"Satoru-sama, before I left, the clan head specifically instructed me that if I happened to meet you during my mission, I was to contact him immediately."
Gojo Satoru took the phone. "What is it?"
After confirming there was nothing else he needed to do, Gojo Shunya picked up the sealed cursed spirit and left. He didn't even bother asking for his work phone back.
In the sweltering summer heat, the Gojo clan head had no need to leave the estate. The moment Satoru-sama's cool, detached voice came through the receiver, he motioned for the maid to stop fanning him and dismissed the servants, choosing to speak with Gojo Satoru in private.
"You've gone without sending the family so much as a single message and have spent every day rushing from one Tokyo Jujutsu High mission to another. Rumors are already spreading outside. How could I not be worried?"
Gojo Satoru instinctively thought of Asou Akiya, puzzled that he hadn't informed the Gojo clan about his situation.
"I'm trying to qualify as a Special Grade. I've got missions to do. At most, I'll only be this busy for one summer."
That was exactly what he believed.
Gojo Satoru was convinced that Japan would return to normal next year.
Whether it was because he had shattered the balance or because he himself had triggered the massive surge of cursed spirits, it made little difference. His stamina and cursed energy were more than enough to sustain such an intense workload. Besides, after accepting the restrictions of the Binding Vow, his Reverse Cursed Technique had reached an even higher level when it came to healing his own vital organs. Two hours of sleep a day was all he needed to wake up full of energy.
To Gojo Satoru, he was simply charging through an easy hack-and-slash game.
{—+—}
Game Title:The Jujutsu World — Summer 2006
Map: Japan
Main Quests:
- Exorcise cursed spirits throughout the world. (In Progress)
- Save sorcerers and civilians. (In Progress)
Side Quest:
- Whenever encountering anyone under the age of fourteen who has been attacked by a cursed spirit during a mission, remain for ten minutes and enter battle cooldown.
· Photos taken today: 135
· Videos recorded today: 9
· Head pats completed today: 3
· Hugs completed today: 1
Game Mode:
- Single-player
- No teammates
- X-ray vision enabled
- Target lock enabled
- Full map revealed
Special Buff:
- Reverse Cursed Technique can only heal the user.
- Two hours of sleep fully restores the HP bar each day.
Special Debuffs:
- Brain overload.
- Low blood sugar.
{—+—}
After the Gojo clan head pressed him for an explanation, Gojo Satoru laid out his thoughts in full.
The only response he received was a long, heavy silence.
Things You'd Never See Coming.jpg
The hellish workload of the jujutsu world was, to Gojo Satoru, nothing more than a real-life video game.
He didn't want anyone to die. Deaths would lower his mission score, and they left him feeling awful. He hated cursed spirits. They were incapable of communicating with humans, existed only to kill them, and had absolutely no reason to continue existing.
At that moment, the Gojo clan head found himself having the exact same thought as countless parents whose children were addicted to video games.
[He's played too many games, hasn't he?!]
But as he returned to reality, his heart suddenly lurched.
For the first time, he truly understood what it meant to be a Divine Child.
If the world itself were a game, then only a Divine Child was worthy of being the player.
Every other living being was merely an NPC.
"Satoru-sama... do you still need the Gojo clan?"
Before he realized it, the Gojo clan head had uttered words that should never have been spoken.
Gojo Satoru: "..."
Why would he ask that?
Why did he think Gojo Satoru no longer needed the Gojo clan?
"My apologies." The Gojo clan head quickly concealed his thoughts. With a bitter expression, he forced himself to sound upbeat. "I'm happy for you. You've become so powerful that no one in the jujutsu world can stand against you..."
"Getou Suguru is my rival," Gojo Satoru replied, no longer dwelling on the earlier question. "I'm waiting for him to grow stronger."
"Cursed Spirit Manipulation alone can't achieve that," the Gojo clan head said after regaining his composure.
"The stronger I get, the stronger cursed spirits become. The stronger cursed spirits become, the stronger Suguru gets."
Gojo Satoru declared it with complete confidence.
It was a theory that very few people in the jujutsu world knew yet—one so simple it almost felt like a blessing this era of rampant cursed spirit outbreaks had bestowed upon two sixteen-year-old boys.
"As long as Suguru and I fight together, we're unbeatable!"
The Gojo clan head understood.
Not only did he understand, he grasped the deeper implication behind those words, leaving him utterly shaken.
In the past, the wielder of the Six Eyes had always stood alone. That was why one had ultimately been dragged into mutual destruction by a Zen'in clan head wielding the Ten Shadows Technique.
But now...
The Six Eyes had Cursed Spirit Manipulation fighting alongside it.
Together, they were invincible.
So this was the perspective of the Divine Child blessed with the Six Eyes...
To treat others as equals, to patiently wait for them to grow, and to willingly share the title of "The Strongest" with the wielder of Cursed Spirit Manipulation...
The Gojo clan head never doubted Gojo Satoru's sincerity.
He knows Gojo Satoru had always been someone who looked down on no one, and he possessed the open-hearted honesty of an innocent child.
Speaking from the bottom of his heart, the clan head said, "Our vision and breadth of mind simply can't compare to yours, Satoru-sama."
He asked one final question.
"Would you like me to assign an assistant manager from the Gojo clan to accompany you?"
"No need," Gojo Satoru replied. "Tokyo Jujutsu High already assigned someone to me. Yaga is my homeroom teacher—he has the authority to assign my missions, and he wouldn't tamper with them."
The Gojo clan head raised no further objections and prepared to end the call.
Then Gojo Satoru suddenly spoke. "Old geezer, there's something troublesome I need you to take care of."
"Please tell me."
With obvious irritation, Gojo Satoru brought up what had happened.
"Yesterday... no, before yesterday afternoon, I was pretty rough while carrying out my missions. I couldn't be bothered dealing with the civilians I rescued. That's where those rumors you heard came from. Find some specialists to provide them with psychological counseling."
Gojo Satoru had always been the type to learn from one example and apply it broadly. Once he acknowledged that people's hearts were fragile, he stopped treating them as if they were diamonds.
"If there are any orphans whose parents were killed by cursed spirits, arrange for them to stay at a better children's welfare home. Give each of them their own room. Don't dump them in those places where five or six kids are crammed into a single dormitory. They're way too cramped."
"If any children under fourteen died, spend whatever money is necessary and help their families take care of the funeral arrangements."
"And if anyone awakens cursed energy, ask whether they actually want to become a jujutsu sorcerer. If they don't, arrange a job for them instead. As long as they can make a living and won't starve, that's enough."
Gojo Satoru calmly and methodically arranged these mundane matters, drawing upon the experience he had gained from life itself.
He wasn't imitating Getou Suguru.
In truth, there were many things Getou Suguru couldn't accomplish as effortlessly as he could.
The person he was taking as his example… was Asou Akiya, who had lost both of his parents.
Everything Asou Akiya had said, Gojo Satoru had remembered. None of it had gone in one ear and out the other.
It didn't matter if he still didn't know what the right answer was.
Whenever he encountered an "orphan" during a mission, all he had to do was imagine they were Asou Akiya. That alone was enough to guide him.
"I only deal with the things I personally run into during my missions. What happens to everyone else isn't my problem."
"Why? Hah? Since when does everything need a reason? Figure it out yourself!"
"I'll do whatever makes me happy!"
Gojo Satoru repeated himself several times for emphasis.
The Gojo clan head fetched a writing brush and carefully recorded every one of Satoru-sama's requests in broad, elegant strokes.
A moment later, he gently blew across the half-dried ink, and the scent of fresh ink drifted through the room.
When you read it, those words no longer sounded like someone acting on a whim for his own amusement.
They resembled a code of conduct rooted in profound benevolence.
A line from the Analects surfaced in the Gojo clan head's mind, and he softly recited it in Chinese.
"Those who are without virtue cannot abide long either in a condition of poverty and hardship, or in a condition of enjoyment. The virtuous rest in virtue; the wise desire virtue."
Was Satoru-sama one of the virtuous—someone who instinctively delighted in doing good, expecting nothing in return?
Or was he one of the wise—someone who understood the value of virtue and chose to practice it because it was ultimately the path that benefited him most?
The Gojo clan head fell into deep contemplation, forgetting that such a lengthy phone call would earn him a scolding later.
After all, no one understood their own family better than they did.
The Gojo clan head couldn't, in good conscience, heap false praise on Lord Satoru. Gojo Satoru simply wasn't the sort of person who went around meddling in other people's affairs.
In a quiet voice, he murmured, "Is there a wise man at Satoru-sama's side? Is the wielder of Cursed Spirit Manipulation teaching you to conduct yourself this way?"
His thoughts immediately turned to Getou Suguru, whose reputation within the jujutsu world was excellent and who was well known for always helping others.
Sometimes, saving people wasn't necessarily an act of genuine kindness.
It could also be a means by which a wise man cultivated his public image.
"Don't talk nonsense—!!!"
The phone lying on the table suddenly erupted with a series of voice cracks, so vivid that one could almost picture a spirited young man in the prime of his youth shouting in indignation.
"No one gets to tell me how to live my life! It's not Suguru's place to order me around!"
"Suguru, a wise man? He's just a bleeding heart! A Tomcat! Weird-bangs freak!"
"I'm so pissed off!"
"I'm done talking to someone like you, old geezer! Go have your second kid and sit there fanning yourself! I hope you're blessed with countless children for the rest of your life!!!"
The rest was simply—
Click!
Beep... beep...
"The number you have dialed is powered off."
The Gojo clan head, who had undergone a vasectomy years ago, rubbed a hand over his face.
"How vicious, Satoru-sama."
As expected, he'd spent too long outside.
He'd picked up all sorts of strange habits—never uttering a single swear word, yet somehow making every sentence sound like one.
…
The Six Eyes of the Gojo clan entering the world was a blessing for everyone.
Author's Note:
From Chapter 2, "Li Ren," of the Analects:
The Master said, "Those who are without virtue cannot abide long either in a condition of poverty and hardship, or in a condition of enjoyment. The virtuous rest in virtue; the wise desire virtue."
One interpretation:
Confucius said, "Those who lack virtue cannot remain in poverty and hardship for long, nor can they remain in comfort and enjoyment for long. The virtuous are content to dwell in virtue itself, while the wise pursue virtue because they recognize its value and the benefits it brings."
Another interpretation:
Confucius said, "Those who have not attained the state of virtue cannot remain steadfast in self-discipline, nor can they sustain lasting happiness. Only those who have truly attained virtue can keep their hearts at peace within it, while the wise continually strive to cultivate themselves until they, too, reach that state."