"Don't be so impatient. If you really want to die, I'll be more than happy to grant your wish."
Having heard what he wanted to hear, Gojo Satoru grinned as if he'd just been handed a piece of candy. He didn't take the other man's words seriously in the slightest.
He completely rejected the cursed spirit Akiya's accusation that he had caused all of those negative emotions.
What a joke. Who would care about a cursed spirit?
A counterfeit imitation could always be reproduced. Of all the things that could be copied, appearance was the least significant.
During the three-day, two-night Star Plasma Vessel mission, the tenderness with which Akiya stayed by his side through the night, the determination to plan everything for him, and the sheer audacity to wager against Zen'in Naoya—those were things no cursed spirit could ever possess. Human emotions and human wisdom shone with a brilliance all their own. No matter how desperately a cursed spirit tried to imitate them, mere imitation could never reach another person's heart.
The Asou Akiya he wanted to see would always be the one waiting for him back at Tokyo Jujutsu High.
As for those bizarre characters from Junji Ito's works, they were entertaining enough as fiction. Anyone who mistook manga for reality was an absolute idiot. Asou Akiya wasn't Kawakami Tomie. He wasn't the black-haired handsome boy at the Crossroads. He wasn't one of those monsters doomed to a tragic end.
"Before that... let me think about all the dumb crap I've blurted out over the years."
Gojo Satoru rested his clenched right fist against his chin. His Six Eyes turned cold with concentration, wearing the expression of someone recalling an event of life-changing importance.
He feared nothing and answered to no one. He'd casually joked about everything, even saying things like his parents were dead or that he was an orphan.
What had happened today served as a small wake-up call. Jokes were fine—but joking about someone's death, or cursing it into words, was another matter entirely.
"Ah! I remember!"
Realization dawned on Gojo Satoru.
He looked at the cursed spirit Akiya standing across from him. Instinct screamed at the cursed spirit of impending danger, and it unconsciously took half a step back.
Gojo Satoru burst into laughter without hesitation.
"Are you kidding me? Akiya would never be afraid of me."
He spread the fingers of his right hand and closed them around "Asou Akiya's" throat.
"Don't move."
"Asou Akiya" stopped struggling.
He stood as stiff as a stone statue, while a misty sheen gathered in his black eyes.
Drawing upon the image of Asou Akiya from Gojo Satoru's memories, the cursed spirit gradually merged itself with that identity. From his appearance to his smile, even down to his cursed energy, he was indistinguishable from a genuine semi-grade 2 sorcerer—utterly powerless before the white-haired sorcerer standing before him.
He stared at Gojo Satoru as though his mind had frozen, his expression numb and vacant, mechanically repeating the same words over and over.
"Satoru... I like you the most."
"Satoru... I like you the most."
"Satoru... I like you the most."
Words that should have been a joyful confession between humans, in the cursed spirit Akiya's mouth, became an undisguised and vicious curse.
"I know," Gojo Satoru replied to the cursed spirit Asou Akiya. "I'm this handsome after all. Of course I'm worth liking."
Gojo Satoru had an exceptionally clear understanding of himself. He was handsome, ridiculously strong, born into an excellent family, and unlike those rotten old conservative fossils who cared only about status and self-interest. Most importantly, he treated his friends incredibly well!
Asou Akiya and Getou Suguru were obviously friends who'd fallen under his irresistible charm.
"You're trying to curse me, aren't you?
Since you've borrowed Akiya's face...
Do one last thing for me."
Still gripping the cursed spirit Akiya by the throat, Gojo Satoru leaned casually against him, almost like he was affectionately clinging to a friend.
The Limitless technique remained active.
The distance between them was infinitely close, yet infinitely far.
The next instant, the bones in the black-haired boy's neck creaked loudly beneath Gojo's tightening grip.
"Take Akiya's place, and let me strangle you to death."
When he was fourteen, after sneezing three times at home, Gojo Satoru had jokingly declared that he would personally strangle whoever dared curse him.
He refused to let those words become reality.
So, with ruthless practicality, he chose the cursed spirit Akiya as the substitute to fulfill them.
Their cursed energy flowed in remarkably similar patterns. Their appearances were identical. The body beneath his hand felt real, warm flesh already bruising under the pressure of his fingers.
Gojo Satoru trusted the Six Eyes completely.
Infused with his cursed energy, the Six Eyes gleamed with their unmistakable radiance. His piercing gaze locked onto the cursed spirit that possessed an innate technique, slicing through its counterfeit exterior like a razor-sharp blade, revealing the filthy mass of cursed energy festering beneath the borrowed human shell.
The Akiya I know has no innate technique, and his cursed energy burns like fire. That's your biggest flaw.
The black-haired boy swallowed his final breath.
Hatred and numbness coexisted in his vacant eyes as he stared at Gojo. His chest no longer rose or fell, and his body went limp. Gojo caught the corpse with one hand, then casually flung it toward the entrance of the Cursed Spirit Repository.
"Bye."
With a loud bang, the cursed spirit Akiya's body reverted into a pale puppet before being sealed inside the vault.
"Oh yeah, I can finally leave."
The moment he regained his freedom, Gojo Satoru was bursting with energy again. As he headed out of the barrier, he casually called to the clan sorcerers stationed outside.
"Tell those rotten old oranges I'm going back to school."
The Gojo Clan had spent two months preparing this special training.
Gojo Satoru finished it in just two hours.
The cursed spirits within the vault were monsters designed to test both a sorcerer's strength and the resolve of their heart.
A man capable of toying with those cursed spirits was, without question, a being that stood above them.
The members of the Gojo Clan respectfully lowered their heads, bowing in reverence as their Lord Satoru strode away with effortless confidence. The gulf between themselves and him was so vast that it could no longer be described as merely the difference between one person and another...
This was the greatest prodigy of the modern jujutsu world.
Above Tokyo Jujutsu High, the clouds were split cleanly into two long trails, as though an invisible fighter jet had just streaked across the sky.
A lone figure, using the heavens as a runway, came plummeting downward.
Gojo Satoru had been experimenting with constructing a long-range teleportation route from Kyoto to Tokyo. After several failures, he finally succeeded once. The wind swept his white hair back as he spread his arms wide and shouted, "Aaaaah!" at the top of his lungs, reveling in the attention.
Getou Suguru happened to glance upward from the ground. The instant he saw the descending figure, he immediately summoned a cursed spirit and shouted in alarm, "Akiya, get out of the way!"
"Is he seriously trying to crush us to death?"
Cold sweat trickled down Asou Akiya's forehead.
A gigantic cursed spirit with an unbelievably soft, elastic belly caught Gojo before he could hit the ground.
Gojo Satoru sank deep into the cursed spirit's enormous belly without so much as a scratch. The next moment, he was bounced high into the air, then back down again, over and over, his face lit up with the pure delight of a little kid playing on a trampoline.
Watching him, Getou Suguru and Asou Akiya exchanged helpless glances.
"Akiya, don't you think he's incredibly childish?" Getou Suguru said. "Mentally, I'd say he's about three years old. I'm definitely the more mature one, right?"
"You can't say that about Gojo," Asou Akiya replied earnestly. "I'd say he's at least seven."
Akiya's way of defending Gojo was simply to more than double his estimated mental age.
"What about me?" Getou Suguru asked, wanting Asou Akiya's opinion as well. "How old do I seem in your eyes?"
"Sixteen, inside and out," Asou Akiya answered without hesitation.
"I don't believe that." Getou Suguru laughed. "You don't have the Six Eyes—you can't see me inside and out."
He considered himself mentally older than his physical age. His earning ability and physical condition already surpassed those of most adults.
Unable to resist showing off a little, Getou Suguru added, "Akiya, I've finished paying off my mortgage."
Then he sighed with satisfaction. "I've finally become richer than Satoru."
Asou Akiya looked skeptical. "Really?"
Getou Suguru pulled out his phone and showed him the repayment confirmation message. Seeing that Getou Suguru was practically inviting humiliation, Asou Akiya deftly tapped the "scroll down" button in the message app and skimmed through several of the latest texts in quick succession.
"Oh? Suguru, I didn't know you had such a girly side. You even had a pink wardrobe custom-made?"
"Hey! Stop reading my messages!" Getou Suguru immediately snatched his phone back, refusing to let Asou Akiya continue digging through his private conversations.
Asou Akiya smiled knowingly. "So... you're planning to give the house to someone, aren't you?"
Getou Suguru: "..."
Asou Akiya's lips curved into a smile as he delivered the finishing blow.
"I was the one Gojo asked to find a realtor to sell his apartment at a discount. I also carefully picked the new owner myself. When your next-door neighbor suddenly turned into a woman, Suguru... that must have been quite the surprise."
Getou Suguru: "..."
Asou Akiya continued with a smile, "Let's set aside some time this weekend. I want to have a talk with you."
Leaving behind a Getou Suguru who looked as though someone had been struck on an acupuncture point, frozen completely in place, Asou Akiya walked over to Gojo Satoru.
There, he was enthusiastically treated to a detailed explanation from the kind-hearted high schooler about his successful long-distance teleportation.
Unfortunately...
It was the sort of experience that an ordinary sorcerer would never have any use for.
Who would even want to hear it?
Gojo Satoru's safe return finally put Asou Akiya's mind at ease. He had even prepared a little surprise for him.
"It's good to have you back. This belongs to you."
Asou Akiya handed Gojo Satoru the Special Grade certification he had collected from Yaga-sensei.
"Congratulations. You are now the third Special Grade sorcerer of the modern era—Gojo Satoru."
"Tch."
Gojo Satoru put on an expression of complete indifference, deliberately casting a sidelong glance at Getou Suguru in an obvious attempt to provoke him.
Asou Akiya refused to indulge him.
"Gojo, are you satisfied with the photo on your student ID? If not, there's still time to replace it."
The moment the conversation turned to a photograph of himself that others would see, Gojo Satoru's attitude changed instantly. He eagerly inspected the student ID.
The photo showed the white-haired teenager wearing his sunglasses with an easy, relaxed expression. Just above the rims, a glimpse of his dazzling blue eyes could be seen, half-hidden and half-revealed...
Perfect.
One look was enough to tell that Asou Akiya had personally chosen the picture.
Gojo Satoru beamed with satisfaction.
"Akiya, you have a great taste. This picture of me is amazing."
It was the first Special Grade certification Gojo Satoru had ever received.
He immediately forgot the dismissive "Tch" from moments earlier and began clamoring for a celebration, insisting that everyone should leave campus and go out for a meal together.
Asou Akiya happily granted his wish, rallying Yaga-sensei, the seniors, and the first-year juniors to join the celebration.
During the celebratory dinner, Getou Suguru remained unusually quiet from beginning to end, sitting beside Ieiri Shoko like little more than a decorative wall ornament.
Ieiri Shoko clinked her glass against his.
"What's with that face?"
"You wouldn't understand," Getou Suguru replied.
Following his gaze, Ieiri Shoko looked over at Gojo Satoru, who was enthusiastically setting off party poppers and playing with colorful streamers.
"Hey, Getou... don't tell me you're jealous of Gojo?"
Getou Suguru laughed. "It's only natural that Satoru has Special Grade strength. He just received what he deserved. Today is his day to celebrate. The fact that I managed to get there five months before him is already more than enough for me."
Ieiri Shoko thought to herself that it was more than just "getting there first." He'd been smug about it for five whole months.
Unable to resist asking, she said, "Then why do you look so depressed?"
Getou Suguru's spirits instantly sank. "Akiya asked me to meet him this weekend for a talk. I've got a really bad feeling about it."
Ieiri Shoko immediately understood. "Oh. Well... good luck."
Getou Suguru frowned. "That didn't sound very sincere, Shoko."
Ieiri Shoko looked at him with undisguised disdain. "That was sincere. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered asking in the first place. Keep your negative energy away from me."
Having been rejected for spreading negativity, Getou Suguru retreated back into his gloomy silence.
Satoru became a Special Grade.
After the end of summer, Nanami-kouhai and Haibara-kouhai had also become Grade 3 sorcerers capable of using their cursed techniques proficiently.
I wish time would slow down.
Just a little more...
But for some reason, it always passes so quickly…
In the blink of an eye, the promised weekend had arrived.
September 10th, weekend.
Inside a sunglasses shop on the streets of Tokyo's Ginza shopping district, Asou Akiya picked up several pairs of sunglasses in different styles and had Getou Suguru model each one like a human display stand. Every pair perfectly concealed Getou Suguru's narrow eyes.
"Getou, what do you think of these brown-tinted sunglasses?"
"They make me look a little too intimidating."
After trying them on, Getou Suguru decided they didn't suit his taste. Curious, he looked at Asou Akiya.
"Do you want us to start wearing sunglasses?"
Asou Akiya shot him a sidelong glance. "Next month is Teachers' Day. I'm picking out a gift for Yaga-sensei. Try to remember that."
Getou Suguru immediately relaxed. "So that's what this is about. Then I'll get him a pair of sunglasses too."
Following someone else's lead was a wonderfully effortless habit. Getou Suguru had no doubt Yaga-sensei would appreciate his gift.
After browsing for a while, the two of them each picked out a pair they thought suited Yaga Masamichi. Once the sales clerk had wrapped the sunglasses in gift boxes, they left the shop together.
Not far away, lurking around the corner, were Gojo Satoru and Ieiri Shoko, who had been tailing them the entire time.
Gojo Satoru was in an exceptionally good mood.
"They're buying sunglasses? Are those presents for me?"
Ieiri Shoko pulled out her phone and checked the calendar. Whenever she couldn't figure something out, she always started by looking for upcoming holidays.
"Teachers' Day is next month."
Gojo Satoru remained absolutely convinced. "They definitely bought them for me!"
Knowing there was no reasoning with him, Ieiri Shoko rolled her eyes twice before asking, "Why exactly did you drag me along to stalk them?"
Gojo Satoru instantly put on a sly grin. "Don't you want to watch Suguru get himself into trouble?"
Ieiri Shoko looked puzzled. "No. I think you're just lonely. You couldn't stand not knowing what they were doing behind your back."
She gave him an odd look.
"Seriously, Gojo. Ever since you became a Special Grade, you've gotten ridiculously clingy."
Gojo Satoru: ...
After personally killing the cursed spirit versions of Getou Suguru and Asou Akiya, he had simply... started missing his friends.
"Come on, come on! Don't let them get too far ahead!"
Seeing the two of them disappear farther down the street, Gojo Satoru hurried after them. They were still well within the surveillance range of his Six Eyes, but he much preferred seeing them with his own ordinary vision than relying solely on his technique.
At the movie theater, Asou Akiya entered the cinema holding two tickets for minors.
Behind them, a poster for the latest film was displayed at the theater entrance. Getou Suguru couldn't help noticing the title.
—[Death Note]
On the poster, a grim Shinigami spread its skeletal wings, its monstrous form radiating boundless darkness as it loomed over the high school student protagonist standing beside it.
That title...
Wasn't this the very series whose anime adaptation they had prevented last year?
Burdened with uneasy thoughts, Getou Suguru followed Asou Akiya deeper into the theater.
Meanwhile, at the ticket counter, the white-haired high school boy and the short-haired high school girl ran into a problem.
Eager to get inside, they found themselves stopped at the entrance.
"Two tickets!"
"I'm sorry, but this screening is completely sold out."
The ticket clerk delivered the disappointing news from behind the booth window.
Gojo Satoru reacted without hesitation. Spotting a young couple about to enter, he immediately intercepted them and offered to buy their tickets at an outrageously high price, displaying the unmistakable extravagance of a rich heir.
Afterward, Ieiri Shoko stood in the corner holding a cup of cola while Gojo Satoru, with his white hair hidden beneath the hood of his sweatshirt, typed on his phone instead of speaking aloud.
[Ieiri Shoko: If you hadn't borrowed money from me to buy those tickets, I'd actually think you were incredibly generous.]
[Gojo Satoru: I already handed all my money over to Akiya. He can't find out about this.]
Five minutes after the movie had begun, Gojo Satoru and Ieiri Shoko slipped quietly into the theater. Calmly and naturally, they settled into a pair of seats in the back row, from where they had a perfect view of the two people sitting in the best seats in the entire auditorium.
Getou Suguru looked at the screen in confusion. "Why did they make it into a movie?"
Asou Akiya answered calmly. "We managed to stop the anime adaptation, but we couldn't stop investors from getting involved."
The manga had never been among the absolute top sellers, but it had long since earned an outstanding reputation.
Getou Suguru couldn't help feeling that all the effort he and Akiya had poured into this had been for nothing. His expression darkened with disappointment.
Asou Akiya, however, had long since accepted reality.
"Just watch the whole movie," he said. "Then you'll understand why I never wanted it to become widely known."
The moviegoers sitting nearby: "???"
The packed theater spoke for itself. Ever since the film adaptation had been released, audiences across Japan had been eagerly anticipating it.
Gojo Satoru sat in the back with a freshly bought bucket of popcorn, happily munching away as he watched the film, looking utterly carefree.
Every time Ieiri Shoko tried to steal a handful, Gojo Satoru would deftly move the bucket out of reach.
She could only withdraw her hand and silently curse him.
Gojo really is a complete bastard.
The film opened with a straightforward, easy-to-follow introduction, gradually drawing the audience deeper into the story. It was especially relatable for Japanese students, telling the story of a prestigious university student—hailed by the police as a future elite investigator—who stumbled upon a notebook that literally fell from the sky.
Getou Suguru sat upright, watching with unwavering concentration.
Asou Akiya, meanwhile, spent as much time observing the audience's reactions as he did watching the screen.
By accident, his gaze met someone else's from the back row.
Gojo Satoru immediately pretended he hadn't been caught, tugging his hood lower over his white hair before leaning against Ieiri Shoko in an exaggeratedly affectionate manner.
Ieiri Shoko's expression twisted in disgust.
A damn dog of a man who won't even share his popcorn.
"..." Asou Akiya silently turned his head back toward the screen, pretending he'd seen nothing at all.
After the film's 126-minute runtime finally came to an end, Getou Suguru let out a long breath.
Only then did he free himself from the "ideal world" the protagonist had built through the black notebook, relaxing from the intense concentration that had held him throughout the movie.
The audience began filing out of the theater.
Getou Suguru spoke with mixed emotions.
"Akiya... do you think what the protagonist did was unforgivable?"
Asou Akiya answered calmly,
"The moment you ask that question, your stance has already begun to waver. You're empathizing with him."
After choosing his words carefully, Getou Suguru replied,
"At the beginning... he killed in the name of justice. His original intentions were good."
Asou Akiya smiled faintly and walked over to the theater's merchandise counter, where he bought a Death Note notebook with a black cover.
Without the slightest hesitation, he opened it and laid it out in front of Getou Suguru.
"Suguru... whose name would you want to write down?"
In that instant, a cold sweat broke out across Getou Suguru's back.
He finally understood why Akiya had wanted to stop this story from becoming widely known.
Because several names had already surfaced in his mind—people who deserved to die.
Most of them weren't even sorcerers.
They were ordinary people.
Corporate executives. Collectors. Politicians. Wealthy foreign businessmen...
During his missions to exorcise cursed spirits, Getou Suguru had once pitied people like them. But later, he had discovered that, even while weeping and begging for mercy, they never once admitted to the vile things they had done.
The darker a person's heart, the more cursed spirits gathered around them.
Getou Suguru had once seen an entire luxury mansion overflowing with low-grade cursed spirits.
The memory had never left him.
Asou Akiya's voice quietly broke through his thoughts.
"My opinion is—It takes courage to pick up a knife, and resolve to swing it. But a notebook like this makes it far too easy to tear down a person's moral restraints.
It comes into your hands effortlessly, and killing becomes effortless as well.
Human life will inevitably begin to lose its weight.
The protagonist was led down the wrong path."
Asou Akiya looked at Getou Suguru.
"Getou Suguru, if you were given this notebook, would you use it? Would you write down the names of evildoers every single day?"
Getou Suguru remained silent.
Asou Akiya asked another question.
"Can you guarantee that your heart will remain perfectly fair and impartial forever? That you'll never kill an innocent person, and only those stained with sin?"
Getou Suguru answered without the slightest hesitation. "I can."
He was that confident. So unwavering in his belief that he could remain far more just and impartial than Kira ever was.
Asou Akiya accepted the naïve answer of the sixteen-year-old before him with quiet understanding.
He took out a ballpoint pen he always carried with him and began writing in the notebook.
He didn't write anyone's full name.
Instead, he used the well-known titles by which the leading figures of the jujutsu world were commonly known.
Even that was enough to begin shattering Getou Suguru's confidence.
[Head of the Gojo Clan — Bigamy.]
[Head of the Zen'in Clan — Bigamy.]
[Head of the Kamo Clan — Bigamy.]
Then Asou Akiya wrote down his own name, followed by the crime he had committed.
[Asou Akiya — Soliciting murder.]
He set the pen down and confessed calmly.
"In order to lure Fushiguro Toji away and resolve the conflict between you two, I hired someone to assassinate the person in charge of the Time Vessel Association."
He let out a quiet sigh.
"Fifty million yen. I fought the God of Death for a life."
Then Asou Akiya smiled gently.
"My hands aren't clean, either."
In the theater lobby, the two stood facing each other in silence.
In that quiet corner of the lounge, on a sofa where not a sound could be heard, the embodiment of justice quietly began to crack.
I am guilty.
If I must be punished, then let Satoru be punished alongside me...
And don't let Akiya be the one to punish me.