"Damn it!"
"Hey, hedgehog brat—are you trying to kill me?!"
Climbing out of the shadows, White Zetsu shouted angrily:
"There were so many cursed tools piled in there—I almost died!"
"S-Sorry!"
Fushiguro looked genuinely apologetic.
"I only just learned that technique today. I haven't fully mastered it yet."
Seeing that White Zetsu was fine, Maki sat back down.
"Forget it, White Zetsu. Fushiguro didn't mean it."
"You accomplice, you've got the nerve to talk?!"
White Zetsu spun around and snapped:
"That spear of yours almost sent me straight to the afterlife earlier!"
Falling into the shadow had felt like skydiving—
without a parachute.
And at the bottom?
A pile of sharp cursed tools.
If he hadn't been lucky—
Maki's spear, which had been stored in Fushiguro's shadow, would've skewered him clean through.
"Well, you're not dead, are you?"
Maki rolled her eyes, already guessing what had happened.
Earlier that day, right after Fushiguro learned the technique, she had transferred all the cursed tools she had been keeping with Panda into his shadow.
Who knew it would work fine at first—
but malfunction when White Zetsu fell in.
"Tch!"
White Zetsu flicked his sleeve, pretending to be magnanimous.
"Fine. I'll forgive you this once."
Maki didn't notice—or perhaps didn't care—
that one of the purple markings on White Zetsu's face had quietly disappeared.
Not far from Fushiguro, Nobara lowered her head, her expression complicated as she noticed the change.
Time passed.
There were only five days left before the Sister School Exchange Event.
Kyoto Jujutsu High
Today, a special guest arrived.
"Yo~ Long time no see, Utahime."
Gojo Satoru greeted her with a bright smile.
Wearing a white top and red skirt, along with a loose traditional-style robe, and bearing a scar across the bridge of her nose—
she was Utahime Iori, a semi–grade 1 sorcerer of Kyoto Jujutsu High.
Utahime frowned at the man in front of her, clearly annoyed.
"What are you doing at our school again?"
"Didn't I already give you that thing a few days ago? What more do you want?"
Completely ignoring the irritation in her voice, Gojo smiled slightly.
"I'm not here for you today."
"Where's that old man Gakuganji? I need to talk to him."
"Oh."
Utahime waved her hand impatiently.
"He's in the principal's office. Just go straight there."
"OK—"
Gojo waved as he left, then added one more thing:
"Oh right, Utahime—thank your student for me."
"What they gave me was pretty useful. Helped a lot."
2:00 PM
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, White Zetsu slowly got out of bed.
After putting on a black robe with red clouds, he stood in front of the mirror and casually fixed his messy hair.
Touching the six purple markings near the corner of his eye, he grinned at his reflection.
"Not bad. I'm still handsome as ever today."
With a confident smile, he stepped out of the room.
"I say, Mirai —you said you already finished reading, didn't you?"
Walking into the living room, White Zetsu saw Mirai lounging on the sofa, still reading.
He clicked his tongue.
"You look like you're preparing for the college entrance exams or something—studying at home every day."
Mirai calmly tossed the book in his hand into the Kamui space.
"When I said I finished reading, I meant the parts needed for the plan."
He pulled out a fresh notebook.
"And finishing doesn't mean mastering it."
"For now, all we need to do is wait for Brain to act. The more invisible we remain, the more stable the plan becomes."
White Zetsu curled his lip.
"You're really good at sitting still."
"You're just too restless."
Flipping through his notes, Mirai replied calmly:
"You spend your time messing around with them every day."
"With that kind of time, you'd be better off training more."
Stretching lazily, White Zetsu cracked his joints.
"Easy for you to say."
"My current limit is two. You think I can improve that much in such a short time?"
A trace of helplessness appeared on his face.
"Anything involving the soul… is seriously troublesome."
Mirai pulled out another notebook from Kamui space and tossed it onto the table.
"If you'd actually read the records I told you to, this would help."
White Zetsu flipped through it with a yawn.
"This stuff makes me sleepy the more I read it. It's like a lullaby."
"Reading it before bed is fine. During the day, it just makes me dizzy."
Mirai shook his head, silently sighing.
He was truly at a loss when it came to White Zetsu.
The guy couldn't sit still to save his life.
Causing trouble? No problem.
Studying?
That might as well be killing him.
As White Zetsu skimmed through the notes, his mouth didn't stop moving.
"You think the pink-haired gorilla would break down if he found out the truth?"
The notebook in his hands contained all the information Kenjaku had written when he made a deal with Mirai—
including everything about Itadori's identity.
Among it were various techniques…
and most importantly—
the soul.
For White Zetsu, this notebook was basically a cultivation manual.
Under Mirai's strict demands, after several months of training, he could barely control two bodies at once—
and even then, they couldn't be particularly strong ones.
Compared to Sukuna, who could split his soul into twenty parts—
he was nowhere close.
Looking at the notes, White Zetsu thought of Gojo, Nobara, and the others.
"Heh… those guys still think they can hide the fact that Itadori's alive from me."
"Too bad I already saw through everything."
Mirai glanced up and reminded him:
"Watch your mouth. Don't go spilling everything."
"There are only a few months left. You'll have plenty of time to mess around later."
"Relax. When have I ever messed up?"
White Zetsu pulled out his phone and checked the time.
Lifting his chin proudly, he said:
"I'll read later. That hedgehog kid is still waiting for my guidance!"
With that, he tossed the notebook back to Mirai and strode toward the training ground.
There was no way he'd carry something that important with him.
After all, his current body—
was weak as hell.
Things like storing cursed tools inside his body weren't a big deal.
Even if he got killed and looted, losing them wouldn't hurt much.
Watching White Zetsu rush off, Mirai felt a trace of frustration.
The reason he tolerated White Zetsu so much—
wasn't just because he controlled his life and death.
In his heart, he treated White Zetsu like family.
When White Zetsu was first born, he had been like an ignorant infant—
raised entirely by Mirai.
If he had to describe his mindset in three words—
overbearing parent.
In Mirai's eyes, this world—
whether humans, curses, or sorcerers—
aside from Maki and her sister, who were slightly special—
everyone else was like paper figures.
Their lives didn't matter.
Their experiences didn't matter.
If they were useful, they were tools.
If not—
they were trash.
And the only one who could actually make him worry…
was that useless, spendthrift troublemaker—
White Zetsu.