The height of summer in 2007. Even the passing breeze carried a nauseating, sticky heat, clamping down on all of Tokyo like a suffocating shroud.
The incessant drone of cicadas felt like it was tearing through one's eardrums.
The weather had become exceptionally hot—the kind of 'irritating summer' that was frequently mentioned in the original records.
This agitation didn't just stem from the high temperatures; it came from the tipping scales of the jujutsu world, which was gradually losing its balance.
In the bathroom of the Jujutsu High dorms, cold tap water surged from the showerhead, splashing over Suguru Geto's scarred and exhausted body.
His condition was deteriorating rapidly.
Once tall and lean, his frame had withered away significantly, making his ribs clearly visible.
He stared blankly at his reflection in the mirror.
His eyes were sunken, and his pale complexion held a sickly, ashen hue. Those eyes, once gentle and firm, were now as murky as a stagnant pool of dead water.
He had just finished an utterly revolting mission to exorcise a cursed spirit in the sewers.
The curses born from a mixture of human greed, jealousy, and filth made him sick to his stomach, both physically and mentally.
But the part he found most unbearable was what came after the mission was over.
Like a soulless marionette, Suguru Geto slowly raised his right hand.
Resting in his palm was a pitch-black sphere radiating a pungent stench and the heavy aura of death.
A Cursed Spirit Orb.
This was his only path to becoming stronger, and the heavy price he paid for his ideals of protecting the weak.
*Gulp.*
Suguru Geto forced down a dry mouthful of saliva.
His stomach began to cramp violently, instinctively recoiling from the impending torture.
But he had no choice.
Satoru Gojo had already ascended to the clouds, becoming a god.
Meanwhile, Suguru Geto was left alone in a living hell filled with filth and stench.
He began to carry out missions day and night, all on his own.
To remote, desolate mountain villages by himself.
To dark, damp, abandoned buildings by himself.
To hospital morgues thick with the scent of death by himself.
Then, over and over, he repeated the process that disgusted him to his very core.
Subjugation.
Absorption.
If he didn't struggle to grow stronger, he would be completely abandoned by this cruel world—and by that unreachable best friend.
He forced his mouth open and shoved the foul-smelling Cursed Spirit Orb down his throat.
*Gulp.*
In that instant.
It was like swallowing a rag used to wipe up vomit that had been left to ferment in the scorching sun for months!
An indescribable stench and bitterness slid down his esophagus into his stomach, transforming into countless malicious tentacles that gnawed at his sanity.
"Ugh..."
Suguru Geto doubled over in pain, his hands gripping the edge of the sink so hard his knuckles turned a ghostly, frozen white.
He retched violently. Stomach acid mixed with tears and cold shower water, streaming down his cheeks in a frantic blur.
It was too disgusting.
Truly revolting!
Along with the intense physical pain, the images he had forcibly suppressed surged through his mind like a bursting dam.
The fanatical, ugly faces of the Star Religious Group members.
The deafening applause celebrating Riko's death.
The greedy, selfish, and spiteful curses of the villagers in those remote hamlets.
Each and every memory ruthlessly mocked his pathetic ideals.
'Just what am I...'
Suguru Geto stared at the wastewater swirling down the drain, his voice as raspy as a broken bellows.
'Why exactly... am I protecting these disgusting monkeys?'
Just as this dangerous thought took complete hold of his mind, just as he was about to be swallowed by the bottomless abyss—
*Knock. Knock. Knock.*
There was a calm, steady knock on the bathroom door.
It wasn't loud, yet it possessed a strange penetrating power that cut right through Suguru Geto's spiraling thoughts.
...
From outside the door came Yoru's voice—perpetually devoid of emotion, yet inexplicably grounding.
"Get dressed."
"Come with me."
Suguru Geto froze.
He wiped the water from his face haphazardly, his gaze a mix of confusion and caution.
"Where to?"
Silence followed from the other side of the door for two seconds.
Then, Yoru's voice reached his ears clearly through the gap in the door.
"I'm taking you to see..."
"...the true warmth of the mundane world."
Ten minutes later.
Suguru Geto had changed into clean casual clothes and followed silently behind Yoru as they walked out the gates of Jujutsu High.
Though the night breeze was still sweltering and irritating, it was a relief compared to the suffocating despair of the bathroom.
The two walked one after the other down the empty street.
The streetlights cast long shadows, while a few moths fluttered aimlessly around the lamps like mindless flies.
"Yoru."
Looking at the back of the man ahead of him—whose steps were steady and seemingly free of doubt—Suguru finally broke the silence.
"Where exactly are we going?"
Yoru didn't stop, nor did he even turn his head.
He simply pulled a crumpled mission brief from his pocket and tossed it backward, where it landed precisely in Suguru's hands.
"The solo mission the higher-ups were planning to give you tomorrow."
"I stopped by General Headquarters earlier and took it for you."
Suguru instinctively caught the paper and scanned it by the dim light of the streetlamp.
The moment he saw the mission objective, his pupils constricted to pinpricks!
Location: An abandoned air-raid shelter on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Objective: Exorcise a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit manifested from the secret gathering of the Star Religious Group remnants.
"The Star Religious Group... remnants?!"
Those words were like white-hot knives stabbing into the most vulnerable crack in Suguru's heart!
*Boom!*
An uncontrollable, violent aura erupted from the depths of his soul like a volcano waking from a thousand-year slumber!
The surrounding air temperature plummeted to freezing, and even the annoying cicadas fell silent under the weight of his terrifying killing intent.
"They... they're still gathering?"
Suguru gripped the mission brief tight, his voice raspy with fury, sounding like sandpaper.
"Not just gathering. They're celebrating their ridiculous victory."
Yoru finally stopped and turned around, looking calmly at Suguru, who was on the verge of losing control.
"It's because of their ignorant fanaticism and ugly negative emotions that this Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit was birthed over the past year."
...
Yoru narrowed his eyes slightly, his deep gaze seemingly piercing through Suguru's soul.
"Before we go see the life of the world, we have to see..."
"...the demon inside your heart."
Confronted with Yoru's borderline cruel revelation, Suguru's body trembled violently.
Clean up the remnants of the Star Religious Group?
This wasn't some ordinary exorcism mission.
This was clearly pushing him to the edge of a precipice, forcing him to make a final choice: protect the monkeys or slaughter them all.
Was Yoru's forced intervention intended to shatter his ideals once and for all, or was it meant to pull him back from the edge at the very last moment?