The door opened again.
Suguru Geto walked in. Today, he wasn't wearing his distinctive five-striped surplice, but a dark grey everyday kimono. His hair was still tied in a half-bun, the strand of fringe on his forehead swaying gently with his steps. Behind him followed Nanako and Mimiko. The two girls had also changed into casual clothes, each holding a rabbit doll.
"Sorry I'm late," Geto sat down in the empty seat and smiled at the waiter. "Three cups of hot milk, please."
Nanako and Mimiko sat down beside him, whispered "We'll sit here," and began playing with the rabbit dolls in their hands.
"Busy as always, Patriarch," Ieiri teased. "You're harder to get a hold of than the Prime Minister these days."
"Don't make fun of me," Geto smiled bitterly. "There's a lot going on with the Star Religious Group, and Nanako and Mimiko are starting school again. I really can't get away."
"So," Satoru Gojo put down his spoon and looked at Geto, his tone uncharacteristically serious. "Geto, how did it go on your end? Lord Zen'in Genji… did you see him?"
Geto's expression became serious. He picked up the hot milk the waiter had brought but didn't drink it. He just gently traced the warm rim of the glass with his fingertips.
"I saw him," he said slowly. "Just like in the records… no, he was more…" He paused, as if searching for the right words. "He was more 'real.' No deified sense of detachment. More like… an ordinary person who has lived for a thousand years. Tired, but not defeated."
Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow. "High praise. So what did he say? About the barrier, cursed spirits…"
Geto was silent for a few seconds, then sighed softly.
"He said that a thousand years ago, he only left behind 'tools.' The barrier is a tool. Theories are tools. Those research notes are also tools. The usefulness of tools is to give future generations a higher starting point to solve new problems."
He looked out the window, his gaze drifting. "But he didn't expect that a thousand years later, we would still be using the old tools he left behind to solve old problems that have grown larger and more complex. He said… he was a little disappointed."
Ieiri stubbed out her cigarette and picked up her coffee cup.
"Fair enough," she said lightly. "The jujutsu world hasn't achieved much worth mentioning in a thousand years. When the barrier was working, we enjoyed peace as a matter of course. When cursed spirits decreased, internal conflict was easy. It's only now that the barrier is saturated and cursed spirits are returning that everyone starts panicking."
"So," Satoru Gojo picked up his parfait again, "what is Lord Zen'in Genji going to do? Improve the barrier?"
"He said he wants to first examine the current state of the barrier," Geto nodded. "And… he suspects that the recent two cursed spirit attacks in Tokyo were orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. The target was to test the person he's possessing—an ordinary girl named Eriri Sawamura."
"Eriri Sawamura…" Satoru Gojo repeated. "I've never heard of her. Is she a sorcerer?"
"No. But she can see cursed spirits. It's suspected to be a sudden awakening of cursed energy perception," Geto said. "Lord Zen'in Genji is now possessing her. You could say he's her 'guardian.'"
Ieiri thought for a moment. "So Lord Zen'in Genji was summoned as a shikigami? But that girl isn't a successor of the Ten Shadows Technique, is she?"
"Probably not," Geto shook his head. "But Lord Zen'in Genji seems very satisfied with his current life. There are desserts, manga to read, and a tsundere but kind-hearted master."
Satoru Gojo laughed. "Sounds much more interesting than being a 'god.'"
"It really does," Geto also smiled, but the smile quickly faded. "But… Lord Genji reminded me of something."
"What?"
"He said that to solve the problem of cursed spirits, we cannot rely solely on sorcerers," Geto's voice grew quiet. "Cursed spirits are rooted in all of humanity, so the power to solve them should theoretically come from the wisdom of all of humanity as well. A thousand years ago, he tried a 'limited integration project of the jujutsu world and the mundane world,' wanting to reveal the existence of cursed energy to a portion of the human elite to brainstorm ideas… but it failed."
He paused and looked at Satoru Gojo and Ieiri.
"He said it was the only possible direction to cure the root of the problem. Otherwise, whether it's him, me, you, or any future genius, we would only be playing the role of eternal 'cleanup crew' for all of humanity."
After these words, a brief silence fell over the booth.
Satoru Gojo scooped up the last piece of his parfait and pushed the empty cup aside.
"The logic is sound," he said. "But it's too difficult. Breaking the thousand-year iron law of secrecy in the jujutsu world and cooperating with mainstream society… that group of old men at the Headquarters would never agree."
"I know," Geto nodded. "But… I want to go another way."
Ieiri lit another cigarette. "Here we go again. Your 'Heavenly Restriction Plan.'"
"It's the 'Heavenly Restriction Plan for All Humanity,'" Geto corrected, his eyes flashing with that familiar, almost fanatical light. "I've been researching Heavenly Restriction these past few years. Fushiguro is very rare… and as you know, Maki also has a Heavenly Restriction. But because her sister Mai still has cursed energy in her body, Maki's physical form is far from her ideal body."
He leaned forward, his voice low but clear.
"So, is it possible that cursed energy is actually a burden on ordinary people? A shackle that prevents them from reaching a more ideal state? If we could make all of humanity achieve a state of 'Heavenly Restriction'—ceasing to produce cursed energy—then cursed spirits would disappear completely."
Satoru Gojo and Ieiri exchanged glances. They had all heard Geto's theory before, but every time they heard it, it felt… too extreme, too idealistic, too dangerous.
"Geto," Satoru Gojo said, with rare seriousness, "you know how that sounds."
"Like heresy, like a wild fantasy—I know," Geto admitted frankly. "But I've studied the data, analyzed the cases. Fushiguro's physical strength far exceeds that of any sorcerer. If he wasn't a Heavenly Restriction user but an ordinary sorcerer, could he have reached that level?"
Ieiri blew out a cloud of smoke. "So you want to turn all of humanity into Fushiguro?"
"It's evolution," Geto said. "Freeing humans from the burden of cursed energy that gives birth to monsters, allowing them to reach a higher level of body and spirit. When the source of negative emotions is eliminated or transformed, cursed spirits will dry up at their source."
Satoru Gojo leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling.
"Good idea," he said slowly. "But how do you do it? How do you 'evolve' seven billion people at once? Did Yuki Tsukumo have any ideas?"
"She only suggested it as a possibility," Geto said. "The specific method… still needs research. It might require a large-scale technique, or… using the thousand years' worth of cursed energy stored in Lord Zen'in Genji's barrier for a 'purification.'"