Chapter 24: Let Go
"Sensei, Sensei, wake up, Sensei."
Who knew how much time had passed, but anxious voices calling out echoed in Gojo Satoru's ears, the sounds gradually drawing closer from afar.
Who am I, where am I, what actually happened, who is calling out to me?
Gojo Satoru's blank mind gradually began to function again, trying to piece together what had transpired.
Following that, his nose caught the familiar scent of medicine, and his cheeks felt incredibly sore, sensing that someone was repeatedly slapping his face.
The slapping sounds were crisp and loud. Just who was this, they truly lacked any manners.
His vision also began to slowly recover.
Coming into view alongside Fushiguro Megumi and Zenin Maki was a woman wearing a white lab coat, puffing on a cigarette, her right hand raised high in the air, swinging down hard toward his cheek once again.
Gojo Satoru subconsciously took a step back, evading the woman's slap.
"That's really going too far, Shoko. Are you trying to make my handsome face swell up?"
Gojo Satoru recognized the person—Ieiri Shoko, a good friend he had grown up with, though this friend clearly harbored no mercy. While he was unconscious, she showed absolutely no gentleness whatsoever, and there was no telling how many slaps she had already delivered to him.
However, considering she was trying to save him, he chose not to make a fuss out of it.
A great man possesses great tolerance.
At the same time, seeing Gojo Satoru fully revived, Ieiri Shoko couldn't help but click her tongue in disappointment. One had to realize that an opportunity to slap Gojo Satoru's face might only present itself once in a lifetime.
She hadn't hit him to her heart's content yet, but Gojo Satoru had already woken up, which was a real shame.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah, I'm awake." Gojo Satoru nodded, using his Cursed Technique Reversal to heal the stinging pain on his face. The burning sensation felt as though it had been treated with an ice pack, vanishing instantly.
Along with his recovery, Fushiguro Megumi and Zenin Maki, who had been standing behind Ieiri Shoko, finally pushed their way forward.
"What on earth happened to you, Sensei?" Fushiguro Megumi asked curiously, "Why did Sensei become totally spaced out, and furthermore..."
"And furthermore what?"
"And furthermore, who exactly was the person that brought Sensei back?"
"Brought me back?"
Gojo Satoru narrowed his eyes and said, "You mean I was brought back here by someone?"
"Correct." Fushiguro Megumi nodded.
"One guy and two women."
"Yeah," Zenin Maki responded.
Gojo Satoru couldn't help but click his tongue, stating with a displeased expression, "So he let me go, huh."
Ieiri Shoko asked out of pure curiosity, "What actually happened? How did you end up looking like a complete simpleton? If I hadn't examined your brain myself, I would have assumed you had turned into a vegetable."
"And you just mentioned being let go, don't tell me you ran into a troublesome foe, lost the fight, and were spared by the opponent?"
Gojo Satoru was highly reluctant to admit it, but the facts were indeed laid bare, "The situation was pretty much like that."
"That is genuinely shocking." Ieiri Shoko took a deep drag from her cigarette, her eyes filled with astonishment. She knew Gojo Satoru's strength inside out; his power was utterly absurd.
Initially, she believed this man was already the strongest monster in existence, but now someone had suddenly appeared capable of defeating Gojo Satoru, which defied all logic.
"Who was the opponent?"
"Not too sure, I've never seen him before. But I do know the name of one of the women." Gojo Satoru paused for a brief moment before adding, "The opponent claimed to be... Medea."
Ieiri Shoko couldn't help but let out a startled "Aha" and said in disbelief, "That name, are you being serious?"
Greek mythology was by no means an obscure subject; it enjoyed widespread popularity across the globe, especially in Japan, where the Saint Seiya manga had propelled Greek mythology to immense heights.
She truly couldn't comprehend what kind of woman would deliberately name herself after the infamous witch of betrayal.
"Right? Right? I also felt that the name carries a terrible omen." Gojo Satoru agreed wholeheartedly. You hit the nail on the head, Shoko, your line of thinking matches mine exactly. Is this what they call great minds thinking alike?
"As a result, the moment I uttered those words, I was immediately struck by the opponent," Gojo Satoru recounted with utter helplessness.
Ieiri Shoko caught a key element, "Wait, don't tell me you were defeated by a woman?"
"Well, it didn't go that far. Although that woman was incredibly powerful, I remain confident that I wouldn't lose to her," Gojo Satoru claimed with a face full of assurance.
Ieiri Shoko pondered for a moment, "Since you yourself admitted that the woman was powerful, then she must be truly formidable."
Fushiguro Megumi questioned, "Then, who did Sensei actually lose to? The man?"
Gojo Satoru gave an affirmative grunt. A loss was a loss; he certainly wasn't going to make excuses for himself.
Zenin Maki couldn't help but chime in, "It's honestly hard to imagine that Sensei could actually lose. What kind of technique did the opponent use to beat you and turn you into a simpleton?"
"Who are you calling a simpleton?" Gojo Satoru protested. He wasn't beaten into a simpleton, he had merely lost consciousness. Kids these days really lacked any sweetness.
Shoko and Satoru were classmates of the same generation, having attended school together and grown up together; she was far too familiar with Satoru's personality. In an instant, she realized Satoru was trying to deflect the topic because he didn't want to answer the question directly.
This triggered her curiosity even further, and she pressed Satoru to recount exactly how he had lost.
Left with no other alternative, Satoru had tried several times to shift the conversation, only to be easily shut down by Shoko each time. Thus, he could only state helplessly, "It was a gaze. A single gaze."
"A gaze? What do you mean by that?"
"Meaning, the moment our eyes locked, I lost consciousness, and I even lost all sense of myself."
Shoko's mouth unconsciously fell wide open, the cigarette resting between her lips slipping out, burning a hole through her white lab coat before dropping onto the floor.
Megumi couldn't help but comment, "Isn't that just called getting instantly defeated?"
He had assumed Satoru must have engaged in a fierce battle spanning hundreds of rounds against the enemy, only to lose by a single move at the very end.
To think he was instantly defeated by the opponent, and moreover, through nothing but a mere glance.
This was pushing past the boundaries of logic.
For some reason, seeing Fushiguro Megumi's expression, which practically screamed "This Sensei turned out to be an instant-defeat loser, how pathetic," Satoru felt a strong urge to administer some loving discipline to him.
Just as his fingers twitched in anticipation of initiating an intimate communication with Megumi's head, Shoko's voice rang out right on cue.
"Wait, you mean to tell me you looked at the opponent once, and after both parties locked eyes, you instantly lost consciousness?"
Gojo Satoru confirmed it, and while rubbing his chin, he mused, "Thinking back on it now, the opponent must be proficient in some specialized technique that launches a direct assault against my mind through eye contact."
"Because I had never encountered this specific type of attack before, I fell victim to the move due to a momentary lapse in vigilance."
"However, the opponent didn't seem to harbor any actual malice. Otherwise, you guys wouldn't be seeing me here right now."
"A mental assault, is it? That aligns closely with what I suspected. Earlier, when I examined your brain, I discovered your brainwaves were completely haywire. I suspected you had suffered a severe mental injury."
As she spoke, Shoko slipped off her white lab coat. The garment had been burned with a hole by her cigarette butt, severely ruining its aesthetic appeal.
Tossing the coat into the nearby trash bin, Shoko continued, "But I really didn't expect the mental attack you received to be delivered through a mere gaze. No wonder you lost."
What normal person would ever anticipate that an opponent's gaze could actually execute an attack, let alone a mental one?
This was becoming rather ridiculous.
At the very least, Shoko had never witnessed an ability so utterly nonsensical, so it wasn't surprising that Gojo Satoru was brought down in an instant.
"Your defeat this time wasn't in vain, just pay closer attention next time."
"Rest assured, it's not an issue." Gojo Satoru flashed a thumbs-up and burst into hearty laughter.
He had lost this time because he didn't fully comprehend the enemy yet, failing to realize the opponent's gaze could actually attack people, placing it firmly under the category of a momentary oversight.
Next time, he wouldn't be fooled so easily; at worst, he simply wouldn't look at the opponent's face.
While anyone else might find such a condition difficult, Satoru possessed absolute confidence in himself, because his Six Eyes granted him a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision. Even without looking directly at the enemy's face, he could still capture every single action they made.
There was absolutely no need to worry about being ambushed from a blind spot or letting the enemy escape.
Next time, he would make that man learn the true extent of his power.
...
On the other side of things, Yumesaki, who was currently dominating Satoru's thoughts, had no idea that Satoru was feeling so thoroughly bothered and unable to forget his defeat.
At this moment, he had long put Gojo Satoru out of his mind and was busy researching the Ten Shadows Technique.
During midday, after utilizing his mind control magic to subjugate Gojo Satoru, Yumesaki had tossed Gojo Satoru over to his students, Fushiguro Megumi and Zenin Maki, who had come searching for him.
He had then gracefully departed alongside both Medea and Nero.
However, before making his exit, Yumesaki had intentionally used his duplication ability to copy Gojo Satoru's power.
Neutral Infinity.
The defensive capability of this technique was incredibly strong and extraordinary, far more practical than teleportation, and it served as an absolute premier tool for showing off. Naturally, Yumesaki wasn't going to pass it up.
What was worth mentioning was that when he handed Gojo Satoru over to Fushiguro Megumi, he had deliberately patted Fushiguro Megumi on the shoulder.
Thereby duplicating another ability from Fushiguro Megumi's body.
Which was the very Ten Shadows Technique he was currently investigating.
The Ten Shadows Technique was one of the hereditary techniques passed down through generations within the Zenin clan, one of the three great families of the Jujutsu world, which allowed the user to summon corresponding Shikigami using hand shadows.
The Ten Shadows Technique could summon ten distinct Shikigami. It appeared formidable on paper, but in reality, it was rather ordinary.
One could even argue it was mostly for show. In Yumesaki's eyes, the vast majority of these Shikigami simply couldn't withstand a real test of strength.
The only Shikigami that truly caught Yumesaki's eye was one... Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga.
Abbreviated simply as Mahoraga.
That entity was the ultimate goal behind Yumesaki duplicating the Ten Shadows Technique.
It also stood as one of the single greatest bugs within the entire universe of Jujutsu Kaisen.
Anyone who had watched Jujutsu Kaisen knew that Mahoraga's appearance was truly difficult to put into words.
Its head lacked eyes altogether, with four wing-like appendages protruding from both sides, while the back of its head featured a tail-like extension. Its right arm was equipped with the Sword of Extermination, and a wheel resembling a ship's helm was attached to the top of its head and back.
Abstract, it was truly far too abstract.
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It looks like I'll need to increase the number of Power Stones required for the Bonus Chapter from 50 to 100.
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