As they stepped out of the stone stairs of the Tombs of the Star Corridor, the summer light poured down on them all at once.
Perhaps because they had been underground for so long, the sunlight was vividly sharp enough to make their eyes sting, and the air felt heavy with humidity. The cicadas' cry layered over itself, ringing from trees both near and far. The heat of midday still lingered on the stone floor at the top of the stairs, and there was hardly any breeze.
The world wore the face of an ordinary summer afternoon, making one doubt if the place they had just been was truly deep underground.
However, among the five of them, no one accepted that ordinariness for what it was.
Amanai Riko remained silent for a long time even after ascending the stairs.
It wasn't that her usual haughty way of speaking—peppered with 'this noble one' and 'insolence'—had vanished. It was just that now, even those words seemed to get caught somewhere deep in her throat.
She had come up on her own feet. By her own will, she had turned her back on the main hall. She had refused the merger in front of Tengen, she had cried, she had shown her most unsightly side in front of everyone—and in the midst of it all, that guy Itadori Yuji had casually patted her head and said those strange things.
As she walked, Riko suddenly felt her ears burning hot.
"Lady Amanai."
When Kuroi Misato called out quietly from beside her, Riko jerked her chin up even higher for no reason.
"What is it?"
"You may walk a little slower."
"This noble one always walks at this pace!"
Kuroi smiled very briefly.
"Is that so?"
That short smile stung Riko's heart in an odd way.
Riko couldn't say anything more. She just slowed her pace slightly for no reason. Kuroi pretended not to notice. She was even more grateful for that.
A little ahead, Gojo Satoru was walking with both hands clasped behind his head. Outwardly, he still looked relaxed. His posture was full of openings as usual, and his face looked like he might yawn at any moment.
But Geto Suguru knew.
That was not a comfortable expression.
Gojo was far too quiet right now.
It had been like that since the corridor where they fought Toji. He had been smiling, but that smile was different from his usual brand. It wasn't the kind of smile he flashed playfully; it was more like the smile of someone forcibly swallowing something rising from deep inside.
Geto silently stood beside Gojo.
Gojo glanced at him, the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly.
"What?"
"You go first."
"What do you mean?"
"That face."
Gojo laughed for a moment before looking ahead again.
"It's nothing."
"That's something you say often."
"And it's true this time, too."
Geto didn't argue.
He knew that if he poked further, Gojo would only lash out. Gojo Satoru wasn't the kind of person to honestly show his wounds. Instead, the more deeply shaken he was, the more lighthearted he acted, pretending it was no big deal.
Right now was exactly like that.
In the battle against Fushiguro Toji, Gojo had certainly been moving his hands. His Limitless, his senses, his speed, and his judgment hadn't been wrong.
And yet, the center of the battlefield hadn't been him. It was Itadori Yuji who had collided with the disaster head-on.
It wasn't that there was no room for him to intervene. To be more precise, Yuji's way of fighting was far ahead of the way he himself fought.
To someone like Gojo, that realization was a far more unpleasant kind than the mere fact of losing.
Yuji walked at the very back.
He watched the backs of the four people in front of him in turn. Riko had not yet completely escaped the tears and embarrassment from the Star Corridor, and Kuroi walked beside her, neither holding her too close nor staying too far away. Geto was silent, and Gojo's silence made him look even more dangerous.
Yuji withdrew his gaze.
He felt like he had a rough idea of what Gojo was thinking.
The battle with Toji.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven. The blade tip that bypassed the Limitless. A battlefield intuition that preceded his own.
And crucially, the fact that Yuji could use Reverse Cursed Technique.
At this point, it was bound to happen. Satoru was that kind of person.
When he was wounded, he didn't retreat; he was the type to bite back harder and climb higher.
After walking for a while, the five stopped near a narrow forest path leading to the outskirts of the Tombs of the Star Corridor. There was no need to go further inside, nor was it a good idea to head straight out to the roads where they might catch the public's eye.
Geto scanned the surroundings and spoke.
"Let's settle things here for now."
Gojo leaned against a stone railing that resembled a tree trunk and asked.
"Settle what?"
"What comes next."
"Wow, just hearing that sounds so tedious."
"It's going to be actually tedious."
It wasn't a joke. The Star Plasma Vessel had refused the merger. Tengen had neither explicitly condoned nor completely rejected that choice, letting it pass with an ambiguous attitude.
The moment the Higher-Ups learn this news, they will go ballistic. They are people who prioritize the system over Riko's will, and they already viewed the variable known as Yuji as an uncontrollable threat from the start.
Geto calmly assessed the situation.
"Riko and Kuroi can't be seen in public for the time being. Even inside the school isn't safe. If the Higher-Ups set a justification, it might be hard even for Master Yaga to stop them."
Kuroi nodded quietly.
"Are you... telling this noble one to hide like a coward right now?"
Riko snapped back immediately, but it didn't have the same edge as before.
Geto looked at Riko.
"You said you wanted to live."
Riko's lips moved just a fraction.
That one sentence was so honest that she couldn't think of a rebuttal right away.
Yuji watched the scene and quietly read Riko's expression. After bursting into tears in the Star Corridor, Riko had clearly changed. She still put on a front, and her way of speaking was the same, but there was a strange sincerity left behind that only someone who has bared their heart possesses.
Gojo finally spoke up slowly.
"Hiding is all well and good, but..."
Everyone looked toward him.
Without taking his back off the railing, Gojo shifted his gaze toward Yuji.
"Let me ask you one thing."
Yuji looked at Gojo instead of answering.
"Itadori... earlier."
Gojo chose his words carefully.
"You used Reverse Cursed Technique."
A brief silence fell.
Riko didn't fully understand the weight of it, but she could tell the atmosphere had shifted. Kuroi remained silent as well. Geto merely lowered his head slightly, as if he had already expected this question.
Yuji didn't deny it.
"Yeah. Right after using Blood Manipulation."
Gojo laughed. But that laugh was empty.
"As I thought."
He lowered his gaze and brushed his fingertip against his cheek. The shallow graze left by Toji's blade had long since healed, but the sensation seemed to remain.
"I had my doubts when Shoko examined you, too. I just couldn't understand it."
Riko tilted her head. Geto looked up. Yuji remained silent for a moment.
This question wasn't simply a request to learn the technique.
Why did you reach that place, while I haven't yet?
Those words were buried within. Yuji took a brief breath.
"It's hard to explain."
"Then do your best to explain it anyway."
"It's not something I obtained by being taught."
Gojo's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Yuji did not look away.
"It was more like I forcibly wrenched it out just before I died."
This time, no one could truly continue the conversation. Deep in the summer forest, a cicada wailed loudly once. Even after the sound passed, no one immediately opened their mouth.
Gojo only let out a small laugh a long while later.
"That's the worst."
"It's not a good method."
"No, not the method."
Gojo slowly raised his head. His blue eyes locked onto Yuji without a hint of a smile.
"The fact that your face doesn't even change when you say something like that."
Yuji didn't respond.
In truth, he had nothing to say. Because he really was making such a face. Explaining a hell one has already passed through can, strangely enough, become more about information than emotion. What was truly painful wasn't the moment he recalled that hell, but when the faces of those he couldn't protect even there came to mind.
Gojo pushed himself off the railing.
"Then I get it."
"What?"
"That explanations won't cut it."
Gojo took a step toward Yuji. The lighthearted joking from before was gone.
Geto saw that expression and quietly held his breath. It was the face Gojo Satoru made when he truly desired something.
"Fight me."
Riko's eyes widened.
"What?"
Gojo looked at neither Riko nor Geto nor anyone else. He only looked at Yuji.
"For real."
The moment those words dropped, the air in the forest tightened minutely. Yuji asked without changing his expression.
"You could die."
Gojo smiled. This time, it was a smile a bit closer to being real.
"Isn't that how it's supposed to be?"
Yuji was silent for a while.
The man in front of him wasn't joking. It wasn't just curiosity or competitiveness either.
The deficiency he felt in the battle against Toji, the unpleasantness of having seen a strength far beyond his own, and despite all that, the desire to reach it.
All of it was distilled into that one request.
Geto called out to Gojo first.
"Satoru."
"Don't stop me."
"I didn't call you to stop you."
Geto looked back and forth between Yuji and Gojo. He knew this fight wasn't a simple spar. If Gojo couldn't overcome this, he might actually die today. Conversely, if he did overcome it—from that point on, Gojo would rise to a height far greater than now.
Geto said in a very low voice.
"If you're really going to do this, don't do it half-heartedly."
Gojo replied.
"I know."
Riko still couldn't fully follow the situation, but she knew at least one thing. This wasn't an issue she could interfere in.
Kuroi also stood quietly with her hands folded.
Yuji tilted his head ever so slightly.
"I have a condition."
Gojo curled the corners of his mouth.
"Name it."
"You'll have to come at me with everything."
Gojo's gaze shifted.
"That was my intention from the start."
"No."
Yuji's voice was quiet but resolute.
"If you attack half-heartedly, I'll end it instantly. If there's something you want to gain, you have to be truly prepared to die."
A brief silence.
Gojo didn't stop smiling even after hearing those words. If anything, his smile grew clearer. It was the face he only made when a true wall stood before him.
"Fine. I'll hold you to that."
Yuji added one final sentence.
"And one more thing."
"What is it?"
"The moment you feel like I'm taking it easy on you—at that moment, you might really die."
This time, Riko sucked in her breath. Gojo closed and opened his eyes. And then he spoke very softly.
"I'll have to take that risk, then."
Yuji didn't say more after hearing that answer. The conclusion had already been reached.
The sun had tilted a bit more. The light filtering through the leaves had grown longer, and the cicadas' cry sounded a bit harsher than before.
Between the summer girl who said she would survive in the corridor, the 'strongest' on the verge of becoming a friend, and those watching over everyone's choices, the world was once again turning its course very quietly.
Riko looked at Yuji, unable to say a word. Just a moment ago, he had been the person who patted her head and told her they should go together, but now he seemed so far away.
Strangely, her chest felt tight.
Yuji must have felt her gaze, for he turned back for just a second.
And then he spoke.
"I'll end it quickly."
Riko flared up for no reason.
"Who said I was worried about you!"
Gojo burst out laughing upon hearing that.
"Wow, you say that at this timing?"
Geto didn't stop them this time. He just let out a very small laugh that was little more than a breath.
Still, it was a relief. The child who had been crying in the corridor just moments ago now had the strength to shout like that.
Gojo stepped up beside Yuji and muttered.
"Then let's keep this a secret."
"What?"
"The fact that I was the one who asked you."
Yuji replied indifferently.
"Everyone already heard it."
Gojo paused for a moment before finally laughing.
"...True."
A very brief silence fell after that laugh. And in that silence, Gojo Satoru thought with total sincerity for the first time.
This guy is strong.
To the point where his current self couldn't help but acknowledge it.
He was looking down on him from a realm so far beyond his imagination. Perhaps he was even stronger than Ryomen Sukuna, who was hailed as the strongest Jujutsu Sorcerer in history.
No, maybe that's going too far...
But the strength he had seen in the battle against Fushiguro Toji didn't feel purely unpleasant, strangely enough.
And that was precisely why he wanted to reach it.
Toward that lofty domain of the true Strongest.