The voice echoed out of nowhere. Ren didn't even see him approach. One second the path was empty, and the next, a tall figure in a dark, high-collared uniform and a black blindfold was strolling casually up the stone steps.
In his left hand, he was swinging a plastic shopping bag that clearly contained several brightly colored boxes of premium sweets.
"An old lady dropped her apples, and then the line for the limited-edition kikufuku mochi was just tragic today," Satoru Gojo whined, waving the bag cheerfully. "But your favorite, most reliable sensei is finally here!"
Maki looked like she was about to unseal her spear and commit treason. "You are an absolute waste of oxygen, Satoru."
Gojo laughed, entirely unfazed. Then, he stopped.
Even with the blindfold on, Ren could feel the sudden, crushing weight of his attention lock on. The goofy, carefree aura didn't physically drop, but the air pressure around them seemed to instantly become more intense.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between them with an unnatural, gliding speed.
Ren forced his feet to stay planted, widening his eyes slightly to look appropriately intimidated and overwhelmed.
Gojo leaned down, invading his personal space until his blindfold was only inches from Ren's face. He tilted his head from side to side, humming thoughtfully as he inspected him from every angle.
"Wow," Gojo breathed out, completely ignoring Maki's furious glare. He stood straight back up and clapped his hands together, his bright, obnoxious tone returning in full force.
"Maki-chan! You didn't tell me you made such a handsome friend!" Gojo cheered, leaning back and gesturing to Ren with exaggerated flair.
"Seriously, are you a male model? An actor? With a face like that, you could be on a billboard right now! I'm almost jealous!"
Ren's "Preternaturally Handsome" unique trait was apparently working overtime.
"His name is Ren," Maki growled. She stepped deliberately between them to break his line of sight, her protective instincts instantly flaring up.
"And stop analyzing him like a lab rat. He's just a normal guy."
"Normal?" Gojo repeated.
The wide grin stayed firmly on his face, but he tilted his head just a fraction of an inch. He reached up, hooking a single long finger under the edge of his black blindfold and pulling it down just enough to expose one piercing, impossibly bright blue eye.
The Six Eyes.
He stared directly at Ren, looking right through his clothes, his skin, and down to the very core of his soul. Ren kept his breathing perfectly steady, trusting the System's flawless replication.
As far as Gojo could see, Ren was fundamentally just a guy stripped of typical cursed energy, possessing the exact same physical density and civilian-level flicker as Maki.
"Well, well, well," Gojo murmured, the playful lilt in his voice twisting into something far more dangerous and deeply curious. He let the blindfold snap back into place with a soft thwack.
"Let's go inside, shall we? We have a lot to talk about, Ren-kun."
Gojo led them through the winding, traditional wooden corridors of Tokyo Jujutsu High, his long strides forcing Ren to actively suppress his enhanced speed just to maintain a normal, civilian walking pace.
They eventually entered what looked like an empty classroom. Gojo casually hopped backward, seating himself right on the edge of the teacher's desk. He crossed his long legs, resting his hands on his knees, and offered a bright, expectant smile.
"Alright, Maki-chan. Let's hear it," Gojo said, his tone deceptively light. "Tell sensei all about this mysterious 'anomaly'."
Maki stood rigidly in the center of the room. She kept herself positioned slightly in front of Ren, acting as a physical shield.
She took a deep breath, reciting the lie they had frantically cobbled together.
"Ren was walking home from his shift in Harajuku," Maki started, her voice tight but steady. "He cut through an alley.
There was... a puddle. A remnant of a cursed spirit that hadn't fully dissipated. He slipped, fell into it, and absorbed some kind of strange, residual miasma. Woke up the next morning, and his physical strength had completely mutated to match mine."
For exactly three seconds, the classroom was dead silent.
Gojo didn't move. The playful smile remained plastered on his face, but he slowly tilted his head. He reached up, tapping a long finger against the bridge of his nose, right where the black fabric of his blindfold rested.
"Bzzzt. Strike one," Gojo chimed, making a loud, obnoxious buzzer noise with his mouth.
Maki stiffened. "I'm telling you what happened—"
"Maki, Maki, Maki," Gojo interrupted, letting out a long, dramatic sigh as if he were dealing with a toddler who had just lied about eating a cookie. "Did you forget who your teacher is? The Six Eyes don't just see cursed energy. They see the flow of the world. They see everything."
Gojo leaned forward, the goofy demeanor vanishing for a split second, replaced by the terrifying, absolute authority of the strongest sorcerer alive.
"If he had fallen into a puddle of cursed miasma, I would see the residue staining his soul. maybe see the chaotic, mutated flow of foreign energy trying to force its way into his biology," Gojo stated clinically.
He pointed a single finger right at Ren's chest. "But there is absolutely no foreign cursed energy inside him. In fact, his cursed energy has been completely squashed down to near-zero levels. His physical density, his muscle fibers, his bone structure... they are a flawless, one-to-one mirror of your specific, Heavenly Restriction."
Maki swallowed hard. The color began to drain from her face.
Gojo leaned back, tapping his chin thoughtfully. The playful, childish aura rushed right back in, but this time, it was laced with a wickedly sharp realization.
"A Heavenly Restriction is a biological binding vow, stamped onto the soul at birth. It can't be caught like a cold," Gojo mused aloud, his voice dripping with theatrical suspense. "For his body to suddenly rewrite its own biology to perfectly match yours... well, that would require an incredibly profound, deeply intense merging of two bodies and souls. A physical exchange so intimate that the boundary between your latent curse and his normal body completely blurred."
Ren watched as Maki completely stopped breathing.
"Wait a minute," Gojo gasped, throwing both hands over his mouth in an exaggerated show of shock.
Even through the blindfold, Ren could feel the terrifyingly perceptive blue eyes lock onto Maki's blazing red face. "Maki-chan... did you...?"