Because his brain had been repaired, Gojo Satoru was in a state of continuous exhilaration, his mind buzzing with activity and his words pouring out in an overwhelming torrent.
The specific manifestations bore a faint resemblance to the aftermath of the resurrection in the Hidden Inventory arc, just a third of that shadow lingering.
Weird bangs, come on and fight me!
I feel absolutely fantastic, I can't wait to dive into a massive battle, little tangerine, don't hold me back!
Reverse cursed technique is seriously amazing, ahhhh—I really want to master it!
This world isn't as terrible as I imagined at all.
It's just so exhilarating.
Gojo Satoru, who had never known a moment of ease since birth, had plunged headfirst into this euphoric high.
Meanwhile Akiya and Suguru trudged along with their heads down, propping up—no, dragging—their companion toward the boys' dormitory, desperate to stash this embarrassing guy away before anyone else at Tokyo Jujutsu High caught sight of him.
Even upon reaching the dormitory, the white-haired youth showed no signs of settling down; his pupils gleamed with an unnatural brightness, radiant yet strangely vacant.
The Six Eyes had been infused with a massive surge of cursed energy.
His brain, now flawless and intact, operated at breakneck speed, effortless and carefree, all its hidden injuries thoroughly eradicated.
He caused a ruckus, tore the place apart, danced wildly on the bed, and hammered the glass windows into smithereens—escaping was merely a trivial matter in the grand scheme.
Geto Suguru was quite startled: Has he been drugged or something?
You'll get used to it. Asou Akiya stood before the shattered floor-to-ceiling window, where the wind howled mournfully, and in the distance came the rumbling thunder of plowed earth. He watched as Gojo Satoru fled while using Blue to flatten the obstructing trees in the forest, his demeanor unshaken by the eight winds, his aura steady and composed, earning genuine admiration from Geto Suguru deep within his heart.
Geto Suguru had deep affection for the school and could not help asking, "What if he ends up demolishing Tokyo Jujutsu High entirely?"
Asou Akiya pondered for a moment before replying, "Rest assured, the Gojo family can well afford the compensation."
Noticing that Geto Suguru had frozen in place, Asou Akiya continued indifferently, "It would actually be perfect—we could borrow lodging at the Kyoto school for a while."
"Enough with the cool detachment," Geto Suguru snapped, wasting no time as he rushed forward. "No way! I still need a place to attend classes!"
With a running start, Geto Suguru leaped beyond the dormitory grounds, summoned the Rainbow Dragon, and soared into the sky.
Asou Akiya trailed behind at a leisurely walking pace, in no hurry at all—utterly unconcerned.
After all, even in the original story, Gojo Satoru at his most unhinged had never torn down the Star Plasma Vessel's cult; this was merely a burst of excitement, and whoever rushed over first would simply become the punching bag for his outburst.
There was no Fushiguro Toji here to help cool down Gojo Satoru's overheated brain.
The school's training field had once again become riddled with craters and pits.
Along the way, flowers, grass, and trees had suffered greatly, leaving behind the unmistakable lingering fragrance of Gojo Satoru's cursed energy. By the time Asou Akiya followed that trail of cursed energy remnants, Geto Suguru and Gojo Satoru had already clashed in a fierce battle, the scene extraordinarily intense.
Gojo Satoru, hovering in midair, extended his left hand toward Geto Suguru, palm facing downward, and slowly raised it.
He pressed his index and middle fingers together while curling the others.
A finger gun gesture—
Yet this was not the usual Blue that radiated a blue glow; ominous red light flickered at his fingertips.
Red appearing a full year early? Asou Akiya felt a surge of both shock and delight. That red glow was the reversal technique Red, embodying the repulsive force within the Limitless technique. Mastering it required command over the "negative plus negative" manipulation of cursed energy, and even the lowest-power Reversal Red would pack twice the strength of the forward Technique Blue—another powerful area-clearing ability.
Asou Akiya declared in a cold voice, "Gojo, stop! If you keep losing control like this, you might as well prepare to be expelled."
[Expulsion?]
Gojo Satoru's fingers, which had been gathering the red light, faltered for a moment.
Geto Suguru sensed the impending danger and instinctively summoned a cursed spirit to shield himself in front. "Asou, isn't this technique supposed to be Blue?"
Asou Akiya stepped forward, positioning his body directly in front of Geto Suguru, his gaze locked unwaveringly on every slightest movement from Gojo Satoru.
"Are you really going to unleash a killing move on your own comrades?"
Even if it meant mastering Red in a single day, it was not acceptable.
Where there was a first time, there would be a second; Gojo Satoru's moral boundaries could not be shattered by the sudden acquisition of such power.
The sheer destructive force of this technique was something that, up to this point, only the "Heavenly Tyrant" Fushiguro Toji had been able to withstand. Geto Suguru had yet to acquire any special-grade cursed spirits, and he had underestimated the overwhelming power of Red; the cursed spirit he had summoned to block it was not the sturdiest Rainbow Dragon.
Asou Akiya could not allow Geto Suguru to take the risk of sustaining severe injuries, and Ieiri Shoko would never wish to see such a devastating outcome.
A flicker of hesitation crossed Gojo Satoru's expression—he was clearly reluctant to let go of the Red he was on the verge of mastering.
Yet, as he looked at Asou Akiya, who appeared utterly incapable of withstanding the blow, and at Geto Suguru, who stood frozen in shock, he gradually shifted the aim of his finger gun away from them.
By abandoning his target, Gojo Satoru's chance to experiment slipped away in an instant; the inspiration for "negative plus negative" faded back into calm.
The red light emanating from his fingertips ultimately dispersed.
"It failed."
Gojo Satoru stretched lazily, switching gears with effortless naturalness, and bounded over with a cheerful grin to join little tangerine and weird bangs.
He chattered away incessantly about how incredibly powerful his techniques were, insisting that weird bangs was far too weak and always lagging behind him by a considerable distance — at times like this, if you don't bring out the Rainbow Dragon to serve as a shield, are you saving it to become a guardian spirit after death?
In short, every word from Gojo Satoru was crafted to provoke as much irritation as possible, yet each one carried genuine sincerity, piercing straight through and utterly shattering Geto Suguru's composure.
Asou Akiya called out to rein in Geto Suguru: "Stay calm."
Geto Suguru forced a smile amid the dark aura emanating from him: "Are you going to say again that he's still young and doesn't know any better?"
Asou Akiya delivered his response without hesitation: "No, what I mean is to play it safe — summon the Rainbow Dragon immediately and strike Gojo with everything you've got while he's at his weakest; he won't be able to unleash a second Red for the time being."
Gojo Satoru: "!!"
Geto Suguru's spirits lifted in an instant; he summoned the Rainbow Dragon in its most resilient form and charged straight at Gojo Satoru.
Asou Akiya turned on his heel and departed without a backward glance, distancing himself from the battlefield to ensure his own safety.
When the two most troublesome prodigies of Tokyo Jujutsu High — both hailed as the strongest — decided to brawl, they could demolish whatever they pleased; what did that have to do with one weak and helpless fourth-grade sorcerer?
Before long, Yaga Masamichi's furious roar echoed throughout Tokyo Jujutsu High and blasted through the first-year class group chat.
"Are you two trying to destroy the entire school?!"
This blood pressure really needed to be kept in check.
Asou Akiya felt a momentary sympathy for Teacher Yaga, completely forgetting his own role in the affair. He thought to himself that the most widely circulated dark joke from his student days in his previous life had probably been about carrying a backpack full of explosives to school with glee, just to make the whole place ascend to the heavens right then and there.
He could not do it himself, but he had the fortune of witnessing two male classmates who absolutely could.
As a form of encouragement among classmates — Asou Akiya declared that he would take it upon himself to write today's self-reflection letter.
In the boys' dormitory that evening, two sweat-soaked and dust-covered young men returned; the fight that needed to happen had happened, and the punishments that were due had been duly administered.
Geto Suguru made a throat-slitting gesture at Gojo Satoru, promising a rematch next time, his momentum undiminished in the slightest. He pushed open the third door on the right, slamming it shut with a resounding bang — already too exhausted to engage in any further verbal exchanges with Gojo Satoru.
A lightbulb lit up in Gojo Satoru's mind; he had just learned a brand-new hand gesture.
Upon returning to his own dormitory room, the first thing Gojo Satoru laid eyes on was a table laden with prepared meals. Little tangerine was nowhere in sight, yet he had thoughtfully laid out a set of clean clothes for changing, neatly folded on the bed — so considerate that Gojo Satoru nearly forgot the way the other had stepped in to shield Geto Suguru earlier.
"Didn't little tangerine realize that could have gotten him killed?"
Parched from the fight, Gojo Satoru felt no rush to head into the bathroom. Instead, he picked up an apple from the fruit platter and took a crisp bite.
"But I'm not that kind of person either — killing for the sake of power would be way too lame."
At that moment, Gojo Satoru had simply been riding the high of his emotions, yet his combat mindset had remained in a state of extreme rationality.
He had only prepared to test the new technique because he believed it would not kill Geto Suguru.
As for the consequences —
Covered in grime from head to toe, Gojo Satoru reached up to touch his cheek; he had dropped his own defenses at one point and taken a solid punch from Geto Suguru.
"I already apologized to him."
"Weird bangs threw that punch, which means he forgave me for today."
The force behind the punch had been lighter than Gojo Satoru had anticipated — Geto Suguru had pulled back at the last moment — and weird bangs was not nearly as enraged as he had imagined. They were cut from the same cloth, both craving power, both yearning for true strength, and the real spark that ignited their fight had been Asou Akiya.
After mentally replaying the battle, Gojo Satoru remarked, "Little tangerine was such a nuisance."
He set the apple core aside, gathered the clean clothes, and headed toward the bathroom. "But I don't hate him for it."
One identity was the classmate who boldly claimed his seat in class and teamed up with others to tease him without hesitation; the other was the private attendant who quietly looked after his studies and health.
No matter which facet it was, Gojo Satoru had come to accept them both.
He would not drop out, nor would he allow Asou Akiya to drop out — family matters could wait until after graduation.
A person with courage deserved respect no matter where they stood.
The bathroom arranged by the Gojo family was extraordinarily luxurious, constructed as a private single-occupancy space modeled after a small public bathhouse. A layer of curtains had been drawn across the windows, which opened directly onto a perfectly square large tub tiled entirely in pristine white porcelain that gleamed with impeccable brightness. The tub had been filled with hot water half an hour earlier, now enveloped in swirling steam and maintained at the ideal soothing temperature.
Hot water was excellent for relaxing tense muscles.
Originally planning to simply rinse off and rest, Gojo Satoru changed his mind. After a quick shower, he leaped into the large tub.
"Huh? What's with these little yellow ducks?"
As Gojo Satoru settled comfortably into the hot water, he splashed his arms against the surface, sending ripples outward. With precisely angled and measured force, he dislodged a row of bath-specific little yellow ducks that had been tucked away in the corner of the tub.
The white-haired youth, who prided himself on not being that childish, could not resist reaching out and giving one of the ducks a mischievous squeeze.
"This is actually pretty fun."
Water splashed everywhere as the little yellow ducks squeaked in protest.
The moist steam clung to his eyes, softening even the icy gaze of the Six Eyes.
Gojo Satoru had soaked until his body grew soft and relaxed, played with the ducks to his heart's content, and felt his overheated brain finally begin to cool. With a moment to spare, he decided to check on what the other two were up to.
Weird bangs, the closest to him, was lying on the bed resting.
Little tangerine, the farthest away, was at the desk writing something — the handwriting too small to make out clearly, and the paper itself an ordinary object devoid of any cursed energy. Following the sequence of strokes, words like "fight," "technique," "destruction," and "school" emerged, all tied to the mischief Gojo Satoru had caused on campus. So, was this a detailed report being prepared for the Gojo family?
Gojo Satoru bolted upright in the water with a loud splash. "You're daring to spy on me?"
He could accept that Asou Akiya had taken benefits from the arrangement, but he could not tolerate the idea of Asou Akiya serving as the Gojo family's eyes and ears.
Anything the Gojo family could offer him, Gojo Satoru could provide himself — and he could give even more!
[It was you who didn't want it!]
[It's not that I wouldn't give it!]
Sudden fury surged through Gojo Satoru, accompanied by a sharp sting of betrayal.
Hastily throwing on his clothes, he dashed out with wet feet and kicked open the door he had only recently repaired.
He was going to catch him red-handed!
There would be no chance for little tangerine to talk his way out of it this time!
With a thunderous boom, Asou Akiya — who had been seated at the desk diligently writing the self-reflection letter — looked toward the doorway with a stunned expression.
The white-haired youth, hair still dripping water, stormed up to him with overwhelming menace, snatched the paper densely covered in neat handwriting. Then, that chilling expression fierce enough to terrify even a special-grade cursed spirit instantly wilted.
This was the second time.
Not knocking as a courtesy, not respecting privacy in the slightest.
Asou Akiya's hand, still gripping the pen, trembled ever so slightly — he was genuinely upset. "What reason do you have this time?"
Gojo Satoru's expression carried a touch of bewilderment, a hint of pitiful vulnerability; his cheeks, already flushed from the hot water, grew even redder, while his fingertips had gone pale from clutching tightly a thick stack of self-reflection letters densely filled with handwriting.
The script above was in Gojo Satoru's own writing style — not easy to imitate, yet executed with meticulous attention to detail, revealing the care that had gone into it.
What Asou Akiya had been writing by lamplight was none other than the self-reflection letter.
He had trampled upon Asou Akiya's kindness and done something utterly unwarranted.
"Akiya, I came to see you," Gojo Satoru blurted out in a muddled daze.
"To see me?" Asou Akiya swiveled his chair to face him directly, shadows falling across his features as he confronted Gojo Satoru head-on, assessing the other's mental state after kicking in the door. "You specially kicked the door down just to see me — were you afraid I had done something to betray you?"
Gojo Satoru hung his head in dejection.
That voice belonging to Geto Suguru — one so familiar to Gojo Satoru that it sent chills down his spine — drifted in from beyond the door, sounding like a harbinger of doom.
"Go—jo—Sa—to—ru—"
Gojo Satoru froze in place.
This time, Gojo Satoru had no thick skin left to ask Asou Akiya for help in explaining things away.
Asou Akiya commanded firmly, "Come here."
Gojo Satoru shuffled forward a couple of steps, gazing at Asou Akiya with wide, pleading eyes — his long eyelashes still beaded with water droplets.
Asou Akiya fetched a large dry towel and draped it over Gojo Satoru's head, guiding him to sit properly and remain still.
Through the thick fabric, he vigorously rubbed and tousled the hair with firm, unrelenting motions.
He had harbored this very impulse ever since watching Ieiri Shoko do the same to Gojo Satoru earlier that day.
"If you don't dry your hair properly and refuse to wear shoes, I understand you're in a rush to catch me in some wrongdoing. But I hope you'll think more carefully about the consequences — do you truly want to fall out with me? Or are you simply lacking confidence in the place you hold in my heart?"
As Asou Akiya meticulously dried those strands of pure, unblemished white hair, the frozen tension in the room began to thaw.
Without lifting his gaze, Asou Akiya addressed the figure at the door: "Suguru, head back for now — Gojo will take full responsibility for repairing my dormitory door."
Geto Suguru opened his mouth as if to speak, then hesitated, noticing how unusually silent Gojo Satoru had become.
How peculiar — this guy had caused a massive commotion in the middle of the night, yet now he was inexplicably keeping quiet? It hardly seemed like Gojo Satoru's usual style.
Asou Akiya pressed further: "Gojo, can you apologize this time?"
Under Geto Suguru's watchful, predatory stare, Gojo Satoru fell silent for a moment before declaring with genuine sincerity, "I'm sorry."
Asou Akiya showed no inclination to let him off easily: "Louder."
Gojo Satoru planted his foot firmly into Asou Akiya's slipper, toes curling tightly for emphasis, then straightened up with chest puffed out and proclaimed, "I'm sorry — it won't happen again!"
Asou Akiya turned his head toward Geto Suguru and asked, "Did you get that recorded?"
Geto Suguru blinked in surprise, not expecting the other to have noticed his subtle movement, and openly pulled out his phone, giving it a little shake.
"You caught me by accident — yeah, I managed to record it for you."
"..."
Gojo Satoru glared fiercely at Geto Suguru — even the large towel could not conceal his thoroughly flushed cheeks, with the crimson hue showing a clear tendency to spread downward toward his neck.
Weird bangs, just you wait and see!
This day had proven extraordinarily "fulfilling"; Gojo Satoru floated back to his dormitory on unsteady steps, his brain divided into multiple active sectors.
Some parts pondered the reverse cursed technique, others savored the reversal technique Red, and still others seethed with annoyance at his own impulsiveness — how he had allowed Geto Suguru and Asou Akiya to seize such a compromising handle on him, leaving behind a recording as irrefutable evidence.
Gojo Satoru rolled back and forth across his bed, forgetting entirely to turn off the light, as a whirlwind of conflicting emotions rampaged wildly through his mind.
The lingering aftereffects of his mental hyperactivity were gradually making themselves known.
It was not until the following morning —
Gojo Satoru awoke under the prompt of his internal biological clock, utterly reluctant to get out of bed; all he wanted was to skip classes and drift back into a second round of sleep.
Suddenly, amid his groggy haze, he sensed that something was amiss. He threw back the covers and glanced downward.
With a guilty conscience, he yanked the bedding back over himself as if to hide the evidence.
"What's going on here? What did those physiology lessons from little tangerine say about this?"
Gojo Satoru's mind buzzed with frantic noise — he almost wished the Six Eyes would malfunction for once. Overcome with embarrassment, he burrowed under the covers to furtively consult his phone, scrolling rapidly through pages to supplement his knowledge of adolescent common experiences, only to discover that he had encountered this particular milestone a bit later than his peers.
Gojo Satoru declared with sudden realization, "This means I've finally grown up — in ancient times, it would have meant I was ready for marriage and starting a family."
The previous night, he had dreamed of Inoue Waka from the photobook.
The mature and alluring older woman was caressing his wrist — the sensation tickling deep into his flesh, traveling upward, sending goosebumps rippling across his entire body. He tried to escape but failed; his cursed energy had vanished completely, and his body refused to obey, curling instinctively into a tight ball. He wanted to call for little tangerine to come in and drive this person away, yet all that escaped his lips were shameful whimpers.
For some reason he could not quite fathom, his mind had turned into complete mush.
So it turned out that all those warnings were true — physical contact between the opposite sex was off-limits, and even something as simple as holding hands was equivalent to being in a romantic relationship!