(Pov Mahito)
How am I not dead? That thought ran through my mind over and over, and no matter what, I couldn't find an answer. I had clearly lost that fight; those three sorcerers had beaten me to the point my death was close enough to unlock my domain, but that had been a mistake. Sukuna was able to interact with my soul when I touched him inside my domain, and he nearly killed me for it, but then that Gojo came at me with that sword of his. It should have exorcised me, but I was still here.
"Are you going to lie there forever, Mahito?" A familiar voice asked me, and when I looked up, I saw him, the man who had brought us together, that familiar scar across his forehead a dead giveaway.
"How am I here?" I asked, wanting to know just what happened to me.
"It's this body's innate technique; it can create powerful illusions, though you were lucky that Gojo Satoshi was more focused on you than his surroundings." He responded before stepping back. Looking at my body, it was still damaged, but that final strike had seemingly never happened. I was still missing an arm, and the cuts that had been done by that katana wouldn't close to mention the internal damage from Sukuna's vessel's punches, but I was alive.
"So he didn't bisect me?" I asked, sitting up.
"He almost did, but before he could hit you that final time, I managed to swap you out with another curse covered in an illusion to look like you." He responded before walking away.
That guy, Gojo Satoshi, was something else entirely. Even without his soul-cutting sword, he was hitting harder than anything I had seen before. He also wasn't affected by my ability despite having touched by it twice, and one of those was in my domain. I grabbed his soul both times, but no matter what, I couldn't move it at all, like it was covered in grease. Did he know the shape of his soul? If so, that might explain how he managed to keep himself safe from my attacks at least long enough to knock me back.
What an incredible battle. That was the most exhilarating time of my life. I came so close to death, and now I want to do it again. "Gojo Satoshi, I can't wait to see you again, and when that happens, I'll turn you into my weapon."
(Pov Satoshi)
It had been a few days since the events with Mahito at the school, and I had been helping the two Yoshinos settle in at their new home. They had been moved so that Junpei could attend the school, and Nagi wanted to remain close to her son as well. I was also busy dealing with the upcoming Goodwill event, alongside finding the time to introduce not only the new student but also reintroduce Yuji. While Megumi and Nobara knew about Yuji still being alive, the second years had no idea, and the third years, well, they were still suspended because Kinji turned the basement into a gambling parlor, and Kirara followed him. Those two had always been close, but over the break, they got fully together and seemed to excel at making everybody else aware of it.
But finally things had settled down, and just in time for the full Kyoto school staff to arrive, their principal, Gakuganji, and their main teacher, Utahime, who, as usual, was giving the stink eye to my brother. Honestly, those two needed to just get a room or something already; their weird flirting was driving me crazy. I did my best to ignore them and walked over to the Tokyo students who had gathered brining not only Junpei beside me but pushing along a container containing the other child. Yuji thought he was being funny with this reveal. It was odd seeing him be such an open and rather goofy kid compared to how serious he would become in the story.
"Alright, students, I'm sure you all know the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill event is coming up, so I got you a few presents." I said once I had approached the group, despite the additions, we were missing some of our heaviest hitters this time. Kinji and Kirara were gone, and at this point, they had likely set up their sorcerer fight club. Yuta was also still restoring Rika this time in shikigami form as opposed to vengeful curse form, and last I heard, he had met up with some foreign sorcerers who knew more about shikigami.
So we had Maki, Mai, Toge, Panda, Megumi, and Nobara now, though we would have the addition of Yuji and Junpei. Meanwhile, the Kyoto school had Aoi, Noritoshi, Momo, Miwa, and Mechamaru, but in their first years, they had the two Hasaba twins and Nitta Arata, who actually had a sister working here, oddly enough. This meant that the two teams were just about even in terms of numbers, though the individual members of the Tokyo team were on average stronger.
Snapping out of my thoughts, I pushed Junpei forward. "This is Yoshino Junpei, he's a new student who just moved here, so be nice," I said as Junpei awkwardly waved to the others. "And I have one more surprise, an unexpected return for some of you anyway." With that, I opened the lid, and Yuji stood up, striking a pose.
The other students were silent as Megumi and Nobara tried not to groan at their friend, and the older students saw a supposedly dead guy stand up in front of them. "Gojo-Sensei, it's not working, they're just staring." Yuji whispered to me as a bead of sweat formed on his head.
"Satoshi, what the hell, he's alive!" The second year, all yelled at once except for Toge, who let out a very indignant Kelp.
"Hey, don't blame me, it was Satoru's idea to pretend he was dead." I said as the older students all stared at me before turning their gazes to Satoru. I could almost see him tense up, sensing the multiple angry stares pinning him down, and I also noticed that Yuji was introducing Junpei to the others. They all seemed happy to be talking again, and it was nice seeing them get along so well. It would be good for them to do so, as they would need to be able to work together, not just for the Goodwill event itself.
Things had changed quite a bit, so there was no telling if the attack would happen during the event's first day, but if it did happen, I would at least have an opportunity to take out Hanami as well, bringing the disaster curses down to just one. Things were looking up, so why did it feel like there was something I was missing?