[After listening to your calm, almost casual explanation, the Assistant Manager broke out in a cold sweat. His face went pale by the second.]

[By Jujutsu High procedure, and by the most basic rules of sorcerer self-defense, killing Curse Users who attacked during a Star Plasma Vessel escort mission was not hard to justify.]

[That part was fine. The problem was the number.]

[Five bodies in an upscale hotel.]

[No matter how you packaged it, that was excessive. The cleanup alone was enough to make someone’s hair fall out. Windows would have to identify each dead Curse User, match their black-market records, confirm their Innate Techniques, check their affiliations, and only after that could the higher-ups classify the whole thing as legitimate defense.]

[On paper, it was going to be a disaster.]

[And yet, when you gave him that harmless smile and said you would fully cooperate with any investigation, the Assistant Manager still wiped his forehead and nodded.]

[What else was he supposed to do?]

[Your reputation at Jujutsu High had always been spotless. Among students, teachers, and managers, everyone knew you as the good-natured one. The obedient one. The model student who made adults feel like maybe this generation was not completely hopeless.]

[Based on that trust alone, the manager promised to pull whatever strings he could and get the cleanup handled as quickly as possible.]

[Once the body disposal arrangements were finished, with every detail neat and accounted for, you turned and walked back toward Geto and the others.]

[Your pace was steady. But the closer you got, the heavier the air became. Four pairs of eyes landed on you.]

[All of them had different expressions, but none of them looked simple.]

[You acted like you did not notice. The same gentle smile stayed on your face, so natural it almost looked fake because it was too natural.]

["Why are you all staring at me like that?" you asked lightly. "Did I get something on my face? Or have you already decided where we’re going next?"]

[Geto’s brows pulled together. He looked at you for a moment before answering.]

["We’ve decided." His voice was low. "Riko wants to go back to school."]

[No surprise showed on your face. Not even a blink. You knew this part of the story. You knew where the rails were supposed to lead, and you had no intention of kicking them out from under yourself.]

[The known route was dangerous, sure. But the unknown route was worse.]

[Butterfly effects were cute in theory. In practice, they were a headache with teeth. A predictable plot could still be held in your hand. An unpredictable one could bite your fingers off.]

[So you shrugged.]

["Then let’s head out now. The assistant manager’s car can’t fit all of us anyway." You glanced toward the black sedan. "You guys take her first. I’ll stay behind and hand things over to the Windows crew coming for cleanup. Once that’s done, I’ll catch up."]

[The moment you said "cleanup" like you were talking about clearing plates after lunch, Gojo’s pupils tightened.]

[Only then did it really sink in.]

[Everything Geto had said in that grim tone earlier had not been a bad joke. It had happened. And you were calmly wrapping up the loose ends.]

[The careless looseness in Gojo’s posture disappeared. Behind his sunglasses, those eyes fixed on you.]

[The Six Eyes saw everything.]

[Every shift of Cursed Energy. Every breath. Every tiny physical change that should have betrayed a lie, guilt, panic, or at least a little discomfort.]

[Gojo stared at you.]

["Toumaa" he said slowly, "you actually killed people?"]

[You tilted your head. There was no guilt. No shame. Not even annoyance.]

["Yeah. Did Suguru not explain it properly?"]

[To make things clearer, you raised your right hand.]

[Under Gojo’s and Geto’s rigid stares, you folded your fingers down one by one.]

[One.... Two.... Three.... Four.... Five.]

[Your hand closed into a fist.]

[You looked at Gojo and said, calmly enough to make the words crawl under the skin, "Not many. Five Curse Users. Plus one Cursed Spirit someone brought with them. I exorcised that too while I was there."]

[Gojo’s eyes widened. The body count came from your own mouth, and the Six Eyes confirmed the worst part.Your heartbeat had not changed. Your Cursed Energy had not stirred. Not even a ripple.]

[He searched your face. Every tiny expression, every twitch, every pause in your voice. Anything that would prove this was a front. Anything that showed the person in front of him was forcing himself to stay calm.]

[There was nothing.]

[Your calm was not a mask. It was real.]

[For the first time since Gojo had known you, the person standing in front of him felt like a stranger.]

[Not the classmate who smiled and played peacemaker.]

[Not the reliable guy who somehow always handled the annoying adult work without complaint.]

[For one brief, ugly second, Gojo felt like he was meeting the person called Touma Hayase for the first time.]

[You ignored the storm building behind his eyes.]

[With a small clap of your hands, you slipped right back into the role of dutiful team leader.]

["Alright, why is everyone just standing around? Let’s move. The longer we wait, the later Riko gets to school."]

[Gojo did not move. Several seconds passed. When he spoke again, the words sounded like they had been dragged through his teeth.]

["But... you just killed people."]

[There it was again. Because Gojo would not drop it, the topic cut back into the air.]

[Nearby, Riko Amanai still held the plush Panda tight against her chest. Kuroi stood close beside her. Both of them had been trying very hard not to think about the twentieth-floor corridor.]

[Bodies on the carpet. The smell. Blood on the walls.]

[Now the memory came rushing back anyway.]

[Riko flinched and stepped behind Geto without thinking. Kuroi moved with her, face tight. The way they looked at you changed all over again.]

[Fear, fresh and raw.]

[Gojo watched your face.]

[He wanted a reaction.]

[Any reaction.]

[Even a little guilt would have been enough. A little discomfort. A little proof that killing a human being had left some kind of mark.]

[But your expression stayed calm.]

[That warm smile did not move.]

["I did what any Jujutsu Sorcerer would do," you said. "To protect the Star Plasma Vessel, I eliminated several Curse Users who were trying to kill her. I don’t see what there is to make a fuss about."]

[It was airtight. Logically, there was nothing wrong with it. That made it worse.]

[Gojo’s instincts were sharper than most people’s common sense, and right now they were screaming. Something under that perfectly normal answer was wrong. Deeply wrong.]

[The way you said it. The way you treated killing like sweeping up broken glass. That was not something a high school student should be able to do.]

["You..."]

[Gojo’s hand shot out.]

[He reached for your wrist, maybe to grab you, maybe to shake the answer out of you, maybe just to break that clean smile off your face. But just before his fingers touched you, something dark passed through your eyes.]

[Deep inside your body, Phantom Night Parade activated without a sound.]

[No light. No visible effect. Nothing for ordinary eyes to catch.]

[And yet, in that tiny sliver before contact, Gojo’s absolute defense was overridden.]

[Limitless.]

[The barrier that rejected every physical force in the world.]

[It did not weaken. It did not open. It was stripped away.]

[Gojo’s pupils shrank. He had not lowered it. Something else had erased it by force.]

[The shock bought you less than a second.]

[That was plenty.]

[Your hand snapped around his outstretched wrist with clean, surgical precision.]

[Extreme Overload Control surged to full output.]

[Power flooded your muscles.]

[Not the dramatic kind. Not flashy. Just raw, unreasonable force, packed into a human body that had no business producing it.]

[You did not give Gojo time to recover.]

[Your left hand yanked open the rear door of the Assistant Manager’s black sedan. Your right arm moved.]

[That was all.]

[The untouchable prodigy of the Gojo Clan was lifted like luggage, dragged through the air, and thrown into the back seat.]

[Bang!]

[The entire car rocked on its suspension.]

[Geto stared.] 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

[For once, he looked genuinely stunned.]

[You braced one hand against the door frame and leaned down.]

[Gojo lay across the leather seat, still caught between disbelief and anger.]

[You looked down at him. Your smile was perfect. Your eyes were not.]

[There was pressure in them now, quiet and heavy, the kind that made it very clear there was no room for argument.]

["Don’t forget, Satoru," you said, your voice soft and clean. "I’m the limiter Master Yaga assigned specifically to keep you in line."]

[You held his gaze.]

["And as your limiter, it’s my job to make sure you follow orders like a good boy for the rest of this escort mission."]