In the summer of their second year at Jujutsu High, Gojou Satoru notices something wrong with his best friend. Getou Suguru is absorbing cursed spirits alone, coming back hollowed out and sick, wearing a smile that's thinner every time Satoru sees it. The strongest sorcerer in Japan can see everything through the Six Eyes—except how to put into words what's slipping away between them. In the neon-lit alleys and quiet dorm halls, between shared daifuku and unspoken worries, Satoru keeps reaching
Until the Strongest Choose Each Other Again - The day Haibara smiled, Getou's smile disappeared.
The summer sun poured white and blinding over the covered walkway of the technical school.
Mid-July had come and gone, and the cicadas had been clinging to his ears mercilessly since morning. Gojou Satoru pushed up his sunglasses and waved the mission dossier that had come down from the higher-ups with a lazy flick.
" Man, a three-man job. Me, Getou, and one more—Haibara Yuu? The first-year."
Getou Suguru, who'd been leaning against the corridor wall, slowly lifted his head. His long black hair slid from his shoulder, and the black gauge earrings at his ears caught the light.
" Haibara-kun? He's a bright, honest kid. He came by to greet me the other day, actually."
"Yeah? Huh. Well, I personally requested him, so he'd better be grateful."
Gojou laughed, light and easy.
(This ought to take Getou's mind off things a little.)
Ever since they'd come back from Gyousei Village, Getou had been off. The murk in his cursed energy grew thicker by the day, his smiles had gone thin and hollow, and no matter what Gojou said, he just repeated "I'm fine." When it was just the two of them, the silence weighed a ton.
So he'd slipped a cheerful underclassman between them. If the three of them went out on a mission together, maybe Getou would find his old rhythm again. That was the calculation.
" Gojou-senpai! Getou-senpai! Good morning!"
A voice like a bouncing ball came flying from the end of the corridor.
Gojou turned. A boy with bright brown hair spiked straight up was running toward them, big black eyes sparkling. His grin was wide enough to show his snaggletooth. He was a good deal shorter than the two of them, and the way he still hadn't quite gotten used to the school uniform was endearing.
" Whoa, Haibara. You're in high spirits."
" Of course I am! When I heard I get to go on a mission with you two, I couldn't sleep at all last night!"
Haibara Yuu. Fifteen years old. First-year at the technical school.
Honestly, Gojou had never thought of this kid as anything more than an energetic brat. But standing here in front of him like this, that innocent brightness was strangely dazzling.
" Don't push yourself, Haibara-kun. Today's mission is a semi-first-grade curse. It'll be dangerous if you let your guard down."
Getou spoke gently.
" I'll be fine! You two are the strongest, after all! I'll chase after you both and make myself useful, I promise!"
Haibara puffed out his chest.
At those words, the corner of Getou's mouth softened—just a little.
(He smiled.)
Gojou didn't miss it. Not that thin, plastered-on smile that had been stuck to his face for days. Just for an instant, the old Getou had surfaced—a soft expression.
" Yeah, yeah. Then don't drag us down, Haibara."
" Yes, sir! I'll do my best!"
Gojou let out a small breath, inward.
(Yeah. This was the right call after all.)
Don't leave Getou alone. Put a cheerful guy next to him. That alone changes the air.
" Gojou, what are you smirking about?"
"Nothing. Let's get going. The assistant manager's waiting."
Gojou shrugged and started walking.
The mission site was an abandoned amusement park about an hour from the city center by train.
It had apparently closed years ago. A faded Ferris wheel stabbed into the blue sky, and the broken horses of a carousel stared back at them with blank faces. Weeds split the asphalt, and every time the wind blew, a rusted sign creaked on its hinges.
" This place seriously has a curse? It's kind of a lonely spot, huh."
Haibara's big eyes went even bigger as he looked around.
" Places like this tend to collect negative human emotion. An amusement park holds as many sad and lonely memories as happy ones. And a place that's been closed down—even more so."
Getou explained quietly.
"Huh... so that's how it works."
Haibara nodded earnestly.
Gojou scanned the entire park with his Six Eyes.
(...There it is.)
Directly beneath the Ferris wheel. Under the ground, a murky mass of cursed energy. A semi-first-grade curse. The kind said to have the power to destroy a whole building—a genuinely nasty opponent.
" Haibara, stay back. You're still too green to tangle with that class."
Gojou stepped forward.
" Huh, but—"
" Gojou's right. Haibara-kun, fall back and support us from the rear. Just learning to read the flow of cursed energy will be good practice."
Getou, too, tried to send Haibara back.
" ...Got it. But I'll be watching, okay! I'll burn the sight of you two fighting into my eyes!"
Haibara took one step back and fixed them both with a serious look.
Then the ground shook.
A low boom.
The concrete at the base of the Ferris wheel cracked, and black tentacles burst out from within.
" Here it comes."
Gojou's body was wrapped in the film of Limitless.
The curse's attack stopped just before it could touch him, as if blocked by an invisible wall. Limitless—the inherited technique of the Gojou family, which manipulates infinite distance and prevents any attack from ever "arriving."
" Getou, left."
" I know."
Getou raised a hand. Something like black mist swirled, and a single enormous curse appeared. Getou's Cursed Spirit Manipulation—the technique that let him freely command the curses he'd absorbed.
"Go."
Getou's curse sank its teeth into the tentacle rising from the ground. Black fluid sprayed, spattering the rusted pillars of the Ferris wheel.
" Th-that's amazing...!"
Haibara's voice came from behind them.
Gojou pushed forward. He clenched his fist and raised the output of Limitless.
" Let's finish this fast."
Gojou's fist caught the curse's main body.
Thud.
A heavy impact. The ground caved in, and the curse's body lurched violently.
" Not yet. The core is deeper."
Getou's voice sharpened.
"I know."
The two moved at once.
Gojou deflected the curse's tentacles with Limitless while Getou sent his curses in to probe for the core's location. There was no gap in their coordination—they'd been on countless missions together.
(This'll make a good example for Haibara, too.)
Gojou glanced back at Haibara.
Haibara was watching their fight with shining eyes.
And that was the moment.
"—!?"
The ground beneath Haibara's feet suddenly split open.
A black tentacle had stretched out from the shadow behind him. It had been crawling through the earth. Gojou's Six Eyes caught it only an instant before it pierced Haibara's back.
"Haibara!!"
Gojou shouted and tried to deploy Limitless toward him.
But he wasn't in time.
Schlck.
A horrible sound.
The tentacle had run Haibara through the stomach.
"...Huh?"
A faint sound slipped from Haibara's lips.
The black tentacle lifted his body. His uniform tore, and fresh blood sprayed.
"Haibara-kun!!"
Getou shouted and sent his controlled curse at Haibara. The curse bit into the tentacle, trying to tear it away. But the tentacle wouldn't come out of Haibara's body.
" You bastard...!"
Gojou sprinted at full speed. He slashed through the tentacle with Limitless.
Crack.
The tentacle snapped, and Haibara's body fell to the ground.
"Haibara! Hey, Haibara!"
Gojou gathered him up in his arms.
Blood poured endlessly from his stomach. It was warm. His palms were staining bright red.
" ...Sen...pai..."
Haibara's lips moved, trembling.
"Don't talk. Getou, reverse cursed technique—"
"...I can't use it. Gojou, you're not there yet either—"
Getou's voice was shaking.
Gojou knew, with painful clarity, that he didn't have the skill to heal others with reverse cursed technique. He was still incomplete. He could barely heal his own body—healing someone else's fatal wound was beyond him.
" Senpai... thank you..."
Haibara smiled.
His snaggletooth was stained red with blood.
"I got to go on a mission with you two... I was really, really happy..."
"Haibara, don't talk anymore. I'll save you. So just—"
Gojou held him tight.
(I'll save him. I'll definitely save him. I'm the strongest. I'm the strongest, so I should be able to save him.)
But the strength was draining out of Haibara's body.
" ...Thank you..."
Those were Haibara Yuu's last words.
Silence wrapped around the abandoned amusement park.
The wind blew, and the rusted sign creaked.
Gojou couldn't move, Haibara's body still in his arms.
(Why)
(Why did I)
(Why wasn't I in time)
Gojou Satoru, the strongest, hadn't been able to protect a single underclassman.
Beside him, Getou slowly rose to his feet.
"...Haibara-kun."
Getou's voice was flat, stripped of emotion.
Gojou lifted his head.
And then, with his Six Eyes, he saw it.
Getou's cursed energy was turning pitch black.
Darker than he'd ever seen it. It churned like sludge, and from within it, countless thorns jutted out.
(What is this)
(Hatred...? No, this is—)
Hatred for non-sorcerers.
No—more precisely, hatred for "this world."
A world where curses are born.
A world where a powerless underclassman dies for no reason at all.
A world where sorcerers are treated like disposable pawns.
Getou's cursed energy cursed all of it.
" ...Why does a world like this exist."
Getou murmured, barely audible.
"Getou..."
Gojou tried to speak.
But no words came.
What was he supposed to say?
"It'll be okay"? No.
"I'll protect you"? He hadn't protected him.
"Because I'm the strongest"? He was the strongest, and he still couldn't protect him.
Gojou couldn't say anything.
Getou dropped to his knees before Haibara's body.
And quietly, he held him.
" ...I'm sorry. If only I'd realized sooner."
Getou's voice was hoarse.
"Getou, this isn't your fault."
Gojou finally forced the words out.
" It isn't yours either, Gojou."
Getou spoke without lifting his head.
"But Haibara-kun is dead. That boy believed that because we were the strongest, everything would be fine."
The words drove straight into Gojou's chest.
"...I—"
" What does 'the strongest' even mean?"
Getou looked at Gojou for the first time.
Those eyes weren't smiling.
They didn't even have the thin, hollow smile Gojou had seen so many times before.
There was only a deep darkness there.
" The strongest, and I can't protect a single underclassman. The strongest, and I can't change a thing. Does power like that have any meaning at all?"
"Getou—"
" ...I'm sorry. Please, don't ask me anything right now."
Getou closed his eyes, still holding Haibara.
Gojou stood frozen at his side.
He didn't know what to say.
The sky was blue, endlessly blue, and it was unbearably cruel.
Haibara's body was carried back to the school.
The wake was held in the small auditorium.
A portrait of Haibara adorned the altar.
In the photo, Haibara was smiling, snaggletooth and all, just like that day.
"...Haibara."
Gojou murmured softly before the altar.
Getou sat beside him.
He didn't say a word.
He just kept staring at Haibara's portrait.
" ...Hey, Gojou."
Getou spoke up unexpectedly.
"What."
" Haibara-kun called us the strongest. He smiled right to the end. ...Why did a boy that good have to die?"
Getou's voice was on the verge of vanishing.
"...I don't know."
Gojou answered honestly.
" No, we don't. And because we don't, we keep doing this work. But not knowing—and watching my comrades die anyway—I can't... not anymore."
Getou broke off there.
"Getou."
Gojou reached for Getou's hand.
But Getou pulled away.
" ...I'm sorry. Please, leave me alone for now."
Getou stood and left the auditorium.
Gojou watched his back go.
(Rejected again.)
But this time, he couldn't chase after him.
Gojou himself still couldn't accept Haibara's death as real.
Night.
Gojou visited the medical wing.
Ieiri Shouko's lab smelled, as always, of disinfectant and cigarettes.
She was at her desk, writing something.
" Oh, Gojou. You coming here on your own? That's rare."
Shouko spoke without looking up.
"You heard about Haibara."
Gojou leaned against the wall.
" ...Yeah. I heard."
Her hand stopped for a moment.
"Something's wrong with Getou."
" What are you saying at this point? He's been o
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