Chapter 35: Touch and End (Patreon)

Chapter 35: A Touch, and an Ending

...

The countermeasures against Satoru Gojo boiled down to three things: the first-mover advantage of the weak, the composure of the strong, and Suguru Geto's intelligence.

Of course, his method of securing agreement first and forging the Binding afterward left Kento Nanami awestruck as well.

The most crucial piece was that it required Gojo's own active cooperation.

Gojo's [Infinity] was a 'distance' built around his body's surface, generated through the Gojo family's Limitless combined with the Six Eyes.

Nothing harmful could breach that space — not an enemy's technique, not even a modern weapon's attack.

Even modern firearms — their explosions, their heat — couldn't touch the Gojo it shielded.

And he could maintain that state twenty-four hours a day.

With the Six Eyes assisting him, the cost of sustaining [Infinity] dwindled to almost nothing.

It was like a five-material Gun King on the field — simply having it out meant victory. The opponent couldn't summon a monster to clear it, ordinary effects couldn't touch it, it had a board-wipe of its own, and it carried full immunity besides.

And yet, even so, the opponent wasn't entirely without an answer.

If you can't deal with the Gun King, why not just target the player directly?

During the famous Shibuya incident, the cursed spirits had used the crowds inside the subway station as cover, forcing Gojo to hold back from deploying his Domain at full strength.

He could only pop it open for 0.2 seconds at a time, burning through his stamina to hunt down the cursed spirits hiding in the crowd.

Only after he'd drained a massive amount of physical and mental energy did they strike at him psychologically, using Suguru Geto's face.

For a technique capable of manipulating space, as long as the opponent's own technique couldn't interfere with space itself, it really was, for all practical purposes, invincible.

And yet right now, even this [Strongest]'s gaze had gone a little vacant.

The faint sensation of a touch against his chest shot through his entire body like an electric current.

The Binding between them was complete now, and Gojo's frozen technique naturally restarted — his stalled cursed energy began flowing again.

Once [Infinity] settled back over him, he was once more the [Strongest] of the jujutsu world.

But the careless ease that used to sit on his face, the composure — all of it was gone.

Kento Nanami, stunned, pushed his glasses up again and again. What had just happened in front of him had left him every bit as floored.

...

A flicker of despair rose in Satoru Anjouin.

Even though his intelligence system had told him his sure-win method would work, he'd genuinely hoped, deep down, that this time he'd fail.

But the instant his pressed-together fingers, sharp as a sword's point, made contact with Gojo's chest, whatever rose-tinted image he'd held of the man shattered completely.

This was Satoru Gojo, after all.

The [Strongest] of the jujutsu world.

The man who wielded [Infinity], an absolute defense.

But for Anjouin, this demonstration had been necessary.

The moment he successfully touched Gojo, the 'god' in his heart well and truly broke.

He no longer worshipped Gojo's [Strongest] title blindly, and he trusted his own power more now. It had been a test of Gojo just as much as it had been a test of his own technique's upper limits.

At the very least, he now knew for certain that, given enough imagination, his technique could Bind even the current [Strongest].

But by the same token, he also now knew exactly how unreliable Gojo could be.

His success was, ironically, a kind of failure.

"Anjouin, do you have any idea what you just did?" Nanami finally couldn't hold it in.

"I do. I proved myself to Mr. Gojo."

Anjouin managed a strained smile.

He believed Gojo, stripped of the composure that came with being strong, would benefit from this too — no one could guarantee what kind of bizarre technique the jujutsu world might produce next.

The Gojo family's inherited Limitless, paired with the Six Eyes, had indeed made him the strongest of his generation.

But if he let his guard down, the same thing could happen again — someone touching him when he least expected it, exactly as had just happened.

Even though Anjouin had made clear he held no hostility, no intent to harm, and wouldn't endanger 'Gojo's' life directly or indirectly…

…in that moment, Gojo had genuinely given up all resistance.

Nanami noticed the air around Anjouin had changed — he'd grown tenser, more careful than before.

Like Gojo, he too had lost his composure.

It was the kind of composure built on information, born of a longer-range view.

Still, that wasn't a bad thing. In a sense, Anjouin had grown from this too.

"...You didn't see this outcome coming beforehand?"

"Whatever else, Mr. Gojo is still the [Strongest] of the jujutsu world."

Anjouin thought Nanami was putting him on a bit too high a pedestal.

He wasn't some flawless calculator who accounted for everything — he'd just had a slight edge in information.

"By the way, about the price — from what I've learned, the sorcerer Suguru Geto seems to have been colluding with some politician. He even toured the man's secret facility."

"...Geto. Tch."

Gojo pushed up his sunglasses.

"All right, I'll admit you gave me quite a scare."

Between the intel about Geto and getting touched himself, it took Gojo a good while to put his thoughts in order.

Nothing drives a truth home faster than the fact itself.

That's why they say people can lecture you all day and you won't get it, but reality only has to teach you once.

"...A Binding technique, huh? Things really are getting more outrageous by the day."

It was nothing more than some applied skill jujutsu sorcerers already used — and yet it had awakened as an actual technique, with such a strange range of applications.

All he had to do was agree, and then the price and the outcome were entirely up to the other party to twist however they liked.

Yeah, nice demonstration. Let's not do that again.

"I'm curious just how many techniques we've never seen will come out of Advanced Nurturing from here on."

...

Ah, right — a Mahoraga free-for-all?

Recalling a certain piece of intel he'd come across, Anjouin figured that kind of future wasn't entirely out of the question.

He just wasn't sure what kind of spectacle it'd make if the strongest adaptive power faced off against the strongest adaptive power, and that pair then faced yet another strongest adaptive power, and another.

Would they just keep adapting to each other back and forth, like stepping on your own foot to launch yourself skyward, spiraling off into the heavens?

"I really didn't expect to lose to a mere student."

"Mr. Gojo, I didn't beat you."

Anjouin put some distance between them, making it clear he wasn't interested in being buttered up only to be knocked down later.

Especially now — having touched Gojo, he understood that the man's [Strongest] title was, in the end, just as much a gimmick as the White Room's claim of mass-producing geniuses.

"I just managed to touch you, that's all."

But deep down, Anjouin had genuinely hoped Gojo wouldn't fall for it.

Reality, though, was that Gojo was still Gojo — still carrying an obvious weakness, one that kept Anjouin from ever treating him as someone to lean on.

Touching Gojo might serve as a warning, but just how effective that warning would be, he had no way to gauge.

"Just that alone is already hard to believe."

Gojo had to admit it: the era of the Three Great Families was well and truly over.

Just now, facing a Binding technique, it had been his own carelessness combined with the intel about Geto that made him actively cooperate with the other's technique.

But what about next time?

What if he faced a technique that could pierce straight through space?

A technique that could seal other techniques?

A technique that could nullify techniques outright?

Or one powerful enough to act directly on [Infinity] itself?

Gojo had genuinely taken the warning to heart.

"Consider it a debt I owe you."

"How generous of you," Anjouin replied flatly.

After all, from here on he'd have to rely on himself. He needed a little time to get his head straight — he'd meant to keep a low profile and play it safe, and instead the [Strongest] standing over him had turned out to be this unreliable.

The more Anjouin thought about it, the more stifled he felt, but he quickly composed himself again.

"By the way, Mr. Gojo, Advanced Nurturing High School doesn't have any textbooks on cursed techniques. Can your side fill that gap?"

Listening to the instructors drone on about the jujutsu world's history and common knowledge did nothing for actual strength.

Though he also knew the formal cursed-technique classes wouldn't start for another week, not until everyone had finished awakening their cursed energy and their techniques, so that unified teaching would make sense.

"No rush. I've only just folded the original Jujutsu High into Advanced Nurturing. Early next month there'll be a handful of transfer students — first-years, conveniently one per class."

"Hm?"

Hearing Gojo's answer, Anjouin felt both surprised and confused.

"By then the cursed-technique textbooks can be filled in, and Advanced Nurturing can pick up a few new facilities too."

"Mr. Gojo — are you raising Advanced Nurturing?"

From what little Anjouin knew, Advanced Nurturing was some kind of living, animate school.

Maybe it was some sort of cursed object. Maybe some sort of cursed spirit.

And the way Gojo was going about things looked exactly like raising the school itself — no wonder Anjouin felt lost.

"I'm naturally on Advanced Nurturing's side."

"It's a special existence standing on humanity's side. I can't give you the details."

Gojo's expression turned rather serious, and Anjouin understood the topic ended there.

"I won't tell anyone else."

As he said it, he went ahead and set up a confidentiality Binding.

"No need for that."

Gojo didn't know whether to laugh or groan, but on closer inspection, he found the Binding itself rather interesting.

"Oh — you've folded the price for breaking it right into the Binding itself?"

Generally speaking, the consequences of breaking a Binding scaled with the Binding's own strength.

Swear a stronger Binding, and breaking it tended to mean death.

By contrast, something like Nanami's overtime Binding — breaking it just meant losing the enhancement effect, nothing worse.

"I figure a day of stomach trouble is a pretty serious consequence."

"Fair enough," Gojo agreed readily.

If he himself spent a day with a bad stomach, several cities' worth of cursed spirits would probably go uncleared.

Still, since the Binding targeted Anjouin himself, it proved his resolve to keep the secret — even if the price was just a day of stomach trouble.

"If you want to restore the Anjouin family, you'll need achievements, won't you? Once you join the Exorcism Club, you'll get chances to go out on exorcism missions — points, and merit both."

"Combat is the fastest way for a sorcerer to grow. Your Student Council President bought access to the 'Trial Gate,' and in just a week or two shot up to Semi-Grade 1."

"Partly that's because his talent really is solid. Partly it's because he's been through a huge number of fights."

What Gojo revealed just then let Anjouin finally understand exactly why a certain Student Council President had grown so absurdly strong.

When it came down to it, his understanding of the school still wasn't enough.

And the fact that Gojo knew about it at all was clearly down to his so-called principal's authority.

"...I understand."

Gojo's hint had been plain enough, and Anjouin naturally took the information to heart.

As a reward for the demonstration, Gojo said he was willing to formally recognize the Gojo Faction — especially since he'd already taken an interest in that Manabu Horikita.

Even if part of the reason Horikita had grown so fast came down to the school itself, more of it was down to his own outstanding natural talent.

It was the kind of talent that made a true jujutsu sorcerer.

As for the reward from the Sukuna's Finger trial, Gojo said he'd swap it for something new when the time came.

"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

"Sure. Head on back."

Gojo's tone stayed mild — even though Anjouin had shaken him more than a little. But once Anjouin had gone, Nanami fell silent.

The mood along the coast slowly hardened, his thoughts drifting toward the intel Anjouin had just handed him.

He thought of his old friend, and that friend's ties to some filthy politician.

Though a thousand words welled up inside him, in the end they all became a single long sigh.