Chapter 20 (Patreon)

“So this is the choice you made.”

Suguru Geto met Ragnar Kagenou’s gaze without flinching.

“That’s right,” he said. “Are you going to kill me?”

After all, he had slaughtered an entire village.

For a jujutsu sorcerer, that kind of crime meant only one thing.

Execution.

Ragnar was quiet for a moment before speaking.

“To be honest, I’m not exactly a good person either.”

He looked around at the village, now drowned in silence and blood.

“I’m not against killing on principle. But I’m not the type to justify it either.”

His voice stayed calm.

“These villagers may have been rotten. They had no right to blame those two girls for everything just because they had cursed energy.”

Geto narrowed his eyes slightly.

“…What are you saying, Ragnar? Are you agreeing with me?”

Ragnar shook his head.

“No.”

He looked straight at him.

“But treating everyone the same is a stupid conclusion.”

His tone was sharp now, stripped of any playfulness.

“Not everyone thinks the same way. If they did, those girls wouldn’t have still been alive by the time you got here.”

Geto fell silent for a moment.

“…Maybe,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t change anything. It’s already over.”

Golden ripples spread out behind Ragnar, illuminating the night with a radiant glow.

The Gate of Babylon opened behind him like a field of suspended stars.

Geto watched him without moving.

“If you’re going to do it,” he said quietly, “then do it.”

But Ragnar did not attack.

He simply stood there and watched as Suguru Geto walked away from the village with the two girls beside him.

The Noble Phantasms behind him never fired.

As Geto disappeared into the night, Ragnar lowered his eyes.

“In the end, Suguru Geto…”

His voice was low.

“You chose what your heart wanted most and stepped onto a road you can’t come back from.”

Five days later, at Jujutsu High, the jujutsu world officially issued a warrant for Suguru Geto’s execution.

Five days after the mission assigned to third-year jujutsu sorcerer Suguru Geto, it was confirmed that all 112 residents of the old village had been killed.

Ragnar stood there and read the report in a flat voice.

“Suguru Geto has fled. Under Article 9 of the Jujutsu Regulations, he has been designated for execution as a curse user.”

Satoru Gojo stared at him blankly, like the words hadn’t fully registered.

“…Huh?”

He looked back and forth between Ragnar and Masamichi Yaga.

Yaga’s face was grim.

“Suguru Geto murdered the villagers. His current whereabouts are unknown.”

Ragnar added, his tone no less heavy,

“And his family home was found completely empty. Based on the blood at the scene and the traces that were left behind…”

He paused.

“It’s highly likely he killed his own parents as well.”

Gojo just stared at them.

Then he laughed once, dry and disbelieving.

“No, I heard what you said.”

His voice dropped.

“I’m asking what the hell you’re talking about.”

“How is that even possible?”

Ragnar looked at him quietly.

“Gojo. I know this is hard to accept, but—”

But Gojo was no longer listening.

After standing there in stunned silence for a while, he turned and walked away like someone moving on instinct alone.

Ragnar watched his back and let out a quiet breath.

Just as he was about to leave, Yaga spoke again.

“Ragnar Kagenou.”

Ragnar stopped.

“The night Suguru Geto carried out that mission… you went out too, didn’t you?”

Ragnar glanced at him over his shoulder.

“Since when did Jujutsu High start enforcing a curfew?”

Yaga’s expression tightened.

“…Please. Tell me what happened that night.”

Ragnar was silent for a second.

Then he answered plainly.

“Exactly what you’ve already seen.”

His eyes gave nothing away.

“By the time I got there, it was already too late.”

With that, Ragnar left without another word.

In the days that followed, there was still no sign of Suguru Geto.

Satoru Gojo kept taking missions by himself, speaking less and less.

Shoko Ieiri, on the other hand, didn’t seem outwardly affected at all.

Or maybe she just wasn’t the type to show it.

Then one day, Shoko called Ragnar out.

“Ragnar,” she said, “come with me to Shinjuku. I need to buy a few things.”

Ragnar looked at her. “That all?”

Shoko shoved her hands into her pockets.

“And Geto defected, didn’t he?”

Ragnar’s gaze shifted slightly.

“I thought you didn’t care.”

Shoko shrugged.

“I don’t care enough to act dramatic about it. That’s different.”

Ragnar gave a small snort.

“…Yeah. It’s true. I saw it with my own eyes.”

Shoko was quiet for a moment.

Then she muttered,

“What an idiot.”

She jerked her chin forward.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

On the way to Shinjuku, the two of them barely spoke.

Ragnar was quieter than usual.

Shoko, as always, wasn’t exactly talkative herself.

Eventually, Ragnar broke the silence.

“So what are you buying?”

Shoko wandered through a shop, casually picking up a few everyday necessities.

Then she grabbed a pack of cigarettes.

“That’s about it.”

She pulled one out and raised it slightly.

“You want one?”

Ragnar immediately refused.

“No. Go ahead. I’m not into it.”

Shoko shrugged.

“Fine. Wait there.”

Ragnar wasn’t in any rush.

With nothing better to do, he leaned against the railing nearby and watched the street.

Then a voice cut in.

“Hey.”

“Need a light?”

Both of them looked over.

Shoko’s eyes narrowed first.

“Oh,” she said flatly. “The criminal showed up.”

The one standing there was Suguru Geto.

He walked over calmly and flicked a lighter open toward Shoko.

“Ragnar,” Shoko said, not taking her eyes off Geto, “Geto’s here.”

Ragnar didn’t even blink.

“I’m not blind. I can see him.”

Geto gave a faint smile.

“That’s good.”

Then he looked at Ragnar.

“How are you and Gojo doing?”

Ragnar’s answer came immediately.

“Just fine.”

His eyes were cold.

“Though seeing you here is pretty annoying.”

Geto’s smile didn’t change.

“I see. That’s good.”

Ragnar clicked his tongue.

“Alright. I already don’t feel like talking to you anymore.”

“…Hm.”

Shoko stepped in before the silence could settle.

“Let me ask you something.”

She looked Geto straight in the eye.

“Were you framed?”

Geto answered without hesitation.

“No. Unfortunately, I wasn’t.”

Shoko studied him for a second.

Unlike Ragnar, she had never understood Geto that deeply to begin with.

Which made the question even simpler.

“Then why?”

At the same time, she pulled out her phone and called Gojo.

Geto answered in the same calm voice.

“I want to create a world made up only of jujutsu sorcerers.”

Shoko stared at him.

Then she let out a dry laugh.

“…What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Geto’s expression remained unreadable.

“I never expected everyone to understand.”

Shoko held the phone to her ear and exhaled through her nose.

“Even so, throwing yourself into this kind of crap just because nobody understands you…”

Her voice turned colder.

“…that’s pretty childish.”

Then she spoke into the phone.

“Hey, Gojo? Yeah. That’s right. Geto’s here with me.”

She listened for a second.

“Yes, in Shinjuku.”

Then she rolled her eyes.

“No, obviously I don’t want to get killed by him. Ragnar’s here too, and he hasn’t done anything.”

Once the call ended, Ragnar turned and started walking.

He grabbed Shoko by the wrist and pulled her along with him.

She blinked in surprise.

“Hey. What are you doing?”

“Leaving,” Ragnar said.

Then he glanced back once at Geto.

“Couldn’t you tell? He came here because he wanted Gojo to find him.”

Geto only smiled.

He didn’t deny it.

Shoko let out a small sigh.

“…Right.”

A while later, Satoru Gojo arrived in Shinjuku.

He stopped in front of Suguru Geto, the atmosphere around him completely different now.

“Explain it,” Gojo said.

At that moment, his Six Eyes were fully engaged.

He was ready to fight at any second.

And then Suguru Geto explained everything.

His philosophy.

His conclusion.

His belief that ordinary people should all be killed, leaving behind a world inhabited only by jujutsu sorcerers.

A world without cursed spirits.

Gojo listened.

And the more he listened, the less he could understand.

One year earlier, Suguru Geto had been the one saying that killing ordinary people was pointless.

Now he stood there talking about murdering them all as though it were the most natural answer in the world.

Even his own parents.

Gojo couldn’t understand it.

Not at all.

Then Geto said quietly,

“If you want to kill me, then do it.”

He looked directly at him.

“Your choice would have meaning.”

And with that, Suguru Geto turned around and walked away.

Gojo stood there, struggling in silence.

But in the end, he still didn’t move.

He let Suguru Geto leave.

Afterward, Ragnar Kagenou and Shoko Ieiri returned to Jujutsu High.

At the same time, Suguru Geto took control of the Star Plasma Cult—the same group Ragnar had once torn through.

And anyone among its leadership who opposed him was killed.

Standing before the remaining members, Geto spoke without mercy.

“I’ll say this one more time.”

His eyes were cold.

“If you want to live, then obey me, you monkeys.”

Under the weight of his power and the threat in his voice, the followers of the Star Plasma Cult bowed their heads one after another.

And elsewhere, Satoru Gojo found the son of Toji Fushiguro.

Megumi Fushiguro.

It was the first meeting between teacher and student.