Late at night, in the Jujutsu High faculty dorms.
Moonlight filtered through the window onto the wooden floor, casting a cold, lonely filter over the room.
Yoru had just finished his physical training for the day and was preparing to wash up and rest.
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking was light, yet it carried an undeniable firmness that couldn't be ignored.
Yoru opened the door and paused for a moment.
Standing outside was Satoru Gojo.
However, he didn't have his usual cynical smile, nor was he wearing his signature round-framed sunglasses.
Dressed in his black Jujutsu High uniform, his sky-blue Six Eyes—which looked as if they contained the entire heavens—were exposed to the air as he stared intently at Yoru.
The atmosphere grew heavy in that instant.
"Won't you invite me in for a seat, Instructor Yoru?"
Gojo's voice was calm, devoid of its usual flippancy, but it carried an indescribable pressure.
Yoru stepped aside and made a gesture of invitation.
Gojo walked into the room but didn't sit down. Instead, he went straight to the window, looking out at the night-shrouded campus.
"Even though you're trying your best to hide it..."
"My Six Eyes can still see things that ordinary people can't."
Gojo turned around, those brilliant eyes looking straight into the depths of Yoru's soul as if trying to see through all his secrets.
"Who exactly are you?"
"I've never believed that a powerhouse like you—someone with absolutely zero cursed energy yet able to crush Special Grade Cursed Spirits with pure physical strength and that strange breathing technique—could just appear out of thin air."
"Your moves, your combat awareness... even those old monsters who've spent half their lives on the edge of death don't possess what you have."
"The way you look at me and Suguru... sometimes it's not like a new instructor. It's more like... a bystander who has known us for a long time, someone who even knows our future fates."
Gojo took a step forward, closing the distance between him and Yoru.
"What is your purpose for infiltrating Jujutsu High and getting close to us?"
Faced with Gojo's rapid-fire questioning, Yoru didn't panic or look away.
A faint gold light flashed within his deep red pupils.
Transparent World, activated.
In this state, Yoru could clearly see the flow of cursed energy inside Gojo—vast as a galaxy, yet in a state of extreme alertness.
He knew that if his answer didn't satisfy the strongest sorcerer in this moment...
The very next second, he might be greeted with a point-blank Blue.
"My purpose?"
Yoru smiled slightly. There was no hostility in that smile, only a calm born from experiencing the world's many trials.
"If I told you that I crossed a vast amount of time just to pull you guys back this summer and keep you from repeating the same mistakes..."
"Would you believe me?"
Gojo's brow furrowed, his Six Eyes working rapidly to find any hint of a lie in Yoru's micro-expressions, heartbeat, or blood flow.
But there was nothing.
Yoru's state was like a deep, bottomless lake—pure, calm, and free of any stray thoughts.
"Protecting?"
Gojo scoffed, as if he found the word utterly ridiculous.
"I'm the strongest. Do I really look like I need your protection?"
"Yes, you are the strongest."
Yoru met Gojo's gaze without flinching.
"But even the strongest can feel lonely. And the strongest can still... lose people important to them."
Gojo's pupils contracted sharply.
Just as the tension reached its peak and it felt like a fight could break out at any second...
"Yo! What are you two grown men doing staring into each other's eyes in the middle of the night?"
An incredibly poorly timed voice drifted in from outside the door.
Suguru Geto walked in boldly, carrying a large plastic bag that was steaming hot.
Behind him followed a yawning Shoko Ieiri and Utahime Iori, whose face was written with the words 'I was forced to come here.'
"Smells great! Suguru, what did you buy?"
Gojo's cold facade instantly crumbled. He sniffed the air, and his eyes lit up immediately.
It was as if the murderous 'strongest' from a moment ago had been nothing more than a hallucination.
"Oden and some fried skewers."
Suguru skillfully placed the bag on the small table in Yoru's room, then pulled out a few cans of beer and some sodas from another bag.
"I ran into Shoko and Utahime at the school gate, so I invited them along."
"Instructor Yoru, I hope you don't mind us borrowing your place for a midnight snack?"
The heavy atmosphere of the interrogation was instantly dispersed by this sudden late-night gathering.
Gojo sat on the floor without invitation, grabbing a skewer of meatballs and stuffing it into his mouth.
"Hot, hot, hot! Suguru, which shop is this from? The flavor's actually pretty good!"
"Gojo Satoru! That's mine! Put it down!"
Utahime lunged forward indignantly to snatch it back.
"Finders keepers! Bleeeh!"
Gojo made a face while he ate.
Shoko skillfully opened a can of beer and leaned against the wall. Watching the two bicker, a smile played on her lips.
"Youth is wonderful."
Suguru smiled and handed a soda to Yoru, since minors weren't allowed to drink.
"Instructor Yoru, don't mind them. These two are always like this."
Yoru took the soda, looking at the four of them bickering around the small table in his tiny dorm room.
Gojo was stealing Utahime's meatballs, Suguru was smiling while trying to play the biased mediator, and Shoko was puffing on a cigarette while watching the show.
The dim yellow light spilled over their young, vibrant faces.
This scene was so warm, so real.
Yoru's vision blurred slightly.
It was as if he were looking at that photograph titled 'Youth' from the original story.
In that photo, there was the arrogant Gojo, the gentle Suguru, and Shoko with a cigarette in her mouth.
That was their happiest, most carefree time.
And it was also... the youth they could never go back to.
Because after this summer, the Star Plasma Vessel incident would act like a merciless storm, tearing all this beauty to shreds.
Gojo would awaken as a true god in total isolation, Suguru would fall into endless darkness and eventually defect, and Shoko would become the lonely doctor forever handling corpses in the background.
That photo would eventually be reduced to nothing but shattered glass and irreparable regret.
"Hey, Yoru."
Gojo had stopped fighting with Utahime at some point. Holding a soda, he leaned in close to Yoru.
Looking at Yoru's dazed expression, a sincere smile touched the corners of his mouth.
"Regardless of who you are or where you come from..."
"Since you've shared this drink with us and dared to talk big about protecting us..."
"Then from this day forward, you're one of the weaklings we'll protect."
Gojo hooked an arm around Yoru's shoulder, acting like a big brother looking out for his junior.
"Your physical skills might be strong, but in the world of jujutsu, I'm invincible!"
"If you run into trouble you can't handle, just call my name anytime!"
Suguru also raised his soda can, adding with a smile:
"Satoru is right. We're a team."
Utahime was still annoyed, but she muttered under her breath:
"Even if you have no cursed energy, we won't let those higher-ups bully you."
Shoko raised her beer can, offering Yoru a toast from afar.
Yoru looked at the four young people who had opened their hearts to him without reservation. He gripped his soda can, his eyes feeling slightly warm.
He laughed—a happy, resolute laugh.
"Okay."
Yoru tilted his head back and drained the soda in one go.
'This time, it's my turn to protect your youth,' he said silently to himself.
'Even if I have to stand against the karma of the entire world, even if I have to face the terrifying man known as the Sorcerer Killer...'
'I will absolutely never let that summer of regret repeat itself!'